Hello! This chapter should make up for the very rushed last chapter.

Title: Through The Gates

"So, are we finally ready to go?" I asked, checking my pockets for money (check), my dorm keys (check), invisibility hat (check) and phone (check).

"All ready," Percy sighed, scratching the back of his head. "Please explain to me why my mum can't just pick me up now that we're out?"

"Her meeting with that publisher in New York, remember? She and Paul were going to drive up and stay the night in a hotel, because of the traffic at peak hour. You can go home tomorrow."

Percy sighed again and took the invisibility hat out of my extended hand. He slipped it on and shimmered once, then disappeared. "I can't see myself!" he whined. "How do I know whether I'm going to trip over something if I can't see my feet?"

"Hold onto my arm," I said. I held my arm out, and I felt something clamp onto my hand. "That's my hand, Seaweed Brain."

"Right, uh, sorry." The warm thing moved upwards until it clasped my forearm.

"That's better," I said. "It's just until we get out of the school, alright?"

"That's reassuring," I thought I heard him mutter, but I couldn't be sure. He could've said "This is boring" for all I knew.

I took flung my leg forward to take a step and Percy cried out. "What now?" I asked, exasperated.

"That was my boy part that you kicked."

"Sorry! Did it hurt?" Okay, stupid question, but hey! I was curious.

I could almost imagine exactly how Percy was rolling his eyes. "You just kicked my most sensitive part, Annabeth. Of course it didn't hurt." He said sarcastically. "Imagine if I—"

"Okay!" I interrupted, frightened as to where this was going. "I don't really want to imagine anything that comes out of your mouth, Percy!"

He huffed, and his grip on my arm tightened.

"So, are you out of my way?" I asked.

"I think so." He sounded miffed.

"Good, because I don't want anymore delays."

"You could have seriously damaged my—"

I stuck my fingers in my ears and said really loudly, "La la la la," until I was sure he was done, and he was still talking when I unplugged my ears.

"— and you call that a delay?"

It was then that I noticed that people were looking at me weirdly. Percy must have noticed it as well, because he snickered in my ear and whispered, "Psychopath on grounds. Everybody go back to your business— it's rude to stare."

"If you want to have children when you grow up, Percy, I suggest you shut your mouth," I said calmly. "If you grow up, that is," I added.

I could feel his hot breath in my ear, and everytime I moved my head away, he followed me. "Stop!" I hissed, slapping his hand away.

"Am I disturbing you?"

I didn't bother dignifying that with a response. Instead, I kept my eyes on the road ahead, silently counting the metres until we were out of the school.

Twenty, nineteen, eighteen—

"Annabeth?"

"Oh, for the love of the gods!" I yelled, earning quite a few strange looks. "What, now?"

"Uh, you just had this creepy look on your face."

My anger quelled, replaced by endearment. Percy was just being Percy, after all.

"Is that a problem? I'm a creepy girl."

"Um, if you say so."

The moment of truth. My foot was barely a millimetre from touching the ground on the other side of the school gates. And I had to trip.

Percy was roaring with laughter, and I just knew that he was rolling around on the ground, holding his stomach. "Was that you?" I asked, dumbfounded. I didn't just trip over nothing. I was Annabeth Chase. Annabeth Chase isn't clumsy, nor is she gullible and stupid. That left only one culprit.

"Percy!" I frowned. "Was that really necessary?"

"No, but it sure was worth it! You should have seen your face," Percy chortled.

"You're so immature."

"And you're such a prude."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me."

"A prude? Really, Percy? Do we live in the nineteenth century or something?"

"No, I live in the twenty first century with you. Or hadn't you noticed?"

"Take the hat off, Percy." My patience was wearing thin with this boy.

"Why?" he whined.

"Because I said."

Percy must have gotten the threatening hint in my tone, because a second later, he shimmered into existence.

"So, are you going to help me up or what?" I said impatiently, still sprawled on the ground.

He extended his hand, and just as I leant forward to take it, he jumped backwards and I fell forwards.

"Ooh, so one minute you're insulting me, and the next you're kissing my feet!"

"Shut up," I mumbled. "I'll get myself up, then."

Once I was up, I noticed that there was blood trickling down my leg from a graze on my right knee. There was also a graze on my left elbow.

"You suck." I said, glaring down at my injuries.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you."

I glanced up in surprise; I hadn't expected him to apologise. But, Percy and I were best friends after all. No matter how cruel my insults could be to him, we still cared about one another.

"That's okay. It's just a small graze."

Once again, I was surprised when he bent down and wiped the blood off my leg with the sleeve of his shirt. His white shirt.

"Uh, Percy?" I said. "You don't have to do that. It's alright— I think you've stained enough white shirts this month."

He shot me a dirty look, and I was immediately chagrined.

"Sorry. That was mean."

Once he was done, he stood up and took my elbow gently in his hand. He spat in the graze, and I stared at him.

"What the hell?"

"Saliva is nature's best disinfectant," Percy said evenly, once again using his shirt to clean the cut.

I winced, and bit my lip. "Ow! That stings!"

"That's good. It means the spit is working."

"Since when did you become such an expert on first aid, Nurse Percy?"

"My mum taught me the basics ages ago. In case we ever ran out of ambrosia and nectar on a quest or something."

"Oh. Your mum's cool."

"I know."

The conversation seemed to die after that. We just stood in silence as Percy finished up with my arm. He dropped it, and it fell to my side.

We gazed at each other, and eventually I cracked a smile. "Now you don't owe me twenty bucks for clothes," I joked. "You saved my arm from getting infected and being amputated!"

He grinned crazily and I burst into laughter. I took his arm, and together we departed for the shops.

If only I knew what was coming.

Have a great day, everyone! I'm going to school now.