The articles came out the next day.

Illéan Weekley, Angeles Times, Palace Scoop and Royal Sun all had different takes on my kiss with Percy. Illéan Weekley wrote that it was all an act, that I was only there for the money, fame and power. That I was a spoilt rich kid who thought that I couldn't kiss the 'dashing' Prince. Angeles Times said that I'm their favourite, always have been, always will be. They stated that it was love blossoming quickly and that I would make an excellent queen. Palace Scoop compared me to Drew Tanaka. They said that I'm not elegant, intelligent and beautiful enough to be on the postage stamps of Illéa, but they were happy for Percy even if it's with the 'Angeles scum'. Royal Sun didn't have much to say, they just reported that indeed we had kissed but they seemed more interested in what everyone one was wearing, which I was okay about. Anything not about me at this moment was good.

On that fatal Saturday, Percy came rushing into my room before breakfast. Luckily, Hazel was just finishing zipping up my dress.

"Wise Girl!" He opened the door and stood there, his shirt half buttoned up.

"Percy?" I turned around and blushed, seeing a bit of his tanned chest.

"I just read them. I'm leaving right away, I'm going to fire whoever wrote those gods awful things about you, I swear. How dare they talk about you like that? How dare they call you power hungry and only in it for the money?! You're my best friend, they know you! You're Annabeth Chase, my favourite person in the world and if they think that they can just-"

I stepped up to Percy, putting my arms around his neck and bringing him in closer for a hug. "There's no need to go and fire anyone today, Seaweed Brain. It's their opinions and they can voice them if they want."

He sighed wrapping his arms around me. "Are you sure?" He mumbled into my hair.

I nodded, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you."

He left then to fix up his clothes and get ready for breakfast.

I walked into the dining room late, mainly because I had to give myself a long mental pep talk to brace my self for what was to come.

Everyone was silent as my heels make a click, clack noise on the floor. They all stared at me as I pulled out my chair, sitting next to Piper.

It seemed that I was the most hated girl in the room. Piper was, like yesterday, bubbly and happy for me. Reyna tried to be nice but there were some unspoken thoughts between us. Rachel gave me a sort of friendly smile from further down the table, Thalia giving me a thumbs up and a smirk. Drew was a completely another story.

She glared at me the whole time, making me extremely self-conscious. Nancy Bobofit was the same, their now large group joining in. Riley was a snob like always, Victoria too.

When Percy and his family came in, the glared softened 2 two-percent and halfway through the meal Percy stood up, pushing his chair back with a screech. He gave a quick glance at all the shocked faces, stopping on me. He nudged his head towards the door and strode off, expecting me to follow.

I placed my napkin down and got up, walking out of the room but not before I heard Drew mutter: "He's finally going to send her to her room!"

Percy was leaning back against the wall, hands tangled in his hair. I quietly walked up to him, actually believing what Drew had said. "Perce?"

He opened his eyes and swiftly stopped in front of me, grabbing my face forcefully and smashing his lips on mine.

My senses exploded at the new harsh way he kissed me, but I still kissed back. It said everything that I needed to hear: Don't listen to them, They don't change us, They're jealous, I-

There was a loud clearing of the throat, surprised I jumped back, wiping my swollen red lip.

Tyson stood there, awkwardly with his hands behind his back. "Mum sent me to check on you. To make sure you're alright, but I can see that you're more than alright." He hurried back to the dining room, looking back over his shoulder once to make sure our lips weren't locked.

"Wise Girl," Percy kissed me on the forehead. "I'm going to-" He kissed me on the cheek. "-eliminate-" He kissed me on the other cheek. "-four girls." But before I could say anything like, 'eliminate Drew!' or 'don't!' he had already run off back into the dining room.

Unfortunately, Drew didn't get eliminated, but Madison Phillips, Peyton Navarro, Mia Puckett and Lily O'Donnell did.

It was quiet after they left, so I just stood up and left. Percy checked on me before dinner, but the rest of the Saturday was uneventful, except that I cried on the balcony for a while, but no one needed to know that.

(Now as a reward for 16K reads Imma gonna give you something that you all will enjoy!

Here's some Lukabeth!!)

Over the next few days, we had had lessons with Sarah, who was teaching us how to dance for the Summer Ball that was happening that Friday. It was terrible, as I already knew all the different types of dances and that fact did not make me any popular. I danced with Jason sometimes but whenever I tried to get him as my dance partner, he and Piper were already on the dance floor. I had given up on Leo when he nearly ripped my dress the first time, so I settled for other guards. Luke always seemed to be with Thalia, so I didn't get to speak to him, which I thought was quite off.

The next good thing that happened to me was on Tuesday.

I woke up feeling somewhat refreshed, thanks to a long nights sleep. The drain of hiding my emotions to everyone was taking its toll, so I skipped dinner and had it in my room, then fell straight asleep.

I was about to get undress and have a bath when there was a knock on the door. I opened it, seeing as everyone else was busy, and Luke stood there.

He was wearing a loose tank top, showing his defined arms, and dark shorts making his legs tanner. "Morning, Annie." He smiled.

I gave him a half smile and blushed. "Morning, Luke. What's up?"

"Well, I thought, seeing as you've been down lately, that you could come train with me and the guys."

"The guys?"

"Chris, Ethan, Jason, Leo... you know."

I blinked, taking the offer in. It would be fun, take my mind off everything and it has been ages since I've trained but... Percy.

I nodded. "That's sound great, Luke. I'll be down in half an hour."

Luke left and I called out to Justine as I closed the door. "I need some active clothes!"

Twenty minutes later I was standing in front of Percy's office door. I was wearing black sports leggings, a black sports bra and my hair was done up in a messy hairdo.

I knocked holding my breath and a faint, "Come in" floated through the door.

I opened the door, stepping inside and closing it behind me.

"One sec-" Percy looked up from his desk, which was covered in papers, and stopped when he saw me.

His eyes gave a once-over of my body, I blushed, and he got up from his desk. "Annabeth?"

I breathed out through my mouth. "I'm not sure if this is appropriate and I not sure if I should even be asking you, but can I train with the boys?"

He raised his eyebrows leaning back on his desk at the front. "With the guards?"

I nodded. "Like Jason and Leo, Chris and Ethan, Luke..."

He set his jaw at Luke's name. What was he worried about?

"You know what? Never mind, I'll just go back to my room." I waved him away, turning around.

"No, Wise Girl." He came over and put a warm hand on my bare shoulder. "Why did you want to ask for permission?"

I turned back to face him, sighing. "I wasn't sure if you'd be okay with it, and I rather you find out from me rather than someone else."

He smiled at me. "Thanks for asking."

"What are you uncomfortable about? It's just the boys, Clarisse will be training us. If they pull something and I don't kill them, she will."

He chuckled resting both hands on my shoulder "I know that she's nearly killed me a number of times."

I looked up at him with big puppy dog eyes. "I really want to train, Perce."

He sighed and closed his eyes. "Okay. Yes, go have fun."

I smiled at him, getting up and pressing my lips to his forehead in a reassuring manner. "Nothing will happen. I swear on the river Styx."

Five minutes later I was in the backyard of the palace. When I saw backyard, I don't really mean backyard. It's more of a park I guess, it's big and green, a couple of fountains here and there. Trees, there are lots of those, but there's equipment set up and sweaty, some shirtless, guys running around. Further away there's a shooting range for practise target and an area to sword fight. There is a gym inside, but most guards chose to go outside since the weather is always great.

Jason was doing push-ups on a blue mat, Leo sitting on top of his back shouting. "Fifty-four! Fifty-five! Fifty-six!..." Jason was grumbling under his breath, words which I guessed weren't very nice. They both smiled at me when they saw me.

Luke was sparring with Ethan a little bit away. Luke was winning the fight, Ethan was mainly defending himself. Ethan Nakamura was a strange guy, black hair and dark eyes. Somehow he had lost an eye and had an eye patch on his face, he was wearing a purple shirt and black shorts. He never said many words to me, in the few years I knew him, but if he was a friend of Luke, he's a friend of mine.

Luke spotted me and flashed me a grin, knocking out Ethan's sword from his grip. Luke pressed his sword against Ethan's neck. They said something to each other, laughed, then Luke walked over.

"Feeling a bit out of place here, Annie?"

I pushed his shoulder. "No. I grew up with this training ground."

"Well, if it isn't smarty pants," Said a voice from behind me.

I turned around and was greeted with the sight of Clarisse La Rue. Clarisse was a tall, strong girl who had beady brown eyes and stringy brown hair. Her father, Ares La Rue, is a General and he works closely with my father. Clarisse's has trained with the guards all her life, and when she turned eighteen, she became their trainer, pushing them all harder. She's trained with me and Percy, and we're sort of friends but we won't admit it.

Standing next to her was her boyfriend Chris Rodriguez, a guard. His black hair was wet with sweat and his brown eyes were looking at Clarisse. I had no idea how he had come to love Clarisse romantically but they were a strong couple that had had its ups and downs.

"Hello, Clarrise." I smiled.

She raised her eyebrows. "Decided to ditch being a princess?"

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not a princess."

"Yet."

"Okay!" Luke clapped his hands together. "Come on, Annie, I bet I can bet you in a sword fight."

I crossed my arms. "Oh yeah?" Luke nodded smiling. "You're on."

Luke ran off towards the small shed that held all the swords, daggers and guns. He opened the door, letting me go in first.

I picked up a celestial sword, feeling the balance, and decided it was good enough.

"Ready?" Luke asked.

I nodded. "Ready."

We walked back outside, getting into a pose, our legs shoulder-width apart, sword balanced and at the ready.

Luke attacked first, bringing his sword, Backbiter, down but I was quick enough to block it, spinning around and moving out the way. I feinted going to the right, which he fell for, and knocked him on his left side. He stumbled but regained his balance. My breath was coming out heavy and sweat was starting to form on my forehead. Luke and I sparred for another five minutes, no one getting the upper hand until I managed to knock him back. I sat on top of him, straddling his hips, the blade of my sword pressed against his throat.

I smiled at him breathing heavily. "I win."

He smirked at me, then did something unexpected.

He flipped me over, now him on top of me and his sword at my throat. He winked. "I think I won that one."

I huffed and pushed him off of me, getting up and dusting the dirt off my pants. "Where did you learn to fight like that? You've only been training for like, a month."

He shrugged. "You have to learn how to survive when you live in the woods."

I held up a hand for a high five. "Very true." He slapped his hands against mine chucking.

For the next three-ish hours Luke and I trained together. We ran sprints, I sat on his back whilst he did push-ups and he held my feet when I did sit-ups. We talked and laughed and threw daggers at each other. We spent a good amount of time in the shooting range, challenging each other on who could get the most bullseyes, I won, and then we left and went down to the kitchens.

"Maybe just loosen your grip on the sword. You're holding it too tight." Luke told me as we opened the doors to the busy kitchen.

"And you need to learn how to shoot," I said smiling.

He pushed me in the back lightly laughing. We walked around the kitchen towards the sinks, where he filled up his water bottle.

He took a large swing then handed it to me. I took a few gulps, tightening the lid back on and resting on the counter.

"Is that Annabeth I see?"

I looked over at the voice and saw Hestia holding a large bowl, full of white dough. She smiled at me, walking over, and when she came closer I noticed she had flour in her hair.

She went to hug me but I waved her away. "No, don't hug me. I'm all sweaty and smelly."

"Ah," She raised her eyebrows. "Tired of being a princess already?"

I sighed. "Why does everyone think I'm a princess?"

Hestia seemed to notice at that moment Luke standing next to me. "And who is this handsome man?"

"Hestia, this is Luke. Luke, this is Hestia, head chef."

Luke and Hestia shook hands. "Nice to meet you." He smiled.

"And are you a guard or friend?"

Luke squeezed my shoulder. "Both."

Hestia nodded. "I'm sure you're both very hungry. Want some food?"

I nodded eagerly. "Yes, please!"

Hestia smiled and walked off, us following her, and gave us a plate of blue cookies. "You just missed Sally. She came and backed some cookies for Percy."

I dived in straight for the cookies, grabbing two for each hand.

"Can he not make his own cookies?" Luke asked.

I gasped, blue cookies in my mouth, and lightly slapped Luke's muscled arm. "It's a secret recipe. Only Sally knows."

"Are they any good?"

I gasped and slapped him again. "They're the best thing in this world."

Luke raised his eyebrows not believing me, but his face when he bit into one said otherwise. He moaned and grabbed another one. "Okay, that's really good."

I bowed my head. "I told you so."

He chuckled as Hestia came back over, sandwiches on a plate.

"Oh, you're the best Hestia."

Hestia is blushed. "Thank you."

Luke placed the plate of sandwiches between us as we sat on the front steps of the palace. The sun was lower in the sky than before, but it was still warm.

"You actually did fantastic today, Annie. You know, for someone who hasn't practised in a while."

I gave him a closed mouth smile. "And you did well for a newbie."

Luke was about to say something when we were interrupted by a car pulling up.

"But did you see his face?" Matthew jumped out of the car, Bobby following afterwards. They were in their navy school uniform, coming home after their first day back at school.

I sighed and rested my face in my hands. "Oh, no."

Before Luke could ask what was wrong, Bobby stopped in front of us, resting on his crushes. "Annabeth!"

I smiled up at them. "Hey, boys. How was school?"

Matthew sighed. "We have so much homework. You would think that if you've been in a coma in the past month they would be a bit fairer on you."

I shrugged. "I would think so too."

"Who's this?" Bobby nudged his heads towards Luke.

Luke waved. "I'm Luke."

"He's a friend of mine. We were just eating after doing some training together."

Matthew nodded. "Where's Perce?"

I squinted my eyes. "I think he's in a meeting now. Why?"

Bobby shrugged. "We wanted to talk to him about those article about you. Today people were saying mean things about you at school."

"Yeah," Matthew nodded. "We want to go and fire some people with him."

I sighed standing up and resting a hand on Matthew's shoulder. "I've already told him not to fire anyone and the same goes for you."

"But Dad-"

"No one is getting fired. It's their job and if they don't like me, so what?" I smiled at them. "You like me, Luke likes me, Percy likes me. That's all I need."

Bobby and Matthew grumbled about how I took the fun out of everything but headed inside to start their homework. I sat back down next to Luke, resting my head on his shoulder.

"I hope you know that whatever bad things that people say about you aren't true. They don't know you enough to know that your smart and friendly and an amazing person. I hope you know that."

"I know."

Luke and I sat out the front in silence for ages, just watching the sunset. He soon reminded me that I should be at dinner and I nearly jumped out of my skin. I gave him a hug, thanking him for a wonderful day and being such a fantastic friend then I promptly ran back inside, finding the dining room.

I totally forgot that I was in my sports gear when I walked in. Everyone fell silent, as they always did whenever I entered a room it seems, and I blushed like crazy, looking down at myself. Percy looked up from his food and stared at me.

"Um, I'll go change."

"No, no," Sally waved me back into the room. "By the time you get back, everything will be cold. Come and sit down."

I smiled thanks at her and sat down in my seat, a butler bringing a plate of food for me.

"What are you wearing?" Piper asked.

"I went and trained with the guards today."

"Seriously?" I heard Drew further down the table talking to Nancy. "She comes into the palace dining room in a bra and leggings? Next, she'll come in stark naked."

I ignored her and her friend's snickers and turned back to my food.

Tired and absolutely exhausted I flopped down on my bed calling out to Hazel. "Can you make me a bath?"

"Okie Dokie," She walked off into the bathroom and I soon heard the running of water.

There was a knock at the door and too sore to open it I yelled: "Come in!"

The door opened and Percy walked in. He closed the door behind him, took off his shoes and flopped down next to me.

"How was your day?" He asked.

"It was great. Yours?"

"I hate working and numbers."

I turned my head towards him. "I know, but someone has to run the country."

Percy sighed and looked over at me. "Let's go out tomorrow."

"Where to?" I fully turned my body around, rested my head in my hand that was propped up by my elbow.

"To the city. Let's go out in Angeles and have a walk around. We can go to the market."

I smiled. "I can buy a book."

Percy nodded. "I'll buy you a book and we can have lunch at a cafe. Let's get out of here."

I rested my hand on his cheek, he leaned into my touch. "I'm in."

Word counts a bit low but do you know how hard it is to right Lukeabeth and not scream and die? No? Well it's extremely hard, as hard as writing Perachel. Plus I'm drained from writing two short story's last week. They took a lot of energy, hours and imagination

I hoped you enjoyed that (how could you!?) and

A MASSIVE THANK YOU TO EVERYONE ONE OF YOU. 16K READS!!!!!!!!!!! <3

If I were to publish a short story, nothing to do with this and my own creation, would you read it? I wrote it for an English assignment and everyone was saying how awesome it was and I kinda want to share it with you

Favourite line: "We talked and laughed and threw daggers at each other"

Please vote and comment!

Love ya

-Squirrel