Greatest Love Story- A Percabeth AU [On Hold]

Chapter 6

Annabeth's POV

I was the first student to walk into my math class on the Monday of the third week of school. Before I even got to my desk to put my textbook down, Mrs. Dodds told me "Annabeth, please come up to my desk. I need to talk to you about something."

"Of course, Mrs. Dodds," I said, suddenly afraid I had somehow gotten into trouble already. I hurried up to her desk, with my textbook still clutched in my arms, and my backpack weighing down my shoulders. I didn't want to make her any more mad than she already was by making her wait for me to put my stuff down. "What is it you wanted to talk to me about?" Worry wove its way into each word I spoke.

"I have an opportunity I think you might enjoy," she said with a soft smile.

As soon as the words left her mouth, a breath I wasn't even aware I had been holding left mine. The relief in my voice was clearly audible as I asked her "oh, what kind of opportunity is it?"

"One of the students in one of my sophomore classes is going to need some extra help to pass the class. I was wondering if you would like to tutor him. I will give you extra credit, if that's even possible at the end of the year, and I think you would enjoy it. Think about it and let me know by the end of class, okay?"

I spent all of class trying to decide what to do. I thought about saying no, but finally decided that if it would get me extra credit and probably let me help some sophomore that needs help, I might as well. What could go wrong?

At the end of class I went back up to Mrs. Dodds' desk to tell her my decision.

"Wonderful. I was sure you would say yes," she exclaimed.

"Yeah," I replied awkwardly, not entirely sure what else to say.

"Will you be able to meet him here after school?" She asked me.

"Well, I can, but I won't be able to stay for very long. I have to pick up my younger brothers from school."

"That should be fine. I just need to go over a few things with you two and make sure you can contact each other. Now you had better get to your next class," she said, somewhat dismissively.

After that, nothing interesting really happened, until gym. As I walked into the gym, I saw Percy and immediately realized that I still hadn't apologized for what I had said just a couple weeks earlier. A wave of guilt crashed over me, and I actually started walking up to apologize, but before I could, Piper came into the gym and called me over to her.

"Hey, you wanna hang out with me after school?" She asked.

"I can't." I sighed. "I agreed to tutor some kid from one of Mrs. Dodds' sophomore classes. Besides, you know I have to get my brothers from school and watch them until Helen gets off of work."

Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I have to pick up my brothers from school and babysit them for the hour between when school ends and when my step-monster gets off of work. The other two days of the week she works from home. She could work from home every day, but has decided that she must make me suffer three days a week instead.

"Wait, who are you tutoring?" Piper asked, suddenly curious.

"I don't know." I shrugged. "Just some kid from Mrs. Dodds' sophomore class."

Piper leaned in close to me and whispered "what if it's Percy?"

"Yeah, right," I scoffed.

"No, seriously. Everybody knows he's still in her sophomore class because he failed the last two years. Maybe she finally felt sorry for him and decided to help him out."

"Sure, Pipes." I rolled my eyes. "Whatever you want to believe."

"Okay, fine. Don't believe me. But when I'm right, you owe me ten bucks."

"Gods damn it, Piper, I am not betting on this!"

"Why?" She replied tauntingly. "Are you afraid I'm right?"

She knows exactly how to use my pride to get to me. "Fine! IF you're right, I will give you ten dollars."

For the rest of the day, whenever I saw Percy, I couldn't help but wonder what might happen if it really was him I was tutoring. At least then I would have to talk to him. Maybe then I would be able to apologize for the first day of gym. Maybe.

The day ended far too quickly after that. When my final class ended, I went to my locker to put the textbooks I wouldn't need for homework into it. But, no matter how hard I tried, it wouldn't open. Finally, right as I was about to give up and just bring my books with me, it popped open. I chucked my books into it, slammed it shut, and ran as fast as I could through the slowly emptying halls.

As I burst into the classroom I was supposed to be in 5 minutes ago, I started apologizing for being late. "I'm so sorry I'm late. I tried to be here early, but my lo--" At that moment, I looked up and the boy sitting at one of the desks turned to look at me.

"No. It can't be... You?" We both said, at the same time. His face matched my emotions. Shocked, then panicked, then somewhere between happy and... Resigned? The last one wasn't quite the same as my own feeling there.

"Ah, I see you two know each other already." I heard from the front of the room, shocking me back to reality. It was clear the Percy had forgotten that Mrs. Dodds was there, too. "I only need to go over a few things before you leave. First, I expect progress. Mr. Jackson needs to do better than last year. If he doesn't, clearly you are not the right tutor for him, Miss Chase. Second, I expect proof and documentation of all of the time you spend working together. Keep a spreadsheet and mark down every moment you spend working on algebra together. Photographic proof is necessary. Lastly, I do not want to hear anything about the two of you becoming romantically involved. That is not what this is for. If I hear of any romance between you, this arrangement will end immediately. Understood?"

Percy and I both nodded as quickly as we could.

"Good. I trust you can find a way to contact each other on your own?"

We nodded again.

"Good. You may leave."

We scurried together into the hall, and as soon as we were out of the classroom I remembered that I had somewhere else that I needed to be. I checked the time and saw that I was already supposed to have gotten my brothers.

"Shit! I have to pick up my brothers from school. Can we just exchange numbers right now and we can text later to figure out how this is going to work?" I begged, already trying to leave, so Helen wouldn't find out I was late to pick them up.

"I have to pick my brother up, too." He groaned. "I'm gonna have to run to get there on time."

"I'm sorry I made you late." I frowned. "Wait, does your brother go to Skyview elementary school? Because if that's where you're going, I can drive you."

"Really? Gods, you're a lifesaver, Annabeth! I love you," he exclaimed.

Dun dun dunnnnn! I actually debated for a long time about having Percy say he loved Annabeth so early, and about ending this chapter with it, but the fangirl in me won over on one argument, and the evil writer in me won over on the other. Also, when you get to the point where you start fangirling over your own story (like, full-on happy-flapping fangirling (I'm autistic, so when I really start fangirling, sometimes I start happy-flapping my hands. I have now happy-flapped so much in the last few minutes that my arms and wrists hurt)) you probably have issues of some sort. Anyway, nothing really different from the last few chapters. Let me know if you have suggestions or anything. Thanks for reading

💖💖Cam