Yes, it took me a week. I got homework...and stuff. I read your reviews, and for some reason felt guilty for not updating early.
"I've got another idea!" Nico exclaimed.
"Let's hear it." We were discussing what would be the best tactic to get Annabeth to trust us the quickest way.
"Well, befriending her isn't fast enough. We'd have to hang out with Thalia, and Zeus would have our heads if he saw us fraternizing with the enemy. We have to get her to fall for you!" It took a moment for me to comprehend what he had just said.
"What?"
"Just think about it Perce! You two could get alone together easier, then I just have to 'interrupt' and get the job done."
"Nico, I don't think-"
"It's a perfect plan! It's totally fool-proof!"
"How do I get her to fall for me?" Nico just laughed.
"Be yourself. Girls swoon whenever they see you, they freeze when you talk to them, and almost die when you touch them. I bet they'd faint if you smiled at them."
"What are you talking about? And my teeth front teeth are crooked anyway."
"You can't seriously be that oblivious, Percy. All girls were like that at school today." He was ignoring the comment on my teeth, which was totally true. I didn't want to get braces, because I didn't want to go through that pain. I guess it would go away after, but then you'd get them tightened and have to go through it again.
"What about Joe's girlfriend? And Thalia? And Annabeth?" I pointed out.
"She probably doesn't want to ruin her reputation by dating the new kid two years younger than her, plus she's part of Kronos's army. Thalia's our cousin, if she thought that way...I'd take her to a hospital. And Annabeth'll come around. They all do, especially with your mesmerizing sea green eyes and perfect raven black windswept hair, and your perfectly toned muscles."
"Nico?" I was starting to question his sexuality.
"I got bored in study hall, so I decided to listen to what people were talking about. Gossip is sometimes pretty interesting...Anyway, their words, not mine."
"Whatever you say," I smirked.
LINEBREAK
Ah yes, good ol' Latin class. I already knew some Latin, simple words, like 'hello' and 'cheese'. Who knew Annabeth wanted to learn Latin? Well, I already did, looking through her file and all, but that's not the point. The point is, Mr Brunner is teaching this class. He was my teacher in grade six. He had brown, shaggy hair, and a short beard to go with it, twinkling brown eyes that made you think he could read your mind and has lived since the beginning of time. Not age-wise, but knowledge-wise. He was also confined to a wheelchair, loved Greek mythology, and often wore tweed coats. I didn't know why though, they looked pretty uncomfortable. Like it was constantly rubbing at your bare skin underneath, giving you itching rashes. But that's probably just me. My point is, he's an awesome teacher.
Annabeth was in the second row, and I was two seats behind her. Nico was beside me.
"Hello class. Before I start teaching you, I'd like to see how much Latin you already know, so I have partnered you up. As a pair, you will make a sort presentation on a Greek myth. You will present it in as much Latin as you can. Use english if you must. This is an at-home project, and is to be done in two weeks. Please check the chart on the wall to see who your partner will be. Please write which myth you will decide on beside your names." I like Latin class already.
While everyone rushed to the wall, I stayed seated. Whoever my partner was would come up to me. I hope it's Annabeth, that would make things so much easier and faster. Speaking of Annabeth, I saw her walk up to Mr Brunner, and he pointed over at me. Annabeth came over, grabbed the chair from the desk in front of me, and sat across from me.
"Your that kid Thalia beat up." I blinked. What was she- oh yeah!
"Yeah. I'm Percy Jackson."
"Annabeth Chase. So I guess we're partners. What myth do you want to do? I was thinking maybe the one with Theseus and the Minotaur. Or maybe the Odyssey. Or do you want to do something simple, like one of the gods?"
"I was thinking maybe the one with Perseus. Or Jason and the Argonauts. But if you think that's too hard, we can do Dionysus. I find him being the god with the most interesting background." She glared at me.
"Are you implying I'm stupid?"
"I never said that."
You meant it."
"How?"
"You think Perseus's myth is too hard for me."
"That's not what I meant Annabeth," I stated, but kept on an expressionless face.
"I'm fine with doing the one with Perseus. What do you know about him already?"
"Enough. Whose house will we work at?"
"We can do it at mine, if you don't mind little boys running around."
"We can do it at your house." I didn't want her finding the knives in my room. I keep one under my pillow, under the bed, bottom of the sock drawers, just call me paranoid. But in my defence, Nico hid some too, and I got attacked one time in the middle of the night. I was a very heavy sleeper, I would probably even sleep through a fire. The only reason I was up was because I got thirsty.
"Alright. So how about after school today?"
"Sounds good."
"Which part do you want to do? Mr Brunner said short, and if we put in his whole adventure, it would be too long."
"I like the part where he kills Medusa. You know, to get the head for the king so he doesn't marry his mom?"
"I know the myth. I'll go write it down." She left and went up to the wall, and Nico took her place.
"So who's your partner?"
"Annabeth."
"That's good. Makes things so much easier for us. I'm with Nancy." He pulled a face. "She thinks she's so smart. She thinks she knows so much Latin. I cussed at her in Latin, and she asks if that was French. I swear, she's dumber then a doornail."
"What kind of Latin teacher teaches you cuss words Nico?"
"Athena." Athena taught the members of the MoA Latin and Ancient Greek. Why we needed to know these dead languages, I had no clue. Maybe so we could 'speak in code', or something.
"Well she doesn't teach Nancy, now does she?"
"Whatever. You and Annabeth should work over at Gwen's house, that way, it'll be so much easier to have to deal with Annabeth's family. We could tell them she never got to the house." Oh, damn. Why didn't I think of that? Why did I have to be so stupid?
"We u, sorta already agreed to work at her house," I said, rubbing the back of my neck.
"How could you have been so stupid Percy?" he hissed at me.
"It's just a minor setback Nico. Forget it, okay?"
"Fine. But you'll have to work your charm. I have to go talk to Nancy about what myth. I'll bet she'll make us do something stupid." I was guessing most people would do something stupid. This was, after all, most students' first year of Latin class.
LINEBREAK
Maybe working at Annabeth's house wasn't the best idea. I kept getting distracted by Annabeth's little half brothers, who popped in every twenty minutes to ask Annabeth to play Lego with them, and she would just throw a pillow at the door and they's start running around the house. Then there was Frederick, Annabeth's dad, who would chase them around the house and yell at them to stop running. The smell of freshly baked cookies wafted through the door, and I assumed Susan, Annabeth's stepmom, had baked as a snack. Very distracting.
"Percy, are you even listening to what I'm saying?"
"Huh?" I asked stupidly. She just sighed.
"I was asking you how you wanted to present it. We could do it a variety of ways, like an interview, or a play."
"A play sounds cool. Is there a beach nearby?"
"Yeah, about two blocks from here. Why?"
"Let's go to the beach. It's perfect weather, and we have three weeks to do the project."
"Percy, we can't procrastinate."
"Well we can't waste this precious weather. Come on." I grabbed her arm and dragged her downstairs.
"We're going to the beach!" Annabeth called to her parents. She twisted her arm out of my grasp and walked out the door.
The walk to the beach was silent. It took us about ten minutes to get there, and when we did, there weren't that many people anyway. I saw a pier with no boats docked around it.
"Let's go to the dock."
"Looks like a nice place. Not many people around it." The sand was nice and soft. I took my sneakers and socks off, and let my feet sink into the sand. I saw Annabeth doing the same with her flip flops. It was only like, four in the afternoon, and the sun was shining, but the sand wasn't hot. It had more of a comforting warmth. The gentle sea breeze relaxed me.
Once we were sitting at the edge of the dock, we just dangled our feet in the refreshing water.
"So Percy, why do you like the water so much."
"It relaxes me I guess. It's the only place I can really sort my thoughts and let go of all my problems," I told her honestly. If I told her the truth, she'd trust me more. And with trust, comes an advantage for Nico and I. "Don't you just want to jump in the water?" I asked out of the blue.
"No way. I'm not wearing my bathing suit. I'd probably catch a cold!" I smirked, and pushed her in. She bobbed back up after a few seconds, and her face was filled with animosity. At this I couldn't help but fall back and howl with laughter. When I finally composed myself, I saw the face of Annabeth looking down at me angrily. I stood up, still smiling despite Annabeth glaring a me, with my back towards the water. I was right about her glare. If looks could kill, I'd be dead a thousand times.
"You jerk!"
"Jerk? Is that the bast you can come up with Chase?" I taunted. She just pushed me into the water. I was expecting her to push me in, but I didn't think that she was so strong. I let myself sink to the bottom, and I stayed there for about thirty seconds before letting myself float back up on my stomach. It took about five seconds before Annabeth called my name, worried. When I didn't do anything, she became frantic.
"Percy, stop messing around. I know you can swim! I mean, I think you do. Why else would you love the water so much? Oh God. You don't know how to swim. Percy!" I heard a splash, and felt something tugging the back of my shirt. I let Annabeth drag me to the shore and flip me onto my back. The water was cool, so my skin wasn't warm. She took my wrist to check for a pulse. I still didn't breathe. My record for holding my breath was five minutes, so I could stay like this for another three minutes or so. I was still low on oxygen though, so my pulse was really quiet and barely noticeable. Obviously, Annabeth didn't feel it, and started worrying.
"Oh God, Percy I am so sorry." She started pushing at my chest, and when I did nothing, she started muttering something about it all being her fault.
"I can't believe I'm doing this," she said to herself, her voice trembling. She opened my mouth a bit, plugged my nose, and hesitated before taking a deep breath and and pressing her mouth to mine. I smiled against her lips and she immediately pulled stared at me in disbelief, then anger. I just stood up, pulled off my shirt and started wringing it out.
"Does that count as our first kiss?" I asked, looking down at her.
"I was trying saving your life!" she snapped back, standing up and coming up to me.
"My life didn't need saving." She just slapped my cheek.
"You are such an idiot!"
"You wound me," I said sarcastically, putting my hand over my heart. She seemed to just realize I wasn't wearing a shirt.
"Put your shirt back on. It's dry enough, and the sun will finish drying it. I smirked.
"Why? Is this," I gestured to my bare torso, "bothering you?"
"You know what? Find your own way home!" She stormed off the beach. I didn't know if I ruined my chance of getting Annabeth to fall for me, or if I just got one step closer to it. I slipped my damp shirt back on and and headed home.
When I got to my room, I saw Nico staring blankly at his phone. Something was up.
"Nico? What happened?"
"Zeus. He said we were taking too long. He got bored, and sent Bianca and Hazel to find Kronos's Army's base." Bianca was Nico's sister, and Hazel was their half-sister. "They found it, but they caught them. There was a bomb. She was too late. Bianca was caught in the explosion," he explained in monotone. I saw a tear run down Nico's pale cheek. Nico never cried.
"I'm sure he's lying Nico. Bianca's still alive."
"Zeus never lies."
"It's not our fault Nico. We're still only at two days." Nico just shook his head.
"We got our mission a week ago. We usually only take one day per kill when it's an innocent who isn't suspecting. We haven't murdered anyone yet. And you're wrong. It's not my fault. It's your fault! You were the one who had to get close to her!" Nico's voice had risen until he was yelling in my face. "I hate you! You killed Bianca! And then they'll go after Hazel!" He just ran out, and I heard the front door slam shut. I just stared at where he was just moments ago, shocked. How was this my fault? I mean, It's still only the second day of school! But then again, I could've gone over to Annabeth's house before and told her I was new and start befriending her before school even started. But Nico could've come up with a plan. But maybe it was my fault. I had to make sure they didn't kill Hazel. I owed at least that much to Nico. I would kill Annabeth tonight.
I stayed up until it was 1:07. I grabbed my hoodie and tiptoed down the stairs, making sure nothing creaked. I started my way to Annabeth's house. I was glad my hoodie was black. No one noticed me.
When I got to Annabeth's house, I went around until I saw Annabeth's window, and was relieved it was open. The wall wasn't smooth, instead, some bricks were jutting out. Perfect for climbing. It was much easier for me, because I was trained for this. I climbed the wall, and slipped into Annabeth's room. Her pillow had dropped from her bed, and the covers went up to her waist. Her face and body were relaxed, but her face looked slightly troubled. I decided against using the pillow to suffocate her. I was merciful enough to make her death quick. I stepped up next to her bed, and watched her sleep a few more minutes. I slipped my hand into my pocket, and unsheathed Riptide.
Who watched the Hunger Games? Wasn't it just awesome?
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .
XOsweetPURPLEcandyOX – Yerp. I prefer them cousins anyway...
COWSCOWSCOWSCOWS – Thanks. I'l bet you loved the chapter :)
miami grl – Well...it's only been a week... ^_^'
PercyJacksonsLittleSister – Which part?
Katniss Annabeth Nina 824 – I wrote this just for you :)
Pirate-Spy-Demigod-Wizard – I'm always on my phone when writing e-mails and reviews, and you don't see any mistakes...usually...often...and thanks :D
it's just me – I'll try to go for at least once a week. There was a slight decrease of homework last week, but it's starting up again.
SakuraFlutist – Lol. Thanks
Im a half-blood – Thanks! Kkk.
3 words FAB. – So happy it checks all boxes :)
ChildofWisdom – I was totally exaggerating... S'okay. I always forget. And it gets really annoying...