Chp 7
Annabeth's POV

I smiled as I walked towards school and saw Percy just getting out his car. He looked up from closing his door and saw me. He gave me his dazzling smile and came over. "Hey." He said. I gave him a smile and a hug. "Hi." I said, pulling away and smiling at him. He made me do that a lot now.

"So how was your new year?" I asked. He gave a smile. "I decided not to go to the concert and just stayed home with my parents. We had fun, spraying canned streamers and having a glass of champagne to celebrate. You?" He asked. I just shrugged. "Sat at home, ate Chinese take out, drank hot chocolate. Whoop, whoop." I said, sarcastically. He laughed, making my skin tingle.

We went into school and people greeted Percy, some flirting, some just casual people. When we passed the baseball team, they whistled for some reason. Percy's cheeks looked slightly red after that. When we reached his locker, he said, "So I have a friend on the baseball team- well a couple friends on the baseball team, football team and soccer team that want to ask you out."

I wasn't sure if he said that kind if bitterly or if it was just me wishing it was him that was one of the friends. "Oh, really?" I asked, giving him a smirk. He peaked around his locker at me. "What? You interested?" He asked. I smiled. "Not really but it would be fun if we went around after school so you could point out who is trying to pluck up the courage." I half joked. He laughed and closed his locker. "Deal." He said.

We walked to my locker and he leaned on the locker next to mine while I opened it. "So what did your family do for Christmas?" He asked. I stopped what I was doing and looked up at him. I completely ignored the fact our faces were really close. "Just a heads up - that's a sensitive subject so I'll tell you when I'm ready to." I said.

"Keeping secrets? I thought you guys were best friends?" A voice said, making us look away from each other. There stood Lauren and her goons. "Hi Percy!" She said, her fake nail twiddling her fake colored hair. "It's rude to eavesdrop." He replied. She sighed. "I'm sorry, were you two having a private conversation?" She asked, giving me that look that said back off.

I couldn't stand people like that. So I just closed my locker and said, "Actually I was just leaving. Bye." I walked off, leaving Percy with that mess. As I walked to homeroom and I passed through an empty corridor, I heard my name. "Annabeth, wait." I heard Percy say. I stopped and turned to see him jogging towards me. "What's wrong?" He asked. "Nothing." I said, then turned to start walking again. He caught my arm, bringing me back.

I looked at his hand on my arm, and I remembered when Luke had gripped my arm as I tried to walk away from the apartment. I blinked again and looked up at him. His face softened and he released my arm. "I'm sorry, I just want to know if you're okay." He said. I nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine." He gave me a little smile and slung his arm casually around my shoulders, walking down the corridor. "Homeroom to." He said in a funny voice, making me laugh.

~ Line Break ~

I recalled all the glances I got from the different sports teams Percy had mentioned. I just smiled cheekily as I waited outside for him and spotted him walking down the stairs. He came towards me and gave me a smile. "Let's go." He said, walking with me to the field where the three different teams were doing warm ups and stuff.

We first saw the baseball team, who were doing exercises and warm ups and just chatting about guy stuff. The one guy caught my eyes and whispered something to the others. I caught parts if it. "Shh- Annabeth - play it cool." All of a sudden they start doing these exercises that show them flexing their muscles and stuff. I felt Percy shaking in laughter next to me.

I saw them all huddle in discussion and then a guy was coming our way. Percy shot me a glance and carried on walking down the path out of earshot. The guy came closer and gave me a smile he stopped when he was in front of me. "Hi. I'm Brett. I know we have never met before but I wanted to tell you I think your hot." My smile fell and I gave him an 'are you serious, dude?' kind of look.

His smile slowly fell. "One piece of advice, don't call a girl hot." I said, then walked off to meet up with Percy. I heard the other guys holler as their friend came back shamefully. "What happened?" Percy asked with a smirk on his face. "Hey, I'm Brett and I just wanna say you're hot." I mimicked the guys voice. Percy threw his head back laughing. "Typical guy thing." He said, wiping at his eyes. Next we got to the football guys.

They saw me and started flexing and stupid stuff. One guy, who it guessed was the captain, started towards us. Percy did the same thing. "Hey." He said. "Hi." I replied. "I think you should join the cheerleading squad so I can see that little body of yours in a mini skirt." I stared daggers at the guy, slapped him throughout he face and then walked off to the sound of guys hollering at their friend who got dissed by a girl.

Percy just stood their shaking in laughter and clapping his hand like an idiot. His melodious laugh took the anger away from me. "You're tough." He said, wiping the tears from his eyes. I laughed and said, "I don't like being told to join the cheerleading squad just to be seen in a mini skirt." We chuckled as we carried on till we got to the soccer team.

"The difference here is these guys have manners and are actually quite nice." He said. I watched as these guys did different warm ups. They all started chattering to one another as they saw Percy and I walking along. The one that caught my eye was this guy whom hadn't seen me yet. He was just doing tricks with the ball, testing his reflexes while he dribbled it with his feet and did different things. A guy through a ball at him to get his attention and he looked up.

His face went red when he saw I was looking at him. The guys all moved to the side as he came up to me, his soccer ball in his hands. Percy nudged me and walked down the path and perched on the end of the bleachers. The guy came up and gave me a smile.

"Hi. I'm, uh, I'm in you're homeroom and I sometimes see you in the library. And I wanted to tell you you're very pretty and I think you're intelligent and so different from all the girls around who just want to be cheer leaders and I really like you and -" he paused and I was raising my eyebrows at him with a smile. "Sorry, I'm Jake, and I'm really nervous." I chuckled as he stuck his ball under his arm and gave me his hand to shake. I shook it and gave him a smile.

I could see his friends behind him and the two other teams watching the scene. "I'm Annabeth, and it's lovely to meet you." I said. He smiled and glanced to my left. "Uh, I'm sorry that I just said all that. It kinda slipped out my mouth. And I'm going to ask you if you want to get coffee after my soccer practice and I know you'll say no as you like Percy but that's normal, who doesn't want to date the guy on the swim team with all the trophies and looks and stuff compared to the guy on the soccer team."

I laughed. "Back it up, who said I like Percy?" I asked. He raised an eyebrow at me. "I assumed you did as you already have him wrapped around your little finger. He likes you." He said. I glanced at Percy who was sitting forward, and he gave me a little smile. "And you know, he told me you are a nice person and yes, I would like to go to coffee with you after your soccer practice. I'm not looking for a boyfriend, but I'm looking for a friend. And I'm willing to be your friend if you promise to respect me as a friend." I said.

He smiled. He took out his hand and I shook it. "I'll see you for coffee at Starbucks down the road in an hour." He said. I smiled at him and walked back to Percy. He stood and gave me a small smile, with- was that a bit of bitterness. "So I'm guessing you got yourself a date?" He asked. I rolled my eyes.

"I got coffee but we ruled the line at being friends. Because I am not going to forget my best friend in the world who was nice enough to arrange Christmas pizza for me." I said, nudging him. We laughed as we walked back down the way we had come. The teams seemed to be staring at us as we went down the path, chatting away. "Oh, and Dan still wants to see you in a mini skirt." He said, mimicking the footballers voice.

We both laughed and I shoved him, only making him hold me around the waist and spin me. He set me down and we walked down the path laughing all the way while making comments. When we got to his car he let out a sigh and leaned against his door. I stood in front of him and linked my fingers in front of me.

"I guess I'll be leaving you to watch your new friend play soccer." He said, pouting. "Don't give me that look." I said, chuckling and making him smile. He sighed again and said, "I want to apologize for prying in your personal stuff earlier." I gave him a little smile. "That's fine, I'm just still trying to get back up on my feet from everything. But I promise when I'm ready to tell you, I will." I said. He smiled.

"And I'll be there to help you all the way. So when you need help remember I'm always here for you." He said. I smiled and gave him a hug. I breathed in his salty scent, wishing I could rather catch a coffee with him, but I didn't want to be rude. I pulled away and took a step back. He smiled and got in his truck. He gave me a wave then drove off.