With just a simple text telling Percy she was going home, Annabeth left. Percy had practice until 4:00, so she had decided that it would be best to just go home. That way she can get SOME homework done before Percy is able to distract her.
When she got home, which is the Jackson-Blofis apartment, she headed straight to her desk in her room (well, technically, it's hers and Percy's, since they share a room). With only 45 minutes left until practice ended, she needed to rush in order to get enough done.
She chose to start with English, her hardest subject, so that she could just get it over with.
Meanwhile, at the school, Percy's team was laughing at him, hysterically.
"What–what did you do to get that girl to hate you so much?!" Mike asked once Percy had pulled himself out of the pool.
"She doesn't hate me," Percy frowned, wiping himself off with a towel.
His friends shared a look, "Yeah, you keep telling yourself that."
"Whatever," Percy sighed and then smiled, "Five extra laps for that!"
Sometimes, being the captain has its perks!
After that, nobody dared mention the encounter, at least not to his face. In fact, it seemed like the team was putting an extra effort into their work today. It made it seem like practice flew by, to the point that their couch needed to remind Percy that it was two minutes until 4:00.
"Oh! Everybody out! Practice is over!" he exclaimed, rushing to the locker room to shower.
By the time he had showered, left, and finally reached his apartment complex, it was 4:25.
He was in a rush to get home for his scheduled Annabeth-time. To some, this might sound idiotic, but to someone who only gets so much time to spend with his girlfriend, it's completely normal. When Percy was allowed to acknowledge Annabeth as his girlfriend, he became pretty clingy.
When he barged into the apartment, Annabeth was just finishing up her last problem on her Math homework. She was only able to finish English and Math during her alone-time.
As soon as she heard the door slam open, she turned her chair around and grew a small smile on her face. Like clockwork, Percy went straight to their room and ran right to her. In his excitement, he just went on instinct and lifted his girlfriend up into his arms, giving her a big, deep kiss on the lips.
At first, Annabeth gasped and didn't respond, but eventually, when she realized Percy wasn't going to stop, she started to move her lips against his. Without even realizing it, they had started to drift towards their bed. Before they knew it, Percy was leaning up against the headboard with Annabeth straddling him and kissing down his neck.
They probably would've kept on doing this for hours if Paul hadn't decided to come home at that moment, "Percy! Annabeth! I'm home!"
With a sigh, Annabeth pushed off of Percy and just leaned her head against his chest, "That was nice."
Percy, with a content grin, said, "Yeah. I miss you being my girlfriend. Why can't we just call this whole thing off?"
"I miss you, too, but we can't stop now. There is no way that Leo was right!" she responded.
"Fine, but it's just getting kinda boring now. At first, it was fun, but now it just makes me have the urge to jump you every time I see you," Percy admitted shamelessly.
Annabeth started to roll her eyes, but then she had an idea, and her features changed completely.
Percy, noticing the change, realized what was going on. That look was her 'I have an idea' look. You can never know what to expect from that look.
"Annabeth. You have that look on your face again. What's your idea?" he asked.
"What if–what if we spice things up a bit?" she muttered, looking up at him.
"What do you mean?" Percy asked, skeptical.
"We can turn this whole challenge into a competition. Whoever breaks first loses," Annabeth answered.
Percy thought about it for a second, and then realized that this could work. It would let them still prove Leo wrong...while creating a competition for him and Annabeth. Their relationship can't really survive without something for them to win.
"Ok, deal. We start tomorrow at school," Percy said, nodding his head and gaining a look of determination.
Annabeth smiled, "Oh, I'm so going to kick your ass."
"Sure you are," Percy countered.
"I sure am!" she defended, her pride flaring up.
"Ok," Percy said simply and leaned in for a kiss to silence her.
"Mmph," Annabeth tried to struggle against his hold, but it was no use.
Percy was on a mission to enjoy his Annabeth-time, and that meant spending it doing whatever he wanted. And right now, he wants to kiss his girlfriend. Sure, they would need to emerge before Paul decided to go looking for them, but for now, they could spend a little bit longer doing this.
ΩΩΩ
The next day, Percy and Annabeth were both silent on the way to school. They had unconsciously decided to go into competitive-mode as soon as they had woken up. The only proof from that morning that showed they were dating was a quick peck on the lips after breakfast.
Convinced she had to make the first move, Annabeth had worn a large sweatshirt over her shirt today. Instead of wearing a scandalous shit, like some girls might do, she decided to wear a white, cropped tank top under her cropped, sea green crochet shirt. It has always been Percy's favorite, partly because it was the color of his eyes, and partly because it was what she wore on their first official date. To top it off, she had a secret weapon to add once she had revealed her outfit.
Percy and his friends were, as per usual, clumped around his locker, and Annabeth and her friends were standing on the other side of the hallway around some of their lockers. Percy and Annabeth were both trying to act like they were actually listening to the conversations, but in reality they were trying to not-so-discreetly keep an eye on the other.
"Oh! And then there's something I forgot to mention: People think you and Annabeth Chase hate each other!" Kelsey exclaimed, getting really close to Percy.
"Huh?" Percy said, finally zoning into what his friends were talking about.
"Yeah, apparently there's a rumor going around that she pushed you into a pool, and now people think you hate each other," she replied.
"Well, it isn't a rumor. That girl definitely pushed him in!" Chloe confirmed.
"That bitch! I'll destroy her, Percy! I will!" Kelsey said, looking up at him with eager eyes.
"No! I'll deal with it!" he yelled, a little too quickly.
Kelsey pouted, but she didn't seem like she was quite done yet. No doubt she was planning on doing it anyway.
Meanwhile, Annabeth had just shut down her friend's many questions about her and the school's most popular boy.
"How can you hate him?! He's, like, the nicest guy in the school!" Nora exclaimed.
"For the last time, I DON'T HATE HIM! I just don't necessarily enjoy his company," Annabeth said.
She just couldn't bring herself to say she hated him. Even if her pride was at stake.
However, it would be a little suspicious if she didn't say ANYTHING bad about him after pushing him into a pool. Annabeth still had a cover to maintain!
Her friends seemed to finally realize she wasn't going to change her answer, so they gave up momentarily. Fortunately, Percy happened to glance over at their group right at that moment, so Annabeth took the opportunity to make the first move.
She slowly lifted her sweatshirt off, revealing her first trick. A look up, and she saw Percy's eyes widen slightly. Then, as her surprise attack, Annabeth let her hair out of its messy ponytail, leaving it to cascade down her back in her perfect blonde, princess curls.
That's what got Percy's mouth to drop. Unfortunately, he got ahold of himself before too much notice was taken. Then, his gaze hardened into its wolf glare, and he walked away.
Even if it could've had more effect, Annabeth still counted that as a win.
For Percy, he was having the realization that Annabeth had just upped the stakes. Now, he needed to retaliate with something better.
ΩΩΩ
During Greek, Percy gave Annabeth the usual glance, and then he completely ignored her presence for the rest the period. He was planning his counterattack.
Plenty of ideas came to him, but none of them seemed to out-do what Annabeth did. Her actions may seem small to ordinary viewers, but to him, they have an unimaginable effect.
Just as he was sitting down for lunch, and he had spared a glance over to Annabeth and her friends, the idea hit him like a brick to Jason's head. It was so simple, yet so perfect!
Annabeth had decided that she could enjoy some time with her mortal friends while Percy was recovering. Little did she know that he would recover faster than expected.
"Ok, seriously, we need some context for your encounter with Percy," Ethan insisted.
"Fine, I finished getting changed, he walked over to me, we talked, I pushed him into the pool. That enough for you?" Annabeth answered.
"No, but I don't think I'm going to be getting much else. You really must hate this guy if he's making you act like this," he muttered.
"I DON'T HATE HIM!" she yelled, throwing her hands up in the air.
Percy chose that moment to strike, "That's great, cuz' it was really starting to seem that way."
All of her friends' eyes widened, and some of their mouths even dropped, but Annabeth just kept on looking straight ahead. She would not give him the satisfaction of getting a reaction out of her!
Percy sat down across from her, "I mean, everybody thinks you hate me. It's so weird what one little incident at the pool can cause, right?"
"Yeah," Annabeth said.
Even though she had a pretty excellent poker face, Percy could see right through it. He knew what he was doing to her, and he wanted to add to it. Percy reached his foot across the ground, under the table, to where it was just touching Annabeth's. That's what shocked a reaction out of her. Her entire body straightened, like she had just gotten shocked by one of the Grace siblings.
It all made Percy's troublemaker smirk grow larger. Normally, Annabeth would find his smirk cute, but not now. Not when she was on the other end of it.
In an attempt to redeem herself, Annabeth sharpened her glare, grabbed her tray, and left the table. She didn't say a word, just kept glaring Percy right in the eyes.
Nothing could stop Percy now, though. He was on Cloud 9! At least, for now.
When he got home, that could be a whole other story. Because somewhere in the back of his mind, he registered that Annabeth was silently confirming that they were going to be discussing this later. Even if she had been in the wrong, too, he was probably going to end up being the one sleeping on the couch tonight.
In the words of Jason, Percy was majorly whipped. He would do anything to make Annabeth happy, including admitting he did something worse when he really didn't.
Anyway, he left the table soon after, but he didn't go back to his friend group. Instead, he left to wait by his next class' door.
As he got farther and farther away from the cafeteria, Percy started to get more and more worried. Knowing Annabeth, she would wait until they were alone at home, and then she would start yelling at him. And then she would act sad, whether her emotions were real or not, and to make her stop, Percy would agree to anything. It worked every time.
ΩΩΩ