Partners

Chapter 2

Percy's POV

My best friend, Grover was sitting next to me in Mr. Johnson's science class. We were being assigned partners for our semester long project of researching animals and whatnot.

"I really hope we're partners," Grover whispered to me as quietly as he could.

We were both in the front of the class, thanks to my troublemaker tendencies.

"Me too," I murmured back.

"Annabeth Chase, you'll be with Percy Jackson," Mr. Johnson announced. "Your animal will be the Siberian Tiger."

I glanced to the back of the room at Annabeth. Her gray eyes were sparkled with confusion and annoyance. I wasn't surprised. I shrugged my shoulders apologetically.

Grover nudged me. "Lucky you. She's the smartest person here. And the prettiest."

"Also the biggest know-it-all the school has ever known," I said.

It was true, she was smarter than the teachers, always correcting them. And she was always right.

A pain? Yes.

A genius? Also yes.

A few minutes later, Grover got paired with Octavian, a kid that was a complete moron. He responded with with a groan, "Please not Octavian, that kid is such a-"

Mr. Johnson spoke up, drowning out Grover's insult. "Please meet up with your partner and get to know them, you two will be spending a lot of time together."

I reluctantly got up and walked to the back of the room where Annabeth was sitting. She was fiddling with her gray sweatshirt tassel. When I approached her, she didn't seem to notice until I cleared my throat.

"Uh... Hi?" I started off as I sat down on the seat across from her.

Annabeth's gray eyes analyzed me. "Hi."

We sat in an awkward silence.

I tried again. "So, tigers. How fitting that we go to Ceaderwood. You know, with the school mascot of the Tigers?"

Annabeth nodded. Her gray eyes were still piercing into me, to the point where I was creeped out.

"So do you do any sports?" I asked. "I'm on the swim team. I'm the swim team captain."

"I'm on the volleyball team," Annabeth said.

RING

Thank god, I thought as I reached for my backpack and ran out the door, closely followed by Grover.

"Well, Octavian is a moron and knows nothing about Bald Eagles. How's Annabeth?" Grover asked.

I rolled my eyes. "She's kinda weird. She wouldn't stop staring at me. It was like she was looking into my soul and figuring out how to kill me."

"Does she know anything about Siberian Tigers?"

"What doesn't she know?" I responded.

Boom! Another chapter done!  Let me know if you have advice or suggestions for the next chapter!!
~Cinder