I do not own PJO/HOO

Percy didn't get in trouble very often. Hardly ever, actually. Maybe he should have, but he didn't. The key was to never get caught.

Unfortunately, the luck had run out this time.

He and his buddies had pulled off several pranks already throughout the school year, and had managed to get away with all of them up to this point. Percy wasn't a stealthy person by any means; in fact, he was more often fairly clumsy than not. Thankfully, he had Travis and Connor Stoll to help do the dirty work. Those two could slip in and out of just about anywhere without being detected, which made them the perfect partners in crime.

Percy couldn't say enough about Leo Valdez; the dude was a magician when it came to constructing gadgets and contraptions to aid in their pranks. Whatever the gang needed, if they couldn't commandeer it, Leo could simply make it. Percy and the Stolls had christened him as their own 'Q', though they consistently argued over who got to be 'James Bond'.

Most people would have a hard time believing that the mastermind behind the whole operation was a lean, raven-haired boy, who wore his tie loosely, and his white button-down untucked from his khakis. The way the top buttons of his shirt were undone, as if he had not a care in the world, you'd think he'd be incapable of brainstorming such devious strategies and tactics. That is, until you saw that smile.

That mischievous, troublemaker smile. Then you knew that he was indeed very capable.

Percy Jackson and his gang wreaked havoc on the school, and he never got caught… until he did.

He could hardly believe it when it happened. One minute, he and the Stolls were in the process of wrapping Mrs. Dodds' office desk in bubble wrap, and the next, the two brothers were dashing out the window, and he was being escorted by his left ear to the principal's office. The only thing that hurt more after that day than Mrs. Dodds' manicured fingernails digging into his earlobe, was the penalty the principal laid down.

"Two hours of detention after school, for the whole week."

Percy knew he couldn't argue his way out of this one. The school faculty had been trying to tag him ever since sophomore year when he and his gang had snuck a cow up to the second floor of the school. That was the day the teachers learned that cows can only walk up stairs, not down. The school faculty had to herd the bovine into the elevator to get it out of the building. Percy honestly was surprised that they hadn't expelled him on the spot.

Which led him to now, as he sat lazily in his desk, with his feet propped up onto the chair in front of him.

"Feet down," Mr. Dalton, the teacher overseeing detention for the week, said in a sharp tone.

Percy reluctantly obeyed, and he scanned the rest of the room, though he didn't know why. He was the only one in the room, and how no one else had detention that week, he didn't have a clue. An agonizing hour had passed by so far, which meant he had an hour to go. It felt like someone had slowed time just for the sake of torturing him further.

He was fiddling with his dark red tie, which he had long since undone completely, as it was now simply draped around his neck, when he heard the sound of the door opening, and the clacking of heels on the tile floor.

Percy turned his head slightly, and his sea green eyes widened with bewilderment.

She was an image. An image of perfection, of grace, of stature, a princess among paupers. Except to call her a princess would be an insult. In Percy's mind, and everyone else's, she was a queen.

Scratch that. Not just a queen. She was the queen. Of the entire freaking school, that is. And since she was the queen, she should have absolutely no regards for someone like Percy- which was a real shame, seeing as how he was practically in love with her. But so was practically every guy in the school, for such was the effect of a one, Annabeth Chase.

Percy didn't have a clue why she was here. School had gotten out over an hour ago, and literally everyone except a few teachers had gone home already. And yet, here she was, striding past his desk without hesitation. Her red tie was still knotted perfectly, and her white button-down didn't have a single crease in it, and was still tucked into her dark red skirt that came down to her mid-thigh. Her tan legs peeked out from between where her skirt stopped, and her grey stockings began, just below her knees. All of this was punctuated with a pair of strappy back heels.

Never in his life, had Percy appreciated their school's uniform quite like now.

He watched as she strutted right up to the front of the room, and placed a stack of papers down in front of Mr. Dalton. Her honey blonde hair fell in golden ringlets down the middle of her back, and caused Percy to squirm in his seat.

"Here's the rest of that homework," she announced in a melodic voice, "Graded and corrected."

"Thank you, Miss Chase," Mr. Dalton replied. "I'll see you tomorrow then."

As she turned away from the desk, Percy's heartbeat accelerated rapidly. And when her grey eyes met his green ones, it stopped. He watched as she began to make her way towards the door, a route which conveniently led right past his desk before she stopped no more than a few feet in front of him.

"Percy Jackson," Annabeth said matter-of-factly. There it was again, that feeling he always got when he thought about her. It was a sense of longing, and desire, one that made his hands feel clammy, and caused him to consistently bite his lip in anxiousness. It was like a ghost that had haunted him forever had finally decided to make itself a reality in front of his very eyes.

"Annabeth Chase?" Percy responded, his tone somewhat confused and questioning, as if he were unsure of what to think.

She smirked a little bit. "Oh come on now. Don't act like you've forgotten who I was, Percy. You do remember that we've been going to the same school since elementary, right?"

Of course Percy remembered that. How could he forget? She'd been just as enigmatic and spectacular back then as she was now. Unfortunately, that meant they had run in different circles back then as well. Annabeth, being the ever-perfect student, and lightyears ahead of him in pure intelligence, was always placed in advanced classes, while he was relegated to a life of being less than spectacular.

It didn't help either, that she came from a family of very high status, and wealth. Percy could only assume that being perfect wasn't just a goal, it was a way of life for her. It wasn't hard to imagine why she would probably never even give him a second glance, as he didn't exactly come from a particularly exemplary, or wealthy family.

"How could I forget?" Percy said, which caused Annabeth to smile in acknowledgement. Percy captured a mental image of that moment, hoping to burn it into his memory forever.

"So they finally caught you, huh?"

He was taken aback by the question. "You heard?" Percy asked, with a startled tone.

Annabeth rolled her eyes as if to say duh. "What? You think the whole school didn't hear the news about the Percy Jackson finally getting caught?"

His skin tingled at the way she said, 'The Percy Jackson'. It sounded almost as if she was impressed.

Percy didn't know how to respond to that. After an awkward silence, all he could think to say was, "Why are you here? School got out over an hour ago."

"I'm Mr. Dalton's TA," She replied without hesitation. "I was grading the homework for his algebra class."

"Ah."

Percy sat there awkwardly, trying to think of something else to say to keep the conversation going, but before he could, Annabeth shrugged.

"Well, see ya around Jackson."

She strode past him, and Percy was extremely doubtful that she could hear him say "Later Chase," over the sound of her heels clacking, and the door opening and closing.

All in all, he couldn't be mad though. He had just had his longest conversation with Annabeth Chase to date, and to say that he was overjoyed would be an understatement. It would have been hard otherwise to explain why he was grinning ever so softly for the rest of detention.

…

On Tuesday, Percy waited anxiously at his desk, hoping that Annabeth would once again come walking through that door. His heart leapt exponentially when, with exactly an hour to go, he heard the sound of heels coming down the hallway, and then the door swung open.

She gave him a reserved smile as she walked by, which didn't faze Percy. All things considered; it was an improvement from the usual look she gave him, which was normally none at all.

Annabeth was dressed exactly as she always was, which was to say, perfect. That red skirt should have been illegal, for her at least. She greeted Mr. Dalton like usual, and left a stack of homework with him on his desk, before turning to make her exit.

Percy had been thinking about what he was going to say ever since he had gotten out of detention yesterday. He had a mental list of cool, and smooth conversation starters, and other things he could say that would hopefully impress her. Unfortunately, the 'Annabeth Effect' was out in full force today, and when Percy beheld her gorgeous face, a soft smile showing on her lips, his brain became like one of those slimes Leo had once made to put in Mr. D's sandwich.

And so, instead of him grabbing her attention with some slick line like "Nice looking weather today, huh?", all that came out was, "Uh- mmm, yeah."

Annabeth paused, and stared at him with a bemused expression. "Are you okay, Percy?"

Way to go, idiot, Percy said to himself, while mentally facepalming.

"Yep, totally fine."

Definitely not fine.

She nodded, and looked like she was about to take off, before Percy quickly spurted out, "Looking nice today, Chase." He facepalmed for real this time. Why couldn't he just be normal?

"Excuse me?" Annabeth asked, her voice demonstrating her obviousness startlement.

All Percy could think right now was damage control. Salvage the situation. "I mean- your outfit, it looks nice. Like- your shirt doesn't even have a single crease."

Annabeth looked down to examine herself, before shrugging. "Thanks, I guess."

The raven-haired boy continued speaking. "It's just that your clothes, they're still perfect, even after all this time. Everything is still put together."

He then watched as Annabeth's eyes traced over his own outfit, pausing ever so slightly on the undone tie hanging around his neck and on the top three buttons, none of which were buttoned. Her gaze also lingered on the sleeves rolled up to the middle of his forearms, and lastly, on his shirt hanging untucked from his khakis.

"Can't say the same for you, that's for sure."

Percy's jaw dropped at what he had just heard. He looked up to see Annabeth waggle her eyebrows amusingly at him.

"I should be offended, Miss Chase," He retorted confidently, "But I'm not. I've spent almost 3 and a half years perfecting this look."

The blonde girl placed her hands on her hips, and her mouth formed a straight line, as she seemed to rise to the challenge. Percy had to fight to maintain focus on what he had to say, and to not be distracted by those gorgeous pink lips.

"And what look is that?" Annabeth asked, her tone laced with sarcastic, but not uninterested sentiments. "Because I really don't think you're pulling off the whole 'brooding bad boy' thing all too well."

"Who said anything about me being a 'brooding bad boy'?"

She raised one of her eyebrows, "What are you going for then?"

Percy grinned smugly. "Troublemaker."

The eyeroll he received from her could have given that 'Karen' chick from Mean Girls a run for her money, but the tugging at the corner of her lips was not missed by him either.

"Why stop there though?" Annabeth said, "Why not go the whole nine yards? Embrace the 'broodness' of the bad boy?"

He shrugged. "My mom won't let me.

The blonde girl snorted, and allowed herself to chuckle a little bit, as she obviously was waiting for him to give her a serious answer, even though nothing about this was truly significant.

Her chuckles died faintly when she realized Percy wasn't joking. "You're serious?" She asked in disbelief.

The boy nodded, which led to a plethora of odd expressions of Annabeth's part. Percy watched as her adorable nose crinkled, and her stormy grey eyes switched looks back and forth between calculating and confusion.

"I hope you see the irony in that," She finally spoke, before shaking her head in amusement, and walking out of the room.

…..

On Wednesday, Annabeth actually waved at Percy as he passed her in the hallway. He smiled, and waved softly back at her, before continuing on to his classroom.

Despite having detention, this week had so far been one of the best of his high school career, right up there with the time the gang setup a petting zoo in the gymnasium overnight.

He honestly looked forward to detention, solely for the opportunity to see and talk to Annabeth some more. Leo and the Stoll brothers thought he was going crazy.

Annabeth was thirty minutes late to bring the homework, and when she finally did walk in, Percy breathed a sigh of relief. Her hair was up for a change, in a simple ponytail, with a few stray curls dangling about. She seemed to be in somewhat of a hurry, as she hastily walked past Percy and dropped the stack of papers on Mr. Dalton's desk. She turned way without even saying a word.

As she approached Percy, he raised an eyebrow, and asked, "Going somewhere?"

Annabeth stopped, and looked like she was trying to decide if she should say something, or keep on walking. Percy watched, and prayed that she chose the former. She did.

"Family dinner. Kind of a big deal."

"Is that why you seem to be in such a hurry?"

The girl nodded, "I'm running a little behind, and I don't wanna be late."

Percy didn't think that was possible. Had this girl ever been late to anything? It seemed though that there would be no prolonged conversation today, much to his disappointment.

"Well go on then," he said, gesturing with his hand towards the door, "We can't have the Annabeth Chase being late now, can we?"

She seemed reluctant to go, but eventually nodded, and strode out of the room.

…..

On Thursday, she caught Percy by surprise. Literally.

Percy wasn't normally a daydreamer, unless he was conjuring up some scheme for his next prank, but he didn't really count that as 'daydreaming'. He preferred to call that his 'scheming dreaming'.

But what he was doing now, would most definitely be considered daydreaming. Maybe it involved a pair of magnificent grey eyes. And quite possibly an image of a that dark red skirt and those grey stockings. Perchance he was thinking about the scrunchie being pulled out, and some golden locks cascading down onto tan shoulders, like the first season's rain hitting the desert sand. And those lips, covered with a layer of glossy pink gloss- Percy banged his head against his desk.

Gods, he was such a sap. Whipped by a girl he wasn't even in a relationship with, nor would he probably ever be. There was too much stacked against them. She had perfect grades across the board, and while Percy wasn't dumb, he wasn't no brainiac either. She came from an extremely wealthy family, and grew in the Upper East Side, practically an aristocracy. He grew up in the Bronx. He was on track to graduate, but she was destined to be the valedictorian. She was the captain of the track team, and could just as easily get an athletic scholarship as she could an academic one. Percy got kicked off the swim team after he set loose a dozen eels into the lap pool.

She was destined for a life of excellence and success; he would be lucky if he didn't end up in jail at this rate.

But that's the beauty of daydreaming- it doesn't matter what's possible and what's not. Anything can happen. Unfortunately, it's also a double-edged sword, because the more Percy thought about it, the more he wanted to believe that it really could happen.

Pain couldn't begin to describe what he felt, and he wasn't talking about the daydreaming. It was the fingernail digging into his back that really stung. Percy yelped, and almost leaped out of his desk completely. He whipped around to find the subject of his torturous fantasizing standing there, smirking at him proudly.

"You ever heard of fingernail clippers?" Percy asked, as he rubbed the spot where she had stabbed him with her miniature finger swords.

Annabeth chuckled, as she scooted past, and then half sat, half leaned against the desk directly in front of him. "You must have been off in La La land big time for me to sneak up on you like that? I figured it'd be harder to sneak up on a master criminal."

"Don't get too cocky," Percy retorted, "I was, in fact, deep in thought."

Her smile got even cockier. She was like a puppy; incredibly, adorably cute, but with a little bite of her own. "Percy Jackson- deep in thought? No one will believe me when I tell them."

"Hey!" He feigned insult, but his eyes rolled playfully, and his lips tugged at their corners quite vigorously. "I'll have you know I am in deep thought quite bit actually."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "And what do you think about? Prank schemes, I'm assuming?"

"Not always."

"Then what else? What were you thinking about just now?"

Percy felt his ears beginning to turn red, and his knees began to fidget, like they always did when he got nervous. He felt the weight of her steely gaze upon his head, as he looked down at his desk in a very suspicious manner.

"Where's your stack of homework?" he asked, trying to casually change the subject. He looked up to see Annabeth staring at him, her expression one of no conviction. She obviously saw right through his convenient conversation changer, but whether she choose to ignore it, or to confront it, remained to be seen. Her grey eyes danced back and forth, occasionally meeting his, and when they did, he saw the obvious signs of the calculating and analyzing going on inside that mega computer of a brain she had.

"There was no homework," She finally said, and Percy breathed a sigh of relief.

"So- why are you still here then? At school, I mean?"

Annabeth crossed her arms over her chest, and stared down at her strappy heels. "I was studying in the library. Chemistry exam tomorrow."

Of course she was. Percy knew that if you ever needed to find Annabeth Chase, a good bet would be to check in the library. Coincidentally (or maybe not coincidentally), it was also the one place in the school that he had never pulled prank in.

"Okay, but why are you here?" He asked, gesturing to the room around them. A smug grin then donned his face, "Wait, let me guess. It's because I'm here? You just had to see me, correct?" Okay, maybe the flirtatiousness was a bit over the top, but Percy is a go big or go home kind of guy. And it's not like it mattered. She obviously had a real, legit reason to be here, and it definitely was not to see him.

Annabeth shrugged her shoulders unconvincingly. "I needed a break from studying, and seeing as how you're literally the only other student here- well, I guess I should thank you for getting detention."

"Pleased to be of service," Percy quipped, his face somewhat shocked from the fact that he had technically been right- okay, maybe half-right.

Annabeth leaned forward a little bit, her eyes sparkling with amusement. "Did I surprise you?"

"A little bit," Percy admitted. "Congrats, not many people can do that."

"Wow, cocky much?"

"Maybe. But my hobby is centered around surprising people, therefore, I like to think that I'm pretty good at not being surprised myself."

"I surprised you. Twice, actually."

"Yeah, but I'll get you back, mark my words."

Annabeth snorted, obviously not very confident in his words. Percy furrowed his eyebrows, and met her skepticism with defiant sentiments.

"What? You don't think I can?"

She shook her head. "I plan for everything, Percy. I make it my mission to never be caught off guard."

That sounded like a challenge to Percy, and his eyes acquired that mischievous gleam.

"I bet I could do it right here, right now."

Annabeth looked at him with an unbelieving, but curious expression. She brushed a stray curl out of her face, and her left hand fiddled with her tie. "And how do you plan to do that?"

"With words."

"Words?"

Percy nodded. It was a risky move, but that was nothing new to him. The thing was it was a different kind of risk. Pranks were risky in that he could get caught, and thereby punished. That was an easy gamble for him; punishment was temporary, and the mark on his record wouldn't mean anything at this point.

This, however, was a whole new roll of the dice. A relationship was at stake here, a fairly new one too. Pranks were like trying out a new flavor of ice cream, low risk, medium reward. This was like taking a gamble on a bridge made of corndog sticks that led to a buffet of all you can eat pancakes. The risk was high, but the reward was even higher.

"You remember back in elementary?" Percy began, "In Mrs. Wilson's class, how she let us take turns arranging our name cards on the desks to decide where everyone sat each week?"

Annabeth nodded, "I never understood that. Hardly any of us could read at that time."

"You could," Percy pointed out.

"Not the point. Continue."

"Do you remember how she always used to change the looks of the cards, so that kids couldn't just figure out what their card looked like."

The blonde girl nodded again.

"Well, one day I came home, and asked my mom if she could teach me how to read two of the names written on those cards." Percy could already see that he had Annabeth confused, which meant that so far, his gamble was paying off. "One of the names was my own, and the other was- "

He watched to see if she could figure it out on her own, and sure enough, her eyes suddenly went wide, her eyebrows rose almost all the way to her hairline, and her mouth hung open ever so slightly, as she softly spoke with abrupt realization.

"Mine."

Percy smiled in confirmation. "I wanted to be able to place myself next to you whenever I got the chance."

He was expecting a reaction more along the lines of shock, maybe a sudden gasp, or perhaps fainting would have sufficed. Instead, all he was met with was stoic silence. Though her body was motionless, Annabeth's face was a myriad of expressions. Her features continuously contorted back and forth between looks of confusion, disbelief, and above all, astonishment. Percy figured this must just be how she reacts when she was indeed surprised. He smiled to himself. Mission accomplished.

It took a full two minutes for Annabeth to process, until finally, she blinked, and stared back down at the boy seated in front of her. They had an intense standoff with their eyes; stormy grey battling it out with swirling sea green, perfection against perilousness.

She blinked again, and let a reticent grin form on her lips. "Well, I'll admit it. You got me there."

Percy grinned back up at her. "Don't take it too hard. I'm full of surprises."

Annabeth scoffed, "Yeah, whatever. Don't get carried away. I've still got you mostly figured out."

Now it was his turn to laugh. "Uh huh, sure you do."

"You don't believe me?"

"You barely know me."

"Shows what you know."

Percy furrowed his eyebrows, and then leaned forward on his elbows, so that he was practically leaning all the way over his desk, as if he were trying to get his face as close to hers without getting up. "And what do you know about me?"

Annabeth leaned down as well, bringing their faces even closer together. Percy could feel her breathe as she spoke, and it sent tingles down his spine. "I know that the reason you put a dead fish in the principals desk was because he wouldn't let Grover use his crutches in last semester's school play."

Percy's expression did not change. He merely said, "How do you know that?"

"Because I know that you don't pull pranks just for the sake of pulling pranks. You always have a reason behind it."

"You can't prove that."

"Oh, can't I?" The smirk on Annabeth's face suggested that yes, she very well could, and she knew it. "Why did you and your gang hire a mariachi band to follow Clarisse around that one time? Surely it wasn't just to annoy her?"

Percy knew he couldn't lie to her. "She purposefully broke one of Leo's robots. He spent months on that thing- it was going to be his semester project."

"And what about the time you put Mrs. Ochevsky's house up for sale on craigslist?"

"Piper had an anxiety attack before her test, and had to go to the nurse. Mrs. Ochevsky wouldn't give her a makeup exam."

"And the time you guys put crickets in Katie Gardiner's locker?"

Percy smiled fondly at the memory. "Oh, that? Travis has a huge crush on Katie. That's just how he shows affection."

Annabeth rolled her eyes, and muttered something under her breathe about boys, and makes no sense. "He might want to rethink his methods," She pointed out, to which Percy nodded in agreement.

"We tried to tell him, but he was convinced that that was the best way to get her attention."

"It's no wonder you're all single."

Percy wasn't sure how to take that, but he decided it would be best not to comment on it. He then noticed that their faces were really close. Like remarkably close. Annabeth noticed this as well, and she swiftly drew herself back, clearing her throat as she did so. Percy reluctantly leaned back into his seat as well.

"Well," Annabeth said, as she looked down at her watch, "I better get back to studying then."

Percy followed her with his eyes as she quickly stood up from the desk, and marched towards the door, before stopping just in front of it. She turned back to look at him, with a devilish grin on her face, and she said, "Believe me now?"

He laughed, and replied with "That makes it three times you've surprised me today." He was left with an image of her smiling genuinely at him, and her blonde curls bouncing on top of her head, as she walked out the door.

…..

"Dude," Leo clapped Percy on shoulder, as he was digging through his locker, "Did you hear what happened during lunch today?"

Percy looked at his friend with a puzzled expression. "What are you talking about?"

The Stoll brothers walked up right then, and Travis said, "So you didn't hear then?"

"Hear what?"

"About Annabeth?" Leo informed, as if it were a travesty that he wasn't aware of what had taken place during lunch.

Percy's heart immediately began to race, and he dreaded what he was about to hear. "I ate outside. What happened?"

Leo jumped to begin the story. "Okay, so we're all sitting there eating our lunch, minding our own business ya know? Well, who should come walking into the dining area, tray in hand, but the queen of the school herself- "

"Annabeth Chase!" Both of the Stolls interrupted simultaneously, causing Leo to glare at them.

"Anyways," The Latino boy continued, "So she's walking towards her table, minding her own business ya know? No one's really paying attention until- "

"SMACK!" The Stolls exclaimed. Leo gave each of them their own smack on the face. Percy facepalmed.

"ANYWAYS," Leo's voice was full of exasperation, "Everyone turns to look at where the sound came from, and lo and behold, there Annabeth is, glaring and trying not to flip out at a group of boys right next to her. Although she was definitely ready to kill one of the boys in particular, and you'll never guess who- "

"Luke Cast- " The brothers didn't even manage to get the full name out before Leo pounced on them like the deranged cat.

Percy finally was able to pull Leo off of them, and he grabbed the boy by both of the shoulders. "What happened? Tell me now."

The runty boy consoled himself, and took a deep breath. "We didn't see it happen, but apparently Luke Castellan, he- uh, disrespected Annabeth, right there in the cafeteria."

Percy was even more confused now. "Disrespected? How?"

"He slapped her butt," Travis clarified.

"Smack! Right on her ass," Connor took it a step further, simulating a smacking motion with his hand.

Percy's vision went red, and his jaw tightened, as well as his grip on Leo's shoulders.

"OW, dude, take it easy!" Leo complained.

"Sorry, it's just- " Percy didn't know what to think. He was angry, infuriated, absolutely enraged at the thought of someone touching Annabeth like that, at the idea of someone laying even a hand on her. He turned back to Leo. "What did she do?"

The smaller boy looked at him as if the answer should have been obvious, which was technically true. "What do you think, dude? Nothing. No one can touch Luke Castellan, not even Annabeth Chase. Not unless she wanted to get detention, or suspended even."

He made a good point. If Annabeth Chase was the queen of this school, then Luke Castellan was the tyrant Caesar. He was the very embodiment of a snake. Whenever teachers were around, he turned the charm up to eleven, and played their minds like a fiddle. But as soon as they were gone, he turned into a venomous manipulator. The teachers had no idea what he was truly like. To them, he was even more perfect that Annabeth was. His grades were just as spectacular, and his family's reputation was just as aristocratic as well. Luke Castellan supposedly resembled everything that was right about this school, and the faculty would be hard pressed to think that he was capable of doing such a heinous act.

Percy could only imagine how hard it must have been for Annabeth to not lash out. Thank goodness she didn't though, as much as he hated to say it. If she had, there was no doubt she would have been punished, and just like that, her perfect record would be done for. She couldn't afford to have that mark on her record, not when she had come so far without a misstep. The faculty would never have believed it, even if she and the entire school testified so. They were too far wrapped around Luke's slimy little finger.

Percy could think of nothing that would bring him more pleasure than to beat the ever-loving crap out of Luke Castellan right now. Unfortunately, that would put him on the fast track to getting expelled, and that was the last thing he needed.

"I'll see you guys later," He said, waving goodbye to Leo and the Stolls, who looked at him with curious expressions, before he walked off.

…

"Annabeth, wait!"

She stopped in the middle of the hallway, her arms crossed in front of her, holding a stack of books to her chest. Percy jogged up to her, and was somewhat taken aback by this new experience. He was so used to looking up at her from where he sat in his desk, that he had completely forgotten that he was, in fact, a good four inches taller than her, even when she was in her heels.

Her face was also a sight he wasn't used to. It lacked the usual calculating expression, and there was no air of sarcastic intelligence around her. Everything abut her right now, her face, her body language, her aura, screamed frustration and anger.

"What is it, Percy?" Even her voice was laced with malice.

"I heard about what happened. Are you okay?"

Annabeth scoffed, but not in an amused way. "Do I look okay?"

Percy didn't know how to respond to that. "I- Um. I mean- "

"Because I certainly don't feel okay," She interjected. "I feel violated, ruined… disgusting."

He should have said something. He should have told her that she wasn't any of those things. He should have told her that Luke was just a jerk, and that she was strong, beautiful… perfect. He should have said so many things, but he didn't. He could have told her how he felt- how he hadfelt for so long.

She obviously took his silence as a sign that he had nothing to say, when in fact, it was the exact opposite.

"I'm sorry, Percy," Annabeth said dejectedly, "I just can't do this right now." She walked off down the hallway.

Percy saw her leave the building as soon as school got out, right when he was on his way to detention. It was a sorry end to an otherwise stellar week.

…..

Later that night…

"So why are we doing this again?" Leo asked, as they crawled in through the window to one of the chemistry labs.

"Because Luke deserves it," Percy replied.

"Because of what he did to Annabeth?" Travis closed the window behind them. "No offense, but since when do we care what happens to her?"

"Yeah," Connor added on, "I mean, I have nothing against her, but she's never given us so much as a glance."

Percy couldn't bring himself to fully explain his motives for what he was about to do. As they made their way stealthily down the hall, he remembered the way Annabeth had looked as she walked out of the building that day. The way she seemed to be utterly ashamed, even though she had nothing to be ashamed of. His resolved steeled.

"We're here," He announced with a hushed tone. Leo pulled a pair of picking tools from his pocket, and went to work on the lock. Before long, it clicked, and they slipped through the door that said 'Boy's Locker Room' on it.

"Luke always keeps his gym clothes in the shelf above his locker," Percy said, as they made their way through rows of metal closets, before coming upon their desired target. "Travis. Connor. You guys got the stuff?"

"Itching Powder."

"Carolina Reaper Hot Sauce."

The two boys said simultaneously.

"They're gonna know it was you," Leo said, placing his hand on Percy's shoulder. "You sure you want to do this?"

Percy smirked, and in the faint glow of locker room, the other boys could see that signature troublemaker smile. They knew he was sure.

…..

Monday came around surprisingly fast, and so did the chaos that followed. Not long after lunch, a shrill screech could be heard resounding throughout the school halls, and then it was like a mirage, almost too incredible to be true. Luke Castellan dashed through the cafeteria, having come from the direction of the locker room, and ran straight through to the opposite side, towards the nurses station. He was clad in nothing but a pair of loose boxers, and white crew socks, as he scampered through the building with incredible velocity, screaming with agony as he went. It did not go unnoticed that he was clenching his buttocks as he went.

Soon, the pictures began circulating. Images of Luke's naked arse, both cheeks completely red, and swollen up so much that he could have made Kim Kardashian jealous. The rest of his body looked completely normal; only his behind was tarnished.

The message was loud and clear. Everyone understood what it was about. And everyone had a pretty good idea of who was responsible.

"I must say," Leo said as he dumped his books into his locker, "It felt good to do that. Actually, it felt incredible."

Percy laughed, and said that he agreed, which wasn't a lie. It had felt very good indeed to bring Luke down a notch. Even if Percy knew it would come at a cost, it was worth it.

"I think I'll see if I can get that picture added into the school newspaper," Leo continued, "Wouldn't that be something?"

"Forget the newspaper," Travis Stoll interrupted, as he and his brother approached, "I'm going to get it put into the yearbooks."

"Here, here," Connor cheered, and gave his brother and Leo high fives.

Percy shook his head, and chuckled at his friend's antics. He was still in the process of arranging his books in his locker, when he heard someone clear their throat behind him. All four of the boys turned, and three of their jaws dropped when they saw the queen of the school herself standing in front of them.

"Hey guys," Annabeth said, as she held her books against her chest, "How's it going?"

She was met with utter silence, though this probably didn't surprise anyone. Even the kids walking by were giving them strange looks. Seeing the Annabeth Chase talking to the school pranksters- now that was an image worthy of the yearbook.

Percy finally recovered at the surprise of seeing her there, and nervously rubbed his neck. "Um, hey Annabeth. Uh- these are the guys. That's Leo, and that's Travis and Connor."

All three of the boys waved somewhat robotically as they were introduced, their faces still overcome with shock.

Annabeth waved politely back in return, before turning to face Percy. "Can I talk to you for second?" Her tone was nervous, and uncertain, and it put him on edge to say the least.

"Um, yeah, sure. Guys, can you give us a minute?"

Leo and the Stolls broke out of their stupor, and managed to give faint nods, before walking to the other side of the hall, where they couldn't hear, but could still watch.

Percy turned his attention back to the enigma in front of him. She still lacked her usually chirpiness, and her face was stoic, but at least she didn't seem angry, or flustered. Her uniform was still perfect, and her hair was down once again. The only flaw Percy could find was the small scab on her lip, as if she had been biting it nervously.

"Why would you do that?" Annabeth said, breaking the awkward silence between them.

"Do what?"

"You know what."

Percy did know what, but he didn't know why he was playing dumb. "He deserved it," Was all he said in response.

"Maybe," Annabeth acknowledged, "But how could you not have known you wouldn't get away with this?" Her voice was full of genuine concern, and her eyes were pleading. "The faculty already have you in their sights, and then you go and mess with Luke Castellan- Percy, you should have known you would get in trouble for this. How did you not?"

His expression was forthcoming. There was no holding back now. Percy may have not said anything last Friday when he should have, but now, he wasn't going to make that mistake again. Still, there are some things which are hard to put into words- like feelings. Those are extremely challenging to explain.

How do you tell someone that you've been there since the beginning, since that first day of elementary? How do you express in words, the fact that you have longed for them all this time, but have been too scared to step out of the shadows? How you have dreamt it, but never chased it- because it is a fool's dream. He was an accident waiting to happen, a troublemaker, a maverick. She was the answer to any problem, a solution waiting to be discovered.

She was a rain that could put out any wildfire- except for the one she had started in Percy's heart.

"Did you know?" Annabeth asked, her face becoming ever more concerned, her tone ever more sentimental.

Percy said nothing. He stared at her with a that troublemaker smile of his, and let his eyes do the talking.

Her eyes studied his, and her lips parted. "You did know, didn't you?"

He didn't even have to answer.

Annabeth stepped closer to him, and looked him dead in the eyes. "You knew you would get in trouble, and yet, you still did it?"

"Like I said," Percy finally spoke up, "He deserved it."

She stared back at him with a look of many different emotions, some of which he recognized as disbelief, amazement, gratitude, and quite possibly- endearment.

Annabeth looked as if she were about to say something, but before she could get a word out, a voice broke out over the PA system.

Percy Jackson, please report to the principal's office immediately.

Everyone in the hall stopped what they were doing, and stared at him, and subsequently, at Annabeth as well. Percy could only sense this because everyone had become completely motionless. His focus, however, was still on the beautiful girl in front of him.

Then, in a surprising twist, in front of practically the entire school, (slight exaggeration maybe) Annabeth stepped forward, and gave Percy a soft peck on the cheek. "I'll see you in detention," She whispered to him, before she moved past him, and walked on down the hall.

Percy brought his hand up to where her lips had made contact his cheek. It still tingled. He looked over to where his friends stood, and saw that they were still staring off in the direction Annabeth had walked, bewilderment etched on all their faces. Everyone who had witnessed the scene appeared to be in shock as well, and they just simply stared at Percy as he walked by, all the way up until he entered the principal's office.

…

When she had said, 'see you in detention', Percy assumed that meant she would come swing by with a stack of homework like normal. He did not think that meant she would bust him out of detention that day.

Needless to say, he was shocked, quite amazed actually, when she strolled into the room not twenty minutes into his two-hour time, and walked straight up to Mr. Dalton and said, "I need to borrow Percy for the day."

He was even more shocked when Mr. Dalton said 'yes' with hardly any argument.

Annabeth gave the teacher a gracious 'Thank you', and then turned briskly, and marched over to Percy's desk, grabbed his hand, and pulled him out of his seat with surprising strength. Percy let her lead him out of the room with little complaint, though he was most definitely confused. She led him silently down the empty hallways, before dragging him into one of the chemistry labs, also empty.

The door clicked shut behind them.

"Annabeth," Percy began, slightly short of breath, "How did you- "

He wasn't able to finish his sentence, because as soon as the door clicked shut, Annabeth whirled around, and placed her hands on his chest, before rising up onto her toes, and latching her lips onto his. Percy's chest burned at the spots where her hands rested, but it was nothing compared to the sensation his mouth was feeling right now. Her lips were soft, and sensitive, and he could just barely feel the scab from where she had been biting her lip. His heart was doing jumping jacks.

When she finally released him, her hands stayed put on his chest, and her eyes rose up to meet his own. In them, he saw that intelligence and tenacity that he so much adored, along with something else. Something new. Her eyes were filled with affection.

"That was- " Her voice trailed off, unable to finish her sentence.

"Something," Percy finished for her, "That was something."

They both chuckled softly.

"How did you do that?" He asked, referring back to the prison break she had just pulled off.

Annabeth smiled proudly. "Being the queen of the school does have its perks, ya know. They assume almost everything I do is for a perfectly good reason."

"How manipulative of you," Percy crooned, "I didn't think little miss perfect had it in her."

She rolled her eyes playfully, as she brought one of her hands down to fiddle with his tie. "You'll come to learn that I'm very far from being perfect."

"I look forward to it."

His hands went to her waist, and pulled her body flush against his. She raised a mischievous eyebrow, before tugging on his tie, and pulling his lips back down to meet hers. As their lips battled for position, Percy could feel her heartbeat through her chest pressed against his. It felt like a drum, beating to the tune of one of his favorite songs, though he couldn't decide which one. Or maybe it was just the endorphins playing tricks on him.

Percy wanted to curse whoever had made oxygen a necessity for humans to breath, as he and Annabeth unfortunately had to come up for air at some point. When they broke apart, he placed his chin on top of her head, and wrapped his arms around her tightly, holding her close.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that."

Annabeth buried her face into his shoulder. They stood there for a couple minutes, before she finally leaned back, and met his gaze with her eyes.

"You know you're going to have to stop pulling pranks, right?"

Percy gnawed on his lip, before nodding reluctantly. "You can't make me perfect, Annabeth. I hope you realize that."

She smiled reassuringly up at him, still fiddling with his tie as she did so. "I know, and I wouldn't have it any other way."

…..

"What do you mean you can't do pranks anymore?" Leo commanded, his voice irate and dejected.

"I can't do it," Percy reasoned, "If I get caught again, that's it. I'm gone. Expelled."

"But who's going to do our scheming for us?" Travis looked like he was about to cry, which was maybe slightly overdramatic, but also understandable. The gang had been going strong for a solid two and half years, and there was still a whole semester left to terrorize. It was a shame to have to leave it now, but Percy knew it was for the best. It wasn't worth risking getting caught again, and then expelled, as he wouldn't be able to see his friends at all if that happened.

"I'm sure you'll find somebody to take over for me."

"Doubtful," Connor said in a pouty tone, his arms crossed over his chest like a toddler who had his cheerios taken away from him.

Percy rolled his eyes at his friends' hysterics, but then, like the sun shining after a gloomy storm, he felt a warm presence appear next to him.

"Hi," Annabeth said, as she pressed a kissed to his cheek.

"Hello to you too," He replied, a cheeky grin forming on his lips.

"I would love to stay and chat, but I've got a biology test to get to."

"Alright, I'll see you at lunch," Percy said, turning to give her a full-on kiss on the lips. He could practically hear the sounds of his friends' jaws dropping as he leaned down to caress his girlfriend's lips with his own.

"I look forward to it," Annabeth said, before giving him a playful wink. She waved shyly to Leo and the Stolls, who were still picking their jaws up off the ground, before turning and sashaying off down the hall, her hips swaying slightly as she went.

"Dude," Leo said, as they all watched her leave.

"I know," Percy stated, "Detention- it was totally worth it."

….

So I originally planned on this being somewhere between 3000-4000 words… but as you can see, that did not happen. LOL

The cheesiness was dialed up to 11 as you can see.