As soon as I got to school, I noticed Annabeth's blonde head getting out of a car about a hundred feet away. I said bye to my mom and got out. I was looking for Jason and the rest of the gang when I saw my cousin Thalia (Jason's older sister) walking next to Annabeth.

I started running to catch up to them. As I ran, Annabeth almost knocked Thalia over in a hug. Interesting. I made a mental note to ask her about that later.

"Thalia! Where's Jason?" I yelled as I reached them. "I need to go over some answers for the math packet from yesterday."

"He's over there Kelp-head." Thalia jerked her head in Jason's general direction. Gods I was blind sometimes! He was right in the same spot he normally was.

"Thanks Thals!" I looked at Annabeth's surprised face and couldn't help but smile at her before I walked away.

"You know Percy?" I grinned at Annnabeth's confusion.

"Sure I know him. He's my cousin." I looked back as Thalia shrugged, like it was obvious.

I shook my head. How could Annabeth know Thalia? It didn't make any sense.

"Are you serious, Luke? How could you?" A pit formed in my stomach. I knew what was happening. And I knew what the outcome would be.

{¥}

Fast forward several hours to lunch. Lunch has been, and always will be, my favorite part of the day. Oh, and P.E. That's a good one too. But anyways, I was talking to Jason when Thalia elbowed my in the ribs.

"Hey, what was that for?" I rubbed my ribs and scowled at my cousin.

Thalia rolled her eyes, which is something she specializes in.

"What is Annabeth doing with Luke?" I looked up and saw Luke step out from behind Annabeth, and start walking toward the popular table, with Annabeth following him.

"Not sure yet, but I have a bad feeling about it." Thalia's eyes grew big.

I watched as Annabeth looked around the cafeteria, and met my gaze. Then she looked away as she reached the table with Luke. I couldn't help feeling a sense of dread in the pit of my stomach.

{¥}

Lunch passed by with not much other excitement. I felt sick to my stomach, and I just wanted to go home. Thalia kept glancing over at Luke's table.

"He's not gonna do anything with others around, Thals." The tension was evident in her eyes.

"I know, but it still makes me nervous." She kept fidgeting in her seat, like she wanted to run over there and "rescue" Annabeth.

"Come on Aquaman. Art awaits!" I looked up at Leo's impish face, and couldn't help but smile. Leo was a walking comic, I tell you!

I got up and grabbed my bag. Following Leo out of the cafetiera, I listened to the chatter of teenagers as I walked through the halls. Leo stopped to look at something Frank was holding. I continued on, wanting to get a head start on a painting I had in mind.

When I reached the art classroom, I immediately got my canvas, palette, brushes, and paints.

Then I moved to the back of the classroom to my table.

I got my paints and stuff ready, and I was in the middle of outlining an underwater tree when I noticed Annabeth standing next to me.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" She looked at me with her stormy grey eyes. I almost forgot to reply I was so caught up in them.

"Sure, go ahead." I pulled my paints over to make more room for her.

I watched as she sat down and pulled a beat up sketchbook out of her backpack. As she flipped to a clean page, I caught glimpses of skeletons with words floating around them, and sometimes roses surrounded by thorns.

I turned my attention back to my own work and kept working.