PAINT AND PROTESTS [PERCABETH HIGH SCHOOL AU]

SIX: SERIOUSLY, DON'T HAND ANNABETH MORE ART SUPPLIES

Annabeth took an embarrassingly long time to find Percy's apartment with only the directions he had given her.

She had refused to walk with him; she had to bring Bobby and Matthew home from school that day, and Helen would kill her if she cancelled.

She rang the doorbell, taking a deep breath. She didn't know what to expect. She was friendly enough with Grover, and they had spent a good amount of time together when they were younger.

Tyson, on the other hand, was a stranger to Annabeth. Annabeth particularly didn't like his cousin, who had bullied her and her friends- Grover included- when they were in middle school, but she supposed Tyson was okay. She wouldn't know. She'd never shared a class with him before.

A woman opened the door. She had a kind smile and soft brown eyes. Her voice was warm when she spoke.

"Annabeth, right?"

"Yes, Mrs Jackson."

"Mrs Blofis," the woman corrected kindly. Annabeth slapped herself mentally. How could she have forgotten that her English teacher, Mr Blofis, was Percy's step-dad? "Though you can just call me Sally, Annabeth."

Annabeth nodded. Percy peered over his mother's shoulder. "Oh, hey, you're here."

"You have a habit of stating the obvious," Annabeth grinned.

"I've noticed, too," Sally said. She stepped behind the door. "Come in, come in."

Once fully inside the apartment, Annabeth spotted Grover and Tyson, seated on the living room floor. Grover waved to her, a bright smile on his face, and Tyson opted for cheering loudly.

"So, is everyone here?" Percy clasped his hands together, sitting cross-legged next to Grover.

"Juniper hasn't arrived yet," Grover said. He checked his phone. "But she's arriving in five minutes."

"We'll get started without her first, then," Percy said. Amazingly, Sally, having heard him from the kitchen, called out, "No you won't! Help me with these cookies first!"

Percy's eyes lit up. He dashed into the kitchen excitedly, and it was the first time Annabeth had ever seen him act so childlike. She supposed she didn't know that much about Jackson; he probably wasn't that much of an asshole.

Sally brought out a tray of blue cookies, with Percy right behind her. They slid the fresh biscuits onto a plate, and presented it to the group by placing them on the middle of their workspace.

Then a knock sounded, and Juniper arrived, wearing a flowing green dress with matching eyeshadow.

"I love your eyeshadow," Annabeth complimented.

"Thanks," Juniper smiled, and then they got to work. After scuffling for some cardboard, they used markers to draw bold letters and paint to make the signs stand out.

By the time Annabeth was done with her first one, which read 'our trash isn't worth the lives of marine animals', Percy was already working on his second one.

"Do you know if we can curse in our signs?" Annabeth asked innocently.

"Sure," Grover said. "Thalia's got a wide range of swear words, anyway. She and her friends won't mind."

Annabeth flashed him a wicked grin, and started on her second one.

After ten minutes, Tyson looked over Annabeth shoulder.

"I like your sign!" he offered. Annabeth nodded gratefully.

"What does it say-" Percy stopped himself. He burst out laughing. "You did not just put 'let the fishes fucking live!' on a sign."

"But I did." She straightened proudly. "Also, did the innocent Percy Jackson just curse? That's new."

From behind the television, Sally snorted.

"I can curse if I want to," Percy said defensively. "I just don't have any reason to keep doing it."

Annabeth threw a crayon at him. "Goody-two-shoes."

"Peasant."

Annabeth dodged an incoming paper ball attack. She went to throw yet another art supply at Percy, when suddenly a large piece of cardboard blocked her view of Percy, and, from the shouts of protest from the green-eyed boy, she guessed that he couldn't see her, either.

"Hey!" Annabeth complained. "I was going to get a perfect shot!"

Grover rolled his eyes, an amused smile on his face. "Well, I didn't come here to see you guys fight-"

And then Tyson yelled "cardboard fight!", and things went haywire.

Juniper smacked the piece of cardboard out of Grover's hands, and showered him with a sea of markers. Tyson flung himself onto the floor, and Percy snatched up the scissors right before things could go terribly wrong. He placed the scissors on the table next to him, then sprinkled pencil shavings onto Annabeth's hair. She laughed, grabbed the nearest thing to her- a roll of tape- and launched it towards Percy's general direction.

The tape bounced off his head, landing perfectly nestled on Grover's curly brown hair.

"Well, that was productive," he said. He removed the roll of tape from his head.

"Yeah," Annabeth agreed, though she knew he was only joking. "Bonding time."

"Yes, we got to know each other so well." Percy looked pointedly at Annabeth, smirking. "I, for one, now know that Annabeth Chase acts a bit too much like a child."

She stuck out her tongue. "As if you never knew that before."

On Wednesday afternoon, Annabeth was home straight after school. She changed her clothes, grabbed her signs and sent a quick message to Piper, "Are you free today?"

Just as fast, Piper responded, "No, my dad wants me to stay home and catch up with homework."

"Aw, okay," Annabeth sent. "See you tomorrow."

"See you!"

Annabeth pulled her hair into a ponytail. She managed to fit three water bottles in her backpack before it appeared to threaten to burst. She threw in her phone and some money and went downstairs.

"Heading out?" Frederick was reading a book. He looked up, his brows raised.

"It's for a good cause, I promise," Annabeth said.

"Have you done your homework?"

The doorbell rang. Annabeth went to open it. "I'll do it once I'm back."

"Back from what?" her father asked.

Percy smiled. "Hello, Mr Chase."

"Uh... hi," Frederick said. He looked at Annabeth. "You're going on a date?"

"No!" she and Percy exclaimed at the same time.

"Looks like one to me," Frederick mused.

Annabeth gripped her signboards, turning the words to face her so that her father couldn't see. She wasn't so sure that her father would allow her to go out if he knew what she was up to.

"It's not," she assured. She exchanged looks with Percy. "It's... uh..."

"We're protesting," Percy supplied. He grabbed Annabeth's wrist. "And we'll be late if we don't leave now, so we better be going. It was nice meeting you, Mr Chase."

By the time Frederick processed Percy's words, both he and his daughter were out of the house, heading for the streets.

"You too?" he said confusedly, though no one was there to answer.

"Dad? Who are you talking to?"

Bobby had come out of his room and was at the bottom of the stairs. He seemed bewildered as to why his dad was talking to himself.

"No one." Frederick waved Bobby's question off. "Your sister just gave me a headache, but it's nothing unusual."