The Swap

Chapter 21: Fight Song

Annabeth POV

I was not expecting to see Percy at my lunch table the next day, yet there he was in all of his glory. He and his group of friends were waiting around my lunch table.

"Annabeth, what's going on?" Thalia asked curiously.

"How would I know?" I retorted.

"Annie, literally, you've been all over the place with regards to Percy Jackson. Now, he's waiting at our lunch table with his friends."

I sighed as we continued walking towards the table. I had no idea why Percy was here with his friends. However, I liked Percy's friends a lot, especially Piper and Katie. All of them were so nice, so it was good to see them all.

"Hey, Wise Girl," Percy said.

His smile was bright as he greeted me. His left arm was rubbing the strap of his backpack nervously as they waited for us.

"Percy, what are you doing here?" I asked curiously.

His friends seemed dumbfounded as they stared at Percy. "Bro, I thought that they knew that we'd be joining their table," Connor Stoll exclaimed.

"Err, I kinda didn't ask yet," Percy acknowledged before turning back to me. "Wise Girl, do you think it's okay if we joined you and your friends?"

I absolutely loved his friends, and I wanted to be with Percy too. It was typical that Percy and I would have a huge fight, and then, he'd do something to make it up. Technically, he wasn't even at fault.

His friends just stared at Thalia and me awkwardly.

"Yeah, absolutely," I said brightly.

"Jason, I spend enough time with you, so keep your distance, brother," Thalia smirked.

They all visibly relaxed as we all took our seats and started laughing. Percy effortlessly maneuvered around his friend group to sit next to me.

Hazel sat next to Frank when she arrived as expected. After all, she had a crush on Frank from art class, and they were cute together.

Leo and the Stolls immediately got along, no surprise there either.

"I really like your friends," Percy whispered. "And, I thought that you enjoyed mine as well. I guess that I thought this would be a good idea."

"Seaweed brain, it's a fantastic idea. Sometimes, you're not that dumb," I commented slyly.

"I don't know if I should be insulted," he chuckled.

I laughed as we continued talking. It felt so good to interact with him again, especially after getting accustomed to seeing his face and talking to him every day.

I was about to bring up our fight and clear the air. However, I got interrupted by Piper, Hazel, and Leo, who all had a question.

Percy and I weren't paying attention to the rest of the table, so we didn't realize that they were raising some interesting questions.

"Percy, what gave you the idea of merging our friend groups?" Piper asked loudly enough.

"Huh?" was Percy's intelligent response.

"Come on, bro, this friend group fusion is fantastic, but why?" Leo asked cooly. "Is it because you wanted to be closer to Annabeth?" he added slyly.

"What? I, um, I just get along with Hazel and Nico, and I thought that this group would get along with our group of friends," he answered.

"To me, it seems like you just wanted to be near Annabeth," Piper commented. Piper had a way of analyzing relationships and emotions.

"Piper," Percy sighed. "Guys, Annabeth and I are just friends. This is honestly because Annabeth and I wanted our friends to meet."