A/N Hello guys! I know I haven't written and or updated in forever, but here I am. I know I usually write pretty disturbing and dark things BUT I decided to change things up and write a fluffier piece of literature. It's a first for me, but I hope you all enjoy the first chapter. I'm SUPER excited about this and ughhh I just wanna write all the chaps, but it's finals season. Sigh. Well moving on, I present you the story.

The song is called Oh No! by Marina and the Diamonds

Disclaimer: I'm not Rick Riordan; therefore, I do not own the PJO OR HoO series.

Annabeth's POV

I know exactly why I walk and talk like a machine

Waking up early in the morning always sucks no matter the occasion. I may seem like the type of person that wakes up early with a smile on her face, but let me assure you that is far from the truth. I have to put at least three different alarms in order to wake up. I usually have to wake up about an hour or two in order to get ready. My mother always says that presentation is the key to success.

Over the years I've come up with many tricks in order to take as less time as possible to get ready. At night, I braid my curly hair into twin French braids, so in the morning I don't have to brush it or straighten it. I usually wear a bit of BB cream, mascara, and gloss. My usual outfit consists of a plaid skirt, button up shirt, and heels. One may say that I'm preppy and I would agree.

I released my braids and softly ran coconut oil through my hair. I stared at myself for a while before my father's voice jolted me out of my mind. "Hi dad!" I said and kissed his cheek."

"Oh there is my little valedictorian. I made pancakes just for you." He leaned into my ear and whispered, "Don't tell your brothers."

I laughed at him and answered, "Cross my heart and hope to die." I chatted with my dad for a bit before leaving. I drove to the high school, which wasn't very far away. I stepped out of the car and made my way to the counselor's office.

I was nervous about my meeting, but I really shouldn't be.I am the smartest girl that has ever walked the hallways of Goode High. Or male for that matter. I don't think that by saying this I sound conceited. I am just stating a fact. Annabeth Chase is the smartest person in Goode High. A simple statement. I am not being conceited if it's true. I smiled inwardly at the thought. Explaining things to myself was something I often did; I like to think all people do that. Maybe there are two Annabeth's inside of me. One was the humble girl that was proud of her achievements without being too prideful, but the my other self is just begging for attention and recognition. The latter one tends to win most if not all the time; however I often have some petty inward battles.

I always seem to walk with a sort of haughtiness in my step. My mother taught me at a young age to always walk with my chin raised high and my back straight. Athena, my mother, was certainly a very interesting character. She had so much class and power I always looked up to her. I wouldn't say I wanted to walk in her footsteps per se, but I did want to make her proud.

I stared out the window and noticed that the sky still looked a bit dark. Although high school had barely started, I felt it was my duty as a senior to know everything from my GPA to my class ranking. I was pretty darn sure I was valedictorian, but it's always best to be safe than sorry.

The counselor arrived about 15 minutes late, which I frowned upon. She looked at me completely tired and carrying about two bags. "Sorry I'm late," she apologized, "I went to pick up some donuts on the way here." I nodded while inspecting the Dunkin Donuts logo. A passing student offered for help, but she waved him off.

Mrs. Olympian, yeah that's her real last name, dropped to the ground in search for her key. All the while I had a pleasant smile upon my face, but inwardly I was screaming. There were about ten minutes left until the bell rang which meant I would either be late to my next class or she would spend zero time with me. Both options seemed equally bad. This is exactly why people had to arrive on time to everything.

The counselor finally opened the door and pointed at a seat for me to seat. "Annabeth Chase, correct?" Olympian inquired. I only nodded in response. I heard her shuffling around with some papers, she then proceeded to scream out a victorious, "Aha!" before returning back to where I was.

She took a seat next to me and started examining to what I must assume was my transcript. She took out another paper and started filling up the classes I was taking. Then a loud, "BRIIIING!" interrupted my thoughts. "I'll write you a pass," Mrs. Olympian answered in response to the bell.

I started to get a bit nervous about the reason she was taking so long. I knew I was being ridiculous, but I couldn't slow down my heart. She finally looked at me with an award winning smile. Mrs. Olympian, or Aphrodite as she liked us to call her, was a truly beautiful women. I could easily picture her as a Victoria's Secret model or even an actress. Yet here she was, in the middle of nowhere like the rest of us less attractive people.

"Well Annabeth you have a perfect GPA, which I'm sure you already knew," Aphrodite smiled again and looked down to her paper, "You are going to graduate with distinguished honors," A smile spread across my face, since I really had nothing to worry about. And then, Aphrodite revealed the news that shattered my world, "As of now, your rank is number two."

What? There was no way I could be number two. I was smarter than any other person in this whole high school. I made a chocking sound in my throat, so I cleared my throat and managed to say, "Huh?" Not very eloquent, but I couldn't believe this. In my mind millions of moments passed where I was studying my butt off and all of that hard work was basically for nothing.

"Yes," Aphrodite said widening her sky blue eyes, "That's a good thing honey."

I stood up so fast I scared Mrs. Olympian, "No!" I said quite loudly. "There must be a sort of mistake. I can't possibly be salutatorian. You don't understand! I was going to be the fifth generation to graduate as the top student in my family. Oh no!"

Mrs. Olympian grabbed my shoulders to stop me from pacing; something I didn't realize I was doing. "Sweetheart, I'm sure your parents will be proud no matter what."

I removed myself from her grasp, "Boo-hoo, who cares? No. This is about how disappointed I will be. Oh God, I'm a failure. Don't you see what this means? I'm going to stay here forever and ever and be some sort of housewife with ten kids." I was panicking by this point. Was I overreacting just a tiny bit? Possibly, but I didn't care.

"It's going to be fine Annabeth."

"You're right!" I screamed elated. The only thing I had to do was get better grades than my competition.

"I'm afraid not," Aphrodite answered me. I probably spoke aloud. "The only way you can possibly go up is if the student starts getting lower grades."

"But, how?" I asked and sat back down on my seat. "What does this person have that I don't?"

"A lot of extracurricular activities. We count everything you do and well as impressive as your grades are Annabeth, you are not in any sort of club," Aphrodite explained gently.

Defeated the only thing I could ask was, "Who is this person?"

Aphrodite bit her lip and answered, "Can't say, it's confidential."

I left the room with a heavy heart.

Throughout the day I was lost in my personal misery cloud. I rarely went up there, since it was so sad. But I had nowhere else to go. I replayed the painful meeting over and over until my head started to ache. I took out an Ibuprofen and swallowed the pill. I started carrying pain medicine back when my migraines started in freshman year. This particular headache, though, refused to leave me.

By the time I got to lunch I was completely mentally exhausted. I waited in the long line and smiled forcibly at the lunch lady while she served me the disgusting school lunch. I made my way towards the round table my friends and I usually sat on. As of now, my table was empty so I took the opportunity to look around the cafeteria.

My school was not necessarily separated by a stereotypical groups. Everyone was grouped by a similar interest, but not everyone was exactly the same. I usually sat with my punk looking best friend aka Thalia Grace. Thalia liked Green Day, archery, and food. She was also incredibly smart which is how I met her in the first page. We were both a bunch of awkward pre-teens when we met in our Math GT class. After a few days as friends, we discovered we both hated everyone in school and became best friends. It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

I waited for her to come and sit down, so that I could rant my little heart out about the unfairness of it all. She would listen, maybe tell me to chill, and offer a solution. Thalia was the best about giving advice. Instead of Thalia arriving at our table, it was Piper McLean and Jason Grace. I sighed loudly while starring at the lovely dovey couple in front of me. I didn't have any problems with them, but damn it was annoying how cute they were together.

"Annabeth!" Piper yelled at me with enthusiasm even though she was right in front of me. "I'm going to be the president of the celibacy club and we're looking for new members." I smirked and looked towards Jason. He was staring at his food. But his frown was quite evident. Piper was a really badass person and the type that wanted nothing to do with conservative ideas, so I was quite surprised.

"Celibacy club, huh?" I asked.

Piper dropped the girly girl act and threw her hands up in frustration. "My mom made me do it!" Oh yes, I guess I forgot that the beautiful Aphrodite was Piper's dear mother. Aphrodite wanted Piper to be like her, meaning that she wanted Piper to be a cheerleader, homecoming queen, and all of that jazz. However, Piper was a free spirit and the only word that could possibly describe her would be bohemian.

"Oh thank the Lord!" Jason said relieved. Piper then proceeded to smack his head. "I thought it was a way to punish me for hanging out with Reyna."

"It wasn't, but thanks for reminding me," Piper said while glaring at Jason. I managed to stifle a laughter at Jason's horrified face. Ah Jason, always acting stupid. "Anyways, I was serious about you joining. I don't want to be alone with all of those pretend virgins."

"Who's a fake virgin?" Thalia asked while taking a seat next to me after slapping the back of Jason's face affectionately.

"Everyone," I answered for Piper. "And no Piper. Why would I want to spend an hour of my life with people?" I faked shuddered to make a point.

"Come on," Piper said making cute puppy eyes. "Be a nice person."

"I don't know Piper. I was thinking of getting a job." Next to me Thalia snorted. "What?"

"I'm sorry Annabeth, but you? Working? That's laughable."

Piper interrupted her, "It's going to be fun I swear! We would be doing the exact opposite of what a celibacy club does."

"Piper," I gasped, "You mean you will expose my innocent soul to the evilness of sex?"

"Oh shut up Annabeth," Piper said and threw me a pear.

"Yeah ok fine. But now I really need to talk to Thalia." I turned my attention to my best friend and Piper started talking with Jason again. I looked at her and told her what happened in my meeting with the counselor and of course I added minor things to make my story more dramatic. "And now I have no idea who number one is!"

"Well we can always ask around the school." Thalia suggested rationally, but I was having none of that.

"Thalia we can't! Everyone is expecting me to be valedictorian. It's going to be super embarrassing informing them that I am not it!" High school was just too complicated for my taste.

"Percy," Jason simply said. I waited for him to continue whatever he was going to say. But he made no move to explain myself.

I rolled my eyes at him and continued assaulting Thalia with questions, "Do you think it's Reyna? Gosh it's probably her. Oh that girl! It's because she's Puerto Rican ugh why can't I be a multicultural person?"

Jason decided to butt in and say, "No, it's Percy."

"Ok," I said, "You obviously want to share something about that guy, but can you hold off for a second? I'm trying to figure out who the hell is beating me!"

"You don't get it," Jason said softly, "Percy Jackson is the one beating you."

A/N hurray if you made it this far! Anyways I hope to write at least 2k per chapter and hopefully more. Yes, i know there was no Percy Jackson in this chapter, but he will appear in the second one, I swear! Also, Percy is pretty smart in this story and well you shall see in chapter two. If you liked this chapter, please like, follow, and review. Have an awesome day guys!

Next on I Can't Help But Fall: Well, I didn't think I was your type blondie.