Get it through your thick skulls that I own nothing. Thank you.

By the time Mr. D tired of yelling at the three guys, it was almost time to leave.

"Yes, Mr. D, we understand what we did was wrong and that if we do it again you will take a picture of us, drunk, dancing on a table with a lampshade over our heads," recited the group.

The three walked to Percy's cabin, mostly because the other two didn't have a cabin of their own. "I swear the old coot is losing it!" declared Nico. "A lampshade? Come on!"

"Um, Nico, buddy, you may not want to talk like that about a god when they're in hearing distance," Grover cautioned.

"Yeah, whatever," said Nico. "I call the bathroom!"

"Hey!"

"Ha ha, sucker!" Nico laughed a few more times.

"Nico, if you keep laughing, our loving and beloved grandfather might think you're doing a bad impersonation of him," said Percy.

"Oh, you wanna go, Wave Oceanman?" asked Nico. (Credits go to Zoë Nightshade for that name.)

"Hey, Nico, bathroom's calling," intervened Grover.

"Dude, that sounded so wrong," Nico gave Grover a withering look and headed for the bathroom. Percy smiled wickedly.

"He he!" he chuckled. "Enjoy the warm water, Nico!"

"Oh gods," groaned Grover softly.

In a second, Nico ran out of the bathroom, with a towel wrapped around him, his teeth chattering. "Percy, your personal funeral has arrived!"

***

Eventually, eventually, the boys got ready. They ran through the cool night air, just barely catching the trucks.

***

Annabeth looked at the clock uncomfortably. Their little party had gotten permission from Mr. D to stay in the city, and head straight to the ballroom. Even though Silena had found time to run through everyone's hair with some gunk, they were early by at least ten minutes. The ballroom was still completely empty.

"Ugh!" It was the stupid battlefield reflexes. They didn't like Annabeth sitting still for a long time, especially without even a knife. She'd left in back in her cabin at camp, expecting that they'd come back. How stupid, she chided herself. What if a monster had attacked when we were out shopping?

"When will he get here?" fretted Silena about Beckendorf.

Yeah, echoed Annabeth silently. When will he get here?

***

"Will you guys shut up!" laughed Percy. Grover shook his head and kept singing 'I Gotta Feeling' with Nico. (Called it Boom Boom Pow earlier, Athena Forever caught it!)

"I gotta feeling,
Tonight's the night,
Let's live it up,
I got my money,

Let's spend it up,
Go out and smash it,
Like Oh My God,
Jump off that sofa,
Let's kick it OFF!"

"I used to like that song," sighed Percy. "This ride is taking forever."

***

The demigods filed into the massive ballroom, which was just a section of the famous resort. Why would somebody build a resort in the middle of New York? wondered Percy. Despite its odd location, it seemed to be doing well—everything, from the decorations to the number of floors (40) boasted of money. As soon as they entered, Chiron asked the three guys to come to the top of the grand staircase.

Of course, it was quite evident from the way his mouth fell open the next minute that the economic state of the resort was the farthest thing from his mind.

Megan, Juniper, and Annabeth stepped into view of the ballroom.

Annabeth was wearing a simple white dress, with silver accents; the hem was jagged, like it had been cut with a knife. (Actually, it was supposed to look like that). Although it wasn' a dressy thing like what Juniper or Megan were wearing, it looked stunning on her.

Silena was behind them. She took one look at Beckendorf in a suit and ran down the stairs, straight towards him. Grover rolled his eyes. "Demigods," he sighed. Nico stepped on his hooves.

"Shut up," he hissed. "Everyone can hear you!" Grover took a look at the crowd beneath him and immediately his cheeks colored red.

Percy ignored both of them, or maybe he just didn't hear them; how cliché, it was the typical diagnosis of falling in love.

Wait, what?! he yelled at himself, although of course he shouldn't have been surprising. He's known for a week now. He didn't have time to think about it much more, though—already Nico and Megan were at the bottom of the staircase, and Grover and Juniper were halfway down.

He extended his hand and Annabeth took it. They started down the steps.

Unfortunately, halfway down, Percy fell, rolling to the floor face down. Annabeth took one look at him, sighed, "Seaweed Brain," and continued her stately walk down the steps. Before Percy had time to roll over and stand up, Annabeth was standing behind him, saying, "Ladies and gentlemen, Percy Jackson, the guy who will hopefully not kill us all!"

Percy stood up to face a Camp's worth of derisive laughter and sarcastic hollers.

"You are so going to pay for that," he muttered in Annabeth's ear. She shivered…sarcastically, of course.

***

It would be easier to get back at her, thought Percy, if I could find her. The last time he'd seen her was at least half an hour ago, when they were both dancing—but not with each other. She'd been dancing with that one camper whose name he always forgot…on purpose, just to annoy Annabeth. Katrina had asked him to dance, and he couldn't think of a polite way to say no. Well, at least it was a fast song, not a slow one.

But now, she was nowhere to be seen. Her dance partner was across the room, flirting with a cute waitress. Percy felt like punching his lights out. What a player!

That wasn't the point…where was she? Just then, he saw somebody else—Will Heale. Just as well, Percy figured. I had to ask him a few things, anyway.

"Dr. Heale!" he called, and headed toward him. "I need to ask you something."

"Oh, hello, Percy! How're things?" asked Heale. "I'm glad that things worked out with the disease."

"That's what I wanted to ask you about; the cure, really. You said that you have had 11 people with that disease, but then you said that nobody knew what the cure was, exactly. So…how does that work, exactly?"

Heale smiled guiltily. "Well, you see, Percy, I haven't been quite truthful about my identity with all of you. My name isn't really William Heale, and I'm not a son of Apollo. My mother is Aphrodite."

"You're a son of Aphrodite?" Percy asked disbelievingly.

"Not just any son, I'm the most famous son!"

"You're Brad Pitt?"

The-unnamed-one sighed. "Look away." Percy did as he said, and when he looked back, there was the famous winged god, holding his bow and arrow. "I'm Eros, the god of love, son of Ares and Aphrodite."

***

Where did that idiot go? wondered Annabeth. The crisp night air was biting at her exposed arms on the balcony. She peeked behind the plum curtains. "Percy?" she hissed. She was sure that she saw him after she finished dancing with Ryan. "Percy?" she called out a little louder.

"What?" came the reply from behind her.

"Oh my gods!" she yelled. "Don't do that!" Percy was doubled over laughing.

"Okay, that was good enough for me. I got my revenge!" Annabeth punched him in the stomach.

"That didn't hurt!" Percy mocked her. Annabeth punched him again. "Okay…" he winced. "That hurt."

Annabeth laughed, but then in a minute, they both just stood looking at the sky from the balcony. The moon was a crescent moon, just like it had been the night of the masquerade.

"Annabeth, I bet you don't remember the masquerade," said Percy all of a sudden. She shook her head wistfully. "It was a night just like this."

"It was a 'famous couples' party, right? What did we go as?" she asked.

"Nico and Megan were Romeo and Juliet. Grover and Juniper were modern Adam and Eve. You and I went was Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers."

"The dancing couple? What a joke! We can't dance!"

"We could dance that night." As if on cue, a new song started up. It was a slower song.

"Prove it," challenged Annabeth.

"Okay," smiled Percy. He pulled her towards himself. They started dancing…but it seemed like their dancing luck had existed for only one night. They promptly began to step on each other's toes and kicking each other in the shins.

Eventually, they stopped trying to dance around the entire balcony and stepped in just a tiny square. "Well, I guess it was temporary," sighed Percy.

"Too bad I missed it; it must have been nice."

"Not really; I like it better like this, in a way."

I am trying
Not to tell you
But I want to
I'm scared of what you'll say
So I'm hiding what I'm feeling
But I'm tired of
Holding this inside my head

Annabeth sang the lyrics under her breath.

"How do you know so many songs?" asked Percy. Annabeth shrugged. The song ended and Annabeth went back to staring at the sky.

"Um, Annabeth?" asked Percy. She turned. "Well, I wanted to tell you something."

"Yeah?" she asked. He took a step closer so they were just an inch apart.

"The cure to Etgroftnig was Vuretole, right? Well, you figured out what it was… Oh, just screw it. The cure was an acronym. Etgroftnig unscrambled out to be 'Forgetting,' which makes sense, you know, because it's a disease—"

"Get to the point, Percy."

"The-word-vuretole-unscrambled-out-to-be-True-Love."

"What did you say? 'Cause I didn't catch any of it."

"Ugh!" he sighed. Every time he got the nerve up to tell her that he loved her, something happened. Either she forgot or she didn't understand in the first place.

"I said that Vuretole unscrambled out to be True Love."

Annabeth's eyes shot up to Percy's. "What?"

"I said that I love you."

"What?"

"Is that the only thing you know how to say?"

"I can't believe that you're saying it," she answered flatly.

"Believe it."

She blinked a couple of times. "And what about Rachel?"

Percy took a minute to think the words through. "Rachels are a dime a dozen…Annabeth, you are rare."

"Hardly. I'm a stereotypical daughter of Athena."

He shook his head. His face was an inch away from Annabeth's now. "There's no arguing with you, is there? Get it through your head, Annabeth Chase, that I love you and that there's no arguing with that."

He lowered his face to hers, his mouth meeting hers. But before he did, he said something. "I fell for you by accident. And I am not getting back up."

Well, congratulations to me. I've written the world's crappiest romantic scene. I'd like your opinion, though. ;D

I want to thank Adonai63 and FilmyFurry for reviewing every chapter and providing continual support. I'd also like to thank Anna145, Athena Forever, Emo with Crayons, KarmaBear2050, xxLosAngelesAngelxx, WiseGirl12, ArtemisHarryAnimorphsfan96, Jaguar1223, WarriorsRox, and fanficlover818 and anyone else who I may have forgotten, because I'm harebrained, and because you are awesome... :D

So, one last time-in Accident, at least,
~Clara Elizabeth Fonteyn