Yay upload!
SUPER CRAPPY CHAPTER, I must've written this literally five times trying to get it right. Well the beginning, I mean I knew what would happen at the end so I wrote that first but I couldn't decide how to start it off. But I know you guys were dying for an update so I did it quickly.
Enjoy fudge popsicles!
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Chapter Ten
A Bit of Surfing
Annabeth POV
The next morning was the first day of filming for the movie. I tried not to think about last night while I got ready, but the random details of what had happened kept randomly flying into my brain at unhelpful moments—like the way Percy had held me, strong but gentle. I still couldn't believe that I'd spilled my life story to my lifetime enemy.
I pulled on some denim shorts and a plain white tee, knowing the makeup and clothes team would redo me anyways. Percy was nowhere in sight as I walked to the beach hut where'd they'd set up the movie cabanas.
"Annabeth!" My favorite hair and makeup artist, Mitchell Lovegood, walked over to me and air-kissed me on both cheeks. He was 25. I'd worked with him multiple times in other movies. "I haven't seen you since what, New York?" he asked, pouting.
I smiled, remembering the aspiring young artist I'd played in the Big Apple. "Yeah, I missed you, Mitch."
"Same, honey. Now what's this I hear about you sleeping with Percy Jackson? He is one sexy hunk of Olympian." Yeah, Mitchell isn't entirely…straight. (A/N: I don't know whether a child of Aphrodite can be gay but I just figured YOLO. And yes this is HoO Mitchell, even though in the books he is younger than Annabeth and etc. Just pretend ;) )
I blushed. "Only because Silena made us!"
"Sure, girl, that's what you say."
"Really! I hate Percy. I have since I was twelve!"
"We'll talk about that later. I suppose you've met my evil half-sister Drew?" Mitchell changed the subject, for which I was grateful. He glanced over to where the object of discussion had just glided in, acting like she was playing the lead role.
"Wait, you're related to Drew?" I stared at him.
"Yeah." He grimaced. "She has this annoying way of making everyone do what she wants. I would call it charm, but it only works on the opposite sex."
I thought about how Drew had wrapped Percy around her fingers like a piece of used bubblegum. "Yep, it does."
"We've got to get you to hair and makeup," Mitch told me, leading me to one of the cabanas. "Since it's such a beautiful day we thought we'd shoot the scene where Percy and Annabeth meet."
I stared out at the waves. "It seems a bit windy. The waves are choppy to be going into the sea."
"Exactly!" Mitch gave me a "really?" look. "Remember, Carly Johnson falls off her surfboard and nearly drowns, but she's brought back to consciousness by—"
"Falls off?" I could feel myself paling. "Nearly drowns?"
"Here!" Mitchell shoved something into my hands. I looked down and saw a half-body wetsuit, two millimeters thick and darkish blue. "Put this on, and we'll do your makeup."
"Why would I need makeup?" I asked. I was just stalling for time, I knew it. "I'm going to be in the water anyways."
"I developed this prototype super-waterproof makeup," Mitch said proudly. "Haven't patented it yet, but—"
His voice faded away. I swallowed and looked back out at the waves. They couldn't be that big, just four or five feet maybe, but to me they felt huge.
You would think that since I'd grown up in California I would be able to handle a board, but guess what? I can't. I didn't know why I was reacting to surfing this way. It's just simple physics, Annabeth. Hydrodynamic forces of motion. The buoyancy of the surfboard and its density allow it to balance on the surface tension of the wave without breaking it, and the surfer can stay on if she has a center of gravity. So simple.
It felt like a bunch of butterflies were doing the Harlem Shake in my stomach. My palms were getting sweaty and I kept imagining what would happen if my feet slipped off the surfboard and I wouldn't be able to get back to the surface.
"All done!" Mitchell stepped back and spun me to face a mirror. I barely gave my flawless but natural-looking made-up face a glance and returned my terrified gaze to the waves.
"Scared, Annabeth?"
I turned and saw Mitchell was gone. In his place was Drew, smirking as a short young assistant waved her black hair with a curling iron.
"No," I lied.
"Well that's good. I would absolutely hate it if you were swallowed up by the waves and suffocated slowly by salt water."
She was watching my reaction. I kept my face blank but I was really starting to get nervous, watching as the warm wind whipped the waves white.
"Do you even know how to surf?" she prodded.
"Of course." I was really going to get it for faking like this, but my pride wouldn't let me say otherwise.
"Oh that's great then. They don't need the stunt doubles." Before I could say anything Drew called Mitch over and said, "We don't need the stunt doubles today; Annabeth knows perfectly how to handle a board. Don't you, Annabeth?"
"I—well—yeah," I stammered lamely.
"Excellent! Percy wasn't going to use one either you know, said he wouldn't pass up the chance to ride waves like these," Mitch told me, waving a hand at the sea.
Just then Percy stepped out of the cabana, wearing red shorts and a tight tank reading SEAVIEW LIFEGUARDS that showed the muscles in his arms. I looked away, trying not to make it obvious that I was checking him out.
Drew sucked in a breath and skipped over to greet him.
"That outfit looks very…nice on you," I heard her say before I successfully tuned her out.
"Shooting in ten!" Mitch called. I felt my knees turning into jelly. Somehow the ten minutes flashed by like seconds. A board was shoved under my arm and suddenly—without knowing quite how it happened—I was standing alone at the edge of the waves.
"Okay Percy, you're going to have to be quite near Annabeth so you can save her when she 'falls'—" Mitch winked at me "—but far enough so we won't film you. Just make the rescue look realistic," he said, pointing over to me.
"Sure." Percy sounded so calm I wanted to slap him.
"Okay, you go first." Mitch signaled and Percy ran forward, carrying his gray board. When he passed me he slowed and whispered, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," I snapped, glaring. "Just go and surf already."
He smirked. "Well, if you say so," and dived into the waves, paddling easily on his board toward the horizon.
(A/N: I don't know how to surf, but I researched it and tried to make it as accurate as I could. Hope I won't offend any surfers out there. No hate!)
I threw my purple one down and got on top of it, paddling like I'd seen Percy do it. He was already far ahead of me, a red blotch skimming the waves.
How hard could it be? I thought, scooping water with my palms and shooting forward. It was actually quite calming, bobbing on the waves.
Suddenly, Percy turned his board around and started paddling the opposite way, back to shore. What was the point of paddling all this way then? I was confused until I saw the sea rising underneath his board.
I cursed, awkwardly flopping around and trying to twist the damn board around. I managed just as a wave smacked against my feet.
Ahead of me, Percy lay on his board, and then did what looked like a push-up, which popped him up until he was standing. I copied him and wobbled on my board, spreading my arms out for balance. For a second I floated there, unsure what to do.
Then I screamed as the board shot forward, carried on the back of a wave. The board shook violently. A wave smacked the nose of the board, spinning it so it was parallel to the shore.
For a second I stood there, before the wave I was riding finally hit the side of the board hard. The board was slapped away, and I was thrown off. I hung in the air, briefly, before plunging into the ocean.
PERCABETH!
Hope you liked, even though it was a piece of poo, and remember to review! Next chapter will be up hopefully tomorrow! Also, do you want the next POV to be Percy or Annabeth? I have a good idea for each.
