You Belong to my Heart: A Percabeth FF

7. Percy

Chapter 7: Percy

"You!?" she gasped.

I had gotten to the tutoring session slightly late, but when I entered the room, there were only three other students. Off to the left, there was Annabeth. All of the other tutors were taken. I had no choice but to go sit down in front of her. I had stopped before sitting down. To get a good look at her. She was stressed over something, her head bent over.

"I hope it's okay?" I asked politely. I could tell the accusations flash across her face. I was the guy who hit her. I was Tyson's brother. My eyes flickered towards the door. I was unsure if she wanted me there. "Look if you want me to go, I totally understand." I began to get out of the chair.

She mustered a quick smile. "It's okay. I can help with — with your home — homework," she stuttered.

I smiled and nodded. Progress, I thought. I automatically ran my fingers through my hair, I was a nervous wreck for who knows what reason. "Should we begin the lesson?"

She blushed. "Right. Oh yeah. The lesson." She blinked rapidly and pulled her hair into a ponytail, her eyes snapping back to reality. She bit her cheek and looked at the blank sheet. Her eyes met mine. "You okay there? You seem a little dazed," she said, cautiously.

I blinked. What was I doing? "Yeah, I'm fine. I just had swim practice some time ago. I'm on the varsity team," I bragged. I could have smacked myself.

She nodded, "Cool. So, what do you need help with, Percy?" She said my name with venom in her voice.

"Well, Annabeth," I mimicked her, using the same tone. She rolled her eyes, and I smirked. She looked at me expectantly. "Math," I shook myself. "I need help with math."

"Okay, math is pretty easy. Let's see what you've got."

"Of course it is, Wisegirl," I teased. She blushed at the nickname.

"Okay so, let's get started then." She immediately dove into a long lesson about the homework. It was about shapes and formulas and other mathematical concepts that made my head spin. But somehow, she made it look easy. She was so informed, and was able to answer all of my questions with ease. I had to ask her to repeat stuff a lot, because I was constantly distracted by the motion of her hands, or that ringlet that curled near her hand. She didn't even hesitate to explain it again. Thankfully, by the end, I thought I was starting to understand it.

"Okay, let's try a problem," she said, after she had shown me multiple scenarios. Her stormy eyes bore into mine and I had to blink out of the stare. She distracted me too easily.

"Okay," I whispered. I felt breathless, and sucked in a breath.

"How about we do it on the whiteboard?" she asked. I looked around the room. I hadn't noticed it, but everyone had left except another duo by the back. A blonde guy was explaining and showing something to the other guy.

I hesitated slightly. "Umm, sure."

She smiled at me, and I tried not to notice that my heart began to race. "Yes! I never get to do that, because Grover or Clarisse are always hogging it." She stood up motioned for me to follow her towards the whiteboard. I watched her walk for a split second before deciding to follow her. Her orange t-shirt and black jean shorts gave her a casual look. It was the same thing she had been wearing at the park the other day. Probably a camp uniform.

"Okay, go ahead," she pointed to the wall, where she had written an elaborate math problem.

I scrunched up my forehead as I read it, and dove in. My eyes were blurring the numbers by the end, but I pressed on. Something inside me wanted to impress Annabeth, by showing her how much I had learned in her short, but important, lesson. I let my marker linger in the air, hesitating before boxing my final answer.

She stepped behind me. My breath hitched. "Let's see," she murmured. Her breath tingled my neck. "Oh! You missed a step," she said. "Can you find it?"

I couldn't concentrate with her body so close to mine. I stepped forward, putting as much space as possible, but it wasn't enough. My neck was heating up under my shirt and I was sure that my cheeks were red. "Ummm, no?"

"Come on, Percy. Try again," she said softly.

I looked again, but all I could think about was her eyes. "This one?" I pointed to a random step.

"Look after that," she continued.

I looked down. Underneath I had scrawled that 363 - 39 = 300, which didn't make sense. I did the math in my head. 324. And that would allow me to take the square root of it, which was 18. "Oh, I got it!" I quickly erased my mistake and wrote down the new expression. I turned back to Annabeth. "Is this right, Wisegirl?" I asked, slightly teasing.

She smiled and nodded, her eyes had a tinge of pride glinting in them. I glowered to myself.

"Okay then, I think it's time for us to end the session," she said. I could have sworn that I heard a hint of sadness in her voice but that was probably my ears tricking me.

"Yeah, I should go," I looked at the clock. I felt like she didn't want me to be there, but I still had some time on my hands. I turned to pack my stuff, but before I left, I needed to tell her something. I spun around, and we met face to face. I blushed slightly. "Look, I am really sorry about the whole hitting you in the head thing. I truly didn't mean it. I was just excited to see Tyson, that's all," I told her, as genuinely as possible, because I meant every word.

"Look it's fine. Let's just forget the whole thing," she told me. Her eyes flickered to the two guys in the back, who were laughing together.

"Okay, bye Wisegirl. I'll see you next week," I smiled and waved at her. I almost walked out of the room, before I stopped. An idea had popped into my head. "Hey, Annabeth?"

"Yeah?" She was picking up her pencils and papers from the desk.

"I really want to make it up to you. Do you think ice-cream would fulfill that?"

She blushed and looked down, checking her phone nervously. "Sorry, I am kind of busy. Maybe next time," she smiled sheepishly.

I nodded. "Okay next time, Annabeth," I waved again and headed home. But I could feel a twinge of disappointment growing in my chest. I stuck my earbuds in my ears and jammed the playlist at almost full volume.