Inspired by Community S1E19: "Beginner Pottery"

Annabeth POV

Percy almost trips over himself as he enters the study room, out of breath and red in the face.

"Oh, Percy, you're here. Great," Annabeth says.

She had come to the study room with big news this morning, but the others insisted it wouldn't be right to share without Percy. Couldn't they just catch him up later?

Apparently not.

"I'll show up late every day if it gets me a greeting like that," Percy says.

It's just playful banter, Annabeth knows, but sometimes it's a little less than welcome. She's not in a good headspace to come up with a clever retort. Her dramatic unveiling was ruined. By him.

Fortunately, Piper starts talking. That girl is like a hot Judge Judy. "Annabeth was just telling us about... The Ultimate Blowoff Class!" she shouts, giving jazz hands for emphasis.

Percy sits down and scoots his chair closer to Annabeth's. Seriously, why does he always do that? She's tested it. She's even moved her chair as far away from his as it'll go, and still, he finds a way to get physically close to her. He's a friendly guy, probably by no fault of his own, but he forgets about social distancing.

He looks over her shoulder while she pulls up the New Rome course registration page.

"ART 105: Intro to Ceramics. Meets Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:30 to 4:00," she reads to her friends. Has Annabeth ever been one for art? No. Is she even remotely interested in making a vase? No, but when she heard about how easy it is to get an A, she realized she can't pass up this opportunity.

And it's an hour-and-a-half long class; she's gotta recruit some friends to take it with her.

If you think about it, she's doing a favor to her study group. She's handing them a ball of clay with an A inside.

Instead of worshipping Annabeth for her find, however, Percy just chuckles and says, "Never really took you for a pottery person, Wise Girl."

Annabeth needs to come up with an insult for Percy that isn't 'idiot.' "Oh, I'm not," she clarifies. "But I was on Rate-My-Professor and it looks like this Vulcan guy is a total hippie, even more than Piper's ex-girlfriend. No offense, Pipes."

"None taken." Piper gives finger guns.

Annabeth continues. "Anyway, the entire grade is participation, so all you have to do is show up. You don't even have to make anything."

"Ooh, count me in!" says Piper. That's one! Great!

"Me too!" says Leo. Oh, yeah! Pottery class might be fun with Piper and Leo!

She bats her eyes at Percy as if to say haha! I was right.

He seems relatively unaffected. "I'm actually all signed up to take a week-long intensive course. There are still a couple of spots left if anybody wants to join me," he says.

Percy must be genuinely interested in whatever course he found because Annabeth has no idea why anybody would want to take a week-long intensive. It's a lot of time and energy and combined with regular courses, intensives don't allow much time for anything else.

This girl Katie that lives in Annabeth's residence hall took a week-long baking intensive course. The professor was obsessed with cereal and poor Katie was pulling all-nighters trying to make the perfect scones. She passed the class, but at what price?

"What's the class?" Jason asks.

Percy sits a little taller and says, "Sailing."

Annabeth snorts. Sailing at New Rome? "And how are they going to do that?" she teases. "We don't have an on-campus ocean."

Not once breaking his power pose, Percy says, "They'll do it with a real sailboat out in the parking lot."

Oh, like that makes it any better. How realistic.

"Oh, that sounds nice! I've always wanted to learn, but I get too seasick." Leave it to Hazel to find a silver lining in Percy's dumb plan.

Frank will join Annabeth in pottery though, and because she likes him, Hazel will have to abandon Percy in sailing and join Annabeth's side.

"Count me in too," says Frank. Not fair! Percy just stole Annabeth's number-one supporter!

And then like a dumbass—no, that's not original—Percy says, "Great! We'll be real seamen in no time!"

And because she's just so mature, Piper laughs at the word 'seamen.'

But there's still Jason. He's the tie-breaker.

"Jason?" Percy asks. "How about it? Sail across the parking lot with your bro?"

No, Jason, Annabeth wills internally. Make pots with the girl you like and your bro, Leo...

"Bro," Jason says, reasonable as ever. "If I'm not good at sailing, I'll have a bad grade on my transcript. If I'm bad at pottery, I still get an A. I'm joining Annabeth and the others."

This would be an inappropriate situation for Annabeth to stand up and scream, SUCK IT, JACKSON!, so she opts for a smug look. Jason said it well enough himself: you can fail sailing, but you can't fail pottery.

Despite his wounded ego, Percy says, "You'll be missing out."

Not caring if Percy can see her happy dance, Annabeth signs herself up for the pottery class. "You'll be sorry when you suck at sailing. Should I say 'I told you so' now or after you withdraw?" The look on Percy's face when he enrolls late in pottery after flunking out of sailing is going to be priceless!

"Watch it, Wise Girl. Sailing is in my blood," he says, whatever that means.

But damn, she really needs a better nickname for him. No, not a nickname! An insult. Friends give each other nicknames. Annabeth and Percy are... something else... frenemies?

"Mmhmm," Piper retorts. "Just like pottery is in my blood even though my last ceramics project was my kindergarten pinch pot."

Oh, shit. Can they laugh at that? It's funny because Piper said it, right? So can they laugh?

Annabeth looks around the room, noting that everyone seems to have the same reaction.

"I... I bet it's a wonderful pinch pot..." Frank offers shyly. Oh, Frank.

"My dad lost it when we moved to Oklahoma," Piper says. Dammit, Piper.

"I'm sorry to hear that." They need to stop talking about this now before it gets offensive.

"Not as sorry as my dad."

Piper is great. Annabeth loves her, but she can really make a situation uncomfortable. She's one of those people who can influence the whole room. If she's in a bad mood, so is everyone else. Some people think Annabeth has that effect, but she doesn't buy it.

"Oh," Frank mumbles. That just about sums up how Annabeth feels about this conversation.

"How about we study some Latin?" Jason asks. "Latin is good. Latin is not insensitive."

"Latin is good," agrees Leo.

Latin is good, so Annabeth pulls out her textbook and starts reading.

A smile creeps onto her face. Jason's on her side, which means the study group might favor her over Percy. For some reason, she loves the power that comes with that.

She looks back down at her notebook. There's a blue sailboat.

Choose your battles, Chase. You don't have to kick Percy's ass at everything, even though you totally can.

✎✎✎

The pottery studio is exactly what Annabeth expected it to look like, and the teacher is everything she read online and more.

"Hello, lovely students," Professor Vulcan coos. "I'm so excited to share the joy of ceramics with you all..."

Annabeth drifts off into a zen trance while Vulcan rambles on about karma and good vibes.

The walls of the studio are decorated with fake plastic vines and mandala-printed tapestries. A warm sensation fills the room. Maybe it's the A she knows she's about to get, or maybe it's the kiln.

"There's one simple rule you have to follow in the classroom," Vulcan says. And then he sounds angry. "I will tolerate no reenactment of the hit movie Ghost! I've seen it all! Guy on girl, girl on guy, and there's always the ironic guy on guy. It's not funny! It degrades my sacred craft!" He gestures to a poster on the wall of Patrick Swayze, crossed out with a silver duct tape X.

Well, Annabeth certainly doesn't have strong feelings towards anyone in the class, so she doesn't need to be told twice not to 'ghost,' but maybe she should keep an eye on Leo. He seems like someone who would be thoroughly entertained by some guy-on-guy ghosting.

"What are you making, Piper?" Jason asks.

Piper carefully shapes her pot around the wheel. It's not perfectly symmetrical though. "I'm trying to make a vase, but it's coming out a lot wider than I wanted..."

"This is fun!" says Leo. "Oh, shoot." Leo's entire project caves in on itself and lands in his lap.

Annabeth chuckles and gestures to her untouched mound of clay. "I call it: participation." She takes a sip of the Cherry Coke she bought to treat herself today and pushes her aviator sunglasses up her face. She might look ridiculous with the mask-sunglasses combination, but she doesn't care.

"Ugh," Jason says in frustration. "I want to scratch my nose, but I don't want to get clay on my mask."

"Jason, you're wearing a disposable one for a reason," Piper says.

"Oh, yeah!"

A cluster of students gathers at the pottery wheel across the room from them, and Professor Vulcan himself comes to admire the student's work. "Why Rachel!" he exclaims. "You're a natural!"

"Yeah, Rachel," says Lacy. "Can you teach me how to make a birdbath like that?"

That girl that Percy's seeing made a birdbath? In a beginner's pottery class?

Annabeth wants to go see for herself, but she resists.

Leo stands up and wipes his hands on his orange Home Depot apron.

"Where are you going?" Annabeth asks.

"I want to see Rachel's art. Percy says-"

"Screw what Percy says. Sit down."

Leo sits down.

After praising Rachel, the rest of the class finds their seats and gets to work, trying to sculpt birdbaths of their own.

There's no way Rachel is a beginner, that's for sure.

✎✎✎

So this Rachel Dare woman thinks she can just bring her intermediate to advanced level pottery skills into a beginner-level pottery class, huh?

It's not right. It's an injustice. This easy A is for beginner potters, not professionals.

Breaking into the pottery studio at two in the morning was the easy part. Now, Annabeth is sitting at the wheel, regretting not paying attention when the professor gave a detailed lecture on how to use it.

She pulls up a children's YouTube video on her phone, but it's too simple. She can't just make a lumpy cup and stick a handle on it. No, what she makes has to compete with Rachel's stupid birdbath. It has to be even better.

Screw it.

Annabeth ties her hair into a messy bun, and she almost never wears her hair like that. She cracks her knuckles and turns on the wheel. She's got this.

At last, she presses her hands to the clay, grimacing at its unfamiliar texture. Of course, Annabeth hasn't used clay since preschool. Why take an art class when you can fill your schedule with even more AP courses? AP courses are good. AP courses pay for college.

Annabeth Chase is a former AP student, for crying out loud! She can make a stupid...

Vase? That sounds like a good place to start. She can work her way up from there.

Annabeth, her father says in her head. You are my most special invention.

Oh, yeah. That's the stuff.

You are the most talented little girl in the whole world.

The damn vase just caved in on itself.

Annabeth smashes the clay back into a ball with her palms and then digs a hole in the middle, like a volcano or something. That should work.

She goes back to palming the clay. How did Rachel get her birdbath to be so tall? Annabeth's... thing... is so short and stout.

Annabeth, I'm so proud of you. You are the best at everything you do.

"I am the best..."

And then she gasps in horror at the horrendous pile of clay in front of her. It's so overworked, and kind of dry. It's falling apart in crumbles.

She rubs her temples with her fingers, not caring that she's smearing clay all over her face or that the clay combined with the frustrated tears in her eyes is kind of painful.

She can't make a goddamn vase to save her life. Tomorrow is going to be so embarrassing. The shame is settling in already and she hasn't even gotten to sleep yet. There's no sleep for failures, that's what her mom always said. You have to work to be the best at something, stay up all night, and do whatever it takes.

Or, you can just fake an injury, like a broken wrist. You can't sculpt with a broken wrist.

✎✎✎

"Hey, Annabeth!" Rachel greets her when she walks into the studio the next day. What is she, the mayor of the classroom? She makes one good ceramic and suddenly she just runs the place. "Ready to make some art?" Rachel asks.

Annabeth takes in a sharp breath through her teeth. "You see, Rachel, I'd love to, but I think I might have broken my wrist, so I'm going to have to sit this one out. Can't wait to see what cute little creation you come up with today, though!"

"Let me see!" Will Solace says.

"When did you start taking this class?" Annabeth asks.

Will smoothes his hands over his smock. "Technically, I'm not enrolled, so I won't get a grade. But did you know you can just show up to classes and learn all sorts of wonderful things for free? I saw it on TikTok."

Annabeth smacks her good hand against her forehead. "That's because you pay for the degree, not the education."

The distraction doesn't stop him from grabbing ahold of Annabeth's wrist, which she wrapped in a bandage for show.

"You don't seem to be reacting when I move it around..." Will unravels the bandage and rotates her wrist. "I'd say either you've completely gone numb, or you're all better!"

"Yay!" Rachel exclaims. "Now you can make pottery with us all!"

Yay, indeed, Rachel Dare. This isn't over yet.

Annabeth takes a seat between Leo and Piper.

"I see you and Rachel are all good?" Leo asks.

Piper beams. "Talking to her was a great idea, Annabeth. I'm proud of you for being mature."

Jason flashes a thumbs up, but then loses control of the pottery wheel, and his bowl goes flat on one side. "Dang, that was my fishbowl for Percy!"

"She's a poser," Annabeth says. "She's a poser and an attention whore, only pretending to be a beginner. She's showing up here and pulling advanced pottery moves just so everyone in the class loves her. Well, I'm not falling for it."

Jason's hands drop from his opaque fishbowl completely and the whole project falls to the floor.

"Um, I don't want to upset you or anything," says Leo. "But have you considered that maybe Rachel is just really good at pottery? I mean, she is an art major-"

"Whose side are you on Leo?" Annabeth growls.

Leo stands up straight like a soldier at attention. "Yes, ma'am."

"Okay, lovelies," says Professor Vulcan. "Our class has ended. Go forth in peace..."

"That's... that's not very secular..." says Piper.

Rachel doesn't even bother to wash her clay-caked hands. She just rushes out of the room.

Annabeth bolts out of her stool and follows Rachel out to the parking lot, paying no attention to the protests from her friends. No, she is a woman on a mission. She deserves justice.

"Hey, you! Dare!"

Rachel peels her mask off and smiles. "Oh, hey Annabeth! Tell Percy I say hi. I haven't heard from him since-"

"Don't play dumb with me. I know all about your secret," says Annabeth. Then, she notices the lettering on Rachel's sweatshirt. "Clarion Academy, huh? That an art school?"

Rachel opens the passenger door to her car and throws her backpack in nonchalantly. "Not really, but it has some really great art teachers. My dad-"

"Does he make pottery too?" Annabeth demands.

"No, he's a businessman."

Annabeth has almost all the information she needs. She just has to do a little research, and then when the moment is right, she can expose Rachel for the fraud she is! The plan is perfect!

✎✎✎

Annabeth remembers absolutely nothing from her research. Zip. Zero. Nada.

Having spent her entire meal budget for the week on Redbull, she practically collapses when she sits down at her wheel.

"You look rough," says Piper. "I think I have a granola bar in my backpack if you're hungry."

Annabeth is so hungry, but she can't show weakness. Not now. Not ever. She is the best. Everything is fine. Everything is completely-

"You get six free sessions at the counseling center per semester, you know," says Jason. "I learned that the other day when I was studying for my tour guide quiz. I'm going to be a-"

"Don't say it," Piper says. "For the love of all things holy, do not say that you are-"

"I'm going to be a New Rome Ambassador!"

Leo snorts. "Dork. That's almost as funny as Ultimate Frisbee."

"Hey!" Jason objects. "Being involved in a diverse array of student activities will make me a better Ambassador! Plus, it looks great on resumes."

Annabeth ignores the rest of Jason's defense and even Piper's funny complaints. Eyes on the prize. She's got work to do.

Rachel Elizabeth Dare. Wait, when did Annabeth learn her middle name?

She's talking to Will as she sculpts the fountain she's been working on. Annabeth heard her kissing up to Professor Vulcan, telling him all about how it's supposed to be fully functional.

Blah, blah, blah.

And then she does it. 

Well, Rachel does the move, and then Annabeth remembers it from the research she did last night. It pays to be a genius.

"Ha!" Annabeth stands and points for dramatic effect. "Jig is up, Dare! That was an advanced pottery move. I know because I read the entire encyclopedia of pottery last night!"

"I- I don't know what you're talking about," Rachel says.

People are staring with wide eyes.

"Yeah, catfight!" shouts Leo.

Professor Vulcan saunters over to the girls, the fringe on his poncho swinging. "Now, lovelies, what seems to be the problem here?"

"Show him, Rachel!" Annabeth yells. "Show all of us!"

"I said, I don't know what you mean!" Rachel says.

"Oh, c'mon, it was like this!" Annabeth angles herself behind Rachel and her wheel. Screw social distancing. She grabs Rachel's hands and brings them to the clay.

"Oh my god," Leo gapes. "Girl-on-girl ghosting..."

"You!" Vulcan bellows. "There is one and only one way to fail this class, and you've managed to do that, Ms. Chase!" He gestures to the portrait on the wall, the crossed-out Patrick Swayze.

This is so stupid. This class is so damn stupid!

Annabeth spreads her arms out wide. She wishes she could take off her mask and show everyone the shit-eating grin beneath. "Woah, my love..." she sings. "My darling... I've hungered for... your touch..."

"Out of my classroom, now!" Vulcan screeches.

High on Redbull and a lack of sleep, Annabeth shoves her fist into Rachel's project, clay caving in beneath her. She continues to sing like a mad woman. "I nee-eed... your love!"

Slowly, she backs out of the room, and the door slams in her face.

For some reason, she anticipated that confrontation going in a completely different direction.

✎✎✎

And as if this day couldn't have gotten any worse, Percy Jackson is sitting in this secluded toolshed trying his hand at making a rowboat on wheels. Stupid.

She's desperate enough to take help from anybody, even Percy. "You wouldn't happen to know of a private investigator, would you?" Annabeth asks him as if she didn't just spill paint all over his rowboat thing.

Percy just shrugs like the idiot he is. No, not an idiot. Annabeth sucks at coming up with nicknames and at making ceramics now. What has her life come to?

"I don't know what's stressing you out right now, but you should try not being so hard on yourself. I mean, what's the point of being the best at everything if you're not having any fun doing it?" he asks. He actually has the nerve to read into this situation. Who does he think he is trying to tell Annabeth when she isn't having a good time?

"Says the guy sitting in a rowboat on wheels?" she retorts.

"Unlike you, Wise Girl, I have no pride. I was a man overboard just a minute ago, left to die by my own friends, but even imminent death by storm can't stop me! I can't drown!" Percy says. There he is, pulling out that stupid nickname again.

Yet, it's almost a comfort hearing it from him. It's become a constant in her life. She usually gets mad when people call her a smart-ass, but coming from Percy, 'Wise Girl' almost sounds affectionate.

Oh, gross! Is she really having happy feelings toward Percy? Annabeth needs to pull herself together and be quick about it.

Think about what a jerk that Percy Jackson is. "I am not prideful!" Annabeth says. How dare he say that to her? She's literally the one that introduced him to the pottery class, and now because he didn't listen to her, he got thrown overboard by his sailing classmates!

Oh, wait.

Maybe this is what Percy was referring to. "Oh, shit. I totally am." Pride. That's one of the seven deadly sins, a fun fact.

"The first step to getting better is admitting you have a problem." Percy is thoroughly enjoying this.

But he's not wrong. Annabeth decides to play along with his little therapist act. "I guess I just like the feeling of success. I'm supposed to be good at everything, you know?"

"Not really," says Percy. "I've been kicked out of a lot of schools, so 'success' isn't a word people use to describe me. I just kind of float here and there and then try again when I screw up. I'm like a Portuguese man o' war, except I don't sting hard enough to hospitalize people."

Shit. Now Annabeth feels really rotten. She had no idea about Percy's history with expulsion, and she's been freaking out about her acceptance to Berkeley being revoked over a stupid pot incident.

But what kind of a guy refers to himself in fish metaphors? Only a real marine biology nerd knows what a Portuguese man o' war is.

She's got it!

"Okay... Seaweed Brain..." She tests the waters. Oh no. Now she's speaking in ocean language.

"Ouch," he says with a smile on his face. Annabeth's never gotten the chance to notice his smirk-ish excuse for a smile before. She supposes he's allowed to take his mask off for sailing class since it's outside. Not a choice she would have made.

But the nickname is good. It works. It's mean enough for him to fake offense, but she can tell he secretly loves it. For some stupid reason, it's really important that he likes it to some degree.

Annabeth's not a total monster.

That's why she points out the flaw in his plan. "One of your wheels is crooked. Do you want me to fix it?"

"Do you mind?"

Annabeth crouches down and gets to work.

"Oh, and can you pass me that paddle?" Of course, Seaweed Brain needs an oar for his parking lot rowboat.

As she hands over the oar, she says, "Well, thanks for the advice, Captain Seaweed." It's hard to admit, but it is good advice. Maybe even good enough to confide in Percy again.

"Anytime. Give me a push, Wise Girl?"

Annabeth obliges, but something catches her eye. Painted across the back of the boat is... "Argo II? What's that mean?"

"My dad's boat was the Argo."

That's actually really sweet. In other circumstances, Annabeth might ask about his father, but Percy's got a mission. He has to reclaim his ship or something.

One hard push is enough to send him out of the tool shed.

He uses his oar to make a hard left, and Annabeth calls after him, "Good luck, Percy!"

"Don't need it!"

With that, Percy's off. This time, Annabeth actually has faith in his sailing skills. Maybe he wasn't so stupid to sign up for that class.

She should've accepted his invitation. She might have been good at sailing.

Or maybe she would have had fun.

She might still be able to have fun in pottery if she tries.

There's no way Annabeth will ever be good at pottery, but she'll get an A no matter what. The opportunity to have fun learning how to do something without having to be the best at it has finally presented itself to her.

✎✎✎

Annabeth goes back to pottery the next day, with no Redbull in hand, and no attitude in her bright red apron.

Maybe she can try making that little cup from the preschool video she watched the other night. Then, she could coil a cute little handle onto it. Professor Vulcan said there were different colored glazes she could coat her mug in before putting it in the kiln. She could make a blue mug. Percy likes blue.

This time, when she sculpts, she can hear her dad speaking to her again. Only this time, it's the way he should have spoken to her when she was a kid.

You are an ordinary girl. You can do some things pretty well, but you're terrible at even more things, and that's alright.