Hey guyz and galz! I'm back from summer vacation :) sorry for the late update, it actulaly too me like 2 weeks to write this up with a lot of help from a good friend. My BFF who is an awesome writer. Out of our friends. I'm the romance writer. I guess this her shot at romance? I already know that I suck at violence (her topic), she's also a good fantasy writer. XP I"m the romance and horror. So at the end she added some stuff, made Rachel extra bitchy (i didn't aprove, but didn't delete. but will smooth over), so here is your next chapter. I feel the kiss comming closer (cue friend's groan of disgust). So I hope you guys like this. Exxtra stuf comming soon :) Maybe I will bring down the extra. or i will add them at the end of the book. :) Right now... I need a new friend to PM and whine to. :) Anyone is free to PM me at any time and I will get to you :) we will keep up a lasting conversation (account person must be a person who visits his/her account at least once a week). Our convo topic will vary becuae of my randomness (falline in the woods... hobos, remember?) XD And also the ups about PMing me. chances of being a beta and preveiws are like 50% more. XD don't know if that's a lure.

But reveiw guys :) I am forever improving my skillz.

waterbluewings

will luv u guys 4evar :) XP

Chapter 4

Annabeth found her head cushioned on something uncomfortable and hard. She opened her eyes and saw her neat penciled notes on the perimeters of the music room. She had fallen asleep and her pen had made a huge slash in the middle of the page. Annabeth groaned in annoyance. Now she would have to write it again; there was a chance she might misinterpret the notes due to the line. She yawned and stood up, walking over to her bathroom and quickly brushing her teeth, taming her hair, and pulling it into a ponytail. She glanced at the clock on her bedside table. It was five thirty. Annabeth sighed, and changed into jeans, an orange tank and grabbed her, as Thalia put it, big purse and left the dorm, walking to overly slow elevators. She got into the elevators (she noted that this was the first time she'd been into the ones in the place) She looked at the glass buttons with the golden numbers. She pressed the one button. Walking back into the food court, she bought some pancakes, orange juice, and bacon. She took out her notes and first tried to white it out. No use, it just made it look worse. Finally, sighing and giving up, she drew out another piece of paper and started copying it down.

Half way through, someone sat next to her. She looked up.

"Percy?"

"Hey," Percy replied.

"What are you doing this early in the morning?" Annabeth asked.

"Swim practice. Warming up." Percy replied. She noticed his hair-perfectly brushed and in place. She noted every single tone of color, the seemingly softness of its surface-

Annabeth shook her head in confusion. What was going on with her? The main thing was, his hair was utterly dry.

"I don't believe you, you're totally dry," Annabeth replied quickly.

"Son of Poseidon thing," Percy replied, running a hand through his hair.

"Oh, okay," Annabeth said and resumed writing down her notes, keeping her eyes trained on the movement of her pen tip and trying hard to not think about how closely Percy was sitting next to her. The sleeve of his jacket brushed her bare arm, and she jerked it back, but he didn't seem to notice.

"What are you doing?" Percy asked.

"Taking notes," Annabeth said, still trying to focus on dotting all her i's.

"How can you take that much notes without your hand cramping?" Percy asked.

"It's a daughter of Athena thing," Annabeth laughed, to clear up her nervousness. "Have you had breakfast?"

"Yeah, before I went to warm-up," Percy replied. After a few moments of awkward silence, Annabeth decided to break it and leave; it was getting too uncomfortable for her.

"Oh well, it's almost time, so I have to go to class," Annabeth muttered and gathered her stuff and headed out.

"Yeah, me too," he said. He seemed a bit startled at her sudden wanting to leave.

She was halfway across the room when his voice stopped her. "Hey," Percy said, hesitantly.

"Yeah, Percy?"Annabeth asked, turning around.

"Um...never mind, I'll just get going," Percy said, apparently changing his mind, and he walked out, leaving a group of lovesick girls in his wake.

"Oh, okay," Annabeth said, confused, but he was far too away to listen.

After her free-study period, (which she didn't take studying, but drawing out Olympus), she took off to her Greek mythology class.

~LINE BREAK~

"Hello, class! Welcome to Greek mythology. I believe that all of you are demigods...well almost all, so this, in the mortal world, is advanced, advanced mythology," the teacher said. When the class gave no response, he cleared his throat, and continued. "My name is Mr. Diablo, and as I said before, I will be teaching you Greek mythology in advanced methods. Today, we will just be getting to know each other, going over what we already know about Greek mythology and the most known myths and creatures. Let us begin with role call now..."

His voice trailed off as his head twisted around to look at his untidy desk. "Just a moment, class, I'm sure the roster's here somewhere..."

His statements led only to more silence, in which Annabeth once again started thinking about Percy and Rachel... In fact, her thoughts were trained so hard on the rude, redhead girl and Poseidon's curious son that she nearly jumped out of her seat when the teacher called her name. "Annabeth Chase?"

"Wha-what?" she asked, looking around sharply. All eyes were trained on her, and she could've sworn they were all silently laughing at her. Embarrassed, she shrank back against the chair and mumbled, "Here..."

"Annabeth, is paying attention in class a problem for you? Of course, all demigods have problems with sitting still, and you were fidgeting a lot with your hair while I was calling names. Maybe time after class would be necessary-"

This called her attention and she shot up from her seat. "No, sir, not a problem at all. I have a majoring class after this and I would not want to miss it, thank you."

He frowned. "Well, alright, if you wish..."

The rest of the class period went on as scheduled, and by the time the bell rang, Annabeth was already out of her seat and dashing for the door, her bag thumping against her back. She sped through the hallway and towards her next classroom, shoving through the throng of students pouring out through the doors. After all, she didn't want to be late, and she wanted to be there first to choose the best seat.

At the last bend in the hallway she turned and ran straight into someone's body. "Oof!" she yelped and stumbled backward. A hand shot out and steadied her, still holding onto her back even when she regained balance.

She was about to excuse herself when a familiar voice said, "Annabeth, you alright?"

Percy. For some reason, her heart skipped a beat, her breathing became unsteady, and her skin prickled with uneasiness at the closeness of him and from the way he placed his hand on her back. "Uh-um-I-uh...yes, I'm...fine," she stuttered. Annabeth shook off his hand, and for moment, Percy looked a bit disappointed, but he quickly recovered his normal expression. "I must be going..." she mumbled.

For a second, she thought he might object, and then to her horror, realized that she wanted him to object. But he didn't. Percy just shrugged. "Yeah, me too. See you at lunch then?"

Nodding in a daze, she said, "Sure."

He turned heel and disappeared around the corner. Annabeth watched him go.

Snap out of it. Architecture remember? This jolted her to reality and she was about to turn around and dash into her class, but a flash of vibrant red caught her eye.

It was Rachel. Her eyes were watching Annabeth's every move, and there was something about her piercing green eyes that set Annabeth at unease, and there was an obvious threatening in them. And Annabeth knew exactly what it was about.

Her jaw set in annoyance. Well you can have him, redhead! I came here to study architecture, not to get a boyfriend. I don't even like him anyways-! She stopped, for she knew it wasn't true, not in anyway. Besides, she couldn't avoid Percy forever just because Rachel wanted her to.

With that, Annabeth met Rachel's eyes with a steady gaze of challenge, and walked into her classroom.

~LINE BREAK~

All the seats up front and the middle were already taken, but Annabeth had wanted to sit in the back anyways, so she had chosen the center column with the very last seat, to work on constructing her projects and be able to pay attention to the teacher's lesson. It proved to work out rather well.

Her thoughts led to Percy again.

Snap. Out. Of. It! Annabeth, focus. Remember, this architecture! Hello? Your favorite subject?

But unwillingly, her thoughts traced back to him.

If he's the son of Poseidon, then he's pretty powerful right? Girls will be chasing for him because of his...powers. Plus, he is kinda cute...OH SHUT UP! I'm not supposed to be one to judge looks...but still, I wonder how he'll react?

Standing up when class was over, I made my way over to the lunch hallway. Sure enough, I can see a crowd of girls huddled over at one end. Curious, I stay as close as possible to the crowd without being conspicuous.

"Did you see him? That was definitely Jason Grace. I can't believe he's actually related to Thalia, such a shame, you'd think that they'd both hold good looks," a girl said.

"And don't forget Percy Jackson!" another girl called out.

"Perseus Jackson, Gods, it makes him sound like a Greek God!" someone squealed.

They were all making her sick to the stomach.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could make out Rachel taking this time to heighten up her climb on the social ladder.

"I've met him," Rachel calls out.

"Oh really?" someone asks doubtedly.

"Yep, he has the prettiest green eyes ever...oh, and his-" Annabeth cut her off from there, and returning to her stride, she made her way to the center of the crowd of girls.

"And I'm friends with him. I even know Jason Grace, and his sister," she said, barely resisting the urge to slap Rachel in the face.

A nearby girl rolled her eyes. "You're just showing off by telling us lies! What a fake!" The other girls mumbled an agreement, and Annabeth felt an uncontrollable heat of anger.

"But I do know them-" she started to say. Rachel was starting to call something out as well. She obviously loved attention. But the crowd of girls were already shouting arguing back at Annabeth, too busy to notice her.

Annabeth shut her eyes in panic. Oh no, what have I done? Gods, help me please...I wish I had that invisibility cap right about now-

And then the familiar voice saved her. "Hey, what's going on here?" Percy. Thank Gods!

The girls all stopped at once and gaped at who stood in front of them. Annabeth could hear them whispering to one another. "Is that who I think it is?" "It's Percy!" "Do you think he's available?"

Percy frowned at them. "What were you girls shouting at Annabeth for?"

One of them gasped. "You mean...you know her?"

He nodded, to Annabeth's relief. "As a matter of fact, I do."

"She's been telling the truth then! That she knows Thalia, Jason, you?" another asked.

Annabeth gulped before speaking. "And I also know Piper Mclean and Nico di Angelo."

"You do?" another gasped.

They all started whispering to one another again, and Percy cleared his throat. "Come on, Annabeth, let's get you away from these jerks..."

She smiled as they all gasped in disbelief that he had even said that about them. And Rachel, on the ladder still, was glaring at her, fires in her eyes. But Annabeth jumped in surprise as Percy placed his hand on hers, gripping it tightly, dragging her away from the fierce whispers of the crowd and the infuriated redhead.

~LINE BREAK~

Apparently, holding hands with a son of the Big Three was a big thing. Especially if he was cute and went by the name of Percy Jackson. Shocked voices went up all around us, and I ducked my head to hide my embarrassment as we went into the cafeteria. But Percy was ignoring them all completely, like he was used to the attention, and that was only to be expected of the son of Poseidon.

The only reason she hadn't started tripping was because Percy's presence steadied her. His hand clamped firmly around hers, and the warmth reassuring.

She didn't realize that they had both reached their usual table until she felt four inquiring gazes upon her.

"Dudes, you guys are really late today!" Nico remarked.

Thalia glanced first at me, then Percy, and back again. A grin spread wide across her face. "Got yourself a new girlfriend already then, Percy? Won't your father be pleased it was Athena's daughter!"

You should know that Athena and Poseidon...aren't gods that get along with each other. In fact, one of the only few times that they actually were able to work together was when they combined Poseidon's creation of the horse and Athena's invention of the wagon to make the chariot.

I felt my face turn more red, and even Percy was embarrassed by this. I squirmed out of his grasp, and he reluctantly let go without a word. Piper only cocked her head at us, smiling. Jason raised his eyebrows but said nothing.

"I'm not his girlfriend. He just got me out of the possibility of getting beat up by lovesick girls," she snapped. "I do not like him whatsoever!"

Percy looked up at her in surprise, the hurt and sadness clear in his sea-green eyes. They were completely heartbreaking, so Annabeth had to turn away from his gaze to keep from crying. "None?"

"None," she confirmed, hoping she sound more sure than she thought.

"How about your little crush Thalia?" Annabeth asked, knowing that Thalia didn't have one.

"What crush?" Thalia squeaked ignantly.

"Whatever," Annabeth finished, not wanting to drag out the lie.

"Going to get lunch," Annabeth said, and jogged over to the line.

"Me too," Percy said.

What? Does he want to tell everyone that we are 'together'? Because we are not! I would want too... But no. We can't.

"Stay here," She hissed to Percy.

"Why?" Percy asked, eyebrows raising.

"Do you want people thinking that we're together?" Annbeth at the word 'together'.

"Ye-No," Percy said and Annabeth nodded and went to the lunch line, turning her head to make sure that Percy didn't follower her.

He didn't.

No more stupid crushes Annabeth. Ok? Annabeth plastered a smile on her face and raised her head, already feeling much better.