Story Name: The Iris Network

Author: turquoiserainlilies

Disclaimer: Do not own Percy Jackson or anything related, just the plot (really, not even that original). THANKS RICK!

Summary: He's a gamer. She's the Queen Bee. Percy struggles with unwanted fame from his father. Annabeth can't forgive her best friend for falling in love. Living miles away doesn't stop two people's fate from meeting, after all, the best thing to fall in love with are someone's words. AU!AH.

Chapter: 3 of 22

greek3fire i

new york city 12/02/13 16:24 utc-5

percy jackson

greek3fire: Yet your still here

cabin6girl123: Only because I have nothing else to do

greek3fire: Ouch

greek3fire: You're still there?

cabin6girl123: Yup, twenty other people asked me if I was cabin5girl123 and what's my demigod's stat, I'm changing my user name

greek3fire: That's what you get for using a videogame name

greek3fire: Heh, that rhymed

cabin6girl123: Seriously?

greek3fire: Ya

greek3fire: So change your name

cabin6girl123: What to?

greek3fire: I'm a stranger, you would you ask me?

cabin6girl123: A second opinion is always good, though I'm not sure why either

greek3fire: I'm calling you wise girl, you can start from there

cabin6girl123: Sure, like I'm going to make my username wisegirl

greek3fire: Of course you can't, it's already taken

Percy was having a really bad day.

Not the kind of bad day that people have when they fail a math test, or have to deal with their annoying ex-girlfriend, or forget to bring a lunch. It was the kind of day that ALL THREE HAPPENED AT THE SAME TIME! He had forgotten the lovely ham n' cheese sandwich that his mother so carefully make for him the morning, got a big fat C- on his algebra quiz (actually an improvement, but of course dad wouldn't love it), and to top it all off, Reyna won't leave him alone.

When Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano first asked him out, Percy was thrilled. What more could he want from a girl? She's über smart, super-hot, and not a bad kisser (among other things they did together), though there was a major issue with their relationship...Percy didn't really like her. Sure, she had all those qualities that Percy usually looked for (beautiful mind and body), but a major downside cam in the fact that Reyna was just a little too obsessive.

They broke up in the beginning of senior year, it is currently December, Reyna still wanted him back. Her latest idea was to trap him when he is the most vulnerable, after a swim team practice when he was tired to the bones.

"Hey Percy!" She smiled prettily as he stumbled out of the change room (Coach Hedge took no mercy on them that day), "You're looking really good."

Percy grimaced, though it wasn't everyday a pretty girl told Percy he looked alright (trust him, if it was any other girl, he would've drooled like he did when he slept), Reyna was an exception. He could have bed-head and bad breath and Reyna would still tell him that he looked like Leonardo DiCaprio (totally wrong, DiCaprio's got the golden boy look, Percy is anything but), the answer to that question was simple: Percy was stinkin' rich.

That Poseidon Inc. with all the major cruise ship and anything water related? His, well, it could be Percy's if he actually had a good relationship with his dad. It sucked because Poseidon basically left him stranded in the worst part of Manhattan with his mom until he was twelve, and then suddenly demanded that Percy took his study seriously so he could become Poseidon 2.0, Percy's worst nightmare. His dad wasn't a bad person, he just sucked at being a dad.

Reyna, however, didn't care if Poseidon was a mass murderer, as long as he had the money. Percy was sure that this was the reason she was still hung up about him. He remembered the conversation he had with her earlier that year about their dad...

"Reyna, I need to tell you something, and it may change our relationship." His heart had been hammering, Reyna looked over at him with her wide brown eyes, Percy gulped.

"Whatever you say sweetie, I will always love you." Pretty bold for a 16-going-on-17 year old, but Reyna was all about the theatrics.

"My dad..." Percy murmured, they were laying over the grass in Central Park, a picnic done between the two and a towel under them, pretty romantic actually, if Percy can actually enjoy it, "He's Poseidon."

Silence...absolute silence.

Then laughter.

"What?" Percy sat up, looking at Reyna from above, tears were actually coming out of her eyes from laughter.

"Of course I knew that!" Reyna laughed herself silly, "Honey, you don't think that I did a little research on you before we started dating?"

No...Percy thought, that was a bit creepy..

So that should've been his wake up call, the fact that the girl did research on him was definitely not normal. Whatever, Percy was still too stupid and too in love to care. Reyna didn't care if his dad was the richest businessmen in the east side of America, great!

Actually, she did, and this was how he found out.

"So what are we doing this weekend?" Reyna called him up a Friday afternoon, as Percy struggled to complete his Algebra homework, and still failing miserably.

"Maybe not, Rey-Rey, I've got a lot of homework." He frowned. Percy didn't like working just like the next guy, but dad was going to kill him if he didn't score at least a B, "Maybe the next?"

"I heard there was an art gallery downtown." She put in casually, as if she didn't hear the part about homework, "That sounds awesome."

"And how do you propose we get to that art gallery?" Percy sighed, "It's got to cost like a bazillion bucks."

"I'm sure your dad can swing something, right?"

The next day, Percy put on a monkey suit, with Reyna in his arm, and Poseidon proudly patting him on the back as he was shown off to the rest of the world. Great, the New York street rat was the new future CEO of the biggest cooperation in the Eastern United States world.

They made the headline's the next day, Reyna was thrilled, Percy…not so much.

"Hey Reyna." He said to her in present day, carefully avoiding her grabby hands, because his shirt was still soaked from showering, water dripping everywhere, "Listen, it's not really a good time."

"I miss you." She said earnestly, her coal eyes staring deeply. Once upon a time Percy thought it was the most awesome thing however, how he could never read those mysterious orbs, now he just wished that he can hear what she was thinking, that'd be helpful, "The fight was really stupid and—"

"The fight was three months ago." Percy interrupted, "And you didn't think it was stupid back then."

"I just don't understand why you don't want to do anything fun!" Reyna complained. She was dressed in a floor length gown—Poseidon's new and flasher wife, Amber, took Reyna shopping the previous weekend, "It's a buffet thrown by the Secretary of New York!"

"I don't like secretaries." Percy shrugged, he was dressed in his usual jeans and hoodies combination, "Plus, a tutor is coming over, you remember Hazel right?"

"Right, Levesque." Reyna said that word like poison, "I don't like her."

Percy was confused, Hazel was a senior in their year, and had gotten a 4.0 GPA average while being the head of the Eco Council and Student President, she was very likeable as well, "What's not to like?"

"The fact that she's stealing my boyfriend!" Reyna complained.

"Rey, she's not stealing me." Percy assured, this was crazy. Was Reyna really jealous of Hazel? "I've just got a lot of work to do if I want to impress my dad."

"No, all you have to do is be a pretty boy and go to the buffet with me to impress your dad." Reyna counteracted, "He's super rich, why would he care if you get an A in your finals or not?"

"It's not him, I care." Percy argued. How could Reyna be this oblivious and obnoxious?

"You're going to be a millionaire, twelfth grade calculus really doesn't matter." Reyna deadpanned, grabbing at his hands, "Now let's go!"

Kind of like how she was grabbing his hands right now, twirling her hair with her free hand, "You wanna do something today?"

"Umm…" Percy thought to the Greek Fire game he just got at home (third in the series, Curse of the Titans), and how he was supposed to call Grover right after school (he had a surprise swim meet, Coach Hedged was all about surprises), and his new internet friend… "Can't, a lot of work."

Reyna's face was covered in shadows, "Hazel again? I swear, it seems like she tutors you every day!"

"Not Hazel." Percy racked his brain for an idea, "Bianca, right, Bianca. She's helping me with English."

Reyna narrowed her eyes once more, truthfully, Percy was a little scared, "Right, your new girlfriend Bianca di Angelo."

"Not new girlfriend." He said meekly. B was his friend since he was, like, 13, and even if Percy did want to date her, she has this weird celibacy law. Plus, they were like cousins, "Just Bianca."

"Tell Bianca to take a night off, I'm sure she'll be fine, going to the gym or something." Reyna waved it off. The way she said gym sounded like Tartarus, as if it was unbelievably unpleasant. Bianca did spend a lot of time at the gym, but she just liked exercising, a lot.

"Nope, I promised." Percy lied on the spot. He really hated how Reyna was making him come up with these excuses. He didn't like being dishonest, it was like being a dishonest person, but there was always exceptions…Reyna seems to break most.

"Fine!" She exclaimed suddenly, making one of Percy's swim teammates that just came out of the locker rooms jump, "Just fine! Go hang out with Bianca and Grover and all those other weird kids, see if I care!"

You do, Percy thought dumbly, watching her saunter off. Reyna was giving him such weird vibes. She was totally a cool girl when they first started dating, and sometimes, lately, they were doing alright as well. Like, Reyna would tell him a joke in Physics, or tell Percy not to get the Meatloaf Surprise at the cafeteria, but then these stuff happens.

Girls, Percy thought, they were impossible.

It'll just be easier if he could talk to someone without attachments, or the whole label of relationship over it. If there was someone to whom he can keep some secret from, and they wouldn't care.

That's what internet friends are for.

Percy jogged the short way to his battered building in the poor part of Manhattan. They weren't spectacularly rich, no one in the city could be, but they weren't particularly extravagant either. Sally used most of Poseidon's child support for the rent, while working two part-time jobs to pay for everything else. That's why Percy never asked for much, only the occasional video game that doubled as his birthday and Christmas present, and sometimes new school supplies.

They weren't luxurious, unlike his father.

Percy pushed the thoughts of Poseidon deep into his mind, where his math homework stayed as well, as he plopped down to his bean bag chair. It was almost five, and he still didn't call Grover.

Pulling out the land line, Percy dialed the number that was as familiar as his own. Grover had been his best friend since kindergarten, when he pushed some kid named Octavian off the swing after Octavian pushed Percy off. Lately though, Grover got over his likeness towards pushing people off swings, and started taking a more serious approach towards the environment, joining Hazel's Eco Council while at it.

"Hey G-Man!" He chirped tiredly, "It's been a long day."

"Finally remembered, have you." Grover snapped. He probably had a bad day, stepped on a flower or something.

"Sorry 'bout that, you know Coach Hedge." Percy sighed, his hand reaching to rub his tired eyes while leaning back against his chair, "Trust me, I'd rather play Greek Fire than swim laps."

"Swim meets ends at 4." Grover said, his voice still as tense as ever, "It's past 5 right now."

"I said I'm sorry!" Percy stood up all of the sudden, so this was more than a flower-stepping-problem, "Look, are you free for some demigod action right now? I heard the Curse of Titans comes with new gods, Artemis and Apollo."

"I'm sure you can unlock them without me." Grover's voice was dry, they sent a stabbing pain of guilt into Percy's mind. A click later, and Grover hung up. Percy stared at the phone for five minutes, Grover never hung up on him before.

Bianca was probably busy at the gym (he chose her as an alibi for Reyna specifically because he knew that Bianca was busy as well), his mom is still not home. Grover was his last option for something fun to do tonight, and it looks like that was gone as well.

A ping rang from his phone, it took Percy a full moment to realize what it was. Usual ring tone for an IrisMessage sounded like a shimmering, but for this specifically person, it was more like a train's choo. He doesn't know why, it just does. Percy scanned the list of new IrisMessages on his phone, and felt a sudden panic at the absence of her name, until he saw a new contact pop up, wisegirl6.

greek3fire: of cours u can't, it's alredy taken

wisegirl6: Of course

wisegirl6: Okay, what's up with the spelling mistakes?

greek3fire: What do u mean?

wisegirl6: I mean, I can type with good grammar and correct spelling, what's up with you? Too lazy for spell check?

greek3fire: ever herd of dislecia?

greek3fire: *dyslecia

wisegirl6: Oh

greek3fire: Ya, do u feel bad now?

wisegirl6: …

wisegirl6: I have dyslexia too

greek3fire: WHAT!

wisegirl6: Good, at least you're capitalizing

greek3fire: U can't be dyslesick, your spellin is perfect

greek3fire: I think it's perfect

wisegirl6: Autocorrect much?

greek3fire: They always change my wrds weirdly

wisegirl6: That only happens on TV

greek3fire: Nah! It's true!

wisegirl6: Whatever

greek3fire: Talk to u l8r wise girl

wisegirl6: Like my name change, do you?

greek3fire: Very much

wisegirl6: Since you know how I got my nickname, wanna tell me your story?

greek3fire: Greek Fire the video game, not much 2 tell

wisegirl6: lots of fans, I imagine TIN is crowded with them

wisegirl6: how did you get such a good username?

greek3fire: 1 of the 1st, the originals

wisegirl6: cool

greek3fire: u don't really care, do u?

wisegirl6: I tried…

greek3fire: Well, since u know my nickname 4 u, how bout ur nickname 4 me?

wisegirl6: Tell me more about yourself, I guess

greek3fire: Ehh…I like the ocean?

wisegirl6: That's deep

greek3fire: It's hard to come up with something in the moment

wisegirl6: I can't come up with a nickname at the moment either

greek3fire: So much for wise girl

wisegirl6: Alright, how about Seaweed Brain?

wisegirl6: Got to go, dad's calling, talk to you later too

greek3fire: Seaweed brain?

greek3fire: Really?

greek3fire: Hello?

greek3fire: R u there?

greek3fire: Wise girl?

Next Update: December 6, 2013

As always, reviews are welcomed ^_^