Princesses, Punks, and One Problem.

Laughing Jack...Son

Annabeth took a deep breath of the fresh, but humid air. She'd taken a flight south to what appeared as a beautiful beach land, but was instead greeted by suffocating air, and the same city feel that clung to New York if you added a few palm trees. Another day had passed, well, in school terms. She loved learning new things, but she too enjoyed the freedom afternoons brought more. Most of what teachers taught the average college student she already knew.

Despite just stepping outside, her springy curls were already being weighed down and beginning to stick to the back of her neck. Thank whoever invented the ponytail. She stepped down the slightly weathered marble stairs of the main building, her eyes downcast on her stack of precisely labeled files and a lone book. She really was watching where she stepped, as this was still a public place, and she had not enjoyed last time when she'd gotten a wad of sticky green gum on the heel of her boot.

At this point, she planned on returning to the calm quiet, and air conditioned safety of her dormitory to do a bit of light reading before her nightly walks down the beach only a short five minutes away off campus. Florida was true to their word on the sand, it was godly! Soft, fine, white sand that made you want to bury your toes in the miniature dunes and just stare at the white crested rolling waves as they battle to the shore. She smiled, her eyes closing as she imagined the precise feeling of calm that overtook her.

And it most definitely was not the sensation of a battering ram hitting your shoulder, nor flailing over and slamming into the rough cement. Her eyes flew open as she slammed onto her wrists and elbows, scraping them painfully. She twisted her head, in time to duck her head as a skateboard went clattering into the rail on the left side of her, and flipped upside down. Turning the other way, and rocking back on her heels, she was greeted by the site of a boy dressed in all black, with black hair in a Mohawk and nice sea green eyes, sitting on the steps, a boyishly rude smirk spanning his features.

"Something to say?" She demanded, inspecting the damage inflicted by the cement on her arms. The skin was anywhere from light bleeding to simple scrapes that faded with a bit of water. She winced, gently touching her hand to the raw skin.

He rolled his eyes, "You got in the way of my board, what was I s'posed to do about that?"

"Um, what about move your board so it doesn't crack someone's skull open?!" The boy seemed rather ignorant, and Annabeth wasn't sure she liked his tone, and he ran into HER after all.

"I did move my board. Forwards. Where you shouldn't have been," He shrugged.

"Why shouldn't I have? This is a public campus, thank you very much, I have as much right to be here as you!" Self centered....

"Because I was here first... Practicing rail jumps, and one eighties, what do you think?"

"Class isn't let out until 3:15," She argued, standing up, feeling very cross with this boy who acted as if he owned the place.

He scoffed, "You actually go to all your classes?" He actually laughed. "Nerd." He laughed more.

It was Annabeth's turn to roll her eyes, "Sure, I'm definitely a nerd. All kids who don't ditch are nerds then?" That's what she said. But he wasn't really wrong. Annabeth had a 5.0 grade average, and participated in almost all of the school's events. She also had a social life though, as most of school came very easy to her, she didn't need to spend hours on her work. Not to mention her boyfriend, Luke Castellan, was the most popular guy in school, so naturally she was invited to almost every social event.

He groaned. "No, and if you could just hand me my board I could leave." He stood up expectantly.

"Like I'd do anything for you?" Annabeth asked, giving him her perfected 'are you serious' look.

"It's not for me, alone. If you give me my board then I can get out of here and let you proceed down the stairs in peace. But alright, fine." He sounded like he was told to go away often. Annabeth almost felt a pang of pity. Almost. But it didn't really surprise her what with the way he acted.

She was about to reach behind her back and grab his overturned board when a much more familiar voice cut in. "You got a problem, Jackson?" Annabeth turned to her right to see her boyfriend, Luke, ascending the steps. "Beating up my girl, like she's one of your cheap toys?"

The boy, maybe Jackson, crossed his arms. "Your girl might well've ruined my board with her oblivious walking!"

Annabeth looked between the two, they knew each other? And she also flushed a bit, she did have to admit it was pretty sad not to hear a boy on a skateboard coming in hot. At that thought she flushed even more, as she had used hot and that boy in a sentence together. It wasn't a lie though, if he dropped the hairdo and actually made an effort...

She stopped herself. She already had a boyfriend, a good one. Luke was a bit overprotective though, and sometimes she couldn't help but wish he'd let her fight her own battles sometimes. When she'd brought it up, he simply had told her his father hadn't been there for his mother, which was all that needed to be said, as Annabeth had met May Castellan. The poor woman was practically mental, screaming about visions and the future, and occasionally burned cookies.

"Your board? Is your board worth her life?" Luke demanded, standing in front of me like a shield.

"Oh for the love of God, who cares? She looks very alive to me." Jackson stated.

The two were like complete opposites. Luke had close cut sandy blonde locks, versus Jackson's long black. Blue to sea green eyes, deep tan to natural darkness, athletic to punk.

Luke growled something unrepeatable, and slammed his fist into the other boy's gut. Recovering quickly, he swung his into Luke's jaw. Before Luke could strike again, Annabeth lunged forward. "Stop! This is stupid, I'm fine," She looked at Luke, "And your precious board is just over there," She turned to Percy.

Still breathing hard, Punk Boy stalked over, keeping a wary eye on Luke, and snatched his board up. He stormed down the steps, and Luke turned to me. "Let's go to my place."

I frowned, "Actually-"

"No, I don't want him seeing where you live."

Annabeth frowned again, "Who is he anyway?"

"Percy Jackson, thinks he's better than life. Nothing is worth his time."

Percy Jackson. Annabeth could remember that name, after all, it was probably short for Perseus, who was one of her favorite Greek heroes. "I don't think it matters that much, what's he going to do?"

Luke wouldn't hear of it. He locked his arm around her shoulder, "Doesn't matter, and because. Let's just go, please?"

Even though he said please, there wasn't really an option. Without waiting for an answer, he steered Annabeth towards his premium dorm that he paid extra for.

TimelordUnicorn Tyvm for the help! ❤️❤️🤗