A/N: Hi everyone! I'm so glad you clicked on this story! I will be updating regularly over the weekends until my stockpiled chapters run out. Reviews are appreciated as long as they are constructive. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Most characters in this story, especially all of the major ones, belong to Rick Riordan and affiliated organizations, not me.

Chapter 1: Fighting and Feuds

Annabeth walked into the studio holding a cappuccino. It was far too early by celebrity time, but maybe that's why she had to be there—the pesky paparazzi would not leave Annabeth alone if they were paid to. And Annabeth couldn't blame them. Photos of Annabeth were desired in every tabloid. At twenty years old, Annabeth Chase had three award-winning albums she had written herself under her belt and a sense of style enviable by most females under 30, not to mention her curly blonde hair and perfect appearance. Annabeth almost caught herself grumbling about her seeming perfection, but decided she shouldn't take what she had for granted and turned her thoughts to wondering what Reyna had in store for her.

Upon entering the break room, Annabeth dropped her bag and cappuccino on the coffee table and snuggled into the low couch waiting for her. Annabeth stayed in a state of semi-consciousness until Reyna cleared her voice. "Annabeth," Reyna called, bringing Annabeth to attention. "Can you please at least try to be awake?"

Annabeth quickly jolted up and tried to pretend she didn't want to be in bed. She surveyed her surroundings and saw Reyna in a swivel chair, resisting the impulse a lesser human would have to spin in it, an old man in a wheel chair, and a lanky boy with jet black hair and sea green eyes who sat on the other side of the couch. As soon as she made eye contact with the boy, he smirked. "Hey, I don't know why we're here, but this is boring. Want to go have some fun?" he said, following his question with a wink.

Gaping for a moment, Annabeth quickly came to her senses, leading her to pick up the nearest pillow, lean over, and hit the stranger. "Do not." Hit. "Speak." Hit. "To me." Hit. "Like that." Hit. "That is so disrespectful!" she cried, hitting him one more time for good measure.

"Annabeth! Do not hit our guest," Reyna commanded at the same time that she heard the old man say "Percy!". Annabeth took one look at Reyna's raised eyebrows and the angry glint in her eye, before she knew she shouldn't have reacted that way, regardless of mystery boy's behavior. "Apologize to him."

"What am I? Twelve? Reyna, I hired you to be my manager. You can't tell me who to apolo-" Annabeth stopped upon receiving a glare as sharp as daggers from her manager. "Fine," Annabeth grumbled. "I'm sorry."

"Wait, what did you say?" the boy—Percy—asked cheekily. His deep voice would have been soothing had it not insulted Annabeth's sensibilities less than five minutes prior. "I didn't hear you."

"I'm sorry," Annabeth said a little louder.

"For what?" Percy asked, feigning innocence.

Oh boy, Reyna was going to kill Annabeth. "For the fact that you're a jerk," Annabeth could get out before she started laughing. There was nothing remotely funny, except for Reyna's surprise at being disobeyed and Percy's surprise that someone would call him that.

"Hey!" Percy started, before the old man called his name and tried to calm him through his chuckle.

Upon hearing the name Percy a second time, Annabeth thought she had heard of a Percy and seen a face that looked like his somewhere, but she couldn't quite place it. Hollywood was huge, and she didn't know if he was a musician like her or some new actor, but it was probably in the heartthrob section of a magazine, because he definitely looked like he could be. He had beautiful sea green eyes, and his arms were perfectly toned but not too large, and Annabeth was positive he had a six pack, but to prevent herself from getting lost in his looks, she reminded herself of the words from his mouth. "Look, you're pretty rude. I don't know if that line gets you any girls, but that's not how you speak to women, and the fact that you would speak to me like that offends me," Annabeth said, holding his gaze level.

Percy gazed right on back. "Oh my god," he said softly. "You sound like such a prude. No wonder no one has wanted to be with you for the past two years."

Annabeth seethed. She tried to maintain what little composure she had left so as not to incur Reyna's wrath. "Do not speak to me like that. That is so disrespectful. You can't just slap a label on a woman like that just because she doesn't want to be with you! Why would my love life even have any significance to you?"

"Oh, well I'm glad you mention that, Annabeth…" Reyna trailed off. Although Reyna seemed to be made of stone 90 percent of the time, she was faltering, which meant that she was dreading telling something to Annabeth. Annabeth felt a sinking feeling in her stomach.

"What is it, Reyna?" Annabeth demanded at the same time that Percy muttered "What?"

"Well you see… We're all here because Chiron and I decided that it would be best if you two were to… pretend to date…" Reyna looked over at Chiron to finish the explanation.

Annabeth's mouth hung open as Chiron continued the proposal. "My team has decided that Percy needs a girlfriend because his image is getting too crazy for the band, and Reyna thinks it's time for you to get yourself back out there, Annabeth."

The gears in Annabeth's mind finally started slowly turning. Percy… Band… Crazy… Jackson. It hit her who the jerk next to her was. "You're Percy Jackson!" she said crossly to him, while he looked at her like she'd grown a second head.

"Yeah… I know? I think I know who I am. I can't believe you didn't realise 'til now."

"Ok yeah… Well I'm tired," Annabeth spat out. "You think I'm going to help Percy's image? I thought his image was supposed to be 'Too cool to settle down' or something. And what about my image?"

"Percy's image is supposed to be somewhat rock star, but he's getting out of control." Percy reddened in the corner of Annabeth's vision. "Although it's okay for rock stars to sleep with women, Percy is so close to accidentally becoming a father, and my research has also shown that the public is reacting negatively to his current behavior." Chiron turned to Percy. "It's okay to make the ladies think they can get you, Percy, but they don't want you if they think it's just one sexual encounter. Stumbling around being a disrespectful drunk also isn't garnering any love among the public. We think it's best if you minimize your public appearances to performances and a few dates."

"Chiron! You cannot force me to date this girl! Yeah, she's hot, but she clearly doesn't want me!" Percy protested.

"And you, Annabeth," Reyna continued, ignoring Percy. "You need to get out now after two years. I know you're enjoying being single, but it's almost as though you're trying to prove a point! And you very well know your image won't suffer from Percy. You dated Luke Castellan, who is by far the biggest bad boy in this business, no matter how hard Percy tries—Sorry Percy," Reyna said, eliciting a grumble from the boy. "The point is that your image is still intact. You are still the 'Girl Next Door' and the most loved by everybody. Please just help out some friends in the music business."

"Absolutely not!" Annabeth yelled, cheeks flushed from the mention of Luke, the indignity of the request, or both. "Even if my image is bulletproof as you say, I only date if I feel a connection! I actually felt something with Luke, no matter how weird that may seem in retrospect, but I would not date Percy even if you threatened my life! He insulted me and he obviously has no respect for me or wish to be with me."

"Fine," Reyna sighed. "I guess I'll just have to refer this to Drew's manager. Maybe Drew could use the publicity of dating Percy. Plus I'm sure Percy will like her. She's very pretty," she said, looking knowingly at Percy, then smirking at Chiron.

Annabeth had an internal conflict in her head. She absolutely could not stand Percy. On the other hand, Percy did absolutely nothing to deserve dating the evil that was Drew. Drew was starting in the music business a few years after Annabeth, so Annabeth showed her the ropes. Annabeth had never adored Drew, but any time she could help a person, she would. Then, Drew spread rumors about Annabeth sleeping with each of Drew's flings, while Drew then tried in private to steal each of Annabeth's successive boyfriends. Annabeth cut off all ties with Drew, and the feud calmed down when Drew turned her eye to modeling, only occasionally releasing a single, but Annabeth would not give anything else to the witch.

She braced herself and looked up. "Fine," Annabeth said shortly, glaring at Reyna. "I will pretend to date Percy. But no excessive PDA, and I will not be pushing any scheduled events to make time for him."

"I wouldn't expect anything less from you, Annabeth. Now go, both of you. We can't have any paparazzi see you, so you're going home by car."

Annabeth was unpleasantly surprised when she and Percy got to the parking lot only to find that there was only one car for both of them. "It's bad enough that I have to pretend to date you, but now we have to share a car before our relationship has even started!"

"Ok, I'm not too thrilled about it either, but the sooner we get in, the sooner you don't have to see me," Percy said.

Annabeth was struck by the lack of anger in his voice and how much sense the suggestion made, but she said nothing and got in the car.

The two sat in silence for the majority of the ride. They passed some paparazzi, but because they didn't see who was inside the car, the two celebrities passed unnoticed. After some time in silence, Percy said, "So I guess the feud between you and Drew is real?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't call it a feud. I did nothing but be nice to her, but I guess she just wanted more fame for herself. I consider myself a good person, but I'm too competitive to let her get ahead without working hard like I did. Besides, you wouldn't want to be with her… She's mean and demanding."

They sat in silence until the car stopped. "Well I guess I'll see you later," Percy said, putting one leg out of the car. "And don't worry, Annabeth," Percy added, pausing. "I much prefer blondes." With that, Percy winked, got out of the car, and walked away. Annabeth, left with a blush on her cheeks, spent the rest of the car ride in silence. After deciding that that comment was probably an innocent one, she decided that even if she wasn't going to enjoy spending time with Percy, it would at least be interesting.