Half Blood High

Part 2 ~ Percabeth

Percy Jackson was the most popular boy in Half-Blood High. Since the first day he walked through the front doors, it was unanimous that he would be the most popular boy.

Percy was the fastest swimmer and owned the pool, no one dared to enter because he was the best. He was a natural leader, even the misfits would follow him. His only rival was his cousin, Jason Grace; both gave off the vibe of great leaders and everyone wanted them to run for class president, but neither wanted the job, so Reyna was always elected as class president and Frank was vice-president. The school paper loved to do reports on Percy and Jason, and the head reporter, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, was always interviewing them.

Percy was a wild one. He loved to go up to the hill that overlooked Half-Blood High with his cousins and their friend Piper. There was a big pine tree and they all carved their initials into it.

Thalia, Jason’s sister, carved a heart around her initials and then a big “x” over it.

“What’s that about sis?”

“I’m never going to fall in love.” Thalia turned to the school and screamed, “I’m never going to fall in love!”

Piper giggled. “You can’t really help that.” Piper’s parents were movie stars, so she thought she knew everything about love.

“Watch me.”

Percy and Jason couldn’t help laughing. Percy was standing a little to close to the edge, slipped, and rolled down the hill. His friends raced after him and took him to the nurse’s office.

When Percy awoke, there was a girl with long blonde hair and grey eyes looking down at him.

“Annabeth Chase.” Of course Percy knew her name. He was the most popular boy in school; he knew everyone’s names. Annabeth Chase was the smartest girl in Half-Blood High; her parents were professors and the local university and specialized in battle strategies and the arts.

Annabeth said only a few words in return. “You drool in your sleep.” She stood up and walked over to a nearby table. “Your friends said you had a nasty tumble down the hill. Grover patched you up and asked me to look after you. I was already volunteering, so it didn’t make much difference to me.”

Percy sat up. “Well, I should probably thank a pretty girl for doing that for me. You, me dinner, tomorrow night at the Delphi Strawberry Co. What do you say?”

Annabeth turned and smiled at him. “That’s very nice of you, but I’m seeing someone.”

Before Percy could argue with her about hospitality, his friends burst into the room.

“Percy! Cousin! How you doing?” Thalia may be the smallest of the group, but she had the most respect for people and their well-being.

“We were so worried about you.” Piper looked generally concerned; she may play up the tough girl who doesn’t care persona, but she’s always loyal to her friends.

“Come on! Let’s go somewhere!” Jason led Percy out of the room and the girls followed.

Annabeth said she had other business to attend to and headed the other way down the halls. Percy saw her start talking with a boy who placed his arm around her shoulder. They walked further away and Annabeth looked back before they headed out the door.

“Percy, hey Earth to Percy.” Jason moved his hand in front of Percy’s face.

“Who is the boy? I thought I knew everyone in school.”

“That’s because he’s a year ahead of me. His name is Luke Castellan; he graduated last year. He likes younger girls, even tried to date me at one point. Its times like this that I’m glad I’ve given up on love.” Percy and Jason had forgotten all about the blonde haired boy who kept coming around and trying to get Thalia’s attention the year before.

Annabeth liked Luke, but he was like an older brother to her. She would try and tell him so, but he would never listen. She had thought about calling it off, but he always showed up after school to drive her home.

Annabeth thought it wasn’t right to cheat on someone, but if you weren’t actually dating them in the first place.

Annabeth wasn’t a popular kid. She was a nerd, but she had spoken with a few of the lesser popular kids on occasion. She was even invited to one of their houses for a party one time, and that’s how she had first met Thalia. She knew where Thalia lived and headed over to that house about a half hour after Luke had left her house. There were cars everywhere outside and Annabeth figured a get together was going on.

Annabeth knocked on the door and Thalia opened it. “Oh, the smart one. I don’t really care if you have an invite or not; welcome to the party!” Thalia led Annabeth inside where tons of people where everywhere, all wanting to be at a popular girl’s house for a party. “Bathroom’s upstairs on the left. Drinks and food are in the kitchen. Have fun.” Thalia walked off into the crowd.

Annabeth wasn’t sure where to go; she had come to talk with Piper, if anyone knew about love, it was her, but she couldn’t see Piper anywhere.

“Didn’t expect to see you here, as you’re taken and all.”

Annabeth turned around to see the dark-haired boy with sea green eyes. “Oh, Hey Percy, about that, Luke and I aren’t exactly a couple. He doesn’t understand that I’m too young for him.”

Percy shrugged. “Then, I don’t see any problem with us hanging out.”

Annabeth and Percy talked all evening. People would come and go and they would find a new place to talk. At one point, they headed upstairs and accidentally walked in on Jason and Piper making out. They quickly left that room before things got awkward. Percy took Annabeth home late that night. Annabeth’s mother told Percy “to stay away from her daughter”, but neither of the kids were sure how well that would work.

Annabeth started to hang out with the popular kids more at school; she was with them at break time and lunch. After two weeks, she was able to transfer into their P.E. class. After three weeks, Percy and Annabeth were officially an item and after a month, Luke was finally out of her life, with some persuasion from Thalia.