Spies-in-Training: A Royal Problem | Percabeth AU

Chapter 8: The Ball

Percy's POV:
"Are you ready yet?" I heard Zoë ask impatiently through my door.

"Yup!" I replied, opening the door to grin at Zoë.

It was the night of the ball, and I had been getting ready in the clothes I had to wear. Honestly, I hated getting ready for balls, especially in these incredibly uncomfortable and itchy clothes, but such is the life of a prince.

"Finally!" Zoë exclaimed. "Now let's go, everyone else is already waiting for us downstairs."

"Alright, alright, jeez, Zoë," I said teasingly. "Let's go then."

We hurried down to meet the others at the bottom of the staircase. As Zoë had said, everyone else was already waiting for us.

"Hi," I greeted them. The others greeted me as well, except for Annabeth, who pointedly ignored me. I guess she still wasn't over that prank...

The boys were all wearing neat suits or tuxedos. Like me, Tyson and Zoë were wearing their crowns or, in Zoë's case, tiara. They all looked just as uncomfortable as me, and I secretly felt relieved that I wasn't the only one.

The girls were all wearing nice dresses. They were fitted at the waist, then flowed down at the bottom. The dresses weren't too frilly or lacy, and I appreciated that. Although the main design was similar for all of their dresses, their colors were different. Hazel was wearing a golden dress, Piper wore a white dress, and Annabeth wore a pretty gray dress. Zoë was wearing a turquoise dress that Mom must have picked out for her. The girls all had their hair styled in different ways, and they all looked nice. (Sorry for the horrible descriptions, I really don't know how to describe dresses)

"So, are we all ready?" I asked. "It's almost 9 o'clock, we should start going towards the ballroom."

"Yup, we're ready!" Leo confirmed.

"Let's go," Jason agreed. So Tyson started leading us towards the ballroom.

I dropped in next to Annabeth. She didn't acknowledge my presence. The tension between us was unbearable.

"Hey," I said. "I really am sorry about that prank the other day. Can we please be friends?"

She turned towards me and studied my face. She was probably trying to see if I really meant it. "All right," she sighed. "I guess you really are sorry. So I forgive you. But we'll see about being friends."

And with that, the tension vanished.

"Great," I grinned, visibly relieved. "I was afraid you would just ghost me."

"You really are a Seaweed Brain then, aren't you?" She retorted.

I raised my eyebrow. "Seaweed Brain?"

"Yeah, judging from what Zoë said yesterday, you clearly love the water, and you act like such an idiot sometimes, I wouldn't be surprised if your head really was full of seaweed."

Needless to say, I was shocked. I didn't know she had been listening to my conversation with Zoë. But I tried to hide my shock. "Well then, you're such a Wise Girl, aren't you?" I quipped.

She rolled her eyes. "Jeez, thanks for the compliment, Seaweed Brain."

Before I could reply, Tyson spoke up from in front of us. "We're here," he announced.

I looked up and saw that we had, indeed, arrived in front of a huge set of doors. The doors to the ballroom.

"It's 9 o'clock," I said. "Let's go in."

He swung the doors open and we entered. (I could have ended the chapter here but, let's face it, it's not nearly long enough)

As we entered, I noticed that my parents were already there. They were in a corner, talking to a nobleman. A servant announced our presence. All conversations stopped until we had all entered the ballroom. Then, everyone resumed talking.