Disclaimer: All characters belong to Rick Riordan. Storyline is ours.

Percy

"So you're telling me that she agreed to actually go out with your bum ass."

I roll my eyes and grab lunch out of my locker, slamming it and turning my back on Grover and rushing to the end of the hall where Annabeth should be getting out of class right about now.

"Yes, she actually agreed to go out with my Adonis-like self, you mean."

Grover crosses his arms and scoffs, "You're funny, Jackson."

"Now don't go tricking him into thinking he is actually funny because he might get some ideas." I feel her hand on my shoulder as she basically pushes me out of the way.

"Better than him thinking he is actually Adonis-like," Grover says as he slings his arm around Annabeth's shoulders and leans in for a kiss on the cheek.

"Nice try, Underwood," she laughs as she slides away from him.

I grab her hand and pull her towards me, letting my hand rest on her hip, and the other hand going to the back of her neck. She raises her eyebrows at me but doesn't stop me from planting a kiss on her dark red lips.

"Okay, can you two please not do this in the middle of the hallway? You guys haven't even gone on a real date yet and I'm already always third wheeling," Grover says as he pushes his way in between us.

She just laughs and grabs my collar going on her tippy toes to kiss me over Grover, who ducks and chastises us as we continue to kiss.

We finally break apart and she looks up at me smiling, cleaning the lipstick stains she left on my face. "Hmmm, I think this color might look even better on you, Jackson."

"I've really always thought of Jackson as more of a summer, but you know it does really bring out his eyes."

"Grover, you do know that neither one of us are listening to you right?" I say, keeping my eyes on Annabeth.

He grumbles and starts walking towards the courtyard and I laugh, grabbing Annabeth's hand and pulling her with me. I hear her heels clacking against the floor, impressed that she's easily able to keep up with my stride.

When we finally get outside, I stop dead in my tracks as I see the two people sitting at our usual table. Annabeth bumps into my back and I can tell she is about to tell me off before she locks eyes with Luke, who looks incredibly confused.

It only takes Annabeth a moment to regain her composure as she strides ahead of me and coolly slides into a seat across from Luke.

"Hey Thalia, Dickhead." She says, nodding in Luke's direction.

Luke nods in return, and I realize that Grover and I are still standing a few feet away from the table, staring at the three of them with open mouths.

"Are you guys gonna sit down, or were you planning on eating the flies you catch in your mouths for lunch?" Thalia says, gesturing to the empty seats in between her and Annabeth.

We both slide in on either side of Annabeth, who starts opening her lunch. "Did NYU finally kick you out once they realized that you are, in fact, illiterate?"

"Actually, they've known that for ages. Because of my clearly superior intelligence they've hired an entire staff of people to read all of my homework aloud to me. They're so accommodating in that way."

"Oh, so did they find out that you were selling crack out of your dorm room?"

"Please, the Dean is one of my top buyers, he would never get rid of me. But I see you're still trying to make yourself seem more ladylike by associating with the biggest pussy at your school."

I tense up and feel my cheeks turning red from embarrassment but keep my mouth shut before I say something stupid that he can get off on even more.

"Wow guys, so great having the whole gang together," Thalia mutters as she starts to dig into her lunch.'

"Listen Luke, I know you get worried when it seems like someone might out-pussy you, but Percy's really no competition."

"But Annabeth, there's no need to hide anymore. If he isn't proof that you're a lesbian now, I don't know what is…"

"Well your mom decided that we should probably keep it on the DL when we got out of bed this morning."

I can tell that that bothers him, his jaw ticking in the slightest way.

"Let's be real Annabeth, my mom would never go anywhere near your junk considering how much its been used. I'm surprised Mr. Germophobe wants to go anywhere near it, considering you probably have every STD in the book."

"I don't know Luke, you've tried getting in my pants plenty of times before, haven't you?"

My eyes widen a bit as she says this, and my mind whirls as I try to figure out if she's serious or not.

"I know you're never going to get any better than me, Annabeth, but I didn't realize you would hit rock bottom so quickly, honestly it's sad. A guy gives you an ounce of attention and suddenly you go all psycho on him."

Something inside Annabeth snaps, and she lunges across the table at Luke, her fist connecting with his jaw. Luke barely recoils and starts laughing before he stands and raises his hand, clearly intending to return the favor.

Without thinking, I dive past Thalia and push Luke to the ground, knocking all of the air out of both of us. I stand over him, seething that he would even think about raising a hand to her.

He stands up quickly and tries to punch me but I catch his hand and twist it behind his back.

"Last time you caught me off guard because I was hungover but rest assured I'm not afraid to fuck you up in front of all of these people," I whisper in his ear before putting more pressure on his arm and pushing him on the ground again.

No one goes to comfort him, not even Thalia and I just grab my backpack quickly weaving through the crowd that accumulated and heading back to the building.

I hear Annabeth calling after me but I just keep going until I feel her pull on my arm and yank me into a music practice room. I refuse to look at her but I can definitely feel her eyes boring into me.

"I know you hate it when people do that, but I really couldn't just let-" I start, but she puts her hand over my mouth.

"Thank you," she whispers, grabbing my fist and uncurling my fingers. I can feel the nail marks on my palm.

I take a few deep breaths and stare into her eyes, letting the cool grey calm me. She rises onto her tiptoes and her lips meet mine, completely taking away any anger I was feeling before and replacing it with something else entirely.

A/N: ooookkkaaayyyy so we exceeded standards and actually updated about six months early :)) thanks for hanging in there and continuing to support two lazy bitches!