Hiiiiiii!
Ok first of all...YES this is another update!
Second of all I apologize for my absence and I hope you guys can forgive me if not just please continue to support this story!
Sadly I don't have time or availability like I had when I first started this story as a sophomore in high school. Now I am currently a full time college student juggling with 3 jobs. One job is a legit job, and the other two is being a technician/colorguard staff for two high schools. My beta is also college student now because we were in the same graduating class and she is at a different college than me as well living on campus. So the communication we have is even more limited than before.
Yes, life got more complicated for me in the past half year but NEVER have I ever thought about abandoning this story. This story is like my baby and I do wish to finish it with the same enthusiasm like when I first published this. And even when I was working or at school, I was writing this chapter and chapters after this as well.
Anywho, thank you for all of the support and the reviews and everything in general! All of it is what pushed me even more to update.
PjoHoOKCTH: thanks for the awesome review! I do wish to edit this entire story once it is completed and I apologize for my grammar mistakes. English is a second language to me and although it has gotten better I know it still needs improvement.
nicoinelysium: Wait you go to Capo as in Capo Valley? LOL sorry because I've competed at that school before so I'm not sure if I got the right school. But hey congrats on getting vibe as a freshman, it is actually hard to get that position so early. I hope you had an amazing winter season! I actually joined my winterguard team because I wanted to get out of pe and it was the best decision I ever made.
musicaddict137: Congrats on sweepstakes! That's incredibly difficult to get so I commend you on your band's achievement! Congrats to the guard as well because I have a bias towards them lol. Are you competing this winter season or in concert band?
all times pass: Congrats and I applaud your band on beating your rivals! That sounded difficult to accomplish.
Disclaimer: Do not own PJO
Enjoy!
Third person POV:
"Ok, check your dots and minus one set."
It was the week after the Homecoming game, dance, and competition fiasco. Practice was getting fiercer because there was three weeks left until championships and everybody was starting to feel the pressure.
The pressure to finish the show, but like always some things were never set in stone and always changed.
Of course, Mr. D was not mister nice guy anymore (not like he was a nice guy before) but he was definitely a lot stricter.
But despite it all, break time was still break time for the Demigod Marchers.
"Travis!" Everybody turned to see Katie, though Travis himself made a run for it to the other side of the field. Travis had just pulled another prank on Katie. It was pranks after pranks and everybody was waiting for Katie to kill him when he took a prank too far.
"Ok, break time is over."
And so practice continued like always.
"Are you alone in here?" Percy asked. He was ecstatic that he had managed to catch the color guard captain in the uniform room after everyone in the band room left.
"Yeah, I think everybody is outside," she replied warily.
Good, that's good, he thought. "What are you doing in here?"
"I'm just making sure that the flags were in order for the next performance."
Percy saw the glint in her eyes. He knew Wise Girl enough that she only checked them the day after a performance and the day before, but today was a Wednesday.
"Hmm," he said collecting his thoughts for something tactful to say.
"Yup." She was in the process of counting the next set of flags when Percy stepped around her and put his hands on her waist. Suddenly, she forgot what number she was on. Darn this Seaweed Brain.
"You do know it's Wednesday, right." His voice was right before her ear.
"You can never be too efficient."
"Hmm," was what all he could say. He nestled his head at the crook of her neck, loving the closeness and private time that they rarely got.
"Hey, can you grab that bag from on top of the closet?" she pointed at the item and gave him an innocent look that she learned he could never refuse. He hated and loved it when she made that face.
He grabbed the bag without difficulty, but there was no way he was giving in that easily.
"Nuh-uh, I want something in return for helping." He took a step forward.
"A simple 'thank you' wouldn't suffice?" She took a step back.
"Sorry, Wise Girl but it won't."
A throat was cleared and the two startlingly looked up.
It was Mr. D.
"Hurry up and get out." Honestly, he did not want to know what was happening and frankly as long as they weren't fighting anymore, he could care less.
Percy and Annabeth were startled that they weren't alone like they had thought they were. The two hurried and grabbed their belongings, almost falling over each other as Mr. D turned off the lights in the locker hall.
"Ouch, Percy, watch where you're going!"
"Sorry!"
Once they were out, Percy contemplated carrying her bags and books, but decided to just hold her hand, for precautionary reasons.
The warmth surprised Annabeth but she was content with Percy's relatively daring move.
Slowly, Percy started swinging their clasped hands like a happy couple skipping on a meadow. In those two minutes, he learned that he loved hearing her laugh.
But the fun faded when they neared the parking lot. There were obvious shadows of the remaining members waiting to be picked up. And slowly and painfully, Percy had to release Annabeth's hand. Their two minutes of happiness on the meadow, gone.
"Annabeth, come here!" Zoe called to her captain.
"Yo, Percy," Connor waved.
And so they went their separate ways.
Students had been buzzing the entire week because of the new star couple of Goode High school:
Luke and Rachel.
Honestly, not a lot of people cared but many were skeptical, especially on how cliché the entire drama with the couple was.
Yet Rachel was eating all of the attention up.
Percy got some attention as to why he was missing at the halftime ceremony at the Homecoming Game. By the time the 5th person had piled him with questions, he grabbed the guy's shirt and venomously ordered him to leave him the hell alone, since politely asking wouldn't stop some of the nosier ones from flocking to gossip.
It seemed like the weekend couldn't come any faster. People, especially the band, were getting sick of hearing about Rachel and Luke. It was humorous until it just got old from being overdone.
Annabeth was at her locker stashing away her books while in a hurry to get to rehearsal.
"Sup Annie." She didn't even need to look up to tell who it was.
"What do you want Luke?" she asked tersely, not looking at him.
"You know we have a lot of things in common."
"Do we now?" He was clearly delusional if he thought that she was interested in this conversation.
"We are both the hottest people in our relationships." He gave her a big smile that almost made her want to vomit.
"I think that's arguable." She slammed her locker closed and turned the other way to the band room. Couldn't he just leave her alone already?
"Why is that?"
"Because I'm not in a relationship and you are too delusional for your own good." Confused, he had to stop a while to think what she said. Annabeth quickly jetted to the band room before he could think of a response. Some people never learned.
Mr. D called a meeting before rehearsal which seems to be happening a lot lately.
"Apparently, since the football team has been winning lately, they actually believe that they might have a chance to make it to the district championships and possibly the state finals," he announced with the most boredom ever. "So they argued that they need the darn field for practice more than us and unfortunately the administration agreed."
Everybody groaned even before Mr. D finished his statement.
"Seriously Mr. D?" Travis argued and started up a riot from the back group.
"They can practice for 24/7 until finals for them and they still won't be ready for that game!"
Mr. D shushed them up, "Believe me, I fought for that field, but the principal favored the team on this situation since we have gotten second place for the past three years. And he believes that it is their year to win." He let out an obnoxious scoff in the end.
Because the football field was taken, they were forced to relocate. The soccer field was of course already taken by the soccer team and the baseball and softball diamond wasn't even an option for them to choose. That left the farthest field from the band room for them. The worst part was that it was not painted with the marks the band needed and the field was bumpy full with holes and patchy grass. Some of the members complained even more when they realized that.
"So today, the schedule is going to be a little different. The leaders and officers are going to paint the field while the techs and I lead a marching and drill block."
They all thought about the sudden news handed to them; this season was getting stranger and stranger by the second.
"Go, paint the field now," he dismissed them before they could protest further.
All of them rushed out and the leaders went their separate ways to the trailer to grab the paint equipment.
Percy looked at Annabeth, hoping to catch her but she was too far from his reach.
Thalia assigned that the girls to measure the field and the guys to spray paint the marks.
"Come on, Thalia, it's a simply eight steps by five yards, how hard can it be?" Grover exclaimed.
Unfortunately for Percy, most of the girls stole Annabeth the second they got to the field.
She, coincidentally, noticed that she never really got close to the other band officers since she was always busy with her team. The band officers, she began to realize, were hysterical and she couldn't believe how she never noticed it.
A wrenching hour and a half later, all of the painting was done. Although it didn't even matter because the grass was going to grow and get cut anyway, thus forcing them to repaint everything… again.
Set 1 was placed when the band made it to their new field because Mr. D wanted to adjust a few things with the visual, but Percy didn't care for whatever reason it was, he was just glad to be close to Annabeth.
"Why are you smiling?" Percy had a big grin on his face and she was unsure from what.
"Because," he hedged, not giving anything away.
"Thanks for the specific explanation," she deadpanned.
Aphrodite came over to the two to go over some of their parts, especially the lift.
Like always the band still couldn't get over what happened over a month ago.
"Don't drop her, Percy!"
"Or eat crap while you're at it."
"Omg, I don't know if I could ever trust him if that was me."
He just rolled his eyes and focused on what was more important to him at the moment. Surprisingly he never fumbled one bit. Annabeth had been so sure that he was going to die from embarrassment again but he didn't. He looked very pleased with himself.
Content, Aphrodite left after receiving a hint from her very own cousin that her presence was unneeded.
Percy silently thanked her that she actually followed directions for once.
"I still can't believe that you two are cousins," Annabeth commented.
"What? Good looks and talent do run in the family." He smirked.
"Yeah, definitely not humility and kindness," she retorted.
"How could you say that? I can be kind." He put a hand on his wounded heart, pouting at her.
She gave him a skeptical look. "Yeah, only when you're with your drumline or doing something that you love. That's when it shows."
"No, that's not true, I'm kind to you, aren't I?" he poked her at her side.
She giggled at little from the touch, "If you say so."
"Well, I've been kind to you in more ways than one lately, haven't I?"
Before she could respond, Thalia called everyone to the front and continued on with practice like usual.
After a dreadful two hours of Drew constantly complaining about how much she was aching and about to barf, Annabeth was relieved that she could finally enjoy the her weekend properly. She grabbed her bag, disgruntled at how surprisingly heavy it was, and strolled out to the parking lot. Somehow, Percy was nowhere in sight just when she needed his help with her bag. Curse these girls for forcing her to wash their performance flags.
In a distance, she heard a tearing sound and turned around to discover what it was, but saw no one around. A couple of more steps and she heard a snap.
Out of nowhere her bag suddenly dropped to the ground.
"You have got to be kidding me." Apparently all of the crap in her bag was too heavy for the strap to handle. This bag was one of the last things she had from her old color guard team, too. She scowled at it lying pitifully on the ground.
"Hey Annabeth—" she breathed a sigh of relief—"does the princess need help?" Nevermind, she thought. The voice was masculine, but Percy didn't call her princess. She turned to see Travis looking all high and mighty, smirking at the color guard's captain's misfortune.
Damn it, out of all of the members in this band, she had to get one of the people who hated her the most.
He grabbed her bag with both hands, scooping it up easily.
"Thanks," she grudgingly said.
"No problem," he replied with a smirk that was nowhere near as good as Percy's.
When they got to the parking lot, nearly everybody was still there waiting for their ride.
There was a crowd of the drummers hanging around Travis's car, which was inconveniently parked near Annabeth's.
She looked around once again, and again Percy was nowhere in sight.
They walked closer to their cars, the guys greeting Travis cheerfully.
"Hey, princess here had her bag strap snap so I was just giving her a hand," he explained.
Most of them chuckled. "Aw, that's so sweet," Connor commented sarcastically.
Yeah, sweet my ass, Annabeth thought. With her bag in her hand, she open her car door and closed it once inside, though not without hearing a couple more jeering chuckles.
Annabeth turned the ignition, anticipating the moment she got back home and in bed—then the engine wouldn't turn on. She tried again—and failed again.
"What the hell is going on?" The car made a chugging noise when she turned the ignition yet again.
Outside was laughter, coming from the guys around Travis's car.
"Travis what did you do?" Slamming the door behind her, she marched up to Travis to give him a piece of her mind.
"What princess? Is it midnight already?" he smirked.
"Her carriage already turned into a pumpkin," one of the guys from cymbal guffawed.
"Look, Travis, I am sick and tired of all of this bullshit. Can you just grow up already?" she shrieked.
There weren't a lot of people left, but those who stayed witnessed the entire commotion. Not one of them was willing to help.
"Whoa princess, we didn't do anything," Connor defended them.
"That's bullshit, you guys had something to do with this!" she yelled, itching to show them a lesson, but she knew the jerks wouldn't listen.
Many of the boys were surprised on how loud and mad she could get, that it was honestly scary to see it in reality.
"No we didn't Annabeth."
Her composure softened. They said her name and not princess.
"Look we may pull pranks but we're not stupid enough to mess with a car. Even though that would've been totally awesome," Travis exclaimed as he high fived his brother.
A flash of light and the rev of an engine caught all of their attention. Percy stepped out of the car.
"What happened here?" he asked around.
Travis stepped up to him. "Nothing man, we are just chatting up with princess here." Most of the boys agreed. Percy knew the guys enough that something was up. He turned to Annabeth to ask the same question.
Annabeth thought about it. These boys really had nothing to do with her car. Then what the hell happened?
All she knew now was that she was stranded.
"Nothing happened here." Some of the guys stared at her and breathed a sigh sigh of relief. "Something happened to my car and now I don't know how to get home because my parents aren't home right now."
Percy's complexion softened when he heard about Annabeth being lost, "I could give you a ride home and we'll figure out your car tomorrow if you want." Annabeth nodded, relieved and glad that he was there to rescue her.
She sent the guys an apologetic yet stern look. But they all looked nonchalant and only saluted a farewell to their captain instead.
She took her stuff and keys out of her car and got into Percy's car, desperately looking back at her car and wishing that nothing was wrong with it.
Now it was the two of them again, and she was unsure if it was a good thing or a bad thing.
The school became invisible from their sight as Percy drove far away from it.
She missed her car already.
Thank goodness, her parents weren't home. Her dad had gone to a drum corps camp that he worked at and her mother was preparing for the new winter guard season with her team. Overall, things would've been a lot worse if they had been there.
Strangely, however, Percy kept on driving and not once had he asked for directions to her house.
"Do you even know where you're going?"
"Of course I do." He gave her a reassuring smile that made her stomach queasy. She gave him the benefit of the doubt considering he did know New York better than her.
She should've known. It was Percy after all.
"What are we doing here?" she asked when he parked the car.
"What? I told you that I knew where I was going, right?" He unbuckled his seatbelt and was tempted to unbuckle hers, too.
"I meant to my house," she exclaimed. He did nothing except chuckle and walked out to open her door. "So why are we here Percy?"
She stepped out only to be pulled into his arms.
"Well, I was thinking of having our first date," he declared.
That surprised her. After their kiss together on the Saturday during the homecoming dance (marching band edition), they were stuck like glue the entire night. Percy led her up to their roof of the band room after and that's where they stayed the entire night until everyone left. After that day though, everything else was slow. He would call her now and then and would steal kisses when they were alone but never had Percy made any movement to their relationship or whatever they had until now. Who knew that Seaweed Brain was this spontaneous?
"So, what do you think?" There was a bit of nervousness in his voice, something that hadn't happened in a while.
He was frightened at the possibility of her rejection. It'd been years since he had had feelings for another person, let alone been on a date. He had thought about taking her out since last Saturday, but was always hesitant because of their busy schedule. And the long lat phone calls just weren't enough anymore. When she needed a ride home, this was the first thing he thought of but was slightly against it because of how furious she looked before. Even while driving to where they were, he was terrified that she might jump out of the car or call the police because they were nowhere near her home.
But the smile on her face made it all worth it.
"It's perfect."
She couldn't be more ecstatic. The night turned for the better for her.
All of this meant that Percy and her were going somewhere with what they were having.
They were at a plaza/mall that had restaurants, a movie theater, and other stores.
The two of them got comfortable in their booth and ordered their meals once they were inside a restaurant that Percy brought her to. Neither of them looked like they were dressed to go out to eat. In fact, they were dressed in sweats and sweatshirt because of the cold weather outside, but neither cared.
Percy and Annabeth laughed and talked and teased, mostly to get to know each other better while they waited for their food.
"What was your old high school's band like?" He was curious because she rarely talked about them.
The remembrance of her old band brought back memories.
"They are nowhere near as amazing here. This band is definitely something else." She smiled.
"Really, how so?" Now he was really curious.
More memories came back. "My old band wasn't motivated enough for anything. It seemed like whenever we had one step forward, we would immediately take five steps back. We kept losing members and when it seemed like it was going to be a great season, it would just go downhill before it could even reach the top. I struggled for three years trying to improve the program there but it never worked out. Even though I mostly focused on my own color guard team, when it came down to the overall music program and the future for it, that's where I spent the rest of my focus on each summer and field season."
Hearing Annabeth's struggles with the band was so foreign to Percy, it was impossible to comprehend how a band could be so bad or unmotivated.
"Have they contacted you ever since you moved?"
"Yeah, the first weeks or two but after a while I think they stopped caring, even my old team," which was being run by her old nemesis, she silently grumbled.
"Wow. I don't know what would happen if I ever left this band." He rubbed the back of his neck, uncomfortable at the thought of him leaving the place he had called home for the past four years.
"You're lucky, your drumline loves and adores you. This band loves being in the band and marching and everything despite the late practices and how hard it can get. The people in the band actually stay and support each other. That's something that not a lot of marching bands have and would do anything to get. Trust me, I would know." Annabeth felt the pang in her chest as she remembered her old band and the struggles they faced together.
Percy watched Annabeth stare off into the distance and soon they fell into a silence. He didn't know what to say, dumbfounded like every time.
"Do you miss them?" he asked at last.
"Yes… and no," she said and smiled, her eyes sparkling now. "There are times when I miss them, but when I think about it, I'm happy I moved."
"Really?" he didn't even know he was smiling until he felt it.
"Yeah, I would've probably ended up hating my last field season if I stayed and dealt with all of the drama that I had already dealt with for years. Hell would've broken loose. So I'm grateful I moved here to actually understand what it is like to be part of a successful marching band." She said the same words Mr. D had told her two months before.
"I'm glad you moved, too."
They ate their meals peacefully after, with Percy asking subtle questions about her years in her old band.
His phone rang from his pocket and he quickly answered it.
"Yeah, mom?" he paused. "Yeah, I'm going to be home a little late…. No, I'm not," he paused again and looked up at Annabeth, who was giving him an amused look. He looks down, "Mom I'm actually with Annabeth," he cleared his throat. "Okay mom, yes, I know. Bye." No matter what he did, he could not stop the blush from rising to his cheeks. "Sorry about that."
"No, don't be, I love your mom," she grinned and he reciprocated despite his embarrassment.
"Yeah, she adores you, too."
"Really?"
"Really." And they both laughed.
Percy brought her to an ice cream shop after their dinner for dessert. Annabeth thought it was the perfect way to end the night.
They were eating their separate ice creams when curiosity got the best of Annabeth.
"So, what was your experience like when you first joined the band here?"
His expression turned cold. "My freshman year was rough to say the least. It started off as a really good year and turned into crap in the end. " He coughed.
Annabeth wanted to know why. The Demigod Marchers made it look like it is marching band heaven here—for those who had been there from the start, anyway. So why was it so bad?
They were parked outside of Annabeth's place at the end of the night and snow was gently falling from the sky.
(It turned out that he had not known where she lived, so he had had to ask for directions.)
"Thanks for everything tonight," she smiled.
"You're welcome and sorry about your car," he said, genuinely concerned.
Right, they were on a date because of her car not turning on, Annabeth remembered. If her car had been fine, would they ever had gone on a date?
"Yeah, I hope it's not too damaged."
"If you want, I could stop by tomorrow morning to take you to school," he offered. She looked up to him and was surprised at his generosity. His green eyes were brighter than ever.
"Yeah I'd like that, thank you," she said, deciding to go with what progress they had made.
She slowly walked to her front door and rummaged through her bag for her key. In the back, Percy contemplated with himself. There was one last thing to end this perfect night but he was too chicken to do so.
Instead he opted for something else.
"Bye Wise Girl, see you tomorrow!"
He blew her a kiss as he drove away—and she caught it.
AWWWWE Percabeth is brewing! Are you guys getting excited? After 27 chapters man and finally its happening!
Also for those who guess Princess Andromeda as the yacht for the homecoming dance last chapter then congrats you deserve a virtual cookie!
How is everybody's winter season going? I would love to hear them. Mine and the schools I work at are going crazy and I can't believe that there is only a few weeks left until its over! AND who is ready for another field season?
AND for the bandos! Who is excited for WGI finals? Who is going to Dayton? I have a couple of friends who are going to compete at finals and I wish them the best of luck and skills! I would be going to actually to compete if I had not give up the position to be in an independent guard team...but that's another story!
Now, I want to address that the competition and the circuit that they are in is not real! I wanted for them to be in BOA but it was just too complicated to do, so I made up a fictional circuit and competitions that I will edit in once the story is over.
Please review and all that jazz! Please keep on supporting this story. You guys are the absolute best man. And I will try to update as soon as possible but its nice to know what your thoughts are so far!
Thanks!