A/N: It's been a while…oops.

Disclaimer: I don't own PJatO. Rick Riordan does.

Roommates – 3

Annabeth had felt she was prepared for her year at the NU the moment she had stepped into the building's prestigious walls. She had felt she prepared before she even boarded the plane to get there. She'd felt prepared ever since she was born to get to the NU. But now—now!—she had this horrible bruise on the upper part of her head, for all to see, and she felt nothing but unprepared. She felt lost, disgruntled, horrified, and stunned.

It's not that Annabeth cared a whole ton about her appearance, the most makeup she had was a bit of lip gloss here and some mascara there. She wasn't the frilly, flowery girl most blondes were stereotyped to be. There was one thing Annabeth did care a large sum for: her pride. This included what others thought of her and how they viewed her. Having a disgusting bulge of damaged skin on your head is not the best first impression. It says clumsy, tragic, and unorganized. Everything Annabeth didn't want to be.

What did she do to deserve this?

She stomped angrily and threw herself onto her bed, stuffing a pillow into her face as she screamed in frustration.

Just imagining the thought of her first day of school caused shivers to head down her spine. In two days, she would have to walk the halls, with…with that on her forehead. She'd be teased and taunted. People would call her 'humpty-bumpty' or 'egghead.' Teachers would take her as pathetic and inept. Her whole year at NU was officially ruined.

When she finally started to calm down and think logically, she began to ponder how in the world this bump had appeared on her head. She knew it couldn't be a bug bite; it was too big for that. There was a slight flash of memory of something heavy being dropped onto her head, but she couldn't quite remember how that happened.

The door creaked open slightly, and a boy with ravenous black hair stepped in. She felt she recognized this person from somewhere, but still couldn't quite put her finger on it.

Their eyes locked—her steely grey ones on his ocean green ones. An awkward silence ensued, with them just awkwardly staring at each other.

Annabeth took this time to size him up. He was on the lean side, with pointed and small features. His hair was unkempt, and his shirt wrinkled. Obviously he was the careless and laid-back type. She guessed he could be cute, but he was definitely not her type.

"What happened to your head?" he asked inquisitively. His face contorted into one of confusion and slight disgust.

Suddenly, it all came back to Annabeth. He was the one who she had opened the door for! He had dropped a heavy bag on her head. He was the cause for her suffering. And now, he was asking her what had happened to her head. As if he didn't know!

She immediately became furious. If she were a cartoon character, her eyes would have boggled out of her head and steam would have spurted out of her ears. How dare he mock her in such a way? How insensitive could a person be?!

"Are you seriously kidding me?" she asked calmly (or, as calmly as she could). Inside, she was bubbling similar to the way a volcano does before it explodes and all that molten lava sprays out. She hoped somehow her imaginary lava could burn the skin off of this evil boy who had irritated her.

He looked at her like he was a deer wearing headlights or something—whatever that phrase was, Annabeth couldn't remember with all her fury. "What did I do?" he said, as if he didn't know.

Annabeth is not one to be messed with. So naturally, since this boy provoked her, she burst on him. "What do you mean?! You dropped your stupid heavy bag on my head, and now you're asking me what you did? You think you can just mess with me and laugh at my stupidity or something? Do you have a nice bone in your body? You're freaking cruel!"

She punched him in the stomach and flipped him onto the ground.

He was caught off guard but responded. "I didn't see any bump after you fell down…"

"Oh my gods! Do you not know that bruises swell if not treated?!" she face palmed at this boy's stupidity.

He blinked. "Oh. Uh…"

"You know what, never mind. Forget it. Just get out and send for my roommate. You brought their bags up right?"

"Oh yeah, your roommate. Well you see-"

"I hope that my roommate isn't as stupid as you. Ugh. Hopefully they actually have some sense and know some first aid."

"Uhm, well…" he said, feeling a bit hurt by her words.

"Do you understand English?! My roommate should be here by now, can you please call them up?" She looked him the eyes, her grey orbs all stormy and scary.

"Actually…uhm. I'm your roommate," he said somewhat ashamedly.

The girl stared at him in shock for a few moments. "No. No no no no no no! You cannot be my roommate. There has to be some mistake! There is no way this is going to work!" she said in despair.

"Look, I'm sorry for everything. I didn't know…I mean, I didn't…ugh, I'm just so clumsy and-" Annabeth interrupted him.

"Just leave me alone. Please."

He nodded sorrowfully and left the room, closing it shut softly behind him.

Seconds later, someone knocked loudly on the door. Annabeth reluctantly went to get the door, still calming down from her explosion.

She opened the door to find Thalia, the girl she had met earlier.

"Hey, I heard some screaming from your room. You okay?" she asked in a concerned tone. She looked at Annabeth and then coughed in surprise. "Uh, forget I even asked. Let's get some ice for that."

The two girls got some ice as Annabeth explained what had happened to Thalia. Thalia, for the most part, was comforting, but sometimes she would laugh at the stupidity of the whole catastrophe. As Annabeth relayed the story, she started to realize that maybe she had overreacted. That didn't stop her from being mad at her roommate (who she still didn't know the name of).

After cleaning up the bruise, Thalia asked Annabeth about the infamous roommate. As Annabeth explained and described in detail, a look of recognition appeared on Thalia's face.

"That sounds a lot like my cousin, Percy Jackson. Green eyes and unruly black hair, you say?"

Annabeth nodded assuredly. "That's the one." She sniffed in exasperation. "Why is he so ignorant? Ugh."

Thalia smirked. "He's kind of on the clutzy side, but he really is a good kid. He has a kind of tendency of doing these types of things. He really isn't that bad."

Annabeth just rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't be so sure about that."

Thalia just laughed. "We'll see. You do have to spend a whole school year with him, so you'll be getting to know a lot about each other."

Annabeth sighed in despair. "Don't remind me."

After they talked for a little while more, Thalia left Annabeth alone to go to bed. Time had passed so quickly because of the whole fiasco. Annabeth returned to her usual routine. She changed into her owl pajamas and brushed her teeth and hair, before picking up a book to read.

As her eyes began to start drooping, someone knocked on the door. Annabeth groaned and opened the door.

In front of her stood the little jerk himself. Percy Jackson.

"I'm really sorry about what happened and-"

"Save it. I'm going to bed and here are your keys for the room, so you don't have to knock and bother me anymore. Goodnight." With that, Annabeth left to go sleep on her bed, turning her face to the wall so she wouldn't have to talk or see the stupid nuisance.

Percy felt really bad, but didn't know what to do. It's not like he could make the bump disappear or something. He'd tried apologizing but this girl just wouldn't let him.

He unpacked his bags, munching on the blue cookies his mom had baked him before he left. While he was doing so, he continued to ponder what he could do to make it up to his roommate. Nothing came to him. Eventually he finished unpacking and sat on the couch to watch tv. Spongebob was on. He felt his eyes drooping, and finally drifted off into a sleep filled with nightmares of murderous owls with steely gray eyes.