Hey Fictioners! Wow, it has been a while since I have last made an appearance on this site, other than to reply to private messages. I am hoping to find time to write some more, maybe re-vamp some of the old stories, the first couple that I wrote and hopefully add in some new ones because I have suddenly been getting more reviews because some people found this story again. I do want to apologize for being so distant, my school work kind of took over my life and every ounce of free time I have, I wanted to spend it doing something where I could do that and nothing at the same time. So thank you to people who are still reading this, and to the new readers who have found their way here. And because I finally have some time, I am going to try my hand at once again updating. This was submitted a long, long, loooong time ago by Greekgeek105 and thank you.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of Uncle Rick's characters, or All for the Game series by Nora Sakavic (really good series by the way), or Inconvenient People by Sarah Wise or Starburst, but that goes without saying.

Hi, I'm Cassie Hale and I am 17 years old. I don't know why my description is relevant but I have to tell this part of the story, even if it doesn't add any necessary details, so any who, I have long light brown hair with a couple of highlights and hazel eyes. I'm also short, which makes shelving books at my job, (I work at Barnes and Noble), a hassle. I love reading and am a total booknerd, obsessed with the characters found between the pages of my favourite books.

Oh and while I'm on the topic, you all need to read this amazing series called All for the Game by Nora Sakavic. It's my current favourite read and it includes a made-up sport, troubled youth, college, the Japanese mafia and gang violence, while still being the stereotypical underdog story and it's...okay so I have to stop ranting about the book, because I don't want to take up too much time. Back to the story, so I love books and with my job, a bookworm's dream, I meet a lot of people, sometimes a lot of weirdos, but I have to be polite. So I was working when a guy comes up to me…

Barnes and Noble

So this guy comes up to me while I was working, tall guy, black hair, unique eye colour, ya know, (I've read enough Fanfiction and YA novels to know that this guy was something different from us normal people), and asked where we keep a certain book. I don't remember which series, because I may have been drooling. Wait, that isn't relevant at all.

"Ummm...is everything okay? You look like you're about to fall over," this guy remarked.

"Huh? Oh yeah, everything's fine. Just a head rush, so what books were you looking for?" I attempted to fix my ponytail as I asked him this question.

"Right. Umm...I think it's called Inconvenient Persons or something like that, all I know is that it is non-fiction. My girlfriend was looking at it the last time she was in here," he looked awkward. Probably his first time in here without a bookworm, not that I was judging.

"Oh okay, I think I know what you're talking about. It's a newer arrival, Inconvenient People by Sarah Wise. Rather interesting book, but also kind of slow in places," I ramble as we make our way over to the non-fiction section. He follows, a bit like a puppy, but who am I to judge?

I run my thumb along the spines of the books, making my way down to the W's. "It should be right here somewhere," I mutter, brow creasing as I shift into my awkward squat to look on the lower shelves. "Aha!"

I pull the book off the shelf and hand it to him. "Wait a second, do you go to Ridgewater High?"

He looked caught off guard, "Umm yeah, I do. Why? Is there like a special discount or something?"

"No, I just thought you looked familiar. Percy, right?" I ask, throwing on my usual smile.

"Yeah. I was kinda hoping no one would recognize me, ya know?" he looked awkward again, rubbing the back of his next, and looking embarrassed at being caught.

"I totally get it. Don't worry, your secret's safe with me, plus no one will believe a high school no one like me," I shrug. "Here, follow me. I'll ring that up for you and then you can sneak out of here."

I rang up his purchase, and found out that despite being freaking godly looking, he didn't have many friends at this school. I invited him to join me in the library at lunch, if he chose to do so and he grinned. A big dopey grin that all fan girls want to receive from their fictional crush, and left with a promise that he'd see me at lunch on Monday.

I will not lie to you, reader. So after that interaction, I went into the backroom that was thankfully empty, and squealed. The iconic fan girl squeal when our OTP gets together, when something freaking adorable happens and whenever we get mildly excited fandom-wise. And no, I will not apologize for it.

Ridgewater High- in the library

I was sitting in my usual spot, between the adventure/action novels and the fantasy section, reading All for the Game again, when a tall person came into the section and blocked out my light. I looked up, prepared to chew some dick bag out for blocking my reading light, when I saw Percy standing awkwardly at the entrance to the shelves. "Umm..hey."

"Oh hey, sorry. I just didn't expect that you'd actually show up," I said, before realizing what I had said. "I didn't mean it like that."

Percy grinned and sat down beside me, pulling out a plastic bag from his backpack. "So, how'd your girlfriend like the book?" I asked, trying to get rid of the awkwardness.

"Oh, well she loves it. Thinks it's super interesting being about Victorian mad-doctors in England and all that. Thanks again for helping me find it, Cassie," he said, rustling through the plastic bag and pulling out a bag of cookies.

He stuffed a cookie into his mouth, before turning to me and attempted to say 'want one?', but all that came out was "woonph onm?"

I laughed. He had crumbs everywhere and I would be lying if I said I wasn't attracted to him at that moment. "So," he said with a grin, "Whatcha reading?"

"A book."

"Wow. I would've never guessed that. It doesn't look remotely book-like," Percy muttered sarcastically.

-xXxXx-

And that's how we became friends. I learned a lot about him in the next few weeks over lunch and other hang-outs, like that he is dyslexic, that he loves swimming and the ocean, that he has travelled all over the U.S., and that he has ADHD. I told him about being nerdy, how I spent most of my time watching tv and Netflix, how I was extremely clumsy (like I actually slipped on a banana peel) and how I wanted to own my own bookstore.

At that last bit, he grinned his usual knee-buckling grin. "If my girlfriend could, I think that she would also own her own bookstore. You two are really similar sometimes."

"I wish I could meet her, you say a lot that she's really busy, so she never has time. Does she go here?" I ask, a couple of weeks later as we walk the mall before my shift. I have to close tonight, yuck!

"Nah, I wish. She goes to a private school upstate, can't remember the name, but anyway, she's awesome, homework keeps her pretty busy, so we don't hang out much," he said, digging through his bag of candy, looking for blue pieces. That's another thing I learned about Percy, he has an unhealthy obsession with blue food. Cookies, ice cream, candy, Gatorade, all of it a brilliant blue.

"That's kind of sad," I say, wrinkling my nose and digging through my own candy bag, looking for an orange Starburst.

"It is, but we make it work," he answered simply. Then he noticed the Starburst in my hand. "Ew! Orange, really?"

I grin and unwrap it, before shoving it in my mouth. "What?" I ask, my question slightly muffled by the candy.

He shudders and turns his attention back to finding blue candies. I laugh, he could be so weird at times, but so could I and the friendship worked for us. "Hey, so you mentioned audio books as a solution for reading with my dyslexia?"

"I did. I have it too, but it's very minor. Like doesn't make my reading difficult all the time, just some of the time, and I read somewhere that audio books work because you just listen. So I would find the English books as audio books and then you should be more comfortable," I answer, turning to face him.

Percy looks a little surprised, but then sees a group of popular kids from Ridgewater and grabs my arm to haul me the other way. "What the hell, dude?!" I exclaim in surprise, as he heads back the way we came.

"Sorry. Those guys were giving me a hard time earlier for a weird reason and I really didn't want to punch one of them again," he says with a stony look. Percy lets go of my arm and mutters another apology.

"Umm..hey. So my shift starts in five, I had fun hanging out today. I'll see you tomorrow?" I ask as we come to a crossroad in the mall.

"Yeah. Wait, isn't tomorrow Saturday?" he asks, looking mildly perplexed.

"It is, isn't it. Well, see you Monday then?" When he nods, I wave to him and veer left towards my favourite place ever.

-xXxXx-

The weekend was uneventful. I did homework, worked a shift on Sunday, went home, watched Netflix and ate more candy than I should have. The same could be said for the week, nothing much happened other than Laila Mason got dumped by her boyfriend, James Clark. So in reality, nothing happened that was of any importance.

Percy and I continued to hang out and I had to admit that I did have a bit of a crush on him by now, after spending a lot of time together, but he had a girlfriend and there was no way that I would be that girl.

"Hey, you good?" he asked, looking at me.

"Oh yeah, sorry. I just zoned out. You were saying?" I continued, after jolting out of my thoughts.

"Just that my girlfriend was looking for a new book and I suggested the one that you're always going on about. She loves it, by the way," Percy said with a bit of a laugh.

We were walking around the mall again because he needed a birthday present for his mom and had absolutely no ideas. "Okay, let's focus. What do you want to get your mom?"

He shrugged. "I don't know."

"Come on, we've been to a crap ton of places and I need to get some homework done. So think of the one thing that she would really want and let's go get it, okay?" When I get impatient, I will get bossy. It just happens.

"Okay Your Majesty," Percy retorted with a mocking smirk. "I have an idea."

-xXxXx-

We ended up in a weirdly cool antiques shop a few blocks away from the mall. With his mom being a writer, he found an antique typewriter and record player and was now trying to decide between the two.

"I don't know, Percy. She's your mom, you would know her better than I would," I said, before checking my phone for the time. "Either way, it's 4:30."

"But which one?"

"Does she have a lot of records?" I ask.

"She does, but the typewriter," Percy made a motion with his hand towards said typewriter.

"Young man," came a voice from the front of the shop, "I can give you a deal on them."

"You would do that?" Percy looked hopeful, before his gaze turned hard.

I had never seen Percy like this; every inch of his body looked poised to fight. "Percy, let's go. I'm getting creeped out," I said and began moving towards the door carefully.

"What's the deal?" he asked, and I heard the edge in his voice.

"12 drachmas, plus the head of your little friend," intoned the raspy voice.

I still couldn't see the shop owner, but I knew that I was getting the hell out of there ASAP.

"10 drachmas and an obol," Percy said, the edge in his voice becoming razor sharp. He had his hand in his pocket, and stood defensively with me behind him as he had backed up towards the door.

"Deal," hissed the voice and Percy threw some coins towards the back room, grabbed the typewriter and record player and we ran.

"Percy! What the hell was that? And why did it do that?" I couldn't process things. My brain was spinning and nothing made sense.

"Just a slimy scumbag, don't worry about it. It can't hurt us," he said as the light returned to his turquoise eyes.

"Okay then."

And that was the end of it.

-xXxXx-

Two days later, I was at work. Percy came into the store with a crying blonde, who kept muttering "That's not how it ends, that's not how it ends."

"Cassie?" Percy called, eyes scanning the room.

"Yes?" I said, as I popped up from behind a box. "What can I...what happened?"

"She read the second book of that series, and now needs book three immediately," he said, shifting the girl in his arms.

"On it." I rushed to the back, digging through pile after pile of YA books. "How is it not here? I saw it twenty minutes ago." I kept looking, because there was no way I was leaving a fan girl to suffer without the end of All for the Game, but it wasn't there. So it had to be on the shelf.

I came back to Percy, who looked stressed. "Did you find it?" he asked.

"One question first, is that your girlfriend?"

"Yep. This is Annabeth. Annabeth, this is Cassie, the person who has been supplying you with books," Percy said softly.

I could see that Annabeth was in a fan girl state of "oh my god, where is the next book?" So I went to the shelves, scanning quickly before landing on the spine of the book I had been for.

Racing back to the couple, Annabeth had stopped crying and was staring at the floor, her cheeks pink from embarrassment at having been crying over the ending of a book. "Here, hope you enjoy it," was all I said.

"Thank you, and I'm sorry for being so ridiculous. It's just a book," she said with a small smile as she took the copy of the book from my hands.

"It is not just a book. It is an escape, and you have every right to be upset at the events of that book," I reply. "Now, let's get you this book so you can finish the trilogy."

So I did. And they left, with happy looks and Percy's eyes practically glowing with happiness at his girlfriend's reaction to the book. That was the type of relationship only seen in fiction and something I desperately wanted because it was squeal-worthy.

I didn't see Percy or Annabeth again, but a few months ago, I got a message from an unknown number saying, "Thanks for everything at Ridgewater. You made my life so much easier. Hope you are doing okay, thanks again."

I miss his blue-food obsession and the fact that he helped me a lot with my self-confidence. And that, mystery people, is how I met the couple known as Percabeth.

I know that this is probably terrible, but if you read it, thank you! It means a lot and hopefully I will write another chapter soon. Comment and do whatever you would do with a decent fic. I care about my Fictioners, and if there is an issue with something, put it in the comments or message me and I will do my best to answer. Sorry for all the rambling and the author's notes as of late.

Your fellow Fictioner and Fangirl,

Cinder Luna