Percy Jackson and the Betrayal of the Demigods

I Find True Love At Summer Camp

It was 5 o'clock and I sat at the long dinner table all by myself. My brother Tyson had just left to go back to work in the Cyclopes' Forges and I was yet again without my brother. It was the first night back to Camp Half-Blood this year and I felt it was going to be a loooong year. As we went up to scrape the food off of our plates for the gods I noticed Annabeth. I got a strange tingle in my stomach. Since last year I noticed that I had feelings for Annabeth. Every time I saw her I always tried to impress her or make her laugh...and most of the time it worked. I shrugged of the thought and scraped the food off of the plate saying, "For Poseidon." I walked away and plopped down at the the table and finished my salmon and my blue Coca-Cola. I glanced over my shoulder at the Athena table and saw that Annabeth was looking at me too. I waved and she waved back, giving me a smile that made feel all warm inside. But I just figured that it probably meant nothing more than a friendly smile.

After dinner everybody was walking back to the cabins when I heard, "Hey, Seaweed Brain!" I turned around and was embraced in a fierce hug. I guess that my body tightened because she loosened her grip a little. But she still held me close. "I missed you." She backed away and her cheeks were pink. I'm guessing that she was thinking something along the lines of Oh my gods! I can't believe I just said that out loud!

"I missed you too Wise Girl," I said with a smile.

"Well I guess I should go get ready for bed..."

"Yeah, me too." She raised her hand awkwardly in a goodbye motion and started to walk past me. For some reason my arm shot out and grabbed her. I pulled her in and gave her a tight hug. She stiffened for a moment then relaxed, her head set on my shoulder. And then I realized that everybody walking by either stared at us, hooted, or wolf-whistled. Either way, there were going to be a lot of rumors. We let go and she walked away with her brothers and sisters from the Athena cabin. Grover walked over to me and looked at me and asked, "What's going onnn??"

"You sound like a third-grader."

"So"

"Nothing is going on," I lied horribly. As much as I wanted it to be something I didn't know how she felt about me.

"All right," Grover said, giving up. But he could tell from the empathy link he created that something was definitely up.

The next morning we went and ate breakfast and then me and Grover headed toward the rock-climbing wall. I actually made it to the top without my arm hair getting singed off. Then Annabeth and I had archery lessons with Chiron. Me and Annabeth didn't talk much but we knew that there was nothing to be said. I went to the stables to see my friend Blackjack the Pegasus. Hey boss, what's up?

"Not much."

Did you bring me any sugar cubes?

"Yeah, here you go." I held out my and which had 4 sugar cubes rested on it. Blackjack sucked them up and they were gone in a blink of eye. "Listen, I got to go now. I'll see you tomorrow."

Sure thing boss.

That night I decided to go for a swim. I went under and saw a few schools of fish go by. I came up, not that I needed air seeming as I could breathe underwater. I walked up on the shore(dry as usual) and sat on the sand. The sun was setting and all I could think about was Annabeth. Suddenly someone sat down next to me. I didn't have to look to know who was there.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Annabeth asked. I looked over at her and stared deep into her stormy gray eyes.

"Not as beautiful as you," I said. It was kind of dorky but Annabeth didn't think so because she blushed. She leaned over and set her head on my shoulder. I looked down at her and our faces got closer...and closer...and closer...and then something so unexpected happened. Grover's little Satyr head poked in between us and said, "Sooooo..."

"Hey Grover, I heard Juniper was over by the basketball court." His ears perked up and bleated. He turned and ran as fast as his hooves would take him.

"So. Back to where we were," Annabeth smiled. She leaned in and her lips touched mine. I put one hand on her hip and the other softly on her face. She ran her hands through my messy, matted, black hair. We pulled apart for a moment and our eyes never left the lock. She then hugged and kissed me. Then we heard the conch horn blow.

"Time for bed..."

"A few more minutes. Pleeeeaasssee." The way she looked at me with those beautiful eyes I couldn't say no. We turned and watched the sun set on the horizon in shades of pink, orange and red.