relationship. Though they had yet to bring it up, she knew deep inside that they would eventually ask her about it. She tried her best not to dwell on what could happen. Unfortunately, these feelings of dread refused to leave her despite her best attempts to avoid the subject; it was hard to stop thinking about it. The same goes for Percy. She suspected he too had been plagued with these doubts regarding their newfound friendship for a while. The reason why he was so insistent on training with her had something to do with those issues, but she wasn't entirely sure what he was trying to accomplish. Perhaps it was simply an attempt to get back onto her good side. She knew that she wasn't exactly making it easy on him, so she figured it may be easier if she just gave him some kind of encouragement. However, the only words that she could muster were the ones she had practiced the previous night: 'Good luck, Percy.' That was all she could manage, even though she was sure it wasn't nearly enough encouragement.
Throughout the afternoon, she continued to watch Percy, attempting to see if there was any sign of recognition in the man's eyes, but to no avail. It was as if she didn't exist; she wasn't even certain if Percy knew that she was standing right next to him. She supposed that she didn't blame him for forgetting about her after what happened a few nights ago, however, she felt disappointed that she wasn't being given some sort of acknowledgement. If he remembered, surely he would've said something about her appearance or her presence. Not only that, but if he did recognize her, maybe he would remember that she knew him and that they were friends. But she couldn't help but feel a bit of disappointment.
She wasn't able to ponder over that though. She was pulled out of her thoughts by someone calling out her name.
"Annabeth!"
Percy suddenly turned around before turning his gaze at Annabeth. Before she could say anything else to him, he quickly walked over to her, wrapping his arm around her waist protectively.
"What's up, Wise Girl?"
Annabeth blinked at her friend, her brows raising as his actions caught her off guard. "Weren't you going to ask something to Nico? Didn't he seem bothered by whatever you were saying to him earlier?"
Pursing his lips together, Percy hummed softly in response. "Well… No. Now that he knows that you're here, and that I can finally show you how strong the swordplay is, I don't think he wants to speak anymore with me."
The smile immediately left Annabeth's face as she frowned slightly at his reply. "But… Don't you trust him?"
Percy shrugged. "Of course I do. I trust him very much, I swear to you. It's just… He seemed like a real jerk when he showed up here earlier."
"So what now? Do we just ignore him completely?"
"No. We will probably meet up again and continue with our training session… I just hope that he doesn't try anything."
She rolled her eyes at his statement. "Percy, I doubt that he'd go that far."
He sighed deeply as he turned around. "Okay, but just… Keep your guard up, alright?"
Before she could say anything else, he quickly grabbed Annabeth by the shoulders, pulling her towards him before placing a quick kiss on her forehead. Then, without giving her another look, he began walking away as fast as possible.
Annabeth's jaw dropped as she watched him