Percabeth One-Shots

Tutor Pt. 2

Annabeth twirls the pencil in her fingers and watches him scribble across the page. She keeps her eyes on his fingers and how they hold the pencil tightly. He'll pause and she can see the strain in his fingers and expects the pencil to snap. It'll hold just long enough for him to get his thoughts in order and continue writing.

Percy's hand slows and finally stops. It drifts over the written words hurriedly before setting down the pencil and pressing against the table top. Annabeth's eyes linger on his hand while her own sneaks across the table and pulls the paper away from him. Only when she's moved the paper close enough to read does she shift her eyes.

Percy's handwriting is far from neat but she's figured out how to decipher his chicken scratch. His poor spelling doesn't help her dyslexia and it takes her time to read over his answer. When she's done she nods to herself and gives him a grin.

"Not bad, Jackson. I'd give you a solid C. Fix some of the spelling errors you might just earn yourself a C plus." Annabeth pushes the paper back towards him.

"A C! All of that and I'm going to get a C on this test?" Percy groans and falls forward letting his head connect with the table.

"I'd give you a C, Mr. Blofis would probably give you a B." Annabeth leans back in her seat and crosses her arms.

"I heard that," Paul retorts from down the hall. Annabeth hears the scuff of khakis rubbing against themselves and the soft footfalls of socks on hardwood. "I'd threaten to grade you more harshly Ms. Chase but I think you'd not only enjoy that, you'd still get an A plus." Paul leans over Percy's shoulder and examines the writing for a moment. "Your tutor's a smart girl, Percy. You should listen to her," Paul says and walks off.

Annabeth gives herself a self satisfied smile and raises an eyebrow at Percy.

"Thanks," Percy mutters. "I'd be screwed without you," Percy says quietly.

Annabeth glances around for Sally as the source of his secrecy.

"You're welcome, Percy. It really hasn't been a big deal." Annabeth tries to sooth his embarrassment.

"I know I'm not the smartest guy, and you've spent almost every weekday at my house helping and some weekends. And not just with English, you've helped me with every class." Percy reaches up and scratches at the back of his head and stares at the table top.

"It's fine," Annabeth says firmly, "besides your mom feeds me or sends me home with cookies every time I tutor you. That's worth dealing with your seaweed brain." Annabeth gives him a grin but Percy only glances at her bashfully.

Annabeth sighs and leans forward.

"You're not dumb, Percy. You just take a bit longer to get stuff. Teachers don't know how to handle you and they get mad and take it out on you. But you've proved you can learn anything." Annabeth's hand moves most of the distance to his arm before she stops herself.

"Thanks," he mutters.

Annabeth tugs at the piercing in her lip for a moment and runs through the possible outcomes of the looming conversation.

"There's a few more practice questions I wrote up. If you can answer them you'll be golden on the test, okay?" Annabeth reaches for her books and stuffs them into her canvas bag.

"Oh, you're taking off?" Percy pushes himself into a half stand.

"Yeah, I've got stuff I need to take care of at home." She gives him a smile and hopes he reads it as friendly and innocent.

"I'll walk you to the door." Percy pushes himself up to a full standing position.

"No," she says pointedly, "you have questions to answer." She gestures to the sheet of paper. "Get those finished and you'll be done." She hoists her bag to her shoulder. Before she leaves she shouts a goodbye to Paul and Sally and quickly slips out of the apartment.