There was something unnerving about him.

It wasn't necessarily how he looked – about seventeen, muscular, browned skin, sea-green eyes and scruffy black hair. It wasn't the way he sat, inconspicuously blending with the rest of the busy New York residents on a sagging bench in Central Park, watching people busily scrambling by, checking their phones and taking no notice of the beautiful sunshine in the middle of the crowded city. It wasn't even the way he hadn't touched his hotdog, sitting greasy and delicious on an oily paper next to him; Annabeth couldn't stand wasted food.

No, the guy made her uncomfortable with the cautious way he gazed at her, unblinking and alert as a cat ready to spring.

Annabeth shivered unknowingly, tired of the feeling of being watched that he gave her. She was in New York, mingling with millions of others on the crowded sidewalks. Absolutely no reason for him to single her out.

Then she really got creeped out. He actually got up from the bench and began walking toward her.

A normal person would probably have walked away. A paranoid person might have screamed for help. But Annabeth was neither normal nor paranoid. More like crazy. So she calmly finished her sandwich, gazing out over the trees rustling in the wind, feeling the sun on her back and sweat beginning to creep down her neck.

"Excuse me?"

Annabeth turned. The young man was now right next to her. Resisting the urge to jump out of her skin, she smiled a bit hurriedly. "Hello, do you need something?"

The other teen smiled. Annabeth distractedly found herself noticing that he had a nice smile. "You dropped these."

In his hand were her sunglasses. "Oh, thanks," laughed Annabeth nervously, taking the sunglasses and sliding them on top of her head. She half-hoped the boy would leave, and to her annoyance, half-hoped he would stay. Surprisingly, he did.

"Do you live around here?" he asked, sitting down on the edge of the bench next to her.

"Yeah, for now," Annabeth replied, somewhat cautiously.

"I live a couple of blocks away from here, with my mom," the young man replied, grinning. "So what's your name?"

"Annabeth," she answered. "Yours?"

"Percy Jackson," he replied easily. "Are you doing anything of importance right now?"

"Well, I'm supposed to be working on an architectural report for school," Annabeth admitted sheepishly. "But my mind doesn't want to focus on it right now, I think."

He smiled. Annabeth refused to acknowledge to herself how cute and infectious his grin was. And nope, those sea-green eyes were definitely not making her blush. Certainly not.

"You're interested in architecture?" Percy asked. "That's cool. I don't really understand stuff like that, to be honest, but it's still cool."

Annabeth found herself laughing, and what? She never laughed like this, a breathless giggle combined with flushed cheeks that were due to more than just the warm Indian-summer day. "At least you're honest, right? What are you interested in?"

He shrugged, grinning. "Well, I enjoyed being on the swim team last year. Tryouts for this year are next Wednesday, I think, so I'll be doing that again."

Annabeth answered, and somehow she and Percy slipped into a conversation about the most random things, and oh look she was blushing again at his passing comment that her blonde curls "looked like a princess", and then he was blushing too and they were laughing together. And it was strange because Annabeth didn't make friends this easily and she didn't even like to talk to people, certainly not random guys on the streets of New York and this shouldn't be happening but somehow it just was, and it was so easy to talk with Percy –

"And since I'm currently a bit at a loss for fun right now as well, do you want to hang out?" Percy asked, jerking her back to their conversation.

Annabeth hesitated. It probably wasn't a smart thing to do, hang out with a random boy from the streets of New York that she had met literally thirty minutes ago. But she felt drawn to him, in a way she couldn't explain. Not just because he was pretty good-looking – although that surely was part of it, she admitted sheepishly to herself. No, there was something else. He was sweet and cute and innocent, and honestly it felt so good to have a friend to hang out with that her mind didn't even put up much of a fight. Her dad wouldn't care what she did or what time she would be back, so what did she have to lose? She still had three days before the report was due.

Slowly, she nodded. "Sure. I'm game. Whatcha wanna do?"

He gestured toward the hotdog stand across the road. "First, I'm starved. I took one bite of the hot dog I got from there, a dog ran through my legs, I fell flat on my face and it rolled into the sand. Not the dog, my food." He paused to grin wryly, and Annabeth was laughing out loud. "Anyway, the bite I did have was pretty good. Are you hungry?"

They walked across the street and grabbed two hotdogs and sodas. Despite Annabeth's protests, Percy paid. With their lunch in hand, they walked back to where the sand started and began to walk down the lakefront.

"So where do you live?" Percy asked, taking a bite of his hotdog.

"Well, I'm from San Francisco, but I'm finishing high school here and then going on to major in Architecture at NYU," she replied truthfully.

"Cool," he answered. "What grade you in? Eleventh?"

Annabeth nodded, her mouth full. She swallowed and asked, "You?"

"Twelfth," he answered. The conversation continued in like manner as they walked down the beach, eating and laughing. The rest of the afternoon flew by.

When they parted, Percy smiled hopefully. "You doing anything tomorrow?"

"No, actually," Annabeth replied, guiltily pushing away the thoughts of the report into the back of her mind.

"Would you like to meet at that coffee shop by Central Park?" he asked. "We could grab some coffee and just hang out for a while. I – I mean, I don't have much homework yet or anything since school just started a few weeks ago, and swim team doesn't start until Wednesday – "

Annabeth grinned. "Be there are 11. Oh, and here's my phone number," she added, scribbling it down on a piece of paper. Percy accepted it with a smile and gave her his, then walked down back down the sidewalk.

(And no, Annabeth certainly did not watch him walk away with a little secret smile on her face and skip the rest of the way to the elevator and all the way to her room. Definitely not.)

The rest of the night, Annabeth's mind argued with itself. You have a report to work on! You need to devote all your attention to it! Architectural scholarships, Annabeth. Remember, you need top-of-the-line grades to have even a hope of a grant.

But the other part wasn't exactly happy about it. Percy is a really nice guy. You've been working too hard, Annabeth. You deserve a break.

No! her practical side disputed. You have to finish this report. You have to get this scholarship.

Oh, shut up, Annabeth told it. I want to go tomorrow. I'll finish the report later.

And she went to bed, thinking only of Percy's bright smile, and how he threw his head back when he laughed, and the way the sun caught in his black hair and made it glint as though created of obsidian.

You have a serious crush, Annabeth, her practical brain told her warningly.

Annabeth ignored it and fell asleep.