Percy's POV

It's just cherries, cherries
Everything is cherries on top
A silver lining
Fuck a silver lining
Cause only gold is hot enough, hot enough

I texted Annabeth that I was outside. She was letting me pick her up for the Halloween party. She wanted to skate there, but getting back wouldn't be easy.

A few minutes later, she walked through her front door, closing it behind her. She looked amazing. Leo had been able to convince us last minute to dress up. We had all agreed on bikers. You know, the whole black leather jacket look.

She wore tight black jeans, combat boots, and a black leather jacket. Her blonde hair was still wild and frizzy as ever, but now it was held back with a red bandana. Her white crop top showed off her toned abs. Her lips were neatly painted bright red. She also wore fingerless black leather gloves. She looked incredibly hot, and I was having trouble keeping my hormones in check. Thankfully though, I just managed.

"'Sup Jackson." She nodded at me, grinning.

"Uh..." Annabeth smirked at me. Snap out of it, Percy! "Hey." I pulled it together. "I didn't think you owned lipstick."

"I didn't think you owned a leather jacket." She tugged in the lapels of my jacket. I was pretty sure I blushed. Great.

"It was my dad's." Somehow I didn't stutter. "My mom said I looked just like him in the jacket." I smiled at the ground.

"That's cool." She said. "Wow, I'm surprised you got your hair to slick back like that." She looked up at my hair.

"It took like the entire bottle of gel, but we did it." I explained. She laughed, making me smile.

"Alright, we should go." I stepped out of the way, opening the passenger side door for her.

She rolled her eyes. "I can open the door for myself, you know." She said getting in the car.

"I know." I said before closing it and running to my side to get in the car. I got in and noticed she was staring out the window at her house.

"Oh my god. He's so fucking annoying." She complained.

"Who?" I asked.

"My dad. He's watching us from the fucking window." I laughed, making Annabeth laugh as well. "Let's just go." She looked back one last time, seeing her dad wave. She stuck up the middle finger. Her dad looked like he was laughing.

I started driving, and Annabeth turned up the volume on the radio.

In the Vegas lights
Where the villains spend the weekend
The deep end
We're swimming with the sharks until we drown

I was keeping my cool, but I was extremely nervous. I had never been to a party before, let alone with Annabeth, the girl I had a crush on. This was going to be just wonderful.

><•><

"Ready?" Annabeth asked as we began making our way, side by side, to the house—I'm sorry, mansion.

Music was blaring, different colors of light was streaming from the house, and you could practically smell the alcohol from here. Teenagers were on the lawn, and in the house. I even saw one guy climbing a nearby tree.

I exhaled. "Ready as I'll ever be."

And we headed inside.

A lot of different things practically slapped me across the face; the stench of booze, the colorful disco light shining right in my eyes, and a dancing drunk girl almost literally slapped me across the face. Thankfully, I was able to step back in time.

I looked around, then at Annabeth. "Ugh, whoever's playing music has terrible taste. Let's go find Leo and Reyna." With that, she grabbed my hand, making butterflies erupt in my stomach. She began dragging me through the crowd of people, and into the kitchen where it wasn't as packed.

A second later, Leo stumbled in, with Reyna and another girl not too far behind him. "Hey guys! You made it! And you look great!" He exclaimed. He wasn't exactly drunk, just a bit tipsy, and his normal ADHD craziness. "Guys, this is my good friend—"

"Calypso." I said.

"Percy." She said.

Holy shit.

I froze. "Uh, hi..." I said really awkwardly. Annabeth looked between Calypso and me skeptically. Calypso hasn't changed since I saw her last year. I had to say, she looked pretty in her white toga-style dress. She was clearly dressed as some Greek goddess.

"Hi." She said coldly.

"Uh, am I missing something?" Leo seemed to say what everyone was thinking.

"Um, I'll be right back." I said, grabbing Annabeth's arm before turning and running out of the kitchen.

"What the fuck was that?" She asked, like what the fuck just happened and what is wrong with you?

"Um, remember that story of how I lost my virginity?"

"Yeah."

"Well, there was more to that story. You see, after that whole... dare, she wanted to get together. I didn't, so I had turned her down. And I thought I'd never have to see her again..."

"So basically, you fucked a girl, then when she asked to get together, you said no, leaving her in the dust. And that girl is..." Her mouth fell open. "Holy shit."

"Holy fucking shit is right. What the fuck am I supposed to do?!" I started freaking out.

"Uh," she swallowed. "I don't know. This has never happened before. Alright. I'll talk to her about it. Just, try to stay away from her. Hang out with Reyna, I guess." She spoke the last part like it tasted bad.

I decided I had enough to deal with as it is, letting it slip from my mind.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! I really owe you one." I said gratefully.

"Yeah you do." She smirked. "Alright. Let's go." We walked back into the kitchen. I kind of hid behind Annabeth, a little bit scared of Calypso and what she would do. She looked less than happy to see me when we walked back in. She also glowered at Annabeth.

"Calypso, I love your costume!" Annabeth was really good at acting—I could tell that she was ready to put Calypso in her place for glaring at her. "Come with me to get a drink? I'd love to hear more about it."

Before Calypso could protest, Annabeth hooked her arm through Calypso's and whisked her away.

"Alright, Percy what was that?" Leo asked, a serious look on his face now.

"Uh, nothing. We just had met before. At a camp I went to, and I pranked her once and I guess she's still mad." I hated lying to Leo, but I couldn't tell him the truth. Oh, it's nothing I just fucked your crush then left her behind.

And I did really feel bad about it, and I almost didn't say no when she had asked, but I couldn't be with someone I wasn't into. Sure, Calypso was nice and she's smart and pretty, but I just didn't like her like that.

"Oh, okay." Leo said skeptically. I could see that Reyna still didn't buy it. "Well, I'll go with Annie and Calypso. You two have fun!" And suddenly he was jumpy and happy again.

"Okay, What was that?" Reyna asked.

"I told you the truth." I insisted.

"No you didn't. I'm not stupid or tipsy like Leo." Reyna's gaze bore into me.

"It's not a big deal, just drop it." I only felt comfortable telling Annabeth—I knew her the longest (even though we hated each other at first, but we're friends now so it doesn't matter), and she knows about my home life, and she hasn't told anyone anything. I can really trust her, because she's proven it. Reyna hasn't.

"Fine. But, I wanted to talk to you about something." Reyna started.

I gulped. I had a feeling this wasn't going to go well. "Okay."

"Let's go somewhere where you can hear me better." She grabbed my hand and led me outside. My hand in hers didn't give me the same butterflies that Annabeth did. It was more like, pull away, than ohmygodthisfeelsamazing. It didn't have that same sort of underlying feeling of goodness. I pushed it all away.

"Here." Reyna pulled me to a bench in a garden. We sat down. It was much quieter here than in the house or even the rest of the backyard.

"Okay. What was it that you wanted to tell me?" I asked.

"Well, since that first day when you fell and hurt your hand, I found you cute," She began.

Oh no. Oh god no please. Why me? Why does this always happen to me?

My hands got clammy, and sweat trickled down my neck. I really didn't want to go through this again. I let out a deep breath.

"You're funny and smart and what I'm trying to say is; I like you, Percy. A lot." She looked at me, a small smile on her lips. I couldn't bring myself to return it.

"Uh," was all I said before she started leaning in. For a second, on instinct, I leaned in as well, but then realized what I was doing and stopped. "Reyna, I'm sorry, I just don't feel that way. You're pretty, smart, and funny and a great girl. And one day, you'll make someone really happy. But—"

"You can't be with me if your in love with someone else." She interrupted, sadly.

"Yeah. Wait, what?" I asked, suddenly confused.

"I see the way you look at Annabeth, Percy. I saw it from the first day. But you two weren't together, so I thought I had a chance. Guess not. I'm gonna head home," she said, standing up. "Have fun at the party, Percy." Then she turned and walked off.

I sighed. I should have called after her, but I was too confused. It was really that obvious that I had a crush on Annabeth? And I had it that bad for her? Oh god. But the scariest part was wasn't even that Reyna knew I liked Annabeth;

It was that she was right.

I stood up, deciding that I needed a drink. After everything that had just happened, I needed to let loose a little. I walked back into the house. I scanned the crowd for Annabeth, and spotted her dancing among everyone else, yet she seemed to stick out, like she was bright and coclorful in a sea of dull black and white. She looked great as she swayed her hips to the beat of the song. She was laughing along with Leo and Calypso, her bright smile showing off her perfectly aligned white teeth. She looked beautiful. I walked up to them, because I'm socially awkward and didn't want to get a drink myself.

"Hey Annabeth!" I said over the music.

"Hey, Asshole. Where'd you go?" She asked.

"Come with me to get a drink, I'll tell you there." I said.

"Okay." She agreed, letting me grab her hand and lead her to the kitchen. We eventually emerged from the doorway and into the kitchen.

"So where'd you and Reyna go?" She asked, handing me a beer and taking one herself. She opened it and took a sip. I followed in suit, making a face at the taste of the beer.

Annabeth laughed. "Wow, you really aren't a party person, huh Jackson?"

"You are?" I asked.

"Believe it or not, I was quite the party animal back in San Francisco." She admitted, taking another sip.

"I don't believe it." I said, taking another sip, this time not making face, or doing my best not to.

"Just another thing you'll have to ask Piper if you meet her one day." She smiled at me. "But, back to asked before, where did you go?"

I heaved a sigh. "Well, Reyna told me she liked me, tried to kiss me, I tuned her down." I explained bluntly.

Annabeth raised her eyebrows before laughing. "Ooh, my friend," she patted my shoulder. "That hadda suck."

"It did. And Reyna will probably hate me for the rest of my life." I sighed. "Anyways, how'd it go with Calypso? Didn't she glare at you?"

"Yeah, that was because she thought we were together." Annabeth chuckled. "Imagine?"

"Ha, yeah." Ouch. "But, what else did you say?"

"Well, I explained to her that you were really sorry, and that you think that she is a wonderful girl, you just didn't have feelings for her." She gave the recap. Somehow, she was able to convey exactly what I had thought, without me even saying a word about what went through my mind. She really is awesome.

"Surprisingly, you have a way with words, Chase." I said, impressed.

"Put a sock in it Jackson." She jabbed me in the side, making me flinch and spill some of my drink.

"Hey! Don't ever do that to m—"

"What this?" She jabbed me again.

"Ow! Stop!" I laughed. Annabeth laughed at my expense. "But seriously, thank you."

"Well, that was some deep shit. You're kinda my fiend now I guess so, I couldn't just leave you in your time of need." She said.

I laughed. "Yeah." A new song began playing. "This song is mildly descent song so, wanna dance?" I asked.

"Why not?" She shrugged and took my hand, leading me out of the kitchen.

The rest of the night was spent dancing and drinking (most of the drinking by me). I danced a lot with Annabeth, and sometimes with Leo and Calypso.

And I just let loose.

I had fun.

But we all know that that never ends well. 

•••

Authors note

You guys, this probably isn't an accurate party, but I wouldn't know. I've never been to a high school party, due to the fact that I'm in the seventh grade. So please don't come for me. Anyways, thanks for all the reads! Don't forget to comment, vote, etc. thanks and love you guys!
-bella💕