The List | Percabeth AU [ORIGINAL]

Chapter 23

Annabeth

"We should talk," I told Percy as I sat down in the chair next to him. His expression grew worried.

"Yeah," he coughed. "We should."

"Class! It's time to present!" Mr. Brunner announced excitedly. His dark eyes were gleaming with enthusiasm while he was frantically gesturing for all the groups to quiet down.

Part of me wanted to just let Percy win the fight so we wouldn't have to present, but competitive Annabeth didn't want to back down.

Mr. Brunner's eyes scanned around the room, searching for a group that would cause the most entertainment. Finally, they landed on Percy and me.

Dammit.

He gestured to us, "Why don't you guys go? I'm sure this will be a great presentation to start with."

I gave Mr. Brunner my best death glare and made my way up to the front of the class. He even seemed a little frightened which earned me a quick surge of satisfaction.

"Well, I'm going to be acting as Athena and Percy will be Poseidon. We all know Athena won in the end, so just keep that fact in the back of your mind when you all vote," I said, focusing on every one of my classmates. I already knew I frightened them. What harm could it do to intimidate them a little more?

"Action!" Mr. Brunner called from the back of the room. He was kicked back in Percy's seat with his legs up on his desk and was indulging in popcorn that Leo had passed out.

"I want some fans, so I'm just going to stroll up to the capital of Attica on the Greek mainland. Maybe I'll get a statue dedicated to me, or even better: souvenir t-shirts!" Percy tried for a cheerful tone. I could tell he wasn't thrilled to be here. Maybe I should have waited to try to talk to him until after the presentation. I couldn't afford getting anything less than a perfect score on this, and I wasn't sure Percy could pull it together for 5 more minutes.

"Um, Percy, you just have to state your argument," Mr. Brunner interrupted.

"I know what I'm doing. I'm just setting the scene," Percy said while crossing his arms. I fought the urge to laugh at his short temper and sass. Our crowd, on the other hand, didn't. Snickers were heard around the room at Percy's feisty tone.

"Anyways," Percy continued while walking into the center of the room, "Behold! I am Poseidon, here to become the patron of your city!" Percy raised his arms in the air to add exaggeration.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, feigning shock. We all knew the story. Apparently, Athena showed up just a few seconds before Poseidon arrived.

"Well this is awkward..." Percy trailed off. That earned a few laughs from our crowd.

"I know how to settle this," I offered.

"Okay, so what's your idea?" Percy grumbled, following our script. Despite his angered mood, he seemed to soften up by now and was finally getting into character.

"A contest," I started, "You and I will each create one gift for the city. The elders will judge between them. Whichever god gives the city the most valuable gift will be the patron."

Percy rubbed his nonexistent beard in consideration, "whatever. I'll go first." Then, he threw his hands up and acted as if he was morphing water to his will. His eyes were wide an with intense gaze. Oddly, his eyes looked brighter than ever. I thought he looked kind of frightening, but the class couldn't take Percy seriously. He earned even more laughs from his ridiculous stance. Leave it to Percy to try to be the class clown.

"Behold! A horse! It's capable of pulling pretty much anything! They are strong and fast, and will even let you ride them!" Percy bellowed, his voice filling the room.

Now it was my turn to act like a complete idiot. I raised one hand from my side and acted as if an olive branch had grown in the spot.

Percy raised his eyebrow at the imaginary tree. "What the Hades is that?"

I announced, "It's an olive tree."

"That's so stupid. We all know who won here. Horses are so useful! Athena set Poseidon up to fail," Percy exclaimed, breaking character. I glared at him and silently begged him to finish acting before going all crazy.

"You," I said, glaring at him. But Percy wouldn't meet my gaze. "Weren't thinking. Clearly, I outsmarted you."

"Athena literally gave Athens an olive branch. I just don't understand why they would have chosen her," Percy continued, growing angry. I fought the urge to slap some sense into him.

Then, I did something completely out of character for me.

"Well, at least she got them something! Unlike someone," I snapped. By Percy's hurt reaction, I immediately regretted it. How was it fair that I was pissed about him not getting me a gift when I didn't even get one for him?

"Maybe I panicked!" He defended himself. "How was I supposed to know what I was supposed to get you? In case you didn't notice, but you're so hard to please." My anger at him returned. How dare he say that about me?

"You're just making excuses, but the truth is that you're a coward, Percy!" I practically shrieked.

"Er, for some reason, I'm starting to think this isn't about Poseidon and Athena anymore," I heard Chiron interrupt. He was no longer lounging back in his seat; currently, he was wearing a conflicted expression that seemed to scream: Well, I should probably stop this before it escalates too much...but I really love teenage drama.

That's when I remembered that it wasn't just Percy and me fighting. There were 20 other students and one teacher staring at us in deep interest. I knew they all wanted to know what was going on between Percy and me. It seemed like it was every day that some jealous girl would send me evil looks or innocently ask me if he dumped me already.

I glanced at the front row where most of my friends in the class were sitting. They were all sharing looks of concern.

Jason mouthed: 'Are you okay?'

I wasn't.

The rest of the class, however, looked eager to see what would happen next. Somehow, they each got bags of popcorn. For a few torturous seconds, all that was heard around the class was the crunch of the popcorn bags.

I panicked.

And fled.

Tears streamed down my face as I left the classroom in a hurry. What's gotten into me? I was never this girl. I was never the girl who had mental breakdowns in front of others. Hell, I didn't even show an ounce of emotion at school. Why now?

Then I found my answer when I passed Percy's locker. It was covered from top to bottom with love letters, and I tried in vain to fight down the fits of jealously.

That's why.

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The Poseidon/Athena role-play was based off of a short story in "Percy Jackson's Greek Gods." It's such a funny book, I definitely recommend.

So, this leads to my question of the day: What is your favorite Rick Riordan book?

Personally, I love any of the OG PJ books. Also, the MCGA and HOO series are amazing. I can't decide! TOA is also up there...