A/N: Hey, everybody! I'm trying to get updated as soon as possible. But I've had sixteen hours of travel with no internet, so I've had SIXTEEN hours to do nothing but type. And then I didn't have time AFTERWARDS, even though I just had to write the very last paragraph or so. Yeah… Anyway, here you go!

Percy and Annabeth's Travels Across America in Their Huge RV-Type-Thing

Chapter Eight

We were walking.

And walking.

And then walking some more.

You see, Annabeth had dragged me out of the Country Music Hall of Fame, and we were now walking to only Annabeth knows where.

We had turned left at the Bridgestone arena, and we were now walking up Broadway. We were currently discussing how camp was doing without us. "Nico's probably taken on sword classes and I bet you five drachmas he's sick of it all ready." I said, panting as we trekked uphill. Annabeth laughed. "You're on! I think Nico would like bossing kids around." I grinned.

"Yeah, that's the only part he'll like. I won't be surprised if he's begged Chiron to replace him." Annabeth laughed again, almost tripping over a rock in the processes. I grabbed her arm, stopping her from falling flat on her face. "Steady, Wise Girl. You've walked before right?" She smacked my arm, but I could see she was trying not to laugh.

"I wonder who teaches them Mythology now." Annabeth pondered, staring at the sky. "I'm sure it's Malcolm." I said, "Or another Athena kid." Annabeth nodded, and then started laughing. "What?"

"I just imagined the Stoll brothers trying to teach Mythology." I pictured the goofy, fun loving Connor and Travis Stoll brothers trying to teach a serious class. I started laughing too. We passed an old building. Annabeth stared in amazement.

We had passed some pretty cool buildings. Including the Frist Center, Hume Fogg High School, a couple of churches, and buildings I didn't know what they were. And at each one, Annabeth would stare in amazement, and make some sort of architectural comment.

Sure enough, Annabeth's eye's light up, and she started to talk. "Oh, that one has amazing structure! Just look at it, Percy! Look at the way the arches curve up, and the way the columns are aligned with the-"

I'd had enough. I zoned out, and made a noise and nodded every now and again. "Percy. Earth to Percy. Anybody home?" Annabeth waved her hand in front of my face. "Hello?" I slapped her hand. "What?"

"You weren't listening to me, were you?" The look on Annabeth's face told me: You lie, you die.

I grinned sheepishly "No," Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Whatever, we're getting closer." We were walking past a whole forest of trees. Up a head, I saw that the road turned into what seemed to be a park. "Turn here." Annabeth instructed. We turned, and I saw a sign that said: Centennial Park. We began to walk up hill, and I noticed Annabeth was slightly bouncing with each step…

I grinned, knowing whatever was coming was something Annabeth had been looking forward to.

"You excited?" I asked Annabeth.

"How could you tell?"

"Whenever you get excited, you do this bounce-step thing." Annabeth blushed, and sped up a bit. We crossed a street, and enjoyed the shade the trees were casting down. It was almost impossible to see beyond them, but I could just barely make out a color: tan-brown-ish. The shade didn't last long. We came to a clearing in the trees, and discovered that beyond the mini forest, there was a giant field.

Then both Annabeth and I gasped. I looked over to see Annabeth with her hand over her heart, and grinning like there was no tomorrow. Oh yeah, you're probably wondering what we're looking at. In the middle of the field, there was a replica of one of the greatest Greek building ever made.

The Parthenon. In all it's architectural glory.

Annabeth and I were running full speed ahead to the temple of Athena. Well, the replica of it. I heard Annabeth's laugh soar through the wind.

I looked over to her, and laughed my self. She was running, but every couple yards she would do a skip-jump-type-thing. I started doing it to, and soon the gentle wind was filled with the laughter of two teenagers.

We dashed up the steps, and slowed down. "Wait, we aren't going to turn into some sort of monster, are we?" Annabeth gave me a death glare, and walked up to the doors.

"Umm, Annabeth, you know that we have to in through the other doors, right?" She didn't pay any attention to me. She closed her eyes and smiled. She sighed contently, and opened her eyes again. "Come on, Seaweed Brain." We ran down the steps and went in through other doors. I noticed Annabeth was wearing her owl jewelry, and how the earrings shone and shook as she bounced up to the front desk.

I also noticed a movement in the shadows.

"Two, please." She said, handing the lady behind the counter a Lotus Casino card. (Which had been disguised as a debit card.) I held up a hand. "Annabeth, let me get this. I don't want you to go into more debt. You already have enough has it is. At this rate, it'll be hard for you to pay for college."

"Oh, Percy. That's very nice of you, but I know how sick your mom is. Her need for a doctor is greater than my need to go college." She said, giving me a sweet, sad smile. Good. She's caught on. "Besides, it's only twenty dollars." I gently grabbed the card from her. "No. I'm not letting you get in debt, anymore. No matter how much it is." I put on my best pleading eyes. "I'm sure if I asked my father, he could send some money over seas to us."

"Percy, you and I both know he wouldn't do that. Please, let me pay."

"Annabeth-

"Doctors? College? Debt? Annabeth Chase, Percy Jackson, what the my father have you two been getting into?"

Annabeth and I turned around to face Nico di Angelo. He had gotten taller since the last time I saw him, which had only been two or three months. The last time I saw him was when his dad picked him up from Camp. Annabeth and I exchanged a glance. I gave him a look that said: Go along with it. He sighed. "You two can tell me all about it later. And I'll pay, just like I had to pay for your apartment." He grumbled, and gave the lady, who had been sitting there stunned, a $100 bill. "Stupid millionaire's son." I heard Annabeth mutter under her breath. "Keep the change." Nico said, stuffing his wallet in his pocket.

"Come on, you two love birds." He said, rolling his eyes. We walked into the art part of the building, and a deserted corridor. "Okay. What was all that about?"

Nico said, giving both me and Annabeth looks. "It was Seaweed Brain's idea." Annabeth said, jerking her thumb at me. "Thanks, Annabeth." I said, as Nico turned his gaze to me. "Is Mrs. Jackson really sick?" Now he looked really concerned. I shook my head. "I saw you hiding in the shadows, and decided to put on a show. Why are you here, Ghost Boy?"

Nico shrugged. "Chiron asked me if I could be the new sword fighting teacher –seeing me being the second best sword fighter in all of Camp- and at first it was cool. I especially enjoyed bossing people older than me around, but I got sick of it. And today I got frustrated again, and I shadow traveled my butt out of there."

I turned to Annabeth. "Five drachmas, pay up." I did the universal 'gimmie' sign by curling my fingers into my palm. Annabeth sighed and dug out five drachmas. "What?" Nico said.

I shook my head. "So, how's the trip going?"

Annabeth grinned, and started to tell Nico about everything. Ten minutes later, Annabeth was done. "Wow, I was just expecting a 'Good, we've been having a lot of fun." Annabeth rolled her eyes. "I'm going to go back and read the information. Don't go upstairs with out me!" And with that, she turned to go back to the information exhibit. Nico laughed once she was out of earshot. "I'm going to guess Annabeth looked hot in pajama's right?"

"Hades, yeah!" I said, laughing. Besides Annabeth, Nico was my best friend. We talked about girls, 'fake' fought, and pulled pranks on people almost as much as Hermes's kids. His cabin was right behind mine, and since we were the only people in our two cabins, our schedules were exactly the same.

He was my little brother, and had been since Bianca died. (Beside the point in time when he hated my guts.) I was the only one who knew his deepest secret: That he was madly in love with a certain raven haired lieutenant of Artemis. And he was the only one who knew my deepest secret: That I was madly in love with a certain golden haired architect of Olympus.

"And it's just been you and her on the bus?"

"NICO!"

"I wasn't going to say anything perverted! I was talking about the fact that it would have been nice bonding time! Shesh, man!" He protested. I rolled my eyes and asked him if he's heard any word from Thalia. "Well, no. But she's a Huntress, she wouldn't go for the son of Hades anyway."

"So, you've found a new girl?" He blushed. "No," He said, averting his eyes. I laughed as Annabeth came back. "Nico, are you going to finish looking at the exhibit with us?" She said, draping her arm over him in the big-sister-type-way. "Nah, I better head back before I lose dessert privileges again."

And the next thing I know, Annabeth fell in to my arms, because the small body she was leaning on was no longer there.

There was a sticky note on her back. 'You can thank me later.' I snatched it, and made a mental note to kill Nico later. Annabeth laughed, and stood up. We made our way up stairs, talking about how crazy the son of Hades was. When we got to the top of the stairs, Annabeth went silent.

We walked to the middle of the room, and Annabeth seemed breathless. Another girl and her boyfriend walked up beside us. At first I thought it was a monster, but the I remembered my watch/shield. I had gotten Tyson to make it so that it beeped whenever there was a monster around. My watch was silent, so I figured they were safe.

"I wonder if she really looks like that." The boy said, mockingly. I almost thought that he was a child of Athena, because he had curly golden hair, but when you looked at him, he had dark blue eyes instead of stormy gray ones.

His girlfriend snorted. "Yeah, right, Lewis. The 'gods' don't even exist." She said, rolling her eyes. "Can we leave now?" Lewis laughed. "Lizzie, I promise we'll leave as soon as I get the information I need. Besides, there isn't anything interesting here, just a bunch of ugly and naked statues."

Lizzie laughed and agreed with him. Thunder shook the building, and the two teens looked around frightened. Annabeth casually strolled up to them, and I followed.

"Excuse me, but do you want the building to explode? I suggest you stop making fun of the gods before they blast you to pieces. Am. I. Clear?" Annabeth hissed through clenched teeth.

Lizzie paled, and nodded. "So, you two believe in them?" Lewis asked. Annabeth pointed to the statue of Athena behind her. "Look at her. Look at me. Then look at the door before I make you." Lewis paled too, and grabbed Lizzie's arm. They fled out of there faster than Grover when he smelled enchiladas.

Annabeth laughed, and we finished looking at everything else in the room. For a moment I thought that Lewis and Lizzie had spoiled Annabeth's mood, but she didn't seem to mind. When I asked her about it, she said, "I'm fine, as long as they never step foot in here again."

It was hilarious how much mortals got wrong about mythology, but it was still amazing and breath taking. My favorite part though was Annabeth's face the entire time. She looked so happy, so full of joy.

After an hour in there, we deiced to spend the ret of the day outside, on the front lawn. We didn't have a blanket, so we picked a really grassy spot in the shade.

We leaned against a tree trunk, and talked and laughed for a while. Then I noticed Annabeth's eyelids slowly dropping, and they full closed. Her head dropped on my shoulder, and she seemed to snuggle closer to me.

I smiled, and carefully played with her hair, which was resting on her shoulders. She mumbled in her sleep, and I swear I heard a "Pery" every now and again. I laughed to myself, and before I knew it, my eyelids were dropping.

My own head dropped on hers, and the last thing I saw before I drifted off to sleep was Annabeth's golden curly hair.

When I woke up, I saw that the sun was setting. I felt Annabeth stir beside me, and she sat up, yawning. "Percy, what time is it?" I looked at my watch. "6:30. You wanna go get dinner?"

She shook her head. "No, I just want to sit here." She leaned against me, and I couldn't help it. I put my arm around her. Instead of pulling away, she leaned in closer to me. She looked up at me.

"Percy?"

"Yeah, Annabeth?"

She didn't say anything.

"Annabeth?"

"Yeah, Percy?"

I pulled away to look her in the eye. "What were you going to say?" Annabeth blushed, and shook her head. "It's nothing, Percy."

Are you sure about that?" She hesitated, then pulled me closer to her. My forehead was pressed against hers, and her arms were wrapped around my neck. She looked like she was about to say something, but I cut her off.

I'm sure she didn't mind. My mouth was against hers. It wasn't very romantic in any sort of way, just a kiss. I swear I could feel Annabeth smiling.

We pulled apart, both grinning like fools. "Seaweed Brain?"

"Yeah, Wise Girl?"

"You took the words right out of my mouth."

A/N: YAYAYAYAYAY! Eight Chapter up! Congrats to SisterofArtemis for guessing where they would go correctly! *Shoves a cookie at you* Before we go:

I'm sorry for the really bad kiss scene. I've never written one before.

I hadn't originally planned to do the whole 'show' thing, but I a little carried away. Hehehe… Yeah…

There WILL be more random Nico parts. Because I LOVEZ HIM! *swoons*

The next chapter will just be travel. On their way to Farmington, IL; but, they might stop of somewhere in KY. Maybe.

In the story, Percy and Annabeth are officially a couple. You will see more fluff, but it will stay at the K+ rating.

Please review! :D

Happy Writing,

Lol Fantasy