Percy was sure he was failing History.

But it wasn't his fault. Actually, if it had to be anyone's fault, he'd say it was Annabeth's.

She sat in front of him in class and really, how was he meant to do anything when she was sitting right there?

Of course, Annabeth Chase had absolutely no idea how much Percy liked her. It didn't help that he hadn't exactly talked to her before either. Well, there was those five seconds of bliss last week when Percy had dropped his pencil and Annabeth had picked it up for him.

She'd turned around and said, "Yours?"

To which Percy had replied, "aguh"

Okay, so it was one word (not even a word on his part) but gods, her smile was beautiful.

And her eyes. They were grey and stormy, unusual and pretty.

But that was off topic. Unrelated. Certainly not important. Annabeth Chase was so much more. He didn't know much about her, but three things he was sure of.

One, she was smart. Incredibly smart, and athletic. Percy was neither. Two, she was dangerous. Which explained why no one ever asked her out. And three, she was completely out of his league.

At lunch, she sat with the 'cool' kids, and everyone loved her. They either wanted to kiss her, kill her or be her.

But Annabeth had no idea how popular she was. She didn't even act like most other girls. Maybe that was what had caught Percy's eyes.

In her free time, she read books. She drew diagrams. She wore glasses - not all the time, but most time - and she looked incredibly cute in them.

Percy thought it was a crime to be that perfect, but Annabeth mustn't have gotten the memo. She was too perfect.

And she didn't even know he existed.

* * *

The Thursday it all happened, Percy was doing his work as usual, trying to deal with his dyslexia.

He was watching the clock. And exactly five minutes before the bell rang, Annabeth turned around to face him.

She said, "I need your help."

Percy was so taken aback that for a moment, all he could do was stare and blubber like some mutated fish. When he did manage to speak, it came out as a pathetic, "What?"

Annabeth spared a glance over her shoulder at the teacher who was taking absolutely no note of the two. "Okay, so it's a really long story, but I need to get revenge on someone."

Percy frowned. "Er- I-"

"He drew on my car with a permanent marker." She added.

"Why do you want my help?"

She sat quietly for a moment, and scrunched up her face thoughtfully, like she wasn't sure of the answer herself but then she said, "I've heard of your evilness."

Percy gaped at her. "I'm not evil!" He whispered angrily. The teacher was casting them suspicious look now.

"Piper says you are."

He didn't even have time to wonder about how Annabeth knew about Piper.

"Okay, so I spread cheese on her laptop... but once! That was only once!"

Annabeth laughed. "See, you're evil! You have to help me."

A thousand thoughts flew around Percy's brain - well the part of his brain that was working. Talking to Annabeth had short circuited most of it. But finally he smiled at her hesitantly and said, "Fine."

Annabeth smiled back widely, her eyes sparkling. Then the bell rang and Percy hurriedly packed away his things.

He tried to avoid Annabeth on his way to the next class, but she caught his eye again at the door, and she wouldn't stop smiling.

* * *

Annabeth told him to wait at the car park. He was standing next to his blue Prius when she came over.

And the first thing she said was, "Why is there a horse shoe shaped bump on your car."

Percy frowned. "I think you're missing the point here. We're going to get revenge on someone. I need details. Starting with what the heck you're planning."

"I'm planning something evil." She answered him.

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, figured as much."

She laughed but then looked at the hood of his Prius again. "No, really. Why is there a horse shoe shaped bump on your car?"

Percy sighed. "Maybe you should just get in."

"Can I drive?"

"How about, no."

Annabeth scoffed irritably, pulled the passenger side door open and slid inside. Percy got in after her and started up the car. "So where are we going?"

She gave him the address and he started driving.

"I'm suddenly getting a very bad feeling about this." Percy muttered.

Annabeth must've heard because she said, "Don't worry, we're only going to cling wrap his pickup truck."

"We're going to what?" Percy said, almost crashing into a tree.

"Oh my god, Percy. It's just cling wrap."

He almost crashed into another tree. "Whoa, wait. You know my name?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes, like she couldn't believe the words coming out of his mouth. "Why wouldn't I know your name?"

Percy glanced over at her and blushed. "I- I dunno- I just thought- how do you even know who I am?"

Annabeth snorted and the angelic image Percy had of her suddenly vanished. "You're pretty hard not to notice."

"What do you mean by that?" Percy demanded nervously.

"What do you mean, what do I mean by that?" Annabeth asked.

"What do I- I don't mean anything. I don't-" He cleared his throat and looked out at the road in front of him intently. "I don't mean anything."

He looked at her very quickly, just in time to see her burst into laughter. "You are such an idiot. An adorable kind of idiot but still an idiot."

She said it quickly so Percy didn't have enough time to process it through his brain.

Her laughing was contagious and pretty soon, he was laughing with her.

In that moment he forgot that this was Annabeth Chase, the girl he had a massive crush on, the girl everyone in the school adored.

For a moment, she was just Annabeth, and they were just laughing about something he couldn't even remember.

* * *

"How do we get cling wrap?"

Annabeth smiled in a way that made him glad he wasn't the one on the receiving end of this revenge plan. She slung her school bag off her shoulders and dug through it, coming out with a bunch of cling wrap. "I come prepared." She told him.

Percy laughed and shook his head. He turned back to the victimised vehicle. "You're heartless. Look at this thing, it's beautiful."

The gold and bronze paint glinted off the truck, as if it was agreeing with him.

"That thing would do better with wings. It looks amazing but it can barely get though five meters without breaking down."

Percy knelt down beside her to help her with the wrap. "Who is this guy anyways?"

"A friend." Annabeth answered.

"But does this friend have a name?" He asked as they started to cover the car with the cling wrap.

"Yeah, you might know him actually. Leo Valdez?"

Percy stared at her, stunned for a moment. "We're cling wrapping Leo Valdez's car? His car. That guy's a maniac. He'll build some kind of a laser gun, hunt us down and kill us both! He loves this metallic piece of crap!"

Annabeth gave him that evil smile again. "Exactly."

"I now have no doubt of your insanity."

"I'm not the insane one here. I actually have a brain."

"I have a brain too." Percy muttered.

Annabeth laughed. "Yes, but yours is made out of Kelp."

He frowned, eyebrows scrunching up together. "What makes you say that?"

She pointed at the back of his Swim Team hoodie, then leaned over and said, "Seaweed Brain."

It sounded almost like a challenge.

Percy struggled for an insulting nickname and came out with the only thing he could think of, "Wise Girl."

"What makes you say that?"

He grinned and gestured at her grey t-shirt, where a black, print owl sat on the branch of a black, print, olive tree.

Annabeth clenched her mouth shut and glared at him. Her eyes burned into his, but he didn't back down until she grumbled something like, "Good point."

When they were done with the car, Annabeth took out a bottle of spray paint, at which point Percy decided to point out, "I feel like you're re-creating a scene here."

She gave him a knowing look and shook the spray. "I read a lot of books."

On the windshield of the now cling wrapped car, Annabeth drew out a big A and a P with the blue paint. "Done." She declared. Percy laughed at her. "It's blue."

"A clever observation indeed, Perce."

"No I mean, it's blue."

She rolled her eyes again but smiled all the same. "Heard you the first time, now come on, we should get out of here, before-"

"FESTUS!"

"Before that."

"FESTUS, MY POOR BABY!"

A guy ran out of a nearby apartment block. He was wearing a dirty set of trousers and a shirt. A red tool belt hung around his waist. He saw Annabeth and Percy, standing there in shock and his surprise face turned into a face of vengeance.

The guy pulled out a lightsaber from his tool belt. Percy wasn't even sure how that happened but it was a lightsaber! It was dangerous – especially because Leo Valdez was holding it.

Percy shouted something incoherent, grabbed Annabeth's hand and dragged her back to the beat up Prius. They got in quickly and Percy put his foot down on the accelerator. The car rumbled to a slow start, but then it sped up and they were on their way. Leo followed them until the Prius turned into another road. He stopped, waved his lightsaber in the air and shouted something like, "You shall not be forgiven!"

Beside him, on the passenger's seat, Annabeth started laughing.

"What the heck is wrong with you?" Percy demanded. "That guy nearly killed us with a freaking lightsaber! Why are you laughing?"

"That was probably the most fun I've had in my life." She said.

"I think we left your backpack behind."

"We should do things like these more often."

Percy's heart rate increased and it had nothing to do with Leo's lightsaber.

"Wait, you want to hang out with me?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes again. "Why do you always act so surprised when I say something like that? Yes, of course, I want to hang out with you."

"But- But I'm me!"

"Exactly."

Percy barely had time to think through that before she was talking again. "You know what we need after a tiresome adventure like that?"

"Double cheese burgers from the place around the corner?"

She smirked at the idea. "I love the way you think."

"I thought I couldn't think. You know, since my brain is made of kelp?"

"Shut up, Seaweed Brain."

* * *

They bought the cheeseburgers, well Percy insisted on paying for it and they held up the entire line with their mindless bickering until the guy at the counter was forced to kindly tell them to shut up, but they bought the cheeseburgers.

And sitting there with Annabeth, eating burgers and talking – it felt like a real date, a cheesy date no less but still, it was kind of nerve racking.

He learnt a lot about Annabeth too. She wanted to be an architect when she grew up and she could talk about angles and bearings for an eternity. Her favourite colour was grey, at which point Percy felt obliged to state that his was blue. She lived with her father, step-mother and two annoying little brothers. Her favourite book was The Fault in Our Stars, which Piper had recommended to her as 'the only love story you should ever read'.

The thing was, it didn't feel as unreal as it would've a few days ago. Yesterday, if he'd been asked to go on a date with Annabeth Chase, he would've been a blubbering mess, but it was okay now.

She was just another person. A person Percy still had a massive crush on sure, but she was more real now. She wasn't just the pretty girl who sat in front of him at History. He felt like he knew her properly.

When they were done, they exchanged phone numbers, just in case they needed revenge on someone else. Then Annabeth stood up and said, "I should really go home now. My dad will be wondering where I am."

Percy stood up too. "Do you want me to drive you there?"

"No, it's okay. I'll walk. I don't live that far away." She strung her hands together, maybe a little nervously. "We should do this again sometime."

"Yeah," Percy said, and he didn't think he could stop smiling. "We should."

Annabeth smiled too, and just before leaving she said, "See you in History tomorrow, Seaweed Brain."

Yeah, he was definitely going to fail History this year.