(Outfit for the day of the meeting)

Something shifted inside of me the next day. I wasn't sure what it was, maybe it was the tiny fact that I realised I was falling in love with my best friend.

It was completely different to anything that I had felt before. I had never been in love, never romantically loved someone. It was new and exciting, confusing and daunting and I didn't know how to approach the situation.

Should I tell someone? Is it safe to talk to Piper? How would Percy feel about it? Should I tell him? Do I keep it to myself?

I decided to keep it to myself, as my own little secret. Something that I could build over time or forget. Hopefully never forget.

The day after having realised my feelings was interesting. Piper and Percy went on a date after breakfast, which didn't sit well with me, but after lunch, I had a weird visit.

There was a knock on the door, to which Hazel put down her cards, pausing the game she was playing with Alicia, Justine and I, and answered the door.

"Hey, Hazel."

"Hiya, Percy." She opened the door and moved aside to let him in.

He was wearing jeans with a green polo shirt, which was different from his usual suit and tie. In his hands, he had a pile of papers, and he seemed nervous. He kept rubbing the back of his neck.

"What's up?" I asked, playing my turn.

"Can we talk?"

Butterflies started to fly around my stomach. Was it a coincidence? What did he want to talk about?

"Can you girls excuse us for a moment?" He asked.

Alicia and Justine quickly packed up the cards and left with Hazel.

Percy moved to my bed and dropped the files, then he too dropped down on my bed on his back.

"What's wrong?" I got up and sat on the edge of the soft big bed.

"I need help."

"With..."

"I'm not supposed to be doing this. Don't tell anyone. Not even mum, Paul or Hazel. Okay?" He got up into a sitting position, his hair even messier than before.

"Of course."

He nodded and started to sift through the papers.

"These are all the files for the Selection girls. I'm meant to make an elimination soon and I have no idea who to send home. I need your opinion."

I raised an eyebrow. "You do know that I'm competing against these girls."

He put a hand to his heart and held the other one up. "Repeat after me."

I rolled my eyes but copied him.

"I Annabeth Chase."

"I Annabeth Chase."

"Agree to help Percy Jackson in his decision of the elimination."

"Agree to help Percy Jackson in his decision of the elimination."

"With no thoughts as being a Selected. I will make my opinions as a best friend, and a best friend only."

"With no thoughts as being a Selected. I will make my opinions as a best friend, and a best friend only."

"Good." He dropped his hands and handed me all the files.

"Now say their names and I'll put them in a pile about how I feel. Then we can decide because I tried doing it by myself, and it wasn't working."

I nodded my head and looked down at the first one.

"Rachel Dare."

"Yes."

I bit my lip to stop myself from saying something I would regret. A knot of jealousy started to form in the pit of my stomach. I put Rachel's file on a spot in between us.

"Oooh," I looked down at my face and name looking up at me. "Annabeth Chase."

"Yes." He answered straight away.

I smiled to myself, extremely happy with his answer. If my calculations were correct his yes to me was quicker than his yes to Rachel.

"Silena Beauregard."

He thought for a moment. "Yes."

I placed Silena's file on top of mine. "Piper McLean."

"Yes."

It went on like that for the rest of the girls.

Nancy Bobofit: Yes.

Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano: Yes.

Olympia Whitfield: Yes.

Calypso Nightshade: Yes.

Victoria Porter: Yes.

Abigail Richardson: Yes.

Katie Gardener: Yes.

Poppy Hinton: Yes.

Drew Tanaka: Yes. (I may have made a small noise of protest but Percy glared at me)

Thalia Grace: Yes.

Aubrey Nixon: No.

We had gotten nowhere. We only had one girl in the elimination pile.

"Surely there's got be something you don't like about one of these girls!" I pointed to the pile of yes's.

"Maybe your patience," He fired back.

"Okay! I'll ask you a question about each girl and you answer with whatever pops into your head okay?"

"Alright," He straightened up and looked at me.

"What do you like about Rachel?"

"Her talent." He answered.

"Me?" I asked blushing.

"Hmm," He pondered. "Nothing. Elimination pile."

My eyes widened and I smacked his shoulders as he started to laugh. "I'm joking, Wise Girl! Your intelligence, bravery, determination, your eyes and hair, plus you're not too bad of a kisser-"

I sighed. "Jeez, I get it." I tried to remain calm on the outside, but inside it felt like a hydra was stomping all of my organs into mush.

He smirked at me. "Next?"

"Thalia?"

He thought for a moment. "Her bad mouth."

I chuckled. "What's up with her? You guys never seem to go on dates all that often."

He shrugged. "Her caste says that she's a 6, but really, she lives like a 7 or an 8."

"Oh," I said in a small voice. Living like a 7 or an 8 is bad, and not just bad, but starving regularly, having an unsafe or poorly paying job and even having nowhere to live. My gut clenched as I thought about Thalia living in those conditions.

"Yeah," He looked down at her file. "She asked if she could stay for awhile. Just so she could eat something and get her name out there, so people would hire her when she goes home."

"For food?" I asked.

He smiled at me. "Her exact words were 'I'm here for the food, not you, Kelp Head.'"

I smiled and shook my head. "Only Thalia."

"Only Thalia."

"Next one. Piper."

"Her confidence, I guess."

I dropped the files I was holding as I came up with an idea.

"Got an idea?" Percy asked reading my face.

I nodded. "You're not just finding a wife here Percy, but a queen too."

He rolled his eyes. "Don't you think I've already taken that into consideration?"

"You haven't really seen what we would be like as queen, I mean, you're eating us to be but not letting us get into the action."

He raised his eyebrows. "And?"

"What if we each sat in on one of your meetings? You know like, help you make decisions and stuff like we would as queen. Let Paul and Sally sit aside and it would just be you and the Selected running the meeting and making all the decisions."

He kissed me on the forehead. "Great idea!"

I nodded, suddenly feeling dizzy from the close contact. "Tomorrow, and the next day. Split us up and we sort of role play a meeting. Give each of us the same three scenarios that come up all the time and judge on who makes the best decisions, who's a quick thinking, who takes control-"

"Who can be the better queen" He finished for me.

I nodded. "Exactly."

He rubbed the back of his neck. "That will definitely help. Thanks, Wise Girl."

"You're welcome, Seaweed Brain."

As the royal family entered the dining room for dinner Sally, Paul and Percy were in deep conversation. As the food was brought out, Percy was making hand gestures and his parents were nodding in agreement.

Paul stood up not a moment later. "Excuse me, ladies, just before you start I would like to make an announcement." Everyone stopped what they were doing, whether that be getting food or eating it, and turned around to face Paul. I noticed Thalia still shovelling food into her mouth and I tried very hard not to laugh.

"My son has come up with a fabulous idea," My jaw slightly dropped as I looked at Percy accusingly. He just shrugged and smirked as if to say: what can I do about it? "That idea is to have, over the course of the next two days, role play meetings set up. In each meeting with the council, one selected and Percy will be acting as king and queen, making decisions with the same three scenarios as everyone else. Percy and both Sally and I will be able to see how you would work as queen in the future." Everyone stilled, even Thalia and I heard soft swearing, gulps and hearts start beating faster. Paul sensing everyone's distress turned to his wife. "Mind giving them some tips, honey?"

Sally smiled up at him. "Of course, dear." She stood up as Paul sat down. "I don't want any of you to worry. This isn't a test, this isn't public, no one else needs to know. You need to be confident in yourself when you walk in, you need to take charge and you need to think carefully. And remember, you're the queen, you have power."

We all smiled our thanks to her as she sat down.

"And don't stress too much. I'll be there and I'm bound to stuff up." Percy chuckled.

We all giggled and got back into our food. Pipers hands next to me were visually shaking. "Whoah, Pipes," I placed a hand on her bare shoulder comfortingly.

"This is crazy," She whispered. "I'm so nervous."

Guilt started to spread in my stomach as I thought how everyone would be feeling right now.

"Piper, you have the voice of the persuasion gods. You plan your every move, you can see things before it happens. You can persuade anyone to your side and most importantly you're confident in your decisions. I'm confident in your decisions and if I had to pick anyone in this room to rule as my queen, I would pick you."

"Really?" She asked quietly.

"Really. Oh and watch out for Hera. She's a nasty piece of work."

Piper shuddered. "I know. I had a conversation with her at the ball last week."

When I went back to my room I sat on the edge of my bed thinking. Everyone else would be reading and gathering information for tomorrow, preparing themselves. I decided that I didn't need to go to that much effort, as I had had a better education than all of them and I grew up in this field. I would do something that I had never, ever done before: I would wing it.

Was it ironic that the one thing I would wing would be a meeting as queen?

I slept peacefully that night, whilst others did not because if I somehow did fail and destroy everything, Percy would be by my side helping me pick up the pieces.

Hazel told me the next morning, as she was doing my hair, that I would be the fifth girl going today.

"Fifth?" I asked.

She nodded at me. "Yeah. Just around lunchtime."

I frowned, wondering what I would do for the rest of the day.

After the girls had gotten me ready for the day, I headed to breakfast. Tensions were thick in the air and no conversations were happening.

I sat down, waited for the royal family to enter, and helped myself to food.

I was one of the only ones who was eating.

Piper didn't want to talk, she said she would throw up, so I just shrugged and ate my food.

After breakfast I sat alone on the balcony watching the birds fly, the bees buzz from flower to flower and the trees sway in the gentle wind.

Justine tapped me on the shoulder. "We have lunch for you, miss, and then you must go to your meeting."

I smiled my thanks and stood up walking back into the room.

After eating some food I quickly made my way to the council room.

The guard outside told me that I would be going into the meeting in ten minutes. I silently nodded and sat down in an uncomfortable chair that was lined up on the wall.

Nerves started to tingle in my body as I thought about what could happen in the future. I could easily stuff up, make the wrong decision or just do everything a queen isn't supposed to do or I could just as easily prove to them all that I am perfect for the job.

The door opened to the council room and Percy quietly walked out. When he looked at me he smiled his big goofy smile.

"Wise Girl," He greeted me stopped in front of me.

"Seaweed Brain," I stood up.

He put his warm hands on my shoulders. "There's nothing to be nervous about Annabeth, you know everyone in that room and you know what to do. I have no doubt in my mind that you'll ace this, or at least try your best."

I gave him a weak smile. "Who said I was nervous?"

He kissed me on the forehead. "I can tell."

He held out his arm for me, I hooked mine through and we walked through the open doors of the council room.

The room was large, with minimal windows and a high ceiling. The floor was dark oak floorboards with a plush navy blue rug. In the middle was a dark rich table with two chairs at the head, and others on the side. I noticed Sally and Paul sitting in chairs off to the side, which they smiled at me and Paul gave me a thumbs up.

Everyone at the table stood up as the "King and Queen" entered and Percy and I sat down, the rest following suit.

I looked over at Percy one more time for confidence, then looked back at the council.

The first person I looked to was Hera. Her cold brown eyes glared at me, her full pink lips pressed into a hard line, her liquorice black hair flowing down her back. She was wearing a white dress with her lotus necklace hanging around her neck. I glared back at her. Hera liked me for a little bit, then she came up with a stupid idea and I wrote a letter to the council stating why it was stupid, and the council went with an inexperienced six-year-old, instead of an experienced 30 something-year-old. The next time I saw her I laughed in her face, she called me a dumb little girl, which hurt my feelings, and we've hated each other ever since. It was no great loss.

My eyes went to the next person at the table. Officer Dionysus was wearing his usual leopard print shirt, his black hair showing signs of grey and his purples eyes glazed over like always. One thing that annoys me about Mr D, that's what we call him, is that he can never get your name right. He likes to call me Annabelle Face, and no matter how many times we correct him, he never learns. He gave me a slight nod.

Sitting next to him was someone who surprised me. Artemis was sitting in her chair, back from Old England, in her usual silver hunting clothes. Her auburn hair was tied back in a ponytail and her silver eyes glanced at me briefly. Artemis was Apollo's twin, Will's Aunty and she leads a group of specially trained girls from the army to fight battles. She was extremely talented with a bow and arrow, selfless and reserved. I always respected her opinions.

Next was someone who made my nose scrunch up in disgust. Octavian. Octavian was a skinny twenty-five-year-old with blonde hair, crazed blue eyes and skin so pale you would think he was a vampire. He was a jerk, with a massive ego, he was power hungry and arrogant. He was intelligent, I'd have to give him that, but he was cunning, manipulative and he faintly reminded me of someone. I didn't like him, as I seem to almost not like anyone on this council.

Sitting next to him was Officer Ares. Ares was Clarisse's dad, his oily black hair in a crew cut and his eyes seeming to dance with flames. He was huge and was sneering at me viciously. He was wearing his usual black jeans, combat boots, black leather duster and his red muscle shirt with a bulletproof vest. I caught a flash of light from the knife strapped to his leg. The reason I didn't like him was that he was cruel, proud and violent, always wanting war, always wanting blood to be shed and lives to be lost.

I smiled politely at them and clutched Percy's hand under the table. "Let the meeting begin," He said.

"What's the first order of business?" I asked remembering all the times I sat in on meetings with Percy on the sidelines.

Hera spoke up first. "Well, Your Majesty," She sneered. "There has been an attack from the rebels in St. George. What do we do?"

"How many deaths?" I raised my eyebrows.

"Just under fifty."

And even though it was fake I had a sick feeling in my stomach. "What were the circumstances?"

"They attacked at a festival being held," Mr D imputed "Children dead too. It was rather a good wine festival actually, I would have loved to attend."

We all just stared at him. Mr D loved wine, lives for it and he even makes his own.

"Children dead too?" I looked at Mr D.

He nodded casually.

"I say more protection and try and find a lead," I looked at Artemis because she was the most I respected and trusted out of all these jerks.

"And then what?" Octavian asked "I say we should interrogate everyone in that area, scare them and they'll spill their secrets. Then we kill them."

I sighed. "We are not killing anyone,"

"I say we declare war," Ares banged his fist loudly on the table. "Show them who owns this country."

"There will be no war, and as little deaths from both sides as possible."

"What do you want to do, Wise Girl?" Percy asked.

I bit my lip. "More protection around the city. Send some guards and investigators to see if they can pick anything up. If they find a lead they follow, and if they find anyone guilty they will be charged as the court sees fit. All in favour?"

Four out of five reluctantly said yes. Hera said no. I glared at her subtly but she just smirked.

"Next business?"

"Budget," Percy groaned. "The mayor of Allens called for a rethink in the money being put into health. He says it's not enough and more should be taken out from the education budget. Thoughts?"

I rubbed my forehead. "Take it out of education?" I asked.

Percy nodded. "And put it into health."

I thought about the situation. We need schools, but we need doctors and hospitals. Without the schools, we wouldn't have doctors but without the doctors, we wouldn't have kids going to school.

"How much is he saying to remove?"

"Three billion," Hera said.

"And that would make the education budget...?"

"Around four billion."

"And if we gave the three billion to the health budget, it would be?"

"Twelve billion" Artemis answered.

"So the budget for health right now is nine billion and the education budget is seven billion. That's ridiculous."

"We need hospitals," Octavian shrugged.

"But we also need schools. Everyone deserves an education. If we give this mayor what he wants then health would have twelve billion and education four billion."

"Your point?" Hera asked.

"Four to twelve," I said through gritted teeth. "That is hardly fair. I'm all for health and stuff but what happens when we run out of doctors because no one can get an education? How much is the transport budget?"

Artemis shuffled through some papers. "Eight billion"

I closed my eyes shocked. "Transport, transport, has more than education?"

Percy nodded.

"Right. $1 billion from transport to health. That's all he gets. Transport isn't more important than education, as education is everything. So that would make transport $7 billion, education $7 billion and health $10 billion. Any objections?"

I glared around the table, slightly annoyed that anyone could think that it's okay to take money from education, even if it's completely fake.

"That's completely unfair," Hera waved her arms around the room. "So unfair."

"Unfair to whom Hera?" I asked "What do you suppose I do? Give no money or all the money? Do you have any better ideas?"

She glared at me but said nothing.

"Final one," Ares says. "Twenty guards have been captured in Kent by Rebels. How do we get them back?"

I peeked up, finally, we get to the battle strategies and the planning! "Do we have a map?"

Ares grinned his cruel smile and brought out a map, placing it out in front of me. He leaned over my shoulder from behind. "Here and here are the known doors to the facility. Here and here are where they have guards positioned." He pointed to a number of places on the map.

I thought about the situation. "We could..." I started but shook my head. "No, they'll be expecting that. Pen?" I asked holding out my hand.

Hera reluctantly gave me a pen.

I started to draw lines and symbols on the map, using the knowledge that I had learnt from my father and the legacy that was my mother's DNA.

"So," I pointed to the main entrance to the building. "At dusk, we send guards to this door. They distract and after a certain about of time, retreat. They're-"

"Distracting the Rebels from what exactly?" Hera interrupted.

I let out a strangled breath. "If you let me continue, I was about to say that. At the back entrance where there are guards positioned our guards will easily knock them out and dress in their clothes. They can get in the building-"

"How?" Hera asked, slightly annoying me.

"I don't know!" I looked up at her "The Rebels will have a key card on them and they can use that to get in there. Our guards will get in, and open the vents to the cell that our guards are locked in-"

"How do you know there are vents there?"

I pushed Percy back into his seat as he was about to lunge at Hera. "Let Annabeth speak before you ask questions!"

"Thank you, Percy." I squeezed his arm. "See this?" I pointed to the map. "That is a heating duct that goes throughout the building." Before she could interrupt again I held up my hand. "The guards aren't underground because the soil is terrible in this area and you can't build underground," I stated angrily as if I was talking to a child that didn't understand why two plus two equals four.

"Then what?" Areas asked with a spark in his eyes. (get it? Cause he has fire in his eyes? Spark? No? Okay.)

"And then we can move here-"

I was interrupted, yet again, by Hera. "That won't work."

I looked at my plans again. I saw no fault, the plan was perfect. I looked up annoyed at the rest of the council but they all seemed busy not looking at me. Sally and Paul both gave me a shrug when they looked at them and Percy was staring at Hera clearly angry.

I was done. How many times was she going to tell me to do my job?

"You see this Hera?" I gestured around the room. "This is a role play. You're the council, an officer, and Percy's the king," I pointed to myself. "I'm the queen," I leaned in closer to her face. "So, if you don't shut the hell up, I'll make you shut the hell up."

She leaned away from my face and looked straight ahead at the wall.

I smirked and sat back down. "Would anyone else like to voice their thoughts on my perfect plan?"

No one said anything.

Percy placed a hand on my knee proudly. "Meeting over. Everyone's dismissed."

Everyone got up from their seats, except for Hera, and moved over to a small cart that was brought in with their lunch on top.

Sally rushed over to me and gave me a hug. "You were soooo good, honey!"

Paul patted my shoulder. "You owned it."

I smiled. "Thanks. I was getting really angry at the end."

Percy kissed me on the temple, his hand resting on my waist. "I'm so proud of you."

I rested my head on his arm. "Thanks, Seaweed Brain."

After saying goodbye to Sally and Paul, Percy lead me outside.

After checking there was no Selected in the hallway, he placed a sweet kiss on my lips murmuring: "I'll kill her if you want me to."

I cupped his cheek kissing him again. "I can do that myself."

Percy pushed me up against the wall, his hands running up and down my arms leaving goosebumps on their trail. I placed my hands on his chest and after a moment they slid to the back of his neck where I played with the small curls at the back of his neck. His hands found my jawline, where he rubbed circles with his thumb and I melted into his touch.

Someone cleared their throat. Percy pulled back, wiping his lips, still keeping a hand on my waist.

"As the so-called future 'King and Queen' of this country," Hera glared at us using quotation marks. "I would be suggested that you don't kiss in the hallway where everyone can see."

"As the future king and queen," I stepped up on my tippy toes and kissed Percy hard on the mouth. "I don't care," I smirked back at her. 

Ah

Slay Queen Annabeth, slay!

Sorry this is a little bit late. Life has been hectic, my routine has been stuffed up and there is a thing called Wattpad that you can easily loose yourself in for hours on end. Yay for me

I hate Hera with a burning passion

Anyone apart of the TMI/TID/TDA fandoms? Did you hear the news from Cassie?

THANK YOU FOR THE RIDICULOUSLY AMOUNT OF SUPPORT. YOU HAVE MADE MY LIFE SO MUCH BETTER

I'll have to start writing the 50K bonus chapter. Im thinking I'll do like the 10K one but with different stuff. Any requests?

To all my readers affected my the earthquake in Mexico. I pray that you are safe, that you are okay and healthy and alive. You can get through this, I believe in you. All my love <3

I'm tired

Bye! (Luv ya)

-Squirrel