Oh my gosh. I made myself cry when I wrote this chapter. Poor Percabeth. Please do not kill me, dear readers. I promise it will get better. *sniffle* Here's a virtual blue cookie to make you feel better (::). Enjoy this super fast update!

I am still not Rick Riordan. Seriously. I'm not. And I don't plan on making a cloning device anytime soon, so... yeah. I'm not Rick Riordan. Thanks!

Annabeth groaned and rubbed her head as she reached for the remote control for the television. Her head was throbbing, and her neck felt sore. I must have fallen asleep in the armchair, she realized. And now I have to pay the price. She smiled grimly, gritted her teeth, and set about stretching her neck gently.

Some time later, after she had eaten a leisurely breakfast, Annabeth remembered that she hadn't called Piper as she had promised. Cursing under her breath, she dialed Piper's cell phone. The dial tone made a cheerful bleep-bloop noise. "You have reached the mailbox of Piper. Either I lost my phone somewhere, forgot to charge it, or I'm asleep or something. Otherwise I'm avoiding someone because I hate them. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE, IF THIS APPLIES TO YOU. If I don't hate you, please leave a message after the beep. BEEP. Ha, just kidding. I'm so mean. Record your message after the next beep." Annabeth laughed as the actual beep sounded, and quickly said, "I'm not leaving a long message right now, Pipes. I fell asleep early last night, and forgot to call. Forgive me? I'll see you later, if you want. I'll start planning your wedding tomorrow, so I'll need Per... Mr. Jackson's phone number. Thanks, Beauty Queen." Annabeth snapped her phone shut, and glanced at the clock. It was 10:00 AM on a Saturday. Piper might not have woken up yet. Annabeth sighed, staring out her window at the beautiful day outside. I might as well take a walk in Central Park. Maybe I'll start some designs for the wedding, she considered, pulling on a leather jacket over a simple outfit of jeans and a t-shirt. She grabbed her backpack and locked the door behind her.

It really was a beautiful day outside, Percy thought. A wonderful day to walk around and distract himself from thoughts of Annabeth. He decided that he would go crazy sitting inside all day long, with his noisy thoughts his only company. I won't let such a beautiful day go to waste, he declared to himself silently. I'm going to take a nice long walk. If that doesn't distract me at all, I don't know what will.

Annabeth was walking along a narrow path in the woods. It was less of a path than a little trail behind a bush that Annabeth and Piper had discovered a few years back, but it was one of her favorite places in New York, hidden away from the rest of the world. She exited the path at her little pond. Annabeth called it her own, because she never saw anyone else there, and the narrow path was the only visible entryway. She was sure that such a beautiful place couldn't have been kept a secret for so long, though. But for now she felt content to sit by herself on a large rock by the little pond and soak in the midday sun, pulling out her architecture ideas and blueprints. She smiled as she began to draw the beginning sketch for a large wedding arch, complete with little bells all along the top. Annabeth knew that Piper loved the sound of the merry bells, and decided to put her own hatred of them aside.

Percy groaned. It was just like him to trip on his own feet and fall headfirst into a bush. Spitting out leaves and pulling tiny branches out of his hair, taking a walk didn't seem so appealing anymore. Once he was thoroughly de-branched, he noticed that he was now on the other side of the bush. His eyebrows furrowed together as he took in the tiny path. He couldn't really describe it, but he felt like some unseen force was pulling him down the little trail, deeper and deeper into the woods.

A large crash in the underbrush startled Annabeth. "Percy?"she exclaimed, too shocked to remember to hate him, watching as he stumbled out of the trees. "What are you doing here?"

Percy looked around, blushing. "I fell on a bush," he admitted sheepishly.

"You fell on a bush," Annabeth repeated incredulously. "You fell on a bush."

"Yeah... and then I found this cool trail thing and decided to follow it." Percy's eyes darted around the clearing, just noticing the absence of people. "Oh. I'm sorry... am I intruding?"

Annabeth hesitated. Part of her was screaming at her to kick him out immediately, but another part of her was quietly pleading with her to let him stay. "It's... it's okay. I'm working on some stuff for the wedding. You can stay if you want." Annabeth mentally kicked herself. Stupid, stupid, stupid, she chided herself. You shouldn't be so stupid.

Percy walked over to where she was sitting. "Whatcha drawing?" he asked amicably.

Annabeth's head snapped to look at him, startled. "A blueprint for the wedding arch..." she responded slowly.

"Can I see one of your other drawings?" Annabeth hesitantly nodded her assent, handing him her least important blueprint for fear he would drop it in the pond. Percy looked at it for a minute, then said, "This makes no sense to me at all, but it looks boring. What are all the numbers for?"

"They are the measurements of the different bearings needed to hinge all of the mirrored wall together," she replied, gesturing at her picture.

"I still don't know what that means, but it sounds really boring. And complicated. But also really fancy. I've heard about your successes, though, so I guess that all of those drawings of buildings you made on napkins during weddings paid off. Complicated as your work may be, you've done really well for yourself, Wise Girl." His eyes were filled with unspoken laughter, and his mouth had curved up into a smile.

"Your head is full of seaweed, but at least you're smart enough to remember that I'm smarter than you," she retaliated, sticking her tongue out at the boy lounging in the sun next to her. Annabeth tried not to notice how his eyes sparkled in the sun, the exact same shade as the blue-green water of the little pond. They stared at each other for a minute, and Annabeth averted her eyes back to her drawing. Percy watched silently as she designed the arch with some seashells.

"Ooh!" Percy exclaimed as it began to take shape. "Are those shells?"

"Mhmm," she replied, not looking up from her work. Part of her brain was still considering the fact that he had kept track of her career.

"I love anything to do with the sea. I'm actually a marine biologist. That looks like a great design. Is the wedding going to be on the beach?"

She glanced at him quizzically."This is just an idea, in case Piper wants a beach wedding."

"I can pick the perfect beach, if you need me to. I'm the lead scientist with the beach preservation program."

"The lead scientist of a prestigious program. For some reason, I never pictured you described that way," Annabeth said, a smile inadvertently spreading across her face.

"I guess I never looked like the scientist type. Should I have gotten nerdy glasses?" This time Annabeth couldn't surpress a little laugh. Percy's face lit up at this.

"Once a Seaweed Brain, always my Seaweed Brain," she shook her head, smiling.

"My Seaweed Brain?" he asked quietly, a faint smile on his lips. Their eyes met, and a blush crept up Annabeth's neck. Stupid, stupid, stupid, her brain chorused. You shouldn't have let him stay.

Percy slid closer. Annabeth sat unmoving in the sun. "Annabeth?" he whispered. "Is that what you said? My Seaweed Brain?" Annabeth's eyes opened wide in shock. Did I really say that? she wondered. Is this happening? All of a sudden, Percy's lips crashed onto hers. But Annabeth didn't pull back. The slight taste of salt, the light scent of the sea... Somehow Annabeth felt at home in his arms. But suddenly memories of that fateful night at Percy's mother's wedding flashed before her eyes. "I wanted to see if your eyes could look even scarier than they already are!" Percy's voice echoed in her mind mockingly. She saw her younger self sprawled on her bed again, still in her evening gown, tears pouring down her face. Piper's face came into view."He was your first kiss, wasn't he? And he broke your heart," she whispered. Annabeth pushed away, her eyes wide. "Hope it didn't taste like seaweed," Percy smirked.

"Don't," Annabeth said, turning away.

"Look, I know probably shouldn't have kissed you. It just happened. But it didn't mean anything, so-"

"Go."

"What?"

"Go away."

"Annabeth-"

"Leave." She turned to face him, her eyes filled with pain. "Please leave," she whispered. Percy opened his mouth to say something, then, seeing the expression in her eyes, decided against it. He nodded silently. Annabeth waited until Percy's figure was out of view before breaking into tears.

She packed her blueprints away, the pencil marks blurring as she cried. Zipping her jacket tightly around herself, Annabeth pulled out her phone and wrote a short text to Piper, reading: I'm at my special spot. Please come. I need a friend.

When Piper arrived at the little pond, her heart practically broke in two. Sitting alone on a rock by the shore, Annabeth- the strongest person she had ever known- was curled around herself, crying silently. Piper did not say anything. She simply sat down next to her best friend and wrapped her arms around her in a hug. When Annabeth's shoulders finally stopped heaving with silent tears, Piper asked quietly,"Was it..."

"Yes," came the hoarse reply. "Everything is always Percy Jackson's fault." Annabeth slowly sat up, and Piper felt the urge to back away. It was't because of the red ringing her eyes. It wasn't the streaks down her face where tears had made their paths. It was murderous look of hatred within those red, puffy eyes that frightened her. Annabeth stood up, and wiped her face. She stood eerily still. "Perseus Jackson," she started in a scarily calm tone. "is dead to me."

After Piper drove Annabeth home, she sat in her car outside her apartment for a while. She wondered what Percy had said or done to invoke the evil rath of Annabeth. But she also knew that whatever it was had to be fixed, and soon, because Percy was the only person who could break down the walls surrounding Annabeth's heart. Because he was the one person, that special person, who had stolen Annabeth Chase's heart so long ago, and rescued it from being made of stone.

Annabeth sat in her favorite arm chair, cold rage filling her entire being. How dare he. How dare he have the audacity to kiss me, and say that it didn't matter? He didn't feel anything in that kiss? No sense of belonging, love, or even passion? She felt the childish urge to start bawling again, and suppressed the need to scream. Her brain no longer needed convincing. Her heart wasn't so sure, but she decided to ignore only feeling she felt towards Perseus Jackson was complete and utter loathing. Wedding bells started to ring on the television set next door, mocking her and her sorrow. "I hate him," she screamed into a cheap, mud-colored decorative pillow. She punctuated each word with a punch to the pillow "I (smack) hate (smack) Perseus (smack) freaking (smack) Jackson. (extremely large smack)" She looked at the shredded remains of the pillow, and whispered one word: Percy. She started to cry once more, and this time she didn't stop herself.