Annabeth's Boarding Tale

The Next Day

Annabeth and Piper collapsed in their beds, each releasing a heavy sigh.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Annabeth asked whilst still looking directly above her,

"No." Piper replied sharply, also staring at the ceiling "Do you?"

"Nothing to talk about"

Piper smiled, "I'm here when you're ready"

Annabeth was glad Piper didn't push or question her when she said there was nothing to talk about. "Piper?"

"Yeah?"

"I appreciate what you did for me tonight"

"That's what friends do"

Annabeth smiled and fell asleep in her army clothes to the sound of all of their friends outside enjoying the celebration.

'WAKE UP ITS A BEAUTIFUL MORNING' was the lyrics Annabeth woke up to in the morning- Piper's alarm. Piper argued that it woke her up better and made her feel positive about the day ahead-it made Annabeth's mood worse. How could it possibly be a good morning after what happened yesterday? Reluctantly she slipped on some light blue denim shorts with a plain white tee and pulled her blonde hair into a high bun and walked downstairs for breakfast with Piper- who was sporting the same style. They walked into the canteen, each grabbing a freshly squeezed orange juice and a bowl of cereal and walked outside to sit on one of the benches with the sun shining on it. They were enjoying their breakfast in peace when Leo approached them with his breakfast alongside Hazel and the guy Annabeth believed to be Frank.

"You look like s**t" Piper said as Leo went to sit down next to her, Hazel and the other guy sat next to Annabeth.

"It was a late one last night Pipes, you would have loved it" Leo expressed,

"There will be plenty more parties Leo" Piper replied casually bumping him

"Where is the champ anyway?" Annabeth asked before putting a spoonful of Cheerios into her mouth,

"Getting his beauty sleep" Hazel remarked

"And Jason?" Piper questioned

"He's out like a light" said the boy who had a large but stocky frame. This guy styled a babyish face with brown eyes and black short hair. Annabeth was studying his features carefully and she was suddenly aware of this and looked away but Piper had seen her and decided to formally introduce them. "Oh gods, you two haven't been introduced! Annabeth this is Frank, Jason's roommate and a good friend, Frank this is Annabeth, newest member of the gang and my roommate". Annabeth glanced over and gave him a small shy wave and a smile, he did more of a casual salute.

Once they had all finished their breakfast and had a bit more of a chat, they made their way back to their rooms to get ready for the day ahead of them.

"Are you going to talk to him today?" Piper called out from looking in the wardrobe,

Annabeth held a book in her hand and was weighing out her options as to whether it would fit in her bag or not.

"I haven't given it much thought" she replied. She was lying. She couldn't think about anything else. Instead she opted to go the library and stick her head in books all day. "Are you going to talk to Jason?"

Piper popped her head round the oak wardrobe door and glared at Annabeth, Annabeth couldn't help but laugh. Piper grabbed a blue basic playsuit and chucked it on the bed, "You know lessons don't start until Thursday... It's only Tuesday... Where are you going with those books?"

"I like to be prepared so I'm going to do some light reading"

"That's light reading?"

Annabeth nodded and walked towards the door with her bag slung over a shoulder, "See you later" and with that, she left.

Annabeth found her way to the library with only one small mishap, she remembered to go down the stairs and take a couple of rights but she couldn't remember which right was the correct right so she took the first door which turns out is the swimming pool and she thought she saw Percy get out of the pool so immediately ran into another room which turned out to be the library. She walked past the librarian, an elderly woman with a round wrinkled face and light grey hair and gave a polite smile, who in return gave her the look of death. There were a few people scattered around, sitting down in groups or sitting down the aisles trying to find books. Annabeth went to the back of the library and found a round table with a few chairs and set her stuff down. She got her first book out; The History of the Greeks. She was reading about the legends- her favourite legend was Perseus vs Medusa. He overcomes all obstacles to defend his family. He proves himself as honourable and valiant, calm and clever and he values family above all else. Annabeth admired his will to fight for what he wants to protect.

Annabeth was so deep in reading about Perseus that she didn't realise someone had sat opposite her until she felt a presence a few pages later. Her eyes looked across and could see the same page being read by someone else, her eyes then looked at the hands and carried on scanning upwards until she started to recognise features, the pale pink lips, the slightly pointed nose with a few freckles. Then she saw the eyes and stopped dead in her tracks, she recognised those sea green eyes, she could identify them within seconds. It was Percy.

"Hi" he whispered,

She politely smiled back at him and returned to her book, still being confused about yesterday she wasn't ready to talk to him

"I think I was named after him you know" he nodded at the book where there was a drawing of Perseus,

She looked back at him and whispered "I think he's my favourite hero" she couldn't help herself, he had started a conversation about a topic that she loved and if she loves to talk about something it's hard to stop her from talking about it.

"Why?"

There were so many reasons why she liked this story but she couldn't figure out why it was her favourite, "I suppose it's his loyalty" she twists the truth; it's why she likes the story not why it's her favourite, "I admire how he fights for his family, majority of the other Greek heroes fight for themselves or to impress the gods or for love, but he does it to protect his mum"

"Isn't he trying to prove himself to Zeus-his father and doesn't he fall in love with Andromeda?"

Annabeth paused, a little taken back that Percy actually knew the story and wasn't pretending to try and make conversation, he sat back in his chair enjoying the fact that Annabeth hadn't responded,

"That's..." She paused "Ergh" she was unresponsive so she returned to the book,

Percy smiled. He leant forward and locked his hands together twiddling his thumbs and looked around him like he was checking no one could hear them, his smile had faded and was replaced with a concerned look "So.. Err... Why didn't you celebrate last night?"

Annabeth lifted her head up ever so slightly that she could look at him, he looked worried and Annabeth couldn't help but smile but she didn't let him see it , "Just didn't feel like it" she said as she lent back in her chair, trying to play it cool.

He didn't look convinced with the answer, the worry hadn't disappeared from his face,

"Oh really?"

"Yeah and Piper wanted to go back"

"Ok good, I didn't want it to be because of-"

"Because of you? Don't go thinking all high and mighty of yourself Mr Jackson" Annabeth smirked, she wasn't going to tell him the truth, not yet anyway.

Percy let out a light laugh, Annabeth knew that he still believed it was because of him so she decided to clear the air

"Nothing happened between us Percy"

He looked wounded by that but Annabeth couldn't figure out why, he had a girlfriend. Oh god he's got a girlfriend, she needed to leave.

"I've got to go" she pushed the chair back and started grabbing her stuff, he stood up and she stopped and they looked into each other's eyes,

"I still don't know your name"

"Annabeth, Annabeth Chase"

"See you tonight Annabeth"

"Why what's happening tonight?"

Percy smirked "You'll have to wait and see"