Chapter Nine: Take Me On
Percy slashed Riptide, and Annabeth deflected it with the flat of her blade. He leaned down to force his weight, trying to disarm Annabeth under it. She fought back; pushing it back and managing to slide pull it away. Percy and Annabeth circled around the arena, eyes locked and both waiting to lunge at any moment. Percy raised his sword over his head, and charged her; but she sidestepped, causing him to do a flip, headfirst into the arena stands. He groaned, rolled onto his back, with his feet still dangling on the railing, "Come on Percy," Annabeth said, "On your feet!" She grabbed his hand and yanked him up, which really wasn't an easy task. The crowd went back to their own fights, and when nobody was looking, Annabeth pulled Percy close enough that his ear was right by her mouth, "If I were you, I'd start getting serious now. After all, you're going to be competing against me." She teasingly ran a finger across his jawline and strolled off, in a seductive sort of way. He grumbled under his breath while propping his back against a practice dummy.
"Percy, I see you're a little…out of practice." Chiron called, galloping over.
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Percy said, sulking.
"Do you need me to catch you up on things?"
"Sure, thanks." This brightened Percy's spirits a little; he was just a little rusty. If he got back on track again, he would be knocking this competition out of the park.
"You know the competition is in a month, right?" Chiron asked, pulling his sword out of its sheath.
"Uh, right…" Percy lied.
Chiron went through various drills, and it all started coming back to Percy. Chiron was observing Percy hack through a dummy, fixing his stance or grip on his sword if it was wrong.
"Now, let's see you fight a real person…Clarisse!" He called, and from across the arena, the sound of the spear sufficed a little. Percy was on friendlier terms with Clarisse, somewhat. They still fought and were nasty to each other once in a while,
"What, Chiron?" A gruff voice called, and Clarisse marched over.
"I'd like you to have a spar with Percy, but please, no spear, get a sword for now." Chiron ordered.
"Fine." She grabbed a spare sword, "Let's do this, Prissy."
"Go!" Chiron screamed, and Percy immediately went in for the kill…
A cut, ripped up shirt, and a bloody nose later…
"Okay…I guess the winner is-Percy!" Chiron shouted.
Clarisse was on the ground, leaning back on her elbow in defeat, "When I get my hands on you, Jackson-you'll be regretting the day you were born!"
Percy tore a tattered piece of his shirt, "I highly doubt that." And walked off.
Annabeth was waiting for him at the exit of the arena, "Not bad, Seaweed Brain."
Percy grumbled, "Good enough for you to give me a kiss?" Annabeth contemplated this a little,
"Come here." Percy said, grabbing her waist and leaning in, and Annabeth met him halfway.
Percy broke away, "Don't try anything funny, Wise Girl. You are kissing the enemy, after all."
"Percy, Annabeth! What did I say about kissing out in the open?" Chiron yelled.
Percy waved a goodbye to his girlfriend, "See you around, Annabeth."
"Bye Percy." She called, running off back to the arena.
Percy was burning up from the training, and needed to cool off a little. Some time spent swimming wouldn't stop that. Percy dropped off his armor, changed out of his sweaty clothes, and put on his swim shorts, which clung to him a little from the lingering sweat. Percy tossed on a camouflage tank top, and slammed the cabin door shut. That got some attention, the attention of a small herd of Aphrodite girls. They giggled and waved to him, and he nodded to them awkwardly. Percy continued making his way towards the dock, and saw that it was already occupied by Grover and Juniper; they had a stereo radio blasting the Beatles. Percy ran down to the beach, where it was much, much more peaceful; free of flirtatious Aphrodite girls, a giggling couple, or a plotting Annabeth. He put his hands behind his head, and shut his eyes; making the sound of the waves softly lapping the shore even more relaxing.
"I thought I'd find you here, Percy." Percy's eyes shot open at the sound of his name, looking in the direction of the voice. Walking towards him was Annabeth, holding a basket of some sort.
"Hey Annabeth." He tried to paint on surprise over his suspicion.
"I brought us some lunch, want some?"
Percy panicked in his head. Did she do something to the food?
"And no, I didn't do anything to the food." She sighed, rolling her eyes as well.
"How did you know?"
"Know what, Perce?" She chided, unpacking the food.
"That I was thinking you snuck something into the food?" Percy tilted his head side to side, cracking his sore neck.
"Percy, just because we're competing against each other in a month, it…it doesn't mean I still don't love you." She said this while continuing to unpack the food, head down.
"Hey." He put one hand over hers, and tipped her chin up with his other hand, "You know me, I take these things seriously. But that doesn't mean I'm going to cut you off from me." He moved his other hand with the one already holding up her chin so she would look up at him, "Don't ever think like that, Annabeth."
Her lips formed a smile, and she laughed a little bit, "Oh, Percy." Their lips crashed together, and due to the surprise from Percy, a huge wave leapt over the rocks on the shore, making the kiss even more dramatic. They both broke away, and laughed simultaneously. Annabeth unpacked the rest of the food, handing a sandwich, can of Coke, and a small bag of chips to Percy. He patted the sand next to him, and Annabeth sat down beside him. They both watched the waves roll in, recoil, roll in, recoil…
When they finished eating, they laid down together in the sand. Annabeth was reading a novel, Percy slumbered a little; in the distance, Christina Perri's Arms played. Overtime, it lulled Annabeth to sleep with her boyfriend.
:)
That was fun writing, like most chapters.
I checked my e-mail for the first time this year (yeah, I don't check it that much) and I found all the people who have added my stories to their favorites. I'm sorry I haven't acknowledged you guys yet, but thank you-thank you, thank you, thank you. You guys are the best. Finding that just about made my day. I'm sorry that I haven't updated in a while, I've been busy and stuff *cough cough writer's block cough cough*
Man, I'm loving this Southern weather. I used to live in Maine, so it was like winter until June. Down South, it's like springtime right now; I'm tired of snow now! And to be honest, Southerners are WAY over-itemized, whatever you want to call it. Sure you've got your Bud' loving rednecks, your good ol' boys, hillbillies, etc. but everyone else is okay, really. And I probably don't notice it, but I may have a slight accent now 0.0
I did something pretty funny to my friend Greg yesterday. We were sneaking around this pond sort of thing by the development I live, and it was super windy out, so we were going to try to make a kite out of all the garbage over there. So badass, right…I was kidding, not really . And my friend found a piece of cardboard in the water, and couldn't get it out. So he walked down and tied it to some string. My sister dared me to corndog him, and for those of you who don't know what that is, it's like kneeing someone from the back between their legs; I've gotten corn-dogged before, believe me. So I snuck up behind him, and got him. He fell into the water, cursing and stuff. And just because the weather's pretty nice here, doesn't mean the water is…so half of his body was soaked, while the other was dry (kind of like Two-Face). Little did I know, his phone he got for Christmas was on the damp side, oops; but luckily it still works?
Either way, he said he's going to get payback, so I've got to watch out…
So, I will try to update soon, but like I said, I've got math tutoring now.
See-ya!
~iGwyn12