This technically the first one shot I made just for this book, so enjoy!

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Perspective: First-person

Type: Demigod

Main Ship: Percabeth

Word count: 1653

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You may think that a cool, awesome guy like me has been on many dates. Well, you'd be wrong. I was just about to go on my first date with my girlfriend, Annabeth Chase, and I was ready to wet my pants.

The two of us had been going out for just over two weeks, and I had finally gotten the guts to ask her out on a real date. I was taking her to a small diner that my mom and I frequented often and then we were going to catch a movie that piqued our interests.

I paced back and forth in my small room. I was more nervous than I'd ever been, and that's saying a lot coming from a demigod child of Poseidon. I glanced at the clock for the fifth time that minute.

Eventually, 5:00 came, and it was time to go get Annabeth. I rushed to the bathroom to check my outfit and hair one last time - gods, I felt like an Aphrodite kid. But I straightened out my plain blue tee-shirt and checked the fly of my black cargo shorts. I made sure my shoelaces were tied before running out the door.

"Bye, Mom!" I shouted, halfway out of our apartment.

"Wait!" she called.

I almost groaned, not wanting to be late to my first date with the queen of punctuality. "Yes?"

Sally Jackson poked her head out of her bedroom. She had on a firm expression, but I could tell from her sparkling blue eyes that she was secretly very excited. "Be a gentleman," she instructed. "Compliment her, open doors for her, pay for her. Be nice."

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, Mom. I know. Can I go? I really don't want to be late."

Mom grinned. "Go ahead. Have fun!"

I raced down the stairs, not wanting to waste time in the elevator - plus, I spent plenty of time in elevators on my way up and down from Olympus, and let's just say the music wasn't my favorite.

Annabeth was attending a boarding school located not too far from my apartment nor my own school. It was less than fifteen minutes to walk there, which I was pretty happy about. Although, fifteen minutes was plenty of time to freak myself out.

What if the date went badly? What if she hated the food or the movie? What if I did something stupid and she didn't want to date me anymore? What if some dumb monster interrupted? What if I went to kiss her and tripped and we bumped faces and I broke her nose and she sued me?

Okay, that last one was a little far fetched.

But that didn't help soothe my nerves, because when you're dealing with Greek mythology every day, nothing is too far fetched.

Either way, the second I spotted Annabeth sitting on a bench outside of her school, I gravitated toward her.

She was reading a book (Greek architecture, of course) and her blonde curls were shielding part of her face. She was wearing a grey v-neck and a pair of plain denim shorts.

I cleared my throat. "Hey," I greeted awkwardly.

Annabeth glanced up at me and smiled, shoving a bookmark inside her book. "Hi."

She stood up, and I looked down at her. Over the years we had varied in height, but ever since our fifteenth birthdays I had been about three inches taller. I liked being taller because when we hugged, she had to rise onto her tiptoes, which was as adorable as you think it is. Plus, she was at the perfect height to sling my arm over her shoulder comfortably.

"Ready?" Annabeth asked me.

I blinked. "Uh, yeah."

We walked side by side to the diner, which was only about five minutes away. After a moment of being lost in thought, I decided to speak my mind.

"Is it weird that I'm nervous?"

"The Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, killer of the Minotaur, child of the Great Prophecy, is nervous to go on a date?" Annabeth questioned.

I laughed breathily. "Yeah, it's dumb, I guess. But I am really nervous."

My girlfriend squeezed my hand. "Well, if it helps, I'm a little nervous too. I've never been on a date before. I've been trying to think of this as just a normal hangout."

I smiled, remembering what we had decided when we first started dating. It's going to be the same as before, just with more kissing. "Just with more kissing," I teased.

Annabeth rolled her eyes and grinned up at me. "Exactly."

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Things were going swimmingly. Annabeth loved the diner, and the food we got was practically perfect. We had just bought our tickets for The Blindside and were in line for snacks when I excused myself to go to the bathroom.

I made my way to the restrooms and was about to head inside the men's room when I noticed two girls squawking at each other.

"Listen up, Amy, he's mine. You just conquered one yesterday, and if I don't make any moves soon, the Lady will be furious."

The other girl rolled her sky blue eyes. "Well, Chrissy, we'll just have to see who catches his attention."

Chrissy screeched. "No! He's mine!" Then, she grabbed Amy by the collar of her tanktop and dragged her inside the ladies' room.

I furrowed my eyebrows but decided to mind my own business and go do my business. As I washed my hands, I glared at a tuft of my black hair that refused to stay in place. I ran my fingers through my hair and groaned when it ended up looking worse than before. I wiped my hands on my shorts and exited the bathroom.

To my surprise, Chrissy popped out at the same time, although her outfit was a bit more askew than it was when she entered. I tried to make my way back to Annabeth without being noticed, but Chrissy and I made eye contact and she bolted over.

"Uh..."

Chrissy smiled, twisting a strand of her pinstraight black hair around her pointer finger. "Hey, Percy," she crooned.

I frowned. Typically when someone knew your name before you introduced yourself, they weren't very friendly.

"Listen, I don't want any trouble today. I've been having a great day so far with my - "

I was cut off. "Yay! I'm so happy for you! I haven't been having a great day, though. Maybe you could change that?"

I bit my lip. Chrissy was very pretty, I'll admit, and it was distracting. She was wearing a denim skirt and a white shirt with a heart on it. Her dark hair reached the small of her back and her eyes were chocolate brown. I'm sure with most guys, she could drag them off to a theatre and make them forget about the girl waiting patiently in line for popcorn and soda.

But something was off. Suddenly, I remembered a situation about a year ago when I was trapped in the band room at my high school with my good friend, Rachel Dare. Two very pretty girls had tried to distract me with their looks, but Rachel saw right through their act.

I closed my eyes and tried to focus on something that always kept me grounded. I thought about a familiar pair of stormy grey eyes, curly blonde hair, and that teasing voice I loved.

I stared at Chrissy's legs. Slowly, the tanned skin dissolved and revealed a mismatched set of legs - one furry like a donkey, and the other bronze and metal. Her black hair caught fire, and when she smiled, she revealed a pair of fangs like a vampire.

I groaned. Empousai were some of my least favorite monsters, and I'd encountered a lot of monsters.

Pulling my pen out of my pocket, I looked around and found Annabeth at the front of the line, in the middle of ordering. Great, and I was alone for this fight, too.

I uncapped my pen and Riptide sprung to life. Like any self-respecting monster, Chrissy hissed and stepped back.

I ran at her and swung the sword at her side. She side-stepped and dove toward me, talons at the ready. She managed to land one scratch on my face, and I winced. The Empousa couldn't really do much fatal damage unless she was secretly a god or whipped me with her fiery hair, but I could still feel the pain through the powers of Achilles' Curse

"All I want is a kiss! Just one kiss!"

I glared at her and feinted to the left. She spun to the right and practically fell on my sword. "Sorry lady, but I'm taken."

Chrissy disintegrated into a pile of sand-like dust. I had just recapped my sword and was brushing monster remnants off my shirt when I spotted Annabeth making her way over to me.

She frowned, glancing at the dust on the ground and the scratch on my face. "I knew something was up when you didn't come back for ten minutes. I thought maybe you got nervous and were hiding out in a stall or something."

I chuckled. "Nah, I just got a little caught up. Do you have any ambrosia by chance? I'm wiped."

Annabeth scoffed, digging around in the backpack she had brought. "Where would you be without me?"

I grinned and nibble at the yellow square she handed me. Slowly, I felt my energy returning. "Dead for sure."

I then proceeded to explain the fight to her, even mentioning how I thought of her to focus myself. That made her face go quite red, to my amusement.

"The Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, cyclops slayer, wisest person in the world, is blushing?" I teased.

She glared at me and stepped on my toe. I grinned and bent down to kiss her.

Annabeth sighed. "Only you, Seaweed Brain."