Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians

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Hoops: Prologue Part 1

Annabeth was having a hard time deciding if taking her 99% adorable/1% annoying twin little brothers to the nearby Game Center was a pro or a con.
On one hand she had to suffer through their – Not arguing – Just proving why they were right – dramas.

(Case 1:

Matthew: I had that coin first!

Bobby: No I did!
Hysterical Annabeth: THERE'S MORE COINS RIGHT THERE!

Case 2:

Bobby: You cheated! Annie tell him he cheated!

Matthew: No I didn't! You're just jealous I have more skills than you!
Resigned Older Sister: Matthew, you cheated. Good comeback though!

Case 3:

Bobby: He has more tickets! I want more tickets!

Matthew: *as Bobby attempts to grab some of his tickets* MY TICKETS!

Face-Palming Annabeth: They combine their tickets and share the prizes… What's the point?!)

But on the other hand... She could also enjoy some playing time.

Which totally made up for it.

Plus, Bobby and Matthew were also boys who got mad at each other and yelled and screamed and hollered (and any other synonym to 'argue'), but were back to being best friends 2 minutes later.

It was probably a boy thing.

In any case, that was how she found herself in front of a basketball hoop.

Correction—that was how she found herself in front of a basketball hoop against her will.

Because apparently instead of playing something she actually wanted to play-half of the reason she agreed to bringing them-her brothers wanted her to play basketball.

She'd wanted to play Sudoku on the big touch screen and solve the puzzle in under two minutes and basically defend her spot as number one in the rankings but no.

The game the twins wanted her to play was simple enough. There was a regular sized basket that was enclosed around three sides with cage-like material—probably so that some innocent bystander wouldn't be knocked open side was the place where one could shoot the basketballs from and at the top, there was a blinking score and time.

She'd never really been a fan of basketball but she was pretty athletic so she was decent at basically any sport.

Bobby tugged her arm, "Come on, Annabeth!"

"Pleeeaaaase?!" Matthew piped up.

Rolling her eyes, she sighed. Figuring she'd try her luck and get her brothers some tickets, she inserted two tokens. The twins cheered.

Then, the message 'Waiting for other player' scrolled across the screen. It began a countdown: 20, 19…

Annabeth lifted an eyebrow at the machine. Silently, she waited for time to finish so that the machine would allow her to play solo. She stared at her brothers who looked equally as impatient.

The machine chimed. Annabeth turned around…

A guy with black hair who towered over her by a couple of inches had just inserted 2 coins into the basketball game beside hers.

That meant…

The guy turned and Annabeth met the greenest, most awe-striking eyes she'd ever seen. He had tan skin that matched his dark messy hair perfectly and a defined jaw. She didn't realize she'd been staring at him like an idiot until he grinned at her.

And his appeal to Annabeth vanished just like that. His grin was an arrogant, cocky smirk that only a boy who knew he was cute wore. And Annabeth had never liked those type of boys.

Her expression became one of utter disgust. Turning back to her game, she punched the 'start' button as the conceited idiot beside her did the same. Her determination to win increased and as soon as the balls began rolling, she began shooting.

Time: 100 seconds

The hoop moved backwards and then forward in random patterns. The game chimed whenever she scored and depending on far the hoop had been, points were added to her score.

Three pointer. Miss. Miss. 1 point. 3 points. 3 points. Miss.

On it went. But then with commentary.

About 10 seconds into the game, the guy had begun making stupid comments using an announcer type voice.

"She aims, she misses!"

"She holds the ball, she calculates the distance, oh she has this! No, folks she does not!"

"Oooh, she makes it! 3 pointer for the win!

But can she catch up to her amazing opponent who has lightning fast reflexes and awesome skills?"

Gritting her teeth, she did her best to ignore him. But even as he spoke, he made goal after goal while she, distracted, made less. It was infuriating.

Hissing, she glared. "Can you shut up?"

"I can," came the cheeky response "But I don't want to."

63 seconds

Steeling her dark gray eyes, she began to throw harder with more force.

"Fine, would you prefer a plain command instead of a question? Shut-up!"

"Um… Didn't you technically ask me a question before that? Because if you did the answer to that 'I really don't care' because I'm not going to shut up anyways."

"Are you always this annoying?" She questioned.

"Are you always this rude?" He shot back.

31 seconds.

"Rude? How is wanting to enjoy a game considered rude?" She said incredulously

"From what I overheard, you didn't want to play in the first place so how could you want to enjoy it?"

She was going to kill him. Her spotless record would have a really dark mark on it soon. How was it possible to be able to hate someone this much in such little time?

"Plus," he continued "I was trying to enjoy my game by having a little fun but you ruined that so you are considered rude."

7 seconds.

"And you are considered a proud jerk" Annabeth retorted.

…

5, 4, 3, 2…

The game made a buzzer sound. Programmed applause congratulated… the guy as the winner.

He'd apparently also gotten the 250 ticket bonus because tickets began pouring out his game like a waterfall.

Matthew and Bobby—who Annabeth was sure had either been oblivious to her argument with the idiot to her left or just didn't care—ran over to said idiot and stared in wonder at the flow of tickets.

As the tickets finished flowing, the guy yanked them out.

Then, then he held them out to Annabeth.

"Here"

Annabeth stared at him incredulously. "Excuse me?"

The guy lifted his eyebrows as if he didn't know what was going on. "Here," he said again and held them out.

Wow, this was just too much. Was he seriously…

"I don't want your tickets," she said coldly.

Bobby began to protest but with a piercing glare from Annabeth, he was silenced.

The guy's emerald eyes widened in confusion.

"What," Annabeth said tauntingly "Is this the first time anyone has refused an arrogant offer from your hands?"

The guy shook his head "No, but this is the first time I've met a girl with an attitude like yours." He quietly answered.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

He gave her an unbelieving stare before going to Bobby and holding the tickets out to him.

Annabeth wasn't normally mean much less physically violent but there was something about this guy that just set her off. She couldn't explain it but he made something in her burn angrily.

The nerve he had, his annoying personality, how his eyes reflected an arrogant heart…

In a single fluid move, she knocked the tickets out the guy's hands and onto the floor.

"I said, we don't want your tickets."

She grabbed her brothers who had identical shocked expressions on their faces and ushered them the opposite way—never glancing back to see how the guy bent down on knee, picked up his tickets, and stood back up.

Or how he bit his lip and stared curiously at Annabeth's receding form.

Or watched how he later warmly gave his 250 tickets to a 5 year old girl and left the place silently.

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Annabeth didn't give the event much more thought. Sure the green-eyed boy crossed her mind every once in awhile but it was rare and it was always in contempt.

She figured he was just one of those horrible people you just met sometime in your lifetime and then never saw them again.

But three months after the little incident, she was proven wrong.