Nancy is that you?

PERCY POV

He runs for his life.

You'd think that after fulfilling the prophecy that would've either destroyed or saved mount Olympus, the gods or the fates or whatever would have given him a break from all the monsters and near- death experiences.

Naturally, he was wrong.

Monsters still hate him, and he is still being chased by all kinds of ugly looking mythical creatures that scream for his blood.

I mean, how hard can it be to give an extremely worn out and tired sixteen year old guy a chance to relax when he's just saved the world from entire destruction?

Of course, it isn't that he hates being a demigod. Sure, monsters come by to try and eat you every now and then, but he loves Camp Half- Blood and the thrill of the quests. There are other perks to being a demigod too. For one, there's Annabeth.

Where is she, anyway? He doesn't know. She probably got held back by some of the monsters. She had told him to go on without her first, but Percy isn't too worried. He knows she'll be alright.

He runs into the shopping mall. It's a really crowded place that's full of mortals, so the monsters would have to struggle through the tons of mortal to get to him, which obviously would buy him some time.

The chill air makes the sweat at the back of his neck cold. He shivers.

No time to waste. The monsters are going to find him soon. So he continues to run, which probably wasn't such a good idea because of the crowd.

Someone knocks into him. His vision blurs, but manages to catch a flash of red.

He mentally groans. Another redhead he's run into in the midst of running from monsters.

"Watch where you're going, you idiot." She snaps. Her cheek is red from the impact when his shoulders ran into the left side of her face.

Mortals.

Percy looks up at the girl. She looks about his age- 16,17? She is slim, with her long red hair tied into a high ponytail, and is with her friends too- shopping, he can guess from the shopping bags. Her cheeks are sprinkled with freckles and he thinks she's more like a ginger than A Rachel type of redhead. She's cute- in a way.

Her friends have their mouths wide open at him.

The girl rubs her cheek with an annoyed look on her face. "Thanks for running into me, by the way, now my face hurts. What's wrong with you? Don't you pay any attention to anything?" She demands.

He frowns. "Look, I've got to go. I don't have time to explain, but because I ran into you, I've kind of been slowed down so-"

"Are you saying that it's my fault that you literally ran into me?"

"That's not what I-"

"Oh, I know what you meant." She scoffs. "Jerk."

Maybe if he just apologizes for running into her he can go.

He opens his mouth to say something, but stops mid- sentence. He cocks his head sideways and frowns again. She looks familiar, but he can't seem to put his finger on it…

"Don't I know you from somewhere? I don't know, it just seems like I've seen you around before…" He tells her.

"Oh my god," One friend giggles. "He's trying to flirt his way out of this!"

"That is so cute." Another agrees.

"Yeah, that kind of manipulation doesn't ever work on Nancy." The third agrees.

Okay, so her name is Nancy. Funny, though. She has the same first name as Nancy Bobofit, and even looks like her. And even acts like her.

The thought takes a moment to register in his head. Two and a half seconds later, he groans. "Nancy? As in Nancy Bobofit?"

"Yeah, why?"

He gapes at her.

"He knows your name!" The second friend swoons. "And he's hot."

Percy pretends not having heard what she said.

"So…" He says casually. "How's the kleptomania?"

Her face momentarily flusters. "How do you even know that?"

"Kleptomania? Isn't that like… an addiction to stealing?" The first friend gasps. "Are you a robber or something?"

Nancy rolls her eyes. "No, Kaitlyn, I am not-"

"Do you still eat peanut butter and ketchup sandwiches?" Percy laughs.

"Eww." The third friend shudders.

"I do not!" She fumes. "Well, at least not anymore."

She glares at him. "How do you know so much about me? We've just met." She starts to study him. "Although… you do look familiar."

He grins. "Just an old friend," He pauses. "Well, by friend, I mean not friend."

Her eyes narrow.

Percy hears somebody running up from behind. "Percy!" He hears Annabeth yell. "What. Exactly. Are. you . Doing?" She demands. "The monsters are still after us! I managed to slow them down a little by leading them into a little detour, but they're going to find out soon! And you've been here talking to mortals?"

He notices how she has some cuts on her face, and quite a gash on her forehead. His eyes widen. "You're hurt…"

"I know," she takes out her dagger, annoyed. "Which is why we have to go!" Annabeth pulls him by the arm.

He nods. "Look, Nancy. I really don't have time, so I've got to-"

"Wait…" She frowns. "First of all, monsters? What happened to her?" She points at Annabeth. "And second, Percy? As in, Percy Jackson?" She gasps. "You're Percy? The one who pushed me into the fountain and ended up getting kicked out of Yancy Academy? Where's that friend of yours… Grover, isn't it? Odd name he's got."

"Yeah, Grover. He's still around. Still my best friend."

"Seriously?" She raises an eyebrow.

"Seriously."

Nancy focuses her attention on Annabeth. "Who's the girl?" She asks.

"Annabeth," She grits her teeth. "His girlfriend."

"Who would've thought you'd get a girlfriend, Jackson."

"Who would've thought you'd have friends." He retorts.

She purses her lips. "It's been pretty long, like, what? Five years?"

"Something like that."

She supresses a smile. "It was nice to see you, Percy."

He shrugs. "You too, Nancy. You've gotten cooler, I guess. Still pretty mean- but cooler." He looks at Annabeth. "Yeah... we've got to run."

She rolls her eyes. "I still have no idea what you guys were talking about- monsters? But yeah," She smiles. "See you."

So they run.