Chapter 3

"i'm a walking travesty but i'm smiling at everything"
- therapy, all time low

"Hello? Is someone there?"

Annabeth blinks open her eyes blearily. Her arms have cramped from holding onto the bridge for so long and her fingers and toes are numb. It's still dark, but not a nighttime dark anymore – the sky is tinged with red, and Annabeth can tell from her countless lessons evaluating the colour of the skies depending on months and seasons and where she is on the globe that it's around three am.

"What does it look like?" Annabeth croaks.

The girl pokes her head through the gaps in the guardrail. In the darkness, the only thing Annabeth can make out is a long brown braid and a big Puffa jacket. The girl gasps when she sees her clinging onto the pole for dear life. "Oh my god! Are you okay?"

There's something about the way she says it that causes Annabeth's hackles to rise. It doesn't sound right. Nonetheless, if it gets Annabeth off this damned bridge, she doesn't really care who it is.

"Not really. Can you pull me up?"

The girl reaches her hand through the bars and with her last remaining strength Annabeth pushes herself up and grabs onto it. The girl braces herself against the poles and pulls, and Annabeth kicks around blindly to find a foothold to lift herself up with. Her boots find a little nook in the side that is only deep enough to cram the tips of her frozen toes in, but even when she's half on the brink of unconsciousness with her whole body numb she manages to lever herself up. The girl does the rest of the work. With a surprising amount of strength, she pulls Annabeth through the gaps.

Annabeth lays on her side, gasping. "Thanks," she chokes.

The girl sits beside her. Her eyes are wide with worry and something else Annabeth can't place. "Are you okay? How did you even get there?"

"I fell. And I'm okay."

"How long were you there for?"

"Uh, a few minutes?"

The girl doesn't look like she believes her. Annabeth doesn't blame her. You don't have to be a spy to notice the alarming shade of blue her fingers and lips have turned.

"Will you be okay?" the girl asks.

"Yeah." In a moment of sheer desperation, Annabeth asks, "What's your name?"

Infinitesimally, she hesitates. "Tessa."

Annabeth notices. "That's a nice name."

"Thanks. My dad picked it." She chews her lip. "You?"

"Lois."

"Nice to meet you."

"Likewise. Thanks for, you know. Saving my life."

"No problem. All in a day's work, after all."

"Ha-ha."

"I'm serious. I'm always on the lookout at three am to save teenage girls from drowning."

Annabeth cracks a half-smile. Now that she's not dangling from a bridge, she can see the girl properly. She's really pretty. Like, really pretty. She's all tanned skin and long legs and multicoloured eyes and Annabeth is a bit jealous. She wishes her butt could look that good in baggy jeans. "What are you doing out this late anyway?"

"My boyfriend. My dad doesn't really, ahem, approve, of us."

"Ah."

"Yeah."

"He couldn't drive you home?"

"Doesn't have a car."

"Don't you have a friend or something ready to drop you home with a lame excuse of, like, a girly 'let's paint our toenails and talk about boys' sleepover?"

The girl laughs. "No. And even if I did, I don't have my phone. I left it at home."

Hm.

"You in a rush to be anywhere?" Annabeth asks.

"It's quarter past three in the morning."

"Good point." She hesitates. "You wouldn't, uh, want to come around to mine now or anything? You don't have to, if you don't want. It's just– yeah?"

Annabeth sends a silent prayer to all her teen novels and rom-coms. She knows how to nail nervous.

The girl thinks, and then lets a smile slip on her lips. "Sure. I've got nothing better to do."

"Ouch."

"Kidding."

Annabeth tries to stand up, and then almost sobs when pain skyrockets up her legs. It's so bad she has to sit back down. Oh yes. She almost forgot about her leg. She glares at the rip in her jeans.

The girl tries for a smile. "Need some help?"

"Please," Annabeth manages through gritted teeth.

Stooping down, the girl wriggles her arm around Annabeth's shoulders and helps her to her feet, politely taking Annabeth's full weight when her legs spasm and she almost collapses again without a word of complaint. Annabeth bites her tongue from spilling out a string of swearwords at the pain and tries to bear it, although the sympathetic look on the girl's face tells her that she's not doing a good job.

Together, they hobble down the street.

"Won't your parents be mad that you're out this late?" the girl asks as Annabeth clumsily hip-bumps her front door open. "Or that you're bringing a stranger back here?"

"They're in Alabama for a press conference." Annabeth dumps her keys in a pot in the bookshelf. "Greenville. They won't know. And besides, you're not a stranger. I know your name and everything."

The girl laughs. "I also saved your life."

"That, too." By now, the pain in Annabeth's leg, while still unbearable, has been numbed by the cold and after walking on it for a few minutes she's gotten used to it, so she can move around without having to rely on the girl anymore, but her toes and fingers are still frozen so it takes her several embarrassing attempts to open the kitchen door. "I'm, um, making some hot chocolate. You want any?"

"Yes, please."

The girl sits down a chair and watches Annabeth as she moves around the kitchen, digging out a Cadbury mix from the cupboard and pulling a carton of milk out the fridge. Annabeth had taken off her wet socks and shoes by the door so her toes were out in the open and then wrapped a T-shirt in the laundry basket around her leg. She uses a broomstick as a makeshift crutch, hobbling around the kitchen like a three-legged moose, and balancing to one side she pours the chocolate mix into the warmed milk. Considering she spent her entire night clinging to the underside of a bridge, she's still surprisingly agile.

But first things first. First, hot chocolate – and then, she needs to find out who the hell is sitting in her kitchen.

Annabeth pours the hot chocolate into two mugs and slides one carefully across the girl, who gladly takes it in her hands and sips at it. Annabeth eases herself into the chair across from her and lifts her cup to her lips, tentatively dipping her tongue into it.

Perfect, as usual.

A few minutes go by in peaceful silence. The girl is looking out the window. Annabeth is waiting for the feeling in her fingers to return.

Finally, she asks, "Tessa isn't your real name, is it?"

The girl sighs. "No."

"Knew it."

The girl puts down her cup. "What gave it away?"

"You were freakishly strong for a teenage girl. You were wandering the streets alone at three am, which no sane teenage girl would do, even if they did have a boyfriend. Somehow you managed to know that it was quarter past three even though you claimed to not have your phone."

The girl groans. "Dammit. And here I was thinking I was doing so well."

"There's, um, more."

The groans get louder. "Bloody hell. Go on, then."

"You came home with me even though you had met me literally five minutes ago. No one does that. Especially not at three am."

Crossly, the girl sips her hot chocolate with as much aggression as one can sip with. "If Chiron asks, say that you didn't figure me out for at least another week."

Annabeth cocks an eyebrow. "Chiron sent you?"

The girl suddenly looks terrified. "Was I not meant to say that?" she gasps.

Annabeth feels something simmer in her gut. "Probably not."

"See, this is why I'm an awful spy. I mean– shoot– I said guy, not spy–"

"It's okay. I think that by now we've both established that we're spies."

The girl sighs in relief. "Well, it's any solace to you, I'm very bad at being a spy, so you can have that victory."

"I'm sure you're not that bad."

"I am. But thanks anyway." She stirs her drink. "You make good hot chocolate."

"Thank you."

The girl gives her an awkward little smile. "So, um, anyway. I'm Piper, it's lovely to meet you, and you are?"

Annabeth laughs. "You don't have to pretend."

"No, um." The girl looks rather sheepish. "Chiron didn't tell me your name. Said that it could put you in danger, or whatever. He just sent me here and said to look out for a girl with brown hair. But, um." Awkwardly, she gestures to Annabeth's hair, which is streaked with ginger. The river washed out a lot of it but what's left clings to her like mould. "That changed."

"I was in disguise."

"Fair enough.

Annabeth chews her lower lip. "But, um. Back on track: how did you know it was me? There are thousands of girls with brown hair in New York."

"He may have also put a tracker on you?"

Annabeth swears and slams her hand down on the table. The hot chocolate mugs rattle. Annabeth's mug, which she hasn't properly sipped at yet, dribbles a little down the side. She doesn't care. "Dammit! I should have known." She's cross. She's so, so cross. Not necessarily at Piper, because it isn't her fault, but more like Chiron. Just when Annabeth thought he trusted her enough to put her on a mission alone she finds out that he put a tracker on her?

"Where?" Annabeth demands. She's going to get a knife and she's going to carve the thing out of her. She will. She swears, she will.

Awkwardly, Piper reaches up and taps the back of her own head. "Um, here. He said he didn't want you digging it out."

Chiron's good. Chiron's really, really good.

He may be her adopted father but Annabeth has never wanted to strangle him more then she does know. Of course he put the tracker above a pressure plate. He couldn't have put it in her arm, could he? He had to go and put it in front of one of the most sensitive places on her body.

Stupid Chiron. She hopes he stubs his toe on a brick.

"You're not going to– try, are you?" Piper asks cautiously.

Annabeth sighs and slumps back in her chair. "No."

"Good. I've already failed the first part of my mission. It would absolutely tragic if I failed the second part."

That piques Annabeth's interest. "Second part? What was the second part?"

Warily, Piper watches her. Annabeth doesn't even blame her, really. "Before I say anything," she says, "you might want to sit down."

"I am sitting down."

"Like, proper sitting down. As in I-will-remain-seated-for-the-whole-thing sitting down."

Annabeth regards her carefully. "Piper..."

"You won't like it. But you've got to promise not to get mad. Okay?"

"Okay."

"All right." Piper takes a deep breath. "Um, Chiron sent me here to protect you." She smiles a little – a wistful, sympathetic kind of smile that doesn't reach her eyes. "You know that you got sent here for protection. But Chiron didn't trust you to keep yourself safe properly. So he sent me."

The worst part? Annabeth isn't even surprised.

She had thought it was weird that Chiron had sent her away like that, but she had been too caught up in the thrill that finally she was doing something to dwell on it properly. She should have known. It was too soon after the accident. Chiron was like her father. There was no way he would let her out of his sight by herself to do anything even remotely dangerous.

"Are you okay?" Piper asks tentatively.

"Yeah."

"You're not, really."

"I will be. It's fine." She sniffles slightly and sends Piper a silent thank-you when she pretends not to hear. "Besides, I like high school too much. It would have been hard for me to just say goodbye, right?"

It's a lie neither of them can be bothered to point out.

Piper clears her throat and uncomfortably lifts up her mug. "I mean, I suppose there is an upside to this, after all."

Annabeth tiredly lifts her eyes. "Please, enlighten me."

Piper shrugs, but she's suppressing an excited smile and this time it's reaching her eyes and even though Annabeth feels stepped-on and trampled she can't help but laugh a little at how thrilled she is. "We're roommates now?"

Well, Annabeth is not expecting that. "What? Seriously?"

"I think so. Well." She reprimands herself. "I mean. The whole 'roommate' situation is actually your choice. Because, you know, you weren't meant to know I was a spy for at least another month. Chiron booked me a room in a motel somewhere, and I was going to stay in it until he could hire me some parents to stay in an apartment near your school, but I can contact him and tell him that it's all okay and that you recognized me from one of your classes or whatever and that we can stay together. If. You want? You don't have to. Like, no pressure. But I just thought that it must get kind of lonely in such a big house like this all by yourself – "

"How do you know I'm by myself?" Annabeth asked. "The people looking after me could actually be in Alabama on a mission."

"But they're not." Piper smiles a little bit. "Greenville is in Mississippi."

Annabeth cocks her eyebrows and grins into her hot chocolate. "You're good."

Piper smiles bashfully and Annabeth knows that's a big compliment. "Thanks," she says. She wrings her sleeves and takes another shy sip of her hot chocolate. "So, um. Was that a yes? For the roommates thing?"

Annabeth thinks – and then she nods. "Yeah. It'll be fun."

Piper beams. "Really?"

"Sure."

"Oh, that's wonderful. Thank you so much. This is going to be, like, one of the movies."

"Slow down, princess. I haven't seen how good you are at cooking yet."

"Oh, prepare to be amazed. One of my friends at my last mission was incredible, and he taught me everything. It's going to be proper awesome."

Annabeth smiles. This was hardly the way she expected her night to turn out but it might be fun. For the first time she might be able to find out what a proper sleepover is like. Absently, she wonders if Piper owns any nail polish.

"Oh, by the way, I never caught your name," Piper says. "Unless it is actually Lois in which case I apologise."

"It's not Lois. I'm Annabeth."

"Well, Annabeth," Piper says, taking Annabeth's hand and giving it an enthusiastic pump. "Are you ready for the Roommate Experience of your life?"

Annabeth actually really likes having Piper around.

They both sleep on the mattress together, because even though there is a perfectly good spare bedroom next door it doesn't have any sort of sleeping support in it. Piper's a nice person to sleep next to. She's cuddly, doesn't take all the blankets and only once so far has she accidentally pushed Annabeth off the mattress. More often they wake up much with hands in armpits and hair in mouths and faces much, much too close together, but it's okay, because both their messed-up inner clocks have synced up (much like their periods) and they generally wake up at the same time, so one doesn't awkwardly have to prise rather conveniently placed hands and legs off of themselves to get up.

Unfortunately, Piper doesn't go to Annabeth's school. To avoid raising suspicion, Chiron sent her to the posh private school a ten-minute bus-ride away. She has to wear a uniform and everything, and the first time Annabeth sees it she snorts. She's not sure if they're close enough for her to let out a proper laugh yet.

"Don't laugh at me!" Piper complains. "I don't like it either, but I can't do anything about it, can I? Stupid private schools. I hate private schools."

Piper is in disguise, too, but not as much as Annabeth. She's called Contessa DeVoire and aside from brown contacts and prosthetic acne that she has to apply to her cheeks every morning with toothpaste and body glue she's been completely untouched.

She didn't even have to dye her hair. Annabeth is a little more jealous than she's proud to admit.

But in the end, everything is okay. Piper and Annabeth grow close quickly, and it even impacts the way she is now. Before she had a flat-mate Annabeth had always been a bit lonely in the evenings, but now that she's got someone to sit on the sofa with and recount all the Dramatic High School Stories to she's just kind of lightened. Hazel commented on it during lunch one day.

Percy even commented on it. They've been assigned English partners now, and Annabeth is actually pretty thrilled about it. They were sitting next to each other annotating one of Shakespeare's sonnets when Percy leans back a little and says, "Did something happen to you? You're looking really– really glow-y these days." Then followed the inevitable eye-widen and fumble of words that went something like, "Not saying that you haven't always! You're always really pretty! Just– I didn't mean anything rude, I promise–"

He is too busy hastily spitting out excuses that he doesn't notice Annabeth flush bright red.

Annabeth grows to really like Percy. She profiles him the second he gets sat next to her: black tousled hair. Probably doesn't brush it much. Not lazy, though – he smells a little like chlorine and he's slim and slightly muscled. A swimmer, then. The irregular tapping of his left foot and slightly vibrating of his right hand indicates ADHD. He's dyslexic, too – Annabeth can tell by the way he squints at the board. It's not shortsightedness; he's wearing jeans too faded and a hoodie too holey to care about his appearance enough to avoid getting glasses. It could be down to disorganization – the state of his pencilcase and textbooks sure show that – but he's got patches across the elbows of his hoodie and a square of what looks like a sundress going along a rip below the knee of his jeans that are too neatly sewn to be done by him. The thread matches, too. He's probably got a very loving mother back home. She would have made him get glasses if it was shortsightedness. She makes up for his lack of father. Annabeth can't be completely sure, but the peeling Beatles shirt he's wearing under his hoodie looks at least thirty years old and the black material of the fabric has turned grey – probably from washing it too often. The previous owner obviously loved it lots, and no willing father would let their high-school son wear their favourite shirt. Total mama's boy, as a result of it – the patches say it all. She doesn't think he has a girlfriend. Or boyfriend. He would dress a little nicer if he did. Could have an online one, she supposes, but she doesn't really peg him as the type. He's got a Nokia poking out one of his pockets and all his pencils are old and dirty. There's also the fact that the picture on the front of his binder is of him and older woman – Annabeth reckons his mom; they've got the same face shape – and she doubts that would be the picture if he had a significant other.

There's more, obviously. But Annabeth finds out a lot by just sitting next to him - and she's not used to that. She's used to looking at a person and getting their whole life story from the clothes they wear or the way they sit or style their hair. But Percy is complicated - and she likes that.

Look.

Here's the thing with Percy. Percy's cute. Percy is really cute. True to Hazel's word, he mainly hangs out with Grover, a boy on crutches with curly hair and a penchant for wearing nature-friendly T-shirts, and Jason, a boy with sandy blond hair, blue eyes and a scar above his upper lip, but every now and then across the canteen he'll catch her eyes and give her a little, shy smile.

But the thing is is that Annabeth can't fall in love with him – because if he falls too, it's not Annabeth he's falling in love with. It's Lois.

She's a spy, for heaven's sake. Even if by some chance Percy does find out about her, he won't be safe. Neither will she. She's got enemies, and a lot of them, and at a young age Annabeth learnt to distance herself from most people so that her enemies couldn't latch on them and use them as blackmail.

She knows a lot of things. And with a certain someone, that's not a good thing.

Sometimes it's hard, though. Because when she's got Percy whispering things about the teacher in her ear throughout English, his warm breath tickling the side of her face, it's almost impossible to tell herself to keep her damn hormones in check.

That's all it is. Hormones. No attraction whatsoever. Just– just hormones.

Good old hormones.

"Ms Dodds looks like a Fury," Percy says to her in a low voice. Annabeth struggles to block him out. She has to stay focused.

"Shh, Percy, I'm trying to listen."

"Jackson? Watermann?" Ms Dodds looks up from the whiteboard, and Annabeth almost chokes. She really does look like a Fury. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes, ma'am," Percy says smoothly. "Please, continue."

Ms Dodds's fingers twitch, like she wants to wrap them around his throat and throttle him. But then she must remember that he's a student and she's not exactly allowed to do that, because she forces a smile and says, "Thank you, Mr Jackson. I will."

If Annabeth thought Mr Hephaestus disliked Leo, then Ms Dodds utterly despises Percy. Compared to Percy and Ms Dodds Leo and Hephy's relationship is fantastic.

When she turns back to the board, Annabeth hisses, "Thanks a lot, Perce."

"Sorry."

Not two seconds later he slides a piece of paper over.

Annabeth tries to ignore it. She really does. But curiosity kills the cat, after all, she looks down.

She regrets it immediately.

It's a picture of Ms Dodds with bat wings, leathery skin and fangs. It's not done well in the slightest – her body is hideously out of proportion and one of her wings is almost half the size of the other – but Annabeth thinks that makes it all more hilarious. She chokes, and when Ms Dodds whips around to give her a warning look Annabeth disguises it as a cough.

You can't do that, she scribbles down next to it. She underlines do for good measure. You keep getting me in trouble.

Percy just smirks, the little crap. Then he leans over. His breath brushes against her ear and Annabeth involuntarily stiffens.

He doesn't tell her she's beautiful or that he considers her the most amazing girl in the world. Instead, he hisses out a, "Miiiizzzzzz Wahhhh-tuhhh-munnnnn."

Long story short, Annabeth gets sent out of class for laughing so hard. Through the window she gives Percy the middle finger.

Percy also gets sent out of class when Ms Dodds catches him giving Annabeth it back.

Annabeth collapses in Piper's lap when she gets home. "I am ruined," she declares dramatically.

Piper hums sympathetically. She rubs a hand across Annabeth's head, lightly scratching her fingers across her scalp. Annabeth almost purrs. "Oh, what happened? Did you get a detention?"

Annabeth glares at her. "I'm being serious, Piper! I got sent out of class."

Piper snorts. When she catches Annabeth's look, she holds her hands up. "Hey. I mean no judgment here. This is a judgment-free zone."

"Shut up. This is serious."

"That depends on what you got sent out for."

Annabeth closes her eyes and sighs. "It was stupid Percy Jackson."

Piper's eyebrow rises. "Who's he?"

"A buttface."

"Language."

Annabeth tries her hardest to be cross. She swears. "Piper. Be serious for a second."

Piper lets out a little laugh. "Okay, sorry." She twirls one of Annabeth's dark curls around her finger. "How's your leg healing up?"

"Okay. No one's noticed the limp yet."

"You do realise that you don't have to hide it. You can just say you fell over."

"Training, Piper."

Piper rolls her eyes fondly. They stay in silence for a while.

"Tell me about this Percy whatsit, then," she says. "What's he like?"

Annabeth hums. "He's cool," she says.

"You're gonna have to give me more than that, Chase."

"I don't know, Piper. He's– he's nice to me. We sit next to each other in English. He makes me laugh."

"Is that what got you sent out?"

Annabeth hides her face in shame. "Yes."

Piper cackles. "Oh, that's brilliant."

"Stop laughing at me! I'm meant to stay under the radar, not get sent out of class. Do you know how bad that will look?"

"Annabeth, relax." Piper starts running her fingers through Annabeth's hair. Annabeth's always been a sucker for that, and she settles her head against Piper's shoulder. "It's all part of the teen experience, right? Everyone gets sent out of class. It would be weird if you didn't."

"But– but Lois is meant to be good."

"Trust me, Annabeth. Getting sent out of class is positively angelic. It would be a different matter if you got expelled for disembowelling a kid during lunch, but you got sent out of class for laughing once. It's fine."

"I don't feel fine."

"Well, you're a little Negative Nelly, so I honestly wasn't really expecting anything else."

Annabeth pinches Piper's ear. "Rude."

Piper just laughs. Gently, she tugs at one of Annabeth's curls. "Percy sounds cool," she says after a while.

" 'You're gonna have to give me more than that, McLean.' "

"Shut up, you cow."

Annabeth giggles a little. "He is. Cool, I mean."

"Do you like him?"

"Yeah."

"No, I mean, like, like-like."

Annabeth snorts. "What are you, five?"

"That wasn't a no."

"It wasn't a yes, either. I don't like Percy like that."

"Are you suuuuuurrrrrre?"

"Yes."

"Oh." Piper deflates. "Well, that's uninteresting."

Annabeth smiles. "Get used to it."

They sit in silence for a bit.

"Just saying, though," Piper adds, "if you do end up getting together I called it from Day One."

"We're not going to get together, Piper."

Piper shuffles around so she's looking Annabeth right in the eyes. "Your body language says otherwise."

Annabeth groans. "For heaven's sake, don't Study me."

Piper smirks. "You're sweating a little. Sweating is a sign of nervousness – or extreme heat or exercise, but ever since you got home you've just laid on top of me like a blanket and you're wearing just a thin long-sleeve and I haven't turned the heating up so those two possibilities are ruled out. You're also squeezing your hands into fists– no, don't unclench them– stop, Annabeth, I'm trying to Study you – which, again, shows nervousness, or that you're trying to stop yourself punching me. And the only thing I've been teasing you about is Percy. If you really didn't like Percy then you wouldn't care. Also–"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it, shut up."

Piper leans back against the couch triumphantly. "I told you."

"I still don't like him like that. I've only known him for a few days. That's not enough time to obtain a crush."

"Love is timeless, Annabeth."

"It's definitely not love."

"Also, love at first sight."

"Shut up, Piper."

A/N: (if anyone has listened to dirty laundry by all time low and it did the same to you as it did to me then pm me we can discuss the beauty that is alex gaskarth's vocals and lyricism holy hell that song is incredible)

Anyway, I hope you guys liked that. I've come to conclusion that my style of writing is generally just very boring (im working on it promise) so I'm not gooing to put disclaimers saying "sorry this is so boring" because otherwise i'd be doing that every chapter. I want to try and improve, so you guys don't have to find out what happens by scrolling through 4k of endless description. Bear with me until then.

So Piper's arrived woo! I'm actually quite pleased with the way I've written her. I hope you guys like her. I'm also a sucker for piper/annabeth friendship so BE PREPARED, the next few chapters are going to mainly consist of dumb pipabeth #bantz. You will soon realise the extent of Mia Thinks She's Funny.

Also thank you for all your reviews! They were so lovely to read :)))) As always, please tell me what you thought and I'll see you soon xx