So, yes, this is just your cliche Annabeth's mortal friend crushes on her and Percabeth fluff and stuff ensues. I hope you enjoy! Also, sadly, Annabeth doesn't make an appearance till like the end of this chapter(she's mentioned and talked about for a good part of it though), but you really do want to read this if you want to understand Mathew as a character, and know what's going on. It WILL BE WORTH IT! I promise!

Disclaimer: My last name does not begin with the letter R. If it did, and Annabeth and Percy were mine… things would be very different for me.

My name is Mathew Harris, and I go to Hill-Dale(Don't ask, I have no idea) middle school. I'm 12, and starting seventh grade tomorrow. To be honest, I'm kind of nervous, because I was away in Ohio for sixth grade, when my dad had some sort of traveling thing he had to do, and sent me away to boarding school. Basically, this is my first year here in middle school, which will be… tough, to say the least. I had friends in elementary, three of them, but one of them disappeared after the first grade.

Annabeth. I smile a little at the thought of her, because she was always fierce and funny and nice, and I'm pretty sure I had a crush on her, but that was six years ago. And, of course, she disappeared, even though her dad is still here, which is weird.

Annabeth Chase has always been kind of a mystery, though, from what I remember of her, which isn't much. I mean, I remember she was crazy smart and had these startling grey eyes, but that's about it. Oh, and she was always complaining about her parents.

I think that might be the one real similarity between us. Our parents. She always had a rocky relationship with her dad, and hated her step mother. She also never knew her birth mother.

As for me, I love my dad, and the woman he remarried to three years ago, Kristin, is nice too. I met my birth mother once, when she came down and visited my dad and I for a week, when I was five.

Being only five, my emotions weren't really complex enough to fathom what seeing my birth mother really meant… but I do remember she was beautiful, and nice, and that my dad's expression when she walked through the door was hilarious.

Why am I talking about all this again? Oh, right. My similarities to Annabeth. Why am I talking about her so much? I knew her six years ago.

About the other friends I had back in fifth grade, though: Lily Davidson, whose really nice, chocolatey skin black hair that she always wore in these cute black pigtails. And Jeremy Gitsby, a bright, energetic redhead who could never sit still because he has ADHD. I have dyslexia, but it's really mild, and only affects how I see numbers.

Lily and Jeremy have been my best friends since kindergarten, along with Annabeth, but, like I mentioned earlier, she disappeared in the first grade.

I hope Lily and Jeremy still want to be my friends this year. It's only been a year since we last saw each other, and I had to go to boarding school in Ohio. But then again, it's been a year. Also, I've heard middle school changes people.

I take a deep breath, and tighten my grip on the straps of my backpack. I'm a relatively shy kid, not quite an introvert, but not an extrovert either. I can be pretty outgoing when I want to be, or when I'm compassionate about something. Honestly, though. It's my first day of seventh grade, of middle school at Hill-Dale. I can be nervous, right? I mean seriously. Give me a break.

As soon as I walk into the auditorium for the first day speech the teachers are going to give, the sound practically knocks me over. About two hundred kids, all sitting on the bleachers, shouting and talking and shoving each other around. It's so loud. Who knew there could be so many kids in a grade?

I walk toward the bleachers nervously, desperately trying to find a familiar face, but kids are streaming all around me and it's so chaotic I probably couldn't find anything.

Suddenly, miraculously, someone calls my name.

"Mathew?" I look up desperately to the source of the noise, and see Jeremy, bright red hair, freckles, soccer shirt and all. I grin and walk over to him as he waves me over.

"It is you!" he says, and pats the spot next to him. I climb up the rows and sit next to him, and he pokes the girl sitting next to him, who I haven't noticed until now.

My eyes widen, like, three times their normal size when she turns around.

It's Lily, but instead of the frizzy pigtail buns I remember her in, an intricately braided bun is tied off in the back of her head, there's something glossy on her lips, and her eyes look like they've got these gold flecks in them.

"H-hi," I stammer, almost at a loss for words, but she smiles back, delighted.

"Mathew!" she squeals, and pulls me in for a hug, to which Iawkwardly pat her on the back. I'm really not used to touching girls in… any way. Like, at all. "Jeremy and I missed you last year!"

"I'm back," I say, and grin a little. Lily, Jeremy, and I talk and laugh with each other for about fifteen more minutes, until a teacher claps her hands loudly and quiets us. She gives us the traditional welcome speech, then sends us off to home room, which it turns out Jeremy, Lily, and I all have together!

As we hurry down to room 368 among the floods of students, I'm grinning from ear to ear. I can't help it. Hill-Dale might not be so bad after all.

Mrs. Maria, our homeroom teacher and science teacher, begins class with roll call. "Amelia Berens?"

Amelia, a short asian girl who I vaguely remember from fifth grade, raises her hand and says

"Here."

Mrs. Maria shoots her a quick smile and continues down the list. "Kyle Briggs?"

"Here."

"Annabeth Chase?"

I freeze, and Jeremy and Lily meet my eyes, but they both look just as stunned as I do, which means, that if it really is her… she just came back this year.

A girl in the front raises her hand, and though I can't see her eyes, I recognize her all right: the straight posture, the blonde hair. "Annabeth?" I ask, and she whips around, grey eyes fixating themselves on me.

Woah. My jaw drops. I forgot how terrifying she was, and that was back in the first grade. She's tall now, her eyes are cold and calculating, but with that same pride and loyalty I now remember being there. And her beautiful blonde hair, wavy and curly. Her perfect body, tan, muscular but not so much that it's super noticeable.

Oh, god. Annabeth Chase is back in San Francisco, and I think I'm in love with her.

Well? How'd I do? Anything I can do to improve? I know that basically nothing happened in this chapter, but I really needed it so you guys know who Mathew is… in alot of Percabeth and mortals stories the mortal crushing on Annabeth and/or Percy doesn't really have that much depth. Not saying that Mathew is going to be, like, super wise and insightful, but I do want him to go through some character development, and be more than just someone who has a crush on Annabeth that's never going to work out.

Also, the next chapter will be where the story really starts to pick up! I promise! Percy is introduced, and there will start to be some jealousy.

Sorry for any grammatical errors, and also if Jeremy is spelled like Jeramy sometimes… I don't think that happened in this chapter, but knowing me, it probably will in future ones. I will post at least once a week, but probably more cuz of coronavirus.

Thank you for reading!

-blackthornfam13