IMPORTANT A/N: This is NOT a new chapter. On the contrary I have only extended Chapter 6 and actually finished it. For those of whom who have already read it before can scroll down and resume from where they left off.

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Blue chocolate chip cookies for all of you! (::) (::) (::)

Half-Blood High

Chapter-6

~0O0~

"Well, well, well. Look what we have here." A voice said behind her. "Little Chase all alone in the scary dungeons. I wonder what's going to happen now."

Annabeth took a few shuddering gulps of the cold air, in the futile hope that it would calm her pounding heart. She clenched her fists, feeling a little sick when she felt the sweaty texture of the skin, and turned on her heels to face the shadows. A small part of her possessed the fact that she was currently in the dungeons and she remembered a stormy night in her first year, when she had poured through a thick tome on the history of the school. The dungeons were the lair of the tortured slaves, the spot of pleasure for the old Lords. These were the floors where a thousand lives had screamed hoarse for death and a thousand more torn limb to limb and for a moment she wondered if she was on the verge of encountering the same sick, cruel fate.

"Who are you?" her voice was barely above a whisper and carried feebly across the dim hall way, but it still surprised her how steady she sounded when inside, all her cells were screaming at her to run away.

"Why Chase, you don't recognize me?" a figure moved from the wall a few feet ahead of her, his features becoming more clear with each slow step he took in her direction. "I must say, I am a little hurt."

Her head still swam and despite the chilliness of the dungeons, her sweaty skin still prickled uncomfortably, signs screaming that her body and mind were still under the influence of alcohol. The person stopped a few feet in front of her and from the new perspective, she absently noted that he was a good foot or two taller than her. When her eyes finally roamed his face, her breath hitched, as the all too familiar smirk etched on his visage seemed to taunt her.

"Jackson" his name fell out of her lips as if in prayer, shrouded in such a thick layer of relief that had she been in a sober state, she would have definitely tried jumping out the nearest window in mortification. Instead she laughed; a full from the guts laughter that had her clutching her sides and wiping tears from her eyes in mirth. The air around her felt suddenly different, as though something had disturbed its constant dark soberness and with a pang she wondered if these walls had ever been graced with a sound other than bloody screams of the tortured slaves as they experienced excruciating pain at the hands of the sick, demented Lords. She wondered for one heart stopping moment if anyone had ever laughed out in sincere joy in the dungeons and her mirth ceased.

She realized Jackson had been watching her in silence the whole time, his face a complete mask of indifference as she chocked a lung up. She took a deep breath and raised her chin to meet his piercing green orbs. A small part of her flashed back to the first time she had seen him, the way she had stared into those spheres of absolute green which were always shifting and swirling like miniature hurricanes.

"Are you done being crazy, Chase?" he sneered but it struck her that his voice wasn't as malicious as it normally was. "Of course, I can't say I'm surprised. Always having your nose in a book and being the official prude of Half-Blood High, your wound up so tight your sanity had to give at some point."

That had her eyes flash up at him "I'd rather be a prude than a man- whore like you Jackson. At least when I meet a guy, I don't have to rack my brain to remember if I had ever slept with him."

"Big words, Chase." His eyes had gone dead cold, a look that she thought he reserved just for her and one that inevitably always send a shiver down her spine. "And look where it got you. You're drunk and aimlessly roaming the dungeons, obviously after taking a huge hit to your ego. And if my wager is right, your so called friends were involved in whatever shit that has you so riled up."

Her blood ran cold at his words and for one ridiculous moment she wondered if Jackson had planted spies in their tower. "How-who told you that?"

He merely raised an eye brow at her. "It wasn't exactly hard to put together. It's common knowledge in the castle that the West Tower is having one of its usual parties tonight. And after watching you being the only one somber in countless parties since we met, I know normally, you wouldn't be drunk an ounce. But you are tonight, thoroughly so, and I know it wouldn't have been solely on your own choice."

He continued, his molten gaze never leaving her shocked face. "As for the friends part, I know you aren't the type of person to take the words of people who aren't too close to you seriously. When that moron Rodriguez called you a whore in third grade, you did nothing but laugh in his face but when your pal Valdez accused you of not helping him in his homework one day at breakfast you wouldn't crack a smile the whole day. You have tear stains smeared all over your cheeks right now, so it's again kind of obvious they had a role to play too."

Annabeth had forgotten how to breathe. "How did you know so mu- about Chris?" she had been about to say so much about me but quickly corrected herself at the last moment.

"I was there." Jackson shrugged indifferently and only later would she know that he had punched the boy right after she had left.

"Well-That's…that's all actually quite observative." she cleared her throat awkwardly "Didn't really expect that from you."

He took a step closer to her and she shivered when she realized she could hear him breathing. "Well, Chase, you'll be happy to know I'm full of surprises."

She stared into his swirling green orbs, a little uneasy when he held her gaze with an unexpected determination and she found her gaze falling onto his lips, which she already knew looked full and pink and soft. It was unfair just how beautiful he was and it occurred to her that if she leaned in just a little she could taste him. She realized the dangerous turn her thoughts had taken and quickly took a step back before she did something that she would later regret.

"It's late and past curfew." She found herself saying monotonously. "We should head back to our dorms."

Jackson smirked at her "And there she is, folks the real Annabeth Chase. She's a goody two shoed even when she's drunk and the stick up her-"

He was cut short when she took a step forward and crashed her lips onto his. She was so tired, so sick of hearing the same thing that day that she had reacted without thinking. She knew she had to pull back and apologize but found that she couldn't untangle herself from him. And when he kissed her back with equal fervor, she threw caution to the wind.

He pulled her closer, her chest flushed against his hard, muscled torso. His strong hands snaked around her waist and her hands went around his neck, her fingers running through his silky, soft locks. Their lips molded together perfectly and she greedily licked up his salty taste. She moaned a little when he felt him bite her lower lip and he groaned when she slipped her tongue into his mouth. When she felt his hands sneak under her shirt, for a traitorous moment she was tempted to continue. When she felt his warm touch sending shivers down her spine, something in her brain suddenly registered the consequences of her actions and she roughly pushed him away.

"What the hell was that?" she demanded, furiously wiping her mouth.

"You tell me, Chase." Jackson smirked at her. His white shirt was messed up, and his lips were distinctively red and swollen. Annabeth felt herself go red at the thought that she was the one responsible for his current appearance. "You were the one who jumped me."

She could feel herself turn red. "I'm-I'm sorry. I was-am drunk."

Before Jackson could reply Leo's voice rang from around the corridor.

"And it won't happen again." She promised before running down the hallway. The green eyed boy watched as her golden curls disappeared around the corner, and melted away into the shadows, a triumphant smirk etched on his face. It wouldn't be too long now before she broke.

~0O0~

The next morning, Annabeth groaned as the bright sunlight hit her face. She buried her face in the pillow and fought back another wave of nausea. Her throat felt dry and caked and the thirst for something cool was so overpowering that the blonde finally shoved her way off the bed, a protective hand held in front of her eyes to block out the harsh sunrays. Across the room she found Piper's head buried deeply into her own pillow, her brunette hair a rats nest from last night's activities and Annabeth groaned at the thought that her hair was probably not any better. Hazel was once again nowhere to be seen and the blonde had the uneasy feeling that the curly haired girl was out frolicking with a certain East Town archer. After that evening with Leo, Annabeth hadn't quite figured out her feelings in regard to the strange relationship. She had toyed with the idea of bringing it up with Hazel, just to clear the air, but somehow the right opportunity never came up and she didn't want the others to know about it just yet, keeping in mind that Leo had opened up to her in full confidence only because he trusted her, and Annabeth wouldn't do anything to poison such a strong friendship. Jackson had been right, she thought wryly, she would do anything for the people she was close with.

Thinking of Jackson inevitably had her mind flooding with last night's kiss and she closed her eyes for a while, breathing in deep to control the frenzy of emotions that had suddenly taken flight in her pounding heart and throbbing limbs. She had no clue how to act now, had no idea what the next part of the plan was and the enormity of the situation suddenly hit her, that for the first time in her life she felt scared to face the day and wanted nothing more in the world to curl back up in her bed, safe under her cocoon of soft sheets, away from the line of judgments of her friends and the scorching hot gaze of the man that still send shivers down her body and had her gasping for breath.

She couldn't understand what the hell she had been thinking when jumping on the spawn of the devil himself, like every other simpering, mindless girls in the school. It was like her brain had decided to take a break for the first time last night, overheated after seventeen years of rigorous work and her hormonal body had taken the driver's seat. And now she felt she had dug herself into a pit.

Unless….

Annabeth took in a deep breath. Unless…she pretended it didn't happen at all. At the end of the day she had been shit drunk and any actions under the influence of alcohol wasn't supposed to be taken seriously. And she had told him nothing would happen again and there was really no need to burden her friends with the little piece of information. She'd tell them later in some sort of truth or dare and they'd all laugh over it.

And Jackson would most probably be relieved as well. He certainly did have quite a coveted reputation to keep up and the fact that he would ever touch a nerd, "official prude" in his own words, like her would probably not look good on his meticulous level of standard.

So it was decided then, last night's events were solely due to the unholy level of alcohol in her blood stream and it played no role in her life from that point onwards.

As she stared out at the bright horizon, chewing her lips anxiously, she tried not to think of the fact that Jackson had never been drunk and had no excuse for continuing that sinful kiss with her….and yet he had.

~0O0~

"Ugh, I feel like I'm dead!" Leo moaned pathetically, sliding the bowl of warm porridge across the dining table, and knocked his head onto the barren wood. "Someone please turn of those fucking lights-they're killing me!"

Annabeth looked doubtfully at the huge glass windows of the cafeteria, through which bright sunlight streamed into the crowded room and couldn't quite find it in herself to pass this observation onto Leo. Instead she forced herself to take another sip of the soothing ginger tea cradled in her hands, a desperate attempt to calm her hurling stomach before she had to face her morning lessons. Jason had staggered out only moments before, his eyes red and burly thanks to the frequent trips to the loo last night, and hours of upchucking the contents of his stomach had not been enough for his body to forgive him for downing two more larger of beer right before going to bed. Piper had not even bothered to lift her head up from the pillow and had merely managed to mumble out a disoriented excuse for missing classes that day.

"You're starting to sound like a vampire, Leo" the blonde muttered but her frantic eyes never left the large open doors of the cafeteria as she took note of everyone entering and breathing a sigh of relief each time she saw it wasn't him. Somehow, even after the well thought out pep talk she had given herself in front of the mirror that morning (she had to whisper; Piper had been sleeping nearby), for some annoying reason her heart still beat out of control and waves of anxiety flooded her stomach every time she thought of that-that green eyed, pathetic excuse for a human being.

It was honestly a relief when the bell rang and she could leave the suffocating cafeteria and join the crowd of students leaving for first lessons. She mumbled a quick good bye to Leo, who had started to slightly snore and Annabeth absently noted to conjure up a satisfactory excuse for , their Spanish teacher, because it looked like Leo would probably never make in time for the start of the hour.

She quickly wiped her way through the crowd, her eyes fixed on the hard stone floor, her heart leaping to her throat every time she thought someone called her name. She spotted Alicia by a girl's washroom, her manicured hands flying over her phone and Annabeth quickly ducked around the corner. She was in no mood to open the flood gates on last night's disastrous events and concentrated solely on getting to the safety of her classroom.

Of course, once she settled down at her usual place in the front, she felt like the biggest idiot to walk the planet, because Jackson was in this class as well, though he hadn't arrived yet. All the trouble she went through, dodging through the hallway like some sort of illicit criminal when all along the officer she was hiding from was in her same safe house. No that analogy was completely wrong, it made her sound like some sort of a trouble maker whereas he was the good guy, out to save the day. The only criminal there was Jackson, he was a dirty, sly, foul…cockroach.

Annabeth tapped her feet anxiously, her head bent low over her notes, pretending to work on her homework as the rest of the students slowly trickled in. She let out a sigh of relief when the bell rang and Mrs. Gonzales bustled in, her arms filled with the stack of the pop quiz from last week, while the rest of the class let out a groan. Annabeth though couldn't stop the beam that stretched across her face, and it wasn't solely due to the perfect score she had received. It looked like Jackson had decided to skip the morning classes and though under normal circumstances she would have turned her nose up in disapproval, at present she couldn't help thank all the gods she knew for helping her dodge that particular catastrophe.

Time flew past quickly then, Annabeth noted grudgingly, when her mind wasn't burdened with anxiety. She focused her attention on the text in front of her, carefully taking down notes and she almost missed the door opening and the sound of someone entering. Her heart froze when she saw Jackson swaggering over to the teachers table. His crisp white shirt was unbuttoned at the top and the sleeves were pushed up to his elbows, his tie loosely knotted, giving him the appearance of someone who had just rolled out of bed. His black hair was messy as ever and his lips were quirked up to a smirk as he spoke to Mrs. Gonzales in a low drawl. Suddenly, as though feeling her gaze on him, he turned and met her eyes for a few seconds. She could feel herself freeze and go warm at the same time and she quickly dropped her eyes, her heart pounding in her ears.

"You may take your seat now, Mr. Jackson" Mrs. Gonzales sighed resignedly, tucking the late pass away and handing the said boy a sheet of paper. "And I must say, you have done remarkably well in the last pop quiz. If this keeps up, Miss. Chase and yourself could very well be tied for first position."

Annabeth kept her gaze on her notes, her mind storing away the startling piece of information for pondering later on in the comforts of her dorm room; she had no idea Jackson's academic prowess had extended this far. She tensed when he brushed past her to his seat at the back. The rest of the lesson was a blur to her; she hadn't turned back but she was certain a pair of green eyes had been digging holes into her head for the last one hour.

When the bell rang Annabeth let out a relived sigh and started gathering her stuff up, eager to get out of the stifling class room, when in one clumsy move she managed to knock her bag down onto the floor, books and papers and pens scattering onto the cold stone floor in loud echoes. She stared at the mess for a moment, a part of her considered just leaving it there and coming back later but in the end she let out another sigh and crouched down to pick everything up. A hand suddenly appeared in her vision holding a stack of papers with her name on it and she looked up to meet a pair of sea green eyes, devoid of emotions. She took the papers from Jackson with slightly trembling hands, her gaze stubbornly fixed on the floor.

"Thanks" she muttered but he had already brushed past her, his unknotted tie swaying as he disappeared out the door and into the sea of students.

~0O0~

Annabeth wound her hair up into a messy bun, a hair band held between her teeth as she stumbled down the stair case with the other West Tower students. She could see the night sky through the large oriel windows passing her side and she absently noted that it was a full moon tonight. There was a special dinner scheduled tonight, of which they were informed through the notice boards in their common rooms that afternoon, to formally invite the students and teachers to the Annual Ball going to be conducted next month. It was quite reputed among the student circle both inside and outside the Academy, with dazzling ice sculptors on displays and famous bands coming in for gigs. It was open only to the fifth and sixth year students and they were even allowed to bring in ball gowns and tuxedos at the beginning the term or send for the same through their family or place orders at the local clothes shops down at the village, who would contact outside garment boutiques and make a tidy profit.

Annabeth thought the whole thing was simply tedious, required a lot of unnecessary time wasted on planning and had already begun contemplating breaking her leg just before the ball and thus saving herself from a night of loud music, unchecked drinking and a strong migraine.

"I can't wait!" Piper squealed at her side, her face full of exuberant joy. The brunette had spent most of the day in bed and had managed to fight off her hang over. "This is the year we can finally attend those bloody dances. Oh god, how long I had longed for this moment to arrive!"

Annabeth for her part, quite honestly and not surprisingly, did not find herself sharing the same excitement as her friend and the rest of the student population. She tried prodding her feelings experimentally, but found no other emotion coursing through her body than resignation and exhaustion; it had been a rather long day and she could have definitely done with an early night. Playing hide and seek with Jackson today had surprisingly taken a lot of energy and careful calculation on her part, lest she run into the spawn of the devil in the hall way. She could still feel the power of his gaze on her back and his cold, emotionless eyes had sent a shiver down her spine for the rest of the morning. She had the uncanny feeling of staring into pits of swirling green waves whenever he looked at her.

"Calm your horses Pipes. It's only the announcement tonight. The ball isn't due for at least a month from now!"

"Annabeth Minerva Chase, you did not just say that!" Piper looked so serious and indignant, for a moment Annabeth actually paused and started to wonder if she had said something uncouth. But then she remembered this was Piper she was talking about; the girl who frolicked her way through Spain without visiting a single monument, and she put her worry to rest.

"Don't you see, it's the principle of the thing!" the brunette added, staring at her defiantly.

Annabeth honestly didn't see but kept her mouth shut. She let Piper carry on her rambles and managed to nod at the appropriate places, her mind already tuned out and pondering the content of the supper menu.

They entered the dining hall, filled with chatter and the delicious smell of the various delicacies their latest head chef from France had conjured up, and made their way to their usual seat at the right corner.

"Jason's going to run a tad late. He's on the phone with his father."Piper explained as she saved the seat next to her. Annabeth nodded and proceeded to secure the seat next to her for the other absent male of their group.

"Good idea. Leo will probably turn up later too; he landed detention with Mrs. Gonzales for skipping classes today." Annabeth winced sympathetically as she recalled the events after their Spanish lesson. The blonde had somberly informed the Spanish teacher that Leo had informed her that he was quite terribly ill and hadn't stirred from his bed all morning. She had found a rather sympathetic listener in her teacher and Mrs. Gonzales looked very much concerned about the only student in her class with a Spanish ancestry; she even suggested he borrowed some special Mexican cold relief medicine she always kept in her bedside drawer, which she had acquired from a voodoo woman down in Minnesota. Annabeth highly doubted the actions of this 'miraculous weed' but had instead nodded politely and assured her that she would pass the message onto the sick boy.

Unfortunately, five minutes after their conversation, Mrs. Gonzales walked into the dining hall for her usual brunch and found the so called sick boy who was supposed to be holed up in his bed five stories above, sitting at a table with his head in a plate of cold egg, snoring lightly, not in the least bit sick. Needless to say he landed a detention on the spot whereas Annabeth got away with a strict warning of never to take messages from untrustworthy sources.

She looked around the bustling room now and found Dare directly to her right, by the buffet table, chatting to a bemused Ethan Nakamura. She idly wondered if something was going on between them when she noted another figure standing close by; Hazel and Zhang. Annabeth frowned a little and contemplated getting Hazel's side of the story that night. Leo hadn't quite been the same ever since the curly haired girl had announced her relationship with Zhang. The copper haired boy had lost the usual spark in his eyes and would abruptly leave the table whenever Hazel came over.

"Psst, Annie." Piper hissed poking her side rather painfully.

"Ow-What?"

"Jackson's staring at you!"

Annabeth felt her heart rate pick up as she slowly turned around in her seat to look over in the direction of the East Tower tables. Jackson sat at the most crowded table, the people around him all laughing merrily and trying in vain to get his attention. Trying in vain, as his eyes were fixed right on her. Annabeth could feel her blood freeze, not only because of the absurdity of his attention on her, but of the utter iciness that swam in those sea green orbs. She felt like she was staring at a frozen lake, frigid and uncaring. Then all of a sudden, he looked away, as though the strange incident had never taken place.

"That's weird. Why does he keep doing that?"

"He wasn't looking at me, Pipes" Annabeth tried to sound as convincing as possible, even adding a small surprised laughter. "He was definitely ogling his girlfriend. Look behind you!"

Piper turned and they both gazed silently for a minute at the laughing figure of Dare, whose skirt was turned up a good six inches above regulation and the top three buttons of her white blouse open.

"Ugh, yuck. You're right!" Piper suppressed a shiver as she turned back and met Annabeth's eyes. "Though, to just openly stare at someone like that with no regard of their feelings. What a pig!"

Annabeth agreed whole heartedly; though she had the uneasy feeling that he knew exactly how uncomfortable he made her feel and the unusual staring was just some lame, pathetic scheme of his to watch her squirm in her seat; he was probably laughing his head off inside, watching her become all flustered and red.

Annabeth grit her teeth and willed her body to relax. She would show that idiot he had no control over her mind. She found herself asking Piper her plans for the ball and felt herself slowly loosen up as her friend's chatter of the perfect dress and diamond encrusted shoes slowly washed over her worries and instead gave her a sleepy haze. Jason joined them soon after, and though she noted he looked a little distant, the topic then easily diverted to home work and the latest foot ball team try outs to include the boy. By the time Principal Chiron had wheeled himself into the center of the hall, two students she had never seen before walking behind him, and had started the formal details and procession of the Annual Ball, Annabeth had managed to entirely forget about the green eyed man sitting a few feet behind her, whose eyes she was sure were digging holes into the back of her head. Well, almost forget.

~0O0~

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