I don't actually have an excuse for not updating for so long. Well actually, I do. The All-Pervasive, Most Aggravating Human Habit Of Being Lazy and Not Updating Their Story For Long Periods Of Time. There, happy?! HAPPY?!

Annabeth walked around all morning with a stupid smile on her face. It got to the point where even Tyler, the host, gave her an enquiring look when they were shooting the next morning (and this was the guy that yelled at her every morning, saying she didn't smile enough). Last night with Percy was just like old times. She obviously wasn't sure where he stood in the romance department, but it was nice having him as a friend again. Actually, more than nice: it was absolutely, irrefutably, unquestionably the best night she'd had in over a decade.

Ryan: she was more confused about. She fought the urge to throw a punch at him every time she laid eyes on him and she wasn't quite sure how she was going to deal with that for the rest of the show. And the other guys… she hadn't even begun to understand any of them. She was going to work on that this week. She hoped.

"So, Annabeth, what are your thoughts on this season's contestants? Any of them stand a chance of being everything you've hoped for?" Tyler beamed (his brilliant on-camera persona coming through)

"Well, it's too early on to tell." She said, twisting her bracelet. "But I think I have some really… interesting contestants on the island with me."

"Like? Details, Annabeth, details." Tyler raised an eyebrow.

"Uh… some of them are really good friends with me right now, and it feels like these people have been friends with me for ages, even though they haven't, of course." She added hastily. "You know those people that you meet and you instantly feel like you've been friends for, like, a decade? And I'm wondering if some of them are just going to stay friends or if it's going to progress into… something else with some of them."

"Well, we will find out, won't we? Starting with today's challenge."

"I've always been the smart kid in school and my job even today requires a lot of brainpower, I think." She started slowly. "Plus, I've always wanted someone a little smarter than average as a partner. So today is going to be a simple contest, nothing fancy. Each guy is going to go against me, one at a time. We're both going to be given a question. The first guy to beat me to the answer wins a date.

"Ooh, sounds interesting. So, you're going to be quizzed on, like, facts?"

"No, I've always thought that random, dumb facts don't really challenge the brain." She answered. "I mean, any guy could know the capital of Bulgaria or the square root of sixteen, but it takes something else to answer riddles." She smiled.

Back in the green room, Percy smiled while watching Annabeth say that on the screen. She'd always been too proud for her own good (who complains about a Sphinx insulting their intelligence?) The other guys just looked… confused.

"You have been given the task of transporting 3,000 apples 1,000 miles from Appleland to Bananaville. Your truck can carry 1,000 apples at a time. Every time you travel a mile towards Bananaville you must pay a tax of 1 apple but you pay nothing when going in the other direction (towards Appleland).

What is highest number of apples you can get to Bananaville?" The assistant read out in a slow, sing-song voice.

"Wait, can you repeat that?" Andrew asked.

"Um… 833 apples?" Annabeth said, after a prolonged silence.

"That is CORRECT!" A pre-recorded voice boomed out for the eighth time, followed by synthetic clapping.

Annabeth was starting to get bored. With the fancy jobs that everyone had, she would have thought that more of them would be smarter than her. The only two she had left were Sean and Ryan.

Sean walked up to the shack beside the beach where the quiz was being held with an air of confidence, which slightly annoyed Annabeth and kindled her competitive spirit at the same time.

"You look self-assured." She called out.

"Well, faint heart never won fair lady." He smiled.

"A fast food restaurant sells chicken in orders of 6, 9, and 20. What is the largest number of pieces of chicken you cannot order from this restaurant?" The assistant droned on, clearly bored out of her mind.

Annabeth could almost see the gears whirring in Sean's brain. She was silently calculating, too.

"43." He called out, after a minute of silence.

All the guys who had already gone against her were drinking beer and sitting on the tables next to the shack, talking amongst themselves. They all looked up in unison when they heard Sean's voice instead of Annabeth's.

"Oh, that's right!" The assistant said, startled. "Oh wait, sorry…" She fumbled for the button on a synthesizer.

"That is CORRECT!" The voice boomed out again, only not for her this time.

"How did you do that?" Annabeth said.

"I'm good at math." He shrugged.

"Anyway, I'll meet you back here in two hours?" Annabeth asked.

With Sean, Annabeth felt like simple was the way to go, from her dress to the date they were going on. She'd scrapped the original date because she didn't feel like they would get the most out of it and just planned a long walked on the beach, followed by dinner. Cliché, yes, but that was one of the most creative dates the Bachelorette team had come up with. She was surprised that Sean actually noticed.

"Thank God, I thought that you were going to take me to a museum or something."

"Why would I do that?" Annabeth inquired.

"Y'know, since I'm a doctor and everything. People assume I figure out chess moves and solve calculus in my free time."

Annabeth laughed lightly. "I feel you. Don't worry, I pride myself on looking at people complexly."

The conversation flowed with Sean, which it hadn't done for a long time with other guys. Pre-Ryan Annabeth would fall at his feet and beg him to accept her. Who, a guy who's smart but isn't a stuck up, self-righteous priss? TAKE ME TO YOUR CASTLE (maybe a slight exaggeration).She liked to think that she had gained the slightest bit of knowledge since then, obviously.

But… she still liked him… a lot. And asked him to accept a rose on their date.

Sean immediately looked uncomfortable.

"Sean, will you accept this rose?" He stared at her in silence.

She repeated her question. More silence.

He finally pushed his chair back. "I'm so sorry, Annabeth, I can't accept that."

"Why?" Her voice sounded weak. Pathetic.

"Because… because… I can't tell you."

Her phone chose that exact moment to ring.

She croaked a "Hello?" into the transmitter.

"It's Tyler. You might want to come back to the house… fast. We've found out a… valuable piece of information about 8 of the guys. Including Sean."

She figured she might as well be dramatic for the cameras, so she let her phone slip out of her hand and crash to the floor. And break.

Ooh... a cliffhanger. Guess what the 'valuable' bit of information is and leave a review. No, they are not all part of the CIA. Im not that original.