Here is my Valentine's Day fic...Woooo...

Disclaimer: I do not own PJO!

"Dude, were you listening to me?"

Percy watched as Annabeth Chase in all her beauty entered the school. She was surrounded by her friends Rachel, Thalia, and Silena, as usual. Her golden locks looked especially golden today, and her face seemed to glow. Percy sighed and leaned against his locker, obviously love-struck by the wise girl.

Grover, Percy's best friend, followed his line of sight and rolled his eyes, giving a tired sigh. "Of course…"

Percy wasn't exactly friends with her…In fact, he had only spoken three times to her (no, he wasn't counting…). But ever since he had laid eyes on her, he had developed a crush for her. All he wanted was to take her out on a date.

Of course, that was impossible, what with the number of guys also vying for her. Besides, today was Valentine's Day, and it would be just as hard to get her attention today as any other normal day, if not harder.

Percy watched as she and her friends started walking away down the hall towards their lockers. He sighed. He had no chance with her.

"Just ask her out," Grover advised him as they walked to Social Studies.

"You can't just bluntly ask a girl like Annabeth," Percy countered. "You have to do something special. Besides, I'm sure there's a waiting list," he added bitterly.

Grover stared at him. "Dude, you must be pretty in love with this girl. Have you even talked to her?"

Percy lifted his chin. "Of course I have."

Grover raised a brow condescendingly. "Really? Like when?"

"Well…"

It was a Friday. The school bell was about to ring, announcing the end of the torturous day. Percy, along with his classmates (including Annabeth), were piled by the door, waiting to be set free. Percy was currently in the middle of the mosh pit, and he could see Annabeth beside him from the corner of his eye. His heart was pounding loudly, and he could smell the wonderful fragrance coming from her. She smelled pleasantly like strawberries and mint.

He could clearly hear their conversations.

"So, Annabeth," Silena asked, "what're you doing this weekend?"

"My dad flew in from San Francisco so we're spending the weekend together. How about you?"

Percy tuned out the rest, not really caring what the others had to say. He turned his attention to the clock as it slowly but surely ticked tocked closer to three 'o' clock. He was so focused on the clock that he barely registered Annabeth asking,

"So, Percy, what're you doing this weekend?"

Percy blinked and looked down at Annabeth. His heart skipped a beat as he realized that she was asking him a question and that she actually knew his name.

"U-uh…you're talking to me?" He mentally berated himself for his suave reply.

She giggled and he blushed. "Yeah, I guess so."

"O-oh. Right. This weekend—"

However, he was cut off by the bell ringing. Annabeth smiled at him. "Well, I'll see you on Monday."

He watched helplessly as she and her posse left. "But I was going to tell you…"

Angrily and his whole weekend now ruined, he stomped out the door.

"I'm so sure that happened," Grover rolled his eyes as they took their seats in class.

"It did!" Percy defended himself. "Another time she asked me for a pencil! And she didn't give it back, so she still has it! Ha!"

"What if she lent it to someone else?"

Percy opened his mouth to reply, but stopped. Grover chuckled evilly and victoriously as the bell rang.

Class dragged on and on. Percy's head was resting on his bent arm and he was tapping his pencil in a steady rhythm. Grover's words were passing through his head.

"Just ask her out."

He sighed. The final bell rang and Percy grudgingly stuffed his things into his back pack and got up. He bid Grover goodbye in the hallway as they parted ways. He was on his way to his next class—Math—when he saw something that caught his eye.

A kid was walking down the hall, and in his hand was a bundle of roses. An idea started forming in his head.

"Just ask her out."

"You can't just ask her out. You have to do something special."

Bingo.

"Hey, kid," Percy rushed the kid in the hallway, blocking his path. "Where did you get those?"

"Office is selling them to give to people," he replied a bit confused.

Percy nodded and then rushed off towards the office. Lo and behold, on the door there was a signed taped up that read 'Roses: two dollars apiece.' Percy smiled and stepped inside, only to have his smile fall off his face when he realized there was a long line of kids waiting to buy roses. There was no way he could buy some before the bell rang.

I'll just come back at lunch…

Slightly dejected, he went to Math, but upon entering the classroom, he remembered that Annabeth was in this class. He scanned the room and found her scribbling something on a notebook. Probably studying like usual.

On shaky legs, he went and sat in his desk kitty-corner from hers.

"Hey Percy."

Percy was in shock to realize that Annabeth was talking to him (four times now!).

"H-hey, Annabeth," he replied. He cleared his throat. "What's up?"

"Nothing much. I just have a question on the assignment…"

Percy felt himself start to sweat. Annabeth never had questions on assignments. As far as he was concerned, she was a 4.0 student who always had A pluses. So either the world was ending and she really did have a question, or—dare he think it—she actually wanted to talk to him.

"Really? Er, um, which one?"

She bit her lip and Percy couldn't help but stare. He was fully entranced by her: the way she would repeatedly tuck the same piece of hair behind her ear, the way her brow furrowed as she talked about something, how her stormy gray eyes sparkled and glinted.

"Percy?"

He blinked rapidly and looked back into her eyes. Oh God, he'd zoned.

Think, Percy, think!

"I'm sorry, what?" he weakly asked. He was ruining his chance with each passing second.

She smiled wryly. "I asked, was it four through eighteen, or four through twenty?"

"Just four through eighteen." He could still salvage his chances!

"Oh okay," she smiled. "Thanks."

"No problem," he grinned back. "So…"

"Alright class, settle down," his teacher called out. Percy felt his jaw clench as he slowly turned back in his desk. Throughout class, he cursed Miss Steinfield's name.

Percy had his study hall now. He decided to go down to the office to get his roses. Thankfully, the line was smaller, and he ended up being fourth in line. When it was finally his turn, he reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. The highest bill he had was a ten, so he pulled it out and said, "Five roses, please."

The student council member working there raised his brows but faithfully retrieved the roses. He tied them together with some ribbon and handed him the flowers. "Happy Valentine's Day."

Percy didn't bother with a reply. He just raced out of there and back to his study hall. Once there, he pulled out a piece of clean paper and wrote a note on it. Then, he went back out into the hall. He was planning on being a chicken and putting them in Annabeth's locker instead of giving them to her personally.

That's when he realized he didn't know where her locker was.

That's also when he coincidentally ran into her younger brother Malcolm.

"Malcolm!" Percy all but screamed. "I need you!"

Malcolm raised a brow. "What?" he asked rudely.

"What's Annabeth's locker number?"

Malcolm looked Percy up and down. He was used to guys asking these kinds of things. It came as no surprise to him that his sister was considered "hot," however he just didn't see it.

"Why should I tell you?"

"Because if you don't I know someone who'll hack into the school's computer and change those little A's to big, fat F's."

Percy was clearly in no mood for Tom Foolery.

Malcolm held his hands up. "Calm down. It's locker 6796."

Percy didn't even give him a proper thank you. He just raced down the hallways towards the correct locker, missing the younger Chase's musings.

"Or was it 6769…?" Malcolm shrugged.

Percy waited around the corner as the bell rang for lunch. He was watching Annabeth's locker, waiting for her to come and find her gift. However, five minutes passed, then ten…and nothing.

He was starting to lose faith. Just then, a guy a few grades below him walked up to that locker and opened it.

Percy was angry, thinking it was another guy stealing his idea, but then his facial expression turned into one of horror as he stared further down the hallway and found Annabeth at a different locker putting things away. Her locker.

"Oh no, no, no, NO!" Percy all but yelled as he ran down the hall. He stopped and watched as Annabeth turned the other way and walked into the cafeteria.

"Who the hell is Percy?" the owner of the locker that Percy had put the flowers in asked.

Percy turned and glared at him, snatching the flowers from him and stomping into the lunch room.

"It's not funny," Percy mumbled murderously.

Grover continued to cackle. "It is too! I can't believe that!"

Percy growled and stared down at the roses. They were practically mocking him. How was he supposed to get them to her now?

"Look," Grover said once he calmed down. "I'm just happy you're finally getting the guts to ask her."

Percy glared at him and looked across the lunchroom where Annabeth was sitting with her friends. He watched, disgusted, as Luke Castellan, star football player, walked up and gave her a huge teddy bear that was as big as her.

Percy rolled his eyes and turned away. He got up with Grover, grabbing his stuff, and left the cafeteria.

"What're you going to do now?" Grover asked.

Percy sighed. "I have no clue…"

"Well, you better hurry." He pointed to the few boys now talking to her. Percy stared, incredulous. "Because you're chance is slowly slipping away."

By the end of the school day, Percy had broken four pencils. Annabeth was in a few of his remaining classes, and in each one he had to sit by and watch as boys endlessly and shamelessly flirted with her. And she even had the audacity to giggle. For Christ's sake, they were horrible! It wasn't even remotely funny or amusing! It was just plain sick.

He had tried multiple times to get her attention, but each time he was interrupted by some loser—usually the football-playing, high levels of testosterone (probably drug-pushing) guys who could beat the crap out of guys like Percy. Thus, he would just sigh and leave.

The bell rang, signaling the end of school. Sighing dejectedly, he got up from his seat and left, stepping into the hallway. And then, opportunity struck. The halls were empty, and, surprisingly, Annabeth was at her locker.

Percy watched as she sighed and pulled the big bear out of her locker along with multiple boxes of chocolate. He watched, eyes widening, as she went to the nearest trashcan and threw away the chocolate.

He blinked. "Not a fan?" he accidentally spoke aloud. He clasped his hands over his mouth, but it was too late. Annabeth's head snapped up to him and she blinked.

"What?"

Percy mentally cursed as he stepped towards her. "Um, of chocolate, I mean. You don't like it?"

She wrinkled her nose. "No. I'm kind of allergic to it."

Percy found it peculiar that none of the guys bothered to ask if she actually liked chocolate. This gave him hope. "That's too bad."

"For them," Annabeth countered, throwing more candy away. "Just money out of their pockets."

Percy nodded. An awkward silence fell on them. "So…um…" He shifted on his feet and stared down at his shoes. "There was s-something that I've been meaning to ask…"

Annabeth felt her heart leap. "Yeah?"

Percy looked down at the roses clutched in his hands. With a burst of confidence, he lifted them and looked Annabeth in the eye. "Will you go out with me?"

Annabeth blinked as he thrust five roses towards her. She felt herself blush as she took them from him.

"I've been trying to ask you all day," Percy started rambling, his nerves getting the best of him. "But you kept getting stuff from those jocks, and then your brother was being idiotic and he gave me the wrong locker number and—"

Annabeth leaned up and kissed his cheek, effectively shutting him up. She grinned, her face still red. "Of course. I'd love to. Pick me up at eight? On Friday?"

Percy gaped down at her, his face heating up. He just nodded slowly. Annabeth smiled and grabbed her stuff, shut her locker, and then disappeared down the hall.

A few minutes after she left, he finally registered he was going on a date with her. He grinned and gave a sigh of relief.

However, now he had to worry about those football-playing, testosterone-full jocks beating him to a pulp.

Oh well. It'll be worth it.

Lovey dovey ending. Yay!

Happy Valentine's Day or, if you're like me, Happy SAD!

On a side note, if you've been following my blog (link is on my profile), you'll know that I've put Contentions on a temporary Hiatus. This is just until I've been inspired with this story. It's been causing me some stress, and I figure if I take a little break away from it, I'll sometime be struck with ideas that'll knock your socks off.

Thanks for reading and review please!

-Akatsuki Child