Annabeth's Boarding Tale

Mystery Blonde

The rest of the day went pretty fast, Annabeth sat next to Silena in psychology. It followed the same routine as her history lesson; the teacher introduced herself and the sub topics for the term.

At lunch she was quiet, lost in her thoughts - no one noticed when she slipped away early. Annabeth couldn't help but wonder about Luke - why wasn't it a good idea that Percy's cousin joined them?

On her way out of her maths lesson Annabeth noticed a tall blonde leaning on the wall opposite

"Luke?"

He looked up and beamed

"Annabeth! Just the girl I was waiting for"

All the other students carried on walking whilst she hung back in the middle of the corridor.

"Me?" She asked

"Wait... You are Annabeth Chase? The hot girl I tried to push in the pool?"

"That's me"

She started walking down the corridor ignoring the fact he had just called her hot, he caught up with her and grinned

"Listen what are you doing now?"

She bluntly responded "I'm on my way to English"

Luke's icy blue eyes showed disappointment "Oh ok" he grumbled,

"Don't you have a lesson to get to?" She queried

Luke turned his head at her as they took a left down the corridor,

"You worried about me getting in trouble Chase?"

"Something like that"

"Don't you worry about me"

Annabeth smiled "I'll try not to".

They walked in silence until they reached the classroom, she went to open the door but saw that the class had already begun. She spun around to tell Luke but he was already at the bottom of the corridor and before she could call out to him, he went through a set of double doors. Annabeth sighed, turned back to the classroom and knocked on the door before entering and apologising.

Annabeth had finished her school day and she felt like a ton of weight had been lifted off her shoulders. However, at the same it felt like a shackle with a weighted ball had been strapped to her ankle with Luke scribbled all over it. She had a bad feeling about him. Yet she wasn't sure if this was due to instinct or because of Percy saying that it wasn't a good idea. Annabeth wasn't one to judge from other people's opinions but somehow coming from Percy made her nervous.

She was on her way up the stairs when a body blocked her path,

"Excuse me" Annabeth said as she was looking down at her feet, she was too exhausted to see which arrogant arse was in front of her. When the body didn't move, she side stepped to the right and tried to go up but the body followed and blocked her route again.

"What the?-"

Annabeth looked up to be greeted by a familiar face, she sighed "Luke"

"You sure are cute when you're angry" he said with a cheeky grin

"Stand there much longer and you won't have eyes to see my cuteness"

Luke retreated to the side and held his hands in the air submissively.

As she passed she gave him a sarcastic smile and they made their way up the stairs

"Where are you going?" He asked

"My room to put all my books and everything away"

"Oh cool"

He shoved his hands in his front Jean pockets but had his thumbs sticking out at the top.

As they reached the top of the stairs, his left hand started scratching the back of his head, he continued to scratch it for maybe a 100m before he spoke

"Annabeth?"

She replied blankly, "Luke"

"What are you doing later?"

"How late is later?" Annabeth asked

"After dinner"

"Nothing I don't think"

"Do you want to...erm maybe... Hang out?"

Annabeth thought about it for a second but decided there would be no harm in agreeing

"Sure"

"Great! I'll meet you in the canteen about 8?"

Annabeth nodded. Luke beamed and nodded as well "Great! Well I'll catch you later then" and with that he walked back towards the stairs and down them without glancing back but Annabeth could hear him whistling. It wasn't until Annabeth reached her room that she realised Luke might consider this a date. Annabeth thought it was just 2 classmates hanging out but it occurred to her that he and others (if they found out) may actually point out that it's a date, with Percy's cousin. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to feel or how she did feel about that.

Annabeth found her room, room-mateless. Piper must still be on her way back from her lesson.

They had agreed to meet back in their room after their last lesson so they could gossip about their day and then go off for tea. Whilst she waited for her roommate to arrive, Annabeth pulled out her iPod, flopped on her bed and plugged her headphones in. She got up her favourite playlist 'Emotions'- it contained a mixture of all genres and artists to suit her every need. One moment she would be rocking out to Imagine Dragons and the next she would be crying to old school Beyoncé. She closed her eyes and started singing, she had plugged into the world of music and escaped reality.

That was until someone unplugged her headphones.

"Rebecca Black?! Friday?! Really Annabeth?!"

"You took so long I thought it was now Friday"

"I'm still judging and judging hard" Piper sounded serious.

Annabeth smirked "What took you so long anyway-" She sat up and saw Jason sitting on the bed opposite her, he made a guilty smile

"-Of course, I shouldn't have asked"

"So are you going to perform to the group later on or...?" Jason laughed.

Annabeth threw her pillow at him but he caught it with ease.

"I thought I was alone"

"You will be if you ever sing with people around again"

She made a disgusted face and turned to Piper

"Piper, say something to him"

Piper walked over to Jason and passionately kissed him, Annabeth rolled her eyes

"That is not saying something"

Piper pulled away with her eyes fixed on Jason's, "Now apologise to Annabeth or you won't be getting one again"

Annabeth grinned in triumph whilst Jason slouched back with an expression stating that he clearly thought this was unfair and mumbled "sorry".

Piper got up and say on the edge of Annabeth's bed,

"So what happened this morning?" She asked

Annabeth scrunched her face up in confusion

Piper rolled her eyes "You and Percy twitbrain"

Annabeth's eyes looked last Piper and at Jason who was sheepishly looking at the floor, Piper followed her gaze.

"Jason won't say a word. Will you Jason?"

Jason shook his head "I will not tell my best friend what my... Err..."

Piper lifted her eyebrows to see where he was going with this and Annabeth prayed he didn't screw up. Apparently he recognised that he had to tread lightly which made it harder for him to get his words out

"... my... Girl...'s... Best friend says about him"

Piper gave an approving look and Jason seemed relieved. Annabeth didn't believe what Jason said was intended to be comforting but somehow it was.

She sighed, "we walked to the classroom mostly in silence and once in there he suggested where I should I sit"

"Next to him?" Piper interrupted

"No in front one but to the right"

"Nice" Jason nodded his head approvingly as if admiring Percy's choice.

Piper turned to him, "What do you mean nice?"

Annabeth moved her head round the side slightly so she could Jason clearly,

"Oh...well...he's played it cool"

Both girls raise their eyebrows at him and he elaborates

"He can watch you without even realising it himself, he'll just find himself looking at you because you'll be in his eyeline. If you sat next to him, it would be obvious when he's looking at you and others may start to pick up in it. If you sat on the other side of the classroom people could mistake him for looking at them rather than at you. Where you sit now also means he can join in on a conversation. He's played it cool and I doubt he even realises it"

Piper tutted, "Whoever said love isn't like Chess clearly never experienced boarding school"

Annabeth wasn't sure how she felt about being in a chess match, were her and Percy opponents or were they chess pieces? Something she knew for certain was that she was still processing what Percy had told her after the seating incident and she wasn't ready to share that yet and she opted to keep that she was meeting with Luke later a secret too. Besides what if she was wrong about Luke and they really were just classmates hanging out tonight.