SOOOOOOO this is my first-ever fanfic, so please go easy on me. Reviews are appreciated.

Annabeth Chase POV

"I can't believe you forgot our four-month anniversary!" I shouted at Luke. "How could you? You know how much this means to me!"

"Calm down, babe, it's not that big a deal," Luke scoffed. "There's always next month."

"Assuming you don't forget again! I spent the entire month looking forward to today!"

"I said I'm sorry, what else do you want me to say?"

I glared at him. "Screw you, Luke." I grabbed my bag off the foot of his bed and left the room. I spared one backward glance at Luke. His eyes met mine, shining with anger. God, he was handsome. Even I couldn't deny that, he really was very good-looking – when he wasn't angry, of course. His short, sandy hair framed his tanned face. The baby blue eyes that so often sparkled with mischief now flashed with fury. He was wearing an undershirt that hugged his body in all the right places – he was lightly muscled, but not too muscular like a bodybuilder. Right now, though, he was scowling at me.

With one last glare, I left his bedroom, slammed the door behind me, and stormed out of his apartment.

I took the elevator down to street level and walked along the street, making for the nearest subway station. As I made my way down into the station, I wondered where Luke and I had gone wrong. We'd known each other for almost nine years now, since we were both seven. As we graduated from middle school and went on to high school, Luke established a reputation as a playboy. He dated all sorts of girls, but none of his relationships lasted very long. He was one of the most popular boys at school, and was constantly surrounded by girls and by other jocks. I, on the other hand, was just a quiet nerd who did well in every subject. Not unpopular, just quiet. Occasionally, I did sit with Luke at the popular table at lunch and hang out with the popular crowd, but I didn't really like it – it was too noisy. I preferred to just curl up in a corner and read a book, or stick with my own little group of friends: Thalia Grace, Hazel Levesque and Piper McLean.

You can probably imagine how surprised I was when Luke asked me out. In fact, the whole school was surprised when Luke announced that I was now his girlfriend. Of all the girls in the school he could've had, Luke had chosen to date someone like me? I was almost invisible in school, and hadn't really had a lot of dating experience – I'd only gone out with two boys, and even those had been very short-lived relationships. I was happy, though, since I'd secretly harboured a crush on Luke for a few years now.

At first, it was all flowers and chocolate. We were young, we were dating, and New York was a beautiful place to be. Our first date was at the movies, and afterwards he took me to a cosy, dimly lit Italian restaurant, where we just talked and laughed and had a good time. The first month of dating was peppered with romantic dates like that.

Just over a month after our first date, Luke and I consummated the relationship. It was my first time, and I had to say, Luke was incredibly gentle with me, considering that it wasn't his first time. He was a gentleman about it, too, and made sure he had my consent before he tried anything. After that, though, our relationship began going downhill. Luke was quick to boast about how he'd taken my virginity to all his friends, and soon everyone at school was winking at me and asking me how Luke was in bed and whether he gave me a good time. I was mortally embarrassed. Now I no longer went unnoticed - I was one of the girls who'd been lucky enough to sleep with Luke.

Luke wasn't happy with just publicizing the relationship, though. He wanted me to adore him, to spend all my time with him, even if I had better things to do. It was never about me, it was always about Luke, Luke, and more Luke. He got mad at me for doing community service, for studying too much, for doing anything that kept me from telling him how great he was 24/7. He grew more irritable and cranky, and snapped a lot more at me. I swear, it was like he was trying to pick fights with me all the time. We clashed more and more often. I'd thought we'd had a lot in common, but it turned out that we didn't really, not at all. We began going on fewer and fewer dates, until it was down to one date every two weeks, and even then they would be tense and hurried, as if it was a chore, something we had to do. And yet this was the longest relationship I'd ever been in.

If this is dating, I thought bitterly, then dating is seriously overrated.

Once I got home, I called my best friend, Thalia Grace, and told her everything. As I spoke to her, all the emotion came flooding out of me, and I was on the verge of tears by the time I finished.

"He couldn't even be bothered to remember our anniversary," I all but sobbed into the phone. "It's the worst fight we've had in weeks."

"Honey, I'm so sorry," Thalia said sympathetically. "Boys are assholes, and you can't expect a lot from them. They're self-centred dicks whose first priority is themselves and whether they're having a good time; they don't care about us."

I sniffled. "You got that right, Thals."

"Hey, I have an idea," Thalia said more brightly. "The Stoll brothers are throwing a party at their place tomorrow night – their parents are out of town. Wanna go?"

"I don't know, Thals – you know parties have never really been my thing."

"Aw, come on," Thalia whined. "You need something to cheer you up, and a party is just the thing. I know you'll love it! Come on, Annie, say yes!"

"First of all, don't call me Annie. My name's Annabeth. And secondly, I have a lot of History homework which I should probably be doing…"

"It's the weekend! Come on, Annabeth, live a little!"

I sighed. "All right, all right, I'll go."

Thalia squealed with joy. "Yay! Okay, so come over to my place at three o'clock tomorrow afternoon. Piper and Hazel will already be there. We're gonna put on pretty dresses and makeup and just have a great time before we go. Oh, Annabeth, I'm so excited already!"

"Yup," I agreed. "Me too."

Probably not the most fantastic first chapter ever, but it sets the scene. I promise there'll be Percabeth in later chapters...