soulmates ⋮ heroes of olympus au

fourteen.

P e r c y

☼

"So...are we meeting up after school?"

Annabeth looked up from her book, surprised at Percy's sudden question after the two had been reading quietly for so long. Most of the class were talking with their friends, not really wanting to do the work that Paul – Mr. Blofis – had set out for them. Annabeth, however, had dived immediately into her reading, which almost forced Percy to do his work as well because that meant he had no one else to talk to.

"Are we meeting up after school?" Percy repeated when she didn't get an answer. "And if so, your place or mine?"

Annabeth thought about the questions for a second. "My step-mom shouldn't be home, so we can head over to mine."

"Woah, woah, woah, Annabeth," Percy teased as he sent her an overexaggerated wink. "Don't you think we're moving too fast? I mean, I haven't even asked you out on a date yet."

Annabeth punched him in the arm for the comment, but Percy couldn't help but notice that she looked like she was about to laugh. "Stop it. I just don't want you to have to meet my step-mom."

After she mentioned that, her small smile fell and Percy suddenly felt bad for Annabeth. "We could always work at my house," Percy offered in an attempt to make her feel better.

Shaking her head, Annabeth let out an awkward chuckle that didn't make Percy feel any better. "No, no, it's fine. Don't worry about it."

Percy didn't believe her in the slightest, but he didn't really want to press into the issue. He didn't want Annabeth freaking out on him and closing off even more, basically ruining any chance that Percy had of getting to know her.

Annabeth put down her book and pulled out her grey spiral notebook, and Percy almost wanted to laugh when he saw her neat notebook next to his battered black and white composition book. "So...have you come up with your argument yet?" She asked Percy.

"Figured it out last night," Percy answered in a proud voice, and Annabeth couldn't help but crack a smile. "Athena was way too harsh towards Arachne."

Annabeth scoffed, and Percy raised an eyebrow. "You're kidding, right? It was so stupid for her to challenge a goddess. Arachne totally deserved what was coming for her."

"Deserved to get turned into a spider?"

The two began to debate back and forth so much that they didn't notice Mr. Blofis had called the class to attention. Despite the classroom going nearly silent, Annabeth and Percy continued to argue, not wanting to stop until one of them was proved right.

Annabeth was the first to realize how silent the classroom was, and just as Percy was about to claim that he won the debate, he noticed too. The pair looked awkwardly around the giggling classroom.

"You two done over there?" Someone in the back of the classroom called out, causing Annabeth's cheeks to burn bright red and Percy to duck his head out of embarrassment.

"As entertaining as this is," Mr. Blofis said, looking as if he was about to laugh beside all of his students. "We need to get to discussing the first couple chapters of The Scarlet Letter."