(Percy and Annabeth have just graduated High School)

"I'm a daughter of who?" I said. Eww...a god. My voice sounds so nasally. My daddy's gonna have to sue that doctor for giving me a bad nose job. This girl sitting next to me must be clinically insane. She's been trying to tell me that I'm some kind of half... breed, did she say? No, half-blood. "Aphrodite...the goddess of Love? Lady of the Dove? Have you really never heard of the Greek gods?" She asked. She was pretty. In a hobo sort of way. She had choppy brown hair with braids and feathers in it. With weird eyes that changed colors. She had a ring on her finger. It didn't look like an engagement ring. Maybe it was a promise ring. How did she get a boyfriend to like her while looking like that?! She didn't even have any makeup on. I was so much prettier.

"Listen, sweetie..." I started. I wanted to be as gentle as possible so she wouldn't go "freakshow" on me. "What did you say your name was?"

"Piper McLean." She said. She looked bored, like she'd been told she was crazy before. She started picking at her nails, which weren't cut evenly. She probably bites them or something.

"Okay, Piper, sweetie, gods aren't-" She cut me off.

"All right, I'm gonna stop you right there. Follow me." She stood up and brushed her jeans off. We had been sitting on a bench on the side of the road in the middle of the Long Island countryside. Piper started walking and looked back at me. She was waiting for me to follow her. I didn't want to but I also didn't want her wandering around all by herself when she clearly isn't all right in the head. I started trudging after her. She walked up a hill and stopped at the top to wait for me. I rolled my eyes. This was a total waste of time. When I got to the top of the hill I froze. There was a camp. It wasn't a normal camp. There was a rock wall with lava, people riding flying horses, and a man trotting around with a horse's ass, literally. He was half horse. I must be delusional. Piper was looking at me with a smartass expression on her face and then I blacked out.

When I woke up there was a man looking at me. He had brown hair and he looked like he was in his late 40s. He was sitting in a wheelchair. He told me that Piper wasn't crazy and that she was telling the truth. I was about to accuse him of being crazy as well and ordering him to let me call my lawyer when a man with goat legs walked past me. I screamed. We talked for an hour or so in a baby blue building called the Big House and I watched an orientation video about the camp. I learned that his name was Chiron and that he was the half horse man that I saw when I got to camp. When the video ended a guy came in and sat next to Chiron. I was stunned by how handsome the man was. He had black hair that was totally messy but it looked, like, adorable. His eyes were the color of the ocean after a storm. I didn't realize I was staring until Chiron cleared his throat.

"Miss Babcock, this is Percy Jackson. He'll be showing you around the camp." He said, looking slightly irritated. I wonder if girls always stare at Percy. It wouldn't be that much of a surprise......I thought to myself. Percy stuck his hand out for me to shake. I took it. Wow. Firm grip.

"Nice to meet you." I said.

"My pleasure," He replied with a smile. God, he's perfect.

We left the Big House and started walking to the center of the camp. There were about 30 cabins but I knew from the video that not all of them were inhabited. Percy showed me the canoe lake and the archery range, the amphitheater and the mess hall, and finally my cabin. It was pink, which I was excited about. I love, love, love pink. The video said that each cabin had a head counselor. You could become a head counselor by being at the camp the longest or if you had completed the most quests. My goal was to go on some quests and kick the current counselor out of "office". The only problem was that I had no idea how many quests the current head councilor had been on, or who the head councilor was, for that matter. I decided to ask Percy. Possibly flirt a little while I'm at it.

"Hey, Percccccy?"

"Hmm?" He seemed to be pre-occupied. By what, I had no clue.

"Do you know how many quests my new head counselor has been on? I thought you might since you seem to be really smart." I slid my hand down his arm inconspicuously. Percy stared at me for a second. Then, for some reason he started laughing.

"What's so funny?" I asked confused.

"Trust me, I am not a smart person. But, I do know how many quests she's been on. She just finished her third one yesterday." He said after he stopped laughing.

"Oh? Really, what was it?" I slightly batted my eyelashes at him. He didn't seem to notice.

"Bringing you to camp."

I had to think for a second, then it hit me.

"W-wait. Piper's my head councilor?" I asked. Percy nodded.

"Yep. Piper McLean, daughter of Tristan McLean and Aphrodite." He said proudly.

"You two aren't, like, together, are you?"

"gods no. Her and my friend Jason are dating. There's a promise ring and everything." He said smiling. 

So that ring on her finger was a promise ring.

"Oh...Good."

"What do you mean?" Oh crap, I said that out loud didn't I? 

"Oh, you know, it's nice that she's found someone while she's so young. Speaking of young, how old are you?" I asked, eager to change the subject. Percy took the bait.

"18. I graduated last Spring." He said.

"I'm only 17 but a lot of my old boyfriends have said that I have the sexual and intellectual maturity of a 29 year old."

"Um, okay." He gulped. "Uh, are you in a relationship right now?"

"No. Not at the moment." I leaned in real close and added, "But I have my eye on someone special."

He slid away from me and scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

"That's nice." He said as we stopped at the Aphrodite cabin. We stood there for a moment when he cleared his throat. "See you around, Beatrice."

And then he was gone.

The next time I see him was at the dining pavilion.

Piper had just given me a bunk and some camp clothes to change into when the horn blew. We walked down to the Dining Pavilion as a cabin. I noticed Percy sitting by himself so I asked why no one was sitting with him.

"Annabeth should be over there soon. She's probably just finishing a chapter in her book." Piper said. Annabeth? Who's that?

The girl never showed.

At the campfire she was still a no show.

Percy looked around for a while but ended up just rolling his eyes and sighing.

After the camp fire, I was going to go talk to him because there was an hour until curfew but then I saw him walking away. I did the natural thing. I followed him down to the beach.

He walked for quite a while. At first I thought that he might have seen me following him and he was leading me somewhere to make out. Then I realized he seemed to know exactly where he was going. Finally, he walked over to a large rock. He glanced over the top and walked around it. I heard a screech, he started laughing.

"Seaweed Brain, you scared me!" said a voice behind the rock.

"You know you missed dinner, right?"

"I did?!" asked the notably female voice behind the rock.

"Yep. And the campfire." Percy said with a smirk. Who was he talking to?

"Percy! Why didn't you come get me?"

"I did. You ignored me."

"Oh." Finally the girl stood up. My jaw nearly hit the sand. She was beautiful. Even prettier than I was, which was really saying something. Blonde hair, tan skin, supermodel physique. Did he have a girlfriend? I probably should have asked about it. Oh well, she's probably a total bitch. I'll be in Percy's arms in the blink of an eye.

"Don't I get a kiss for trying?" He asked, rubbing the back of his neck.  Aww...what an adorable habit.

"Ugh. Fine."

"Well, I mean, if you don't want to, you don't have to."

She rolled her eyes and yanked his shirt down to her. He was just a few inches taller than she was so the kiss was crushed into her lips. It lasted for a few seconds. When Percy pulled away he was grinning.

"Never even think that I don't want to kiss you." The girl said.

"Okay, Annabeth." Annabeth, huh. What kind of name is that?

I watched them for about an hour. They talked a lot. Kissed a lot, too. It was annoying how happy Percy seemed with that Annabeth girl. I was so much cooler and I'm sure I kissed way better. I would just have to win him the hard way.

The next day I walked into the arena with the rest of my cabin. When we entered there was a loud sound. And a scream. I craned my neck and saw a large black dog running around the arena. The scream must of come from Annabeth because she was covered from head to toe in drool and she had a disgusted look on her face. Someone was laughing their head off near the big dog. Percy. He had just calmed the dumb dog down and he was patting it on the head.

"Good job, Mrs. O'Leary." He said, still chuckling. "Now she'll have to forfeit or risk smelling like a dog."

"Seaweed Brain! You're such a jerk sometimes." She said stomping her foot.

"No, I'm not. I just have to embrace the times I actually win something. You always win everything."

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do not."

"Do too!"

"No!"

"Yes you do."

"No I don't, you stup-" He cut her off with a big kiss.

All the girls in my cabin sighed dreamily except for Piper who rolled her eyes and tried to hide a smile. It disgusts me. How can these people not see that a boy as hot as Percy obviously belongs with someone who's actually attractive. Or who actually knows what they're doing in the bedroom because I doubt that goody-two-shoes blonde does. I was so busy thinking about how good Percy must be in bed that I didn't realize that Piper had come over to stand next to me. "Okay, what's your 'Percy belongs with me, not that old hag' speech?" She asked.

"What?!"

"Oh come on, blondie. You didn't actually think you were hiding your disgust did you? It's pretty obvious that you think that Annabeth doesn't deserve Percy, so tell me why and I'll tell you why you're wrong."

"Okay, well, for starters, I'm so much prettier," For some reason, Piper snorted. "I'm probably smarter, definitely funner an-"

"More fun." Piper interrupted.

"Whatever. The point is that I'm a very interesting person. I have lots of money. I have tons of dating experience and I know exactly how to make a man happy." I said. Piper thought for a minute or two.

"Okaaaaaay, first off, you have on eight billion pounds of makeup so you apparently don't think you're as pretty as you say you are. Secondly, Annabeth was out of school for seven years and she still ended up graduating a semester early so I really don't think that you're anywhere near being to her level of intelligence much less above her level of intelligence. Third, Annabeth and Percy have had so much fun with each other over the last six years that they've literally passed out from it before. And, Percy isn't the kind of person that cares about money, dating experience doesn't matter to him because the only person he's ever had any experience with is Annabeth, and finally, Annabeth and Perseus have been stuck to each other like glue since they were twelve years old, if anyone knows how to make him happy, it's Annabeth."

"Well, I don't think he really loves her." I snapped, desperate for a way to win her support. "I mean, who would?"

"Doesn't really love her? Doesn't really love her?!" She was yelling now. The rest of our siblings had started to take notice of our conversation. "Listen, little girl, the boy literally went to hell for her. The only thing he remembered when he was kidnapped by a goddess and taken away from his own memories was her and you have the nerve to say he doesn't love her!"

"Piper!" Someone yelled. It was Percy, he was standing by the door of the arena. On his arm was Annabeth. She was smiling a little. It was the kind of smile that people get when they're remembering something bittersweet. Closed lips, glassy eyes. " Calm down. She doesn't need to know what a sap I am. I have a reputation to maintain."

Piper blushed. She seemed to realize how loud she had gotten. She had the attention of nearly everyone in the arena. She mumbled a 'sorry' and stepped a few feet away from me.

"What reputation? World class seaweed brain?" Annabeth asked. She gave Percy a kiss on the cheek and they both left the doorway.