IT HASN'T BEEN A MONTH! You peeps are so gullible sometimes...thinking I'd make it Perchal for the rest of the story. Psh. I made this extra long, because of the wait, but here's the thing. I had more than half the chapter, and guess what. IT GOT FRIGGIN' DELETED! So I had to re-type everything, and I think some parts are still missing. And I was at an over-night camp with my friends for a week, and I'll be busy over the summer, but I'll try to keep updating. Does anybody have an idea for the cover? For any of my stories? And a SHOUT OUT for Katerina Riley, because she was the only one who read my AN in chap 9 (10 on FF) and got the hint that I won't be doing Perchal.
I can't say I wasn't surprised. I started kissing back, but Rachel quickly pulled away. I had a crush on her for a while, and I was expecting to at least feel something when I kissed her, but I felt...nothing.
"I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't have- I'm sorry." She went inside and left me standing in front of her door, still shocked by the kiss. I eventually snapped out of it and went to my car. The whole time I was driving, I was wondering about the kiss. I mean her lips were soft, but it was like kissing my sister. I kept telling myself that it meant nothing.
LINEBREAK
I was trying to avoid Rachel all day, but apparently, we have lunch together. Annabeth, Connor and Thalia were sitting with me (I was trying to ignore them; maybe then they'll let me eat alone) when she came over. She seemed nervous.
"Hey Percy. Could I talk to you? Alone?" Rachel asked me.
"Yeah, sure." I stood up while Rachel set her lunch tray on the table, and we walked to the doors of the cafeteria, which were practically deserted.
"I wanted to talk about, you know. I just thought...I didn't mean...I shouldn't have-"
"Rachel," I interrupted. "I like you Rachel, I care about you. But I only see you as a best friend. I love as a sister. I don't think anything romantic could happen between us. I'm sorry if I was leading you on or something, but-" I was interrupted by Rachel wrapping her arms around me in a hug.
"That's exactly how I feel. I just didn't know how to tell you." I put my arms around her.
"You could've just said it directly. Like me." She unwrapped her arms from around me.
"But you're a boy," she stated, as though it was obvious.
"What's that supposed to mean?" She just smiled innocently at me and walked back to our table, and I trailed behind her. I sat down and noticed Annabeth glaring daggers at Rachel. I looked at Rachel, then Annabeth, then Rachel, then Annabeth, then Rachel, and you get the point. Annabeth took a bite of her grilled cheese, as though nothing was wrong. Rachel was acting as though she didn't even notice what Annabeth was doing.
"Am I missing something?" I asked. Thalia looked over at me, while Connor kept stuffing his face with his food. Rachel and Annabeth just looked confused.
"What do you mean," Thalia replied.
"Annabeth's glaring at Rachel? Why?" Annabeth's face flushed, Connor looked, was that jealousy? Rachel and Thalia shared a looked, as though they knew the reason. Was I the only one who didn't understand what was happening.
"You're such a boy," Rachel answered.
"Hey! What's wrong with being a boy?" Connor and I said in synch. Am I the only one who found that creepy?
"Oblivious" Thalia muttered, covering it with a cough. Why do people have to make my life so damned difficult?
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We were writing about what we had done over the weekend in Latin class. I, of course, was finished early. The only other person in the class finished was Annabeth, and Mr. Brunner was engrossed in his book. Annabeth was attempting to read the Lord of the Rings. I decided not to interrupt. Me? I was planning on who would be who in our project. I would be Perseus, because 1) I was the guy in our partnership, and 2) my name is Perseus. It's only fair. Seeing as Perseus was the lead character, and he would be in all scenes, Annabeth could be King Polydectes and Medusa. That was quick. Now...onto which scenes we are going to do. The first scene could be where Polydectes tells Perseus to get the gorgon's head, the second could be the part where the gods give Perseus the gifts to defeat Medusa, and tell him his next instructions. I guess we could skip the part where he meets the Gaeae. The presentation was supposed to be short, so three scenes would be enough, so the third scene could be Perseus defeating Medusa. I wrote my ideas down on a piece of paper and crumpled it into a ball. Screw not interrupting Annabeth's reading. I looked over at Mr. Brunner to make sure he was busy, and I threw it at Annabeth. I have terrible aim, so it landed on Grover's desk instead. He turned to look at me.
"Pass it to Annabeth," I mouthed, pointing at her. He shrugged and tossed it to her. She turned and glared at him. He put his hands up in surrender, pointed at me, and went back to writing. Annabeth turned her glare to me.
"Read it," I mouthed. After reading it, she wrote something down and passed it back to me. It landed in the middle of my desk. Was I the only one with awful aim? I uncrumpled it.
Why am I the bad guy? Why can't I be Perseus?
At least, that's what I thought it said. I wrote down my two reason, and tossed it back to her, only with the same results as my last throw. After that, Annabeth didn't reply. I looked over at the clock. Fifteen minutes until the dismissal bell. What to do, what to do. I looked out the window and saw a black camaro with tinted windows. It felt as though a pair of eyes were watching me from it, but I couldn't tell. I don't know how long I was staring at the car, trying to pinpoint why it felt so suspicious, but the bell soon rang, and I came back to my senses. I looked around the room and saw Annabeth leaving. I chased after her.
"Annie! Hold up!" Annabeth halted but didn't turn around.
"Don't. Call. Me. Annie," she snarled.
"Whatever Wise Girl. When do you think we should start working on our project?" Annabeth whirled around and looked at me with wide, hopeful eyes.
"What did you just call me?" I looked at her warily.
"'Annie'."
"No, after that. What did you call me?"
"'Annabeth'?" She sighed.
"Forget it."
"Why? What did I call you?" I'm pretty sure I had called her Annabeth, hadn't I? She hesitated.
"'Annie'. You called me 'Annie'," she lied. I dropped it.
"So what about after school today?" Her gaze turned into a glare.
"Aren't you busy?" I was seriously confused now. One minute she's hopeful, the next she's pissed.
"Why would I be busy?"
"Aren't you going to be with Rachel?"
"Why would I be with Rachel?"
"Oh, I don't know," she stated sarcastically. "Aren't you two dating?"
"No...Why would you care anyway? Aren't you dating Connor?"
"No. It's...complicated." She stormed out of the room. Girls are so confusing.
"You've got it bad," I heard Grover say from behind me. I didn't jump, but I was surprised he was able to sneak up on me. That takes skill. Actually, now that I think about it, I haven't been as alert since I met Annabeth.
"What are you talking about?" I felt my cheeks heat up as I realized what he had meant.
"You've been staring after her for at least five minutes." I looked up at the clock. He wasn't kidding.
"I don't know what you're talking about." He just chuckled.
"Whatever floats your boat. Oh yeah! I remember what I wanted to ask you in the first place." I rolled my eyes at him. "You want to come hang at my place?"
"Sure. I got nothing better to do." He gave a sly smirk, which made me question my decision.
"Come around six-ish. I have a Tree-Huggers meeting at four, and have to baby-sit my cousin at five. See ya."
LINEBREAK
Grover's house was only about block from Gwen's so I decided I would walk. I figured it was a bad idea when I saw the same black camaro from earlier today, following me. I didn't show any signs of noticing it, so I took a longer route, going in a sort of circle. I had been walking for a while, so I think I may have been late. I went through an alleyway, and luckily, Grover's house was near it. I continued walking, and didn't see the black car, but I still felt the pair of eyes watching me. I rang the doorbell, and Grover answered.
"What took you so long?" he joked.
"Sorry," I replied. I couldn't tell him I was avoiding some sort of stalker, because Grover would just freak out. Grover moved over, inviting me in. I took off my hoodie and hung it on a coat rack. It was too warm in the house to be wearing two layers, and it's not like I would need any of the weapons. I walked into the living room, where I saw Thalia, Connor, Annabeth, Rachel and Juniper. Juniper had olive skin, big, brown eyes, straight hair that went past her shoulders, elfin ears, and a petite figure. Juniper was sitting in the love seat, Annabeth was sitting on the edge of the couch, Connor sat beside her, with his arm resting on the top of the couch behind Annabeth, Rachel sat on the other side of the couch, and Thalia was lounging on the small sofa with; taking up all the space. I went and sat beside Rachel, and Grover joined us and sat with Juniper.
"So what do you guys want to do?" Grover asked.
"Aren't you the host?" I asked him jokingly. His face tainted red. "I still don't get why you don't have a T.V. Everyone has a TV."
"They use up too much electricity. It's bad for the environment."
"What about a card game?" Juniper suggested.
"Do you have Anomia? I love that game!" Connor asked excitedly. I rolled my eyes.
"Of course you'd love the chaotic games."
"It's a fun game!" he defended. Annabeth looked uncomfortable and confused.
"What's Anomia? How do you play?" Rachel nodded, agreeing with Annabeth, and looked over at Connor,
"Anomia is the best card game in existence. There's a deck of cards in the middle, and on your turn, you take one and flip it over in front of you so everyone can see it at the same time. You're not allowed peeking before anyone else. Each card has a symbol and a word or two on it. One of the words could be something like 'last name' or 'noun'. When another player flips over their card, and has the same symbol, the two duel. Whoever says a word to go with the card first wins, and gets the other person's card. If someone has the card that says 'noun', then they have to say a noun, like 'apple' or something. You guys'll catch on soon enough."
"I'll go look for the game." Grover told us, getting up and going upstairs.
"You've never played Anomia?" I asked Annabeth and Rachel. They both shook their heads. "You guys will love it." Connor looked at me.
"You've played Anomia? When did you have time? Aren't you always busy?" I glared at him.
"I'm as busy as you Connor. We're linked, whether you like it or not." He matched my glare.
"Why do you guys hate each other so much?" Annabeth asked, looking over at Connor.
"We don't hate each other. We just have...differences," he replied, his glare softening into a look of apology directed at Annabeth. She didn't look convinced, so she turned to me, her eyes asking me the same question.
"Why do you hate Rachel so much?" I retorted. Annabeth's face flushed.
"I don't hate her." Rachel shifted uncomfortably next to me. I looked over at her guiltily.
"Sorry. I shouldn't have brought that up," I whispered to her. She shrugged. Grover came back with the box in his hand, and everyone sitting on the couch, love seat or sofa slid down to the floor. Grover came and sat with us, and we started playing the game.
LINEBREAK
After playing a few rounds of Anomia, Grover gave up.
"Let's play something else," he begged.
"You're just saying that because you're losing," Thalia replied.
"You keep stealing my cards!" he whined.
"You're the one not paying attention," she pointed out.
"But it's not fair!"
"Let's just play another game," Connor intervened. "Any ideas?" Thalia, Rachel, Juniper and Grover shared a look, as though they had something planned.
"Truth or dare," Rachel said. Connor, Annabeth and I groaned. "I'll go first." She turned to me. "Truth or dare?" I knew Rachel wanted t know a lot more about me, and she always nagged me about what I did that always kept me in a sullen mood afterwards.
"Dare."
"I dare you to take off your shirt." I raised an eyebrow at her, but took it off anyway. I caught Annabeth staring, but she quickly looked away when I looked over at her.
"Juniper. Truth or Dare?" Juniper thought about it.
"Dare."
"Gurgle milk for thirty seconds with no breaks." She widened her eyes.
"This is a new shirt! Truth! I change my answer to truth I shook my head at her.
"No can do. Could you get a glass of mild Grover? You might want to grab some towels too."
"My mom is going to kill me!" Juniper informed me as Grover got up.
"If you don't want to get your shirt soaked with milk, I suggest you take it off." Rachel punched my shoulder.
"Pervert," she told me.
"Fine. Take my shirt then." I tossed her my plain red t-shirt. She grabbed it but quickly threw it back at me.
"It's all sweaty!"
"It's only water. Our neighbours had their sprinkler on, and I can't resist that, now can I?" She rolled her eyes and crawled back to the shirt. She slipped it on over her floral-print blouse as Grover walked in with a glass of milk almost half-full and a stained towel.
"Why do we need a towel?" he asked.
"You just wait." Juniper grabbed the towel, laid it down and sat behind it, partly on it. Grover handed her the milk. Juniper took a breath, took a sip of milk, tilted her head back and started gurgling. Milk bubbles soon started dribbling down her chin and went down the shirt. Connor was watching his watch, Grover was staring at his girlfriend with wide eyes, and the rest of us had amused expressions on our faces.
"Time," Connor declared. Juniper swallowed whatever milk was left and asked Grover if he had a shirt she could borrow.
"It went down both shirts. And my bra."
"TMI June," I chuckled. She grabbed a nearby couch pillow and chucked it at my head, but I easily ducked.
After Juniper changed into Grover's green button-down shirt, she asked if he could wash our shirts. When he finally returned, we continued our game.
"So Annabeth, dare or dare?" Annabeth looked at her friend suspiciously, while said friend was smiling innocently.
"Truth."
"That wasn't one of the options."
"That's not fair. You're cheating!"
"Dare it is then. I dare you to kiss Percy." Annabeth's, Connor's and my eyes were wide, while everyone else was smiling mischievously. Annabeth must've noticed this too, because she shot a glare at all of them.
"You guys set her up!" Connor accused.
"A dare's a dare," Juniper told her, ignoring the previous accusation. Annabeth muttered some choice words, and I noticed her blushing. She crawled over to me, until our faces were inches apart. I could feel her breathing on my face. I felt my stomach lurch and my heart hammering. I tried slowing down my heartbeat, to no avail. I could only hope no one could hear it. Why was I feeling nervous, I mean, this is Annabeth. My friend. The person I was supposed to kill. I mean, sure, she's attractive, with those calculating eyes and naturally dark eyelashes that made them stand out more, and her soft, pink, luscious li- I snapped out of it. This was Annabeth, I reminded myself. We stared into each other's eyes, both of our faces emotionless. Then she took my hand, not neither of us dropping our gaze, and kissed the top of my hand. Then she went back to her spot on the floor. I exhaled deeply, releasing a breath I didn't know I was holding. Everyone but Connor started protesting.
"You never told me where to kiss him," Annabeth argued. I looked at her with admiration. She's good at finding loopholes. They were arguing for a long time. Annabeth and Connor against Thalia, Grover, Rachel and Juniper. Actually, Grover wasn't arguing too much. He was doing the same thing I was: watching with amusement. About halfway through, Grover went to check on the milky shirts. They were arguing until Connor's watch alarm beeped, signalling that another hour had passed. He looked at his watch and cursed under his breath.
"I should've brought you back half an hour ago. It's already nine. C'mon," he told Annabeth. They stood up and left, and Thalia silently followed. Grover and I stood up and stretched. That argument was long, and I didn't realize how stiff I had become. Rachel came up to me and poked my stomach.
"A six-pack Percy? How much do you work out?" I wiggled my eyebrows at her suggestively.
"You like-y?" I asked her jokingly. I didn't work out; my muscle is a result of my training for work. I also join the swim team every winter for school, so it might also be a result of that. Rachel smacked my arm.
"We've been through this today. I see you as a brother. Anyway, see you tomorrow. I should head home too." She left, and then there were three; Juniper, Grover and me.
"Are our shirts done yet G-man?" I asked Grover.
"Oh yeah, I think so!" Grover limped down the steps into the basement, where I assumed he had his washer and dryer. Of course, with Grover being as eco-friendly as he was, it could've been a washboard and a hanger.
"Thanks Goat Boy," I told him when he returned with my shirt.
"Goat Boy?" I slipped on my warm shirt.
"Well, when you limp, it reminds me of how a goat walks, and you tend to eat napkins or chew on tin cans when you're nervous." He rolled his eyes.
"See you two tomorrow."
LINE BREAK
I went through the alleyway I had went through on my way over. There was a light breeze, but was still warm out; good night for a walk, so I decided to take the long way.
"Well, well well. Look who decided to come by for a visit," I heard from somewhere in the shadows. I drew Riptide and pointed it at the spot I heard the familiar voice. I came face to face with a grinning Matt Sloan.
"What do you want Sloan?"
"Revenge." He put two fingers in his mouth and whistled. His three goons also came out of the shadows.
"You humiliated us in front of the entire school," Marrow Sucker said, taking out his gun.
"So, I challenge you to a fight to the death. One weapon only; no guns allowed. One on one, what do say?" Skull Eater challenged. I took a quick glance at my surroundings. Sloan and J-B (Joe Bob's a mouthful) were covering the only two entrances/exits in the alleyway. Marrow Sucker was leaning on the wall, far enough away to stand clear from a fight, but close enough for me to throw a knife at him. The walls were too high for me to climb; I would be shot before I even got halfway up. The garbage cans were too far away for me to use as an advantage, and the space would be big enough for us to have a decent fight. It would be a bad choice to turn down the challenge, because I would be outnumbered. If this was a gang with innocents, I could take them, but we're talking about members from Kronos's Army.
"I'll accept your challenge, however, no interference from the others." They all glanced at each other and chuckled.
"Fair enough. Take off your sweater, more exposed skin you have, the fairer it is." Skull Eater (let's call him S-E for short) said. He had a sleeveless grey shirt that showed off his buff arms. I slipped off my sweater and tossed it to the side. That's one of my advantages I can't use. No backup weapons, no armour. I gripped Riptide so that I was ready to block. I'm not the patientest person in the world, but I can wait as long as needed for my opponent to make the first move. S-E had a longer blade then Riptide, which would help with his offense. We started circling each other, but S-E soon lunged for the first move. I easily parried his swipe, but he was strong, and he started forcing me to twist my wrist so I would drop my weapon. I gritted my teeth and aimed a kick at his knees. I managed to make him stagger back a step, which allowed me to escape from his plan. This time, I lunged for him, aiming for his right side. Because he was left-handed (I noticed by the way he held his knife) his defense was stronger on his left side. My plan failed when he dodged and managed to twist my arm behind my back, or at least, try to. I head-butted his throat when he was close enough, and he staggered back and hit the wall. I easily disarmed him and held Riptide to his throat. He grabbed my arm and swung me behind him, causing my body to slam into the wall. Damn, he was strong. I noticed my right arm twisted at an odd angle, and when I tried to move it, pain shot through my body. I stifled a scream and took Riptide in my left hand instead. I stood up, ignoring the bursts of pain shooting through my body. I threw Riptide at him, aiming at his heart, but my aim is horrible. I managed to get the side of his shirt stuck to the wall though. I was about to rush S-E, but heard a gun-shot, and felt another pain shoot through my right arm. This time though, I let the scream escape, however, it was muffled by S-E's foot. I guess he managed to pull Riptide out.
"You're about to get killed by your own blade," he whispered to me menacingly. I felt cool metal dig into my skin gently, and I soon felt a warm liquid running down the side of my neck. S-E traced the blade down to my chest. He brought back his hand, ready to plunge the blade into my body, but a pale hand grabbed it instead. The boy holding back S-E jerked Riptide out of his hand and plunged it into his back. I had trouble getting oxygen, and my breathing was ragged. I saw the ghostly pale teenager wearing black turn to Skull Eater, who was holding the gun in his hand. He must've been the one that shot me, the cheating bastard. The emo-looking boy took out his own gun and shot Skull Eater in the chest. He slumped down, his eyes blank. I had trouble keeping my eyes open. I saw Sloan and J-B run into the camaro that had been following me, and they sped away. The boy rushed to me and pushed away S-E's dead body.
"Percy? Percy? Stay with me man, stay with me," he begged. I saw tears glistening in his eyes, and he never cried. Never. I never thought I'd be so happy to see Nico's ghostly-pale skin, black clothes and dark brown eyes.
"Nico...don't..." I coughed up some blood. "Don't...cry," I managed, before the world faded into blackness.
Well, that's enough for today kiddies.
I'll be answering the reviews that have not been generally answered with my previous AN, or the people who I don't believe are reading this anyway...
DaughterofLillyandSeaGod – But it wasn't meant to be confusing *innocent face*
myfabulosity – Yay! No flame! Rachel was just being...awesome Rachel.
ER JENN – THANK YOU for the support. Though I would rather be thrown in Tarturus then write Perchal. And you're crazy if you don't mind reading Perchal ;P And yeah...lots of flames...but I got Leo for that ;) I used the extra flames for...I can't remember o_O
LemonHead54 – YEAH! You is awesome.
sooooooooo - ignore the missing 'o's. I'm too tired to count them. Nah, I ain't serious (as said in previous AN) Fanks ^.^
johnnnyoman – No duh. I hate when people to that. It was just a twist. What would Rick do...HE WOULD TORTURE US BY NOT GIVING US THE REUNION! He's the one that made Rachel kiss Percy in TLO, so that part was the inspiration.
FaTaClanWii – The first one who admits he/she loves my chapter! Yay!
Im a half-blood – Orkey-dork.
Katniss Annabeth Nina 824 – Lol. Though I think it might have been meant as an insult...
The Innocent Little Human – peaches? Do you mean Perchal? Idk. Thank you, oh faithful reader who trusts me :D
Pirate-Spy-Demigod-Wizard – IT HASN'T BEEN A MONTH YET! Me tooo...
Percabeth rocks 4 ever – I was gonna make them kiss in this chapter, have them date, but decided against it. I wouldn't be able to take it.
Olo Eopia03 – I remember yoooouuuuu... thank you.
Katerina Riley – hehe... Thanks for standing up for me :D
todaytomorrowyesterday – No, I don't think so. I can't do all five (seven) books in one story...but in my next story however...
CHAPTER 11 THAT WAS PREVIOUSLY AN AN
Thelaststonestanding00 – Lol
Percabeth Jasper Gatniss – Whatever helps you suck your thumb at night. I went to an overnight camp, and in the dining hall, there are thes artwork things, and they're up on a cieling, and one of them said 'Gullible'! I kept telling people, and they were "Ikr." So you werre obviously not at that camp.
anon – gulliblegulliblegullible. You obviously don't know me. Meh, this is good enough...right?
PJOaddict16 – gulliblegulliblegullible.
New Age Outlaw- Thanks :D
Im a half-blood – MY ANS ARE NOT LOUSY!...okay, yeah, maybe they are. Whatch gonna do 'bout it? I updated...right...NOW!