Annabeth

"So, how has your travel been so far?" Piper asked, once she had finished daintily chewing the food she had placed in her mouth.

I looked at my friend, who was sitting on my left, in between me and Thalia. "So far so good. I still don't see why my mother had to make me bring bodyguards. I mean, I think Thalia would be just fine, and when we met up with you, nobody can resist your charmspeak. You could tell whatever is trying to attack us to attack itself and it would listen!"

Piper chuckled, "Charmspeak can be quite handy!"

I snorted, "That's an understatement."

I felt a tap on my shoulder, and turned to see Percy grinning sheepishly at me. He said, "Can you pass me the chicken? Please?"

I shook my head in amazement. This is the seventh time he has asked for the chicken, and each time he takes a ton of food, and finishes it in under five minutes.

It's a good thing all this food is on Aphrodite's paycheck (Aphrodite is paying as a gift for us. Sweet of her), or else all of us would be broke.

I grabbed the chicken platter and handed it to Percy, who smiled, "Thanks."

I nodded, then said, "You are going to get so fat, Seaweed Brain." He just shrugged.

Piper had apparently been overhearing our conversation, and asked, "'Seaweed Brain'? You guys have nicknames?" She grinned knowingly and shook her head. I was dumbfounded, for I had no idea why she looked like that.

"What?"

"Nothing," She answered, although it was definitely not "nothing", but she continued before I could push her farther, "What's your nickname for Annabeth, Percy?"

Percy replied, "Wise Girl."

Piper laughed, "That about sums her up! Well, if you could call her Logical Annoying Know-it-all Wise Girl, that would be even better." I scowled at her, punching her arm slightly, then turned back to the snickering son of Poseidon.

"Anyways, as I was saying, why aren't you fat? If you normally eat that much, since… let's say fourteen years of age, 'cause that would probably when the food would actually show in your body, since boys have big growth spurts when they are young, then they stop, and start again later, and you are eighteen now, so that is about… 1,460 days, times the pounds of what you eat a day, which I would say at least five pounds, divided by what you work off each day, which would be about-"

I was cut off when Percy put his hand over my mouth, looked me directly in the eyes, and shook his head, "Yeah, we get it, Wise Girl." He smirked.

It was his turn to be scowled at, "Geh 'ur hans ah uh ee, ya iheeut."

He smiled, "What was that?" I glared at him, making him look away in fear and drop his hand.

"I called you an idiot, duh. What else would I say?" I said smugly.

The sitting arrangement, if you wanted to know was good and bad. Good, because Piper, Thalia, and I get our own table, but bad because we had to share that table with Percy, Jason, Nico, Leo, and Frank. There were four people sitting on each side, and on one side it went Percy, me, Piper, then Thalia. Leo sat opposite of Percy, and next to him was Frank. Piper had Jason in front of her, and Nico sat in front of Thalia. Just letting you know.

Percy and I preceded to get into an argument about whether blue or silver was a better color. Don't ask me how we got to colors, cause I have absolutely no idea.

After about five minutes of arguing, he hushed me with a subtle signal, then pointed discreetly and glanced at Jason. I shot him a confused look, then looked inconspicuously at Jason. He was staring directly at Piper, who was looking at her plate, filling her spoon with her soup.

And he was literally staring, his forgotten fork in his right hand was spearing a piece chicken, but he wasn't making any indication of putting in into his mouth. He was just staring at Piper, scrutinizing her. Watching her every movement.

Oh great, another lover boy of Piper. He better stop that, because Piper hates it when boys stare at her lustfully, she usually kicks them in the soft spot, or charmspeaks them to go anger a bear, or both.

But Jason wasn't staring at her lustfully, like most boys, he looked more curious, and his eyes were shining, like he was looking at the prettiest thing in the world. It was kinda cute that he would look at Piper like that. But still, he better stop.

Then Piper looked up, bringing her spoon to her mouth, but paused when she notice Jason staring at her.

Uh oh. Bye bye Jason, nice meeting you. I thought.

But then something happened that I would never expect.

Piper McLean blushed.

Let me get this straight. Piper never blushes. Never. If she does, its because someone very important paid her a compliment, or her mother said she approved of her, (every demigod wants to please their godly parent), or something like that.

She never, I repeat, never, blushes because of a boy. She has never even liked someone.

And now, here she was, sitting, blushing under the view of Jason.

They stayed like that for about ten seconds, then I couldn't take it. I cleared my throat.

Loudly and exaggerated.

They both jumped and both of their faces flushed until they looked like roses. (A/N Thanks Octopus414 for the idea for that little scene! :))

"Uh- umm.. sorry. I was just.. uh- looking… at- the- uh- I'm... What?" Piper finished her stuttering sentence with exasperation directed towards me.

I raised an eyebrow, "I didn't do anything. I just needed to cough."

I gave her a look that said, We'll talk about this later.

I spotted Thalia smirking at Piper behind her. The huntress then looked at me, mouthing, "Young love," completing the cheesy statement with a sarcastic dreamy looking face, causing me to snicker.

Piper pivoted, trying to see what was making me laugh, but Thalia was quick. Her face resumed its normal position, and she raised her eyebrows in a questioning look. I tried to hide my laugh that was quickly rising within my chest.

I unfortunately let out a small giggle, causing Piper to turn quickly, narrowing her eyes at me. Thalia made another face, making me guffaw. Piper swiveled, but Thalia's was straight, in the same expression as when Piper had turned away, making it seem like she had never even changed.

Piper sighed in vexation, "This is so annoying!" Then Piper got an evil look. She then continued, but in a different voice. It was soft, but loud and commanding, "Thalia and Annabeth? Can you please tell me what you guys are talking about?"

I wanted to. Badly. So very badly. I opened my mouth, the same time as Thalia did. But then paused, remembering Piper's voice. Charmspeak.

My mother had had me schooled in resisting charmspeak. Athena wasn't very fond of charmspeak, or rather in what it can do. She thinks it is cheating. Therefore, she wanted me to be able to resist it. So I had been in lessons with Silena Beauregard, a daughter of Aphrodite who was very skilled in charmspeaking. I have had lessons ever since I was five, and I was a fast learner. By the time I was fourteen, I could resist every single thing Silena told me to do.

But Piper was twice as good as Silena, maybe even three times as good. It took a large amount of willpower to resist Piper's charmspeaking commands. A very large amount.

I was suddenly thankful for the lessons that I constantly grumbled about. With great effort, I shut my mouth, then my hand shot out to cover up Thalia's mouth, before she could say anything. What we were gonna say wouldn't be bad for us, but I was a nice enough friend to not say what we were laughing about, cause I wasn't going to embarrass Piper and Jason that badly.

Thalia looked at me questioningly, then I stared at her harder, and recognition came upon her eyes as she realized that Piper was charmspeaking her. She abruptly closed her mouth, and I let my hand drop.

Both of us turned and looked triumphantly into Piper's astonished eyes.

"Wow, you have got a lot of willpower, Annabeth." Piper started, making me smirk at her.

Then Piper smiled demonically, "But I have been practicing my charmspeak as well."

I paled, realizing that Piper hadn't been using her full out charmspeak, and that I had barely managed to resist it. I had no chance now.

Piper started in that cursed soft voice once more, but this time it was crazy soft and super commanding, "Thalia, smash ketchup all over your face and then go make your silliest faces in front of… Nico."

Thalia started abruptly, then took the bottle of ketchup, poured a ton into her hand, and then proceeded to smash it all over her face. By the end, nothing of her face wasn't covered in ketchup other than her eyes. She walked over to Nico and made funny faces.

And I'm talking really funny. Thalia had a flexible face, which means she can make very, very weird faces. I'm not joking. They were hilarious. And the ketchup just made it more hysterical. She looked like a crazed demon.

I was roaring with laughter, along with every one else at the table, but my laughter soon died down as I realized that Piper was now looking at me with that evil look again.

She said, "Annabeth, I want you to sit on Percy's lap and kiss him on the cheek."

I didn't need a mirror to know my face was white. You might think that this was really easy compared to Thalia's, but no, I definitely didn't think so.

First, he is a son of Poseidon, and I am a daughter of Athena, and Poseidon and Athena are serious enemies. Second, I was like Piper, I have never liked someone. I have never even given a boy something as little as a romantic hug, much less kiss their cheek.

Third, it was Percy Jackson.

That sounds really pathetic, but it was true. From the moment I met him, I thought he was really handsome (I guess I might as well admit) but I don't like him. But then, today, we had had so much fun, and Percy was so nice, funny, charming, gentle, and sweet. Something inside of me had changed about Percy.

I still don't know what it was, but… oh I don't know. Well, I think I do. But I'm not going to make myself say it, or even think it.

It would not be good.

As much as I tried to resist, it was hopeless. Piper seemed especially determined to make me do this, for whatever reason. And she was a very good charm speaker.

I got up, and slid onto a surprised Percy's lap. I took a deep breath, then leaned in and gave him a second long peck. His cheek was clean shaven, and soft against my lips. I could smell the ocean on him, and it made me sigh, thinking about home. I pulled back, and moved over to sit in my own seat. I blushed deeply, and looked down at my lap. Why, oh why, did I have to have the seat next to Percy?

Everybody was quiet, and I realized Thalia had stopped her faces, but still had the ketchup on. Funny, I thought she would've washed it off as quick as she could.

But then I realized that most of the ketchup was off. The red on her face was because she was blushing. Like, really blushing. Why was she blushing? Why don't I know much right now?

Then Piper cleared her throat, "Well, that was fun. I always like practicing my charmspeak! Alright everybody, stop staring and start finishing your meal." She tinted her voice with a little charmspeak, drawing the attention away from me. I was extremely grateful that she did that, even though I still wanted to kill her for making me do what I just did.

Everybody started talking and eating. I glanced up at Percy to see him staring at me. I blushed again, but he just smiled dreamily, which kinda confused me, but I let it pass.

"You're right, Piper is very good at charmspeaking. And usually I don't like charmspeak, but now I want to thank her." He said quietly, so only I could hear him, then he winked at me. I just sat there astonished.

What did he just say? Does that mean… he was happy that I had kissed his cheek? Like he had wanted me to kiss him on the cheek? His hand accidentally brushed mine, causing me to blush. Normally I wouldn't blush at a simple touch from him, but now I'm blushing when he just looks at me.

What is happening to me? Well, you know that thing that wasn't good, and I wasn't going to say it? Or even think it?

Yeah, that's whats happening, as much as I try to tell myself no, its happening.

What's happening?

Yeah, you probably guessed it.

I'm falling for Percy Jackson.