What was I supposed to wear to ice skating? I didn't know. I spent half an hour looking in my closet for something to wear. It was almost like I was a teenager again.

Screw it, I thought. Annabeth wasn't one to obsess over clothing. I pulled out a dark blue t-shirt, a pair of jeans, and a green jacket out of the top drawer of my closet and put them on. I was a little sore, but it wasn't nearly as bad as last week since I was only hit twice during the game.

I arrived at Annabeth's dorm at six-I made sure to arrive on time-and knocked on her door. She lived on a ground-level room, thankfully, so I didn't have to worry about entering a girls-only floor. However, it wasn't Annabeth who opened the door.

"Hello, who is this?" a girl asked me blandly. She had long, dark hair and a regal air to her. Her dark, piercing eyes gave me the sense she was a born leader.

"My name's Percy, and I'm looking for Annabeth Chase," I responded.

"Percy?" Annabeth called, from somewhere inside the dorm. "Just a minute!"

"Wow, someone's enthusiastic," the girl noticed. "My name's Reyna, by the way. I'm Annabeth's roommate."

"Nice to meet you, Reyna," I said, as Annabeth walked up to the door, in a pair of jeans and a Rebels hoodie. She wasn't wearing makeup or anything, but Annabeth looked stunning. Only she could pull off an old hoodie and a pair of jeans.

"Nice to meet you too," Reyna responded, without a hint of emotion. "Well, be good to Annabeth. You hurt her, and I'll hurt you."

Annabeth blushed. "Reyna!"

Reyna shrugged. "You heard me, Percy. I'll see you later," she said, and I couldn't help but believe her.

Once Reyna shut her door, Annabeth turned to me. "Sorry about that."

I waved my hand. "It's fine. Besides, I get the sense that Reyna's cool once you get to know her."

Annabeth nodded. "Definitely. She's one of my close friends," she said, as I opened the door to my car for her. She smiled at my act of chivalry, much to my delight. Some girls though it was 'cheesy' rather than classy. "Nice car, by the way."

"Thanks," I said, turning the car on and pulling out of my parking space. "I got it three weeks ago. First car." That wasn't a lie. I relied on public transportation before a few weeks ago when I pretty much had to get a car to travel to the stadium and back. On that thought, our first home game was this week…and Annabeth was going to be watching.

Annabeth raised her eyebrows. "You're twenty-one, and your first car is a luxury sports car?"

I shrugged. "My parents gave it to me for my twenty-first birthday," I told her. I justified the lie by telling myself that my parents gave me the gift of life, which led to me buying the car, so…it began with them.

"Lucky," Annabeth said. "I have to rely on the subway."

"Hey, the subway's not all bad. It's just that—" I cut myself off. I was about to say, "It's just that the stadium can't be reached that way," but stopped myself. Damn, how long could I keep this from Annabeth? Guilt aside, she was a smart girl. She'd figure me out quickly if I wasn't careful. One thing I knew was that I wanted to be the one to tell Annabeth who I was. If nothing else, I was going to be honest with her regardless of how long it took.

"Just that what?" Annabeth asked.

"Just that it's always so crowded," I said quickly.

Annabeth shrugged. "I got used to it. Plus, I don't need to use it all that often."

"Figures. Have you ever skated before?" I asked her, changing the subject.

"Quite a few times, the most recent being a year ago. Sorry in advance if I'm a klutz out there."

I waved my hand. "It's fine. I'm not the best skater either," I told her, pulling the car into a parking garage.

We walked around Central Park for a few minutes, hand in hand, before renting skates and taking to the rink. I wanted to hold Annabeth's hand to help her out, but I had to get myself oriented first so I wouldn't stumble and take us both down.

It turned out that Annabeth wasn't bad at all. She stumbled every so often and fell in front of the boards once, but for the most part she held her own. After a few laps around, I felt comfortable offering her my hand. It was cold in the rink and we both forgot gloves, to Annabeth's surprise, so she didn't hesitate to take advantage of an opportunity to warm her hand.

Annabeth's hand sent a chill down my arm—not just because it was cold, but because it was…hauntingly comfortable.

"So," Annabeth said, as we turned a corner. "I know it's all I talk about, but did you see the game?"

I nodded. "Yup. We have more wins than we did all of last year," I said, then stopped, realizing what I said. I said we, not they.

Thankfully, Annabeth didn't notice. "I know, right? It's awesome to finally watch a good football team. I'll be at next game live."

"Are you gonna meet Percy?" I asked, merely for the sake of making a lighthearted comment.

Annabeth laughed. "Nah, my tickets aren't that great. But I'm so glad I get to go. And you saw Percy's postgame interview, right?"

"Of course. No big deal. It's no big deal. Yeah, it ain't no big deal," I said, repeating my words from Sunday. It sounded dumb, but I made a point to say at least one funny comment every interview. It made what was normally pretty boring a fun event for everyone, including Annabeth.

Annabeth stared at me. "Percy, you impersonated him perfectly." Shoot. That wasn't in the plan…I'm so stupid.

I shrugged. "Comes in the name, I guess."

Annabeth shook her head, squeezing my hand. "Maybe so, but that was a damn good impersonation."

I nodded. I needed to change the subject before things went down. "I guess so. So did you watch with Thalia and Piper again?"

Annabeth nodded. I felt guilty about lying-yet again-but I decided to wait for a better time to tell her. "Yeah. Thalia called Percy an arrogant, lying, word I won't repeat. It's almost like she knows him personally and hates his guts." I wasn't sure how Annabeth didn't know Thalia was my cousin yet. If she did, she'd easily put the pieces together. For that matter, a girl as smart as Annabeth should've easily put things together by now.

"That's weird. She sounds like a hardcore football fan."

Annabeth shook her head. "She's not. She didn't care about the score, she just wanted to see Percy get trucked. I don't know what she has against him. And I don't know who to defend either, my best friend or favorite player." I didn't like the sound of that. I wanted to make up with Thalia so badly—we hadn't spoken in a year—but I couldn't bring myself to. Maybe Annabeth would give me reason to.

We skated around for a while before heading to the café and picking up some dinner, which I ended up splitting with Annabeth again. I dropped Annabeth off at her dorm and hugged her goodnight before she went inside.

Just like last date, I forgot all about kissing her until she disappeared behind her door. Sighing, I walked back out to the car, both a tad giddy from the date and disappointed with myself. I came through for my team this week, but not for Annabeth, who I still hadn't formally asked to be my girlfriend.

A lot of people didn't understand how hard it was to be a star football player. All the fans saw were short, three-hour games once a week full of energy and passion. They didn't see the hours and hours of film study and practice. I spent at least twenty hours a week watching film, and another fifteen on the field to improve my game.

They also didn't see the perseverance and mental toughness I needed to have. At every step of the way, I had doubters. People who didn't think I'd be any good. People said that I was slow, that I didn't have a winning 'aura', that I wasn't physically tough enough to hang with the best. I wanted to ignore them, but it was hard. I grew up being the best high school quarterback in New York City. My teammates idolized me. I was so comfortable doing what I was doing; I didn't know real adversity until I hit college. Even then, that was nothing compared to the ranting that went on about me before this season began about me being a 'boy in a man's world'.

Two successful games in the professionals helped, but I could never be confident enough for comfort. It took a crazy amount of confidence to believe that I could go against the best players in the world and succeed. That's the way it was in the National Football League. I didn't get paid millions of dollars for nothing.

But while sometimes I just wanted to slink under the radar and dump the critics off to the next star player, I loved my life. I wouldn't trade it for anyone else's.

Question of the Chapter: How long until Annabeth finds out?

Sorry for the late update btw!