A/N Just FYI this fanfic was written BEFORE MoA, so it was written BEFORE readers found out about Nico's sexuality. I promise, this all used to be canon, and I didn't intentionally change his sexuality. I totally ship Solangelo. Enjoy the story folks.
Last year I was the loser freshman who blew up a cheerleader. No girl but Rachel would dare talk to me because their status on the social ladder would drop down a ledge or two.
It is truly amazing what a battle-filled summer can do to a guy.
Two Months later~ October
"So Percy, there's that Sadie Hawkins dance coming up..." The girl drawled. On the inside, I groaned.
"Uh... yeah, I heard..." I said absently as I gathered books from my locker.
"Are you gonna go... do you think?" She asked and twirled a piece of hair between her fingers.
"I've uh... I've got a thing." I mumbled.
"Oh, well, maybe next time." She said, and took the walk of rejection back to her friends. I banged my head against the locker door. I mean really, do they ever let up? I'd almost rather blend in again.
"Another hopeful member of the Jackson Fan Club?" Hayden smirked as he walked up next to me. I nodded.
"That's the third one today." I said and slammed my locker, "This Sadie Hawkins thing is really gonna kill me." Right after the monsters do. Hayden rolled his eyes.
"Remind me why you say no to the hottest girls in this school again?" He asked as we walked through the halls.
"Because of my girlfriend," I repeated, "Annabeth, remember?"
"Ah yes, the girl you photo shop into all those pics of you and Grover." We had this conversation a lot.
"I'm telling you, she's real."
"Well then why don't you call her?" Because using a phone will attract even more monsters.
"Because I'm out of minutes for the month."
"Just like you were last month... and the month before that..." He grinned at me, "Dude, you know we don't care if you actually like guys and this is just a cover story, right?" I laughed.
"You wish, Landin." I said as we entered the pool for swim practice. Hayden punched my shoulder.
"Just get in the pool, Captain."
Grover POV
"Come on, you can't really believe his whole girlfriend story." Trinity said at lunch before Percy got there, "I mean he makes her sound so... perfect." Ha! Annabeth, perfect, maybe in her own mind. And Percy's too... but that's not the point!
"Oh I believe him, I've met her." Trinity raised an eyebrow at me.
"Sorry Grover, I just can't." She apologized. I shrugged just as Percy and Hayden walked up. The change in Trinity was so obvious even I noticed it (and that's saying something!). She sat up straighter, started messing with her long, dark hair.
"Hey guys," Percy greeted us as he took a seat next to me.
"Hey," Trinity said, but she wasn't looking at him.
"Sup, Trin." Hayden greeted her. She blushed.
Ah, young love.
Speaking of which, here comes my girlfriend, Juniper. Wow, she was beautiful. To think I'd crushed on that one blueberry bush once...
"Hi Grover!" She squeaked and kissed my cheek, making my face heat up. Percy had a sort of wistful look in his eyes when he saw us, "Heard from Annabeth recently, Perce?" Juniper asked. He nodded and started going on and on about her once again.
"You'd think she's half goddess the way you talk about her!" Hayden commented. Juniper, Percy, and I shared a glance, than burst out laughing. If only they knew...
One month later~ November
Annabeth's POV
When Chiron IM'd me with the news I almost jumped through the roof.
After the Titan War, most of the monsters dispersed but some were straggling in the city. Chiron decided it might be safer for us demigods if we were all together this year. Plus, I needed to be closer to Olympus to oversee production.
Goode High School was perfect for this. It was close to Olympus and it had a mortal teacher who could easily bail us out. And then there was Percy...
Today was going to be my first day there. The other demigods joining us this year were the Stoll brothers, Katie Gardner, Clarisse La Rue with her boyfriend Chris Rodriguez, Beckendorf and his girlfriend Silena Beauregard, our oracle Rachel, Head Hunter Thalia, and son of Hades Nico. They were arriving tomorrow though. I just couldn't wait another day to see Percy again!
We were all staying in this huge apartment that camp was paying for not far from Percy's place. I locked the door and quick caught a bus to school.
Behind the front desk was a frizzy redheaded woman chewing on the end of her pencil.
"Name," She asked nasally.
"Annabeth Chase, I'm one of the transfer students?" She picked up a piece of paper and handed it to me.
"Schedule and stuff's in there. Have a Goode day." She drawled and turned to her computer.
Well ok then... I thought and turned around only to run into a girl.
"Oh my gods, I'm sorry!" I said and stooped down to pick up some paper's she'd dropped.
"Oh that's alright, I wasn't looking." The girl said. She had really dark hair and light brown eyes, "You must be new here. I'm Trinity."
"Annabeth," I said.
"Nice to meet you." She straightened up, "If you want I can show you to your locker."
"That'd be great, thank you." I said and she led me down a hall.
"So where'd you move from?" She asked.
"California," She looked me up and down.
"Makes sense," She said with a smile, "Oh here's your locker!" She said, "You're across from a friend of mine. His name's Hayden." She said it with a look in her eyes that I'd seen enough in Aphrodite's children.
"Hayden, huh?" I said with a teasing smile. Her ears turned a little pink.
"Is it really that obvious?" She asked. I nodded.
"Just a bit." She smiled.
"If only he saw that..." She muttered and shook her head, "Anyways who's your homeroom?" I checked the piece of paper in my hand.
"Uh... Mrs. Hamm." Unfortunate last name. Her eyes brightened.
"Oh, you're in Hayden's class then! Him and another friend of mine. There they are!" She said and pointed behind me. I turned, and there he was. Percy Jackson in the flesh standing next to a boy with dirty blonde hair. Without realizing it, I smiled. Trinity noticed.
"Uh oh, you've got the look." She said. I looked back to her.
"What's that?" I asked. She grinned.
"The look. The "Percy Jackson Fan Girl" look." I almost laughed.
"He has a fan club?" I asked. She nodded.
"Oh yeah, big one too. It's basically every girl in the school. As stupid as it sounds, Percy's kind of everyone's idea of a perfect guy: Captain of the swim team, funny, nice, and I'll admit it he is kind of cute." She said it like it was a fact, not her opinion. I watched as a bunch of giggling idiots huddled across the hall from him whispering and laughed. Lucky that my celestial bronze went straight through them, otherwise they'd be dead by now.
"So he's popular?" I confirmed. She nodded.
"Oh yeah, the most." Wow, that's new..."Hey I like you, so I'll warn you now." She said, "Percy's kind of off limits." I raised an eyebrow.
"Is he?" She nodded.
"Yeah, he turns down every girl that has the guts to ask him out. Says he has a girlfriend, but she sounds too perfect to be true so nobody actually believes him." Aw, Percy. I looked back towards him. He was leaning against the lockers with his back to me. I contemplated how I would first tell him I'd transferred...
DING!
"Well that's the bell, what's your first class?" She asked and peeked over my shoulder at my schedule.
"English with Mr. Blofis." Her brown eyes brightened.
"Really? Percy and I have that class too! Maybe you can meet him before lunch," She said with a wink. The wink didn't say "I bet you have a shot with him." It said something more along the lines of "you poor lovesick puppy you. I'll humor you until you get the message."
But hey, she was nice, so I played along and grinned.
"Lets get there before we get locked out then." I said and followed her as she led the way through the twisting halls to the English wing.
Percy's step-dad, Paul, stood outside the door greeting students. We rounded the corner just as the night black hair ducked into the room. Paul spotted us, and smiled.
"Ms. Zemm, why don't you head inside while I get acquainted with our newest student?" He said to Trinity. She nodded.
"Yes sir," and did as she was asked. When she was out of sight, Paul grinned at me.
"Ah Annabeth! How are you adjusting so far?" He asked. I shrugged.
"It's only high school, Mr. Blofis, I've dealt with worse." He chuckled.
"I suppose that's so," he clapped his hands together as the final bell rang and students ran to their rooms before the doors shut, "Why don't I head inside and make sure his back's turned as I'm sure you have a plan of attack," Paul winked and I laughed.
"Athena always has a plan," I confirmed. Again, he winked, and strode into the classroom. I counted to ten before following him in.
The classroom was still fairly unorganized even though class had officially begun two minutes ago. Jocks were sitting on desks throwing paper airplanes at each other, girls were checking their phones, and others were quickly filling in homework before the teacher looked. Percy stood with his back to me talking to Paul over his desk. I walked through the stuffed classroom towards him. Trinity shot me a warning look that clearly said "Don't do it, you'll get hurt!" but I just shrugged and winked at her. A few girls in the back of the room glared at me when they saw whom I was about to go up to. Maybe tomorrow I'd bring a real knife to school...
Mr. Blofis pretended not to see me, which was good. I pressed three fingers to a spot on the small of Percy's back that marked his Achilles Heel. He stiffened immediately in alarm.
"Perseus Jackson," I hissed in his ear, trying to sound like some kind of monster. Within a half a second he had grabbed my wrists and spun so that he had my hands locked in his grip behind my back with us face to face. He blinked in shock when his kelp green eyes met my grey ones. I stretched my neck and pecked him quickly on the lips.
"Hey, Seaweed Brain," I said in a teasing tone. Before he could reply I spun, took his wrist, and judo flipped him over my shoulder. There were gasps from our audience. I leaned over his head as he looked up with eyes wider than shields. I shook my head in mock disappointment.
"Tsk tsk, Percy, you're rusty. Mr. Brunner would be so disappointed." I teased. He swung his arm towards my legs to knock me off my feet, but I jumped over it with a grin and held out my hand to help him up. His fingers didn't let go of mine though; he pulled me in for an organ-crushing hug.
"Annabeth! What are you doing here?" He asked with a grin brighter than Apollo's chariot.
"I transferred." He raised an eyebrow, "Mr. Brunner thought it would be best for us to stick together this year in light of the past events. He thought I should be closer to you, and my mother because of our little project..." Even he wasn't so dense he couldn't get that hint.
"Got it," He said knowingly, I grinned. Behind us, Paul coughed awkwardly. It was only then that I realized the room had gone silent during our reunion. Our faces went red.
"Class, take your seats." Paul said loudly. People shuffled to their chairs, still staring at Percy and me, "Annabeth, there's an empty seat by Percy." Paul informed me with a wink. My blush deepened as I thanked him and followed Percy to our seats.
"I still can't believe you're here!" Percy whispered to me as class started. We were sitting near the back, but it's not like Paul would have cared anyways. I smiled at him.
"I couldn't leave you to defend yourself alone now could I? Seeing as how I just beat your butt..." He rolled his eyes and shoved my shoulder.
"Ha ha, very funny." He said sarcastically.
"Class!" Paul said loudly all of a sudden, making me jump a little, "We will be reading the Odyssey this quarter." He announced, "For today we will focus on Odysseus's journey to the Island of Polyphemus." Percy smirked at me.
"Memories, huh?" He whispered. I chuckled.
"Grover looked great in a dress." I joked, he grinned.
"You weren't looking too bad yourself, Nobody." He teased back. I laughed a little too loudly.
"Something you'd like to share with us, Ms. Chase?" Paul asked, purely out of formality.
"Percy and I were just discussing Polyphemus." I explained, "He and I were debating whether or not he'd fall for the Nobody trick a second time."
"That's right!" Percy piped up, "I said he wouldn't, he's not that stupid."
"But he is half-blind, it's very possible that he could believe it was the same person." I fake argued when we both knew I was right.
"But what if this new person were completely different from the original Nobody? What if this person was a smaller, younger, more feminine Nobody?" He asked with a smirk.
"Maybe the stench of sheep makes him woozy enough to believe that it's the same person," I suggested, remembering how Percy had had to hang onto the underbelly of a sheep to sneak into the cave. He winced at that.
"I can understand that." He squeaked. I chuckled.
"Insightful thinking, you two." Paul complimented us. He then proceeded with the planned lesson.
"Nice save," Percy hissed, I winked.
"In case you've forgotten, I'm full of ideas." He rolled his eyes.
"How could I forget when you remind me every five minutes?" He muttered. I smirked.
At the end of class, Paul said that we had five extra minutes to mess around and do nothing so long as we didn't crowd by the door. Percy grinned and moved his chair to sit across the desk from me.
"So Annabeth, I take it you know Percy?" Trinity drawled and came to stand next to us. I smiled and nodded.
"Trinity, meet my very real girlfriend, Annabeth." Percy said proudly.
"We've already met," I told him, "She's told me some interesting things about you." He turned red out of embarrassment.
"Oh... l-like what?" I grinned.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Trinity said with a smirk and a wink at me. Oh yeah, I definitely liked her.
"If she told you about that thing with the hair dye I'm telling you now I confiscated all the photos!" I raised an eyebrow.
"Hair dye? Wrong story, Perce." He blushed.
"Although it does sound like an interesting one..." I teased.
"Anyways!" He interrupted, "Annabeth, what's your next class?"
"Bio with Brynn." His face fell a little.
"That sucks, I have still calculus alone then." Trinity grimaced.
"Not totally alone," She said in disgust.
"Am I missing something here?" I asked. Trinity nodded.
"These two girls are in that class and... they aren't the friendliest of people..." He said with a shudder.
"Damn Barbies." Trinity grumbled.
"You know, you'd get along really well with our friend, Thalia." I told her, "Now what's wrong with these girls?" I asked Percy, "Are they not in your 'fan club'?" I asked with a smirk. He stuck his tongue out at me very mature-like.
"Actually they're kind of the presidents of the fan club." He said, "But I think you could take over pretty easy. They meet on Tuesdays." I raised an eyebrow, "No I'm serious. They literally meet on Tuesdays outside the school before class."
"Wow." Talk about desperate, "Now these girls in your calculus class..." The bell interrupted me. Percy reached over and squeezed my hand.