The Good and The Bad ~ Percabeth

one

[[unedited]]

p.j.

"I don't know, Beth, that seems kind of hard, too," I say. I trace the coil of the scribbler she gave me to take notes with my index finger.

I haven't written anything yet.

"You can't graduate unless you take at least ONE math," Annabeth says, pushing her glasses up her nose and reading more of the class description. I could watch her all day. I lean my head on my pillow, staring up at her perfectly proportioned face. Her long fingers type a few words on her computer and she keeps reading. I can see the reflection of the screen in her grey eyes. She's not paying any attention to me, which isn't out of the ordinary.

We've recently decided to enrol in high school. I know that sounds a little ridiculous. High school is for regular kids. Aren't we a little beyond chemistry class and PE? Everyone seems to think we need this. Maybe I do, I guess, but I'm really surprised Annabeth is coming with me. She's smarter than anyone I know. She's going to walk through high school half asleep. Why anyone thinks she should waste her time is beyond me, but I'm happy she's coming with me.

"It's the easiest one. If you hate it, you can drop it. Come on, what do you say?"

"I say that it's absurdly unfair that one person can be this pretty."

Annabeth closes her laptop and sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. She does this when I'm getting on her nerves. "Percy, I love you. That's never going to change, but dammit, I need you to give me a little bit of effort here. Your mom wants you to do this. Chiron wants you to do this. I want you to do this. I know school has never been easy before, but you're older now. And besides, I'll be there with you. You've never had a girlfriend to whip you into shape before. Things will be better."

I roll my head onto her lap, and though she's frustrated, I can feel one of her hands tangle in my hair. "How do you know I've never had a girlfriend?"

"Because you've been in love with me since you were twelve," she teases, leaning down and peppering a kiss on my nose. "And no one else in the world can put up with you the way I can."

As she gets up to plug in her laptop, I roll over and bunch her blankets together in my arms. "Just because you can, doesn't mean you have to be right ALL the time!"

Annabeth laughs that adorable laugh and takes a sip of the glass of water on her shelf. She checks her phone and walks out of the room. I stay, curled up in the mountain of blankets and sheets, staring at the ceiling. I am dating the smartest girl on the planet. Annabeth is so smart that the most influential BEINGS in the universe asked her to design their quarters. Annabeth is so smart that she can outsmart a learning disability. Who knew there was a way to trick your dyslexia? Definitely not me. Annabeth is so fucking smart that she is going to earn not only one but TWO high school diplomas during the next nine months because let's be real, I'm not doing this on my own.

She walks back into the room and pounces on the bed. I wrap her up in the sheets, squeezing her tightly. She squeals, trying to get out. When she does, she takes my face in her hands and balances on top of me, her knees framing my core.

"Can you believe in three days, I'm going to come home to this every day?"

"You already do," I tease, tucking my thumbs into the waistband of her shorts.

"Okay, but it's kind of different when there are three others beds in the room," she whispers, the skin on her lip brushing over mine. The rules about what we can and can't do in these cabins have always been unclear, but part of me thinks that it's only because we don't want them fo be clear. I've looked at pictures of our new apartment, though, and oh my gods, we're going to have a good nine months. We have a whole place to ourselves, and if I'm not careful, that might turn into a different kind of timeline.

"I can't wait."

When she finally kisses me, I flip her over so I lean over her and pull the blankets over our heads. The sharp intakes of her breath and the texture of her cool fingers against the small of my back make my heart beat faster. "I'm not coming in there, but it's dinner time!"

Annabeth pauses, her nose pressed against mine while we listen to Malcom shout. When we hear him and the rest of the nerds leave the cabin, she kisses me one more time and slips out of the blankets. She holds out her hand and we walk together to the pavilion.

- - - - - - - - - -

Hey guys! So that was like 800 words. How long are these supposed to be? I have no idea. That took about twenty minutes to write, so I could easily put out something longer. I sound like a dinosaur but, back when I used to use this app *groan*, I didn't have a word counter so I'm sort of just playing by ear.

Anyways, how was that? Are we liking the vibe at all? It's obviously hard to tell after one chapter, but sometimes you can easily get sucked into a story or completely turned off by it. Your call. I just hope it didn't suck!

I'll put out more updates soon; I don't really know how to promote this story so I'll just keep writing it and hope for the best.

I've highlighted lots of different lines in my PJO and HOO books over the years, so I think with every chapter, I'm going to add a quote from one of the books beside my bed that I've highlighted. I usually highlight funny things, but also sometimes cute things or inspiring things or just cool things. Hope you enjoy.

"A few minutes later we had to rescue a baby carriage that was rolling aimlessly down the street. It turned out there was no baby in it - just somebody's sleeping lossless. Go figure."
(page 174, The Last Olympian)

That's all for this time! See you soon!

Thank the gods for everything in your life that brings you happiness.

Love, tumblingupwards