This cover was a runner up by the lovely TheBestMarvelFan

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ANNABETH CHASE

7-16-20

Sitting on the warm Californian sand beside my boyfriend while gazing into the ocean, I couldn't have been happier. Although I was definitely an east coast girl at heart, the west coast would always take me back to the carefree days of my childhood.

Percy sighed happily and laid back, resting his head on his arms. "This is amazing," he breathed out.

I grinned and laid beside him, snuggling into his body. "Yeah, it really is."

As my boyfriend toyed with the ends of my hair, I stared up into his serene face. His eyes were blissfully closed, his eyebrows were relaxed, and his lips were turned up into a small smile. Percy always took on this expression at the beach, no matter which coast we were on. Still, I couldn't help but notice exactly how much happier and more peaceful he had seemed ever since we arrived in California. 

At first, when Percy and I were applying for colleges at the end of Junior year, I was worried. Percy never applied himself academically, and there was no getting around that. It concerned me that I might have had to spend four years away from the love of my life. But, once on the west coast, I realized how happy Percy was there, and how ready he seemed to follow me to the edge of the world.

Sea green eyes penetrated my own. "What's wrong?" Percy asked me, noticing my furrowed eyebrows.

I shook my head lightly, relaxing my features. "Nothing's wrong. I'm just thinking."

He sat up, bringing me with him. He looped his left arm around my shoulders, half hugging me. "What are you thinking about, then?"

I shrugged. "Do you like California so far?"

Percy smiled softly, staring into the ocean before glancing down at me. "Yeah, I really do." He paused. "What did you think of the OAAA campus yesterday?"

I pursed my lips. OAAA wasn't my first choice for college, although there was seemingly nothing wrong with it. Personally, I had always wanted to attend an Ivy League college. I wanted to be just like my mother. But I knew that wasn't an option for Percy, and I couldn't stand being away from him for four years.

When Percy showed me the architecture program for OAAA, I wasn't astonished, but I also wasn't disappointed. So, I decided that it could be an option for me. We booked a flight to California to check it out, as well as a few other colleges. We'd gone on the OAAA tour the day before and I had enjoyed it more than I expected.

"I really like the layout of OAAA, and it seems like the architecture program is promising. Did you get a feel for the marine bio program?" I asked.

Percy nodded, flashing his kilowatt smile. "Yeah, it was amazing. I'd love to be a part of it. I really want to go here, Annabeth. Plus, this is your dream area. It seems perfect."

I scooted a few inches away from him and angled myself so I was looking directly at him. "Well, I don't necessarily have a dream area, but a lot of my top choices are around here," I explained.

"Oh," he said. "Well, either way, I love it out here. I think that OAAA would be great for us."

I smiled and quickly kissed him. "I hope so."

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An hour or so later, we packed up our small meal and blanket before wandering back to the hotel provided by OAAA. We hiked up the stairs to our floor and made our way inside of our room.

"I call the bathroom first," I exclaimed while Percy was putting away the snacks we'd brought to the beach.

He straightened up and rolled his eyes at me. "I thought we decided we weren't going to claim things anymore, but whoever got to it first would get the privilege," he reminded sarcastically.

I smirked. "Well, I'm still closer to the bathroom."

Suddenly, Percy bolted across the room to the entrance of the bathroom. It took a second for my reflexes to kick in, but I made it to the door a millisecond before he did.

I stuck my tongue out at him. "So, like I was saying, I get the bathroom first," I teased.

Percy ran his hand through his dark hair, which was artfully blown into a messy style from the wind. "Only because I love you," he sighed out jokingly.

I grinned, whirling around and stepping inside of the bathroom to wash away the salty coating I had acquired throughout the day.

After a soothing warm shower, I climbed out and patted myself dry. I wrapped a towel around my body and went out to the main area of the hotel.

Percy was sitting on the bed, tapping away on his phone. He glanced up at me when he heard my footsteps, and his eyes widened a bit.

"Sorry," I explained sheepishly, "I forgot to grab pajamas because I was so focused on beating you to the bathroom."

Percy grinned. "So I distracted you once again."

I rolled my eyes and sauntered over to my small bag to grab a tee shirt and shorts. "Go shower, Seaweed Brain."

"As you wish, Madam Wise Girl."

I climbed into bed about halfway through Percy's shower and almost immediately passed out due to the exhausting day and previous days. I was slightly stirred when my boyfriend climbed into bed beside me and rolled over to be closer to him.

"Good night, Annabeth," he whispered against my neck, wrapping his arms around my waist.

I clasped my hands over his own. "Night, Perce."

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7-17-20

The last day of our trip to California had arrived. Percy and I decided to once again spend it at the beach. We'd enjoy our last few hours soaking in the sun before rushing to catch our evening flight back to New York.

I woke up around 8:00 in the morning to a peculiar smell and an alarming sound. Not the lovely scent of pancakes or any other breakfast food you might expect, but the abrupt scent of smoke. The smoke detector was blaring.

I bolted straight up. "Percy?" I called.

He wasn't beside me in the bed, so I could only hope he was trying to beat out the flames from where ever they were coming from.

I sprang out of bed and ran to the kitchen, where my sweet, adoring boyfriend was frantically waving a towel in front of the smoke detector. On top of the stove sat a frying pan, filled with several blackened pancakes.

I stifled a laugh. "Percy?" I asked again.

He glanced at me bashfully. "Oh, hey, Annabeth. Um, ignore this."

I let out a hoot of laughter. "What did you do?" I blurted out hysterically.

After finally deterring the smoke from the detector and halting the awful noise, he set down the towel and rubbed his face. He turned to look at me, smoke streaking his cheeks.

"I was going to make you breakfast," he started, "but then my mom called and put Estelle on the phone and I got distracted and...well, the pancakes burned."

I smiled, walking over to him and latching my arms around his neck. "Well, that was very sweet of you," I said.

Percy lazily draped his hands on my hips and kissed my nose. "Know of any good breakfast places we haven't tried?"

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LOOK AT THAT! WHAT A SURPRISE! ANNABETH'S POV???

Yup, in HOO fashion, this book will alternate between Percy's and Annabeth's pov, although it won't be in third person because that's annoying to write in.

How'd you like this cute chapter? It took a lot of work from me to get it just how I wanted, and it isn't even that long, but I'm pretty proud of it. Hopefully I didn't scare you too much with the build up of the burnt pancakes ;)

Please leave a vote and a comment if you enjoyed! They always make my day!