Hi! :D This is a three-shot for my awesome friend, Beevas Rock. It's actually a birthday present... for April. SORRY. I'm great with birthdays. Cough.

This is set in between The Last Olympian and The Lost Hero, when Percy is at Goode.

Enjoy! :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson.

"Just admit it, Jackson, this girlfriend of yours doesn't actually exist, does she?" Percy's brown-haired classmate, Brian, wore a sceptical 'oh, come on' expression - not too different from the rest of the eavesdropping class.

Percy scowled. This had been going on for the last week, ever since he had first mentioned Annabeth.

"Dude, why would I lie about that? Of course she's real! Just drop it!"

"Then how come you don't have any pictures of her on your phone?"

Percy wanted to inform Brian that during the rare times that he saw the daughter of Athena, he would preferably not be beaten up by a monster, which was a dilemma that a phone would surely create.

However, seeing as Brian was a mortal, that would probably not be the greatest idea.

"She... uh... She doesn't like having pictures taken," Percy cringed at his own excuse.

Nathan, a rather scrawny blond, snorted.

"Right."

"Who brought you into this?" Percy's temper made an appearance.

"Look man, I'm just saying, she doesn't really sound, you know, real."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Mrs Goodwin stepped through the doorway the second that the words has left Percy's mouth.

"What's what supposed to mean, Mr Jackson?" Her pursed lips and flat tone told Percy that she was somewhat annoyed.

"Nothing," he mumbled. The teacher had left the classroom instructing the class to remain silent while she photocopied some notices. Of course it had to be Percy that she found talking.

"Anyway," said Mrs Goodwin shaking her head in disapproval, "please read the notice that Percy is about to hand out-" Percy scowled, "-as it is very important."

Percy irritably stood up, and started to pass around the leaflets the teacher had just placed on his desk, all the while glaring at Nathan. Finally he reached his own desk, and he slumped down onto his chair before squinting at the letters on the sheet that his dyslexia was determined to distort.

He managed to make out the words 'Central Park', and then gave up trying to read the rest. Of course, how could he forget? The teachers had been yammering on about the upcoming excursion for weeks now. Apparently there were going to be speakers at the park, and lots of nearby schools, including Goode, would be there.

Mrs Goodwin had already started on how everybody had to be on their best behaviour and had to make Goode proud and by that time Percy's mind had already wandered off.

oOo

Kids bustled down the corridors as the lunch bell rang. Percy was shoving his books angrily into his locker, trying to ignore the voice of Brian, who was now telling some other kid about The Girlfriend Problem.

"-yeah and so apparently she's so smart, and so pretty and-"

Of course, the whole thing was to be expected, Percy supposed. He might be a saviour of Olympus, but at school he was just a regular teenager, and not a particularly outstanding one either.

For Percy to have a girlfriend with Annabeth's qualities would seem ridiculous, and being backed up with lame excuses such as 'she doesn't like having pictures taken' and 'we don't really text much' didn't really help.

People didn't like being lied to, and he knew from past experience that when a supposed lie dragged on for too long, people went to extreme efforts to prove a person wrong.

Such as actually bothering to gather a group of bloody followers, and making sure that it was known school-wide that Percy had a fictitious girlfriend.

"Seriously man," one of the Percy-totally-doesn't-have-a-girlfriend group members' voice drifted towards him, "this is getting kind of lame. Just admit she isn't real."

Percy turned, weary.

"For the last time, Annabeth is real." He scowled, meeting each one of their eyes induvidually, trying to get the message across.

"Actually," Percy was quite sure her name was Gina, "I believe him."

Thank you.

"Really? I mean come on, what kind of name is Annabeth anyway? Sounds like something out of a movie or something."

"Fine!" Percy glared, his fists clenching, "I bet you," he jabbed a finger towards Brian, "fifty freaking dollars, that I can prove to you that Annabeth is real!"

Brian suddenly frowned, unsure.

"Fifty dollars, man..."

"I'll do it," Nathan. Of course. "Except I bet one hundred dollars. I'm saving up, you see. But, you have to prove it in the next week."

Percy didn't even think about it.

"Deal."

Well. Now didn't I just make this sound a million times more dramatic than it's going to be. If you're expecting a huge to-the-death race like thing to prove Annabeth's existence, you are reading the wrong fic. -_- My sincere apologies, but apparently I can't write.

Hope you like it so far, Beevas Rock! :D

xoxo COL