Chapter One: Me?

"Percy! Hey, Percy!"

The dark-haired boy turned as he heard his name, frowning slightly at the girlish, unfamiliar voice. His eyes widened as he caught sight of who it was.

Annabeth Chase weaved through the sea of high school students, stormy grey eyes locked on the lone boy. The look on her face reminded Percy slightly of an alligator he'd once seen on the lake, cruising through the water toward its prey. He would've shivered if the packed corridor hadn't been so stuffy.

She finally navigated her way to the wall of lockers, but tripped on somebody's heel just as she did. She stumbled to a stop in front of Percy, slamming a hand hard into a locker to keep her balance. Percy winced at the metallic BANG, then blinked his face into a neutral expression as she straightened and focused on him.

"Percy." She said.

"Me?" He asked, still surprised. Oh, perfect.

Who else? She's looking straight at you!

"Yes, you." Annabeth said, completely oblivious to the effect she was having on him. "I need your help."

Me? Percy's brain was still asking.

"What's up?" He said instead.

"I heard you know how to cook." Annabeth told him.

"Oh." Percy blinked. "Yeah, I do." He hadn't been expecting her to say that at all. Then again, this entire conversation was unexpected.

"My mother's challenged me to make dinner for my family this weekend. On Saturday." Annabeth's face soured slightly at my mother. "And I have no idea what to do."

"I see." Percy replied blankly.

"Can you teach me how to cook?" Annabeth asked at last.

"Yeah, sure." Is this really happening?

"Great," Annabeth looked visibly relieved. "Um, when's a good time?"

"I'm free in the afternoon on Thursday." He said. It was Monday.

"That's too close to Saturday," Annabeth shook her head. "I need a closer date."

Percy frowned for a moment, trying to recall his schedule. Her intense grey eyes were making it hard to think. "I have a match on Wednesday. After the game I should be free. That'd be about six."

"Is it home or away?" Annabeth asked. That would determine his location at the end of the game.

"Home. Right here."

Annabeth nodded. "I'll meet you at the stadium, then."

"Cool."

"Right. I'll see you then." Annabeth turned on her heel, then stopped. She turned back.

"What's up?" Percy asked, slightly baffled.

"I need your number. In case I can't find you."

"Oh. Oh, right." He took her phone and keyed it in.

"Great." Annabeth murmured to herself as her fingers danced across the screen, saving it to her contacts. "There. I've given you a missed call."

Percy felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and pulled it out. He tapped the screen. "Got it, thanks."

"Great." Annabeth nodded. "Thanks, Percy. I really appreciate it."

"No problem. Have a great day." He cringed inwardly. That was so cliche.

"You too." She stepped into the sea of students and was instantly swallowed up.

Percy turned back to his locker, slightly dazed by the conversation. I have Annabeth Chase's number kept flashing through his mind.

"Duuuuude," His friend Leo materialised beside him, a wide-eyed look on his elfish features. "Did I just see what I thought I saw?"

"You got her number!" Grover, another of his friends, clapped him on the back.

"How on earth did you pull that off?" Leo asked.

Percy turned to him, completely blank-faced. "She wants to learn how to cook."

Leo stared at him incredulously. "I hate you."

—

"Soooooo," Piper sang as she fell into step beside her best friend. "How did it go?"

"He said yes." Annabeth said simply. She pulled her bag around and plunged her hand in, fishing for her sunglasses case.

"That's great!" Piper clapped her hands together. "I'm so happy for you."

"Because you're gonna make me your new personal chef?" Annabeth knew her friend well.

"Only if you're willing." Piper smiled. "And only if you don't burn the house down."

"That happened one time." Annabeth said firmly. "And it was cookies."

"And it won't happen again now that Percy Jackson is in the picture."

"How did you know he was a good cook anyway?" Annabeth asked.

"He won a cooking competition," Piper gave her friend a curious look. "Didn't you hear about it?"

"No." Annabeth barely paid attention to the goings-on in her school.

Piper shook her head, bemused. "Your head is always buried in a textbook. The whole school knew about it."

"If I filled my head with everything that happened around me, there wouldn't be any space to store all the useful information."

"You gotta have more bandwidth, Annabeth," Piper sighed, pulling out her car keys. "There is so much happening around you."

"Like I said," Annabeth repeated as she opened the passenger door and swung herself in. "not important."

—

Annabeth's good mood evaporated by the time Piper dropped her off at her house. Her neutral expression hardened into a guarded, impassive mask as she walked into the house, nudging the door shut with the back of her heel.

All was quiet, which meant that her twelve-year-old twin brothers Bobby and Matthew weren't in. A quick glance toward the living room confirmed that her mother wasn't lying in wait, then she crossed the hallway in swift strides and bounded up the stairs.

It was only when she entered her room that she realised she'd forgotten to fill her water bottle after her last class. She always filled it up in school to avoid getting water from the kitchen at home. That was her mother's territory, and she always minimised the chances of an encounter with her unless she had no choice.

She pulled her water bottle out from her bag, her heart sinking at how empty it felt. There was about one mouthful left. She gulped it down and flexed her jaw, sighing through her nose. She'd remain in her room until her thirst got the better of her. Hopefully her mother wouldn't be anywhere along the route to the kitchen when she went down. That was unlikely, seeing as any journey to the kitchen would take her through almost the whole house, but she'd cross that bridge when she came to it.

Three hours later she crept downstairs with her water bottle, eyes and ears on full alert.

It just wasn't her day. She found her mother standing over a bubbling pot in the kitchen, the lion's den, no less. She steeled herself and walked in.

"You're back early today," Her mother called out over her shoulder. "Didn't you go grocery shopping?"

"No," Annabeth gritted her teeth in annoyance. "Why would I?"

"Oh, maybe because you promised you'd make dinner this week. You didn't forget, did you?"

"That's Saturday," Annabeth resisted the urge to fling the water bottle at her. "Today is Monday."

"Best to prepare early, you know." Her mother said in that superior way of her's. "Don't they teach you that in school?"

Annabeth squeezed her eyes shut with frustration. "If I bought groceries today, they would all be rotted by the time Saturday came around."

"That's what the fridge is for, Annabeth." Her mother turned to face her, holding a ladle in one hand. "You put the food in there so it doesn't spoil."

Annabeth's response was to violently yank the fridge door open, revealing misted shelves crammed top to bottom with items. "How am I supposed to stuff any more things in here?" She glared at her mother. "It's completely full!"

"If you actually knew what was inside, you'd realise you don't even need to go grocery shopping." Her mother told her. "The fridge contains everything you could ever need."

"It doesn't have what I need." Annabeth declared.

"Oh?" Her mother raised an eyebrow. "And what's that?"

Annabeth stared into the fridge for a long moment, then blurted the first thing that popped into her mind.

"Ketchup."

The moment the word left her mouth, she knew she'd struck gold. Her mother hated ketchup.

"Ketchup?" Her mother hissed. "You can't make anything with ketchup!"

"I'll show you." Annabeth promised. She grabbed her filled water bottle and marched out of the kitchen.

She stormed back into her room and flopped onto the bed, sighing unhappily. Her mother was always kicking up an argument whenever she saw her. She could never get a moment's peace with her around.

She picked up her phone and pressed her thumb to the screen. Her eyebrows lifted when she saw she'd gotten a text from Percy.

'Hey Annabeth, it's Percy.'

'Hey Percy,' she sent in reply.

She waited a minute to see if he'd reply, but his contact remained offline, so she guessed he was busy with something. She put her phone away, sighing again.

Percy was the one hope she had to shut her mother up. Otherwise she'd continue to live in her shadow, weighted down by her criticisms and remarks as she'd been all her life. Her jaw clenched with anger. She had to prove her mother wrong. Had to.