I know this is going against the series, but trust me, you'll get your demigod goodness soon. :]

Saturday

Two days later I stood on the sidelines, cradling little Winnifred Agnes to my chest and ignoring her cries as I screamed encouragement to Percy until my throat hurt. I couldn't hear her over the rest of the crowd anyways, they were all yelling and jumping up and down with excitement as our high school soccer team scored goal after goal after goal against the neighboring town.

"Go Peter Pan!" I shouted, and leapt into the air as he kicked the ball into the net once again, nearly dropping Winnifred.

"That's terrible parenting." Alex commented from beside me. I glared at him.

"At least I know where my baby is. " I shot back. Alex hadn't touched his doll since the day we were given the assignment. Luckily for him, he had an obsessive compulsive control freak named Summer for a partner and hadn't been asked to take part anyway.

"Summer has me paying child support." He said with a shrug. I shifted the doll in my arms and attempted to shoot him a questioning look without taking my eyes off of Percy on the field. He had the ball again and was barreling toward the goalie, looking very hot all sweaty and determined I might add. Someone from the other team got in his way so he passed the ball to Christian, who shot it swiftly into the net. Alex and I erupted with cheers along with the rest of the crowd. I tried to clap, and Winnifred slid out of my arm. I caught her by the ankle making her break out into an ear splitting wail.

"Fuck." I muttered and started patting her back and shushing her. Alex took a moment to remove his sweatshirt carefully; probably so his Tic Tac's wouldn't tumble out of the pocket. It was auspiciously warm out that day, perfect for the game, and everyone was clad in t-shirts and some were even in shorts,Alex had only worn a sweatshirt so he could hide his bloodshot eyes with his hood until they cleared up.

He set it aside on the ground by his feet and cupped his mouth to shout at Percy, Luke and Christian, "Go, mother fuckers! Pandoseph!" He whooped loudly in my ear then turned to me, "Summer likes yellow gummy bears."

"What?"

"Every day I buy a bag of gummy bears and pick out all the yellow ones. That's my child support payments."

"Sounds like a lot of gummy bears." I turned around to dig through my messenger bag behind me and pulled out the electronic bottle. I pressed it against Winnifred's mouth to "feed" her.

"It is." Alex stared down at the quieted baby with what I can only describe as pure fear, "But it's worth it."

"You're such a loser, Alex." I sighed.

"That's my baby!" Percy shouted from the field. I looked up to see him dancing around in the middle of the field, pointing at me. I felt a slow but fierce blush creep up my neck and glanced around at all the people now staring at me. Some looked very judgmental, probably assuming the feeding bundle in my arms was a real baby. I waved quickly at Percy who blew me a kiss and took off after the ball.

"It's all he talks about lately." A woman's voice said behind me. I turned around to see Percy's mom smiling at me.

"Hi, Mrs. Jackson. How are you?"

"Fantastic, Sophia. Hello Alex."

Alex smiled and looked away to hide the redness in his eyes. Percy's mom didn't even notice.

"Percy's absolutely smitten with the idea of you being the mother of his baby."

I felt the blush intensify and I glanced down at Winnifred, "Really?" I laughed to cover my nervous excitement.

"Yeah, he keeps telling me how you're a natural. How he thinks you look so beautiful when you sing to it. I mean I have to remind him that it's just a pretend assignment for class and that you're not really married." She laughed, "Although I will say the thought does have its appeal for me as well." She gave me a quick wink.

I rolled my eyes but couldn't remove the massive grin from my face. The crowd, once again, went up in a simultaneous cheer and I shot a look to the game to see Percy with his arms in the air, turning away from the goal. Christian and Luke along with some other teammates ran up to him and slammed their stomachs together or leant their foreheads against each other's and screamed. Boys are strange creatures.

"So where's Percy's step-dad?" I asked, turning back to his mom with a smile. The look of happy contentment faltered on her face for a fraction of a second before she answered.

"He couldn't make it." She said softly, and covered the awkward answer with a cheer, "Go Percy!" She hollered. Percy turned mid jog and waved at her, not missing a beat in the game. I studied his mother for a minute before brushing off the weird, sick feeling I got when she told me he "couldn't make it". Percy's step-dad always missed his games for a bad reason. Alex nudged my side and when I looked over he gave me a questioning look. He didn't like this either.

We won the game, more than double the opposing team's points, and the group of us went out to eat to celebrate.

"You guys were so great today." Marissa gushed and pressed a kiss to Christian's cheek. He, Percy and Luke were all sticky and smelled like sweat and mud. But I didn't protest when Percy squished into the booth with me and Alex, pressed against me, his bare knee touching my covered one. In fact I was more than happy for the hot, sticky contact.

"Thanks, baby." Christian wrapped an arm around her shoulders and she immediately pushed it off.

"Okay, Christian I love you and all, but you stink."

"Ouch." He stuck out his bottom lip and leaned on the table. We all laughed and I pretended not to notice when Percy put his lips around the straw of my peppermint milkshake.

"Dude, it was a really kick ass game though." Alex said, popping a French fry into his mouth.

"Yeah that means nothing coming from you, stoner boy." Luke joked. Alex stopped, mid bite, a fry hanging out of his mouth and stared at Luke.

"I resent that." He mumbled, "I was only slightly high."

"Yea guys, geez, cut him some slack." I defended him.

"Thanks, Sophia." He said.

"Your're welcome." I dipped a fry in Percy's chocolate milkshake and ate it, "I mean, if he needs to smoke a little every now and then to calm his nerves, it's no big deal, ya know it's really hard being vertically challenged, isn't it Alex?" I smiled at him. Everyone burst into laughter but Alex, who just stared at me, open mouthed.

"I'll remember that, Sophia Rose Martinelli."

"Ooo he busted out the full name on you, Soph, I think that means it's serious." Christian laughed.

"As serious as a gastric bypass." Alex did a ghetto head bob and snapped his fingers. All I could do was snort and laugh so hard my stomach hurt.

"Sophia, don't speak." Marissa reached across the table and patted my head.

"Yea, Soph, just breathe." Luke laughed. I finally finished laughing and sat up, wiping at the tears that had formed in the corners of my eyes. I turned and looked at Percy, who was smiling at me. He wiggled his eyebrows and winked suggestively.

"Do I get a congratulatory kiss?" He asked. I let out a strangled, nervous laugh.

"Right, Percy."

"So that's a no?"

"That's a hell no." I picked up a French fry to distract myself from the cute pouty look he was giving me.

"Come on, Soph, you know you want to."

Ha, you don't know how right you are.

"Oh give him a kiss, Sophia." Joe took a large bite of his burger, "It's your duty as the best friend."

"Yea in the absence of the girlfriend, you take over all the girlfriendy things." Luke helped encourage. Despite the fact that Percy and I had officially put that whole birthday fiasco behind us, I still didn't like the mention of Annabeth.

"Like congratulatory kisses." Marissa joined in. I glanced at Alex, who shrugged and busied himself with the napkin holder.

"Okay, fuck them, fuck Annabeth, fuck best friend duties." Percy shifted so that he leaned on the table slightly in front of me, "I just want to kiss you."

Those words will forever be branded into my brain.

I stared at Percy and blinked. It was all I could do not to forget to breathe. I swallowed the lump that had quickly formed in my throat when my heart leapt out of my chest, and gave a weak nod. Percy's lips twisted into a satisfied and slightly cheeky smile as he leaned forward and kissed me softly.

It was very chaste, our lips just sort of rested against each other's. But it was amazing. And it lasted a lot longer than I thought it would. When Percy didn't almost immediately pull away, our table let out a slow cat call. They started wooting and whistling and clapping. A smile cracked on both of our faces and Percy pulled away.

"Well now." Christian wore a broad, smug grin as he clapped his hands slowly, "That was intense."

"Oh, shut up, Christian." Marissa scolded playfully, "Leave them alone." She had whispered the last part to him, and she was giving us this look like she knew something the rest of them didn't. I caught her eyes for a split second and blushed madly.

Way to give yourself away, Sophia..

Percy got very quiet the rest of the night, and although he didn't directly make eye contact with me even once, I caught him staring at me numerous times. There was something disconcerting about the look in his eyes. He looked kind of scared and confused. He had never looked at me that way before, and it made me very nervous.

That Night 2:00 AM

Ring

"No, please don't take my poodle..."

Ring

"I swear I won't eat the Jell-O anymore..."

Ring

"Eight spiders..."

WAAAAAAAAAA

"AHHHH!" I sat upright and glanced around frantically. My eyes landed on the screaming baby on the floor beside my dresser. I let out a long sigh, "Oh fuck me Freddy."

Ring

I looked at the phone beside my bed. Then at my clock, "Freddy fuck me sideways."

WAAAAAAAAAA

"Yea, I'm coming ho-"

Ring

"Alright, alright, kee-"

WAAAAAAAAA

"ARGH!" I screamed and flopped back on my bed. I listened to the wailing and the phone for five more seconds before I grabbed my pillow and flung it across the room to hit the doll. Then I rolled sideways and ripped the phone from the hook.

WAAAAAAAAA

"Shut the fuck up!" I shouted at the doll.

"Sophia?" Came the voice on the other end.

"Sorry, Percy, that fucking baby is screaming again." I rolled out of bed and staggered across to the doll. I scooped it up and started bouncing it up and down and pacing across the room.

"It's all good." He sighed. I paused in my pacing, but didn't say anything. I could hear Percy breathing but neither of us said a word. The baby began to settle down and only a soft, hiccupping coo emanated from the rubber bundle in my arms. The sudden silence was freaky.

"Percy, are you alright?" I asked slowly. There was an extended pause and if I hadn't heard him shift I would have thought he had hung up. "Percy?"

"No, yea, I'm alright." He said quickly, "I just...hey I'll see ya tomorrow, Sophia. Let's go to the park with Winnifred, okay?"

I frowned, "Sure."

"Bye, Soph."

"Bye, Percy."

Click

Dial Tone