It was only Pony, Johnny, Dally and I who went to the Nightly Double that night. We went in through the hole in the fence and found seats. A few yards away I saw Annabeth Chase, a soc girl who was my age and was in the National Junior Honor Society. Her long blonde princess curls went down to the middle of her back. She was with one of her soc friends, a brown-haired girl who's name I think is Marcia. 

I wasn't surprised when Dally went up behind them and started flirting, but I was beyond disgusted. Not only were these girls soc girls, they were a lot younger than him. He brushed Annabeth's hair with his hand and whispered in her ear. She pushed him away, looking very annoyed. 

"Feisty! I like it!" Dally said, followed by something really dirty. My face went hot as he rubbed her shoulder. 

Red with anger, Annabeth whipped around and yelled in his face, "GET OUTTA HERE YOU JERK! I DON'T THINK GETTING YOUR BUTT KICKED BY A GIRL FIVE YEARS YOUNGER THAN YOU WOULD BE VERY GOOD FOR YOU REPUTATION, NOW WOULD IT? SO IF YOU WANT TO KEEP YOUR DIGNITY, LEAVE US ALONE!" 

Pony, Johnny, and I couldn't  help but burst out laughing as Dally stumbled back from the girls. Dally may look sharp as nails and be twice as tough, but Annabeth Chase could punch him to the moon and he knows that, which was why he hated her more than anything else. 

She looked at us. Those stormy gray eyes felt like knives. "You three aren't gonna start on us too, are you?"

I was so scared of her that I could barely manage to shake my head and squeak out a small "no way". Pony and Johnny did that too.

Her features softened and she smiled. "I thought so. You don't seem the type."

"Really, I'm just scared of you." I confessed. It's true; if it'd been anyone else, Johnny, Pony, and I might've joined in. 

She laughed a little. "I'm Annabeth."

"I know. You're in my class."

"Oh! I'm so sorry! Now I feel bad for not knowing your name."

"Don't sweat it. My name's Percy Curtis." 

"Curtis... Like that boy Sodapop at the DX?" 

"He's mine and Pony's brother." I gestured to my older brother.

"Should've guessed; you look like him." 

I felt like I was floating; I don't look remotely like Soda but it feels good to be compared to your movie-star-looking brother in that way. "Thanks."

"Hey, don't you hang around the Meuseum of Natural History?"

"Every Saturday. I like the Acient World exhibits. Especially Ancient Greece."

"I like Ancient Greek architecture. It's real neat."

"Architecture is like, buildings and stuff, right?" 

"Yeah."

"My oldest brother's a roofer."

"That's nice." 

"GUESS WHO!" Someone yelled behind us.

"Oh no." Pony groaned.

Then none other than Leo Randle popped up between Annabeth and I.

"Hey, Leo." 

"So how's it goin, Perce?" He nudged my arm. "That your girl?" 

"No! Hell no!" Annabeth and I exclaim in unison.

Then Leo's face lit up and he ran his hand through his greasy curls. "Your loss, Curtis; she's stunning!" Then he sat next to Annabeth with his arm around her shoulders. "Hey, you. Leo-Randle-super-hot-mcshizzle-supreme at your service!"

She slapped him.

"Cool it, Leo." I said.

"You're just jealous that she's into me!" 

"I'm not into you." Annabeth pushed him away.

Leo suddenly looked very hurt and offended. 

Annabeth looked at me. "Hey Percy, do you want to go to the concession stand with me? I've got a couple dollars."

"Sure." I said, glad for an excuse to leave.  

We got in line at the concession stand. "Look, I'm sorry about Dally and Leo. They're not always like that." 

"It's okay."

"They're really not that bad once you get to know 'em."

"Mhm." 

"They're actually pretty tuff." 

"Okay. You can shut up now, Percy." 

"Right. Sorry."

"Don't sweat it. It's good to be loyal to your friends." 

"Yeah."

"You smell like the beach."

"Thanks." I replied. "I love the beach. My dad used to say my head was full of wet seaweed."

"Seaweed brain." Annabeth whispered. "That really suits you."

"Hey!" I exclaimed right as we got to the register. We got our popcorn and cokes and went to sit down.

"I think you're really neat, Percy." She said right before coming into earshot of Johnny, Pony, Leo, Marcia, and, now, Two-bit. 

"Hey I just realized something!" He called to me. "You're a greaser and you dig Ancient Greece!" He, Leo, and Marcia all burst into a fit of laughter. Annabeth stifled a laugh.

"Yeah I think everyone else realized that a while ago." I called back.

When we sat down, Annabeth looked around. "That Dallas boy isn't still around, is he?"

Two shook his head. "Naw. He had to go settle something with Thalia Grace then he'll probably go on to Buck's."

"What's he got against Thalia?" Annabeth asked.

"Get with the times, honey!" Leo exclaimed. "Dal and Miss Grace are always goin 'round at eachother!"

"I still don't understand why she just ran off like that. She had a perfectly good life." Annabeth adjusted her gaze to somewhere in the distance.

The Grace's are a soc family; everyone who's anyone knows that. The dad owns some sort of big electrical company or something. When Thalia was about twelve she ran away and cut all ties with the west side socs. She even refuses to use her last name sometimes. She's almost intimidating as Annabeth or Dally, but she's actually a tuff girl once you get down to it. 

Leo smirked dreamily when Thalia's name was mentioned. 

"You know," Annabeth said, looking at me but talking to everyone, "a couple of broads like Marsh and I can't be walking home in the middle of the night all alone..."

"We'll walk with you and protect you!" Leo exclaimed. 

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This was pretty hard to write.

Love ya!

CC