HELLO, PEOPLE OF THE INTERNET! This story is back on track!

"Uh… Annabeth, why are you behind a bush?"

"AAH! Oh, Andrew, it's you." Annabeth jumped and began to furiously wipe her eyes while hiding the book behind her. "Why am I behind a bush? Uh, well, you see…" There was a long pause. Smooth, Annabeth, smooth.

"Anyway, the host wants to do some filming with you before the First Rose Ceremony, and you were nowhere to be found. He sent me to find you." He said, with an amused expression on his face.

"Oh God, really? I am so stupid." Annabeth said, finally standing up and walking alongside him. "And I'm really sorry I wasn't with you guys, I just had some really important… stuff to do."

He laughed lightly. "No problem, I often find that I have important stuff to do behind bushes, too."

"Well, duh, who else is going to look after the family of squirrels that have taken up residence inside the bush?"

"Don't squirrels live in trees?"

"Exactly my point." Annabeth deadpanned. She was doing a pretty good job of avoiding the question, if she did say so herself.

Andrew chuckled a little bit. "Jokes aside, what were you doing in that bush?"

"Well, some stuff happened, and I just wanted to be alone for a while. Does that make sense?" There was another long pause.

"Must be pretty bad stuff." Andrew said.

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, your eyes are freakishly red, which can only mean two things: either you're on drugs, or you were just crying. I suspect the latter."

"Please don't tell anyone."

"Tell anyone what?"

Annabeth smiled. Andrew smiled too, and for the first time, she noticed how… attractive he was. With his tousled light brown hair and clear blue eyes, he must have had girls chasing after him every other day.

"Well, we're here." Andrew said awkwardly, after a minute of them staring at each other.

Annabeth continued to stare. Say something, you idiot! The voice at the back of her mind was nagging. On a sudden impulse, she reached up and kissed him on the cheek.

"Thanks."

"Thanks for what?" Andrew said, dazed.

"Oh… for just cheering me up."

"Any time." Was all he had to say before turning around and walking away.

Annabeth turned around, blushing profusely.

Why was she a big bag of hormones today?

Tyler (the host) chose that precise moment to stick his head out of the front door of the filming room.

"Annabeth, where've you been? We were supposed to film thirty minutes ago. WHY IS NOTHING EVER ON SCHEDULE?"

"Sorry." she squeaked.

"And why does your face look like a tomato? Why do your eyes look like tomatoes? Someone POWDER HER, FOR HEAVENS SAKE!"

Guess he was only nice on-camera.

She had to be powdered, her hair redone, her nails repainted, and she even had to be deodorised (Why? The people watching her through the T.V couldn't smell her, anyway) before she was plonked down on a chair with a red light staring at her, once again.

"So, Annabeth, how's the first night been?" Tyler asked, all smiles again.

"It's been really confusing." Annabeth said, freaked out by the way he switched personalities so suddenly.

"How so? Like, confusing because you don't know which guys to pick?"

"Exactly!" Annabeth exclaimed.

"Well, we know you're under a lot of pressure. Tonight, America, Annabeth will have to pick ten guys out of the original fifteen. How does it feel to have to rule out a third of the guys on the very first night?"

"Really scary. I mean, I barely know any of them."

Au contraire. She knew a couple of them very well. But, the rest of the guys, she barely knew at all. She felt guilty for giving them such little attention because she was so wrapped up in the little situation that was going on. She didn't know anything about, well, anyone, really. She was just going to have to trust her gut.

She hoped her gut was right.

After they had finished talking, Tyler led her to the Rose Room, where fifteen guys were standing in two neat rows. Like schoolchildren, Annabeth thought.

The Rose Ceremony began too quickly. Annabeth stuttered out the first name that came to her mind.

"Andrew, will you accept this rose?"

"Any time." He said, and winked as she pinned the rose to his lapel.

"Adam, will you accept this rose?" Annabeth could actually really see herself with Adam.

"Todd, will you accept this rose?" He was a gentleman, and really sweet and funny.

"Sean, will you accept this rose?" He was really smart, and a hard worker, but he had a fun side, too. Like Annabeth.

"Dylan, will you accept this rose?" He might be a little bit of a loudmouth, but he wasn't going to tolerate assholes like…

Well, like Percy.

"James, will you accept this rose?" Now Annabeth was stretching it. She barely knew him. No, seriously, he could be a serial killer for all that she knew (unlikely, though), partly because he was quiet and partly because Annabeth hadn't made any effort towards speaking to him at all.

"Chris, will you accept this rose?" Well, he was the only one left that Annabeth had even begun to understand. She was betting on seeing a different side to him in the coming weeks.

"Percy, will you please accept this rose?"

"Yes." His poker face had become excellent over the past decade; his expression was unreadable.

Annabeth hated herself. She knew he wanted out from the show. It was her stupid selfishness getting in the way. She couldn't let her stupid Seaweed Brain go just yet, even though she already had, over ten years ago. She couldn't let him go unless she was certain that things couldn't be fixed.

She picked yet another person she didn't know at all, Martin.

Now she had one person left. She looked across the room and locked eyes with Ryan, who gave a brief nod, as if to say, Do what you have to do. Annabeth couldn't pick him. They had so many bad memories that she would constantly be reminded of. He was a cheater, and a liar, and she couldn't trust him as far as she could throw him.

Then why did you trust what he said about Percy? The nagging voice at the back of her mind was back. And you know what he said about still loving you was true. He did say that the cheating wasn't his fault. You never let him finish his sentence. Annabeth told herself to shut up. He couldn't be on the show with her. She would rather die first. She couldn't let him stay just because she wanted to know why he cheated. That was one loose end that would never be tied up.

"Ryan, will you accept this rose?"

Damn it, she was Athena's child. She hated loose ends.

Percy was surprised when Annabeth picked him. Shocked. Relieved. Overjoyed. But mostly surprised. She believed what Ryan told her? Or was she still just trying to get the truth out of him?

After the Rose Ceremony, most of the guys headed off to bed, because it was midnight, after all. A few lay around talking and drinking. Five of the guys were taking their suitcases out and waiting up front for the limos to take them home. Percy couldn't say he felt very sorry for them, because he was despicable.

Annabeth looked up from having a conversation with Adam and gestured for him to join her at the beach. Again.

"Ryan told me everything." She was the first one to speak, staring at the sand.

"You believed him?"

"Unfortunately, yes. Why, isn't any of it true?" Annabeth said.

"Unfortunately, yes." Annabeth looked up after that comment, the ghost of a smile on her face.

"Even the part about you still loving me?" Annabeth probed a little further.

"Well, it's a bit complicated, now." Complicated, to say the least.

"Well, I never said I was sorry. For rejecting you like that."

"You don't have to apologise. It was stupid of me to drag you into that, without asking you little details like, oh, I don't know, if you had a boyfriend." Percy said, trying to lighten the mood.

Annabeth laughed. "Well, then, what do we do, now?"

"Start over, I guess." Percy said.

"If you insist. May I introduce myself as Annabeth Chase, fair maiden from the province of San Francisco, pleasure to make your acquaintance." Annabeth said, putting on a posh British accent and sticking out her hand, a mischievous gleam in her eyes.

"Sir Perseus Jackson, esquire, from the faraway land of Manhattan, equally pleasured." Percy said, imitating her, took her hand and shook it.

"It's equally pleased, not pleasured, idiot. And you're a marine biologist?"

"Top of my class." Percy said proudly.

"Whoa, when did that happen?" Annabeth exclaimed.

It would be cheesy to say that they spent the rest of the night talking, laughing and catching up, if it didn't actually happen, which it did. They both still had their guard up, and weren't completely trusting of each other, especially Percy.

Well, it wasn't perfect, but it was a start.

Well, I didn't want them to fall into each others arms from the beginning. The pace will pick up from here, I promise. And more interactions with the other guys, including Ryan, in the next few chapters. I'm thinking one or two chapters for every week of the show, because doing it like I'm doing it right now for the rest of the story would be a little bit ridiculous. It would take 100 chapters at least.

Any reviews will be well appreciated. I'm hoping to get it up to 30 or 35 reviews by the end of this week, so PLEASE REVIEW. PRETTY PLEASE.