Don't judge a book by its cover.[Percabeth]

Chapter 14

Percy's POV

I was glad I'd seen Annabeth at lunch. Before that I'd been having a pretty rough day. Chris caught up with me again, after deciding I hadn't paid enough for 'upsetting' his girlfriend. Personally, I didn't think what I said upset that bitch Clarisse in the slightest. In hindsight, maybe I shouldn't have said that it loud as it earned me a kick to the stomach. After that lovely encounter, I'd gone to English. Now, after years of telling teachers I'm badly dyslexic, you'd think they'd stop calling on me in class to read out loud. Apparently, they just enjoyed torturing me. After having the entire class laugh at my pathetic attempt at reading, I left the class early.

I was planning to go home, it wasn't like I had anything important on that day, but I was waylaid by Nico. He told me everything that had happened with Luke and Annabeth. Lets just say it didn't exactly improve my mood. Now, I didn't really have any good friends but the few buddies I had , I was extremely protective over. How dare that prick try to hurt Annabeth? I'd spent my next lesson trying to find him, but the fact I knew barely nothing about him made it kinda tricky. After nearly an hour of searching, I gave up and headed to the library. Despite the fact it was filled with books, I liked it there.

I was just chilling, listening to some music. My eyes were turned down and I was pretty much completely zoned out. Or at least I was until some idiot yanked my headphones out. I spun around, prepared to kick some ass, but was met with a madly grinning Annabeth. My face, too, split into a grin. But then I remembered what Nico told me. I asked her if she was okay and explained that Nico had told me what happened. The whole time I was thinking about hugging her, it felt like the right moment but I was nervous, she probably wouldn't appreciate it. But I really wanted to! I was thinking quite hard about it, so I almost missed her reply. My anger flared again when she told me she was upset by it, she seemed like the kind of person who didn't get shaken by much. She asked me how I knew Nico. I stuttered out a reply, explaining we were cousins. My anger, hesitance or both must have shown on my face because her eyes rolled and a look of concern flashed through her eyes.

"Come on, spit it out! Are you okay?" Her eyebrows were raised.

"Yeah I'm fine, just a little angry at that prick. I'm worried I'll do something that would probably not be good for his face." Why the hell did I say that? Well, she thinks I'm a psychopath now. I laughed at that, she probably always thought I was. She made me question that thought almost immediately by putting her arms around my neck and pulling me into a hug.

  She was reached up high to actually reach my neck, she was practically on her tip toes. Her face just reached my shoulder when I stooped over to hug her back. I could smell her hair and let me tell you it was amazing. It smelt of vanilla, but exactly like vanilla ice cream. What? I couldn't help but smell it, it was right in my face. She mumbled something against my shoulder, where it met my neck. I had no idea what she said but the feel of her breath on my neck made me laugh. She started to remove her arms from around my neck so I released my arms from her waist, trying to stop the disappointment from making it onto my face. I didn't think it worked.

"Promise you won't do anything to him?" I didn't trust my voice yet, so I just gestured over my heart in a cross.

I was right not to trust my voice, the second I tried to speak an embarrassing stream of words flew out "I wasn't kidding before, this look is truly working. I like the jeans." Oh gods why did I say that, it sounded so creepy. I could definitely feel a blush rising in my cheeks. I was a little confused when she told me she didn't have her normal clothes with her but she didn't explain. Yet again, my words came out in an extremely embarrassing torrent.

"Well, I personally prefer this by like 100% more. And the no make up, you honestly don't need it, like at all. And you should have your hair up and curly mote often. It looks awesome. And more, you know, human. You look ace." Seriously? What the hell was wrong with me? My face got even hotter as the words tumbled out. I was preparing myself to face the wrath of a pissed off Annabeth when she surprised me.