Annabeth had grown taller than me since last summer, which I found kind of disturbing.
She used to wear no jewelry except for her Camp Half-Blood bead necklace, but now she
wore little silver earrings shaped like owls—the symbol of her mother, Athena. She pulled off her ski cap, and her long blond hair tumbled down her shoulders. It made her look older, for some reason.
"So…" I tried to think of something to say. Act natural, Thalia had told us. When you're
a half-blood on a dangerous mission, what the heck is natural? "Um, design any good
buildings lately?"
Annabeth's eyes lit up, the way they always did when she talked about architecture. "Oh
my gods, Percy. At my new school, I get to take 3-D design as an elective, and there's this cool computer program…"
She went on to explain how she'd designed this huge monument that she wanted to build
at Ground Zero in Manhattan. She talked about structural supports and facades and stuff, and I tried to listen. I knew she wanted to be a super architect when she grew up—she loves math and historical buildings and all that—but I hardly understood a word she was saying.
The truth was I was kind of disappointed to hear that she liked her new school so much.
It was the first time she'd gone to school in New York. I'd been hoping to see her more often.
It was a boarding school in Brooklyn, and she and Thalia were both attending, close enough to Camp Half-Blood that Chiron could help if they got in any trouble. Because it was an all girls school, and I was going to MS-54 in Manhattan, I hardly ever saw them.
Yeah, uh, cool," I said. "So you're staying there the rest of the year, huh?"
Her face got dark. "Well, maybe, if I don't—"
"Hey!" Thalia called to us. She was slow dancing with Grover, who was tripping all
over himself, kicking Thalia in the shins, and looking like he wanted to die. At least his feet were fake. Unlike me, he had an excuse for being clumsy.
"Dance, you guys!" Thalia ordered. "You look stupid just standing there."
I looked nervously at Annabeth, then at the groups of girls who were roaming the gym.
"Well?" Annabeth said.
"Um, who should I ask?"
She punched me in the gut. "Me, Seaweed Brain."
"Oh. Oh, right."
So we went onto the dance floor, and I looked over to see how Thalia and Grover were
doing things. I put one hand on Annabeth's hip, and she clasped my other hand like she was about to judo throw me.
"I'm not going to bite," she told me. "Honestly, Percy. Don't you guys have dances at
your school?"
I didn't answer. The truth was we did. But I'd never, like, actually danced at one. I was
usually one of the guys playing basketball in the corner.
We shuffled around for a few minutes. I tried to concentrate on little things, like the
crepe-paper streamers and the punch bowl—anything but the fact that Annabeth was taller than me, and my hands were sweaty and probably gross, and I kept stepping on her toes.
Annabeth's POVPercy had definitely grown a little taller since last year, but he missed my massive growth spurt by a few inches. His clear green eyes still had a touch of uncertainty and confusion, as always. One side of his hair was neatly combed, but the other half stuck up in all different directions, kind of comically. Like Sally chased him around his apartment with a hairbrush or something. But something about him…looked older. Looking at him made me nervous for some reason.
"So…design any good buildings lately?" he asked. The light bulb in my head went off. If you knew me at all, you would know I absolutely love architecture. Before I knew it, I was having a one-sided, rambling conversation about my ideas for Ground Zero in Manhattan. It would be complicated, and even taller than the Twin Towers, so it would need extra structural supports…
"Yeah, uh, cool," he said. "So you're staying there the rest of the year, huh?"
Yeah, I thought, as long as our monster friends suddenly start leaving me alone. "Well, maybe, if I don't—"
"Hey!" Thalia called to us. She was slow dancing with Grover, who was tripping all over himself, kicking Thalia in the shins, and looking like he wanted to die.
"Dance, you guys!" Thalia ordered. "You look stupid just standing there."
I sighed. Dancing just wasn't my thing, but if we had to, you know, for this mission…
I glanced at Percy. He wasn't looking so good. He almost looked nauseous, like he just got off a roller coaster from hell. He looked back at me, green in the face, and then at the packs of valley girls wandering throughout the gym, giggling and preying on sad, lonely boys. He wasn't really considering them, was he? Especially when I was standing there right next to him?
"Well?" I asked, prodding him gently.
"Um, who should I ask?"
Apparently I didn't make it obvious enough. I punched him in the gut. "Me, Seaweed Brain."
"Oh." He swallowed. "Oh, right."
So we walked to the crowded dance floor, and he looked at Grover for help. I rolled my eyes. Boys.
He put one hand on my hip, and I grabbed his other hand, but I probably wasn't doing it right. He looked like he was going to pass out or something. It was weird though. I felt oddly jittery, like I had just downed an entire Starbucks store worth of coffee
"I'm not going to bite," I told him. "Honestly, Percy. Don't you guys have dances at your school?" The truth was, though, that we didn't really have dances at my school either. Being all girls, and everything. I was probably dancing just as badly as him, but I concealed it better than he did.
He just looked away, at the streamers, at the punch bowl, anything except me. We shuffled around for a few minutes, through an insidious boy-band song. He kept stepping on my toes. Ouch, painful. Dancing was weird, but it felt kind of nice too.