Annabeth's POV

"So, what are we wearing to the winter formal?" Piper asked us. The winter formal was in a few days, December 20, just before winter break.

It had been some time since Percy told his mother about Gabe. He said he wasn't ready to open up to the group just yet, but he would soon. Gabe was put on trial, and Percy and Sally easily won the case. Gabe was sentenced 50 yeas in prison for child abuse and endangerment, for Percy wasn't eighteen yet, and he was a minor when the abuse started. I was just glad that everything was over. But I knew that Percy would have his physical and emotional scars for the rest of his life. This wasn't just something you get over. It affected you forever. But I would be happy to help and to be there for him while he heals. I would never really admit this aloud but, I'm not going anywhere.

"Nothing." I said.

"Well that's quite the fashion statement. I mean, it's a little R-rated, don't you think? Especially for school gr—" Leo teased.

"Shut it, you dipshit." I slapped him upside the head. "I mean, I'm not wearing anything because I'm not going."

"Uh, yes you are." Piper gave me a look. "We're all going, even Percy."

"Uh, I-I don't think that's such a good ide—" Percy stuttered.

"Oh please, you'll be fine. Annabeth will be there." Piper smiled at me.

I glared at her. "I really hate you, and I'm only going to avoid having you annoy the shit out of me about it."

"Alright!" Piper exclaimed. "Hazel, you in? Frank will probably be there." Piper coaxed.

"That's not why I'm going, but I'm in." Hazel agreed.

"Good. Leo, Reyna what do we think?" Piper looked to them.

"I'll go. I mean, why not?" Reyna shrugged.

"Perfect. Leo, Calypso will probably be there." Piper raised her eyebrows.

"Fine, Piper." Leo spat. "I'll go. But only because my bud Anna here is going." He put his arms around my shoulders.

"Get off of me." I said and Leo quickly removed his arm.

"Alright, that's all of us? Wonderful!" Piper grinned widely.

><•><

"Annabeth, you have to wear a dress!" Piper insisted over the phone.

"I don't even have one to wear!" I protested.

"Fine. Come over you can borrow one of mine."

"Bu—" I started.

"Nope. You're coming. Or do I have to send someone to come get you?"

I sighed. "Fine."

"And besides, Reyna and Hazel are coming as well, so."

"Alright. I'll be there in five." I sighed. I grabbed my board and headed for the door. "I'm going out!" I yelled to no one in particular.

"Where?" Some one called back.

I sighed and rolled my eyes. I couldn't even get out of my own house. "I'm going to Piper's."

"For how long?" Helen walked in from the living room.

I tried my best not to scowl at the sight of her. "I don't know. Maybe till one." I tried to keep my anger out of my voice. I really didn't have the time to be fighting with Helen right now.

"I want you home by twelve." Helen glared at me.

"Fine." I spat. I turned and walked out the door.

I wasn't coming home until one.

><•><

"Annabeth, that one is so pretty!" Piper exclaimed.

"No. No no no. Way to sparkly." The fifth dress Piper put me in was a short, sea foam green dress with a tule skirt that poofed out. But that wasn't even the worst part; it was the top. It was covered in rhinestones. "I look like a disco ball."

"Ugh, who knew you'd be so difficult?" Piper walked back into her closet.

"I'm not difficult. I just like it simple, which none of these dresses are." I grumbled as I slipped out of the dress.

"Here try this one." Piper walked out with a navy blue two piece. It looked pretty simple, which I liked. There were no sparkles, sequins or ruffles. It was a simple satin material and I liked it so far.

"Alright." I tried it on. The skirt was long, coming below the knee, but I liked it. It went nicely with the off-the shoulder top.

God, what am I saying? Piper's rubbing off on me.

What I'm getting at here, is that I like the dress.

"This is it." I nodded. "It has pockets." I grinned and stuck my hands in the pockets of my skirt. Pockets were always a win.

"Ugh, you look so pretty. I feel like a proud mom." Piper wiped away nonexistent tears from her eyes. I rolled my eyes.

"Alright. Let me get dressed and then I'll do your hair and makeup." Piper walked back into her closet.

"Piper?" I heard someone call from the door, following knocking. I opened the door.

Reyna and Hazel's jaws dropped. "Oh my god." Reyna said.

"You look beautiful, Annabeth!" Hazel squealed.

I laughed. "Thanks guys."

They walked into the room. "So, where's Piper?"

"She's putting on her dress right now."

A second later, Piper emerged from her closet in her dress. It was a satin dress, like mine, but hers was burgundy. It had two layers, just at the bottom. It was off the shoulder. She looked gorgeous. But then again, Piper always does.

"What do we think, ladies?" Piper spun around.

"You look amazing, Pipes." I said.

"Really?"

"Of course!" Reyna, Hazel, and I said in unison. We all laughed.

"We brought our dresses too," Reyna and Hazel  took their dresses from their covers. "I'll go in the closet." Hazel said. Reyna just changed where she was.

A few minutes later, Hazel came out of the closet in her dress. Her dress was short and baby blue, with delicate lace detail, and little lace elbow-length sleeves.

"Haze, you look adorable and beautiful at the same time." I said.

Hazel giggled. "Thanks, Annabeth."

"Frank is gonna love that dress." Reyna said.

Hazel blushed. "I'm not going for Frank. I'm going with you guys."

"Mhm, sure." I smirked at her.

"My turn!" Reyna finished putting on her dress. She looked gorgeous. Her dress was plain black, but it looked amazing on Reyna.

"Wow, that does a lot for your curves, girl." Piper said.

I laughed. "She's not wrong. You do look hot."

"Thanks." Reyna shrugged. "I thought that it was simple enough."

"Yeah, it looks incredible." Hazel complimented.

"Alright! Hair and makeup!" Piper shouted. "Annabeth, you first."

"Oh god. Simple, Piper. Please." I chuckled. I've seen Piper go overboard with makeup, and it looks cool, but it's not my thing. I prefer no makeup.

"Fine." Piper rolled her eyes and got to work.

><•><

"Alright! We're all done!" Piper had just finished her makeup.

Piper had done Hazel's makeup perfectly. She did shimmery eye shadow, and natural lips. Hazel wanted her hair to stay in its frizzy curls, but she let Piper do two little braids that connected in the back.

Reyna's makeup was simpler, like mine. Piper did Reyna's hair in a French braid that started at the top of her head and went all the way down to the small of her back. A few little strands of hair fell at the front and she looked awesome.

Piper's makeup was more extravagant than ours, but not by very much. The only thing was that her lip color matched her dress. Her hair was down with a strand of hair towards the front braided back. It looked really pretty on her.

(A/N: just not as blonde)

Piper had done my makeup simple, but with winged eyeliner. Piper did my hair in a huge messy bun, with a ton of stray strands of hair falling out. I thought it looked cool.

"Alright. Are we ready?" Piper asked.

"Yeah." I said as I pulled on a wool shall.

"Then let's g—" Piper stopped abruptly. "Annabeth."

Shit.

"Yes?" I asked innocently.

"You cannot wear converse to the formal." Piper said calmly. I heard Reyna and Hazel snicker.

"You can put me in a dress, but you cannot put me in heels." I said.

"You..." Piper laughed. "Are something else, Chase. Fine." She sighed.

"Thank you. Now let's go!"

><•><

"A-Annabeth." Percy stuttered when he saw me. I walked towards him confidently with a grin. I had to admit, he looked hot. The black blazer, white button down and basic black tie gave him a classy look, but he toned it down with khaki pants. He looked good, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't at least a little turned on.

"You don't look entirely horrible." I smirked at Percy and tugged at the lapels on his blazer.

"Uh t-thanks." He stuttered and turned bright red. My smirk grew a little bit. He looked down at my shoes. "Um...?" He looked a bit confused.

I laughed. "Piper can put me in a dress, but she can't put me in heels." I smiled.

Percy laughed. "I like it." He smiled at me, I found myself grinning back. The butterflies were back to assault my stomach again. I fought down my blush.

"Alright, if you two are done, let's head inside." Leo smirked at me, which I returned with a glare. We all walked inside the gymnasium. The whole place was decorated with the theme of winter and snow. Snowflakes hung from the ceiling.

"Wonder how long it took the dance committee to do that." I mumbled to Percy as I pointed to the ceiling.

He chuckled. "At least a day."

There were blue lights cast across the gym walls, floor, and ceiling. The disco ball cast silver streaks of light as well.

"This looks pretty cool." Jason admitted.

"I mean, those snowflakes must have taken forever." Hazel added.

"Alright, well, I'm going to get snacks, who's coming with?" I asked.

"I'll go." Percy said.

"I'm hungry." Leo agreed.

"I guess I could go for some punch." Haze shrugged.

"Maybe you'll find Frank." Reyna nudged her and Hazel just rolled her eyes.

"Let's go." I started walking over to the tables of snacks. I grabbed a small plate, placing a few things on. Okay, maybe more than a few.

I was about to grab a cookie (I think that's what it was) when Percy stopped me. "Do you even know what that is?" He raised an eyebrow at me.

I looked at him for a minute. "No." I admitted. "But, it never hurts to try something new, right?" I shrugged my shoulders. Percy just shook his head, softly laughing. It was barely audible over the music. I looked around and spotted Hazel talking to some guy. He was huge, compared to Hazel at least. He was tall and buff. I figured it was Frank. I smirked at the two. They were talking and laughing, and both were blushing messes. It was cute.

"That's Frank." I nodded my head in their direction. "Hazel likes him. And I think he likes her too."

"Yeah, I'd have to agree." Percy smiled at them.

I took a bite of the cookie thing. It wasn't good. "Ugh." I scrunched my nose in disgust. "Try this." I handed it to Percy.

"What? If you don't like it, I don't wanna try it." He protested.

"No, you have to try it. It's so weird." I laughed.

Percy sighed. "Fine." He took it from me, and took a bite. "Agh." He swallowed, wincing. "What the hell is that?"

"I have no idea." We laughed. "I think that's enough." I threw my plate in the garbage. "Punch?" I asked.

"Aren't I supposed to be getting it for you?" He asked.

"Aren't girls supposed to be emotional messes?" I teased. He glared at me, making me laugh. "I'm kidding. It's not like it matters. You want punch?"

"Yeah." He said.

"Okay then." I turned to get us punch. "Here." I handed Percy his punch.

"Thanks." He took a sip. "Is this spiked with something?"

"Definitely." I took another sip. "Hmm..." I thought for a minute. "I'm tasting shitty tequila."

Percy shivered. "I don't want punch." Percy threw his out. "Well... you, uh, wanna dance?" I could see his blush even in the dim light.

"I don't know." I joked. "I kinda just wanna stand here for a little while."

"Oh, oka—"

"Percy I'm kidding." I laughed. "Yes. I wanna dance." I placed my punch down, and grabbed his hand, pulling him onto the dance floor.

We danced through a few songs, Percy making me laugh with his shitty dance moves. I was having a great time, overall.

"I need to use the bathroom, I'll be right back." Percy headed to the restroom. I kept dancing, even if I was on my own. At one point I get someone come behind me, grinding on me. Whoever he was, he wasn't very good at dancing. I stopped and turned around to see a familiar blonde looking at me with icy blue eyes.

"What the fuck, Luke?" I glared at him, a disgusted look on my face.

"What, don't like my dancing?" He smirked at me.

"No, I don't fucking like your dancing get the fuck away from me." I demanded.

"Why? Don't you want me to stay?" I was staring to think he had too much punch, but his words weren't slurring and I could tell when someone was drunk—Luke wasn't.

"No. Now get the fuck away from me, before someone has to drag you away." I threatened. "Do you really want me to beat the shit out of you again?"

"I actually won last time." He smirked at me.

Last time. Last Luke had kneed me in the stomach and I blacked out. And he was proud of that. What a dick.

"Well not this time." I threw an unexpected right hook to his jaw, and turned, storming off. My hand didn't really hurt—it was probably used to it by now. I needed to find Piper, or anyone really.

Luckily, I ran into Reyna. "Hi." She said.

"Hey."

"You seem a little tense, what's up?" She asked, an eyebrow raised.

"I just punched Luke in the jaw."

"Nice. But why?"

"He was grinding on me." My nose scrunched up in disgust.

"I'll kill him." Reyna said through gritted teeth.

"Don't worry, I think I got everything under control. But I appreciate the offer." I smiled at Reyna. She grinned back at me. "Hey do you know where everyone else is?"

"Well, Jason and Piper are dancing over there," she gestured to the right. "Hazel and Frank are talking over there," Reyna's smile grew. "And—oh my god, Leo is flirting with Calypso over there!"

"What, where?!" I whirled around. I spotted them, Leo and Calypso were awkwardly dancing a few feet apart from each other. "Holy shit." I laughed. "This is amazing."

"What is?" Percy appeared at my left.

"Look over there." I pointed.

"Oh, that is certainly hilarious." Percy laughed.

"I will be right back." I walked backwards, facing Percy and Reyna before turning and heading towards Leo and Calypso.

"Hey guys!" I greeted. "Having fun?" I gave them a huge smile.

"Yeah." Calypso gave me a smile.

"Same here." Leo agreed. I could tell that he was nervous—he wasn't being his playful, joking self that he normally is.

"Hey Leo, can I borrow you a sec? Great." I didn't wait for a response before pulling him away. "Dude. Relax."

"I can't."

"Yes you can. Remember that party? That's the you that Calypso likes. I can see it. She likes the humorous, playful, annoyingly funny Leo. So be that Leo. Now go get her tiger!" I spun Leo and pushed him back to Calypso before he could respond. I then walked back to Percy and Reyna.

"What did you do?" Percy asked.

"I told Leo to stop being a bitch and be himself. I know that Calypso likes him." I shrugged.

"You, Annabeth Chase, are something else."

><•><

I am not the only traveler
Who has not repaid his debt

"Aw shit." I turned to my right, smiling at Percy.

"Oh no." He chuckled. "I have no choice, would you like to dance?" Percy held his hand out to me.

"Well, I can't say no." I laughed, taking his hand. He led me to the center of dance floor.

And then I can tell myself
What the hell I'm supposed to do

I didn't exactly know how to do this. Formals and dances were never really my thing.

"Go like this," Percy put my hands on his shoulders. "And I go like this." He chuckled as he gently placed his hands on my waist. I felt goosebumps rise where his fingers grazed my skin. "And we come just a little bit closer," we both stepped in a bit. "And we sway." He smiled at me.

I had all and then most of you
Some and now none of you
I don't know what I'm supposed to do
Haunted by the ghost of you

We swayed back and forth, back and forth. I stared up into Percy's eyes. His sea green irises seemed to shine. Eventually, I closed the gap between us, putting my head on his shoulder and wrapping my arms around his neck. I had to say, it felt... nice, in Percy's arms. I felt safe, I guess. It felt like firecrackers were going off in my stomach, and a feeling of warmth spread through my entire body, starting where Percy's skin touched mine.

We just swayed, even into the next song.

><•><

"I had a lot of fun tonight, Piper. I'm kinda glad you dragged me along." I said as we all walked out of the ice cream parlor, taking a bite of my ice cream.

"See? If you would listen to me more often, things would go this well all the time." She said. Everyone laughed.

"Well, I actually had a great time." Leo, said. His arm was around Calypso, who was eating her ice cream and nodding.

Percy had his arms over my shoulders. I got that same warm feeling. "I'd have to agree. This was fun."

"I never doubted you, Piper." Reyna added.

"Okay, yes you did." Piper argued. Everyone laughed.

"Well, it was a great night overall, for everyone." Hazel concluded.

She was right.

It had been a great night.

•••

Authors note

Okay, another long chappie with another shitty ending. I'm sorry but this has taken so long to finish, but here we are. Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed! Thanks for all the reads. Don't forget to comment, vote, etc. thanks and love you guys!!
-bella💕