It was late afternoon, and I had stayed in my room all day. My phone rang for the umpteenth time as I lay in bed. I had tossed it in the corner of my room at some point. Percy was calling me and I wasn't sure why I was still ignoring him.

My dad had stuck this idea in my head that I couldn't get rid of. That boy… good business asset. I had laid awake all night thinking about it. Why do I even care?! It's not like I haven't met people like that before. Yeah but I thought Percy was like me. Of course he was. He loathed his dad. He was funny and sweet and he really loves his mom... and brother. He's got nice hair too. Shut up.

Percy's done nothing but been kind and friendly to me, and I start to accuse him at the first sign of trouble. I can trust him, as he has me. My phone buzzed again. Crap I need to call Percy back. I jumped off my bed, but as soon as I picked up my phone I saw it die. I swore and fell back on my bed.

"Annabeth?" my step-mother called from behind my closed door.

"I'm sleeping." I whined.

"You've got a visitor. Are you decent?"

"Yeah, I guess. Who is it?"

Instead of an answer, I heard mumbled voices and then door flipped open.

Percy stumbled in and started talking. "Are you okay? You didn't answer your phone."

I looked down. "Yeah. I'm really sorry. I just- I had a rough night. That's all."

His eyes were full of concern. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No. No, it's okay now." I lied. This is why I cared. Because he cared.

"I just want to get away from here." I mumbled.

"C'mon." Percy offered me his hand. "I've got a good place in mind."

I took it and he pulled me off the bed, launching me into him.

"Woah. Sorry." He said, laughing softly.

I took a shaky breath and stepped away. That was weird.

I can trust him, I reminded myself. Pointing to my closet I said, "I want to show you something."

I pushed some clothes aside, revealed my safe and put the code in. "It's my birthdate."

"What's all this?" Percy asked as I opened it.

"It's everything my step-mom has thought I've gotten rid of. Anything she doesn't like, she lets me 'throw it out' or she ends up doing it herself."

Percy went for something in the safe, then hesitated. "Can I-"

"Sure." I shrugged. "I'm going to pick something out to wear."

I grabbed a yellow sundress and a blue Armani jacket.

"I think you should wear this, where we're going." I turned and saw Percy holding up a pair of ripped capris and one of my favorite shirts. It was white with a weird geometric pattern. When my step-mother had put this one in a pile, I had argued with her. She had told me that it was "sloppy" and "juvenile."

"Really? Where are we going?"

"Somewhere stupid." He grinned.

We were laughing with joy as we zoomed down the road.

"Your face!" Percy exclaimed. "You thought you were dead!"

"It's not funny!" I said, laughing. "I didn't think she would see us before she left!"

Percy and I had left the house in a hurry, so my outfit wouldn't be torn apart, but we were stopped by my parents on the way out.

He let out another chuckle. "That was scarier than sneaking out."

"I told you. She's evil."

"What's this?" I asked, confused.

Percy had parked across from a bank.

"This isn't the place, it's just a safe spot for a car like this." He gave his sports car a pat. "C'mon."

We walked down a couple blocks and I could see a few people gathered outside an apartment building.

"Is that where we're going?"

"Yup. I'm taking you to a real party." He grinned. "It's pretty different you'll find. I thought it was a good idea. You know- not something fancy-"

I shook my head, a smile spreading across my face. "This is perfect."

People recognized Percy as we walked through the building and he would send a wave, but keep moving.

"This apartment's owned by one of my friends. The whole thing." He explained. I nodded. "Piper McLean? Do you know her?"

McLean. Her father was a famous actor. I'd been to some of their formals.

"Yea. Sort of."

"We'll she got into trouble and now she lives out here, on her own.

"Oh."

"She's fine. She likes it a lot better out here anyway."

We made our way into the first apartment, which turned out to be the whole floor, with an elevator running in the back. There was loud music throughout the floor and a lot of people were dancing around randomly. I bumped into someone and they managed to hand me a half-drunk bottle of beer. Percy took it from me and set it on the nearest table.

"Not this stuff." He put his hand on my back and guided me to the elevator.

"Up?" I asked. He shook his head.

"Down." He said as the doors opened.

Three girls danced and screamed as they came out of the elevator. Percy and I rushed in and closed the doors quickly.

"Wow." I said. "Different is right."

Percy frowned. "If you don't like it…"

"No, no." I waved it off. "It seems like a lot more fun, actually."

The doors dinged open to a basement- which was basically a wine cellar, full of a bunch of different types of alcohol. There a long counter in front of all the drinks, and a guy standing behind it like a barista.

"Percy!" the guy called.

"Leo! Hey! It's been a long time man." He went over and gave him a fist bump.

The guy- Leo- noticed me and glanced at Percy.

"Percy and lady-friend." He said wiggling his eyebrows.

Percy chuckled. "This is Annabeth. She's new here."

"Oh? Well Annabeth, if you ever want to ditch this garbage, and come hang with me, you can okay?" Leo remarked. "All right. What'll it be today guys?"

"Something not too fancy, but not crappy either. Two please."

Leo snapped his fingers. "Back in a jiff."

He dropped below the counter and popped right back up with two glasses in his hands.

"Alright guys, here ya are."

"Thanks Leo." Percy said, grabbing the beers.

We turned to the elevator where about ten people tumbled out, some of them already very drunk.

"Fourth floor this time." Percy told me. "And if you hold the button down, it'll go straight there.

The elevator did as Percy said, but as the doors opened to reveal several couples on couches and up against walls.

"Ah! Wrong floor. Wrong floor. These doors won't-" Percy whispered urgently and they began to close very slowly. He smacked his head. "Sorry, third floor, not fourth."

"You been on the fourth floor before?" I smirked.

"No." he said quickly. "Well I don't think so."

"You don't think so?"

"Hey if I have. I was drunk. So." He popped the lid off the beers on the railing lining the elevator.

Handing me one he said, "Cheers."

I took a sip and made a face. Beer was not great.

Percy was grinning. "Yeah, it's kind of strong. You don't have to finish it."

I raised my eyebrow. "Oh I'm going to finish it." And I started to take the whole thing down.

Percy looked impressed as I finished.

"Hey. Have we moved?" I glanced at the wall of numbers. None of them were lit up.

"Ah, I guess we didn't push it." He reached to press, but I blocked his hand.

"Your turn. You finish it and I'll push the button."

He gave me a funny look. "You are especially bold today Annabeth." He said and finished off his beer.

I pushed for floor three and we moved downward. The doors opened to a more crowded room, full of just about everything. People were passed out, making out, and still up and dancing.

"This is where the real fun is." Percy whispered in my ear.

I made my way to the kitchen area, dropping off my bottle in the sink, Percy followed me.

"Hey! This is the stuff from that second night!" Percy yelled.

"What?" I called back.

He held up a bottle of golden liquid.

"Don't worry. I got you." He said, pouring it into two cups.

This was so weird. It was like the party you only see in the movies. Red solo cups, dirty dancing, maybe a better alcohol selection, but way better than any other party I'd been to.

"Here you go. Oops." Percy spilled a little on my jacket.

"It's fine." I took my jacket off and slung it on a chair. "Thanks." I said, taking a sip. Much better than beer.

"So. Do you like it so far?" Percy said, a little too loud.

"Yeah I do thanks for bringing me." I replied, also too loudly and quickly.

He poured more alcohol into both of our cups.

Percy finished off his cup and offered me his hand. "Wanna dance?"

"Yea, one sec." I gulped down the rest of mine and pulled him to the middle of where people were dancing.

He put his hands on my waist and stepped on my foot.

"Sorry."

"It's okay."

Percy stepped on my foot, again. He laughed. "We've done this before. Not that hard."

"Yeah but we weren't not as drunk." I frowned. Did that make sense?

I grabbed his shirt and pulled him closer. "There. Now it'sharder to step on my feet."

I looked up at him. He had a soft expression on his face.

"You're really pretty." He said suddenly, giving a hiccup. "Really pretty."

"You're just drunk." I told him.

He was searching my eyes again. Why does he do that? It's not fair, cuz it makes him cute and stuff, I thought, drunkenly.

"I'm going to kiss you." He stated.

"Okay?" I laughed, he wasn't serious.

But Percy leaned closer and hesitated.

"Annabeth?" he whispered, close enough to feel his breath on my face.

Then his lips met mine and I felt my eyes flutter closed as our lips moved together. He pulled back, and his brilliant eyes were all lit up. What? What was that?

Sirens. I was hearing sirens.

"Is that because of us?" I giggled.

"Probably." He shrugged.

"Then should we- ya know- leave? Maybe?"

Percy grabbed my hand and grinned.

"Run."

We crammed into the elevator with around twelve other people and rushed outside to the backyard. He jumped on a wall and helped me up and we both landed in the next yard. Running and laughing was not a good combination. Being a little drunk didn't help either. We made it past one building before we had to stop. I could hear more sirens in the distance.

"Man, I feel kinda bad. Piper's going to get in trouble again." Percy glanced over the wall.

"We should probably go." I told him and he nodded in agreement. We started to make our way back to the bank.

I was starting to get cold. Where was my- I swore. "My jacket. I left it at the party."

"It's a bad idea to go back and get it." Percy warned.

I shoved him and rolled my eyes. "I know, stupid. My step-mom is going to kill me."

"Here." Percy said, shrugging his own jacket off. "Take this one."

"Nah. I'm alright." I told him, but he kept it held out in front of him, so I took it.

"Thanks." I muttered.

"No problem."

We walked to his car in silence. Percy searched his pockets for the keys, and for a second I'd thought he'd lost them. Then he laughed.

"They're in the thing. The thing I gave you."

"What? What's in what?"

"You know… the keys… in the jacket." He giggled.

"Oh." I got them out, unlocked the car, and we got in.

"Um, Annabeth. I'm not sober yet." He said, giving a hiccup.

"Yeah, me either."

"We can sleep in the car until one of us wakes up sober enough to drive home."

I shrugged. "Fair enough."

Percy began to snore almost immediately, but I had trouble falling asleep.

He'd kissed me. What was up with that?