So this is my new story! I'm writing it for a special, newly acquired friend Lady of Cythera. She's become a really special friend to me through Fanfiction and she wanted me to write this story for her. So I dedicate this whole story to her. It's something new that I don't usually do (I suck at high school fics) so bear with me! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own PJO!

Chapter One: Insufferable

"Why the hell are you taking Chinese Calligraphy?"

I sighed at my annoying cousin Nico. For someone who looked depressed and unemotional, he was the most boisterous person I knew next to Thalia. He was blunt and naïve. He couldn't take a hint if it knocked him square in the forehead, and he was about as smart as a rock.

Granted, I didn't have much room to talk with my C average GPA, but I at least held some common sense. And an excellent counselor. "Because I need one more language class to get more scholarship money."

Nico pointedly rolled his eyes at me before swiping my schedule away from me. Being a sophomore, he didn't think he needed to worry about college just yet. What a smack to the face it would be when he gets to senior year…I'll be laughing my ass off when he ends up flipping burgers at McDonalds.

"Chinese…Algebra III—they have that many algebra classes?—History…AP English…Computer Works…Gods, these are all crap classes."

I scoffed. "Whatever."

As the final warning bell rang for class and as kids poured into the halls, I purposely wove an intricate and confusing path through the throng of kids to lose my annoying cousin. I sighed in relief when I saw him get swallowed by a group of juniors.

I headed towards Chinese Calligraphy. This was my last year of high school—finally—and all I wanted was to get through it mostly unscathed (this depended on the cooperation of Thalia…) and go off to college. Even though I was six foot plus, I didn't stand out to badly in the crowded hallways. Among the actual people, though, I stood out like a sore thumb. Most of the girls in my grade thought I was a loser. I wasn't a star sports player, I obviously didn't care too much about my grades, and I wasn't devilishly good-looking.

Thankfully, though, I had my group of friends: Thalia, the punk angel who wasn't afraid to speak her mind; Rachel, the rebel who didn't take crap; Nico, the annoying cousin with an odd—and scary—sense for pulling successful pranks; and last but not least, my best friend Grover, the mischievous guy of the group with a strange appetite for enchiladas. Together, our group stayed out of the line of fire—the preps—and promised to survive high school together. No one bothered our group, even if they did think we were freaks.

I finally found the Chinese Calligraphy room. I was a bit late though, so the only open spot was up front. I sighed at my bad luck. I could already tell what type of day it was going to be.

"Alright, class, welcome to Chinese Calligraphy!"

The teacher was a short, old, Chinese woman with big thick glasses and a questionable sense of fashion.

"Everyone needs a book," she pointed to a stack of books on the table in the back, "but we're short a couple so for today some people will need to share."

I was determined to get my own book. I practically jumped a mile high sprinted to the back of the room. I would have made Coach Clapp, our gym teacher, proud.

As luck would have it, I somehow ended up not getting one, yet the girl next to me did.

"You'll just share with her," Mrs. Chang instructed me, pointing to the girl beside my desk. I sighed to myself and scooted my desk towards her like the other partners did.

As Mrs. Chang prattled on and on about what the class was going to be like, I couldn't help but glance at the girl from the corner of my eye.

She look familiar…She had golden locks that curled slightly, almost like a California blonde. Her skin was tan, but not overly so. It was natural, not like the orange color some girls had. She had a slim face, a slender nose, and high cheekbones. Her lips parted slightly as she suddenly sighed out.

"Get to work!"

I blinked, looking at Mrs. Chang then back to the girl. "Umm…what?"

"You weren't even paying attention, were you?" The girl asked.

She finally turned towards me. She looked me in the eyes, her eyebrow cocked up in an accusatory way. Her eyes…they were stormy gray, almost impossible to look away from, even though she was slightly glaring at me.

"Do I know you?" I smartly replied. My mouth had a habit of saying things before my brain thought it through.

She huffed and rolled her eyes. "Annabeth. Chase. We've gone to school together for five years already."

This was news to me. Why hadn't I noticed her before?

"Right…" I feigned like I knew that all along. "I thought you were someone else."

"Sure," she replied haughtily, obviously not believing me.

I narrowed my eyes. What was her deal?

"Let's just get this class over with."

I was surprised at her hostility. Nevertheless, I tried to ignore it as I asked, "Um…what are we doing?"

She stiffened. "Looking up characters and writing our names."

I sighed through my nose. "Okay…"

We worked in tense silence. I didn't understand why she was in such a bad mood, or why she was so angry towards me. More importantly, how had I not noticed her before? She said we've been in the same school for five years. How did she go by unnoticed? She must have had it wrong. I would have noticed her by now. I'm sure of it.

"So…" I started when we were done and waiting.

She stared at me with a raised brow, probably enjoying my awkwardness.

"Um…" I stared off around the room, looking for something to start a conversation. I came up blank though.

I heard her snort and I looked to see her smirking and shaking her head at me. "That was a good attempt, though."

I narrowed my eyes. "At least I tried."

"But you failed epically."

I crossed my arms defiantly. She was really starting to tick me off with her snobbish attitude. "I'd rather try and fail than be a coward."

She glared at me. In the back of my mind, I found it odd that I was fighting with this girl already, and about something petty nonetheless.

"But why look like an idiot when you can look smart?"

I opened my mouth to retort to that, but found that I couldn't find a good comeback. She smirked at her obvious win. I scoffed and turned away from her.

The whole period went like this. We practically used books the whole time, so we always seemed to get caught in some stupid argument. She was driving me insane. She was really smart, I found out, but annoyingly so. She always had a retort to through at my face.

By the end of the period, we were practically at each other's throats.

"I just don't understand why you're so dense," Annabeth griped, glaring at me.

"Why are you such a know-it-all prat?"

"Seaweed Brain!"

"Wise Girl!"

We glared daggers at each other, but then finally, the bell rang signaling the end of class. I watched as she threw her things into her bag and stalked out of the room, practically steaming.

I huffed and stomped out of the room. This was definitely a bad day.

At lunch, I told my friends about my endeavors.

"She's just…insensitive!" I complained, practically crushing my milk carton.

I saw Rachel and Thalia exchange a look. "Well…you are a jerk sometimes," Rachel so kindly said.

"Thanks," I said sarcastically.

"How could you not notice her?" Nico asked incredulously. "She's only hot as hell."

I shook my head. "She's not. She's infuriating, dramatic, a smartass—"

Grover sighed as he piled his enchilada high with salsa. "Dude, we get it. You hate her."

I speared a piece of chicken with my fork. "All I know is Chinese is going to be hell from now on."

"In her defense," Rachel spoke up, "you are dense sometimes. She was probably just annoyed with you. You should try being nice to her next time. I heard she doesn't have very many friends."

That was Rachel. She was nice to everyone until proven to be otherwise.

"I wonder why…" I mumbled. She slapped me upside the head and gave me a glare.

I rolled my eyes. "Fine. Whatever."

"Dude," Nico started, eyes wide. "I will forever worship you if you get her to join our group."

This time, Thalia slapped him. I mentally thanked her and thought about the prospect of being nice to Annabeth. Somehow, I didn't believe it was going to go well the next time I saw her.

Unfortunately, that time came all too soon. Turns out, she's also in my PE class.

"Alright, today to celebrate the beginning of a school year, we'll play dodge ball!"

Coach Clapp was a burly man. He had a bit of beer gut starting to form, but that shouldn't fool anyone. He was still strong, and with his mustache and sweat suit combo, he was the cockiest asshole teacher in the whole school. Everyone hated him because he was such a jerk, but at the same time, everyone liked him because he was realistic. He was the kind of asshole that got on your back for not working hard enough. He pushed you because he knew you could do better.

Thankfully, I had Nico in my class, so we ended up being on the same team together. It basically turned into a guys vs. girls game. Not that I minded. I had my eyes set on Annabeth. Time for a little revenge.

I caught her eye and she glared harshly at me. Turns out she wasn't about to let me forget about this morning either.

Coach Clapp blew his whistle and the game began. Almost immediately, Annabeth chucked a ball with deadly accuracy towards me. I narrowly evaded it, just bending my back in time to have it fly past me.

I blinked, surprised by her strength. She merely smirked at me, arms crossed. I glared harshly at her and sprinted towards the center line, whipping it at her. I watched as she yelped and ducked. It slammed against the wall behind her and rolled off to the side.

I laughed after seeing her scared expression. What a scaredy cat.

She huffed and searched for another ball. This was war.

After about twenty minutes, we were still fighting it out. The only ones left were me, some other kid, and her for their team. Annabeth got the other kid out in no time, leaving just me.

We were both breathing hard, sweat dripping down our foreheads. She looked pretty confident, and that kind of scared me. She probably had some secret weapon or something.

She suddenly stood straight up, tossing a ball up and down in her hand. "Give up, Seaweed Brain?" she taunted.

I stood to my full six foot two height. "Pft, not a chance." I smirked. "But I'll give you this opportunity to save yourself some embarrassment and to give up now before I kick your butt."

She laughed. "You, kick my butt? Ha! That's a good one."

Then, without warning, she chucked the ball at me. Hard. It caught me off guard, hitting me squarely in the chest. I stumbled back as it bounced off my chest into the air. I watched as it soared into the air. If I caught it, she would be out.

Gaining my balance, I dove after the ball.

It was like slow motion.

After I dove, I knew I wasn't going to reach it. As I flew through the air, it just brushed my finger tips before bouncing away to the other side of the gym.

Coach blew his whistle. "Team two wins!"

I groaned from my spot on the floor and let my head thud against the cold, hard floor.

"It's alright man," Nico said, pulling me up to my feet. "You tried."

I watched as Annabeth was crowded by her team. She smirked evilly over at me. "Better luck next time, Seaweed Brain."

I fumed and glared at her before stomping out of the gym to my locker to change clothes.

All the more reason to hate her.

At the end of the day, I had gathered my stuff and I was now waiting in the lounge with Nico and Grover for Rachel and Thalia. As we were waiting, we saw Annabeth go through the Food Express line to get some sort of smoothie.

Before I could stop him, Nico said, "Hey Annabeth! Great game today in gym!"

I wanted to slap him up the head. I watched as she slowly turned towards him, raising a brow at him. "Uh, thanks…" she replied slowly. She then gave me a weird look, which could only be interpreted with the phrase, "if looks could kill…"

"What the hell was that for?" I asked angrily.

Nico just shrugged.

"Well stop it," I demanded. "I don't want to deal with her unless I have to."

"I can't believe you hate her so much already," Grover spoke up, raising his brows.

I sighed. "I don't hate her, necessarily…she's just a handful. And annoying. And conceded."

I fumed silently again as Rachel and Thalia met us. "Alright," Thalia announced. "Let's go."

The next day, I discovered that I only had one class with Annabeth: Art.

Great, I thought, another class for her to criticize me.

She glared at me as I walked in. I glared back.

"Seaweed Brain," she muttered in greeting.

I was about to give a smart retort, but then I remembered Rachel's words.

"…You should try being nice to her next time. I heard she doesn't have very many friends."

I clenched my teeth and refrained from my retort. I just gave her a sarcastic smile and sat down away from her.

Yesterday, while the gang and I were hanging out, Thalia had brought up an interesting point.

"Did you ever think, Percy, that she snaps at you because you snap back all the time?"

I shook my head. "She started this whole thing. I was trying to be a nice guy, but she was just snooty. Not my fault."

Thalia shook her head.

I sighed. I honestly didn't have anything against her. She was just so frustrating!

Whatever. I wasn't going to worry about her.

Our first assignment was to paint a bowl of fruit. How original. I wasn't exactly an artist, so it ended up looking like a bowl of dog-food. Of course, this just opened the flood gate for jokes.

Annabeth sauntered up beside me. She stared at the painting as I pointedly ignored her, my eye twitching. I was just waiting for her to say something to dig under my skin. I waited some more, even turning towards her with a raised brow, but she just shrugged and turned away, going back to her easel.

This pissed me off. Even more so then a sassy remark.

I huffed. "What? Ran out of snotty remarks?" I called to her.

She merely continued painting. "No," she answered calmly. "The painting says it all."

I burned inside.

After two more periods, it was lunch time. I slammed my tray on the table next to Thalia. She jumped and then turned to punch me in the side.

"Ow…" I mumbled.

"Don't scare me like that," she glared.

I rolled my eyes and sat down roughly.

"What's your deal?" she asked.

I glared. "She insulted my painting…by not even saying anything."

Thalia opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it in confusion. "Come again?"

I shook my head. "She really is insufferable."

"You're overreacting," Rachel said with a roll of her eyes. "You've only known her for a day. Stop being so dramatic."

I glared at her. "You've never talked to her," I said matter-of-factly.

She shrugged. "I'm sure if I did, she would be the total opposite of what you say she is."

I smirked. "Is that a bet?"

Rachel stared at me, and then she finally said, "Fine. Thalia and I will meet her, and if we can prove to you that she's not that bad, then you owe me…ten bucks and pizza."

I nodded. "Deal."

"Oh boy…" Grover mumbled. "This will not end well…"

At the end of the day, Rachel and Thalia practically came skipping to my locker.

I stared at them suspiciously. "What?"

"You're on the way to losing the bet."

I quirked an eyebrow as we began walking downstairs. "What do you mean?"

"Annabeth's in our English class, and we talked to her."

I was a little surprised at this. "So now you know that she's a jerk?"

"No, far from it. She's really smart and funny and nice."

"You must be mistaken then. She's not nice."

Thalia sighed. "Believe what you want, but she's not that bad."

I just ignored them as we left the school. As we were leaving, however, I caught sight of Annabeth leaving too. I watched as she walked down the street and turned the corner.

Despite my dislike for her, I hoped that my friends were right, and that she really wasn't that bad.

Was Percy's and Annabeth's hate for each other too fast? Was the chapter alright? Your feedback is key to me so let me know!

Thanks for reading and review please!

-Akatsuki Child