All Her Life

Chapter Three - FLIP

When they got to their gym class together, Percy stuck to Annabeth's side after she left the locker rooms. He kept poking fun at the others in the class. When Hedge announced that they were playing baseball, Annabeth immediately was put as the pitcher. She asked for Percy to be the first batter, a smirk on her face. She was a good throw, a good batter, and a good catcher, all in one. Baseball was totally her game.

The teams split up, and Annabeth's wish for Percy to be batter was crushed when he was put on her team. He became the catcher, though. The first batter was even better than Percy, in the embarrassment department. Drew's friend Maisie- Who openly despised Annabeth's very existence. She smiled flirtatiously over her shoulder at Percy, who smirked at the look on Annabeth's face. She threw the baseball, giving Maisie a five second chance to respond, before the ball nailed her bat, forcing it out of her hands, before falling into Percy's glove. He stood and threw it back to Annabeth. The glint in his eyes was approving and caring.

Annabeth caught the baseball, grinning at the glare Maisie gave her, shaking her hands out. She held the bat up and away from her, the wooden stick shaking in her hands. Annabeth rolled her eyes and threw the ball. Maisie swung and missed. People on her own team were booing at her. Annabeth threw the ball again, and she swung, barely clipping the ball. It flew over Annabeth's head, but Jason Grace, one of the football stars, caught it with ease.

"Strike three, you're out, Jones!" Coach Hedge called.

Annabeth smiled Percy's way, and he winked at her, putting a blush on her cheeks. Someone else stepped up to bat, and the game continued. Pretty soon, it was time to switch sides, and the other team had 5 home-runs. Annabeth tried to aim low on the tall people and low on the short ones, but it was difficult. Very much so, especially when people were calling her a cheater. She put the ball and mitt on the pitcher's plate before slowly walking to where Percy was waiting for her, holding the baseball bat out. She stepped behind him, feeling frustrated and scared. He frowned and let someone else take batter.

"You okay?" He whispered as the first person swung the bat, trying to hold her hand. Annabeth fiddled with her shirt, biting her lip nervously. "Annabeth?"

She met his eyes, and he turned his body to face her. "Sorry, what?"

"Are you okay? You don't look so good?"

"Yeah, I'm good, just... People are still calling me a cheater just because I'm good at something for once." Percy frowned, opening his mouth to speak before the person in front of him ran for first. "You should get the bat, Seaweed Brain."

He tried for a smile at her. "Right again, Wise Girl."

He moved away and grabbed the baseball bat, stepping up to home plate. Annabeth watched him curiously, secretly admiring the way his muscles rippled under his tight shirt when he held the bat, as if he'd been playing baseball all his life. The first time they threw the baseball, it was a home-run. He took off running, and the team cheered, as the other side struggled to get the ball before Percy and Jason made it back to home. They made it though, and Percy grinned at Annabeth madly. She smiled back, a little shyly, and high fived him.

She stepped up to bat, eyes constantly on the pitcher. Octavian wasn't very strong, but he was mean. He had one hell of a throwing arm, and it was pretty dam terrifying when he hit someone in the head. Sometimes, they barely managed to stay awake when it hit them. Other times, they didn't stay awake at all.

He drew his arm back and threw the ball. It was too far away, so she didn't swing, even though people behind her (except for Percy) was yelling at her to swing. The first three balls were thrown poorly, and Annabeth wasn't even going to bother swinging. The fourth one went straight for her. Annabeth swung the bat, and a loud crack echoed through the court. Annabeth dropped the bat and ran, watching her feet, and watching the ball as she raced. She got to second before continuing got dangerous. The catcher at third base gave her a mean glare, the ball in hsi hand. The catcher at second, Maisie, stood close to her, whispering to her.

"Don't even think you can win this, idiot. No matter how hard you try, you're never getting to home base. You're gonna lose-" The next batter hit the ball, and Annabeth ran for third, stopping when she got there. The guy glared at her, and Annabeth felt scared, his breath fanning against her neck. Her eyes brimmed with tears and she clenched her first tightly, gritting her teeth and waiting. All eyes were on her. Bases were almost loaded. With the next hit, she didn't have to run, and she didn't. Everyone wanted her out... She knew for a fact that they would try and hit her with the baseball. They'd done it before.

The next batter glared at Annabeth as she got ready to swing. Annabeth couldn't run without risk of getting out, but she had to run next. She did. People yelled to get her out, everyone except for two voices. Percy and the coach were the only ones cheering her on, while everyone else told Percy to shut up. Annabeth dived for the base, springing into a roll. The ball narrowly missed the back of her head, and her feet and hands slapped the base. Annabeth pushed herself off the ground with her hands, flipped, landed on her feet, like she'd just pulled off a badass cartwheel, brushed off her hands and went to stand beside Percy at the end of the batter line. He stared at her with a wide mouth and she smiled.

"What? I took gymnastics for a year."

***

"That was cool." Percy smiled, playing with Annabeth's hair in their final class of the day. She laughed and shook her head, pushing his hand away from her. He just leaned forward and whispered in her ear, pushing her hair aside from her neck. Annabeth blushed when the history teacher, Mr Pluto, raised an eyebrow at Percy's proximity behind her.

Most people, especially a guy, if they had played with her hair, or whispered in her ear, or gotten that close to her neck... They would have made her insanely uncomfortable. Percy didn't. Percy didn't make her uncomfortable. Percy made her want to lean her head back and let him keep screwing with her and teasing her. For some reason the feeling of his breath on her neck gave her shivers- The good kind of shivers. The kind of shiver you got when you first tasted chocolate, or found your new favorite food. Or when you had your first kiss... Those kind of shivers. The kind that made you want more, and more, and more.

"Percy, stop..." Annabeth whispered, suddenly feeling the eyes of Drew Tanaka on her. "They're watching..."

"Let them watch. We're not doing anything wrong." He shrugged, hugging her with his arms around her shoulders.

"We don't think so, at least. They do..."

"I don't care. They aren't gonna do nothin'."

Annabeth smiled, tried too at least, and removed his arms from her shoulders as the video continued to play at the front of the room. It was something about the French Revolution, but Annabeth couldn't pay much attention with Percy so close to her. He was really doing a number on her senses from being this close. "I have to pay attention, Seaweed Brain."

He said he wanted to be her friend, but he was making it hard to not feel more. He said nothing about wanting more than just being her friend, so she doubted he knew that the way he was acting was making her heart race. She'd only ever liked one person, and wanted more with him... And he broke her trust with her pinned to a brick wall.

She wanted to trust Percy. She really did... But she was terrified to do so... She didn't want what happened once to happen again... Ever.