Percabeth Versus Everyone Else!

Lillia Gorden

Right, today was the today. Today was the day when I would finally ask out my crush, Percy Jackson.

Maybe I should explain this. My name is Lillia Gorden and I am 21 years old. I swim for the USA in the Olympics! Yup. I'm pretty good, I've won a couple bronze medals, and a few silver, but I've never come first. There's only one person on our team who has more than three gold medals - Percy Jackson. He's brilliant! He's about a year older than me, with messy black hair and sea-green eyes. He always does really well in every race he swims in, and no-one on our team has ever beaten him - and I kind of have a crush on him. No biggie.

Today is his pool party. It's the end of Olympic season and we did pretty well - not our best, but pretty well. Percy has a huge house with an Olympic-sized outdoor swimming pool for training, but it's also got some random water features and such. He showed me a picture of it when he invited me round. He's invited the whole team, actually. And he says that he's invited his other friends as well, as it's sort of his birthday celebration. But that's fine with me, because he hasn't mentioned a girlfriend or anything like that. So there I stood, in my bedroom, trying to find my cutest, non-competition swimming costume. I finally settled on a frilly, hot pink bikini, and then I threw on a loose tank top and a pair of denim shorts. Then I grabbed a towel, some sunglasses, and my car keys, and off I went.

Percy's house was bigger than I'd imagined it. It was also kind of beautiful, I mean, the structure was amazing and it was all a mixture of a soft grey, sea green, and white. I'm a bit of an architecture nerd, so I should stop myself before I go off on a tangent. I walked up to the doorway and rang the doorbell. It played what sounded like "Under The Sea" from The Little Mermaid, but then the door opened and I stopped thinking about it. There he was, Percy Jackson, my crush and one of my best friends. He smiled at me.

"Hey Lillia, how are you?" he asked. I smiled back.

"I'm doing good. I'll be better once I get in the water." I answered.

"You have no idea how true that is for me. Come on, pool's out back." As I walked through the house, I couldn't help noticing that it was just as beautiful inside as it was outside. Each door was painted a different one of the three colours, and then we arrived at the kitchen. It was ginormous! It was still those same three colours, with a large island in the middle, decked out with snacks. Everything was stylish and perfectly organised. Then these large french windows at the back opened onto the garden, where the pool was. I've already described it as much as I can, though.

The rest of the swim team was already here. I jogged over to them and jumped up on the ledge, next to Amy.

"How's life?" I asked her.

"Weirdly empty." she answered. "It feels strange not to be training. I almost miss the endless drills."

"Well, that's gotta be an unusual feeling. Who could miss those? Except Coach - only she could." Amy laughed.

"You know what? I could use a drink." she said.

"On it. I know what you need." I jumped down from the ledge and walked over to the kitchen. Percy was in there too. I grabbed two red cups, and started pouring the punch. Then I heard a sound like a door opening. I looked out into the  corridor, and saw a young woman, around my age, closing the door, and putting a pair of keys in her bag. She was wearing a lacy white top, blue denim shorts, and was holding three bags of groceries.

"Percy! Sorry I'm late, traffic was Hades." she called. Then she kicked off her sandals, and looked up. "Hi." she said, as she saw me. "Who are you?"

"Lillia." I answered. "Who are you?"

"Annabeth. I'm so sorry, but could you help me with the food?" I nodded and put down the drinks, then ran over and picked up one of the bags. I took it to the kitchen and put it down on the counter, all the while wondering who she was. Maybe Percy's sister? She had a key to the house, and was buying supplies for the party. I didn't know much about Percy's home-life, except that he had a biological mother, and a step-father, who came to every race - and a younger sister, Estelle, who was about three years old. "Thanks." Annabeth said, as I walked away with the drinks.

"No problem!" I called over my shoulder. Then I reached the ledge and jumped up, somehow avoiding spilling the drinks. I watched Annabeth as she came out, now in a simple grey one-piece, but with her golden, curly hair falling over one shoulder.

"Seaweed Brain!" she called, waving to Percy. Uh oh, I thought. She walked over to him and kissed him on the cheek, and I was relieved for a second, but then he turned and kissed her. Properly. And my heart dropped. But, at that moment, I decided that I would do anything to show Percy that I was better than her.

My first plan was to show off my swimming skills. So, I walked over to the diving boards, climbed up to the highest one, and stood backwards on it. Then I jumped off, kicking my legs above my head and going down into a diving position. When I came up, there were claps and cheers. I looked over to Percy, and he smiled at me, but then went back to talking to Annabeth, resting his chin on her shoulder as she laughed at something he said. Amy followed my gaze and raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. My next plan was to show off my singing skills. I started walking up to the karaoke platform, but someone else got there first. He was short, and had elf-like features, with curly brown hair and a mischievous smile.
"Listen up people! I am Leo Valdez, the Supreme Commander of the Ar - wait, no, I can't say that can I?" He looked at Percy, who shook his head, and then started to stand up. "Anyway, I want y'all to look over here for the next - " he checked his watch. " - five minutes! And now, your host, Percy Jackson!" As Percy walked on, he laughed and bro-hugged Leo. Then he walked up to the microphone.

"Remind me again why we let Leo do the intros?" he asked. A group of people I didn't know, including Annabeth, laughed as well. "But, as you all know, this is my birthday party!" There were lots of cheers, and Annabeth smiled. I couldn't take my eyes off her. "But it's also the anniversary of something very, very, very special to me. So, Annabeth, you can't say no to me, because I am your Seaweed Brain, can you come up here?" There were loads of cheers, from the group of people who had laughed at that Leo person and from the swim team. Annabeth climbed onto the platform and looked at Percy. He took her hands. "Wise Girl," he said, "we've been through so much together. We've been through wars, we've been to hell and back," This line confused me. As far as I knew, Percy had never been a soldier. "And I don't know about you, but I know I only got through it because you were at my side. And I pity Grover for being stuck in the middle whilst we both ignored our feelings for each other, even though it was obvious to everyone else. So, Annabeth Chase," I winced, even I could tell where this was going. So, apparently, could Annabeth, as she drew in a large breath. Percy got down onto one knee, still clasping her hands. "I know we're young, and I know people will say that we have our whole lives ahead of us, but I don't care. I want to spend my whole life, however long it is, with you. And, knowing us, it might not be that long, but I swear it would be so much better with you as my wife. So," Annabeth pulled her hands away, covering her mouth as tears gently fell down her face. Percy put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a small, grey velvet ring box, and opened it. I was close enough to see the ring - it was silver, with an aquamarine stone set into it, the words 'as long as we're together' etched into the side. "Annabeth, my Wise Girl, will you marry me?" Annabeth brought her hand from her mouth, and held it out to Percy.

"I will." she said softly. The place erupted into cheers, that I was sure could be heard from miles away. Percy slipped the ring onto her finger and stood up, then kissed her. I looked away, I couldn't take it anymore. But as I turned, a saw a girl behind me. Amy.
"They've been dating since they were sixteen. I'm sorry if you liked him, but he loves her too much to ever be parted."

"It's okay," I said, slowly realising that it was. My crush was more of an infatuation, more like me being in love with the idea of being in love with Percy Jackson. "They're meant to be."Amy smiled.

"Look, I wanted to talk to you. I've been meaning to tell the whole team. I'm gay." I smiled at her.

"I support you." I answered, and we walked away together, off to mess around in the pool.

Two months later, I came out as bisexual to my family, friends, and the swim team.

One month after that, Amy and I started dating.

And now, three years after that, I am walking down the aisle, my eyes stuck on Amy, my fiancée, and almost my wife. I glanced behind me, and Annabeth, my maid of honour, smiled at me, reassuringly. I looked to my left and saw Percy, and his daughter Zoë, smiling too. So I walked down the aisle, took Amy's hands, and said my vows. And when the officiant asked if I would take her to be my wife, I smiled and said,

"I do."