Surviving

Rebound

POV: Percy

Surprisingly I'm glad I told Jason. It doesn't feel nearly as bad as I expected it to. I mean, don't get me wrong I'm not about to go and tell everyone and I'm still going to keep my life a secret, but talking to Jason made me realize that maybe I should have talked to Calypso about everything.

I spent last night regretting a lot of decisions I made during our relationship, so now I've decided to just accept it.

I have to move on. That's why I am currently standing outside of Annabeth's house.

We're more friends than anything else at this point. The whole fake dating thing has actually become fun. I don't mind holding her hand and I like annoying Luke. As petty as that sounds. Our friends are still confused as to how we are in a relationship. It was only a few weeks ago that I was fighting Leo and confessing my love for Calypso in the middle of the hallway, but we've just decided to ignore them.

The reason I'm standing in front of Annabeth's house right now is not because I'm looking for a rebound. I'm not. And even if I was she doesn't deserve to be that. I just like being around her. I like how she tries to pretend like she hates me, but when she thinks I'm not looking she smiles and her eyes sparkle.

I debated doing the whole throwing a rock against her window or holding a boom box (or my phone because nobody really owns boomboxes anymore) outside of her window, but frankly I find that there are multiple flaws in those ideas. 1) I'd probably end up cracking her window with the rock if I were to throw one 2) I don't know which is her window 3) she could get scared 4) If I were to blast music on my phone I would bother the whole neighborhood 5) Just simply knocking on her door would probably make a better impression on her family.

I knock on her door and immediately hear someone on the other side yell "Coming!" A woman who seems to be in her forties opens the door. Annabeth mentioned having a stepmother, so I wasn't thrown by someone who doesn't look remotely like Annabeth answering the door.

"Hi, what can I do for you?'' She asks in a sweet tone. I smile at her. She seems nice.

"Hi, is Annabeth home?" The woman nods and motions for me to come inside. The smell of food makes me nostalgic to when my mom would cook for me.

"She should be in her room. It's right up the stairs and to your left." I nod and head up the stairs.

When I reach her room I knock and slowly peak inside. She's sitting at her desk with a book in her hand. She doesn't seem to notice me.

"Hey, Wise Girl," She jumps a little which makes me chuckle a little. She gives me a quick glance and goes back to her book.

"Hi, what are you doing here?"

"Let me ask you something," I plop myself down on her beanbag chair. "How many books would you trade me —or any of the others—for?"

She smiles. "I'd probably trade you for..." She puts her fingers to her chin in mock consideration. "The description of the book." I roll my eyes.

She finally puts her book down and looks at me. "Percy, what are you doing here?" She pulls her hair into a messy bun and stands up to put her book away.

I shrug "I dunno. I just thought that we could go out."

She turns around so that I can't see her face, but I can tell that she's flustered. "You can invite anyone you want. I just thought that we could talk. You know, walk by where Luke plays softball on the weekends and really rub it in." She laughs.

"Sounds good. I'll just grab my stuff."

We go outside after a long detour of talking to her adorable stepbrothers.