A/N: New chapter! Oops, it has been a week since I last updated. Just saying, I wrote this chapter when I was half-asleep. Beware! Ahaha jk ;) enjoy!
Time for the AAHP (Aphrodite Ares Humiliation Plan)! This was going to be fun. I grabbed a pad of paper and a pen.
"So, Percy, any ideas?" I asked.
"Uh...I dunno," Percy replied.
"Hey, don't you want to see Ares turn red in front of all the gods?"
"Yeah, but my brain is fresh out of ideas."
"Coffee time."
I bought four cups of coffee from room service (perks of not having to pay for things) and they were immediately delivered to us. Our ADHD brains needed a power-up.
"Ha! I got it!" I said excitedly. "We could reserve an area just for Aphrodite and Ares, but booby trap it."
I grinned. "It'd be fun to watch them slip n' slide."
"Oh! And at one place, we can have a bucket dump smelly fish all over the person who walks underneath."
Hmm, Percy was really on a roll. His ideas weren't bad, I suppose.
Maybe as good as any Athena plan.
No way! My plans are worth millions of yours.
Nuh uh! I made up most of the AAHP!
Nope! I got the booby-trapping idea!
I got the slipping idea.
Ok, let's stop arguing for now.
"So...what else should we do?" I asked out loud.
"We should put superglue on the ground, and make their shoes stick," Percy said.
"Alright then. Let's go shopping for our supplies."
We went into Walmart with me holding the shopping list. Hey, don't blame me for being so organized! We had to buy: 10 canisters of grease, large paintbrushes for smearing the grease, caution tape (for marking Aphrodite's and Ares's dance spot), rotten fish (dunno where to get those), thin string, one bucket with a really good handle, and one tub of superglue (the best stick!).
We wandered aimlessly through the store, looking for grease. Really, where do they sell this stuff? We passed by a little girl with her mom.
"Mom," she said, "I want a boyfriend too." Whoa there, girl. I know, right.
"Um...we're not dating," I started, but the girl's mom interrupted.
"Hey, it's ok," she said. "You don't have to pretend in front my daughter. She's a little off sometimes. Just do what you usually do."
"What? But we really aren't-" Percy started.
"What's your name?" the girl asked.
"Percy..."
"And you?" she asked pointing to me.
"Uh...Annabeth?"
"PERCABETH!" She screamed really loudly. I flinched. Where did she learn this stuff?
"Huh?" Percy asked, totally clueless.
"It's our ship name, duh," I replied. "Perc for Percy, Abeth, for Annabeth? Get it?"
"Oh! So she ships us." *facepalm* NO FREAKIN DUH. What? It's not like I ship people all the time.
"Um...nice talking to you...uh..." I said to the girl.
"Alice," she said, and walked off with her mom, skipping.
"Jeez," Percy said. "That was weird."
"Very awkward," I agreed.
Well, I'm not going to go through rest of the details of shopping with Percy, because I'm pretty sure you wouldn't be interested in us getting lost in the store, me dumping super glue on Percy's hair (I swear, it was on accident!), or forgetting to pay at the cash register. Luckily, the gods did a bit of their work and changed the cashier's mind before she called the security.
But right now, we have a dilemma. Where do you even find rotten fish? Not in Walmart, of course. Bad for business. Not anywhere.
I was being sarcastic...
Oh.
Percy. He will always be a seaweed brain no matter what.
We walked into an outdoor market, where they sold a variety of food. We immediately went into the seafood section. Maybe, just maybe, there might be rotten fish left over from yesterday's sales. Percy walked up to a man behind a counter with piles of a variety of fish. I could see Percy cringing at the sight of so many dead fish. Oh, right. Being the son of Poseidon and all. Sympathy for seafood. Hey, I do not have sympathy for seafood! I wonder why he suggested the rotten fish thing in the first place.
"Hey, um, do you have rotten fish? Or something really disgusting or slimy?" Percy asked. Just then, I noticed how the man looked. He had black hair, with bits of gray in it, a slightly wrinkled face, probably smile lines, and bright green eyes that stood out. He reminded me of someone.
"Oh, I have a bunch," the man replied. "The fish I sell are ones that already died, which means that I didn't kill any of them. I hate to see animals from the ocean get killed, but as they say, food is food. However, the fish tend to rot easily."
"Well, that's great, we need the fish," I said, surprised by our luck. Was I imagining things, or did the man shoot me a look of annoyance? To Percy, however, the man grinned and handed him a large bag of fish, which he held as far away from him as he could.
"Um... do we still need to pay?" Percy asked.
"Nope, it's already been taken care of," the man said, winking. With that, he disappeared.
"What was that?" I asked, confused. "He was just there, and now he's gone."
Percy just stared wide-eyed. "I think... that's my... dad."
"WHAT?" I asked, laughing. No way. Poseidon, selling fish? Oh, wait. He reminded me of someone, and that was Percy! Argh, how could I forget? And he also disappeared. "Are gods even allowed to help out their children in the race?"
"I dunno, maybe not, but we can keep a secret, right?" Percy said, winking at me. In that moment, he seemed so much like Poseidon, a god, really, I didn't get why he turned down the offer of being the immortal lieutenant of his father after he saved Olympus. He never actually told me.
"Percy?" I asked tentatively.
"Yeah?"
"Why did you turn down the offer of being a god?"
Percy's face turned a little pink, but with all the traces of humor gone from before. "Well, it's hard to explain. Maybe... I'll tell you when the time is right."
What was that supposed to mean? I tried listening to his mind, but got nothing.
"Come on, Annabeth. Lets go to the nightclub, ok?" Percy said, probably to change the subject.
Luckily, there was nobody at the nightclub. Well, actually, nobody would be there anyway, because it was during the daytime. It was called 'nightclub' for a reason. We decided to reserve half of the space for Aphrodite and Ares. I'm pretty sure all the minor gods, dryads, and saytrs would give up some of their space for two major gods. We pulled the caution tape across half of the room. I tacked a sign saying "reserved for Aphrodite and Ares". Percy took a paintbrush and smeared grease all over the reserved area. I didn't know if the superglue thing would work, because the two gods might not have the luck to step in that area, but I still spread it on the floor. Just in case. Now, for the rotten fish bucket contraption. I had to use the string as something for Aphrodite's foot to touch, so the bucket of fish would come splattering on her.
"I know how to make something like that," Percy said, appearing at my side. How did he finish greasing the floor so fast? He probably didn't get tired because he had so much muscle. Oh gods, better not think about that right now. I tried to pay attention to his explanation of how to make the bucket fall, but with no such luck. "So, how is the idea, Annabeth?" Percy saying my name jolted me out of my daydreaming.
"Huh? Oh yeah, it's great. I'll go get the ladder." I replied, and hastily left for the supply closet. I took the ladder out wheeled it to Percy. He climbed the ladder and attached a piece of string with the bucket of fish to the ceiling. Then he took another length of string and attached it to the bucket's rim. He brought the string down, careful not to dump the fish on himself, and strung it through a two small metal stakes on the dance floor. "There. That should work," he said.
"Wanna test if it does?" I asked, smirking.
"You go first," he said gallantly.
"Actually, I'll pass."
Music started playing as dryads, saytrs, and minor gods started trickling in at around 8 o'clock. They noticed the caution tape, and decided not to go in. Good. Plan is going well so far. I held up the video recorder, wondering when Aphrodite and Ares would come in.
At 8:30, I noticed the crowd split, and realized Aphrodite and Ares were coming through. Yes! I started recording. "Aphrodite and Ares, Olympus Nightclub at Mississippi." I said into the videocamera.
I watched as the couple went into the nightclub. Aphrodite was wearing a fluffy pink dress, which was a shame if it was ruined (oh wait, not really), and Ares was wearing a regular suit. "Oh!" Aphrodite said, giggling, "a spot reserved just for us!" She kissed Ares's cheek. Never put love and war together. Ares led Aphrodite to the taped off area, and they started walking down the path, just as I hoped. I noticed Percy was smirking slightly. Aphrodite, now pulling Ares, realized that Ares wasn't moving. "Ares!" She whined. "Come on!"
"I... can't." he admitted. Ha! Superglue! The rest of the dancers at the nightclub were laughing along.
Aphrodite, not realizing anything, continued to pull. Really, what was she thinking? Suddenly, Ares popped out of his shoes and went flying with Aphrodite. I tried to hide my laugh, since I was holding the videocamera. It did not work. Percy was holding his stomach, laughing so hard you couldn't even hear his laugh. Finally landing (well, in grease of course), Aphrodite tried to get up, but her heels moved from underneath her, and she went sliding. Ares had the same happen to him. Then, Aphrodite was nearing the string. Please hit the string. Please hit the string...
It turns out: she did! The bucket of fish got dumped on her head, and the slime was dripping down to her dress. Her mouth opened into an "o" and her eyes went wide. "My dear! Are you ok?" asked came Ares's voice.
"Fine." Said Aphrodite. LOOK AT HER SHOCKED FACE AHAHA I CAN'T... Percy and I just spent the rest of the time laughing. It was a good workout, actually. When we finally calmed down, we realized the videocamera was still running. I went over and quickly turned it off. The gods did not need to see Percy and I laughing. Aphrodite and Ares had already left, due to humiliation.
I ran over, and high-fived Percy. "That was the best night ever!" I screamed. Maybe I was sounding a little like Aphrodite. Oops. I better stop before it turns into a habit.
He grinned back at me. "Sure is." Then, he took on a more serious face. "I wonder what our next challenge will be."
I took his hand, and when he didn't object, smiled. "What?" He asked.
"It's just that... I'm pretty sure we'd make it through without a scratch."
A/N: Check out my new bio and review! C: