Annabeth looked....wow....in that dress. Like a princess, her golden curls bouncing against her shoulders as we navigated the crowd, her hand in mine hurrying me along.  She was all dressed up actually. Earrings, heels which I've never seen her wear. I mean...they were moms, but she was ready to throw them out last week because she claimed that even looking at them gave her leg pains.

The music was loud, the overlapping sounds of laughter, screams and chatter was louder as we entered the almost mansion like house.

The garden, where the party seemed to be happening, was complexly decked out in lights.

"Jason! Leo!" she greeted, walking towards the boys drinking coke in the corner, tugging me along with her.

"Wow....someone looks like a barbie," this Leo guy said, wiggling his eyebrows in her direction.

A feeling of restlessness passed over me as I gripped Annabeth's hand tighter. Who was this boy?

"Shut up, repair boy. You guys cleaned up well," she complimented the pair. I think Jason actually blushed.

"Is that the new guy?" Leo asked, turning his attention to me. He narrowed his eyes at our conjoined hands and Annabeth quickly let go.
He gave her a not so discreet wink.

"Yeah, how are you Percy?" Jason asked me, dipping his head in a greeting.

"I'm good bro, thanks."

"Bro?" he asked, looking shocked for a split second.

I thought about it for a second. "Bro," I confirmed, nodding my head. We shook hands on it.

"Don't get carried away with your bromance at your girlfriend's party Jasssonnnn," Leo slapped him lightly, in mock shock.

"You're dating Piper?" Annabeth asked. He nodded.

And there she appeared, Piper McLean, "Hey guys! What's going on?" she asked, making her way through the crowd.

"Hey Piper," I waved.

She gave a mock salute in reply, "Annabeth! I didn't know you came to parties! I tried to invite you all of last year but you didn't come!" she said, looking at Annabeth in shock.

"To be fair, I did come to that one party last year," she defended, casually shrugging off all the parties she missed.

"You came for like twenty minutes!" Piper shook her head, "I guess what matters is that you're here now." she decided.

Annabeth laughed in reply.

"Why If it isn't THE Annabeth Chase?!" Travis Stoll said, coming up to her with his jaw to the floor. His girlfriend Katie behind him, with a matching grin.

I knew Katie, Travis and Connor from camp days. And we went to school together before...I moved away.

"And is that THE Percy Jackson I spy?!" Katie asked, turning towards me. With a happy gasp, she gave me a hug.

"Heh....guilty as charged," I said, as Katie pulled back. Travis came in for a hug too.

"I thought the rumours were too good to be true. But Percy! You're alive?! And Annabeth? You're at a party?!" Connor Stoll stumbled in through the crowd. First thing I noticed is that he was wearing shorts which were wayyyy to tight and a sleeveless top.

"Before you guys say anything," he put his hands up, in front of Katie who was hysterically laughing and Travis who was stumbling to find his phone, "I lost my clothes in a game of truth or dare. I ain't no wuss."

"Now," he turned back to where Annabeth and I stood. Annabeth, along with Leo were also laughing at the situation.
Connor tapped his foot in annoyance like an old divorced librarian.

"My my my! Percabeth returns!" Connor cackled loudly, effectively stopping Annabeth's laughter and causing her to level him a standard Annabeth glare. A level 2 glare, if you must know.

Two other people, Chris Rodriguez, a guy who I remembered was very nice. But I was never too close with. And the devil incarnate herself, Clarisse La Rue joined our little soirée.

And at this point, Jason and Piper excused themselves since they had a small matter to attend to. But I saw them sneaking into a closet, Leo sneaking after then, his phone in his hand posed to record.

I'll hear about that in school tomorrow.

"Jackson, I hoped it wasn't true," Clarisse grunted, pushing my shoulder lightly.

"La Rue, I thought Satan called you back. Or did you just come here to see me?" I scoffed

She rolled her eyes, "nice you're back, it was boring without you," she whispered very quietly when the attention turned back to Katie who was explaining the Connor situation to Chris.

I secretly fist bumped Clarisse when no one was looking. No one can know that we don't hate each other. Understood?! We have reputations to maintain after all.

"We've talked about Percy enough,"Katie announced giving me a look over, "Now Annabeth! What made you change your principles?" Katie asked, raising her eyebrows.

"The only reason Annabeth came to a party last year," she explained, turning to me, "Is because me, her and Calypso were in a group project. And she came over just to remind us that our presentation was due tomorrow and to tell us that she edited everything a little bit because she couldn't reach our phones!"

Annabeth rolled her eyes, smiling however she asked, "Sorry Katie....what grade did we get again?" she asked sweetly.

"An A+" Katie grumbled.

"What was that again?" Annabeth asked, smiling coyly. I loved it when she was evil like that.

"The highest grade in the class, okay?!" Katie said loudly. Behind her, Travis and Connor were trying to hold back their laugher, slapping their knees in the attempt.

Annabeth flipped her hair in response. I held back my laughter at Katie's defeated face.

"This one dragged me here," she pointed at me. I stood up taller, so everyone could understand my achievement.

Even though I think she just came with me in an attempt to be nice. She'd been trying really hard. Whatever Grover said to her in her room must've gotten to her.

Hey, not that I was complaining.

"See guys! Even after all these years, she still listens to only Percy," Travis snickered. Everyone burst out laughing with him.

Annabeth and I turned red.

"I'm gonna kill you right now ," she mumbled, taking a threatening step towards him, her hands already posed to reach of his neck.

Clarisse pulled her back, "Now as much as I love some violence. I'm not In the mood to be a witness to a murder trial," she claimed.

"Don't worry, Clarisse. When I kill you, there will me no witnesses," I told her as she let go of Annabeth.

"Not if I kill you first!" she growled, bringing her fists together.

I rolled my eyes, "Well you know what-"

"Let's get some drinks!" Annabeth interupted, taking my hand. It tingled when she touched it.
Whatever conversation she had with Katie left her red, and Katie looking proud of herself.

I let her drag me through the crowd to where the drinks table was, the group Oooohing behind us as we left.

"Find a closet or corner," Connor screamed on top is his lungs. Maybe I would kill him if Annabeth didn't.

We finally arrived at the drinks table, and Annabeth had already begun. She gulped down two glasses of what looked like Coca Cola before I begged her to slow down.

"You'll get hiccups!" I reasoned. She rolled her eyes, so I asked her something to distract her from gulping the fourth drink down.

"What did Katie say?" I swear she chocked on her drink. She lifted her head, staring at me for two minutes.

"Can you bring me a water?" she asked, pointing to the other side of a very long table.

I nodded and set off on that, turning around to keep checking that she wasn't swallowed by the crowd.

"Hey, you're the new guy right?" A red headed girl asked, she was leaning against the water table. She wore a green dress, the same colour as her eyes. Her hair was falling out of her bun, and I swear there was blue paint in it.

"Percy Jackson," I nodded, extending my hand to her. She smiled and shook it.

"You're cute," she looked up and and down.

I felt the heat rise up to my cheeks, "uh...thank you. So do you....er....so are you," I stuttered.

She just laughed quietly, "Why are you here?" she asked, gesturing to the fact that there were not many people on this side of the room. In fact, most of them were dozing on the sofas.

"My friend wanted a glass of water," I said, gesturing to where Annabeth stood. But in the crowd, you couldn't see her clearly.

"Well...I'm the gatekeeper to the water table. If you need some, you must first pay a price," she said, making her voice all low and gravely. Kinda like those old greek oraclely.

"What price do you want?" I asked, playing along like a scared soldier.

She tapped her chin, "A kiss." she decided.

She noticed the expression on my face and rolled her eyes, "Just on the cheek, buckaroo. Calm down," she snorted.

She handed me a glass of water and came closer. I pecked her cheek.

"And that's 23! Thanks!" she grinned.

"Huh?" I asked, holding the glass of water tighter. A part of it spilled out.

"I was playing truth or dare, and I was dared to get kissed by 23 guys. So you, make 23," she explained, "Though you were the best kisser," she laughed.

This girl was....something else. She was cool.

I huffed a laugh and went on my way, grabbing another glass of water for another peck. It was unnecessary but I didn't mind. 

I drank mine before I reached Annabeth, who had a scowl on her face.

"Here," I handed her a glass of water.

"Who were you talking to?" she asked, not reaching out to take it.

"This girl named Rachel," I explained. I don't know why she still looked annoyed. Did I get the wrong water kind or something?!

"Uh huh," she looked into the crowd.

"I'm tired," she said, all of a sudden, "I'm going home. See you Monday," she turned on her heel to leave.

"Wait," I grabbed her arm, "I'm coming too. But...one second..."

I scanned the crowd to find my target, leveled the water in my hand and threw it. It found it's mark and landed right on the head of Connor, who let out a scream.

"IS IT RAINING PLASTIC BOTTLES WITH WATER ?!" Connor yelled out to the crowd.

"WE'RE INDOORS!" someone yelled back, "AND NO!"

"Now let's run," I laughed, as we ran out hand in hand. She was laughing too as we made our way to my house.

————————————————————————

Done with this weeks chappy! Yaaay!
And...still struggling with education!!!
Why did I not study the whole year?! 😩

Pray for me. I'm dying of this ✌🏻

Also, this is very random, but my phone randomly autocorrects stuff. And this one was probably the funniest thing I've ever seen and I spent a good solid 5 minutes laughing at it. So I'm blessing your eyeballs.

My autocorrect be cray 😂

Anyways!
Stay tuned!!
—- S