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Annabeth is pissed off.
If she had just kept her mouth shut, she probably wouldn’t be here. But in her defense, Mr. Michaels had it coming. Ever since junior year started, Annabeth’s Social Studies teacher had been nothing but condescending and rude towards her. So when he insinuated that Annabeth wouldn’t be able to do extra course work without compromising her other subjects and extracurriculars, she snapped.
Earlier that day, Annabeth had asked for extra credit work for his subject; because even though he is an asshole, Annabeth still wanted to ace his class.
“Annabeth, you’re doing fine in my subject! You don’t need extra credit. Besides, I doubt you’d be able to handle more work on top of your already, ah, impressive workload,” he said, referring to her (admittedly) ridiculous amount of things to do. You see, Annabeth is an overachiever: she’s school body president, captain of the debate club, a sprinter on the track team, and in four AP classes. So maybe she is swarmed. But Mr. Michaels had absolutely no right to say she couldn’t handle more work on top of everything else she’s juggling. She’s perfectly aware of her capabilities and limits, thank you very much, and she knows for a fact that something as simple as extra credit wouldn’t be too much for her to handle.
“Oh, don’t worry about it, Mr. Michaels,” Annabeth said, voice dripping in sarcasm. “I assure you that simple extra credit work will not affect my performance in my other endeavors. I appreciate your concern though; if you were in my shoes, I’m sure simple extra credit work will really throw you off guard! However, you and I are not the same.”
Annabeth regretted the words as soon as they came out of her mouth. It’s not that she didn’t mean them, because oh she did . But she knows her little speech would get her in trouble. And it did. She’s currently spending her Wednesday afternoon in detention, and she’s pissed off at herself. She knows that she’s prideful, she knows she has a superiority complex; but she also knows better than to speak back to someone who clearly has more authority than her.
At least she’s alone in detention. Annabeth can have an entire hour to herself where she could reflect on her stupidity and poor choices in life. But of course, the door just swings open and a guy walks in holding a detention slip just like the one she has.
Annabeth recognizes him as Percy Jackson. She doesn’t know much about him, except that he’s a junior like her and he’s captain of the school’s swim team. She’s heard from somewhere that he boxes too. He and Annabeth are on complete opposites of the spectrum, and they rarely interact, except for that one time in sophomore year where they were in a trio with Frank Zhang for a Biology project. (And of course, Annabeth did most of the work). Annabeth could see the shocked expression on his face as he closed the door behind him.
“Oh, hey, didn’t expect you to be here,” he says tentatively as he takes a seat next to her.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Annabeth snaps, one eyebrow raised. She actually knows what he means; but she’s angry and annoyed, and he didn’t have to point out the obvious.
“Woah, calm down, it’s just, you know, detention is probably the last place I’d expect to see you.”
It’s true. Annabeth has a reputation, one that she’s had for years — she’s known to be the perfect, well-rounded, straight-A student who can do no wrong. Detention is the last place anyone would expect to see her.
“Sorry,” she says sheepishly. “Just a little bit upset that I ended up here.”
“Hey, it’s cool. The first time is always the worst. But once you end up here a lot, you somehow get used to it. It’s less upsetting and more like, damn , again?!”
Annabeth can’t help but laugh. She didn’t know why, but the fact that he views detention as something so mundane while she was already mentally preparing her eulogy is so funny to her. Either she had a lame sense of humor, or she was starting to seriously lose her mind.
“If you don’t mind me asking, how did you end up here?” he asks, scooting a little closer to her.
“Talked back to a teacher. Apparently I was being ‘extremely disrespectful’,” Annabeth replies, making air quotes and mocking her teacher for emphasis. She goes off and rants about Mr. Michaels for a good five minutes before she realizes that she’s ranting to a stranger, and to Percy Jackson of all people. It didn’t help that he was listening so intently, his intense sea green eyes never once leaving her face as she rambled. Annabeth is blushing by the time she finishes ranting.
“I get you. I know what it’s like when you reach a limit.”
She had to look away. Were his eyes always that green? Annabeth clears her throat and asks him how he managed to get a detention slip. He sighs heavily before answering her.
“ Do you know my friend, Grover?” he asks. Annabeth nods and urges him to continue. “Well, he’s crippled, right, so he needs crutches to get around. One of the seniors tripped him on the stairs when we were going up for Homeroom.”
“That’s just messed up,” Annabeth says, wrinkling her nose in disgust.
“I know,” Percy agrees. “Anyway, I told the guy to knock it off, but he just kept taunting Grover. So, I got pissed, and I kind of punched him.”
“You punched him?!” Annabeth exclaims, eyes wide. She thought he just yelled at the guy and called him a few unflattering things. But then again, he does box, so Annabeth isn’t sure why she was so shocked.
“Banged up his nose pretty badly too,” he says proudly, smirking.
Annabeth felt butterflies pooling in her stomach. Was it possible to be attracted to a smile? But his lopsided grin was so attractive in that troublemaker sort of way that it made her heart flutter against her will. Annabeth just knows she won’t be able to get the image out of her mind for the next few weeks.
God, Annabeth, get it together!
“That’s not really something to be proud of,” she mutters, desperately trying not to drop any hints that she finds this guy seriously attractive.
“Well, it did land me in detention,” he says, still smirking. Annabeth doesn’t know if it was just her imagination, but she was so sure his smirk slipped when she said that she insinuated that she didn’t approve of what he did.
“As it should,” Annabeth says, not trusting herself to say anything more because she might just end up squeaking.
He laughs. And dear God, Annabeth doesn’t know if she’s ever heard a more beautiful sound.
The rest of the hour goes by quickly.
They hit it off instantly, and their conversation never turned dull. It turns out that Percy is a great guy to hang out with. He’s charming and easy-going; and his laid-back attitude somehow reminds her of the summers she’s spent at Montauk beach. He just gives off the vibe of being so chill.
She silently hopes that this won’t be the last time the two of them spend time together.
Annabeth learns that Percy’s mom is an author and that his step-dad is actually Mr. Blofis, the English teacher. She also finds out that Percy has a newborn sister named Estelle. When Percy pulled out his phone and showed Annabeth a picture of the little girl bundled up in a blue blanket with little fish designs, her heart melted and her smile grew so much bigger. Percy teased her, saying the Annabeth Chase has gone soft for a six-month-old.
Annabeth tells Percy about her family, composed of her father, step-mother, and half-brothers. They don’t dwell on that topic — Annabeth’s family (or lack of) has always been a sore subject for her. Instead, she tells him about her absolute favorite thing in the world: architecture. She tells Percy about all the famous architectural landmarks she’s seen, as well as all the ones she’d like to visit one day. She even shares with him her dream of going to the Parthenon in Greece.
The more they talked, the more they realized that they actually had so much in common together. Jason, one of Annabeth’s closest friends, was actually on the basketball team with Percy last year. Percy’s cousin, Thalia, was one of Annabeth’s closest childhood friends before she moved away. They even went to the same summer camp on Long Island when they were twelve; they just didn’t know each other yet at the time. They’re even both dyslexic.
It amazes Annabeth just how connected the two of them are, and yet they’ve never properly spoken to each other until today. Annabeth wonders if maybe these aren’t all mere coincidences. She’s never believed in destiny or any of that stuff. They’re baseless and illogical and difficult to explain ; but maybe, just maybe, she was supposed to end up in detention and meet him. Maybe it was fate .
Or maybe I’m going insane and I need more coffee , Annabeth says, mentally scolding herself.
Detention has ended before they even realized it. To Annabeth’s surprise, she found herself feeling disappointed. She can’t help but frown when Percy stands up and gets his backpack from the floor beside him. She silently gathers her things and exits the classroom behind him.
“I’m headed to the parking lot, you?’ he asks as he puts on a blue sweater. When his head re-emerges, his hair is even messier than before. He ruffles his hair a bit, and she has to resist the urge to smooth it down herself.
“Yeah, I’m going there too,” Annabeth says, trying not to sound so disappointed that they had to go separate ways. She’s had this sinking feeling that although they go to the same school, this might be the last time they ever interact. After all, they are in two very different friend groups; and Annabeth is never going to detention ever again. She’s already expecting them to share a few friendly waves to each other at most after this day.
Before she knows it, they reach the parking lot. Annabeth mentally prepares herself for a goodbye when Percy catches her off guard.
“Do you want to get dinner together?” he asks. She notices how his hand fidgets with his backpack strap.
“What?” Annabeth asks. She heard him the first time, but she just can’t believe it.
“Well, there’s this really nice diner down the street, I was thinking if maybe you wanted -”
“Are you asking me out?” Annabeth teases, but the grin on her face is so wide she thinks her face might split in half.
Percy just chuckles and takes her hand, leading them to his car. Annabeth has never held his hand before, but his hand fits perfectly in hers and something about it just feels so right .
Later that night when Annabeth gets home, she’s wearing a blue sweater and the biggest smile on her face.