Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, nor do I own the Bachelor.

Chapter Three

We got the first date card around nine on Monday. Everyone was lounging in the living room, most still wearing their pajamas. The date card would have a one-on-one date on it. The girls were practically shaking with anticipation. I knew I wouldn't have a one-on-one this week, because I had one last week. Amy got up to read the card.

"Okay, ladies," she said, "the moment of truth." She read it:

Kayla,

Let's lend a helping hand.

Percy

Kayla jumped up and squealed, which I thought was a bit of an overreaction. She sprinted upstairs to go get ready, not even waiting for Amy to hand her the card.

"Why have I not had a one-on-one yet?" Kenzi complained.

"I don't know," I said with a smirk, "but I don't think you'd want that one. It probably involves helping the needy." She narrowed her eyes at me.

"What are you trying to say?"

"Nothing at all. You just don't strike me as the type of person who'd enjoy doing something for someone else." She glared at me and I easily held her gaze. Finally she gave up, storming off.

"How are you not scared of her?" Hannah asked me once Kenzi was out of earshot.

"Why would anyone be scared of her? All she is is a bully. She tries to feel better about herself by trying to make other people feel worse about themselves. No one should pay attention to what she says." Everyone was looking at me, and an awkward silence filled the room. We all just looked at each other until Ashley broke the silence.

"We should have a pool party," she said.

"That's the best thing I've heard all morning," Kelly laughed. The awkward air was gone as we all went to get changed.

LINEBRAKE

I was sitting under an umbrella reading when Percy walked onto the pool deck. He was wearing athletic shorts and a faded tee shirt. He smiled at us, and some of the other girls audibly sighed. I rolled my eyes at their deep breathing.

"Where's Kayla?" Percy asked. "And Kenzi's not out here either?" he statement turned into a question.

"Kayla's getting ready, and Kenzi stormed off 'cause she was mad at Annabeth." Melissa explained from in the water. Percy chuckled.

"Alright, I guess I'll hang out with you guys until Kayla comes down," Everyone cheered, and Percy came to sit by me. Some girls looked jealously my way, but most just went back to what they were doing before.

"So why is Kenzi mad at you?" Percy asked me.

"Uh, well…" I hesitated to tell him what had happened.

"What did you do?" he asked playfully. I told the conversation. "She got mad because of that?"

"Yeah. She has a short temper." I stated.

"Do you?" Percy asked with a raised eyebrow. I looked up at him.

"It depends," I said nervously, "why?"

"Oh I don't know… so let's say I were to throw you in the pool?" My eyes widened, but before I got the chance to run away, Percy had scooped me up and was calmly walking towards the water, effectively getting everyone's attention.

"Do you guys think I should throw her in?" Percy asked. The girls yelled their agreement, and before I could utter a word of protest, I was in the water. At least I had on a swimsuit.

"Percy!" I screamed as my head broke the surface. He was standing in the same spot, laughing his head off. He didn't even notice as I climbed up the ladder and snuck up behind him. I gave him a hard push, and he went splashing into the pool, bringing me with him. Somehow he'd grabbed hold of my wrist.

"Percy, I'm going to kill you." I said between laughs.

"Me? I'm the one who has a date today! It should be me killing you." Percy tried to sound mad, but his laughing broke the facade. We were both laughing like idiots when Kayla walked out. She was wearing a sundress and matching heel. I almost didn't recognize her with all of that makeup. She looked pretty, but not like herself.

"Percy?" she asked, "Are you in the pool?"

"Uh, yeah. That's kinda Annabeth's fault."

"Hey!" I hit him in the arm, but he just smiled at me.

"I'll be out in a second." We both climbed out of the pool.

"Kayla, I'm going to take a quick shower while Annabeth dries my clothes. I'll be out in about five minutes. Sorry 'bout this," Percy said.

"It's fine! Take your time!" Kayla said with a smile. I followed Percy into the house. Apparently I was on drier duty. He stripped down to his boxers in front of the bathroom and gave me his sopping clothes.

"This is you punishment," he fake-scolded me. I rolled my eyes.

"Oh please. I'm only doing this because I feel bad for Kayla."

"Yeah right. I bet you're just glad to see my abs." he jokingly pointed at his six pack.

"You wish," I said, though I've got to admit, his abs were great.

"I'll leave my boxers out here so you can get them too after I get in." I shook my head at him, but went to the laundry room to set his clothes down. True to his word, when I returned to the bathroom, his boxers were on the floor in the hallway, and you could hear water running through the closed door. I picked them up and added them to the load.

"ANNABETH!" I heard Percy call a few minutes later.

"WHAT?" I called back.

"BRING ME MY CLOTHES!"

"THEY'RE NOT DONE YET!" He didn't reply, and a few minutes later, he walked into the laundry room with a towel around his waist.

"How much longer?" he asked.

"Just a few minutes," I said with a smile. Percy just looked at me for a few seconds before smiling.

"That was fun," he said. I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, I guess it was."

"Don't sound so surprised." The drier beeped, telling us that it was done. I grabbed his clothes and handed them to him.

"Thanks," he said before leaning down to kiss me. I smiled into his lips and kissed him back. It was a short and sweet kiss. He went to put his clothes on and I went back to the pool.

"What's your problem?" Kayla asked me when I got outside.

"What?" I asked.

"This is supposed to be my day! Stop stealing all of the attention!"

"He threw me in the pool first, for the record. And it's only ten-fifteen. You still have all day. Calm down."

"Don't tell me to calm down! You're just an attention whore!"

"Hey, what's going on?" Percy stood in the doorway, and it looked like he'd heard everything that had been said.

"Let's just go, Percy." Kayla said, "I don't want to be around her any longer than I have to."

"Annabeth's not an attention whore. Like she said, I started it. Lay off."

"Are you seriously defending her? She's a little bitch! Let's go!"

"Kayla, if you're the kind of girl who tries to create drama out of nothing, then you should just go now."

"I'm not creating drama!"

"Kayla, I think it'd be best if you go."

"I hate you!" Kayla screamed at me before she ran away, crying.

"Wow," I said. Percy chuckled.

"I don't hate you, if that counts for anything." That caused some laughter from the other girls. I smiled and shook my head at him. The rest of the day was uneventful. Percy said that the date was helping to paint a newly built preschool, and that he was still going to go help by himself. A lot of us wanted to go, but the producers said no. That night, the group date card came after we'd finished eating dinner and were watching TV in the living room. Jessica got up to read it.

Annabeth, Ashley, Lily, Kenzi, Jenny, Amy, Jessica, Melissa, Elizabeth, Jenny, and Kelly,

Let's take a splash…

Percy

"Who wasn't on it?" I asked, trying to predict who would get the other one-on-one.

"Me," Emma said. Lauren, Rebecca, and Hannah weren't on the group date either. One of them were going to be going on a date with Percy later in the week.

LINEBRAKE

The next morning, I woke up ready for the group date. I wore a black and white chevron bikini under a tee shirt and shorts. Most of the other girls were dressed similarly. We loaded into a limo and went to meet Percy.

"I can't believe I'm on another group date," Kenzi complained loudly.

"Some girls haven't even had a date. I'd be thankful for what you get." I said.

"And I have to spend the whole day with Annabeth," she continued as though I hadn't spoken. I chose to ignore her, and soon enough we were pulling up to a waterpark. We climbed out of the limo to be greeted by a grinning Percy.

"So today we get this whole place to ourselves!" He said after giving us each a hug. Everyone clapped, and we ventured into the park. Amy immediately took Percy away, so Ashley and I decided to go ride some things together. We did a few slides for a few hours before Percy came up to us.

"Hey ladies. How's it going?"

"Pretty good," Ashley said.

"That's great! Would you mind if I took Annabeth for a few minutes?" He asked Ashley.

"No, go ahead," Percy thanked her before grabbing my hand and dragging me off.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"The lazy river of course!" I laughed as Percy got ahold of a double float. He took the spot in the back and motioned for me to get in in front of him. I did, and laid my head back onto his chest, using his legs as armrests.

"You having fun?" Percy asked.

"Absolutely. I've had lots of girl time today," I said and, he laughed.

"Well now you get Percy Time," He said. We floated along the lazy river for a while, just enjoying each other's company.

"Percy?" I said.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry for pushing you into the pool." I apologized.

"Why are you saying sorry for that? I thought we agreed that we had fun!" I could hear the smile in his voice.

"But what if you would've had something with Kayla?"

"You know, most girls would be happy that the competition was waning."

"No that's not the point," I smiled, "I want the best for you, I really do. I hope that the best for you is me, but I can't help but think, what if the best for you was Kayla?"

"Annabeth, Kayla was not the one. I can say that with one-hundred percent confidence. I'm really not supposed to say this, but Annabeth, right now you are who I have the strongest feelings for."

"Thanks, Percy," I said, looking back at him.

"I think," he said hopping out of the raft, "that we should go ride a big scary waterslide that you wouldn't be able to do without my manly protection." I laughed.

"What manly protection?" I said as we stepped out of the lazy river. Percy grabbed my hand.

"That hurts. Annabeth doesn't think I'm manly." He pretended like I hurt his feelings. I rolled my eyes as we climbed the stairs to a waterslide that did, in fact, look quite scary.

"Ready?" The lifeguard asked as we climbed into the float as we had in the lazy river.

"Ready," we said. The lifeguard gave us a push and we were off. We went up and down and all around, and we splashed into the pool at the bottom, both laughing.

"That was great," Percy said as we got out of the float.

"I don't think I would have survived without your manly protection," I joked.

"Why, thank you, m'lady," Percy said with a fake accent and a bow. I laughed and he gave me a quick peck on the lips.

"Percy?" we heard someone call. A minute later, Lily came into view.

"Oh," she said, "Annabeth, do you mind if I take Percy?"

"Not at all. Have you seen Ashley?"

"I think she was getting something to eat at that little place near the entrance,"

"Thanks Lily. See you later Percy," I said giving him a quick hug. He kissed the top of my head before going off with Lily. Sure enough, I found Ashley eating lunch at a small diner inside of the park. I ordered some mac and cheese and joined her.

"How was Percy?" she asked. I smiled.

"What kind of question is that?"

"A fair one," I rolled my eyes at her.

"We had a great time together." I had some more girl time for the rest of the afternoon. This group date thing really isn't all that bad. I don't see what everyone's complaining about. Well, it'd be a whole lot worse if I had to hang out with Kenzi and couldn't just avoid her.

LINEBREAK

The second part of the date was on a rooftop overlooking the city. We were all dressed nicely and we sat on a circular couch sipping champagne. Percy talked to everyone individually, and finally it was my turn.

"So remember how I said my mom makes blue cookies?" Percy said.

"Yes I do." I said.

"Well," he pulled out a baggie of blue chocolate-chip cookies from his jacket pocket, "I made us some." I laughed.

"They're actually blue," I took one and tried it. "You made these?"

"My mom kinda walked me through it on the phone, but yeah." He took one for himself.

"These are really good."

"Thank you very much. Now before you eat anymore, we're going to take a picture with them."

"Continuing the tradition?"

"Absolutely," He took out his phone and we posed with the cookies together. "So on the more serious side, what are you looking for in a potential husband?" Percy asked.

"Honestly, just a good guy. I don't have a huge criteria that a guy has to meet. I need someone who would treat me with the respect that I know I deserve."

"I respect you,"

"I know. What about you? What do you want in a wife?"

"I want someone who understands me. I need a person who can keep me on my feet. A strong independent woman who can still show her emotion."

"Ahem," someone cleared their throat behind us. We turned and saw Amy. "May I have a turn?" she asked.

"Yeah," I said. I gave Percy a quick kiss and went back to the other girls. I walked into a growing argument between Kenzi, Melissa, Kelly, and Ashley. I couldn't even tell what it was about. I decided not to find out and go do a confessional instead. A confessional is when you basically just sit in front of a camera and spill all of your feelings about everything. The first few I did were a little awkward, but now I was completely comfortable with it. I sat down on a stool and began answering questions.

"What's going on out there with the other girls?" a producer asked me.

"I honestly don't know. I came back from my time with Percy, and it was like a bomb went off. Boom." I made an exploding motion with my hands.

"How'd you feel when Percy threw you in the pool yesterday?"

"I was pissed. But then I pushed him in and felt all better."

"How was doing Percy's laundry?"

"I didn't do his laundry." I paused for a second, "Drying his clothes is not doing his laundry…"

"What do you like most about Percy so far?"

"I absolutely adore how he- Oh my God," my eyes widened, "there is a gigantic spider on the wall!" with each word my voice got a little bit higher. It moved a little, and I couldn't help it. I screamed. A few seconds later, Percy rushed in with Amy trailing behind him. I was standing on the stool staring at the spider in fright.

"Annabeth? Are you okay?" Percy asked, concern evident in his voice. I shook my head, on the verge of tears.

"S-spider!" Percy actually laughed. He laughed.

"You're scared of spiders?"

"Percy this isn't funny! It's out to get me! It's going to crawl all over me and bite me!" he seemed to realize that I had a serious fear of those little demons. Why hadn't the producer or camera guy killed it already? They were just watching me as if to say, she can figure this one out on her own!

"Hang on. Let me get a paper towel or something." He disappeared, along with Amy. She probably went back to the other girls. I wonder if they were still arguing. A few minutes later, Percy came back holding a wad of toilet paper.

"Where is it?" he asked. I pointed to the creature and Percy squashed it. It made a crunching sound.

"Gross," I said as Percy threw it in the garbage. He laughed and we went back to the group. I wasn't expecting to get the group date rose, even if Percy did say that I was pretty much his favorite so far. The producers wouldn't want him to make it obvious. He took the rose from its place on the table and began his speech.

"Tonight I'm giving the rose to someone who really showed me a different side to them today. They really opened up for the first time. So, Amy would you accept this rose?" she beamed.

"Yes," he gave her the rose and thanked us all for a wonderful day. We headed back to the hotel, and I crashed as soon as my head hit the pillow. In the morning, we found out that Emma had the last one-on-one of the week. I was happy for her. She got the rose and came home smiling. The last few days of the week went by uneventfully until it was time for the Cocktail Party. Percy was off with someone and I sat in the living room. Kenzi came up to me and sat down.

"Look," she said, "I don't like you. You're beautiful and smart and blond. You're my biggest competition. I'm here to win, and so far you are the only thing in my way. I will be the one in the end, so back off." She got up and left. Well that was interesting. My time with Percy was great as usual. We shared stories about our childhood, but we didn't get very much time. Soon, it was time for the Rose Ceremony. I'll admit, I was nervous. I was relieved and thankful when Percy gave me the first rose of the night. Lily, Bailey, Lauren, and Rebecca were eliminated.

"Okay ladies it's been a great week, but next week is going to be even better because we are starting our world-wide travels in Key West, Florida!" Everyone cheered, excited for our trip.

I feel like it's too cliché/bad sitcom. What are your thoughts? I honestly have no idea if this is any good. Anyway, thanks for reading! Your continued support is greatly appreciated! It makes my day whenever someone faves/follows/reviews! Still looking for date or travel ideas… share your thoughts!