Brrring! Brrring! Brrring!

"Ugh" I groaned as I sleepily got out of bed. I am really not a morning person, but then I remembered it was the first day of school. Double ugh.

After the Second Titan War had ended my parents (both mortal and immortal) had decided that I should be nearer to Olympus to supervise the rebuilding of it. They had enrolled me at Goode High school in New York. I really hated moving, I had begun to make friends in San Francisco but there were a lot of monsters there. It made going to school difficult. However there was one upside to all of this.

Percy.

As a surprise, my Dad had arranged for me to stay with him and Sally in their apartment during school time. For some weird reason, when Sally found out which school I was going to, she'd booked a hotel for me to stay in at first. Where I was now. Shoot.

I dressed super-fast and ate breakfast in under 5 minutes. School was a block away from the hotel, and it was already 8:40. School started in 10.

I ran. I'd get there on time, monster fighting does that for you.

I walked up to the front desk. "Hey, I'm Annabeth Chase. The n-"

"-ew girl. Don't worry honey, we've all been there. Here is your schedule and locker numbers, and do you need someone to show you around?" asked the woman there. I shook my head.

"Nope, I've done this plenty of times before and I looked up the subjects online." She raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow at that, but decided to ignore it. Very wise.

My head filled with plans for after school, like going to Percy's, when I had finished the first day of this particular hell hole. Being the new girl was not a feeling I liked. I grabbed my schedule and planner and hotfooted it out of there, determined to at least find my locker before the bell rang.

Unfortunately I bumped into someone, literally.

Ow! All my stuff fell on the floor and I bent to pick it up. When I straightened up, I realised that there was a girl on the floor.

"Sorry about that." I apologised, "I honestly didn't see where I was going." Extending a hand out to her. She grasped it and I hauled her up.

"No worries. I generally knock stuff over, it's a wonder it wasn't me who barrelled into you. Names Chloe Waters." She smiled good naturedly at me. Wow, I could actually get to like her.

"Nice name, Chloe. I'm Annabeth Chase. Do you think you could show me where my locker is in under 3 minutes?" Normally I would never ask someone for help, but it seemed like the perfect bonding opportunity with someone who wasn't a jerk. And I was under a time limit.

"Cool, what number?"

"Um, 250. You know where that is?"

"Doesn't everyone? It's the locker next to the coolest guy in schools." She led me through the sprawling building, dodging other students and their questions. Finally we came to a cluster of girls before a couple of lockers. I decided that this was probably where my locker was if there were a group of fan girls standing around, waiting for the 'coolest' guy in school. Not a dime on Seaweed Brain.

Chloe proved my prediction right by shoving the girls out of the way to get to my locker. There was a bit of protest until they realised she was showing the new girl the way to her locker. Then they just looked jealous. Hm.

Chloe saw me looking a little apprehensively at the crowd.

"Don't worry, they should die down soon. He keeps telling them that he has a girlfriend in San Fran. No one believes him though, it's just a rumour to keep the girls away. Even his swim team says so."

Hang on. Back up. Hold the phone.

'Coolest guy in school'. Percy-like traits definitely would have gotten him that position. Swim team. Poseidon qualities showing, kelp head. Girlfriend in San Francisco. That would be me. Except, I wasn't in San Francisco, I was here. I didn't even know if Percy knew I was in New York. I'd only told Sa-.

Sally. In an instant, I knew what she'd done. I just had to be sure.

"Um, what's his name?" I asked, putting a lot of curiosity in my voice.

"Oh, you mean his. He's called Percy, Percy Jackson." Very Bond. Well, my surprise had come and gone without Percy, but I could still have some fun.

A sudden set of shrill squeals alerted me to the fact that he was coming. I quickly opened my locker and busied myself with putting my books and folders away, aware of Chloe babbling about the school to my left.

I grabbed my Yankee's cap, and turned to her, telling her to go on and that I'd find the way myself. As she walked away, I put my hat on. Looking down, I could only see the school corridor. Perfect.

Hearing a familiar voice, I twirled and saw a broad back, a mop of raven-black hair and a Seaweed Brained person. I crept quietly towards him, breathed a little on his neck and whispered,

"Perseus." He turned around quickly at that. When he did, I saw dark circles under his eyes and his face had lost its usual rosy glow. I didn't have the heart to tease him anymore.

The nightmares were getting to me too. Not just them, but demigod dreams as well, where I felt an indescribable loneliness. I tried to brush over them, we'd already done so much for the gods and the world. Surely it was someone else's turn. However that flew out of my mind, when Percy mouthed,

"Annabeth."

How could he see me?

I was even more surprised when he pulled out riptide, in pen form. So off guard that I talked.

"I don't think you want to pull Anaklusmos on me, Seaweed Brain. It would not get you into my good books." His face broke into a wide grin.

"Annabeth!" He barrelled straight towards the place where my voice was coming from, which also happened to be where I was standing. Percy grabbed me into a hug, I laughed then and took my invisibility cap off, wondering what the mortals saw.

"Yo, Perce. Who's the girl? You finally found someone you like?" yelled a guy who looked unnervingly like the Stoll brothers. I looked at Percy questioningly. He just shrugged.

"I never looked at a girl twice here. Though I did tell them I had a hot, smart and beautiful girlfriend in San Francisco. They all believed that I'd made you up to stop girls from throwing themselves at me, or to cover up that I was gay." I smiled a little at that one.

"Hey Percy, answer the question man. " The Conner/Travis lookalike complained.

"Sure bro. This is Annabeth. You know, my girlfriend from San Francisco." I visibly saw the fan club deflate at that and start to disperse, dejected looks on their faces. I also saw a punk looking girl tell the lookalike to "pay up, I told you she was real". I felt that we could be friends. I turned to Percy.

"So, Seaweed Brain, coming back to yours after school. I need to move my stuff into your spare bedroom. For the rest of the year."

"Wow, Wise Girl. Moving in already? Our relationship seems to be progressing fast." He smirked.

"So you don't want me to move in?" I teased him. I had him hook, line and sinker.

"What! Of course I do Annabeth. I guess mom arranged for you to come, didn't she? Are you working on Olymp-ire State Building at the weekends? What classes do you have? Do you w-" Cutting him off mid-flow.

"You're rambling again Seaweed Brain. Yes your mom arranged for me to come and orchestrated this whole deal." He gave a large smile to that.

"I am working for mom on Saturdays and Mondays. I also have the exact same schedule as you, Kelp Head." He laughed.

"Oh and yes, I would love to go to DQ's with you later." He stared at me with unguarded surprise, he should be getting used to it by now.

"How'd you – no, never mind, I don't want to know. Just keep being amazing." I wonder if he'll ever say that again.

Brrring. Brrring. Brrring.

Percy held out his hand to me and I took it.

"Come on, I'll show you to class."