𝑨𝒍𝒍'𝒔 𝑭𝒂𝒊𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑯𝒐𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒚

Hugs

Annabeth's p.o.v.

"He what?"

"Pipes, calm down!" I tell my friend.

"How am I the one who needs to calm down when you're the one hyperventilating?"

She's got me there. I take a deep breath, and try to steady my shaking hands. After Percy asked me, all I had done was ran back to my table and tell my friends.

"What are you gonna do?" Rachel asks.

"Tell him you'll do it!" Clarisse says.

"Clarisse!" Hazel admonishes. "Annabeth can make her own choice."

"Tell him no," Katie says, never taking her eyes off of Percy's table. "You're a figure skater, aren't you?"

"Katie!" Hazel sighs."What did I just say?"

Piper, apparently assessing, in her eyes, the more important situation, tugs one of Katie's braids. "Who ya lookin' at?" she asks the distracted girl. Katie shakes her head, seeming to come back to earth.

"No one!" she says, a bit too quickly.

"OK, Piper says. "It's not the emo, 'cause he just doesn't seem like your type. Hopefully not the kid with the Rasta cap, Grover, I think his name is? He's got a girlfriend. Better not be Jason, he's mine. Percy is reserved for Annie-"

"Piper!" I cry.

"shush," she says, putting her hand over my mouth. I contemplate biting her, but decide against it. "The Latino elf, Leo, he's got a girlfriend too. Frank's cute, but like, little kid cute. Plus, hazel has a crush on him," the innocent girl covers her face in embarrassment. "The boy with the curly blonde hair, his name is Will, he's gay. So that leaves... Travis or Conner Stoll." Katie's entire face turns beet red. Piper squeals. "Which one?!"

Katie buries her face in her hands. "Travis," she mumbles through her fingers.

"Ooo!" Rachel says. "He's cute!"

"Yeah," Piper says, "And single!"

"Piper," Katie whines, "what if he hears you?!"

"Big whoop," Piper returns. "I'm going to subtly interrogate him later-"

"Oh no," everyone groans. When Piper says "subtly interrogate," she's never actually very subtle.

"Piper," Reyna says, speaking up for the first time, "no."

"Piper YES," the Cherokee girl said, and without further ado, she ran off, no doubt to get ready for her "Subtle interrogation."

-------This time skip is made possible by Kronos---------

Katie and I both have seventh period off, so we sat on the lawn in front of the school, bundled up in sweatshirts and stocking hats for the chilly November weather.

"So," Katie asks, "Percy actually invited you to try out for the team?" I nod slowly.

"And you still haven't spoken to him?" I nod again.

"Girl," Katie says exasperatedly, "talk to me! What do you want to do?" I start to shrug, and Katie backhands my shoulder.

"Ow!" I exclaim, shooting Katie a hurt glance. She smiles sweetly at me.

"There's that pretty voice," she says, patting my head condescendingly. I shoot her a glare. She holds her ground. 'Darn it!' My glare is usually enough to make anyone back off. Well, anyone but Clarisse, that is. I think the only thing that scares that girl is her dad, and talking about her feelings.

"Fine," I sigh. "I'm torn. I love figure skating, but I also have always been good at hockey. It's, like, natural instinct, or something. But I won't be able to continue figure skating if I choose hockey. And if I say no to hockey, I'll feel like I upset Percy, and I don't want to do that-"

"Ooo," Katie looks at me slyly, "You're taking Percy's feelings into account? You're sure there's nothing going on between you two?"

"Yes!" I say in an unusually shrill voice.

"Okay..." Katie trails off, looking at me thoughtfully. Just then, the door behind us opens. We turn to see who it is, and are greeted by none other than Percy Jackson, accompanied by a certain Travis Stoll. The later meets Katie's eyes, and flushes a deep red. I glance at her, and notice she is the same color. Piper must have carried out her "subtle interrogation." 

Suddenly, I'm looking at Percy. Our eyes lock, and all I can see is that familiar sea green. I get a weird, aching feeling, like my chest is going to burst open. Why is that color familiar? I saw him for the first time not even three weeks ago. 

I see hurt in his beautiful eyes, and the ache increases tenfold when I realize I'm the reason It's there.

Percy's p.o.v.

I thought Annabeth would be excited wen I invited her to try out. Maybe even, I thought hopefully, she would give me a hug.

But all she did was run back to her table. Not a single word to me. Not even a "wow!" or a, "thanks!" or an, "I love you Percy!"

And now, when I see her, it's impossible to keep the hurt out of my eyes. 'Gods Percy,' I think to myself, 'you're so unreasonable. It's not like she said no.' But that's sure how it feels.

After a moment of saying nothing, Annabeth opens her mouth to speak. I cut her off.

"Will you come with me?" I ask her, trying (and failing) to keep my voice devoid of any emotion. She gives a me small nod, and looks apologetically at her friend. Judging by the way the other girl and Travis are looking at each other, she must be the one Piper talked about earlier. Katie Gardener.

Annabeth and I walk side by side. I think about slipping my hand into hers, but don't know if she would like that. That is, until she slips her hand into mine. 

I squeeze it reassuringly, hoping she knows I'm not mad at her. We find a bench, a suitable distance way from any people, and sit in silence for a few minutes. I don't let go of her hand, she doesn't let go of mine.

Without warning, Annabeth speaks. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," I tell her. "I shouldn't have been upset. All you did was walk away. It's not like you screamed no in my face, or anything."

"You really think I'm going to say no, don't you?" she says, looking at me. A hopefulness blooms in the bottom of my stomach, spreading throughout my chest, and out to my fingertips.

"Does that mean-" I start to ask. Annabeth sighs.

"I'm thinking about it," she says. The hopeful feeling fades slightly, but not entirely. I smile crookedly.

"Well," I say, "that's a fifty percent chance you'll say yes, and I'm a glass half full kinda guy."

She smiles at me. We spend the rest of our free time in sitting silence, holding tight to each other's hands. When the bell rings, we both stand up.

And I finally get my hug.

What do ya think? A bit more Percabeth... I threw a little Tratie in there...

I like how it turned out, so what do you think?

//IMPORTANT//

I hate to say this, but I'm going to slow the update schedule down a bit. I'll try to update at least twice a moth, though. Hopefully more that that.

So, with that out of the way,

Ciao Pringles!

~Clarisse