I offer no excuses, only apologies. I cannot guarantee when the next chapter will be posted, but I will complete this story. Eventually :P Thank you to all who reviewed, despite my lack of updates, in the past four months.

Percy Jackson sat at a hotel café, staring into his Styrofoam cup of orange juice. He was craving some caffeine, but that was not an option. Coffee had the odd effect of dulling his senses, and at the minute, he needed to be alert. He was confronting Anna today. Or rather, Annabeth. Annabeth Chase. His greatest rival.

He had barely slept at all the previous night, the events that had transpired at the party had been playing in his mind on a constant loop. Anna had lied to him. She wasn't who she said she was. She was his rival. She was his competition. She needed to be taken down.

Percy was furious. He had stormed from the party, shrugging off both Calypso and Grover, and heading straight for his hotel room. He had feigned sleep when Grover attempted to speak to him, but sleep had evaded him for the longest time. The betrayal and disgust had been the dominant emotions, and when he had finally fallen into an uneasy sleep, he had been restless, and his dreams had been filled with blonde haired devils.

Though he did not want to admit it, hurt was prevalent among all his other thoughts. He was more hurt over the fact that Anna, was not in fact Anna, rather than the fact that she was his greatest competition. Of course, that was quite a bruise to his already wounded ego as well.

But the fact was, Percy Jackson was not a naturally trusting person. His father had walked out on his mother, before he was born, Calypso had cheated on him, and now Annabeth had lied to him. Was there no end to the dishonesty that seemed to plague his life?

If he were to be honest with himself though, he would admit that a large part of him did not see the problem. Annabeth was a beautiful girl, and he was fairly sure she had not been lying to him, aside from her name. After all, it was fairly hard to fake a personality, or so he imagined. And he had been quite taken with the beautiful grey eyed gymnast he had been hanging around.

But he hated her. Or rather, he hated the thought of her. It had been so much easier to hate the intangible thought of Annabeth Chase, when he believed that she was an ego driven bitch, with no soul, and no desire to do anything other than win. But then he had actually met the girl behind the reputation, and within twenty four hours, he had found himself falling for her. Yet he then had to find out that she was not who she said she was.

Why couldn't anyone just be honest with him? What was the satisfaction in lying?

Sure, Percy wasn't honest one hundred percent of the time, but he had never lied about something as important as his identity. One would think that a girl would give her real name so that a guy might have some semblance of a clue as to where he stood. But no. With Annabeth Chase, the rules were not to be followed.

Though to be honest, Percy found it to be kind of hot.

Gritting his teeth in frustration, he clutched his cup tightly between his hands. No. He did not want to be thinking about Annabeth like that. Annabeth was a liar. No matter how good she had looked in that dress last night though. She had lied to him about everything, and now both of them were suffering the consequences of it. But Percy would be damned before he simply let the blonde girl get away with completely deceiving him, simply because she had charmed him.

He wondered why he had been so drawn to her. He supposed she simply had natural charisma, but it seemed more than that. He had been inexplicably attracted to her from the beginning. It was almost as if he had been destined to fall for the pretty gymnast with the secrets she hid behind.

Percy physically shook his head, ridding those ridiculous thoughts from his head. Ha. He didn't believe in such things as Fate. It was a laughable notion, and the thought that he and Annabeth were 'meant to be' was ludicrous. After all, he was a young, attractive, eligible Olympic swimmer. He would have many opportunities with plenty of girls.

Yet somehow he knew that only Annabeth would really matter to him in the end.

"Percy! My man! How are you dude?"

Percy looked up from his orange juice, to see none other than Nico DiAngelo grinning widely at him. Returning the younger boy's eager smile, he held his hand up for a fist bump, which Nico happily returned.

"Hey yourself dude. I'm…tired." That was a blasé enough answer; honest, without truly giving anything away. Forcing himself to chuckle, he added, "But then again, aren't we all? So how is training going?"

Nico tossed his head back and groaned. "Dude, I feel like I'm living in the Underworld, it's so hot! You have no idea how much I envy you, getting to perform in the water. But it's going pretty well, you know? I'm excited to finally get to go to the Olympics. Greece sounds pretty cool anyways."

Percy grinned at his younger friend. "Yeah, cool indeed. I'm pretty stoked about being there as well. Apparently there's a lot of history and all, but I'm looking forward to the beaches!"

Nico rolled his eyes. "Has anyone ever told you that you totally have a one track mind before?"

However, Percy was no longer listening to Nico; his gaze was fixated on a person behind the dark haired fencer. A person with sharp grey eyes, and pretty blonde curls. Seeing Percy's gaze wavering, Nico turned around, and grinned, when his eyes locked on the same person.

"Ah, I see you've spotted Annabeth Chase. She's easily the prettiest girl at the Olympics. Though I've got to say, that Thalia Grace is pretty damn fine as well." Percy knew he should probably defend Thalia's honor, or some crap like that, but it wasn't going to happen. His mind was far elsewhere; besides, Thalia hardly needed his help.

"Yeah. One could say that I've met her." Well, he had met her alter ego Anna Sophos. Annabeth Chase was still foreign territory to him. As Annabeth's gaze traveled over to the two boys, her eyes locked on Percy, and she began striding determinedly over to the table where he was seated.

Nico, seeing this, shot Percy a grin. "Well, in this case, I suppose I'll just scram. Don't want to get caught up in the flirtation of mating season. I'll catch you later bro. Ms. Chase." Nico gave an extravagant bow to the flustered gymnast who had just arrived at the table, and she bestowed a grin onto him. Well wasn't he just the luckiest kid at the candy shop. Who wouldn't want a smile from the beautiful Annabeth Chase?

A certain dark haired swimmer named Percy Jackson.

Now that the two were all alone, an awkward silence had fallen over the pair. "Erm, Percy. Hi!" Annabeth was clearly striving for normalcy and attempting to act as if nothing had changed between them. "Look, I'm sorry about last night. Running off, you know. But…just so you know, I don't regret-I don't regret the kiss. That was pretty much the best moment of my life, which is saying a lot, considering that I'm going to the Olympics, and-"

It was rude, but Percy was hardly willing to extend his manners to the gymnast at the moment. So he really did not mind interrupting her. "Listen Annabeth-can I call you that?" A flushed Annabeth Chase nodded, and pushed a stray curl out of her face. A tiny part of Percy wanted nothing more than to grab it, and tuck it behind her ear gently, but instead his fingers barely twitched against the table.

"So, Annabeth. Are you a superhero?"

The blonde frowned, and shook her head, unsure of where the Olympic swimmer was going with this. After all, if it was a pick up line, it would be quite the non sequitur. "Um, no, but Percy, can we talk about-"

"So considering that we are not Clark Kent and Lois Lane, I really fail to see just why you felt entitled to lie to me about who you really are. I mean, sure, we only knew each other for like, twenty four hours, but still, of all the lies to come up in a conversation, I wouldn't naturally assume that someone's name is one of those."

Annabeth swallowed thickly, and bit her lip. "I know." She began, and Percy detected the obvious sadness in her voice. But now was not the time for sympathy. It was the time for cold honesty. "I know, and I feel just awful about it. But I never really lied, because-"

"Because you secretly have a twin named Anna, who was the real person I hung out with all day yesterday?" Something dangerous flashed in Annabeth's eyes at Percy's use of sarcasm, but he didn't bother in halting his rant. In fact, he was just getting started. "Because, let me know if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that friends are not people who lie to one another. And yesterday, I thought we were friends. In fact, at one point, I had thought that we might even end up being more than friends. We certainly had chemistry, that's impossible to deny. But then I have to find out that you aren't even the girl I thought you were. From the paparazzi no less! Tell me, Ms. Chase, what else have you lied to me about?"

And now he was on the receiving end of a glare. "That's not fair Percy. I'm sorry that I mislead you. That was never my intention. Sophos is my mother's name; she's an Olympic coach for Greece, which might have been a contributing factor in that mix up. And then they switched my first and middle names. I'm Annabeth Sarah Chase."

Percy simply stared at her. "Fine. I understand a mix up. But pray tell, why didn't you correct me, the very first time I called you by the wrong name? Why didn't you ever point out to me that your name was Annabeth, not Anna? You're making it very hard to believe you, and frankly, after last night, I find everything you say untrustworthy."

Annabeth swallowed, and glared at him angrily, seeming on the verge of tears, yet much stronger than to let them fall. "I'm not on trial here!" She hissed furiously at him. "I don't have to explain myself to you, but I will, because I have already admitted that I was in the wrong! Anna is a nickname, one that my close friends call me. I considered you a friend. So I let you call me that."

Percy felt a small lurch in his stomach. Anna, no, Annabeth, had considered him a close friend? But she had used past tense, had she not? "Well you still-"

"No!" Annabeth cried, standing to her feet angrily. "No, I'm not putting up with this anymore! I told you the truth, I told you what happened! What more do you want from me? I am truly sorry for the misunderstanding, but I do not deserve to be interrogated!"

She glared at him, her steely grey eyes flashing, and Percy had to admit, the sight was truly beautiful. "But I think maybe it's you who is the dishonest one here Percy. Be honest with yourself; are you angry at me, or at yourself for not realizing? Are you angry at me for 'lying' to you, or because of the fact that you ended up liking me, even though you are determined to hate who I really am?"

And with those parting words, laced with cold perception that Annabeth wielded like a scythe, the pretty gymnast walked away, leaving Percy wondering just who had been scoleded.