Memories (A PERCABETH AU)

Chapter 22- Skiving 101

(A/N): Warning: this chapter is INCREDIBLY long. It's so long, you might want to read it in two sittings, I don't know, lol.

It's mainly just because I've written in so much dialogue between Percy and Annabeth.

I'm trying to keep the intro and outro short just so the word count doesn't fly through the roof.

Annabeth POV

Tuesday 15th September

I was shoved behind the long line of impatient students as they queued up to get on the school bus. I had long since gotten used to being treated like this so I didn't really care. It had taken one day for everyone to forget all about me again. Which I guess was a good thing. I was starting to become invisible again and, admittedly, as much as I'm ashamed to admit it, I felt relieved and calm for once. I no longer felt like everything I did was being observed by everyone around me or that every word or action I carried out would be mentally recorded by someone.

I was okay being alone though and what was even better was that we were going to visit the new Greek and Roman galleries at the Metropolitan Museum. I'd always had a certain fascination with the culture and history of ancient Greece. Maybe this would just be a way to get rid of all the drama and thoughts about Percy and Luke and Drew and Rachel and Silena and yeah...you get the idea. Maybe surrounding myself in history and factual knowledge would clear my head or rather fill it up to the point of leaving no room left over for anything else.

Today, I was wearing black skinny jeans with a thick matt black belt with a simple silver buckle. I had a black Heidi top underneath a plain white spaghetti strap V-neck top which I had fully tucked into my jeans and I was wearing some Aldo Salazie Leather Heeled Ankle Boots. [Type it into google images, second pic.]

It was only, to my complete horror, when I finally managed to actually get on the bus that the only available seat turned out to be on the far left at the back, adjacent to Percy and Grover. Well isn't that just brilliant, not to mention that I would be behind Silena and Piper.

I took a deep breath and made my way over. Past a number of random students including, cringe, Charlie Bennet. Past Jason who was busy telling Leo, who was sat next to him, to shut up about something. Past the Stoll's who were busy...stuffing fireworks into their backpacks WHAT?! Past Thalia and Reyna who were sharing earphones and talking about music. Past Silena who was busy persuading Piper, who was next to her and looking like she'd rather be anywhere else, why glittery lip gloss was better than matt. They were adjacent to Beckendorf, who had his headphones over his ears and his head resting against the window, while Grover and Percy secretly put Cheetos in his hair, from behind.

As usual I found myself analysing Percy's outfit. He always managed to look like he was wearing something he'd spent two seconds thinking about but at the same time undeniably gorgeous. It was so unfair. He was wearing grey-blue faded jeans, a black T-shirt, a leather jacket but it was slightly different to the one he usually wears, more casual and less biker jacket style, black converses and he had two dog tags around his neck.

As I approached my seat, his head turned and our gazes locked. He smiled at me so beautifully that it felt like my heart was going to swell up and burst out of my chest. Though I was ashamed of myself for giving in so easily like that, I smiled back at him, completely forgetting that I was supposed to be ignoring him in public. At least Drew, Rachel and Calypso took the other bus.

"Hey Annabeth." Grover smirked saying my name in a teasing voice as he nudged Percy's shoulder eagerly. I tensed a little looking around to make sure no one had heard that. Luckily, I was in the clear. I sighed with relief.