1\27\17: Okay so this is the newest chapter I've done and hopefully it's up to standards because I haven't written stuff like this in a while. I'm liking writing just our characters in light situations. If you follow Saudade you'll know why I need a light hearted story like this one.

I'm planning to write the much awaited talent show probably the next chapter and hopefully kick start the music part of this entire story.

Be warned that that is when the singing is really gonna start.

High school man.

Oh god I'm out-awkwarding myself.

Okay we'll just go into the chapter now.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize.

Piper ran a hand through her dark hair as she pushed open Annabeth's front door. As usual, the smell of Athena's pancakes and bacon floated through the air and made her sigh in pure bliss. Ever since Annabeth's older brother moved out, Athena had started making the three of them breakfast in the morning before she went to work. Piper was sure it was a way to ensure the three of them would wake up early enough to see her off and make sure she wouldn't be lonely before she went to work but the pancakes were so good it simply became a tradition. Piper never judged her because she could understand better than anyone what it felt like to feel lonely. Athena was happy and the three of them were always well fed; Piper liked spending time with Annabeth's mom.

She could hear Annabeth and Nico laughing as she practically glided to the kitchen. All three of them smiled at her as she sat down in her usual chair next to Annabeth. Athena simply placed a plate in front of her and kissed her forehead before turning back to the stove. Annabeth poked her with a pencil before turning back to the assignment in front of her.

"Where were you at all weekend?" She asked curiously. "Nico and I stopped by your house Saturday to see if you wanted to see a movie with us and your grandfather told us you weren't home."

"Ah I went to that dance class." Piper sighed as she stood up to grab a water bottle from the fridge. She always got thirsty whenever she ate pancakes. She took a quick sip. "Jeff and Lindy didn't need me to babysit Michael that night and I've been wanting to try it out."

"But you're a great dancer already." Nico reminded her. "Didn't you win that talent show in fifth grade for your dancing?"

"Oh no I didn't take the class!" Piper laughed modestly. "I taught it. The director there offered me a class slot for Thursday nights if I wanted it. I'm thinking about taking him up on it."

Nico laughed breathlessly and stuck a large forkful of pancakes into his mouth.

"Jesus Piper. Aren't you busy enough as is?"

"It's good to keep busy!" Piper defended herself meekly. She sighed and took a bite of her own pancakes. "Anything to keep me out of that big house. It's too lonely there by myself; too many empty rooms."

Annabeth continued to scribble across her notebook page as she ate. Normally Piper was the one to try and hurriedly finish her homework the morning it was due. Annabeth was the type to have homework done days in advance. Piper poked her this time.

"What's up with you? You didn't do your homework? That's not like you."

"I stayed up too late recording and forgot about it."

Piper rolled her eyes affectionately. Annabeth was easily one of the smartest kids in school but when she was on a roll with a song, she easily forgot about homework that might be due. Piper glanced down and noticed it was an English paper. Jason had mentioned it over the weekend when she had snuck out to see him Friday night. It was due today.

"Well if that's the English paper that's due today, I don't have anything to worry about."

"Hey Pipes, did you do last night's math questions?" Nico asked quietly, a knowing smile on his face. "I need help with number four."

"…Crap."

0~0~0~0~0

Annabeth bit her lip as she furiously ran her pencil across the page. She was jeopardizing her beautiful penmanship in order to make it to class on time. Just as she began to write her conclusion, she walked through her classroom doorway and crashed into someone walking out. Annabeth let out a small squeak of surprise and dropped both her notebook and pencil to the floor. When she looked up and found Jason staring back at her, she held her breath and waited for whatever he was going to say. People even stopped walking to watch; the bell rang and no one moved. Jason continued to stare at her for a moment longer before shrugging and brushing past her.

"I would have thought a nerd like you would have all your homework done the second it was assigned."

Hurtful, but barely.

Annabeth watched him walk down the hall with furrowed eyebrows before bending down to pick up her assignment. When the final bell went off again, she cursed lightly and continued to scribble on the page again as she walked into class.

Taking her usual seat, towards the far end of the room, Annabeth barely looked at anyone as she passed. She dropped her page onto the floor and let out a silent hallelujah when she was finally able to write on the hard surface of her desk. Finally finishing her essay, Annabeth smiled to herself and slapped her pencil on her desk before ripping out the page and displaying it proudly on her desk for the teacher to see.

More students trickled into class, though they were late, the teacher was too busy on his phone to notice. Annabeth pulled out her own phone and glanced at the date. The talent show was only a week away and she had finished recording her song over the weekend. This had to be it; it just had to be. She had been waiting for years for the right moment to truly perform on stage and here she was only days away from living that dream. She felt terrified but ready; the perfect combination of confidence and utter fear.

Her phone buzzed in her hand, snapping her out of her daydream.

Nico: Heard Jason didn't ruin your shirt today when you bumped into him. How interesting.

Annabeth leaned back away from her phone in surprise before suspiciously looking around. She half expected Nico to pop out from behind one of the desks…or have a hidden camera somewhere on her so he could be in the loop about everything that happened during her day. If he did have something like that, both she and Piper would have to check their outfits.

Annabeth: How did you hear about that? It literally happened minutes ago!

Nico: This is HIGH SCHOOL Annabeth. News travels as fast as lightning. Don't you find it weird? I mean not even a week ago, the guy was throwing smoothies in our faces.

Annabeth: And here I was worried you had a secret camera planted somewhere on me ;) I don't know Nico. It's Monday, maybe he's too tired to start anything?

Nico: Oh I do but I'm glad you haven't found it yet :D And c'mon you're supposed to be the genius! Something like that wouldn't stop him. Bullies don't get tired of being mean.

Annabeth: I'm going to warn Piper about your spying ways! And whatever the reason, I'm glad. Maybe I'm the one that's tired of all of this. Things have to change sometime right? Maybe this is the turning point for us.

After a few minutes of no response, Annabeth could only assume Nico's class had started. Glancing at the clock, she realized her class should have started around 10 minutes ago. She sighed and placed her chin in her palm as she waited. She didn't spend all morning rushing on a paper for nothing!

When the door opened and Percy and Leo walked in, Annabeth held her breath and quickly adverted her gaze back to her paper as if she was reading it. She desperately tried to focus on the words she had hastily written on the paper but she could smell that amazing ocean smell he always seemed to carry with him and it was making her brain go dizzy.

"Sorry we're late." Percy apologized quickly. "Coach was-"

"He doesn't care Perce." Leo cut him off. "We're here now so you can start the class."

Annabeth glanced up briefly to see the teacher roll his eyes but stand up. Leo walked to his seat in the back and grinned when two girls giggled beside him. Annabeth bit her lip to force herself to keep her eyes forward but felt someone sit down behind her. That beautiful ocean smell invaded her nose and confirmed her fears. She practically shrieked when she felt an eraser poke her back. Just as their teacher began to start the class and collect the essays they had written Annabeth slowly turned around.

Dangerous waters Chase. She warned herself. Just see what he wants and calmly turn back around-

Her mind went blank momentarily.

Oh Gods, he's gorgeous. How could I forget he's gorgeous?

Percy grinned boyishly as their eyes met and Annabeth found herself grinning back as her entire body slumped forward.

"Hey." Percy whispered with another grin. "I remembered you were in this class with me and thought I'd say hi this time around."

"Hi." Annabeth whispered back. A charmed sigh broke through her lips and made her back stiffen as she remembered who he was; who she was and how bad an idea this was-

"Hey, Perce!" Leo called out from the back of the class, effectively breaking them both from their trance. "You coming or not? Your seat's saved."

Percy stared back at Leo for another moment before looking at her guiltily. Annabeth couldn't fathom why and didn't let her mind wander on the possibilities. She simply smiled at him awkwardly and spun back around in her chair. She bit her lip again to hide her disappointment when she heard his chair scrape against the floor as he got up.

0~0~0~0~0

I ran away from the pain, always breaking down inside, incomplete, but now I see. This won't be the end of me.

Nico nodded along to the music as Annabeth wiped the counter next to him. The paper sat blankly in front of him and he continuously tapped his pencil against the counter as he struggled to think of something to write. He popped out one ear bud when Annabeth placed her elbows on the counter in front of him to meet his eye. She smiled sympathetically.

"Is the introduction essay isn't it?"

Nico only sighed. Annabeth smiled knowingly and reached over to pat his shoulder before turning around and grabbing his usual strawberry shake to cheer him up. The café was still fairly empty and whenever she didn't have anyone new to serve, Annabeth would always make sure she had a shake handy for him.

He hated new school years. Every year –without fail—his English teacher would ask everyone to write an introductory essay on themselves so he\she could get to know them better as students and every year Nico struggled with what to write. He tried just ditching the assignment all together as he didn't like to talk about himself or his past but Annabeth insisted he try every year. Apparently not doing the first real assignment sets a 'bad image' or whatever.

"I can't tell the truth." Nico almost whined. "Something that personal? No way in hell am I writing it in a stupid essay. I don't need an A that badly."

Annabeth quietly turned to grab the burger for the man sitting a few seats down from him. After returning from serving him, she wiped her hands on her apron and took a small sip of his drink.

"So many don't write the personal stuff." She suggested lightly. "There are things about you that a lot of people can know just by looking at you and there are things about you that no one knows. You can mention you sing with me or play the drums sometimes or how you practically live in my basement."

"My whole paper will just be about you if I do that."

"Well I am an interesting topic." Annabeth joked. Nico rolled his eyes and poked her. She shrugged and took another sip of his drink. "Teachers don't really care about essays like that. Just write your favorite color or movie and say how you want to do well in the class for whatever reason you like. At the end of the day, they just want to make sure you're not going to give them trouble."

"But I am going to give him trouble."

"Well you can lie can't you?"

Nico grinned just as Piper rushed through the doors. The bell above the entrance rang loudly as she practically sprinted towards the counter. Her hair was slightly frizzy and looked like she had ran her hands through it repeatedly. Her cheeks were flushed a pretty pink as if she had ran here. Both Nico and Annabeth watched with raised eyebrows as she hurriedly tied her apron behind her back. She sighed loudly when she catch them watching her.

"My car craped out on me again." She explained quickly. "I had to run here so I wouldn't be late."

Annabeth winced and checked her watch.

"Should've run about six minutes faster."

Piper gave her a quick look before dashing back into the kitchen to let the cooks know she was here. Nico continued to watch her through the small window the cooks slid food through.

"Have you noticed how often Piper's car breaks down?" He asked curiously. He shrugged and took a quick sip of his drink before writing his first sentence. Annabeth sighed across from him.

"Yeah its awful right?" Annabeth tssked. "Poor girl has to run here whenever it does. Her cheeks looks really flushed today. I'm gonna get her some water and offer her a brush for her hair too."

Nico nodded and went back to his essay as Annabeth greeted a new customer. Neither noticed Piper quietly wipe her lips before walking back out to the counter.

Headcanons:

~Piper and Nico started waking up earlier to get to Annabeth's by the time Athena started making their breakfast. Neither feel right if they start the morning without it.

~Annabeth did later check to make sure none of her clothes were bugged. She didn't find anything (as Piper had predicted when Annabeth had warned her about it) but now she's sure Nico will plant something on her to mess with her.

~When Piper had first started having 'car trouble' Annabeth had joked about the idea of a secret boyfriend. Before Piper herself could deny the ridiculous claim, Nico had laughed and said Piper was too busy to ever get a boyfriend. Piper almost spilled the beans right then and there just to prove Nico wrong.

Now that we're rolling again, its just like Saudade guys. 20 reviews to get a sneak peek of the next chapter.

Let me know if you like the whole headcanon idea or if you prefer the questions!