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“Beth, you are so coming with me.” Percy said as we approached the Guardians of the Galaxy tower. We had spent the first half of the day over at Disneyland, and now we were in California Adventure. We saw the sun set while standing by the water, watching as the blue sky faded into a cascading array of pinks and oranges that settled upon the clouds. Everything was lit up, and you could still see the lights from the ferris wheel over at Pixar Pier.

“No way.” I replied. “If you want to be killed after falling 13 stories in a small metal box, be my guest, but I will not be coming with you.”

“Please?” He flashed his signature puppy dog eyes at me. He looked so cute, wearing a vintage looking Finding Nemo t-shirt and blue jean shorts. His checkered vans were clearly run down, but he still wore them every day. His unruly raven black hair was flying in the warm autumn breeze.

“Not a chance.” I planted my feet firmly on the ground as he tried his hardest to pull me into the building. He finally moved to a different tactic. He pulled me close, and he wrapped his arms around my waist. He kissed my blond hair, which couldn't have been easy with my Minnie Mouse ears. He then moved to my lips, and after kissing me twice, whispered in my ear.

“How about now?” His gentle voice still managed to send chills down my spine even after all these years.

“I hate you.” He smiled and dragged me into the line. After waiting for maybe 20 minutes we were finally ushered into the elevator. I pulled off my headband, which Percy had insisted on buying me. They had navy blue ears and a bow with royal blue and white stripes. In the center of the bow was a small anchor. I tucked it away into the backpack under my seat, and pulled my blonde curls into a low ponytail, to avoid tangles. I buckled into the seat next to Percy, and held onto the seat rails for dear life. He noticed this, and grabbed one of my hands. He looked into my eyes with genuine concern. He leaned over and kissed my forehead.

“Hey, you’re going to be okay. We’re together right?”

“As long as we’re together.” I responded, and the elevator started going up. It raised for only ten seconds, maybe, when the screen in front of us flashed, and we dropped. I tried to focus on the music in the background, a bunch of good music from the 60’s and 70’s. I kept my eyes tightly shut, and held onto Percy’s hand so tightly that claw marks were beginning to form. He laughed with every drop, while I screamed with bloody murder. I was freaking out so much that I didn't realize we had made it to the top of the ride, until Percy nudged my shoulder, and I opened my eyes. You could see the neon lights of all the rides, and from this high up, you could even see the castle glowing with pink and blue. I smiled as Percy squeezed my hand, and I forgot that I was on a death trap. That is, until we fell again.

When we got to the bottom, my knees were shaking so much I could barely walk. After we looked at our pictures, he put me on his back, and we made our way back towards the Pier to watch the fireworks. We grabbed a bite of macaroni and cheese from the Cars section of California Adventure, and fixed ourselves in a spot by the railings overlooking the water.

“So,” Percy began. “How was today?”

“Aside from almost dying? Pretty amazing.” I smiled at him. In the reflection of the moonlight from the water, his green eyes looked brighter than a million stars.

“Good.” He grabbed my hand and our fingers intertwined. He brushed his other hand along my cheek, and pulled me in for a kiss. Butterflies erupted in my stomach, even though we had kissed a million times before. Fireworks started in the distance as all the lights turned off, and though the music was probably blaring, It sounded incredibly blurred to me. When we pulled apart, my heart was beating faster than it ever had before, and there was no doubt that Percy could feel it. He chuckled and rested his head against mine. “I love you Annabeth.” 

“I love you too.” He wrapped his arms around me and we stayed like that while watching the brilliant flashing colors of the fireworks. The booming of the fireworks got louder and louder, until suddenly, they turned into beeps. 

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! I groaned as I stretched my arms out to stop my alarm clock. I fell back against my pillows and ran my fingers through my hair. 

“Well that's wonderful.” I said aloud to myself. “Alright. First day of sophomore year. Bring it on.” As I got ready, I ignored my dream. I was not fantasizing about Percy Jackson. I was not thinking about the super hot, gorgeous star quarterback on the varsity team. I didn't imagine what it would be like to kiss him. I most certainly wasn't thinking about going on beach dates with him. No way. For starters he was a senior, and while that was only two years, and I had known him my whole life, it was still a big no-no. The even bigger problem though? The reason I had known him my whole life wasn't because we had gone to the same school or anything. No. It was because he was my best friend's older brother. 

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Pushing all thoughts of Percy aside, I got ready for school. I ran a comb through my wild curls and put them into a low ponytail. I pulled out a few strands of hair around my face, just to give it a casual look. I slipped two small stud pearl earrings into my ear, and clasped my silver necklace around my neck. I was wearing a simple white top, black jeans, and my white vans. I put on a touch of mascara, just because this was the first day. I grabbed my backpack, filled to the brim with summer homework, and walked downstairs. 

“Hey dad!” I said as I set my bag on the counter. I walked to the pantry and poured myself a bowl of cereal.

“Hi, honey. Excited for your first day?” He asked. 

“Yeah, but it's not really any different from last year. I might not be a freshman, but I'm still an underclassman.” 

“Just wait until you can drive. That’ll make all the difference.” He smiled as his alarm went off to wake up my younger brothers. “Oh! I forgot to tell you last night, I can't take you to school today, the boys have to be there early.”

“That's fine.” I sighed. “I’ll see if Piper can give me a ride.” Piper McLean had been my best friend since Kindergarten, and the two of us were practically inseparable. We hung out so often that we knew each other's families like they were our own. The only issue with this, was that her older brother, and hot shot of Valley View High School, saw me as a little sister. Percy Jackson was technically her step-brother, but since their parents had gotten married when they were young, they simply saw each other as siblings. I dialed Piper's number into my phone, and waited for her to pick it up.

“Hey girly!” She answered through the phone.

“Hey Pipes, can you give me a ride?”

“Shoot, I'm sorry I already left and-” She cut herself off  suddenly in a fit of laughter. “Sorry, anyways, I'm not even driving.”

“Oh? Who are you with?” I heard a deep voice and I knew exactly who it was. “Piper! You are not with Jason Grace right now.” 

“Well...” She trailed off, and I could hear her smirk through the phone.

“You know your brother is going to kill the both of you, right?” I teased.

“He won't, because he isnt going to find out.” She paused. “Wait! Percy could take you!”

“Um, no. I would rather walk.” The idea of getting into a car with him sounded nice, which made it all the more terrifying.

“Oh please. It's a 15 minute walk and your house is on the way to school from ours.” She stated. “I’ll call him. Bye!” 

“Piper, wait-” She hung up before I could protest. After a few minutes I got a text from an unknown number. It read: hurry up i'm outside . I peaked out the window and saw none other than Percy's black jeep sitting in my driveway. I scrambled to throw my bowl in the sink, grabbed my bag, and stepped outside. The windows were rolled down, and when he saw me, I could see him smirking, which made me blush ridiculously. I walked around to the passenger side of his car and opened the door. I climbed in, and sat back in the seat.

“Hey, Wisegirl.” He said, in his soft, low voice. It definitely didn't help with the blushing. 

“Hi, Seaweed Brain.” He rolled his eyes at me as he put the car in reverse.

“You come with us to the beach house one time and I manage to score a new nickname.” He joked.

“Mm, well it's not my fault you ate it while you were surfing and swam to shore with seaweed stuck in your hair.” I laughed.

“I will kick you out of this car.”

“So dramatic.” He turned on music, and the rest of the drive to school was relaxing. With the windows down the cool morning air filled my lungs and felt the taste of salt on my lips. Even though we lived a few miles away from the beach, the wind carried the ocean breeze wherever we went. I put his number as a contact on my phone. I thought about putting his name as ‘Seaweed Brain’ but I decided against it, and simply put his name. We rolled into the parking lot, and I climbed out of the car. I slang my bag around one of my shoulders and began walking towards the doors. 

“Thanks for the ride.” I said as we made our way in the building. 

“Don't worry about it.” He replied. “It's not like you live out of the way.”

“True, but I still would have walked.”

“Yeah, but you know my mom would have killed me. Bedises, Piper had to come to school early for cheer practice, so it's not like she could have driven you.”

“Cheer practice, huh?” I smiled while thinking about what he didn't know. “I wonder who picked her up.”

“I think it was Silena, but I'm not sure.”

“Mm. Well, I have to get to English, so...” I trailed off.

“Bye, wise girl.” I shook my head at him.

“Whatever Seaweed Brain.” I blushed as I felt his eyes follow me as I walked away. I turned the hallway and entered my English class, sitting down next to my friends Rachel, and Thalia. 

“So, word on the street is that everyone saw you getting out of Percy Jackson’s car this morning.” Rachel began.

“Oh my god, you guys. It's too early for this.” I rested my head in my hands.

“I'm sorry, he's just the hottest guy in school-”

“And Piper’s brother.” I cut Rachel off.

“Right. I forgot you were friends with Piper.” Thalia said. She was wearing her black leather jacket, as well as ripped black jeans, and a cropped navy blue t-shirt. Her gold lightning bolt necklace was hanging down below her collar bone, and with her jet black hair being chopped short, you could see her piercings on her ears. As resident “biker girl” at our school, and Piper being captain of the cheer squad, the two ran in very different circles. Thalia and I were on the same volleyball team, and had been for years, though, so we were pretty close.

“It's not like anything happened. I just needed a ride to school.” I said.

“Annabeth. He's the star quarterback, the captain of the swim team, the most popular guy in school, and he took you to school.” Rachel insisted. “How are you not freaking out?”

“Rach, you might have a crush on him, but you forget I’ve known him basically my entire life.” I continued. “He's given me thousands of rides. Chill out.”

“You are so lucky.” She turned her attention to her sketchbook, where she was drawing a flower, or something. Whatever it was, it was ridiculously intricate. Her jeans were paint splattered as always, and her red tank top was tucked in. Her silver hoops peaked through the mess of red hair that fell around her face.

“Anyway, ready for the game this weekend?” I asked Thalia.

“Yes! We are going to take those stupid dolphins down.” She replied enthusiastically. Before I could say anything else, our teacher strolled into the room. He began the lesson, and while I was supposed to be taking notes, I started daydreaming instead. I couldn't stop thinking about my dream, and how real it felt, or the way he smirked at me and teased me in the car. This is why my stomach erupted into a fit of butterflies as soon as I got a text message from none other than Percy Jackson.

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I kept reading the message over and over again, trying to decide how to respond. It read: are you doing anything at lunch? It was such a simple question, yet I had no clue how to answer. If I said yes, I would be lying, but it would shut down whatever he was trying to do, so it was clearly the safer option. Of course, instead of saying yes, I replied: no, why? Casual. I was not about to get my hopes up that he was going to ask me to do something. He probably texted the wrong person. I mean come on, this was Percy Jackson. I was Annabeth Chase, his little sister's best friend. Nothing more than that. Yet for some reason, he texted back: you are now. meet me at my car w piper after 2nd. Even though he wanted me to bring Piper, I still couldn't shake the excitement that he had asked me to go with him somewhere at lunch. Not that I would ever admit it to anyone besides myself, but I had been crushing on him pretty much since I was in the third grade. This was kind of a dream come true. 

I suppressed my excitement down to a small smile that I couldn't manage to wipe off my face. After English, we had a seven minute passing period, and since I had History with Piper next, I decided to try and find her. After a minute of searching, I found her talking with Reyna and Silena in the north hallway. She was wearing her hair in a curled ponytail, which looked pretty, even with her uneven braids and lengths of hair sticking out. She had her gold jewelry on today, which meant she was wearing all of her cartilage piercings that consisted of three little rings, and a cuff that had a chain dangling from it, connecting it to her little sphere stud. She wore her purple cheer uniform, a simple top with a few lines and stripes with the word ‘eagles’ in sparkly white lettering. Her skirt was purple also, but when she moved, the inner pleats were white and black. 

“Hey pretty lady.” Reyna said as I walked over.

“Hey girls.” I stood in between Piper and Silena, jumping into their conversation every once in a while. Finally the two minute bell rang, and we split off to get to class.

“So, we’re meeting your brother in his car after this block.” I said as we sat down in our seats.

“Um, why?” Piper asked.

“I don't know, I think we’re going to lunch or something. He just texted me and told us to meet him there.” 

“Hmm, well that's better than having to stay here, I guess.” She said as she pulled out her supplies.

“We wouldn't have to rely on him to take us places if you had driven to school.” I said, a touch of teasing in my voice.

“Well,” Piper's tanned skin turned bright red. “Jason offered to take me, and I wasn't about to say no. Have you seen him?” 

“Yes Piper, he's over at your house every time that I'm there.” I laughed. “Do you know why?” 

“Yes.” She grumbled.

“Percy’s going to kill you.” I said.

“Oh whatever, we kissed at the beach house this summer when we went on that trip in July, and even you didn't notice!” She exclaimed, probably a bit louder than she should have. 

“You know, he might be at lunch.” I nudged her shoulder. At this point our teacher had walked in and given us some sort of instructions, but honestly we were allowed to do pretty much whatever in that class. Piper smiled and leaned back in her chair.

“I can't wait an hour and a half.” She complained, still grinning. The rest of that class we did minimal amounts of work, and mostly just talked. This was the only block that we had together, so we just used it as our time to catch up. The work was easy though, so we both had A’s. When the bell finally rang the two of us practically ran to Percy’s car. Just as I had guessed, Jason would be joining us. Jason Grace had been friends with Percy just as long as I had been friends with Piper, and he was Thalia’s brother, so the two of us knew each other decently well. After all, whenever the siblings were allowed to bring friends on trips, it was Jason and I that got chosen. We had been on several vacations to the McLean/Jackson beach house, and one time we even all flew up to my family's mountain chalet in Aspen. 

Jason was sitting on the hood of the car, wearing blue jeans, a simple gray button up shirt, and aviator style glasses. Percy was leaning against the car looking so good that my breath hitched. I hadn't noticed what he was wearing earlier, but he looked really cute. He was wearing essentially the same outfit as Jason (the bromance between those two was real), but I thought he looked better. His jeans were slightly sun faded, so they were a light blue. His shirt was black, and was unbuttoned just enough to see the top of his very tan chest. His hair was messy as per usual, and his ray bands were lowered to the base of his nose, as he tilted his head down to see us. 

“Hello, ladies.” Jason said as we got closer.

“Hi, Jason.” Piper said dreamily. I pushed her shoulder, knowing that if she kept up like this Percy would know for sure.

“So!” I turned their attention to me. “What are we doing?” 

“Well, since we all have a third off, I thought we would grab burgers and go down to the beach.” Percy stated, walking around to the driver's seat. We all climbed in, Jason riding shotgun with Piper behind him, and me behind Percy. 

“Pipes, I thought you had fourth off.” I said as I got buckled.

“Oh, I changed it this morning.” She responded.

“Any reason in particular?” I said with false curiosity in my voice. 

“Well,” She glared daggers at me, all while faking a smile. “It worked better with my schedule, and I wanted to be able to have the same off block as you.” She said to me, though it was clearly directed for someone else in the car. I glanced to the front, where Jason was smiling. Percy rolled down the windows and opened the sunroof, and we made our way to the restaurant. After we pulled into the lot, we walked inside where there was no line. After Jason and Piper ordered, I walked to the front. I told them what I wanted, then pulled out my wallet. Percy pushed my hand down and stepped in front of me. 

“Percy what are you-?” I asked as he handed the cashier his card and looked back at me. 

“I invited you, so I’ll cover it.” He said.

“I’m a big girl, I can pay for myself.” I responded.

“I know you can, but Piper forgot her wallet too, so Jason had to pay for hers.” I raised my eyebrows to where the two of them were standing by the car, not so secretly holding hands. 

“And this relates to you paying for my lunch, why?” I questioned.

“Just relax, Annabeth. It's not a big deal.” He finished. I sighed as we grabbed all of our food and walked out to the car. Percy was right. I'm sure he had bought me food before, so why did this time feel different? It was probably just the dream I had the night before. I told myself everything would be back to normal tomorrow, and pushed it out of my mind. 

When we were getting closer, my eyes widened when I looked in the window to see Jason and Piper making out in the back seat. Percy was holding the door of the restaurant open for a little old couple who was going in, so luckily he didn't see. I hit my hand on the hood of the car, but they still didn't budge. Percy began towards the Jeep and I knew I had to do something fast, otherwise this afternoon wasn't going to end well for any of us. Suddenly, I pulled the most cliche movie in history. I pretended to stumble and fall, hitting the car hard enough to make the two love birds jump back to reality, but not enough to do any real damage. Much to my surprise, as I fell towards the ground, Percy caught me.

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His arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me up. He looked at me with his gentle, sea green eyes full of concern. I blushed when I realized he was still holding me. There wasn't any space between us, and though I knew that this was the ideal moment that I had dreamed of for so long, it was wrong. I didn't want to pull away, though. And for a moment, it seemed like maye he didn't want to either. Then, a car door slammed and we were snapped back to reality. 

“Oh my god, Annabeth, are you okay?” Piper asked as she ran towards us. I took an awkward step away from Percy, who only removed his hand from my waist after Piper walked over.

“Yeah, I'm fine.” I said, not making eye contact with Percy. 

“Damn dude.” Jason emphasized. “Way to save a damsel in distress.” Piper punched him in the shoulder and when I glanced back at Percy, he was smiling at the ground. 

“Excuse me.” I scoffed. “But this damsel was not in distress, nor did she need saving. But thanks anyways.” I said as Percy picked up the bags of food he dropped in order to catch me. We all walked back around to the car, Jason getting in the front this time, and as we were getting in, some guy opened his car door before Percy could open his, and smacked him right in the gut. We all started laughing hysterically, except Percy who looked like he was ready to throw hands. 

“My hero.” I joked. 

“Whatever Wise Girl.” He turned up the radio, and we all cruised to the beach while singing at the top of our lungs. When we pulled into the parking lot, we all slid off our sandals, and walked barefoot in the soft sand. Piper and I left the boys to get the food and blankets while we sprinted to put our feet in the water. The cold waves crashed along the shore and caused white bubbles and clusters of seafoam to collect on the shore. After we decided that our feet were freezing enough, we walked back to where Jason and Percy set up the blankets. We had about two hours until we had to be back to school for the last block of the day, and I was perfectly content to spend them here. Since we didn't have our swimsuits, we grabbed a football that Percy had in his truck, and tossed it around. Music was blaring from Piper's speaker, and since it was the middle of a weekday there weren't too many people there. Finally, we had to go back to school. 

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The rest of the week went by pretty normally, Piper and I going out to lunch, sometimes with the boys, sometimes not. It was the last block of the day on Friday, and I just wanted to go home and get started on my homework. It was already beginning to pile up, and it was only the first week. Then I got a text notification, and suddenly I was a lot more interested in finishing the day. Jason had started a group chat with Piper, Percy, and I called beach buddies .

Jason: meet at percy’s car after school

Piper: why?

Percy: we’re running by our houses to grab swimsuits then we’re going back to the beach.

Piper: Sounds good! Beth, you in?

Percy: beth?

Me: percy- do not start calling me beth. and yes i'm in

Percy: sounds like a plan, wise girl ;)

I turned off my phone before my teacher could see, and waited impatiently for the next class to start. I kept smiling to myself, all while wondering why Percy was suddenly so interested in our friendship. In the past, our conversations never lasted more than two minutes, and Piper was always there anyways. Sure we had fun together and always hung out at least a little bit when I was over there, but we were certainly never close. Yet somehow, I still managed to have a crush on him. If we were going to be spending more time together this year, I needed to get under control. Maybe we could just have a normal friendship. But every time I thought about him, I just couldn't pull my attention from his messy black hair, or his startling green eyes, especially how they look when they're full of concern. And at the beach, with the sun glistening on his skin, and his perfectly toned body. I blushed really hard when I realized that I was checking him out in my head. Yeah, the whole ‘just being friends’ thing was going to be harder than I thought.

After class I walked out to Percy’s car, where I found him standing there. 

“Where are Piper and Jason?” I asked.

“They got out early so Jason took her, and I waited for you.” He said matter of factly.

“Oh.” I was going to kill Piper for ditching me so she could be with Jason, but that would have to wait until later. 

“Well? Hop in.” I climbed into the passenger side, and we took off to my house. I quickly ran inside when we got there, and told my dad where I was going. I changed into a light purple bikini, and pulled a t-shirt and shorts over it. I slipped on my flip flops and grabbed a towel from the linen closet, then ran back out to Percy’s car. I sat down, slightly out of breath from changing so quickly. 

“What, did you run a marathon?” He teased me. 

“Just drive.” I rolled my eyes at him as we took off to his house. They only lived five minutes away from me, so it didn't take long to get there. We saw Jason’s car sitting in the driveway, and knew they were still here. I panicked a little bit, but then remembered that the two of them were smart, and they wouldn't be doing anything when they knew that we were on our way. I walked in with Percy, as he told me to grab some snacks from their pantry while he ran upstairs to get changed. I was convinced that Sally Jackson- Percy’s mom, was the best baker in all of California. The Mclean-Jackson pantry was always filled with all sorts of treats and snacks, most of which were home made. I grabbed some cookies and chips, along with a small container of fruit, and some drinks. I tossed the chips and cookies into a bag, and dropped the fruit and drinks into a cooler. We had gone to the beach so much, I knew the routine. Just as I was about to head back out to the entryway, I heard Percy’s voice.

“What the hell?” He said, angrily. I ran out of the kitchen, and followed his voice to the living room. Piper was standing in just her swimsuit top and shorts, and Jason wasn't much better. 

“Percy! Look I'm sorry, I meant to tell you but-.” Piper tried to explain.

“How long?” Percy asked, not meeting her eyes.

“Percy...” She trailed off.

“How. Long?” He started again, more aggressively this time. 

“Hey man, don't take it out on her, it was my fault, I kissed her at the beach house-.”

“The beach house?” Percy's eyes burned with anger. “Jason, you’re my best friend, really? My little sister?”

“Percy,” Piper started. “We wanted to tell you but-.”

“It doesn't matter. Annabeth, come on.” He walked out to the front door, where I heard him start his car. I mouthed I'm sorry to Piper, then followed after Percy. We got in the car, and it was dead silent. I assumed he was taking me home, but he didn't turn into my neighborhood.

“Where are we going?” I asked gently.

“To the beach.” I was surprised he still wanted to go, and especially with me. I didn't bring it up, partly because I didn't want to say anything to set him off, and also because I wanted to go to the beach with him. The sun was still beating down on us by the time we got there, but it was beginning to fall in the sky. We unloaded the blankets and food, and found a spot close to the water where there weren't many people. We laid down the blankets, and I kicked off my flip flops and t-shirt, and laid in the warm sand, letting the sun hit my stomach. Percy sat next to me, staring off at Catalina Island on the horizon. 

“Do you want to talk?” I finally worked up the courage to ask. 

“I just can't believe them.” He took off his shirt and laid back against the sand with me. “I don't know that I would have been mad if they had told me, but the fact that they kept it a secret makes me angry.” 

“I get it. I hate when people lie to me.” I said, trying to be helpful.

“He's my best friend, and she's my little sister. Me and Piper have always had a close relationship though, so I don't know why she didn't tell me.”

“They probably thought you would hate both of them.” I responded.

“Sorry, Annabeth. I shouldn't be bashing on Piper when she’s your best friend.” I noted that he said my full name, not any teasing nicknames.

“Hey,” I said, sitting up and putting my hand on his arm. “Just because she's my best friend doesn't mean I don't know she makes mistakes. She and Jason should've told you.” He smiled at me, then grabbed my hand and stood up. 

“Come on, let's just forget about them for now.” He pulled me to my feet and started walking towards the water. I stopped after my feet were in, not wanting to go any further with how cold it was. But he kept pulling me, and when he realized that I stopped, he turned back towards me. He put both his hands on my waist and my breath hitched.

“Percy..?” I questioned. He smiled, then abruptly picked me up and held me bridal style as he walked deeper into the water. I wrapped my arms around his neck, and tried to get away from the cold ocean. “Percy! Put me down!” I shouted.

“Oh come on Beth, it’ll be fun.” He said.

“It's freezing!” I shouted, not caring that he called me Beth.

“You surf in this all summer long.” He responded.

“Yeah, but it's warmer in the air then!” 

“Oh, don't be a drama queen.” He started to lower me into the water as the waves crashed around us.

“Perseus Jackson! Do not drop me!” He let go of me, and my legs fell into the water. “I hate you.” I realized that I still had my arms around his neck, and released them. I glared at him and started walking towards the shore, when he picked me up again, and tossed me into the water. I stood up, my golden curls now soaking wet. 

“Oops.” He said with a smug look on his face. I ran towards him and tackled him into the water. It was surprisingly easy, almost like he wasn't trying. We stayed splashing around for another few hours. After being dunked a few more times, I was either getting used to the temperature or I was going numb. Either way, I was having a lot of fun. 

We made our way back onto the beach as the sun started to go down. The air got chilly, and I wrapped myself up in my towel. The sunset was almost identical to the one from my dream a few days ago, the gorgeous blue faded with clouds that were painted with rich pinks and fiery oranges. Percy took out his phone to take a picture, then pulled me close to him and turned us around, so the sunset was behind us. I smiled and he leaned his head towards me. He took the photo, then pulled his phone back down. I moved so that I could see it, and it was actually a really good picture. 

“Can you send that to me?” I asked, turning back around to face the sunset.

“Yeah for sure. Wait, what's your snap?” I told him, and he added me. I glanced over at his phone while he texted the picture to me, and saw that my contact on his phone was Wise Girl. I smiled to myself even more when I saw that he had a profile picture set to the one of us from when we were really little, standing with Piper in front of the ocean. Soon, the sunset began to fade, and it got dark. We packed up everything that we had brought and made our way to the car. He took the roof off of his jeep and we cruised to my house while jamming out. I was almost disappointed when we pulled into my driveway. 

He turned off the car and got out with me, and walked me to my door. 

“Thanks for today. I really needed it.” I said.

“No, thank you. I almost forgot about the whole Jason and Piper thing.” His eyes looked upset after saying this.

“Hey, it's okay to be mad. Just don't be too harsh with them. They're still your sister and your best friend.” I comforted him.

“Yeah. Well, goodnight.” He looked like he wanted to give me a hug, but he retreated from the idea, and turned away from my door. I decided to fix that for him. I tapped his back and when he turned around I wrapped my arms around his neck. 

“Goodnight, Percy.” I whispered in his ear, then pulled away. I opened my front door and gave a small wave before closing it behind me. My dad and step mother had obviously already gone to bed, so I quietly crept up to my room. I showered and got ready for bed. As I was laying down, I checked my phone, and saw a notification from Percy on Snapchat. He posted the picture of us on his story with the words: beach day with @anna.bethchase . I slid up and texted him had a lot of fun today! I panicked that that was too forward or too dorky, but he just replied with: same here wisegirl . I put my phone on my nightstand, and fell asleep with a smile on my face.

Chapter Text

The next few weeks were a blur. It was a whirlwind of beach trips with Percy, or shopping trips with Piper. And of course, school. Piper and Jason were now officially dating, though Percy wasn't happy with it. The two boys had made up for the most part, and Piper and Percy hashed it out and were on pretty good terms. He still hated to be around the two of them together, but separately it was fine. Percy and I had gotten very very close over the past weeks, because whenever we went to the beach, it was just the two of us. Piper was busy with Jason and vice versa, so he and I went out almost everyday. Nothing really happened between us, past maybe hugging and some eye contact that lasted long enough to make me blush, nothing too intense really happened. 

The biggest thing that was coming up was homecoming. Picking dresses, selecting royalty, finding a date, and spirit week. I already found my dress, it was navy blue, and made of silky material. The top was a tight fitting v-neck with simple spaghetti straps, though there was lace in the back. The skirt flared out after reaching my hips. The best part? It had pockets. 

For royalty, it was no surprise that Jason and Percy were nominated for king, I mean the star quarterback and star running back on the varsity football team, as well as being the two hottest and most popular guys in school, their nomination was pretty much guaranteed. Piper and some other seniors were the top candidates for queen, and the princess and princes were mostly some random freshman who happened to have a lot of friends, but surprisingly I was nominated too. By who, I had no clue, but hey, I wouldn't say no to a tiara. 

As for a date, there was really only one guy I had my eyes on, and as far as I was concerned, he was off limits. Percy and I flirted every time I went to their house, at least I thought that we did. He picked me up for school every day, and usually took me home. I was getting my license in a month or two, but honestly I didn't mind being chauffeured around by Percy. We got mistaken as a couple almost every time we went to the beach, and sometimes even in the hallways at school. I would be lying if I said that I saw him as just a great friend. Truthfully, my crush on Percy has ever been this bad. The more we spent one on one time together, the more my feelings grew. But alas, I was almost 100% confident he saw me as a little sister, or maybe just his girl best friend. I was just accepting the fact that I would need to make him my boy best friend. 

“Beth, you’re not helping me.” Piper said, snapping me out of the daze I was in.

“Sorry, what?”

“I'm wearing Jason’s jersey tomorrow, so I need to know which one of my cheer skirts matches with it.” She was holding three skirts, while she was standing in Jason's jersey and shorts. 

“Why don't you just wear your cheer top too? It seems easier.” I asked.

“Because tomorrow is spirit day, and the day of the homecoming game, and the one day this week I can show off to my boyfriend! It's not like I can wear it tomorrow at the game, because I will be cheering.” She put the skirts down, and layed next to me on her bed.

“I guess that's true. And besides, you're more likely to win any last minute polls for queen if you guys look coupl ey.” I said.

“Yeah, I do feel bad that Jason is running against Percy, though. It's already been hard enough for him that we’re dating.” Piper stated, sitting up.

“Well, I wouldn't get too worried about that. He already won last year, and the year before that.” I explained. “How are you guys doing, though?” 

“Oh, I don't know. It was pretty ugly the day after it happened, we got into it. But we both voiced our emotions, and made up, but things are always awkward when Jason comes over. I feel like when Percy has him over I can't be around him, and I think that he feels the same.” She continued. “I mean, usually whenever he comes over for me, Percy goes to hang out with you.”

“Oh, yeah I guess that would be hard.” I tried my hardest to hide my blush, and maintain my composure.

“Speaking of, you guys have been hanging out a lot, and you're always on each other's snaps. Is there anything going on that I should know about?” Piper looked at me with a mix of emotions on her face, making it hard to tell how she was feeling.

“No!” I said a bit too quickly. “Um, no. We’re just friends.”

“Okay,” She paused. “Just be honest with me. I don't care if you guys have a thing, but the second we start lying to each other, that's a situation I don't want to be in.” 

“Of course.” We hugged each other and laughed. “Anyways, I think the jersey would look better with the criss cross skirt.”

“Thankyou.” She laughed. “What are you wearing?”

“Oh, I don't know. Maybe my volleyball shirt? I hadn't really thought about it.” I replied.

“Well, Percy had a million Valley View sweatshirts in his closet if you want one.”

“That's not a bad idea.” We walked down the hall to his room, and she opened his closet doors. I saw one that was white, with a purple football and black lettering that read VVHS VARSITY FOOTBALL. On the back, it was simple and just said JACKSON #12 . I blushed thinking about the fact that I would be wearing his sweatshirt, but grabbed it anyway. Piper smiled at me, and we walked back to her room.

~~~~~

The next day went by pretty quickly since teachers didn't really make us do much. To be honest, I think they were just as excited about the football game as we were. I went home since Piper, Jason, and Percy all had to get ready for the game. I was planning on hanging out with Reyna, but she ended up getting ah, preoccupied as Thalia asked her to homecoming after school. So I went to my house to get ready on my own, which was just as well, since I hadn't had a free moment to myself for a week. After I put on Percy’s sweatshirt, which I matched with black jeans, I put my hair in two french braids, with little purple ribbons intertwined in them. After getting ready, I walked downstairs, and outside to where Silena was waiting for me. The best part of having a lot of friends? You never have to worry about rides. 

The game was nothing out of the ordinary, just a regular football game identical to the ones from last year. The only difference was that I actually had to go down to the field when they called for homecoming court. Piper and Jason won for King and Queen, which really wasn't a surprise to anyone. Percy didn't look disappointed, just excited for his best friend and his sister. When it was time to call for the Prince and Princess, I wasn't paying attention, considering the fact that I doubted I was going to win. Suddenly I heard one of the people from student senate yell out:

“And taking the title for our Homecoming Princess this year is,” She paused. “Annabeth Chase!” Cheers erupted from everywhere around me and I smiled to where the rest of the court was standing. Some freshman had won Prince, and I was not excited to stand next to him, but such was life. I was given a small tiara and a single rose, as well as a banner that read my title. I stood next to Piper, and she smiled at me. After I returned to my seat and was congratulated by a few more people, the game went by pretty quickly. It began to get chilly, and I was glad to be wearing the sweatshirt. Finally, after an hour of our scores being tied, Percy scored a touchdown with the help of Jason, and our team won in the last three seconds. 

Everyone finally went home and I got a ride to the Mclean/Jackson house with Sally, since Percy rode with Jason and Piper, and one of the other football players. I was fine to be riding with Percy and Piper’s mom (Sally was technically Pipers step mom, but since Piper didn't speak to her biological mother, she was raised by Sally). We had fun talking about highschool, and jamming out to music. She even bought me ice cream on the way home, and it felt perfect. I wasn't close to my mother, or my step mom, so Sally had always been the maternal figure in my life. When we arrived at their house, she and Tristen insisted on getting pictures of Jason, Percy, Piper and I in our uniforms and outfits. I stood in the middle, between Percy and Piper. After the parents took the picture and went upstairs, Percy whispered in my ear.

“Nice sweatshirt.” I looked up at him, and he smirked. He and Jason went to Percy’s room to change, and Piper and I did the same. I borrowed a pair of her pj shorts, and kept the sweatshirt on. I unbraided my hair, and my blonde curls fell around my shoulders. We went downstairs and got comfortable on the couch, while waiting for the boys before starting the movie. The couch in their house was absolutely huge, enough to fit at least eight people. It was soft brown leather, with dozens of blankets draped over it. I layed on the corner in the far right, so that I would be able to stretch my legs. Piper sat on the opposite side of the couch, pulling the ottoman closer to her to form a sort of  bed. When the boys came downstairs, I was already half asleep. This is why I rarely noticed when Percy laid his head next to mine, extending his legs on the other side of the couch. He brushed my hair out of my face and gently whispered to me for the second time.

“Goodnight, and congratulations, Princess.”

Chapter Text

Sunlight streamed in through the blinds of the living room, warming me wherever it touched me. I checked my phone and saw that the time was 9:47. I slowly turned my head only to find that Percy and I had apparently shared a pillow last night. His hair was messy and falling over his forehead. We were so close to each other that I could hear his breathing. It was a peaceful quiet in the house, though I could hear someone in the kitchen. I sat up and looked to where Jason and Piper were snuggling on their end of the couch. I felt a twinge of pain in my heart, wishing that I was doing the same thing with Percy right now, and wondering if I had taken that spot, if we would be. I pushed those thoughts aside and slowly stood up, careful not to wake any of my friends. I made my way into the kitchen and saw Sally making breakfast.

“Good morning, Sally.” I said, sitting down at the island.

“Oh, good morning! Did I wake you up?” She asked.

“No, I normally wake up at this time.” I glanced to where she was preparing biscuits and gravy. “Do you need any help?”

“Sure! This way we can have breakfast ready when they all wake up, so that you can start getting ready for the dance tonight.” I washed my hands, then started helping her with making the dough into biscuit shape. After we put those in the oven, I set the table while she began the gravy. “Annabeth, are you wearing Percy’s sweatshirt?”

“What?” She startled me and I almost dropped the plates. “Oh. Yeah I needed something to wear to the game last night so I borrowed it.”

“Mm. Is that the only reason?” She asked with a smug look on her face. “Because, you know, you're still wearing it.”

“Um, yeah. It was just cozy and it gets kinda cold here at night with the AC running.” I was blushing like crazy and trying not to make eye contact with Sally as I set the last plate down. The oven timer went off, and she sent me to wake up the others. I walked back into the living room, and gently nudged Piper's shoulder. She sat up groggily then pushed Jason awake. While they were adjusting to the morning light, I sat down next to Percy, and lightly brushed his arm with my hand.

“Percy.” I whispered. “Wake up.” He grumbled and leaned into me, and I thought my heart was going to melt from how cute he looked. I brushed his hair out of his face and tried again. 

“Percy, breakfast is ready.” His eyes shot open, and when he realized that his head was practically in my lap, he sat up. 

“Good Morning Wisegirl.” He yawned.

“Goodmorning, Seaweed Brain.” I rolled my eyes at him and stood up. I walked to the kitchen, him following behind me. I helped Sally carry everything to the table and Sat down across the table from Piper. Tristan came down the stairs and Sat at one end of the table, diagonally across from Jason, who looked panicky even though he'd known him forever. I was sitting diagonally across from Sally, and Percy came and sat to my left. There were just enough chairs for all of us to sit. There was music playing softly from Alexa. I helped pour the gravy onto everyone's biscuits after they had put them on their plates.

“Dang, Annabeth, you're wifey material this morning,” Piper joked. She and I always teased each other like that, to the point where someone had once asked us if we were dating. It was an uncomfortable situation for everyone. 

“Mm, yes I'm doing so much work by pouring gravy.” I said sarcastically.

“Ah, but you look great doing it.” She laughed and I was too until I heard Percy mumble.

“I’ll say.” He spoke inaudibly. I turned to him and he smirked but wouldn't meet my eyes. Noone else seemed to have heard his comment, so I sat down. I tried to ignore it over the rest of breakfast, and convince myself that I had misheard him. After breakfast Piper and I swung by my house to grab everything I needed to get ready, and headed back to her house. We figured it would be better to get ready when we could have Sally around rather than my obnoxious step mom. It took us about five hours to get ready, just because we got sidetracked so much and both of us had to wash and dry our hair. When we finally decided it was time to actually put ourselves together, it only took us an hour. I wore my hair up, in an intricate braid that fed into a messy bun. My blonde curls fell around my face no matter how hard I tried to pin them back. My makeup look was simple, a light brush of gold and a small streak of eyeliner. Piper insisted on doing my mascara to show my eyelashes their “true volume potential”. She gave my nose, cheekbones and cupids a light coat of highlight. I slipped into my dress and heels admiring how soft the fabric felt on my skin. I wore a simple necklace, it had two little crystals with a black pearl that rested just below my collar bones. I wore a single silver ring with a blue gem on it to match my dress, as well as a tennis bracelet that my grandmother had given me for my birthday last year. In my ears, I wore little black pearls that matched the necklace I was wearing. My heels were simple black wedges, with lace tops, and an exposed toe. Piper and I had gotten mani pedis last weekend, so my nails were painted a simple white.

Piper was wearing a tight fitting blush rose dress. It was a simple spaghetti strap, and it was backless. Both of our dresses went down to about mid thigh, though hers was cutting it a bit close. It was a V neckline with crystals embroidered around the edges and in some spots around the middle of her dress. She was wearing her hair down and curled. Her makeup was fairly similar to mine, because she hardly needed any. She was wearing a simple gold drop necklace, with a little rose at the bottom of the chain. She didn't wear any bracelets, but she wore two gold rings. Her ears were decorated with all the piercings she usually wore, but these ones were a bit more fancy. She was wearing white pumps, but brought a pair of flip flops in her bag for when her feet started to hurt.

After we were ready, we went downstairs to find the boys, who had been ready for over an hour. Much to my surprise, Percy wasn't sitting with another girl on the couch like he was every other year. Instead, when we walked down the stairs, he was looking at me the same way Jason looked at Piper. Jason grabbed Piper's waist and pulled her in for a kiss.

“You look gorgeous.” He said gently, his voice full of love, though I knew they had yet to say that yet. I walked over to where Percy was standing.

“Dang, Chase. You clean up nice.” He teased me.

“You’re not so bad yourself.” I responded. He was wearing a white button down shirt, and a stormy gray blazer and dress pants. He didn't wear a tie, which I thought was a good choice. With his raven black hair combed through, he looked straight out of the Oceans 11 movies. 

“Alright!” Sally brought our attention back. “Let's get to the beach to take photos, then you guys can get to dinner.” 

When we got to the beach, we took the standard pictures, nothing out of the ordinary. Piper and I, Jason and Piper, Percy and Jason, Jason and I, and Percy and I. We also took individual pictures and several group ones. This was something we were used to, anytime we went somewhere or did something, we always took the same pictures. Since we had time to kill, we walked along the beach for a while before going to dinner. When the sun started to set, we made our way to the restaurant, some fancy Italian place that we had been once before. Dinner was uneventful, we just talked and laughed, but surprisingly again at the end, Percy insisted on paying for my dinner. 

“Percy. I can pay for myself.” I argued.

“Annabeth, what's the big deal?” He questioned. “It's just dinner.”

“Fine.” I rolled my eyes. “But I'm buying you ice cream on the way home.”

“Deal.” He smiled.

We made our way to the school, all of us riding in Percy’s jeep. When we pulled into the parking lot, we found a spot close to the front and proceeded to get in line. After we entered the building, we were met with blinding lights and colors of purple and blue, and pretty much any others. The space in the atrium where the dj was set up was full of bodies jumping up and down, and dancing to the blaring music. Piper grabbed my hand and dragged me into the crowd. The boys followed us, but Piper and I danced with each other and all of our other friends during the fast-paced songs, not worrying about a single thing. Percy and Jason went off to find some of their friends, and we kept dancing until a slow song came on. Jason held Piper tightly to him, and they kissed each other every once in a while. Pretty much all of my friends had dates, so I didn't have anyone to dance with. I walked over to one of the back walls, and was going to sit down to give my feet a rest, when someone tapped my shoulder. 

“May I have this dance, Princess?” I turned around to find myself face to face with Percy Jackson. 

“I don't see why not.” I smiled as he rested his hand on my lower back and led me to the dance floor. He grabbed my hips and turned me so I was facing him. I wrapped my arms around his neck and rested my head on his chest. He held my waist and kept me close to him. We moved back and forth slowly. Suddenly, he stopped us from moving. I lifted my head to look at him, and his soft green eyes met mine. He seemed distraught, and I hadn't ever seen him this stressed. 

“Annabeth, I-” He cut himself off, and rested his forehead on mine.

“Percy?” The way he was looking at me made my breath catch. “Is everything alright?” 

“I just, I really,” He sighed. “God, this is harder than I thought. Annabeth, I really like you.” 

“W-what?” My breathing quickened.

“I'm sorry, but you know I'm graduating this year, and I just had to tell you. Ever since we’ve been spending more time together, I couldn't help but realize I had feelings for you. I know that you’re Piper’s best friend and you're two years younger than me, but I just had to tell you.” I looked away from him, and tried to conceal the rosy color that was burning my cheeks. “Annabeth?” 

I brought my eyes back up to him, looking between his eyes and his lips. I swallowed down my fear, and leaned up to him. He wore an expression of gentle concern. Suddenly, Percy’s lips reached mine in a gentle kiss.

Chapter Text

The whole world around us seemed to slow down as our lips moved in sync. The music faded away and the lights dimmed. All that was in this moment was Percy and I. His hands moved from my hips and up to my back. I ran my fingers through his hair, not caring if anyone saw us. The butterflies in my stomach were fluttering like crazy. I could feel my heart beating out of my chest, and I had no doubt that Percy could feel it too. Finally, after several minutes of intimacy, the song ended and we pulled away. 

“So,” he paused, taking a deep breath. “I guess that means you like me too.”

“Are you kidding? Percy, I’ve liked you since we were kids.” He smirked and wrapped his arms around my waist. 

“Well, I figured that much. But now, we’re older, and I know you have guys lined up for you-” I cut him off.

“Excuse me?” I scoffed. “I haven't been on a date since the beginning of last year.”

“Well that's a surprise, considering I know that there are at least three guys just on the football team that have asked Jason for your number.” Percy said, still smiling at me in a way that filled me with happiness.

“Yeah, but it's not like anything ever ended up happening with them.” He brushed his fingers along my cheek and moved a stray curl out of my face.

“Well that's a relief.” He pulled me in for a hug, and everyone around us began to jump to the music again. We danced the night away, Jason and Piper nowhere to be found. Eventually the clock hit 11:00 and the dance officially ended. Percy and I walked out to the front of the school, shoulders brushing, but not being too touchy. I tried to tell  myself that I wouldn't let anything more happen until I found a way to tell Piper, but every time he looked at me, every time he smiled at me, I knew that would be impossible. I wasn't sure what would happen with the two of us, but I knew that I wanted to try. 

After waiting for the two lovebirds for ten minutes I called Piper. 

“Pipes?” I asked.

“Yeah?” She asked, breathing heavily.

“Uh, where are you? Are you okay?” Percy looked at me when I said that.

“Yeah, yeah I'm fine I'm with-” She started giggling. “I'm with Jason, we’re going back to his house.”

“So you don't need a ride?” I double checked.

“No, we’re fine. Jason!” I heard her breath hitch and I wanted to get off the phone as soon as possible.

“Okay, I love you, make good choices, bye!” I hung up the phone very quickly.

“So?” Percy asked.

“They, uh, they're going back to Jasons.” I said, struggling to tell him gently.

“Oh.” He sighed, then grabbed my hand and started towards his car. “Well, that means she won't be at our house. We could go there. Your dad already thinks you're spending the night with Piper.”

“Um, Percy we just told each other we liked each other, I'm not really ready for, you know, that. ” He blushed a deep red.

“No! No, that's not what I meant. I thought we would like, watch movies and snuggle.” He said, still blushing. “Or something.” 

“That sounds great.” I squeezed his hand. When we reached his car, he opened the door for me. “Wow, who knew you were such a gentleman?” He rolled his eyes at me and closed it after I got in. We drove to his house, and his hand rested on my thigh the entire time. When we arrived, we very quietly ran upstairs to get changed. I borrowed some of Pipers pjs and washed my face in her bathroom before going downstairs where I found Percy in the kitchen. He was in basketball shorts, and he wasn't wearing a shirt, so my cheeks flushed. He was preparing a bowl of popcorn, and a plate of cookies that his mom had baked. I went behind him and ran my hands down his back. 

“Hey Wisegirl.” He said. 

“Hi.” I went around to his side of him. “Do you need any help?”

“You can get the couch situated, if you want.” I stepped lightly into the living room. I found the ottoman where Piper and Jason had left it, and grabbed the two softest blankets from the couch. I pulled two throw pillows and created a comfy bed-type situation. I clicked the TV on and turned the volume way down so as not to wake Sally and Tristen. I turned off the lights and got comfortable on the couch. Percy came in a few minutes later and handed me the plate of cookies, which were now warmed up. He sat down next to me and set the popcorn in between us. I handed the remote to him, and much to my surprise, he opened Disney+ and selected Finding Nemo . 

“Finding Nemo?” I turned to him. “Really?”

“Yes, I know, but it's a great movie.” He looked at me with an adorable smile and a sparkle in his eyes. I hadn't seen this side of him for a while, and the sight of it absolutely melted my heart. We laid against the back of the couch, and he pulled me in close. I laid my head on his chest and he played with my hair as he watched the movie. Soon enough, I was asleep. 

When I woke up in the morning, Percy’s arms were wrapped around me, and his head was buried in my shoulder. I smiled, and closed my eyes. I let out a sigh of happiness, and he stirred.

“Good morning, beautiful.” He whispered.

“Good morning handsome.” The words felt weird coming out of my mouth, but somehow they still felt right. “How’d you sleep?”

“Pretty amazingly, with you here next to me.” I turned towards him and he planted a gentle kiss on my lips. My heart began to flutter. 

“Same here.” I leaned in for another kiss, but we were interrupted.

“Um, hi. Hope I'm not interrupting anything.” Sally walked down the stairs in her bathrobe and slippers, with a smirk on her face. Percy and I shot up, both absolutely panicking.

“Mom it wasn't-” Percy began.

“I promise nothing happened-” I started.

“We were just-” Sally cut us both off.

“Calm down, you two. I didn't mean that . Come into the kitchen. Let's have a talk.” She said, Nervously, Percy and I sat down at the island. “Listen, I support the two of you. I always have. But, you need to make sure that you aren't hurting anyone before this goes too far.” Percy and I looked at each other and silently agreed. We have to tell Piper.  

“Thanks, Sally. I think I will try and tell her today or tomorrow.” I said.

“Yeah, I don't want Piper to feel how I felt when I caught her and Jason.” Percy explained. 

“Wait, speaking of which, where is your sister?” Sally asked. 

“Oh! She, ah, spent the night with...” I lost my train of thought, trying to rack my brain to come up with a logical explanation.

“Silena! She spent the night with Silena.” Percy answered.

“Interesting, because Silena’s dad texted me and told me that she would be dropping off some of his chocolate at the bakery this morning. And Silena did that an hour ago. Without Piper.” I looked at the ground, and Percy looked up at the ceiling. 

“That is interesting. Anyway, I'm going to go get dressed, Annabeth, do you want to too? I'll run you back to your house.” Percy said, already exiting the kitchen.

“Sounds like a great idea!” I ran up to Piper's bedroom, and borrowed a pair of jeans, and a T-shirt, that was mine in the first place. When I got downstairs, Percy grabbed my hand and led me to his car. He opened the door for me, and only closed it when I was buckled.

“Hey Percy?” I questioned as he climbed into the driver's seat.

“Yes?”

“Drive to Beach Side Creamery.” I told him.

“You don't want to go home?” He asked.

“I believe I owe you an ice cream date.”

Chapter Text

The sky began to get cloudy as the day went on. We listened to music as we drove to the ice cream parlor. Percy was still mad that I had remembered what I promised him the night before, because he didn't want me to pay. I didn't listen to him, especially considering we had already made a deal. The ice cream shop was a cute little place off the main beach road. It had pastel blue tiles, with fresh white walls. There were classic little red parlor chairs with a few tables inside the building, and a few more outside on the patio. The little glass case displayed all of the delicious flavors. Percy ordered a small cookie and cream cone, and I ordered a small cookie dough one. I forced him to grab a table outside while I paid, so that he had no chance of interrupting me handing the lady my card.

“So. We need to talk.” I said as I sat down. 

“Uh oh.” Percy smirked, but a hint of concern still flashed across his smile.

“We need to figure out what to tell Piper.” He sighed, and set his head in his free hand. 

“You're right. Well, first we need to figure a few things out, then.” He explained.

“Oh?” 

“Like, what are we? How serious is this? Is there any chance of us lasting?” He said. “Because if this isn't going to work out, there's no sense in working her up.” 

“Oh.” I slumped back in my chair. “Do you really think we won't last?”

“Beth, that's not what I mean.” He grabbed my hand and kissed it. “We just need to be sure of a couple things before rushing into this.”

“Yeah, that makes sense. Sorry, I haven't really done the whole relationship thing before.” I ate some more of my ice cream, trying not to die of embarrassment.

“Hey. You have nothing to apologize for.” He looked at me. “Listen Annabeth, I mean, we may have only been actually interacting like this for give or take three days, but I've felt this way about you for a long time. The fact is, we’ve known each other for years, and we’ve gotten closer over the past few months. I don't feel like we would be, you know, rushing into anything, by making it official.” He smiled warmly at me, and though he was acting like his confident self, a slight blush was beginning to grow on his cheeks.

“I think you might be right.” I smiled back at him. “I feel the same. I've liked you for years, which is as embarrassing as it is to admit, it's the truth. You and I have been through so much together, even if it was just as friends. I wouldn't trade the world for having you at my side.” He squeezed my hand.

“I couldn't agree more. You're the kindest, smartest, most fun-loving, beautiful person I've ever met. So, Annabeth Chase, will you be my girlfriend?” He asked. I blushed deeply but brought my eyes to meet him.

“Of course I will.” He brought his hand to my chin and pulled me in for a kiss. We pulled away, and continued eating our ice cream. 

“You have a little ice cream on your lips.” He said. 

“Oh do I now?” I questioned, seeing as I knew there wasn't anything on my lips. “Are you sure you don't just want an excuse to kiss me again?”

“What? No, of course not.” He smirked.

“Mhm yeah right-” He muffled me with a kiss. “Is it gone now?” 

“Not quite.” He brought his ice cream cone up to my mouth, and pushed it against my lips. 

“Percy!” I said, shivering at the cold.

“Oh no!” He said sarcastically. “Let me get that for you.” I shook my head as he connected our lips again. Yeah. I could get used to this.

Chapter Text

Three weeks passed, and I tried my hardest to get a hold of Piper, but for whatever reason I couldn't seem to get a moment alone with her. She was either with Jason, busy at cheer practice or it was the four of us hanging out. It became increasingly difficult to hide Percy and I’s relationship, and the fact that no one knew was starting to become a strain. Finally, I got a hold of her, and we figured out a time that worked to hang out just the two of us. She was driving over to my house for a sleepover, and I decided I needed to tell her. 

“Hey!” Piper said as I opened the door for her. “Long time no see!”

“Pipes, I saw you in history five hours ago.” I recalled.

“Yeah, but that was school. We haven't hung out outside of school just the two of us in like, a month.” We walked up the stairs and into my room.

“That's true, but it's mostly because you're always with Jason.” I raised my eyebrows at her. “Speaking of, how are things going with that?”

“They're great. Annabeth, he's so good to me. Not at all toxic like Dylan was.” I shuddered as I remembered her boyfriend from freshman year. “He's so respectful, and nice, and oh my god, he's so hot.” I laughed at her, while she was staring dreamily off into space.

“Do you think you guys will last while he goes to college?” I asked. A small part of me had forgotten about the fact that Jason was graduating this year, which meant Percy was too. I felt a twinge of sadness, but I pushed it down as Piper responded.

“I think so. At least I hope so. We haven't really talked about that yet, but I know that I'm not going to give up just because I won't see him everyday. Beth, I think...” She trailed off. 

“Pipes?”

“I think I love him.” She looked worried as she said this, and I knew it was a big deal.

“What? You love him? That's so great! Have you told him yet?” I asked encouragingly.

“No, we haven't said it. It feels so soon. And besides, I don't want to tell him, and have him not say it back and get my heart broken.” She flopped back on my bed. 

“Piper, are you kidding me? Have you seen the way he looks at you? If you said it, I guarantee you he would say it back.” I said, laying back with her. “Jason loves you, there's no doubt about that.”

“You think?” She asked, her voice still full of worry.

“I know.” I turned my head to look at her, and she was smiling like crazy. 

“Okay.” She said quietly. “Well, in other news, what's going on with you?”

“Well, actually,” I paused and my stomach dropped. I was terrified of what I was about to say, especially because I had no clue how she would react. She said she would be fine with it, but was that true? I inhaled, and began again. “Sit up, I need to tell you something.” 

“Okay.” She sat up and looked at me. “Are you okay? You look like you're going to be sick.”

“Piper, please don't be mad at what I have to say. I want you to know that this shouldn't change our friendship at all, and it's really not a super big deal.”

“Annabeth, just say it. Whatever it is, I'm sure I’ll understand.” She placed her hand on top of mind for extra support.

“Okay, here goes nothing. Percy and I are dating.” I felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders.

“What?” She asked gently.

“Percy and I. We kissed at homecoming and we told each other how we felt and now we’re dating, but we wanted you to be the first to know.” She slowly moved her hand off of mine.

“Homecoming?”

“Yes but Piper-” She cut me off.

“Annabeth, I gave you the opportunity to tell me. You didn't. So you were just lying?”

“No, Pipes, I didn't know he felt that way then.” I responded.

“But you knew how you felt, and you still kept it a secret.” She sighed angrily. “And truthfully, I find it hard to believe that you didn't know how he felt. I've seen how much you guys text, how much you hang out. The way that he sneaks glances at you when we hang out. How you're always on his snap story.”

“I- I guess I had a feeling but-”

“No Annabeth. You knew. And you lied to me. The one thing I asked you not to do. You were really just hooking up with my brother and ditching me.” She grabbed her bag and stood up.

“Piper! We haven't even done anything yet! I don't know what you think happens when we hang out, but we aren't like you and Jason, that's for sure.” As soon as I said it, I regretted it.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” She had tears welling up in her eyes.

“I didn't-” She cut me off by storming out of my room and down the stairs. “Wait!” I chased after her.

“I wish I could say that this is unbelievable, but to be honest, I should have seen this coming. You have always had a thing for him, and now you’re willing to prioritize him over me. Typical. Everybody loves him, and I'm just the little sister. Annabeth, have fun with Percy. I'm sure you two will be super happy with each other, you know, lying to everyone else.” She got in her car and started the ignition. I started letting tears fall, realizing how much I had screwed up, but also angry at how she was reacting. She clicked her seatbelt and looked at me one last time before pulling out of my driveway and speeding down the street. I sobbed as I watched my best friend take off. I ran inside and slammed the door, leaning my head against it. I pulled out my phone. I clicked on the contact that read The Boy with a blue heart, and waited as it rang. 

“Hello?” A voice from the other side of the phone.

“Hi, Percy.” I said with a shaky breath.

“Annabeth, are you okay?” He asked.

“Not really.” I broke down and started crying, trying but failing to maintain my composure. “Can you come over?”

“Of course, I’ll be right there.”

“Okay. Thank you.” I said as more tears rolled down my cheeks.

“Always.” He hung up, and I sat on my couch and waited for him. Fifteen minutes later, when he pulled into my driveway, my crying hadn’t let up. I opened the doors for him and when he saw that I was sobbing hysterically, he dropped his keys and wrapped me in a big hug. I cried into his shoulder and he held me tight while rubbing my back and telling me it was going to be okay. I pulled away and looked at him. He had a mix of concern and anger dancing in his eyes. He kissed me on the forehead and I buried my head in his chest. He held me as my tears began to let up, not once breaking his arms from around my body. 

Chapter Text

“Why do you think it hit you this hard?” Percy asked as we sat in my living room.

“I don't know, I guess we’ve never really had this big of a fight before.” I had finally brought myself back together, at least for the most part. “We’ve never really fought at all to be honest.” 

“Beth, I'm sure she’ll get over it. I got over her and Jason thing pretty quickly.” 

“Percy, you didn't hear the things she was saying. She made me feel like I was a terrible friend, like I didn't care about her at all.” I wiped a few stray tears from my eyes. “I don't know. I’ve never seen her this mad.”

“Okay, but she has no right to make you feel this upset. It's not like we hurt anyone.”

“But we did. We hurt her, and I have no idea what I can do about it. She claimed she wasn't mad because of us dating, and that she was just mad because I lied to her-” He cut me off.

“Lied? Annabeth, you didn't lie about anything.” It was clear that he was getting worked up now. “You’ve been trying to tell her for weeks!”

“Perce, I know. But that doesn't change how she feels. Anyways, she says she's okay with us dating, but with some of the other things she said, I find that very hard to believe.” I sighed and put my head in my hands.

“Well what are we going to do then?” He asked exasperatedly.

“I don't know. I love her and she means so much to me, but so do you. We aren't breaking up, that's for sure.” I laid my head down on his shoulder, and he kissed the top of it. He sighed and pulled me in close with his arms. 

“Okay. We need to give her time to cool down. So, we wait until Sunday or Monday to talk to her. I’ll text Jason too, to see if he can get her to chill out a bit. In the meantime, it's a beautiful Friday night, and I’m taking you on a date.”

“What? Percy, it's about to rain and I'm not really in the mood-”

“Nonsense!” He grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the front door. “Text your dad and let him know what we’re doing.” I did as he said and allowed myself to be dragged into his car. It had begun to get cloudy while Piper and I had been arguing, almost like it was mimicking my mood. I looked out the window while Percy drove away from my house, trying to figure out how I was going to fix this whole thing with Piper. He turned on some upbeat music, and started to sing along. I looked over at him, his black hair flying wildly in the wind with the roof off. His green eyes shined deeply and he had his perfect little crooked smile on his face. He had on his VVHS football sweatshirt and a pair of jeans. When I looked at him, it was almost impossible to be sad. We rode peacefully down the highway, surprised at the lack of traffic for a Friday afternoon. We drove for about 30 minutes before I realized where we were. 

“Percy, really? Here?” I asked.

“Yes really. It's a perfect way to get your mind off of things. After all, it's the happiest place on earth.” He responded.

“I'm pretty sure that’s the actual park, not Downtown Disney.” I retorted.

“Oh whatever, Wisegirl. It's going to be fun, besides, it's too late to go to the actual park. I'm a firm believer that it has to be an all day thing.” He smiled at me and all my worries melted away. We drove into the parking lot and when we stopped, he made me wait until he opened my car door to get out. He closed the roof of the Jeep and we started off towards our date night location. We approached the Downtown Disney sign and Percy made me stand in front of it to get a picture, regardless of the fact that I had been here a million times before. Our families were annual passholders to Disneyland, and we came a lot over the summer. We tried to come out as much as we could during the school year, but because of homework and everything, it was hard. 

The air began to get chilly and Percy gave me his sweatshirt. It was a little big on me, but I loved it even more that way. He held my hand and we walked past several shops before seeing a restaurant. We walked into Tortilla Jo’s , a Mexican restaurant that we had eaten before, and knew that it had good food. I almost froze while we waited to be seated, considering the air conditioning appeared to be on full blast. Percy pulled me in close and I started to get warmer. Finally we were led to our table, and I sat across from him. We laughed and talked while we ate, any thoughts of Piper leaving my mind. I ordered a burrito which was delicious, and Percy had an enchilada. We ate fairly quickly, apparently crying drains your energy. When we finished, the waiter handed Percy the check, which I did not appreciate. 

“Percy. You need to stop buying my food! I can pay for myself. I am a perfectly capable-”

“Strong, independent young woman. I know. But this date was my idea, therefore I will be paying.” He finished.

“But-” He cut me off again.

“You know, if you’re going to argue with me about paying every time we go out, you need to get used to complaining.” I rolled my eyes at him, though I secretly liked being fussed over. The waiter came back with Percy’s card and we left the restaurant. We walked out onto the cobblestone street, and looked at the shops. 

“Well, where to go first?” We made our way down the right side of the street, turning into all the shops that looked appealing. Every time we went into one that sold ears, Percy tried to insist that I get some. He made me try them all on, and he turned it into a little fashion show. When I found a few that I liked, he would drag me over to the clothing section to try and find a shirt that would match. 

“Beth, this one would look so good with the rose gold ears!” 

“Percy, for the last time, I'm not buying that shirt. I have a million disney shirts at home, and I don't need another one.” He pouted and gave me puppy dog eyes. “Nope. Not going to work.”

“Well, it was worth a shot.” I put the ears back and we kept walking. We found a boutique that had disney themed dresses and shoes. There were bags and jewelry and a few t-shirts. Overall it looked like high-end disney merchandise. I found a dress that was teal with little images from the map of Disneyland all over it. It had a twirly skirt and a halter top style neckline. I decided to try it on just for fun, because I knew it was unrealistic to buy it. With all the unnecessary buttons and zippers in the back it took me about ten minutes just to get it on. When I came out of the dressing room to show Percy, he was waiting with a bag in his hand. I raised my eyebrow at him but he just set the bag behind him and stood up.

“Wow, Annabeth you look, wow.” He said, looking at me in a way that made me blush deeply.

“Look, it twirls.” I spun in a circle and smiled to myself, loving the way the dress looked. I stopped spinning for fear of getting dizzy. “See?”

“I saw. It's beautiful. You’re beautiful.” He grabbed my hand and spun me around the store, not caring that the employees and fellow customers were watching. 

“Thank you. But I won't ever wear it so I don't think I'm going to get it.” I responded.

“Really?” He asked.

“Yeah, but it was fun to try on.” I made my way back to the dressing room and changed back into my regular clothes, a simple pair of skinny jeans with a white shirt and Percy’s sweatshirt layered on top. We walked out of the store, and he wrapped his arm around me. I leaned into his chest and smiled. It had gotten dark out, and all of the lamp posts and shop signs were lit up. The clouds looked very dark and ominous, making me feel even cozier here in his arms.

“Hey Perce?”

“Yeah?”

“Mind telling me what's in the bag?” I questioned.

“Not a chance.” I shook my head and laughed. Suddenly, there was a small rumble of thunder and it began to pour. Percy looked at me and we started laughing even harder. He turned me so I was facing him and he yanked the hood over my head to protect me from the rain. I giggled and grabbed his hand. We started running to his car, trying our best not to slip and fall on the wet ground. We laughed as it rained even harder. There were small flashes of lightning, met with little booms of thunder, but it wasn't anything to be concerned about so we kept running. When we made it to his car I ran and opened my door so that he could just get in his side. We were safe in the Jeep as the raindrops came down more and more heavily. He looked at me, his face wet with the rain, his eyelashes caught together with droplets of water, and a gorgeous smile dancing across his face. He cupped my face in his hands and pulled me close for a kiss. I smiled and kissed him back, my hands wrapping around his neck. He reluctantly pulled away and rested his forehead against mine. 

“Good date night?” He asked.

“Great date night.” I responded. He gave me one last quick peck on the lips before starting the car. We listened to the soundtrack from Mulan to keep up with our Disney theme. We laughed the whole way back to my house, singing along to the songs at the top of our lungs. 

“MYSTERIOUS AS THE DARK SIDE OF-” Percy sang.

“THE MOON!” I sang back. We sang the rest of the song together, impressed at how well we knew it. 

“Well,” Percy said, slightly out of breath. “I know what movie we’re watching next time.” I laughed as he pulled into my driveway. 

“Thankyou for tonight. I really needed it.” I smiled kindly at him. 

“Of course. But it's not over yet.” He turned on a slow song, the same one we had danced to at homecoming. He got out of the car and opened my door for me, offering me his hand. He left the door open, even in the rain. The music was just loud enough for us to hear, but not so loud it would wake my neighbors or my father. He helped me out of the car, then gently placed his hands on my waist. I got the idea and smiled while wrapping my arms around his neck. He rested his head on my shoulder, and I rested mine against his chest. We stayed there until the song was over, swaying lightly in the rain. The street lamps cast a warm orange glow onto us, and I felt like we were back in the middle of the dance floor. He lifted his head and looked into my eyes. He leaned down and gave me a tender kiss, before grabbing my hand and walking me to my door. I unlocked it and opened it slightly.

“Goodnight Annabeth.” He whispered in my ear after wrapping me in a hug.

“Goodnight Percy.” I gave him a quick peck on the cheek before slipping into my house. I leaned back against the door and sighed, smiling to myself. I was about to go upstairs, when I heard none other than my step mother.

“Ahem.” She was sitting expectantly on one of the couches, with a look of obvious displeasure on her face. I sighed and walked over to her, already dreading what was about to come.

Chapter Text

“What on earth were you doing with that boy this late?” My step mother said with an attitude. I clicked my phone and saw the time 10:46.

“It’s literally 14 minutes before curfew.” I said, matching her tone. “And besides, I told my dad where I was going.”

“Well he didn't tell me.” She replied.

“Probably because it's not a big deal.” I began to walk towards the stairs when she leaped off the couch and grabbed my arm. 

“Annabeth, I have been sitting here for two hours waiting for you to come home.”

“That wasn't necessary. I can handle myself, and I really don't understand why you’re so angry, I'm early for curfew.” I defended myself.

“Do not talk back to me young lady.” She raised her voice slightly. “You could have set off the alarm and woken up Bobby and Mathew.”

“I know the alarm code, and at the moment you are being louder than I would have been if you hadn't started arguing with me.” I said.

“That's it. Go to your room.” 

“What do you think I’ve been trying to do ever since I walked in the door?” I pulled my arm away from her and began up the stairs.

“Enough with the attitude.” She said with a hint of aggression in her voice. I stopped on the stairs and turned to look at her. 

“Really?” I was not in the mood to argue, but if she wanted to try I would give her a run for her money.

“Yes, ‘really.’ I am your step mother and you will do as I say. From now on, your curfew is 9 o’clock. You’re grounded for two weeks, if you get anything less than an A on any of your assignments, consider it doubled. And one last thing.” She paused with a smug look on her face. “You aren't allowed to see that boy anymore.” 

“Excuse me?” I said, louder than I should have. I was boiling with anger at this point. “You can't stop me from doing anything. First of all, my dad knows Percy and you know him well enough to understand he's a good kid. Second of all, he's my boyfriend , so I will be seeing him as much as I can. And lastly, you're not my mother! You can't tell me what to do!” 

“You ungrateful little brat. That boy is bad news. He's already become a bad influence on you. I mean look at you, you’re soaking wet from the rain and you're talking back.” She made a tsk, tsk, tsk sound with her mouth. 

“You know what? I'm out.” I stormed past her and out to the front door. She followed behind me, and after I slammed the door she opened it. She grabbed my shoulder with such force I thought I might fall backwards. She held on tight while she whispered in my ear.

“You are a disgraceful daughter. Your father and I work hard every single day so that you and your brothers can have a better life, and this is how you repay him? By acting like a selfish little punk?” 

“You don't work hard. You sit at home and pretend to work hard. If you think I'm ungrateful, you should look in a mirror. I think you’ll be surprised.” I responded without looking at her. 

“Leave. Don't come back until you realize the disrespect you’ve given me.” She spoke in a low tone. She loosened her grip on my shoulder and promptly pushed me into the rain. She slammed the door behind her and I heard the locks shut. Part of me was tempted to yell for my father, but another part of me was scared he would take her side. I pulled out my phone and called the only person who I knew would be able to comfort me. I dialed the number and after three rings, a groggy voice answered.

“Annabeth? Are you okay?” I almost broke down in tears right there.

“Hi Sally. Do you think you can pick me up?” 

~~~~

“Hey sweetie.” Sally said as I climbed into her car.

“Hi.” I responded gently, trying not to cry. “Thankyou for coming to get me. I'm sorry, I just didn't know who else to call.”

“Oh honey, don't apologize!” She started the car. “What happened?”

“My step-mom happened.” I replied.

“Oh, that crazy woman! I ought to go in there and give her a piece of my mind! What did she say?” I had to smile at the thought of Sally yelling at my crazy step-mother.

“She said all these horrible things, like how I was ungrateful, and I was disgraceful and I was a little brat and a punk, but then she essentially kicked me out.” I leaned my head back against the seat. 

“Annabeth,” She grabbed one of my hands. “No one should be allowed to speak to you that way. Did she get physical with you? I mean, you don't have to tell me but-.” 

“Sort of. I don't know, she grabbed my wrist and my shoulder and kinda pushed me out of the house but, it's really nothing.” I said, knowing it was a lie.

“It's not nothing. Have you talked to your dad about it?” Sally looked a lot like Percy in this moment, her gentle blue eyes were a mix of worry, anger, and determination. 

“No, you know how he is. He says he’ll address it but never does. I’ve honestly just stopped complaining to him.” I sighed. “I don't know Sally. Some days I honestly wish I could just live with you guys. It's not like I’d be missed over at that house anyways.”

“Well darling, you can stay with us for as long as you’d like. We certainly all love you over here.” She said with a warm smile.

“About that. I told Piper about Percy and I today, and it didn't go well.” I explained everything that happened, though my voice broke and I started crying half way through. When we pulled into the driveway I was dreading seeing Piper, but also looking forward to seeing Percy. Sally gave me a big hug before we walked into the house, despite the fact that I was wet from the rain.

“Everything is going to be okay.” She gave me a small kiss on the top of my head and I hugged her even closer. She was always the mother I never had. When we went in, Piper was sitting on the couch watching a movie with Tristan, and I didn't know where Percy was. 

“What is she doing here?” Piper asked. I looked down at my feet trying not to cry again. 

“Piper! I told you she called me, she's spending the night here tonight.” Just as Sally said that, Percy came out down the stairs. He was wearing a new sweatshirt and sweatpants, and his hair was wet, indicating he had just showered.

“Annabeth?” He came over to me. I didn't want to meet his eyes because I knew he would see that I had been crying, but when he lifted my chin up with his hand I didn't have a choice. “Oh my god, are you okay?” He pulled me in for a hug and I pushed back my tears, not allowing any more to fall tonight. 

“Piper, go get her some clothes.” Tristan said to his daughter. She sighed and got off the couch to go up to her room. Percy held me for a while, before Sally told him to go grab some food from the kitchen. He protested, but she insisted even harder. She led me past the office and down the hall to the guest room. 

“Go ahead and shower. There are towels and soap and everything in there.” Sally explained gently.

“Thank you so much.” 

“Of course. I’ll have Piper set your clothes on the bed.” She gave me one last small hug before quietly leaving and closing the door. I took a deep breath and stepped into the bathroom. I closed the door behind me and looked in the mirror. My hair was all stuck to my face and it was curlier than usual. My cheeks were flushed and my eyes were red and puffy. Overall, I looked like a trainwreck. I felt like one too. My head was pounding from all the crying I had done, and I just hurt. I pulled out my phone and turned on some upbeat music to try and improve my mood. I slipped into the shower, let the water run over me, and tried to forget about everything bad that happened.

After I got out of the shower I found a pile of clothes on my bed. I put on the clean t-shirt and sweatpants, then let my wet curls out of the towel. They tumbled around my shoulders, the cold water droplets that fell down my back gave me chills. I sat on my bed and rested my head in my hands. As I was about to exit the room and go sit with everyone in the living room when someone knocked on my door.

“Come in.” I said loudly enough so they would hear. The door opened to reveal Piper, wearing a big oversized sweatshirt and pj shorts. Her eyes looked almost as puffy as mine. She closed the door behind her and spoke calmly.

“We need to talk.”

Chapter Text

Piper leaned against the door and looked at me. 

“Yeah, we do.” I said. There was an awkward silence before she finally said something. 

“Why did you lie to me?” The way she asked was gentle, but her tone was accusing. 

“I didn't.”

“You did! I asked you weeks ago and you said there was nothing between you two.” She gesticulated.

“Piper, that was before anything even happened! Yes, I lied to you about me not liking him, but that was because I was confident he didn't like me, and nothing would ever come of my little crush.” I confessed. “And just to give you perspective, he kissed me two days after our conversation, so I wouldn't have been able to tell you anything anyways.”

“That doesn't change the fact that you lied to me about how you felt, and that you broke the pact.” I looked at her confusingly. She pulled out a folded piece of paper from her pocket. She began to read what it said. “Piper and Annabeth's rules of friendship.” A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth, which she pushed away as she tossed the paper to me. I looked at the piece of parchment that was now in my lap, and immediately recognized it.

“Piper, we wrote these when we were, like, six.” I defended myself. 

¨It doesn't matter when we write them. Look at rule number four.¨ I pulled my eyes down to number four. In pink messy handwriting, it read no dating percy!!!!! I suddenly remembered when exactly we had written this. 

Eight Years Ago

“Hazel! Truth or dare?” Piper had asked.

“Ummm, truth!” The rest of the group groaned in unison.

“But that's so boring!” Zoe exclaimed.

“It doesn't matter, I picked it!”Hazel defended. Piper and Annabeth whispered together, then pulled away smiling. 

“Okay. Who do you like?” Piper questioned. Hazel blushed and looked at the ground while all the other girls giggled. 

“I can't tell you that!” She had begun to fan herself. Annabeth raised her eyebrows. “Fine! I’ll give you a hint! He's... he's in this house.” All of them looked around at where we were, hoping it would give them any clue as to who she was talking about. They were sitting in Piper’s basement, all laying on the bed of blankets that they had made. There were six girls there, Annabeth, Piper, Hazel, Calypso, Zoe, and Reyna. They all glanced around, looking at the couches, the stuffed animals, or any of Piper’s toys that were scattered around. Finally, Reyna noticed Percy’s basketball on the ground and knew who Hazel was talking about.

“OH- EM- GEE!” Reyna gasped. “You like Percy!” Hazel fell backwards against her pillow and buried her face in her hands, indicating that Reyna was right. 

“Ewww! You have a crush on my brother?!” Piper scrunched up her face and fake gagged.

“Well, to be honest, he is kind of cute...” Calypso trailed off as all the girls except Annabeth and Piper nodded their heads in agreement. Piper looked at Annabeth expectantly, and she shrugged her shoulders in response. 

~~~~~~~

The next day after all the other girls had left, Annabeth and Piper were sitting in Piper's bedroom. They sat on her bed, with the mesh canopy closed around them, falsely thinking it would provide an extra layer of privacy. They had markers, stickers, and paper strewn messily across the pink comforter. 

“Okay. Ready?” Piper asked Annabeth as she readied her paper on a book.

“Ready.” She responded.

“Alright, rule number one: we have to be best friends forever, duh.” Annabeth neatly wrote those words down with her blue marker before switching colors. She scribbled down two more rules that the two had agreed on before asking Piper what next.

“And for rule number four?” She asked.

“I already know what I want.” Piper held her hands in her lap. “Number four: not dating my brother.”

“I remember the day we wrote this.” I looked up at her.

“Then you have to remember why this rule was such a big deal for me.” She had moved so she was sitting on the bed close to me. “Because at that point, everyone liked my brother, and to be honest, a lot of people still do.”

“I know. This was always really important to you, I mean, it's the reason we aren't really friends with Calypso anymore. Hazel and Zoe moved, but Calypso tried to date Percy, and she dropped you to do it.” I sighed.

“Exactly, so if you knew how much this mattered to me, why would you date Percy anyways?” Piper asked.

“Because to be honest? I figured we wouldn't be dating for as long as we had. I assumed he would realize that I'm just a silly fifteen year old, and that I wasn't what he wanted. I figured he would break up with me before you even had a chance to react. But, Piper, that's not how it is. I wish I could tell you everything, but when I tried to talk to you about it, you freaked out.” I looked at her. 

“I know.” She paused and met my eyes. “I shouldn't have reacted that way, I should've at least given you a chance to tell me how it happened, or even what happened. I just heard ‘Percy and I are dating’ and flipped out.”

“I know, and I probably shouldn't have been as abrupt, but I really just wanted to tell you. It was eating me up.” I confessed.

“I shouldve made time for us to talk before tonight. I went off on you about ‘prioritizing’ Percy, when I really have been prioritizing Jason.” A single tear fell from her eye and rolled down her cheek and down to her chin. 

“I shouldn't have said that about you and Jason. I'm sorry.” I said. 

“I'm sorry too.” She put out her arms and I gladly fell into them. “Beth, I missed you so much.”

“Me too.” I sobbed. “And it's only been a few hours.” 

“Us fighting just feels... wrong .” She hugged me tighter. After a few moments she finally pulled away, and grabbed both my hands.

“Okay. Now that that’s dealt with, do you want to tell me what happened with your family?” She looked at me with sad eyes.

“My step mom.” Piper's eyes immediately turned from sadness to anger. “She yelled at me for being out with-” I glanced at her considering we had only just hashed out our issues with me dating her brother.

“It’s okay, Annabeth.” She encouraged me.

“Well, she was mad because I was out with Percy even though I wasn't even past curfew. When I gave her attitude, well...” I trailed off, letting tears fall freely while I broke eye contact.

“She kicked you out.” She said with a bitter tone. “That slimy, no good, mean, tyrannical, b-” 

“Yeah. Pretty much.” I laughed, loving that I could talk to Piper again. It may have only been a few hours, but I missed her more than anything. She shook her head as a smirk grew on her face. She pulled me so I was standing up, then let go of my hands and moved her hands up to my face. She wiped my tears off my cheeks and gave me a warm smile. 

“Let's forget about that tonight. How does family movie night sound?”

Chapter Text

“Sounds perfect.” I smiled as Piper led me out into the living room, where Sally, Tristan, and Percy were all sitting on the couch. Sally gave us an excited glance when she saw us holding hands.

“So, I guess that means you made up?” She asked.

“Yes, we did.” I sat down next to Percy, and Piper sat on the other side of me, next to Sally. Percy pulled me away from Piper and held me protectively. 

“Piper, are you trying to steal my girlfriend?” Percy asked.

“She was my girlfriend first so I think I should be asking you that question.” I laughed as the two bickered. “You know Percy, you might be my brother but I swear if you hurt her I will kick your a-” 

“Piper!” Sally exclaimed. “You know he’ll take care of her.” Piper moved closer to Sally and rested her head on her shoulder.

“And if he doesn't?” She said while side-eyeing Percy. 

“Then he's grounded, and cut off from everything at the bakery.” Sally explained.

“Okay, okay! Jeez, you guys, I'm not going to hurt her.” Percy wrapped an arm around me and tugged me closer. He whispered in my ear, “I won't ever hurt you. That's a promise.” I met his eyes and smiled.

“I know.” I whispered back. I turned my attention back to the TV where they had turned on The Proposal. Both Tristan and Percy complained, but since they were outnumbered, we kept watching it. After an hour, Percy was asleep, and lightly snoring. 

“Alright girls, I'm exhausted, and clearly the boys are too, so I'm going to bed.” She turned off the TV with a yawn, and began waking up her husband. Piper stood up and headed towards the stairs while stretching. 

“Do you want to sleep in my room tonight?” She asked. 

“Sure, let me wake up Percy and I’ll meet you upstairs.” She nodded and I patted Percy’s shoulder. “Perce, time for bed.” He looked up at me with sleepy eyes, and my heart melted. I grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet. He grumbled but then wrapped his arms around me and followed me upstairs. I led him to his door and as I was going to give him a kiss and head to Piper's room, he pulled me inside with him. 

“What are you doing?” I giggled as he grabbed my waist and lifted me in the air. He laid me carefully on his bed, and when I tried to get up, he tackled me in a hug. “Percy! Get off of me!” I said between my fits of laughter. He rolled so he was still close to me, but not on top of me. He turned me so my back was facing him, and he held me tightly. He kissed the back of my neck sweetly, and after a few more minutes of snuggling, he was out. I tried to get off his bed, but every time I pulled away from him he held me tighter. I smiled because of how sweet it was, but I also knew I couldn't sleep in here. A few minutes later, the door opened and Piper stood in the doorway, a smile growing on her face. 

“Help me!” I whispered. She started laughing and shook her head. She stepped into the room and when I thought she was going to help me get out of the prison (a very nice, warm, snuggly prison, mind you.) that was Percy’s arms, she just flipped off the light switch. “Piper, wait!” She smiled as she gave me a little wave, then shut the door. I shook my head and contained my laughter. I pulled the covers over Percy and I, and snuggled into his arms. My eyes slowly fell closed as I listened to the rhythmic sound of our breathing. 

~~~~~

When I woke up, I noticed Percy was still sleeping. Not wanting to move from his arms, I shifted and laid my head on his chest. I looked around the room, and though I had been in here several times before, it all looked different to me. His gray blue walls were filled with pictures of him and his friends, his football stuff was strewn across his chair, and his closet doors were open, giving me a view to all of his sweatshirts that I imagined I would likely wear at some point. Small beams of sunlight broke through the blinds, casting shadows onto the bed.

“Good Morning, Wisegirl.” A sleepy voice snapped me back to attention. I turned to face him, resting my chin on his chest and giving him a warm smile.

“Good Morning, Seaweed Brain.” I leaned up and gave him a small kiss on the lips. 

“Piper let you sleep in here?” Percy asked while rubbing his eyes. I moved my hand to his face and moved a few raven black strands out of his face before gently running my hands through his hair. 

“Let me? More like forced me. You wouldn't exactly let me go, and when I asked her for help she turned off the light.” I giggled, recalling the events from last night.

“Mm, well I'm glad Piper finally approves of us.” He said, moving his hands to my back and rubbing it. “What did you two talk about anyways?” 

“Ah, ah, ah. Girl code. Can't tell you.” He flipped his lip and gave me a pouty look, which was adorable and difficult to say no to. “No! You can't do that.” I covered my eyes. 

“Fine, fine, I won't ask.” He pulled my hands away from my eyes and intertwined them with his own. He pulled me closer and kissed me. His lips lingered on mine and I kissed him, a bit harder this time. He moved his hands up and down on my back, gradually moving to my hips. He slowly guided me on top of him, and I straddled him as we kissed. He pulled me closer with every breath, and I held his face with my hands. He trailed kisses down my jawline and to my neck, leaving me breathless. I pulled him back to my lips and he gave me a single kiss before pulling away. He looked up at me, and his emerald eyes looked like they had stars in them. I smiled, and he matched my warm look. 

“Not a bad way to wake up, huh?” He laughed.

“Not at all.” I then realized that my hair was probably a tangled mess, and there was no way I looked cute having just woken up. I became very self conscious, and the fact that I was sitting on my very handsome boyfriend wasn't helping. I instinctively pulled my T-shirt down and wrapped my arms around my stomach. Percy looked at me, his eyebrows furrowed. 

“Are you okay?” He asked.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry.” I looked away and attempted to slide off him, but his hands held me in place.

“Annabeth, you’re gorgeous.” He said certainly. “You know that right?” 

“I- ah-” I laughed nervously. 

“Well, you are.” His eyes met mine and I let out a breath I hadn't realized I had been holding. “So. Breakfast?” We went downstairs and sat at the table that was already set with fresh pancakes and waffles. I sat next to Piper who immediately raised her eyebrows at me, making all the blood rush to my cheeks.

“You know, I think I liked it better when you didn't like us.” She stuck her tongue out at me, and I stole a waffle off of her plate. Soon Sally and Tristan joined us at the table. 

“So, Percy, you got a letter today.” Tristan said.

“Really? I never get mail.” He said. “Who’s it from?”

“Ohio State University.”

Chapter Text

“I don't remember applying there.” As Percy got up to go grab the letter, a million thoughts rushed through my head. He's going to college. He might not go to college in California. What if he does go to Ohio? That's like, a million miles away. What if he goes to a college even further away? Oh my god. What if we break up? I can't do long distance so what if- Piper snapped me back to reality.

“Hey.” She said in a hushed tone. “It's just an offer, he's already gotten like fifteen of those.”

“Yeah. Yeah, you're right.” I continued to pick at my food, when Percy came rushing back in the room, the letter open in his hands. His eyes were full of excitement.

“Guys, this,” he paused. “This is a full ride scholarship offer.” Sally and Tristan both lept up and smiled and congratulated him, while Piper looked at me, her kaleidoscope eyes matching the worry in mine. She put her hand on mine then plastered a fake smile on her face. 

“Percy! Congrats, big bro.” She wrapped him in a hug. I got up and smiled, too. I tried my hardest to make it look genuine, but with the way his eyebrows furrowed, I could tell he saw the fear of losing him in my eyes. Nonetheless, I gave him a quick kiss on the lips.

“I'm so proud of you.” I held his face in my hands for a second, before stepping back to the table where we all took our seats. 

“So, what's the scholarship for?” Piper asked.

“Football obviously, what did you think? Math?” Percy responded sarcastically. Piper sighed and shook her head. 

“This is a big deal, especially since Ohio State is essentially the college with the best football program in the country. The fact that you got a full ride, that's really impressive.” Tristan explained. Just as Percy was about to respond, his phone began to ring. 

“Oh! I have to take this, it's Jason.” He looked at Sally, as if asking permission to leave the table, and she nodded her head. He answered the call and walked into the living room. I sighed and rested my head on the back of the chair. 

“Hey man.” We could hear Percy’s voice, although it was muffled. “Wait, no way! You got a scholarship too?” Piper’s breath hitched, and she stopped eating. 

“Hey, Beth?” Piper’s voice sounded shaky. 

“Yeah?”

“Do you want to go to the beach?”

“Please.” We cleared our plates and set them in the dishwasher. We headed upstairs which meant having to go past Percy, who was sitting on the couch, joking on the phone with Jason about how they were going to be roommates in Ohio. I absolutely panicked, but I tried to remind myself that he wasn't going for sure, he was just assessing his options. Piper and I got dressed, and I borrowed even more of her clothes, and a swimsuit. I slipped on a pastel yellow t-shirt and athletic shorts over the red two piece. Piper wore a black bikini with a strappy back, and she put on a huge t-shirt over it. We grabbed towels and headed back downstairs. Piper opened the door, and I followed after her. 

“Where are you guys going?” Percy asked, momentarily breaking from his phone call with Jason.

“To the beach, we’re having a girls' day.” I responded.

“Oh, okay. Have fun.” He gave me a sweet kiss and I made my way to Piper’s white Mazda. I climbed into the passenger seat, and almost immediately after pulling out of her driveway, Piper brought up the one question we were both thinking about.

“What are we going to do if they leave?” 

~~~~~

When we got to the beach, the early November water was far too cold to swim, but surprisingly enough, the sun was beating down and it was a perfect day to tan. It was one of the hottest days this month, and I figured this would be the last time I would get out to the beach this year. We laid our towels down on the soft sand, set up a speaker, and laid back while listening to the crashing of waves and soft music. I sighed and closed my eyes.

“Piper, do you really think they’ll go to Ohio?” I asked, part of me not wanting to know the answer.

“I don't know, Annabeth.” She sat up on her elbows. “I want to believe that they won't, but getting a full ride scholarship to the school with the top ranking football team in the country is pretty much their dream.” 

“But the University of Southern California is like, thirty minutes away, and they have a good football team!” I said, sitting up with her.

“Yes, but they haven't been given an offer for that college.” She rested her head in her hands. “Annabeth, if they leave, I’ll be losing the person I love, and my brother.” 

“I’ll be losing a best friend, and my boyfriend.” I realized.

“Remind me again, why did we fall for seniors?” She questioned.

“I was about to ask you the same thing.” This was the first time it really hit me, Percy would be going to college, and he would be leaving me. I had no clue how this was going to work, and I wasn’t particularly excited to find out. 

“Well, let's try not to think about that. We came to the beach to get away from it.” Piper put her sunglasses on, and layed back down. 

“Yeah, that's a good point.” I stayed sitting and hugged my knees.

“So, what’s the plan for your birthday?” Piper asked.

“Oh my god, is it already the fifteenth?” I looked at my phone. “I only have two weeks until my birthday.”

“Yeah, except I’ve already looked, and the second is on a weekday so I think you’ll have to have your party on the weekend before or after, considering people are going to be studying for finals.”

“That's true. I don't even know what I'm going to do.” I rubbed my temples. “If I can't convince my dad to let me back in despite the witches wishes, I doubt I’ll have a party.”

“I can't believe she actually kicked you out. You should just go grab all of your stuff and move into the guest room at my house.” She tried for a smile, which I appreciated.

“I wish. I don't know what I’m going to do, Piper, he hasn't even texted me. No calls, no nothing. I doubt he even noticed I'm gone.” I sighed. “It’s like, he tries to prioritize me for a week or two, then his life is consumed with the boys and with her . It's exhausting.” 

“I'm sorry Beth. You shouldn't have to deal with that.” She rested her hand on mine.

“Eh, it's nothing I'm not used to. But I do need to call him, I can't keep staying at your house.”

“Wanna bet?” I laughed, and we spent the rest of the day relaxing in the sun. It was good to have a day with my best friend, just the two of us laughing and enjoying each other's company. 

~~~~~ 

Later in the evening, I decided to take the Jackson’s and McLean’s up on their offer of staying over again. I took a quick shower and changed back into my pj’s from the night before. I sat on the bed and pulled out my phone. I clicked on my dad’s contact and hesitated a moment before selecting the call button. I took a deep breath as it rang. Here goes nothing.

Chapter Text

He picked up on the fourth ring, and as soon as he did, my breathing quickened.

“Hello? Annabeth?” My father asked.

“Hi.” I said calmly.

“Where have you been? Your step mother said you were yelling at her and then out of nowhere you ran away! I’ve been worried sick.” He explained.

“Really, is that what she said?” I paused, shaking my head. “Would you like to know the truth?”

“What do you mean?” My father spoke slowly into the phone.

“Where are you right now?” I asked.

“My office, why?” he responded.

“Is she around?” 

“Now, Annabeth, I know you two don't get along but-” I cut him off.

“Is she around?” I asked more forcefully this time.

“No, she's in our room, why?” I took a deep breath.

“Dad, I didn't run away. She kicked me out.” The other line went silent. “I got home from a date with Percy, and she was angry with me.”

“Were you past curfew?”

“No, I was early for curfew. But she still kept yelling at me, saying all these horrible things, and when I tried to defend myself, she kicked me out.” I told him.

“Why should I believe your story over hers?” He asked, his tone unreadable. I scoffed.

“Really? Wow, you aren't even going to acknowledge the fact that I said she was being mean to me?” After he didn't respond, I began to get angry. “Well if you don't believe me just by being your daughter, check the camera or the ring.”

“Your step mom took them off so we could charge them tonight.” 

“Of course she did.” I mumbled under my breath. “Well, can I come back home?”

“Yes, but if I hear that you’re being mean, or giving her attitude, we’re going to have an issue.”

“Dad, you don’t even know what happened.” I defended myself.

“I know that you’ve had issues with her in the past, and you need to respect adults. We are your parents.” He said, a bit of anger in his tone.

“You know what? I think I’ll run by tomorrow and grab a few things, but if Sally and Tristan say it’s okay, I'm going to stay over here for a while.” I matched his voice.

“Don't talk back to me young lady.”

“Goodbye.” I hung up on him and slammed my phone on the bed. I tried to wrap my mind around what just happened. He had just chosen her over me. I don't know why I was surprised, I saw this coming from a million miles away. He loved her more than me, and that was just a fact. He had chosen to have a family with her, but he was forced to take me into his family. After I was born, my mom split and it was just he and I. Then, she came along and I was essentially tossed aside. I put my head in my hands, and fell backwards into the pillow in the guest room. I felt a few tears fall, though whether they were tears of frustration and anger or of sadness, I couldn't tell you. Slowly, hugging one of the throw pillows close to my body, I drifted into a deep sleep. At some point in the night, Percy came in and sat next to me. I opened my eyes slightly, and though the picture was blurred and it was dark, I could tell he was wearing a gentle smile. He tucked the blankets around me and brushed my hair out of my face. 

“Good night, Annabeth.”

~~~~

In the morning, Piper came into my room to wake me up for school. She gave me another outfit, and I promised to let her borrow all the clothes she wanted from my house. I pulled my blonde curls into a low ponytail, and ran a brush through them. I used some of Piper’s concealer to try and hide the bags under my eyes, and I even put on some mascara to draw attention from the redness surrounding my gray iris. I glanced out the window and saw gray clouds rolling in. After slipping into the pair of black ripped jeans, and blue crop top that Piper had lent me, I grabbed Percy’s sweatshirt that I had worn a few days before. I put it on and wrapped my arms around myself, feeling immediate comfort. 

In the kitchen, Percy was sitting in his football jersey and a sweatshirt underneath. He was at the island, and was eating a bowl of cereal. When he saw me, he smiled and got up to give me a hug. He rested his chin on my head and I almost forgot about the fact that he very well could be leaving me for college in a few months. Almost.

“Good morning Wise Girl.” He pulled away from the hug and gave me a quick kiss on the lips. “Why didn't you join us for a movie last night?”

“Oh, sorry. I called my dad after my shower.” I rubbed my arms and looked away, not wanting to relive the disappointment of last night.

“How did it go?” He asked.

“Um...” I trailed off.

“Beth, I'm sorry.” He gave me another hug.

“It's okay, I just might need to stay here for a little longer.” I met his eyes. They looked tired, like he had been up late. I ignored that as he responded.

“Mm, well that's not the worst thing in the world is it?” He sat back down at the kitchen island. “Do we need to swing by your house to grab your backpack?”

“Yeah. My dad will be at work and my step mom will be taking the boys to school so I can just run in really fast. I need to grab my volleyball stuff too.” I said. As I was fixing my bowl, Piper came down the stairs, wearing her cheer uniform. 

“You have a game tonight, right?” She asked.

“Yeah. Tonight decides whether we go to state.” I explained.

“I'm sure you guys will win, you’ve won all the other games.” Percy insisted. He had come to all of the games he could in the past weeks, and I did the same with football.

“Yeah, but tonight we’re playing Edgewood.” 

“Oh.” Piper acknowledged. “Aren't they the leading champions in the state right now?”

“Yep. We’ve lost to them every year for the past three years.”

“Ah, but that’s because you weren't on varsity, but now you are.” Percy complimented. I blushed and continued fixing my cereal. 

After we had all eaten and brushed our teeth, we piled into Percy’s car. We stopped by my house and successfully managed to avoid an interaction with my family. When we pulled into the parking lot, Percy grabbed my hand after he opened my door. This was the first time we could act coupley at school, because before, Piper didn't know. I could tell people were looking, because it would be hard not to notice the most popular guy in school holding hands with a new girl. Not just any girl though, his little sister's best friend. As we passed a few more people in the hallways, I could hear them saying things like: “No way, is that Annabeth Chase?” or “He has a girlfriend?” and even “Bro, I called it.” I tugged Percy’s arm closer to me, and whispered in his ear.

“Perce. They're all looking at us.” He smiled down at me.

“Well, it’d be hard not to notice the gorgeous girl standing next to me.”

“Ha-ha. Very funny, but no. They're all looking at you and the fact that the hottest guy in school has a girl on his arm.” I declared. 

“Hottest guy in school, huh?” We reached the courtyard and stopped. Piper ran over to Jason and gave him a kiss.

“Oh, shut up.” I was blushing like crazy, but I maintained eye contact nonetheless.

“Why don't we give them something to stare at then?” He said with a smirk. 

“What do you-” He cut me off with a kiss. I was shocked at first, but slowly melted into it. I wasn’t ever too big of a fan of PDA, but standing here, kissing Percy, I couldn't care less if people were staring. Finally, I pulled away and he rested his forehead on mine. I had my arms wrapped around his neck, and his hands rested on my waist. I smiled as he leaned down for another kiss. His lips tasted salty like the ocean, and I loved it. I could feel him smiling into the kiss until we got cut off. 

“Seriously? Percy and Annabeth? You guys are dating?” Jason asked, sounding surprised. I pulled away, embarrassed. Percy grabbed my arm and pulled me back to him. He stood behind me and hugged me while resting his head on mine.

“Yep. This amazing girl is my girlfriend now.” Percy explained, sounding smug.

“Piper said it was since homecoming. You didn't tell me!” Jason was clearly trying so hard to sound hurt, but he wasn't very convincing with the huge smile that was on his face. 

“You didn't tell him?” I elbowed Percy in the side while turning to look at him.

“No, he didn't. But regardless of how rude that was,” He glared at Percy. “I'm so happy for you!” He wrapped us both in a big hug. 

“Bro?” Percy asked.

“Bro.” Jason responded.

“Bro!” Percy exclaimed. They fist bumped then gave each other a hug, clearly forgetting I was sandwiched in between them. I ducked down and slipped over to where Piper was standing.

“Did you understand them?” I asked.

“Do I ever?” She laughed and we started talking, stalling until we had to go to class. When the three minute bell rang, Percy walked me to English, where a smirking Thalia was looking at me, as well as a very angry Rachel. I gave Percy a quick kiss and said goodbye, then walked to my seat, worrying about whatever it was that Rachel was angry about.

Chapter Text

“Hey!” I said cheerfully as I sat down. 

“Hey, lovergirl.” Thalia teased.

“Oh hush.” I responded, pulling out my things.

“I cannot believe you.” Rachel mumbled, loud enough so I could hear.

“What?” I asked.

“Oh she's just mad because everyone saw you two making out in the courtyard.” Thalia assured. I felt my face heat up.

“Really?” I buried my face in my hands. “God, that's embarrassing.”

“You’re embarrassed? You were kissing the hottest, most popular guy in school! How on earth could you possibly be embarrassed?” Rachel huffed and sat back in her chair.

“Rach? Are you okay with me dating Percy?” I was very confused, over the years she seemed like she was rooting for Percy and I, but apparently I had misread the signals.

“Yep.” She said, her voice filled with bitterness. “As long as you don't mind that...” She mumbled the last part and I didn't know what she said. Thalia looked at me, her eyebrows scrunched together in confusion as well.

“What was that?” She asked.

“I said as long as you don't mind that Percy’s already been given a full ride offer to play football and go to school for my dad’s college in New York. He’s already pretty much committed, and he’ll be living as a guest in our penthouse, which means I’ll see him every other weekend.” I took a shaky breath in. Damn. I thought. I forgot her dad owns a D1 school. 

“You know Rachel, I really don't mind, because he deserves to play for a D1 school, and I'm sure Sally will be going out to visit him a lot too, so I could just tag along.” I tried my hardest not to show her how much she had affected me, because truthfully, my heart felt like it was breaking.

“I guess, but I mean, long distance relationships never work. But if two people were practically living together, well. You never know what might happen.” she said with a wink. “The walls are soundproof after all.”

“Rachel! Shut up!” Thalia ordered. She turned her attention to me. “Beth, you okay?”

“Yeah. I'm great. I just need to talk to Percy.”

I smiled at Rachel, who was glaring daggers at me. I pulled out my phone and texted Percy. The message read: we need to talk asap. Not even a minute later, I got a response. we do. lunch? I told him yes, and we decided to meet at his car. The rest of class, I didn't say a word to anyone, and just focused on my work. I was working so efficiently, thinking about what I was going to say, that I didn't realize I had finished. I turned in the work that we were doing, and pulled out my homework. By the end of class, I had finished my homework for pretty much all of my classes for the next three days. When the bell rang, I made a bee line for where I figured Piper would be standing. When I saw her, I pulled her away from the usual crowd, and told her what had happened in English.

“Well, we’ll go to history, then you can talk to him about it. I really hope it's not true.” We made our way back to where Reyna was now standing with Thalia at her side, and Silena was holding her boyfriend, a guy named Charles Beckendorf’s hand. Seeing all of them together made me want to throw up. I was terrified to know the answer to what happened with Percy and Rachel’s father giving him a scholarship, but at the same time, it was all I wanted to know.

~~~~~

History went by pretty quickly, we just did a reading quiz and started on our final project, so it went by pretty quickly. After class, I made my way out to Percy’s car, where he was standing and talking to one of his football friends. When he saw me, he said goodbye to them and came over. 

“Hey Wisegirl, long time no see.” He opened his arms for me and I accepted his hug, trying to convince myself that there was no way he could be leaving me. Key word being ‘trying’ though. Honestly, Percy was super independent and had always wanted to live in New York.

“Hi.” He pulled away and looked at me, his excited eyes now full of concern.

“You okay?” He asked.

“Yeah, why?” I tried my best to act normal.

“You didn't say ‘seaweed brain’ or joke around.”

“Oh. Yeah, I'm okay. Just, emotionally drained I guess.” He looked at me skeptically before giving me a quick kiss on the forehead.

“Okay, well, maybe lunch will help.” He opened my car door for me, then got in and we headed off for lunch. I had no clue where we were going, but I didn't really care. My mind was racing trying to think of how to bring up to him that I didn't want him to leave. Finally, we arrived at a sandwich place a few minutes away from the school. Percy ran in and grabbed two sandwiches, then drove to a park that was nearby. We got out of the car and sat down on the grass, starting to eat. After a few minutes, I couldn't take it anymore.

“So, what did you need to tell me?” I asked, wanting to see if he would confess before I brought it up.

“Oh!” He finished chewing the bite that was in his mouth, then continued. “I, uh, I got another offer for a college.”

“Really? Which one?”

“Um, well I actually got this offer a while back. It's from Dare University.” I felt my heart sink as his lips lifted into a smile. “It's a full ride, and I would get to play on the varsity team, which means I would get to play in the Dare Invitational, which is the biggest tournament on the east coast.”

“But you would be living in New York.” I said, trying to still sound upbeat.

“Yeah. I would. And I actually got invited to live in Mr.Dares penthouse.” He was obviously trying to figure out how I was reacting. I was trying to give him a genuine smile, but as the clouds darkened in the sky, it was almost like they were mimicking my mood. Deep down, everytime Percy smiled about college, my heart broke a little bit more as I knew we wouldn't last. 

“That's so great.” I sounded ridiculously unconvincing.

“But, Beth, I won't go if you don't want me to.” Rain drops were starting to fall on the ground, but there were so few of them that we didn't move.

“No, Percy you have to go. It’s what you’ve always wanted.” I said, not meeting his eyes. “I'm happy for you.”

“If you’re happy, then why won't you look at me?” He asked.

“Because...” I trailed off.

“Beth?” His voice was shaky and full of worry.

“Because of this,” I gestured between us. “Isn't realistic. It just isn't.” I didn't want to look at him, knowing that if I did I would break down.

“What do you mean? We can make this work, Annabeth.” He grabbed my hand, but I pulled it away.

“No, we can't.” It started to rain harder. “I can't. It’s going to be too hard, Percy. Face it, you’ll leave, we’ll try for a month, then break up and be heartbroken.”

“That's not true.” He said firmly.

“Yes, it is.” I stood up, and finally looked down at him. “Perce, I don't want to hurt you. That's why we need to do this now, before either of us can get too attached.” He stood up and rested his hand  on my face, slowly moving my chin up so I would meet his eyes.

“But I am attached.” He took a deep breath. “Annabeth, I love you.”

Chapter Text

“You what?” I asked, taken aback.

“I love you. I love you more than anything or anyone, and I can't lose you.” Percy had water droplets running down his face though I couldn't tell if they were tears or rain drops. His eyes were straining with worry and sadness.

“Percy...” I couldn't look at him.

“Annabeth.”

“Of course I love you! I’ve loved you for years. I love you with all of my heart, and that's why we need to break up.” I said, knowing my mascara was running down my face.

“What?” He said quietly.

“Percy, I can't be the reason keeping you from your dreams. You got a full ride to two colleges that are out of state, that give you opportunities to play for scouts from the NFL. Yet, here you are, saying you're willing to throw it all away just because I'm here.”

“It's true. There are colleges in California, Annabeth. It's not like I would be getting rid of every opportunity.”

“But you would be getting rid of the best ones.” I looked into his eyes and tried to stay strong. “I love you Percy. But I can't let you prioritize me over your future career.”

“Can't you see that I want to? I want to prioritize you! If this is such a big deal, then I’ll go to Dare or Ohio, but that doesn't mean that we have to break up.” He argued.

“Yes it does Percy! I can't be in a relationship with someone across the country, and you need to go to college across the country.” I replied.

“So that's it? We love each other, and we’re going to give up just like that?” He questioned, throwing his arms in the air.

“I guess so.” I said.

“Annabeth, I’ve watched so many people put their needs in front of yours. Your parents, my sister, but here I am, telling you that I love you, and that I'm going to put you first, and you're walking away?” 

“I'm sorry Percy.” I looked at him one last time, and took off towards the road. I could hear him yelling after me as he gathered up all of the picnic stuff, but I was running as fast as I could towards school, away from my heartbreak.

~~~~

The rest of the day went by painfully slowly. I didn't see Percy once in the halls, though I wasn't really looking for him, and I went straight to class during the passing periods. I didn't try to find Piper either. She and Sally had made Percy promise not to hurt me, but pretty soon they might be regretting that they didn't make me promise not to hurt him. I wasn't eager to tell her, because I wasn't eager to know her reaction. 

After school, I made my way to the locker room. I got changed into my volleyball jersey and shorts silently, not wanting to speak to anyone out of fear of breaking down. I went to the mirrors and took my hair out of the ponytail. I braided the blonde curls into two dutch braids and pulled a few strands around my face. I looked in the glass, and didn't like who I saw in the reflection. This girl wasn't me. This girl had bags under her eyes, and traces of tear stains down her cheeks. Her nose was red from the amount of tissues she had used to pull herself together. She had smeared mascara around the corners of her eyes.  Her eyebrows were furrowed, and she had wrinkles beginning to form holding her sadness in. She wore a frown, and there didn't appear to be even a trace of a smile. She hugged her arms tight, refusing to put on the only sweatshirt she had with her. This was the girl who I had become over the past three days. 

This was Annabeth that threatened to show herself every time her step-mother yelled at her. Every time her father made her feel less than enough. Every time she had to sleep somewhere other than her house because she couldn't handle her family. This was Annabeth who threatened to show herself every time that someone made a loud noise and she flinched. Apparently all it took for her to make an appearance was three days. 

I had reached my breaking point, and I went back to my locker while silently letting tears fall. I had just ruined my relationship with Percy, because I was scared. He put me first, and I still pushed him away. I sat on the bench in front of my locker and buried my face in my hands. As I was silently sobbing, I felt someone’s arms wrap around me. I looked up and saw Thalia’s startling blue eyes looking at me with gentle concern. I fell into her arms and cried into her shoulder, all my makeup effectively coming off on her shirt.

“Thals, I ruined everything .” I confessed. 

“Beth, I'm sure that isn't true.” She comforted me.

“It is!” I was assured. “I broke up with Percy, because I was scared. Noone has ever loved me like that, Thalia, I freaked out and assumed he would be better off because he wouldn't have the commitment.”

“Even I know Percy’s not like that. Why don't you just try and talk to him?”

“You should've seen the look on his face. I felt my heartbreak as I was watching myself break his.” I sighed. “He probably hates me.”

“Hey. He doesn’t hate you. But, if you don't mind me asking, why did you break up with him in the first place? You know, besides the commitment issues.” Thalia asked.

“Because I didn't want to weigh him down while he was choosing colleges. I mean, he has his whole career ahead of him and he was willing to throw it away, for me.” I told her.

“Okay, and what was the other reason?” Thalia was almost a full year older than me, but we were in the same grade. She had been through several breakups, and she knew how to tell when there was more than what someone was saying.

“I was scared of getting my heart broken, so I decided to break it on my own before he could.” She looked at me and smiled warmly. She pulled me in for one last hug, before speaking again.

“Okay. Let's get you cleaned up, and let's kick some Edgewood booty.” She lent me some makeup remover, then insisted on helping me re-do my makeup to help me feel better, which truthfully, it did. After we were ready to go, I put on my kneepads and we headed out to warm up. I was beginning to get into a rhythm when the ref blew the whistle indicating the game was starting. We huddled together, and our coach gave us a motivational speech. I took my spot in the middle front, looking back to Thalia to encourage her as she prepared to serve. The ref blew the whistle and she tossed the ball in the air in front of her, then ran and jumped, successfully smacking it over the net. The game had begun.

Usually, when I was on the court, I set my emotions aside and just focused on the game. Today, that was an impossible task. I used my emotions to push me, to drive me. With every ball I set to the girl next to me to hit, I tried to imagine winning the game. With everything that was happening, I needed a win. I played without strategy, just letting my body take over and play the game. I zoned out the crowd and everything around me when I was on the bench, just cheering on my teammates. When I was on the court, I just focused on the ball, and my team. I was smiling, and I was having fun. Deep down, I felt guilty that I was enjoying myself only hours after ending things with Percy, but I pushed those feelings aside, and brought my attention back to the game.

After what felt like forever, we were tied. In our third match. They had won the first one and we had won the second. It was 19 to 19, we had to get to 21 and you had to win by two points. All we needed to do was focus. It was our serve, and after Lacy had absolutely slammed the ball onto their side of the court, causing us to gain a point, the other team’s coach called a time out. This tactic was used all the time and was universally known to be used to throw the other team off their game at the last minute when they are ahead. We huddled together and hyped up Lacy on her amazing serve. The crowd was chanting “She's a freshman!” over and over again, as they did that whenever a freshman on varsity scored. Lacy might've been new to high school, but she certainly wasn't new to volleyball.

“Alright ladies. You are going to go out there, and kick butt. Now, they know what to expect from Lacy’s serves now, so be ready for a volley. You guys got this.” The whistle blew and we regained our positions on the court. Throughout the game we had transitioned our positions, and now I was our hitter. The whistle blew again, indicating Lacy could serve. The room went silent, you could've heard a pin drop. Everyone glanced back at Lacy as she took a deep breath in. I re-focused my attention on the other side, where the girl on the Edgewood team who was mirroring my position was glaring daggers at me.

Lacy tossed the ball in front of her, and mimicked her motions from the serve before. The ball set course to the same place as it was before, but this time they were ready for it. They passed, set, and spiked and the ball was perfectly hit back to our side of the court. We volleyed on and off for about a minute when a player from the other team hit a perfect spike, and the ball crashed towards the floor. 

“Mine!” I called as I dove towards the ground. I stretched both of my arms in front of me and made a flat surface of my hands. The ball hit my hands instead of the ground, and was back in play. I jumped up and ran back to my spot, where the setter was already setting to me, having no time to focus, I simply watched the timing, ran, jumped, and spiked the ball down on their side. Again, they expected this and tried to get the ball back over. One of my teammates blocked it, but they expected that too. Finally, after volleying for a few seconds more, my team tried to set the ball back over. 

Everything happened in slow motion for me, and I could see that they were going to attempt to block it, and I readied my stance for what I was going to do. As soon as the ball hit the other team's hands and came falling back to our side of the net, I tapped my fingers against the side of the ball, and watched it fall against the ground on their side. The whistle blew, and we had won. 

Chapter Text

Everyone surrounded me with smiles as I had made the winning point that would be sending us to state in two weeks. I, on the other hand, put on a fake smile as real tears streamed down my face. A few girls were crying too, but I assumed their tears were out of happiness, which unfortunately, was not the case for me. After the game, everyone insisted we have a team dinner. I opted out of it claiming that I had homework, and Thalia drove me home. When her car pulled up to the sidewalk in front of my house, my breathing quickened, but I forced myself to get out of the car. I thanked her for the ride and grabbed my bags. I walked up to the front of the house and opened the door. My little brothers were playing on the couch, and ran over to me as I closed the door.

“Annabeth!” Bobby cried.

“Where were you?” Mathew asked.

“We missed you!” Bobby exclaimed.

“Are you okay?” Matthew questioned. At this I dropped my bags and fell to the floor, wrapping them both in a hug while tears fell freely down my face. I was so emotionally exhausted, I didn't have the strength to hold them in like I normally could. I heard footsteps approaching, and my father walked into the room. His eyebrows were furrowed and his eyes were red, he looked like he hadn't gotten any sleep. I broke my hug from the boys and slowly stood up to meet his eyes. I was scared of what he would say, knowing I couldn't go back to Percy’s arms for comfort. Instead of kicking me out or reprimanding me for everything, he gestured for me to go upstairs. I gave him a look of gratitude, grabbed my bags, and headed up to my room. After I closed my door, I could hear my step mother raise her voice. I knew she wouldn't be happy about me being here again and ruining their perfect little family, but honestly? I had bigger issues to worry about. I dropped my bags by my closet, and flopped face down on my bed. I flipped onto my back and looked around my room, trying to drown out the sound of my stepmom yelling. I looked at my dresser, and my desk, knowing that I did more homework at the kitchen table in the Mclean/Jackson household than I ever would here. I felt my blanket, knowing that I slept over at Piper’s way more than she ever had here. Overall, when I looked around my room, and around my house in general, I knew that it was a house, not a home. I would have laid there until I fell asleep, but I had just played a really intense volleyball game, and I needed to shower. 

I stood underneath the warm water, absentmindedly washing my hair, when a sad song came on to my playlist. I started to lean out of the curtain to hit the skip button, when I lost my footing, and slammed down on the shower floor. I fell forward, and when I landed on my knee, I immediately knew something was wrong. I heard something crack, and when I tried to sit back, I found myself incapable of moving. Trying to think logically, I cried out in pain while I got the soap out of my hair with the water that was still crashing onto my face. I turned off the water, and stretched my hand to grab my phone. I winced when I had to move to grab it. My knee hurts. Like, really hurt. I turned off the sad song and called my dad. While it was ringing, I grabbed my towel that had fallen to the ground, and wrapped it around my body. 

“Annabeth? Really? Just come downstairs.” My dad spoke into the phone.

“Dad, I just fell in the shower. I think I hurt my knee.” I responded, trying my best not to scream at how bad my knee was hurting me.

“Is that what that noise was? Hold on, I’ll be right there.” He hung up the phone and I could hear him coming up the stairs. He paused outside of the bathroom door and asked: “Are you decent?”

“Yeah, I have a towel.” He came in and when he saw my knee his eyes went wide. 

“Annabeth, it's already swelling.” I blinked away the tears and glanced down to my right knee, and sure enough, it was pink and starting to swell. It looked like something was seriously wrong with it, and I silently scolded myself for not being able to catch myself. “We need to get you to the hospital.”

“Well I can't go in this .” I gestured to the towel. 

“That's true.” He nodded in agreement. Then he did exactly what I didn't want him to do. He called for my step mother to come help me. After I was successfully out of the tub, which took a lot of tears and a bit of yelling, I sat on my bed, wrapped in a towel, while my stepmom grabbed clothes for me to put on. I directed her to a pair of athletic shorts and a loose fitting t-shirt. She walked over to me and looked at me expectantly.

“Um, that's not happening. I can do this on my own, just, go wait outside or something.” Without any arguing, she left me in my room and shut the door behind her. I gritted my teeth and tried my best to not cry out in pain as I got dressed. I did as much as I could while I was sitting, but I needed to stand up to get my shorts on. I held onto the wall while standing on my left foot. I slipped my shorts over my foot and sat back on my bed. I got them on successfully, but when I tried to take a hair tie off my dresser, my left ankle gave out and I fell to the floor yet again. I screamed in pain as my dad pushed past my stepmom to get to me. I saw stars in my eyes, and I heard my dad saying my name, though it sounded fuzzy. Suddenly, everything went dark, and I was limp on the ground.

I remember waking up once as my dad was carrying me to the car, he looked down at me and his eyes were full of concern and more love for me than I had ever seen in them before. I smiled gently before my eyes closed again. The next time I opened my eyes, I was laying on a hospital bed with an IV in my arm. I tried to sit up, but was met with blinding pain and I abruptly fell back into my pillows. 

“Annabeth!” My dad rushed over to me. “Thank god you’re awake!” 

“Hi.” I groaned, looking at my knee. “What happened?”

“You passed out, so when we got here the doctors gave you an IV and ice, they wanted to do X-rays but they wanted to see if the swelling would go down, and if you would wake up.” He explained.

“How long have I been out?” I asked.

“Oh, not too long. Half an hour maybe?” He sat on the bed, careful not to disturb my leg. “They were worried when you didn't wake up after a few minutes.”

“Wow.” I sighed. “When are they doing the x-ray?”

“I'm not sure-” He was cut off by a nurse who came in. She smiled when she saw me. 

“Good to see that you’re awake, sweetie. You made us worried sick!” She came over to me and jotted some things from the IV machine down on a notepad. “Mr. Chase, can we speak with you?”

“Of course. Beth, here’s your phone. Figured you might want to text Piper.” He handed me my phone and left with the nurse. I glanced down at my screen, where it read the time as 7:39. I saw that I had four text notifications from Piper, and a missed call from Percy. I ignored the call, feeling a twinge of pain in my heart. I clicked on Piper and I’s text thread. 

we just lost the game because percy has been missing his passes

wtf happened? 

why aren't you responding?

r u okay??

I sighed, feeling tremendous guilt for being the reason the team lost tonight, while my team won. I shook my head, and called Piper.

“Hey.” She spoke quietly into the phone. 

“Hi. Where are you?” I asked.

“In Jason’s car on the way back from the game.”

“Oh. Is Percy around?” 

“No, he took his own car and said he was going down to the beach for a while.” She paused. “Do you want to tell me what happened, and maybe why you weren't responding?”

“I broke up with him.” I said, my voice almost breaking.

“You what?” She asked aggressively. “Why?” 

“I was scared, and I didn't want him to have to deal with having me as an attachment while he was picking colleges.” I confessed.

“Oh my god Annabeth. You didn't.” I could hear her disappointment through the phone. She mumbled something to Jason, before asking: “Can I put you on speaker?”

“Sure.” I approved, not excited to hear Jason criticize me for hurting Percy.

“Beth, do you love Percy?” He asked.

“I-”

“Because he loves you. That boy loves you more than anything in this world, and do you want to know how I know?”

“How?” I asked.

“Because of the way he looks at you. The way that he smiles when someone mentions your name, or the way that he gets all excited whenever you're around.”

“Jeez, Jace.” Piper interjected. “Who knew you were such a romantic?”

“So I'm asking you again, Annabeth. Do you love him?” He waved off Piper's comment.

“Of course I do.” I confirmed.

“Then why on earth has he been missing passes all night? And why is he going to the beach, when it's cold and rainy outside?” He challenged.

“Because I broke up with him.” I felt my guilt rising.

“No, Beth. You broke his heart.” He announced. 

“Oh my god. I need to talk to him.” I saw the nurse and my father approaching. “Look, Piper, can I call you back in a little?”

“Why? Where are you?”

“I'm at the ER.” I stated.

“What?! Why are you-” I cut her off.

“Okay, talk to you later, bye!” I hung up the phone and rested it on the bed, right as they came into my room. 

“Alrighty love, we’re going to do an x-ray on your knee, so we can see what happened.” The nurse told me. “Your vitals look good, so I'm going to go ahead and take out the IV, okay?”

“Okay.” I said softly, beginning to grip the sheets. I might have a high pain tolerance, but I hate needles. As the nurse was beginning to prep my left arm, my dad grabbed my right hand. I looked up at him and smiled gently, feeling like a priority in his life for the first time in months. I squeezed my eyes shut and held onto my father’s hand tightly, and before I knew it, the needle was out. I tried to focus on the fact that I was bonding with my father, rather than the fact that I was in a hospital with a knee that was killing me only hours after breaking up with the person that I love. Always find the silver lining.

A few minutes later, I was being pushed down the halls of the hospital in my bed, making our way towards the x-ray room. When we got in, the nurse had the x-ray technician come in and help me off the bed. He must’ve had a lot of experience, because he got me onto the metal table with minimal effort or pain. After I was laying on the table under the scanner, the nurse put a heavy blanket over my left leg, and across my torso, so only my right knee would be scanned. She exited the room, and an x-ray technician explained what we were doing, even though I had gotten an x-ray before. He went behind the glass panel, and I heard the machine turn on. After about 30 seconds, he came back out and helped me back onto the bed. The nurse came back in and wheeled me back to my little room. She told us to wait for a few minutes while the scans came in. There was an awkward silence, as I was unsure of what to say to my father. We hadn't had a moment alone in months. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore.

“Dad, do you love me? Like, as much as you love her?” I asked, looking down.

“What?”

“If you had to choose between me or her, who would you choose?” I still refused to make eye contact.

“Annabeth, you two are both important to me, I couldn't choose.”

“If you can’t choose me, then just choose her. I don't want you to have to pretend to enjoy having me at the house anymore. Just wait two and a half more years, and I’ll be out in college, so you can have your perfect little family.” I said, with a touch of resentment.

“Is that how you really feel?” I nodded. “Oh, Annabeth. I love you so much. You’re my daughter, my oldest, my first born-”

“And your last priority.” I mumbled.

“Beth, I'm so sorry that I ever made you feel that way, or that I put your stepmother's wishes or needs in front of yours. I really didn't know that I was doing that.”

“You can't say that. You know that it isn't true. When she kicked me out, I wasn't at the house for three days, and I didn't get a single text, or a single call from you. I told you how she was saying horrible things about me, and you ignored me and believed her instead.” I paused. “You’ve been doing it for years.”

“You’re right. I’ve dismissed you every time we’ve tried to have this conversation, and I'm sorry. It shouldn't have taken seeing you fainted on the floor to realize that I haven't been giving you enough attention.”

“I just-” I sighed. “I just need to know that I'm a priority in your life. I'm tired of being in last place after everyone else.”

“I know. You need to be my first priority.” He smiled at me. “I'm sorry, I promise that I’ll do better.” He squeezed my hand, and a few seconds later the nurse came in with a clipboard and some papers. 

“So,” She began. “We have the results back from your x-rays. You have a comminuted patellar fracture on your center and lower bones of your kneecap.” She handed us the scan of my knee. It was cracked in several places, and it looked a bit like a puzzle.

“Is it shattered?” I asked, feeling my stomach drop.

“Essentially, yes. The kneecap broke into several pieces, and many of those pieces were displaced.”

“What’s the treatment?” My father asked.

“She’s going to need surgery. We’ll have to go in and put in some screws and wires, and do some muscle reconnection.” She explained. “I’ll set up an appointment with you to meet with the surgeon tomorrow to ask any questions, but we need to get her in as soon as the swelling goes down.” 

“How long do you think that will take?” My dad questioned.

“Oh, just a few days. It's going to begin to bruise soon, so we’ll have to wait until the skin becomes less sensitive.” They continued to talk about surgery and expenses, and recovery and appointments, but I just zoned out. I only had one thought in my mind. I can't play volleyball.

Chapter Text

I was wheeled out of the hospital and I struggled to help my dad lift me into the car. I was given crutches, because I wasn't supposed to put any weight on my right leg, and I was supposed to rest as much as possible. They had wrapped my knee before we left, and I layed in the back seat so I could extend my legs. Once my dad started driving, I called Piper back, who had texted me twelve times and called me three. 

“Annabeth?” She asked in a panicky voice.

“Hi.” I responded.

“Oh my god what happened? Are you okay? I was so worried!” I chuckled softly at how worked up she was, but then we went over a bump and a sharp pain went up my leg from my knee.

“I'm okay.” I was assured.

“Okay, well then what did you do?”

“I shattered my kneecap.” 

“What!?” She screamed into the phone.

“Ow, Piper. Jeez, I don't need a shattered eardrum either.” 

“How did you break it?”

“I slipped in the shower and landed directly on my knee.” 

“You’re so stupid.” She said, though I could tell her voice was full of worry. “Do you need surgery?”

“Yeah.” I conceded.

“But what about volleyball?” She asked.

“We won the game, so they're going to state, but I obviously won't be.” I grumbled.

“Beth, I'm so sorry. Can I come over?” She implored.

“Yeah, I’ll text you when I get home.” I responded.

“Okay. Bye.”

“Bye.” 

~~~~~

After a few minutes, we pulled into the driveway. When I came out of the car and into the house on crutches, Bobby and Mathew began asking a bunch of questions. My father explained that I needed rest, and sent them to bed. I got situated on the couch with my pillow and blanket, since I couldn't go upstairs, and the guest room was currently filled with storage stuff. My dad assured me that we would get that room situated for me tomorrow, before he headed off to bed. I had him unlock the door for Piper, and I turned on a movie. I opened Disney+, and since I had already cried a bunch today and I had just gotten news that I wouldn't be able to do the thing that I loved anymore, I figured it was okay for me to feel sorry for myself, at least for today. I turned on Mulan , and started crying about five minutes in. Eventually, I couldn't even focus on the movie over my tears so I paused it, and buried my face in my hands. With every sob that exited my body, my knee hurt more and more. Then there was a knock on the door, and I tried to wipe away my tears.

“Come in!” I shouted to Piper, my voice breaking. She opened the door and her face immediately dropped when she saw my tears. 

“Oh, Annabeth.” She glanced behind her nervously.

“What?” I asked. She smiled weakly and stepped further into my house. Behind her, Percy entered. He looked awful. Even in the dim lighting I could see the puffiness under his eyes, evidence that he hadn't taken the breakup well. He looked right at me, his green eyes full of sadness, but somehow, still full of love. I broke eye contact, pushing back tears. I couldn't bring myself to look at him after how I had hurt him. Piper came over and sat down next to me. She handed me something, a small cup of ice cream and a spoon. I looked at it and immediately recognized what it was and where it was from. It was the same ice cream I had gotten on Percy and I’s first date. I looked at him, tears in the brim of my eyes. 

“I remembered it was your favorite.” He said, not meeting my eyes. Piper gestured for him to sit down in the living room with us. He sat in a chair across from where I was sitting on the couch.

“Okay. You guys need to work this out.” Piper explained. “You broke up for eight hours and Annabeth shattered her knee, and Percy lost his first football game! Seriously, what is going on?” We stayed silent for a second before she spoke again. “Alright. Well, I figured this would happen, so I have my airpods, I'm going to turn on some music and go sit in the kitchen. Let me know when you figure this out. Oh, and you can't have this until you guys come to a resolution.” She grabbed my ice cream, and left the room. I looked up at Percy, and finally spoke.

“Come here.” I nodded to the seat next to me on the couch. He came and sat next to me, though he was stiff and wouldn't make eye contact. “Percy, I'm so sorry. I don't know what I was thinking. I was so scared.”

“Scared of what, Annabeth?” He asked.

“Of what I felt. Of how you were treating me. Percy, you showed me more love in three months than I’ve felt from anyone other than Piper in fifteen years. And you were the first person to show me this kind of love. I’ll never forgive myself for hurting you, but I hope that I can make it right.” I looked at him, my eyebrows scrunched in concern.

“I just wish you would have talked to me about everything before you just broke it off.” He paused. “What made you do it anyway?” I took a deep breath, knowing that he was right, and I had to tell him.

“Rachel. She told me that you got the scholarship, and she implied that you would be living with her family, and some other things...” I trailed off, looking down.

“The red-head? That's her dad? I had no idea.” He explained, which made me feel better. “What...what other things?”

“Percy, she's had the biggest crush on you for years. You know what she was insinuating. Any opportunities that she has to try and get with you, she's going to try.” I said.

“You know that I want you though, right? I’ve never even given Rachel a second glance, but you? You're the only person I look at.” His eyes were full of love, but I could still see the pain he was hiding.

“I'm so sorry.” I cried, burying my face in my hands. “I'm just so sorry. You’re such a good person, and I can't believe I ran away because I was scared. You didn't deserve this. Any of this.”

“It hurt, Annabeth. It did. But what hurt the most wasn't that you left. It was that I thought that you didn't want to talk to me, that I had done something wrong. Communication is the single most important thing in a relationship.”

“I know, and I'm still just so, so sorry Percy.” I sobbed. He scooted closer to me and wrapped me in a hug. I continued to sob into his shoulder, knowing my eyes would be swelled to the size of baseballs tomorrow.

“Annabeth?” He asked.

“Yeah?” I sniffled.

“I love you.” He said gently.

“I love you too.” I hugged him tighter, and we stayed like that for a few moments before he pulled away.

“God, I missed you. And it had only been, what? Eight hours?” I laughed, knowing the same was true for me. “Okay, well I'm going to get you water and your ice cream, because you need to drink water with how dehydrated you're going to be after all this crying.” He left the kitchen and I grabbed the remote. When he came back in, Piper did too. 

“So...?” She asked.

“We’re back together.” Percy looked at me. “We are back together, right?”

“Yes, of course we are Seaweed Brain.” He smiled at me and handed me my ice cream. I shivered, between the ice on my knee and the cold desert in my hand, it was a bit chilly. Percy noticed this and immediately shot up to grab me a sweatshirt. Piper raised her eyebrows at me and I blushed, glaring at her as Percy returned. Since he couldn't lay next to me, and was overly concerned about hurting my leg, he laid his head in my lap. I rewinded the movie back to the beginning, and alternated playing with Percy’s hair while eating my ice cream. By the time the movie was over, Percy was fast asleep, and I wasn't far behind him. I shut off the movie, and Piper glanced over to me sleepily. 

“Can I make some coffee? I don't want to drive while I’m this tired.” Piper asked.

“Yeah, of course. You know where everything is right?” I checked.

“Yeah. And besides, this gives you two more times to snuggle.” She winked at me and I shook my head. She went into the kitchen and left me and Percy. I looked down at him and smiled, gently stroking the side of his face. He stirred after a minute of this, and his tired green eyes looked up at me. 

“Hi Wisegirl.” He mumbled while sitting up. 

“Hi sleeping beauty.” I responded. He sat up and pulled me close so that I was leaning on him. He smelled like the ocean and fresh laundry. I figured that meant he had showered before he got here, which I was thankful for. I leaned my head into his chest as he played with my hair, his hand slowly trailing up and down my back. I felt very relaxed, and I almost forgot about the fact that my knee was shattered. I sighed and slumped into Percy’s arms.

“What's wrong?” He asked.

“What if I can’t ever play volleyball again?” I questioned.

“You will. It’ll just take time.” He comforted me. 

“I hope you’re right.” After this, Piper came in. She grabbed her keys and her phone. Percy gathered up his things and after fussing over me for about ten minutes, I finally convinced him that I was okay. He fluffed my pillow and straightened my blanket one last time.

“We’ll try to stop by at lunch tomorrow.” Piper explained.

“Sounds good. Thank you guys for coming.” I replied.

“Of course.” Piper gave me a hug and went to start the car.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Percy asked. “I can get you more water, or some new ice, or-”

“Percy. I’m okay.” I smiled at him. 

“Alright.” He gave me a hug and a kiss before walking to the door. “I love you Annabeth.” 

“I love you too, Percy.” He locked the door and closed it behind him. I pulled out my phone and started to play soft music. I snuggled up as best that I could on the couch and slowly fell asleep.

Chapter Text

The next two days went by fairly easy. Percy, Piper, and Jason stopped by at lunch, and Percy came over after school. Piper and I facetimed a bunch, though I didn't know why she missed me so much because she saw me every day. My brothers thought that my being home was the best thing ever, and while it was good to spend time with them, my step mother thought of it as free baby-sitting. My father had met with the surgeon and discussed treatment and post-op. They said this was going to be a walk in the park, but I didn't think so.

Now, here I was. Sitting on my couch at 4:45 am waiting for my dad to come downstairs. Percy had insisted on sleeping over last night so he could drive with us to the hospital, even though it was a school night. Sally had given him the clear to miss school today. I didn't know why he wanted to, I was grumpy because I was tired and hadn’t eaten. I was in my pjs and my hair was a mess. But nonetheless, he sat right next to me, holding me in his arms while we dreaded what was coming. I could tell he was really worried. He was more protective than normal, not wanting anyone else to get anything for me, not wanting anyone but him to touch me. Percy rubbed my back and I thought that I was going to fall back asleep. Finally, my dad came down the stairs and Percy stood up. He held my hand and slowly helped me stand, allowing me to balance on him since I could only stand on one foot. My dad handed me my crutches and we walked out to the car. Percy lifted me into the back seat and gave me a quick kiss before he walked around to sit in the front with my father. 

We drove in silence, only the faint sound of music playing. Percy reached his hand around the seat and held my hand. He ran his thumb around my hand, silently portraying words of comfort. When we pulled into the parking lot of the hospital, he squeezed my hand, and I placed a second hand on top of his. I slowly let go of it as we pulled into a parking spot. Percy helped me out of the car, and I could see small tears welling in his eyes.

“Hey.” I brought his eyes to me. “I'm going to be okay.”

“God, I'm so sorry Annabeth. I'm supposed to be strong for you, not the other way around.” He smiled weakly and wiped away a tear that had escaped. I brought both my hands to his face, leaning against the car for support. 

“No, don't apologize. I’m scared too, but they know what they're doing. Everything is going to be alright.” I assured him. He leaned down and kissed me, and we made our way into the lobby.

After about an hour, I was finally prepped and ready to go. They had given me my IV with anesthesia a few minutes before, and it was beginning to kick in. I felt weird. I was still aware of everything that was happening, but I felt weak. I couldn't really move more than turning my head and lazily moving my arms. Percy sat next to me after he and my father had insisted he should be allowed to come into the room. He held my hand with both of his and lightly brushed it with his lips every once in a while. He had tears beginning to collect, and he looked distraught. 

“Percy,” I trailed off, finding it hard to even speak with how sleepy I felt. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m just worried about you. I don't want anything to happen to you.” I tried for a warm smile.

“I’m going to be okay.” I replied.

“I know, Beth.” A single tear dropped from his eye. “It’s just hard to see you like this.”

“Don't cry! If you cry, then I’ll cry.” He laughed and wiped his eyes. 

“Well, we wouldn't want that, now would we?” Though he was smiling, I could still see the concern in his eyes. It was enough to provoke a few tears from me. They rolled down my cheek as the nurse came in, my dad following. She said a few things to Percy and my father, before touching a few things on the machine next to me, though everything she said sounded fuzzy to me. She nodded to me, and began to roll my bed out of the room. Percy caught my eye and whispered.

“See you in a few hours, Wisegirl.” He smiled gently.

“Bye, Seaweed Brain.” I spoke lazily, and a smile grew on my face as I felt myself lulling to sleep. A couple minutes later, we were in a bright white room with blinding lights. I squinted as a few nurses surrounded me. They all smiled warmly, and one of them gave me a mask. They told me it was just a little something to put me to sleep faster. They told me to count to thirty, and I did as they said. After fifteen, I was fully under.

~~~~~

When I woke up, my eyes were blurred. I looked around, and could barely see my father sitting to my left. He saw that my eyes were open and came over to me.

“Annabeth! How do you feel?” He asked.

“I can't see! My eyes are open, but I can't see!” I told him.

“Beth, do you feel okay?” He implored again.

“Everything is blurry, I can't see!” I was really concerned about the fact that I might be going blind but he didn't seem to mind.

“I’m going to let Percy know you’re awake. He's been more worried than I have for the past two hours.” He explained. He left the room, and when he came back, he had Percy with him. My father left again, going to speak with one of the nurses, leaving me alone with my dazzling boyfriend. He flashed his gorgeous smile at me, and my heart melted.

“Hi...” I trailed off, dazed at how handsome he looked.

“Hey, Wisegirl.” He rested his hand on mine. “How are you feeling?”

“Better now that you’re here.” I said flirtatiously. His cheeks flushed, and he laughed.

“Mm, in a lovey-dovey mood now, are we?” He shook his head while smiling.

“You’re just very cute is all.” I spoke matter of factly. “Especially your hair. It looks fluffy.” 

“Oh lord, Annabeth. You’re going to make me blush in front of all these nurses.” He conceded.

“You’re already blushing. It’s cute.” He looked at me, and his sea-green eyes were full of love. 

“I have a present for you later.” He squeezed my hand.

“A present? For me?” I asked excitedly. 

“I was going to wait until your birthday to give it to you, but I think given the circumstances, you can have it today.” Percy explained.

“Right now?” I sounded like a little kid.

“No, not right now. Once you’re off the anesthesia you can have it. You kinda need to be able to understand it.” He said.

“That’s probably smart. I can't even see right now.” I felt a sudden wave of sadness wash over me, just noticing that Percy didn't usually look this blurry.

“You can't see?” He questioned, concernedly. 

“No.” I said, my voice breaking. Deep down a voice was telling me I had no reason to cry, but my body seemed to think otherwise.

“Let me go grab a nurse.” He stepped out of the room momentarily, and I started crying. 

“Percy?” I asked, my voice breaking.

“Hi honey.” A nurse came in. “Your boyfriend said you couldn't see?”

“No, but where is he?” I just wanted him back here, holding my hand.

“Alright. You can’t see because they gave you a benadryl patch to undermine the nausea. I can take it off if you’d like, or we can just wait and see if it goes away.” She was being super nice, but she wasn't answering my question.

“That's fine, ma’am, you can just leave it, but I just want Percy.” I was crying decently hard at this point.

“Is that your boyfriend?” She asked.

“Yes, where is he?” I choked out between sobs.

“I can go get him...?” She trailed off, and I nodded while crying. She came back a little and when Percy saw me, he immediately ran over. 

“Darling, what’s wrong?” He squeezed my hand.

“I...don't...know.” I sobbed. “I just want you.” He smiled warmly at me and looked back at the nurse. She nodded at him, and he slid into the hospital bed next to me. He was careful not to touch my right leg and arm, and he wrapped his arms around me. 

“I’m here. You’re okay.” He whispered into my ear. I cried into his chest, and he ran his fingers through my hair, which was in a tangled ponytail.

“I'm sorry,” I croaked, my voice breaking. “I don't know why I'm crying.”

“You have nothing to apologize for. Just let it out.” I hugged him tighter, and he kissed the top of my head. We stayed there for what must have been hours. He whispered comforting words into my ears while my crying came to a stop and I eventually fell asleep. I snuggled into him, and when I next woke up, I felt a million times better. I could see clearly, though everything was in doubles. I felt much more in control of my emotions, and I smiled when I realized that I still had my head on Percy's chest.

“Hi.” I said gently. He was scrolling through his phone with one hand, and with the other he was gently rubbing my back. He quickly set his phone down and turned his attention to me.

“Hey, are you feeling better?” He asked.

“Yeah, much.” I leaned up to him and he gave me a sweet kiss on the lips.

“Good, because my sister wants to see you, and your dad told me the nurse said we could leave if you were healthy.”

“How long have I been out?” I asked.

“Long enough for me to get an adorable picture of you.” He pulled out his phone and clicked on a picture of me snuggled with him, my eyebrows furrowed. My blonde curls fell into my face and my hand was resting on my chest. Percy’s fingers were intertwined with mine, and you could barely see his face, though you could see his very defined jawline, and a smile curling at his lips. 

“Can I post it in my story?” He asked.

“Sure.” I smiled at him.

“Okay.” He posted it, and not ten seconds later, he got a notification from Piper.

 tell her to get her ass home so her best friend can see her! 

“You heard her.” Percy joked. “Can I go get the nurse?”

“Yeah, I promise I won't freak out again.” I laughed.

“Alright, be back in a second.” He came back after a minute, and my father came in too. The nurse ran some vitals and checked some things on the monitor before clearing me.

“You guys are good to go home.”

Chapter Text

After signing some paperwork and changing out of the hospital gown, the doctors helped me into a wheelchair, and Percy and my father pushed me out of the hospital. We made our way to the car, and Percy lifted me in again. I wasn’t nearly as loopy as before, mostly just tired. My knee was starting to hurt a bit, and I felt weak overall. Percy had given me his sweatshirt to use as a pillow, and I leaned against the door of the car while closing my eyes. I could hear my father and Percy talking, though I wasn't sure what about. I was glad they were getting along. It was about 12:00 in the afternoon, which meant after I had come out of surgery I had slept for four hours. I was still tired, and the drive back to the house was about 25 minutes, so I closed my eyes and tried to get some more sleep. 

When we got home, Percy insisted on carrying me all the way into the house, so that we wouldn't have to deal with the wheelchair. He laid me down gently on the guest room bed, though the room was now full of my bedroom stuff. Piper had come over one day and enlisted the help of Percy and Jason to essentially turn the guest room into mine. I appreciated it, and it was a lot better than being stuck in a boring gray room. Percy laid a soft blanket over me, and handed me the remote to the tv. He left the room to go grab my water and medicine, insisting that he would be my personal nurse while he was here. I turned on Pirates of the Caribbean , a movie I had seen a million times before, so there was no pressure to stay awake. Percy came back in with a small glass of water, and a few tablets of ibuprofen, and I paused the movie. 

“The doctor said unless your pain gets really bad, you won't need an over the counter medication. You can have one of these every four hours, and you can alternate it with tylenol.” He explained. 

“Thanks, but I’m not in any pain right now.” I replied.

“You need to take it anyway, to stay ahead of the pain.” He lightly pulled me to a sitting position, his arms supporting my back. I put the ibuprofen in my mouth and drank some water. I was really thirsty, considering it was the first thing that I’d had in about eight hours. Percy pulled the glass away from me, and I gave him a look. “Beth, if you drink too much you’ll get nauseous. You can have more in a little.”

“Since when do you know so much about surgery recovery?” I slowly layed back down against my pillows.

“Well, when you fell asleep, I didn't want to wake you up so I did a little bit of research.” He blushed and looked down.

“You didn't.” I smiled.

“I did. I just wanted you to be in the best care possible.” He met my eyes and matched my smile.

“You are the best boyfriend ever.” I spread my arms and gestured for him to come sit next to me. He sat up against the headboard and I laid my head on the pillow next to his chest. His arms wrapped around me, and he hit the play button on the remote. I closed my eyes. “Wake me up if Piper gets here, okay?”

“No promises, Wisegirl. You need your rest.” I shook my head and snuggled into his arms. Percy turned off the lamp in my room, and I slowly drifted to sleep. 

~~~~~~

When I next woke up, Percy was asleep next to me. As soon as I stirred, though, he was wide awake.

“Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you.” I whispered. “Do you know what time it is?” Percy checked his phone.

“It’s 5:30.” He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. My double vision was getting really annoying, so I pulled off the benadryl patch from behind my ear. I didn't feel any sudden waves of nausea, so I assumed I was okay.

“Am I allowed to eat anything?” I asked weakly. 

“No,” He kissed my head. “I'm sorry. But your dad went to the store and got apple juice, so you can have that.”

“Okay. Is Piper coming?” I questioned.

“I can text her right now.” He pulled out his phone and messaged his sister, who replied right away saying she was coming. Percy helped me get into my wheelchair, and he rolled me to the kitchen. He poured me a glass of apple juice while my father fussed over my brace that my knee was wrapped in.

“Does it hurt? Is it uncomfortable? When was the last time you had ibuprofen?” He asked at a million miles an hour.

“Dad, I'm okay. It doesn't hurt, and I’m going to take some ibuprofen right now.” I was assured. I did as I said I would, and he finally went back to his office. My step mother had taken the boys on a trip to her moms house in San Francisco per request of my father, so that I could have a stress free environment. I couldn't care less if Bobby and Mathew were here, but any house without my step mom is a stress free house. 

After about fifteen minutes, Piper came bursting into the house, Jason following. 

“Where is she?” Piper yelled. “Where is my beautiful best friend?”

“Pipes, I'm in here.” I chuckled. She ran in, and looked like she was going to tackle me in a hug. I braced myself for impact, but she stopped herself and gave me a very gentle hug instead. 

“Oh my god, how was it? Are you okay? What do you need? My god your hair's a mess. Do you want me to braid it?” I could tell she was worried, and I smiled at her. 

“I'm okay, Piper. But, I would love it if you could braid my hair.” She looked down at me, and smiled. She ran up to my room to grab hair ties and a brush.

“How was it?” Jason asked.

“It was fine. It really doesn't hurt, the only part that's annoying is I'm hungry.” I responded.

“Ah, I get that. How was she after the anesthesia?” He turned his attention to Percy.

“Super flirty and adorable at first, then she was an emotional wreck, then she just crashed.” Percy explained. Jason looked at me and laughed.

“Remind me never to take you to a party where there's alcohol.” Percy punched his arm. 

“Shut up, Jace. You don't even drink anyways.” I countered. 

“Fine, fine, that's true.” Piper came down the stairs, holding all the supplies for my braids. 

“What, are we just going to sit in the kitchen all night?” We all laughed and Jason pushed my chair to the living room while Percy poured me another glass of water. Percy came in and helped me onto the couch. Piper stood behind me and began running the brush through my blonde curls as Percy propped my knee up on the ottoman. He excused himself and the three of us continued talking. When he came back in, he was carrying a little purple gift bag with white tissue paper. He sat next to me and set it on my lap. I looked at him confusedly.

“I told you I had a present for you.” He smiled at me warmly. I opened the package and inside were a pair of ears that he had bought at Disneyland. They looked identical to the ones from my dream a few months back, with navy blue ears and a white striped bow with a little anchor. I smiled at him and gave him a hug.

“Once I’m allowed to, we’re going to Disney as much as possible so I can show these off.” I said excitedly.

“Sounds like a plan. But there's more in the bag.” I continued digging through the tissue paper, and found a little piece of paper, with a sticky note attached to it. The note read: Annabeth, you’re the best opportunity. I blushed and set it aside, slowly unfolding the paper. When I read the first words, my heart skipped a beat.

Congratulations! You have been accepted into University Of California, Irvine for the upcoming academic year. I looked at Percy shocked, and he smiled at me.

“I applied for a scholarship, and I got it.” He grabbed my hand, which was now shaking from the news. “Annabeth, I couldn't stop thinking about what you said about Dare and Ohio being my best bets, and I realized you were wrong. You’re my best bet. I can't lose you.” At this Piper stopped messing with my hair so I could lean over to Percy. I gave him a deep kiss, almost crying at how happy I was.

“You chose me.” I whispered.

“I wish that wasn't such a surprise.” He gave me one last kiss and Piper sat down next to me. 

“Beth, the three of us have watched so many people walk in and out of your life.” She began.

“And we just want you to know that we’re here.” Jason continued.

“We’re here to stay.” Percy finished.

“I love you guys.” You could hear the joy in my voice. We all laughed and had a group hug. Piper continued braiding my hair and Percy was laying in my lap while talking to Jason about football. It felt normal. I didn't care that my knee had just been shattered or that I had just gotten out of surgery. I had my friends. They were here for me, whatever I needed. Percy looked up at me and propped himself up on his elbows. He leaned up to meet my lips in another kiss. 

“Done!” Piper interrupted. She moved the braids and fluffed them a bit, before stepping away and handing me her phone as a mirror. 

“Amazing as always.” I gave her a hug. Percy looked at me, and his sea green eyes gazed at me in a way that made my heart flutter. “What?”

“You just look so... stunning.” I blushed and looked away. I swear this boy filled my lungs with happiness instead of air.

“Percy, I'm just in my pjs.” I replied.

“I know.” He brought his lips to mine again, and everything felt perfect. I wasn't sure what would happen with Percy and I, but I knew that we were meant to be together. He was my person. Everytime I looked at him I could tell. It was him. It would always be him. And honestly? It’s always been him.