Love At First Sight

Creepy Dudes Ruin The Day (Almost)

Percy

We walked in silence for the majority of the way to school until we ran into a certain.... I don't wanna curse at the moment and I have no idea how many small children are here, so I'm gonna say....
Ya know what? Use your imagination.
"Can I talk to Annabeth alone Perce?" Luke said, expectantly looking at me in the eyes. I opened my mouth to say no, before Annabeth beat me to it.
"I don't really wanna talk Luke." Her voice was stern but her hand slowly reached towards mine, squeezing it for support.
His smile lessened before he nodded and spoke again.
"Later then. I just need to tell you something. It's important."
She nodded and we both speed walked past him, her hand clutching mine.
"Wonder what that's about." I said, looking at Annabeth who just shrugged.
"I don't know. All I know is he's still behind us."
She looked behind for a moment and I did the same. "Don't worry. I've saved you from him twice haven't I? What's one more time?" I winked at her, making her laugh and look down for a moment, shaking her head.
"You have a point."
We kept walking, but I could feel Luke behind us. And I could tell Annabeth felt uncomfortable too. I squeezed her hand. She wasn't going to get hurt anymore. I couldn't let it happen.
As we reached the school, everybody in our group was whispering smirking at us. Especially Thalia.
"What's with the smirk guys?" I asked.
"Nothing." Piper replied. But she was still smiling crazily.
"Guys. Just tell us!"
"You'll find out when your older."
Annabeth rolled her eyes, laughing a little and smirking.
"Thals. We're the same age."
"Technically I'm older by like, three months."
"Like that counts!" Annabeth threw her hands up and walked towards Thalia.
"But it means I'm older than you."
"No it doesn't."
"Mhm. It does."
"No it doesn't!"
"Yes it d-"
"Guys! The bell rang! We have to go! Like, NOW." Grover interrupted.
Annabeth and Thalia gave each other death glares and mouthed "This isn't over." before walking inside. Then we split up and headed to our classes. If Luke touches Annabeth after class I swear to the gods-
"Percy. Whats wrong?" Jason asked.
"Yea kelp head, are you ok?"
"Jason, Thals, I'm fine. Don't worry. Just, home problems. "
"Is it Gabe? Did he hit you after school yesterday?" Jason asked, brow furrowed.
"Yea. Its ok though. I'm fine guys."
"Wasn't Annabeth with you yesterday!?" Thalia locked her glare on me.
"She's fine Thals. I swear on the river Stix."
"As long as both Annabeth and you are ok." Thalia's glare softened a little, but of course she noticed Annabeth was being different. And she was hoping I would tell exactly what happened yesterday.
I mouthed, "Tell you later." to her before speaking again.
"Guys I'm fine. We're fine. Promise."

After some silence, Grover burst out. "ARE WE NOT GOING TO ADDRESS THAT HAND HOLD EARLIER? GUYS. OUR LITTLE BOY IS IN LOVE."

They all proceeded to shake their shoulders and do the "oooooooh." thing.
I sighed. "Guys stop it."
"Annie and Percy sittin' in a tree-"
"Guys! Come on! It was ONE hand hold."
"Me and Juniper started out as "One hand hold." and you know where that led."
I rolled my eyes. "How am I the one getting teased right now instead of Jason?"
"Because you have a fresh crush. Jason's crush on Piper is old news."
I scoffed. "Jason and Piper sittin' in a tree-"
Jason interrupted. "Dude your way off key."
"Whatever. See you guys in class."
My cheeks red, and pride bruised, I speed walked to the classroom and sat down. A few moments later the rest of the gang showed up and sat in their seats. My mind drifted to Annabeth again. After class, I'm going to make sure that Luke doesn't touch Annabeth.

Annabeth

Class went by normal, nothing too interesting happening, but after class a certain guy came up to me.
It wasn't Luke, it was Mason. Football captain and one of the most popular guys in school. Why he wanted to talk to me? I have no idea.
"Annabeth, right?" He said as I was walking.
"Uhh yea."
"I was wondering if your going to the first big game on Friday? Hoping you could cheer me on."
"I don't think so. I haven't heard about it."
"Maybe you could be my good luck charm."
He winked, and I was feeling very uncomfortable by now, so I responded with " You won't need luck."
He grabbed my arm.
"You understand I'm asking you out?"
I rolled my eyes.
"Yes. And that was my way of saying no."
"Come on Annie- give me a chance."
"I'm sorry. No."
He grabbed the other arm, forcing me to look at him.
"Come on. Your just playing hard to get."
"Get off me. Now."
He backed me up to a locker.
"Why should I?"
Just then, his grip was forced off of me.
"Leave her alone. No means no."
It was Luke.
They started a total fist fight, beating eachother. But even Mason couldn't beat Luke.
"Go! Annabeth! Run! I got him."
I ran away, only looking back once. Luke had gotten Mason to his knees and had a bloody nose. Once he was down, Luke looked up and nodded for me to continue running. I looked back forward and slammed straight into Percy.
"What's wrong Wise Girl? Luke hurt you again?"
He looked down the hall, seeing Luke standing over Mason.
"Let's get you out of here."
I nodded and we went behind a corner.
Percy gently grabbed my arm and saw the bruise Mason left. He rubbed it with his thumb before shaking his head and laughing a little.
"I swear you can't go a period without getting a bruise from a creep."
"Not my fault I can't exit class without somebody ruining my day." I looked down at his thumb, slowly making circles around the purple spot.
"At least we have Greek next. You know what that means." A smirk tugged at my lips.
"Yep. That I'm going to beat you to the door again."
His eyes widened as I pulled away my arm and started bolting down the hallway just like on my first day, Percy laughing behind me and trying to catch up.
He eventually did catch up, but never passed me.
"I win." I said, touching the doorframe.
"I know your ticklish. That's all I need to get you back." He raised his eyebrows up and down.
"Don't you dare."
We both laughed and walked inside, taking our seats. Percy always knows how to make me laugh on a bad day. No matter if I have a crush or not, I definitely have an amazing friend. And that should be enough right? Yea. Friends.

Thank you tor reading! First chapter of 2021! Tons more to come. Thank you all so very much for taking your time out of the day to read. Truly amazing.

1/1/21