More Than Just A Little White Lie~ A Percabeth AU

Chapter 4

"What the hell was that?" Piper leans in and says quietly in my ear as we walk to our lockers.

"What the hell was what?" I avoid her question and push my glasses up, even though they weren't falling down. It's a nervous tick of mine and she notices. 

"Percy Jackson was totally just checking you out." Piper says with a sparkle in her eye. I look at her like she just grew another head.

"You're joking, right? No way was he doing any such thing." I say, focusing my attention on the combination lock. I'm so flustered though that it takes me twice before getting it right. There's no way Percy would look at me like that with his girlfriend right there. There's no way he would be looking at me, in general. We have no classes together, and have barely spoken since middle school. 

"I overheard my dumbass cousin last weekend complaining over the phone to one of her numerous minions about how unattentive Percy has been lately. Maybe there's a reason?" Piper looks at me pointedly. I roll my eyes at her. Ever since Piper started dating Jason Grace, who is on the swim team with Percy, she's been trying to set us up, despite his unavailability.

"For the last time, I do not like Percy. And even if I did, he has a girlfriend. I will not let my high school reputation be one of a 'home wrecker'." I tell her, trying to get my point across without her becoming even more convinced of my so called feelings. I mean sure, there were feelings there at one point, but that was years ago. I never told anyone about them, and Piper and I weren't even friends then so there's no way she knows. Though I do sometimes get the feeling that she has a sixth sense when it comes to other peoples relationships. 

"So that's why your face looked like a fucking tomato when he was talking to you earlier? Sure, Chase." Piper bumps me with her elbow affectionately and heads off to her first class. She turns around after a minute and yells down the hallway, catching the attention of everyone with ears. 

"You have feelings, Chase! Let them out!"

I just flip her off, earning a few snickers from passing students. I'm not exactly known as a out-spoken person so I'm sure my obscene gesture is amusing to them. I ignore all the looks and find my calculus classroom.

The next few weeks pass in a similar fashion. Hazel has taken to wearing a bike helmet every time we get in the car together, which is a total confidence booster. I avoid Rachel and Percy as much as I can, though occasionally I find Percy staring at me. He always blushes slightly and looks away quickly when he sees that I've noticed. Rachel has been in an increasingly vindictive mood though and I saw her push over two freshman before lunch today without even bothering to apologize to them.

Piper and I are in the middle of running the track outside for gym, when I see Percy . He doesn't share this class with us so I'm confused as to why he's here and my confusion turns to panic when I notice he's walking towards us.

"What is he doing walking over here?!" I hiss to Piper, who just shrugs her shoulders. I see that he's holding something in his hands and when he gets closer, I realize exactly what it is. My heart takes off in what has to be an unhealthy rate and my face feels hot.

"Hey, Annabeth. Can I talk to you?" He asks, a weird look on his face. He glances over at Piper, who is just standing here, watching my soon to be humiliation unfold. "Alone?" He elaborates and Piper leaves, grumbling something unpleasant under her breath. I'm going to have to turn my phone off this evening to avoid her messages.

"Listen, I got your letter and I just wanted to let you know that it's not going to happen. I'm very flattered that you think my 'eyes sparkle like the deep ocean'...." Percy says, clearly uncomfortable. Oh my god, this cannot actually be happening? How the hell did he get that!? I'm pretty sure I'm hyperventilating and the next think I know, I'm flat on my back, looking up at the cloudless blue sky. My view is interrupted by Percy's face, very close to mine.

"Are you ok?" He asks, concerned. I sit up some, resting on my elbows. My head spins and I have to blink rapidly to get rid of the spots in my eyes. My vision tunnels though when I see Luke entering the track field, with what is clearly a letter in his hand as well. I panic, because while I may not have feelings for Percy and I can explain that I wrote that letter years ago, Luke is a different story. Without even thinking about it, I grab Percy's face and kiss him, hoping to distract Luke from thinking that I like him. I pull away after a few seconds and ignore Percy's shocked face. Luke is staring at the two of us with a strange look in his eye and I can't take it anymore. I jump up and run off the track, ignoring the coach yelling at me, though I did catch Percy mutter "what the fuck?" under his breath.

I race into the nearest girls bathroom and lock myself in a stall. I pace in the small space, running my hands through my blonde curls, which are damp with sweat. I try to think about how those letters got out and my first thought is Hazel. But she wouldn't do something so mean, would she? We may argue about the small stuff but we've always gotten along and I can't imagine she would do something to purposefully hurt me.

I hear someone enter the bathroom and the footsteps come to a stop at the stall I'm in.

"Annabeth?" A guys voice says and my first thought is why is a guy in the girls bathroom? I push that out of my mind though when a letter is slid under the stall door. I pick it up and see that it's the one addressed to Will Solace.

"I thought you might want that back." He says. I sigh and open up the stall to reveal the tall and freckled faced junior. I have a few classes with him and we've exchanged a few pleasantries in the halls but other than that I've had no contact with him since middle school.

"Uh, thanks." I say awkwardly. We stand in silence for a minute.

"Just so you know, I wrote that years ago and I totally don't feel that way anymore." I say, getting it over with.

"I figured and I also figured that I wasn't really supposed to see it. Besides, I'm gay..so you don't really have much of a shot anyway." Will says, with a kind smile. I did not know that...

"Oh, right. I totally knew that." I lie, hoping to keep some of my dignity. He just smiles at me again, and leaves me to my thoughts. School will be ending soon, and I need to get out of my gym uniform. I leave the bathroom and pass Piper on my way back to the locker room.

"Hey, what happened?" She inquires, but I just shake my head and continue walking, feeling a pang of guilt at the hurt on her face.