Author's Note: Okay, guys, FINAL CHAPTER! I'm sorry it took so long to write, but I had the most serious case of writer's block you can imagine. For a LONG time, I had absolutely no idea what to write about. That's why you really shouldn't make stuff up as you go along, okay? That's my PSA for the day. HAVE SOME SORT OF PLAN WHEN YOU WRITE!

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN PJO...OR THE LITTLE MERMAID. (Don't ask, just enjoy)

Have fun!

Percy's POV

That was probably one of the bravest things I'd ever done, kissing Annabeth on the Wonder Wheel. And I was definitely glad I'd done it. The entire weekend had pretty much sucked. I was beginning to think I'd lost any chance I had to be more than just friends with her.

But…since last night, my hopes were going up a little bit more.

That night I didn't have any dreams, thankfully. As a matter of fact, I slept better than I had in a while. I didn't wake up until Annabeth gently shook my shoulder. "Hey, Seaweed Brain," she whispered in my ear.

I turned over toward her voice and opened my eyes. My vision was blurry with sleep, but I saw her halo of princess curls. I tried for my best half-awake smile. "Morning," I yawned.

Annabeth laughed. "You missed morning," she told me. "It's 12:30."

No way, I thought. I sat up and looked at the clock. Sure enough, it read 12:31 P.M. I groaned, letting my head hit the pillow again. I really hated sleeping in the afternoon. It made me feel drowsy all day. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. "Aw, you should've woken me up earlier," I complained.

When my sight was clearer, I saw she was already dressed in a blue T-shirt and jeans. She shrugged. "You were so sound asleep; I didn't feel like waking you up on a Sunday morning."

I smirked and held up my arms. "Help me up," I said. "I'm lazy."

She rolled her eyes, but she laughed, grasping my wrists and pulling me up until I was kneeling on the bed. Then, I decided to entwine my fingers in hers and sneak in a kiss. It was a quick kiss—our lips barely touched—but it still managed to give me butterflies. Annabeth was blushing a little bit, but she was giving me the "look." It annoyed me, because she knew it made my heart race, and she had no qualms using it against me.

Annabeth playfully pushed me off of her and stood up. "Get dressed," she laughed.

"You sure you don't want to watch?" I chuckled quietly to myself, remembering her walking in on me getting dressed the other day. I didn't think she'd heard me, but she paused at the door.

"You're getting gutsy," she muttered, and then headed out towards the kitchen. But I was sure I caught her smile and blush a little more.

Feeling a little satisfied, I got up, showered, and threw on some jeans and a T-shirt, tied the small band around my ankle and my camp necklace around my neck. Then I made my own way to the kitchen. I was starving.

I found my mom washing dishes while Annabeth ate a sandwich that had been cut into two triangular halves. "Can I have a sandwich?" I asked, my stomach growling.

Annabeth glanced at me. "Don't be lazy," she smirked. "Go make your own."

I pretended to pout as my mom laughed. I was happy Annabeth and I were getting along again, and possibly as more than friends. I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and rested my chin on the top of her head.

She stopped eating and giggled, attempting to look up at me. "Can you get off?" she laughed. "I'm trying to eat my lunch. And you haven't even eaten breakfast yet."

I shrugged. "You can still eat; I'm not keeping you from that. And technically," I added, "Breakfast is just your first meal of the day. So…this will count as my breakfast." Before she could protest, I grabbed the uneaten half of her sandwich and took a bite.

"Hey!" Annabeth stood and tried to take it back, but I held it up out of her reach. I was thankful for the few inches I'd gained over her. "Come on, Percy, give it back!"

"You want it back?" I teased, taking another bite and filling my mouth with food, so my next words were warped. "You sure?"

"Percy, give her back her sandwich," my mom laughed.

Annabeth punched me on the shoulder. "Yeah, kelp-for-brains," she agreed.

"I haven't eaten anything yet!" I protested. "Someone forgot to wake me up in time for breakfast." I glared at Annabeth. "And besides, isn't breakfast like, the most important meal of the day or something?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes, which gleamed like silver. "Yeah, but you're sixteen. Make your own breakfast instead of stealing mine."

"No need to be stingy," I laughed, finishing off the sandwich and brushing the crumbs off my hands. "You haven't finished that half." I pointed to the sandwich still on the plate. Annabeth sighed and sat back down. I sat next to her.

My mom dried her hands on a dishtowel and glanced at us. "So, are you kids going out today?" she asked.

Annabeth and I looked at each other. "Well," Annabeth said, "I mean, I'm going back home tonight. I promised my brothers."

I had totally forgotten about that. My heart sank a bit; just when the weekend was starting to get better, Annabeth had to leave. I didn't want to go back to the awkward in-between phase we'd been stuck in for almost a year. "What time are you leaving?" I asked her.

She shrugged, staring out the window with a wistful expression on her face. "Not too late," she said. "We have school tomorrow."

"Ugh, don't remind me about school," I groaned.

"Why don't you guys go to Central Park?" Paul's voice came from the living room. "It's really nice outside right now."

Annabeth and I looked at each other. "Why not?" I said.

So Annabeth and I found ourselves taking a walk through Central Park, watching joggers and kids flying kites and playing soccer. From where we were, I could see the lake. It sparkled in the sunlight as a bunch of different couples rowed out on it.

Annabeth caught me staring at it. "You want to go," she said with a smile. It wasn't a question; it was a statement of observation.

"Is it that obvious?" I smirked.

She playfully bumped me with her hip. "Told you I can see it in your eyes," she reminded me. Then, when she thought I wouldn't notice, she threaded her fingers through mine. It made my hand tingle all the way up my arm to my shoulder.

"Then what are we waiting for, Wise Girl?" Hand-in-hand we made our way to the lake.

I led Annabeth over to the boat rental. I'd actually only done this one other time, with my mom when I was eight, and I wasn't sure if the guy at the front desk would even let two teenagers rent a boat by themselves. I got up to pay the rental with Annabeth by my side, and the guy asked how old we were.

"Uh, sixteen," I answered honestly.

He nodded, smiling. "Alright," he chuckled, handing us two lifejackets. "You guys have an hour with the boat."

Annabeth smiled back. "Thanks," she said, and took the lifejackets from him.

"No problem." Then he looked at me and lowered his voice. "You dating her?" he asked me.

I hesitated, blushing. Technically the answer was no, but I wanted the answer to be yes. So I gave a nervous laugh and said, "Hopefully after this I will be."

The dude gave a wink as I turned to leave. "Go get her," he chuckled.

"Thanks," I said over my shoulder, feeling awkward but kind of confident as well.

After I helped Annabeth into the boat, I set aside the lifejackets. "One of the advantages of being with me," I told her, "is that you never need lifejackets."

Annabeth laughed. She had such a cute laugh; it was hard not to laugh with her.

I willed the currents of the lake to carry us along as we talked. At one point I asked her about her leg injury from her hellhound fight a few days ago.

She looked a little surprised that I'd remembered that, and she glanced down at her leg, which now had two long pink scars where she had gotten bitten. "It's a lot better now, obviously," she said, shrugging. "I'd almost forgotten about it."

"Yeah…" I stared off, trying to think of how to fill the imminent awkward silence. "You know, all weekend we've been arguing over answers to questions you've asked me."

Annabeth looked at me warily, but she didn't say anything.

"But I haven't had a chance to ask you any questions," I pointed out.

The wariness only became more evident on her face. "Ask whatever you want," she said, but I thought I could sense her mental shields getting ready to go up.

I took a deep breath. I had a question that had been bothering me for the longest time, but I'd been reluctant to ask for fear of opening up another box of hurt. "About Luke," I started, and Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"What?" she sighed, exasperated.

"Last summer, when you said you didn't…love him," I continued, feeling a little guilty for bringing it up, "what did you mean by that? When we first met, you looked like you had a crush on him."

Her cheeks went pink. She took a while to answer. "I mean…a middle school crush," she finally admitted. "I'd grown up with him; he took care of me. But I was never, like, in love with him. In the end, he was like my brother, okay?"

I nodded, feeling slightly relieved.

Annabeth stared at the water. "Anymore questions about past crushes that we need closure for? Because I feel like I'm getting emotional whiplash from this whole weekend."

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

She gave another sigh of frustration. "I mean, where exactly are we going, if we're going anywhere? We went from friendly, to arguing, to kissing…and back to talking about old crushes again?" She shook her head. "What happened? I thought…well, since last summer…" Her voice trailed off and her eyes found the water again.

I felt the same way she did. When summer ended, I thought we'd be going on dates, holding hands in the school hallways, sneaking kisses on the stairwells, or something. But it seemed like we were stuck in the Flirty Friend Zone. "I guess…I don't know," I murmured. "I mean, we've been friends for so long, I guess I didn't know how to be, like, more than that. Though I wanted to be," I added quickly, and immediately I felt uncomfortably hot.

Annabeth was suppressing a smile. "Maybe we can…still get a late start?" she suggested.

My heart was racing, and I blinked. My throat felt dry, but I managed, "All these leftover feelings are getting in the way. Luke, Calypso…any other girl I might have crushed on or guy you might have crushed on."

Annabeth shrugged. "I think I can manage to hang on to you," she said quietly, giving me the "look" again.

"You're a girl of your word," I told her. "You did mention that you'd never make my life easy."

"And I keep my word," she whispered. "So when I say I can hold onto you, I mean it."

At that moment I felt like Eric in The Little Mermaid—sitting in a rowboat on the lake, staring at the beautiful girl in front of me. Sha-la-la-la-la-la my, oh my, is this boy too shy? I asked myself. I could hear the whispers of the tiny fish in the lake. They could hear my thoughts just as well as I could hear theirs, so they knew exactly what I was thinking about. And they were encouraging me. Come on, come on! Kiss her, kiss her!

I smiled. Looking at Annabeth, her blond curls falling perfectly over her shoulder, owl earrings gleaming in the sunlight, gray eyes sparkling like silver, I thought to myself, This boy's definitely going to kiss the girl.

And I did, offhandedly hoping that no electric eels would tip our boat over and ruin the moment.

Annabeth's POV

It was sunset when we finally left Central Park. I honestly didn't want to leave, because I finally felt like we had moved on from being just friends, especially after Percy kissing me that morning and then again on the lake. It was like he already considered me his girlfriend. Not that I objected, but it was making him a lot braver.

We walked home hand-in-hand, and I knew we looked like a real couple. Maybe we were a real couple. I couldn't help smiling the entire way back to the apartment. I thought, maybe I could be a little more mature and not let past stuff bother me…especially if the reward is getting the chance to date Percy. Because it was out in the open for pretty much everyone—I liked Percy. I'd always thought he was cute and funny, and he had the biggest heart of anyone I've ever met. Who wouldn't want a boyfriend like that? And now, I might have finally gotten one.

Once we were inside, I started to pack my stuff to go home. Percy just sat on his bed, watching me with a hint of sadness on his face. When I was finished, I shouldered my duffle bag and made my way to the kitchen. It was about six-thirty.

Percy's mom and stepdad were in the living room watching TV. When they saw me, they both got up. "Are you leaving already, Annabeth?" Ms. Jackson asked me.

I nodded. "Yeah," I sighed. "I told my little brothers I'd be back by Sunday night."

Percy threw an arm around my shoulder. "Can't stay for dinner?" he offered, wearing his hopeful face.

I shook my head. "I better get going. Probably should eat dinner with my family anyway, you know?"

His face fell a little bit, but he nodded. "Okay. I'll drop you off…if you want me to."

I raised an eyebrow. "You can drive?" I asked him.

He smirked. "You didn't know?" He dug into his pocket and brought out his license. "Ta-da," he sang proudly.

I laughed. "I don't know if I trust you as my driver, Seaweed Brain," I teased.

He leaned in close to me, the smirk showing no sign of going away soon. "I'm an excellent driver," he assured me. "Now, come on."

"Fine," I said. "Thank you so much for everything!" I called over my shoulder to the adults as I headed out the door.

Before Percy closed it, I heard back, "Any time, Annabeth!"

Walking down the hallway, I felt a sense of sadness, which didn't make any logical sense, because I'd be seeing Percy again tomorrow at school, and every day after that, and I'd see him again at camp over the summer. It wasn't like he was going anywhere, and it wasn't like I was going anywhere. I tried to ask myself why I was sad, but I didn't have an answer.

It turns out that Percy actually was a decent driver. He got us to my house in Brooklyn in one piece. He walked me up to my door, and through the windows I could see my dad was waiting. So he hadn't forgotten my promise, either. He was anxious for me to come home, too. He'd cared enough to wait for me.

We stopped in front of the door, but my dad didn't open it. I guess he could tell when teenagers needed some privacy. I smiled at Percy. "Thanks a lot," I told him, and wrapped my arms around him. "For everything."

"No problem, Wise Girl," he murmured in my ear. It felt great to have his arms around me again. My stomach was full of butterflies, but when he pulled away, I kept my arms around his neck, and I leaned in and kissed him one more time.

When I pulled away this time, Percy was blushing but wearing that shy smile I found so adorable. "So…" he whispered. "…does this mean we're not…just friends anymore?"

"I think so," I whispered back.

Percy chuckled as he let go of my waist and headed back to his car. Before he opened the driver-side door, though, he called back to me. "Hey, Annabeth?"

"Yeah?"

He looked at the ground for a moment, then back at me. "Would you like to go out Friday night?"

I couldn't help the giggle that escaped my mouth. I pretended to think about it, just to tease him, but of course I nodded. "Sure," I called back. "I'd like that very much."

I caught him beaming as he drove away, and I made my way back to my home sweet home.

Dad hugged me, and so did my brothers. "You kept your promise!" Matthew exclaimed.

"Yeah," Bobby agreed. "Usually you don't come back for months."

I sighed, messing up their hair. "Yeah, well, I'm back," I said.

"Good to have you back, Annabeth," Dad said.

My stepmom came into the room, arms folded. We just looked at each other for a few seconds. Finally, she said, "I'm glad you came back, Annabeth."

I nodded, not sure what to say to her. I decided on, "Me too, I guess."

"Did you enjoy yourself at your friend's house?" she asked.

That's when the twins shared a glance and laughed. "Her boyfriend, you mean," Bobby corrected.

"We saw you out there, making out with him," Matthew laughed.

I frowned, blushing. "We weren't making out," I told them. "We just…kissed. That's all."

"But you don't deny that he's your boyfriend," Bobby said.

I shook my head. "Nope. I don't deny it at all."

"Ohhhh!" they cheered, and started chanting, "Annie's got a boyfriend! Annie's got a boyfriend!"

But I didn't mind too much. And for the first time in years, my family and I enjoyed a dinner together, just talking and no arguing. I guess I was just in a good mood. Because I had a date with the son of Poseidon on Friday.

So thank you all so much for reading and reviewing this story! No joking, I got the idea for this story 3 YEARS AGO. I remember writing it in this little notebook, and I think PixieKindOfCrazy told me I should write it. And I've finally finished it. My first multi-chapter story, complete. BTW thanks Pixie for beta-ing when you could. ^_-

You guys are awesome, and I really appreciate the love…and the patience. Especially the patience. But this story was so very fun to write and I hope it was as fun to read.

Thank you so much,

~Mandi2341