What? This story is updated early for once?

Yes I updated early due to the celebration of the Sea of Monsters movie coming out this week and...DCI World Championships! So to all of the band geeks out there I want to take this time to congrats CAROLINA CROWN for making history and winning championships tonight. I absolutely love their show this year. I saw the show live and on the big screen when my band and I went to the live premiere of the prelims in the movie theater on Thursday.

Thus, this update is short because of the excitement and anticipation I had, I just couldn't wait to update. Literally, I had on one tab was the live entrance tunnel of the DCI finals and the live blog in another tab while currently writing this chapter. When the winner was announced, I screamed so loud that I think my neighbors heard me. Don't get me wrong, Blue Devils's show was good too but Crown deserved it.

HP-LotR-SW-HG: thanks and I'm excited for this chapter too!

ElmoDaHorse: here's another update for you!

THEMusicReader: I'm glad to see more bandos on fanfic too. My band camp started this last week so how is yours coming along?

Disclaimer: Do not own PJO

Sorry, for the long AN but I couldn't bottle in my craziness about this night so I just had to brag, but here is the anticipated continuance of the last chapter.

Warning: short chapter

Enjoy!

Recap:

Unfortunately, the fates seemed bent on ruining Annabeth's post-performance good mood, for her avoidance of both the other school's drum major and her own drum major led her to the handball courts, where she came across her duet partner moments away from being kissed by a very familiar red-headed cheerleader.

What on earth is happening?!

Annabeth's POV

There was no possible escape I could think of in my head that would prevent me from getting caught. If I moved, surely one of them would notice me. I saw the red-headed devil flirtingly rubbing my partner's arm – at the moment the thought of our partnership made me less than pleased. Out of all of the questions that were clamoring in my head, the one thing I wanted to know the most was: how did Percy end up being with Rachel in the first place? I had no doubt that Rachel, the head cheerleader, hated the band and that Percy never worshipped anything besides his drum line, but now I wasn't so sure.

My body felt stiff, unmoving even though my mind was telling me to run away and get back to my guard, but I was paralyzed. Rachel scooted closer to Percy and a second later they were kissing. Even with the dimmed lights I could still tell that the kiss felt comfortable and normal to them. I clenched my hands, desperately wanting to tear them apart.

But all of this was happening too fast. First, I almost got caught by the other band's drum major, then I saw Thalia in an alley with Luke, god knows what they were doing or about to do, and now I accidentally come upon my ex rival lip-locking with my current rival! The thought of both Percy being with Rachel and Thalia being with Luke was mind-boggling and illogical, but I could not deny what I had seen with my own eyes.

Why was I still standing here anyway? After the successful second run of the show, I wasn't in the mood to see my possible crush with another girl. My breathing settled and I gave a deep sigh. It was then that I realized my current state of sadness and confusion. I have a crush on Percy, the very same Seaweed Brain who has been against me since the day we met. But I knew, deep inside, there had always been this attraction towards him that I constantly pushed away and ignored.

Right now, however, I needed to leave. All of the confusion, curiosity, and frustration was getting to me and making my head pound. I finally built up the courage to leave the premises, hoping to not get caught. Sadly, the last I saw of them was Percy's arms around Rachel as they pulled away from their kiss.

The next thing I saw were blaring and blinding lights, the lights of the field. It took a while for me to focus on what was happening until a brick wall bumped my shoulder as he ran to the field. I realized it was the quarterback running to continue his game. I looked to the left of the field to see half of the band on the bleachers and was pleasantly surprised to see that the band was actually speaking with the guard.

"Captain, we were looking for you everywhere," Juniper called to me. She took my hand and brought me to the huddled color guard on the bleachers. I had never seen all of them in the same group ever, even Drew was in the circle.

"What is going on here?" I asked curiously.

"After today's performance, we decided that you aren't such a bad captain after all," Drew smiled. It sounded insulting but I knew they were trying to be nice.

"I'll take that as a compliment, so thanks guys." They all smiled at the thought of actually being a team.

At that moment I saw Thalia come walking up the bleachers. My heart began to pound again, recalling what I had seen earlier. The only obvious thing to do was to not make everything obvious. I excused myself from my team and sidestepped to speak with Thalia.

Thalia acted perfectly normal, as if nothing had happened. I knew that if anything changed between them, it could potentially ruin the rest of the season.

"It's almost call time, is everyone in your section here?" Thalia asked in her full drum major role. I nodded and looked around the band to see it mostly full, all except for one missing person. There was only a minute and a half left until the first half of the third quarter finished and the drum captain was nowhere to be seen. I looked down at the cheerleaders to see Rachel, fake and happy as ever. So where was Percy? Better yet, why was I worrying about him at all?

A few seconds before Thalia called the band to attention, the devil himself came running up the bleachers with his jacket in hand. I could tell that all eyes were on him as he put on his jacket and mounted his snare.

A fiery sense of disappointment sprung up when I realized that there was no obvious sign that he had been kissing the head cheerleader. There were no lipstick marks, no wrinkled clothes, and his hair was usually messy so there was no suspicion there.

Thalia called us to attention and began conducting the next stand song. Everything continued as normal as the band played and the crowd actually enjoyed the songs. The guard was laughing amongst itself and singing with the stand songs. This felt like a usual football game, even with the disturbance of the creepy drum major from River Valley. I tried hard to ignore the two surprises I saw today but every time I looked at Thalia – and more importantly, Percy – I felt betrayed. Despite all of the times that we were at each other's throats, we actually got along well. Ever since the truce we made, everything went smoothly. And though I had rejected the idea, I thought that Percy maybe might like me, too. Now it seemed completely ridiculous and I felt foolish for even entertaining the thought.

Every time Percy looked at me wearing his black, red, and gold uniform with his snare strapped on, I felt more attracted to him than ever before. This absolutely wasn't normal to me. I still felt betrayed, but I realized that that was completely unreasonable: he hadn't been mine to begin with.

Before I can react, I realized that I was still staring at him, scowling at him slightly. His deep green eyes held a hint of hurt and guilt in them, but I was too mesmerized to give it any thought.

The rest of the game went by with ease. I could sense that the spirit of the band improved as a result of the performance. The people loved the show and some actually praised the color guard for doing well, too. Apparently according to Juniper, it's been about four years since the crowd has said anything nice to the guard. This, my friends, is why I was guard captain of one of the greatest guards in the nation before I was forced to move. I felt proud of myself and my guard for the first time since coming here.

After the game, the band went back to the band room to clean up and go home. The excitement still filled the room as everyone piled in. As an old habit, I stayed behind as most of the band left. The only ones left were most of the leaders, which unfortunately also consisted of Percy and Thalia. Everybody was laughing and smiling at jokes but I couldn't bring myself to laugh with them.

There was a constant nagging in my head that I was betraying my partner and drum major for knowing their secrets, but that was just as ridiculous as the secrets themselves. I left everybody and went inside the uniform room to put away my costume. However, Percy was just coming out of the room and we bumped into each other when he went out.

"Sorry," he cleared his throat.

"It's fine," I said quietly. Percy looked down at the ground and refused to look at me. Even with everything we've been through, there was still awkwardness between us. Or was it because of his encounter with Rachel? I clenched my fists, but he didn't notice.

"Putting your costume in?" he asked shyly, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"Yeah." Another silence. "Thanks for not dropping me today."

"Don't mention it, I know the consequences of dropping you." He smiled a little and so did I.

"Can I go through?"

"Oh, sure," he mumbled as he stepped aside but didn't leave. I hung my costume and turned to him. He had a serious and concentrated look on his face. I had a feeling about what it was. I don't know what he saw in Rachel, but he probably knew her better than I, since I just recently got here.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah." He had a distant look on his face now. I was worried about him but since he said he was okay I stepped out of the room. "Actually, no I'm not," he suddenly said, grabbing my left hand. It felt nice having his hands on mine again. I looked curiously at him but once again he refused to look at me. Still, his hand was wrapped tightly around mine and his thumb rubbed small circles on my knuckles. I shouldn't love this – this shouldn't feel so nice.

"What is it?"

His expression still looked distraught and he took a deep breath, "Do you want to have dinner with me tomorrow night?"

I immediately thought of him kissing Rachel.

Cliff! And thats the end of this chapter! The good thing is Annabeth finally realized her feelings but the bad thing is Percy was caught two timing with another girl...oh boy...

But be honest, who here expected Annabeth to beat Percy's ass or for her to go and tear them apart? Don't worry I had that moment in mind, but I read a lot of stories containing those cliches that I went for a different approach. Now hopefully this chapter still doesn't sound so cliche.

Next chapter will have the answer everybody will be waiting for! Sadly, I won't be able to update for about a month or two because of the start of the marching season (for those in band please understand). Please be patient! BUT here's the deal, if I get a lot of reviews and demands for the next chapter I will try and update. Thus, if I surpass 200 reviews there is no doubt I wouldn't update. Thank you for reading!
Tell me what you thought about this chapter please!