#psgwsp

[forevfangirlwrites]

play stupid games, win stupid prizes chapter 22 (end)

A few days later finds both of them in the library so Annabeth can grab a book and Percy can watch her grab a book. Though the simple task of grabbing said book is made more complicated by Percy’s hand on her waist, then her back, and then down her arms and basically the boy won’t stop touching her.

Or pulling her in closer.

And she supposes this is what they mean by the honeymoon phase cause she doesn’t find herself getting too annoyed with him for it.

“Percyyy,” she whines, trying to hide her smile.

He doesn’t attempt to hide his. “Yeah?”

Like he gets to play innocent. She doesn’t try too hard to shrug him off as she finally finds the book and grabs it.

“Alright, we can leave now, which is clearly what you’ve wanted to do this entire time.”

“Not true,” he retorts. “I would enjoy pushing you up against—”

He cuts off as a group of people walk by. And if she isn’t mistaken, that blue streak is definitely Thalia’s hair.

Percy glances at her and she’s pretty sure he noticed too.

They peer around the shelves and sure enough Piper, Jason, Leo and Thalia are sitting at a table that is, thankfully, not in plain sight of where the two of them are.

“What the fuck?” Percy whispers as she pulls him back.

“Careful, don’t let them see you,” she whispers back.

“But what are they doing?”

“I need to get closer…but you shouldn’t be seen with me.”

“But I wanna know too,” he whines. She almost gives up her mission just to kiss the pout off his lips.

“I’ll meet you outside,” she tells him. “Even if they do see me, it’s not weird for me to be here.”

It’s clear by his pout that he’s upset that she’s right. But with another look from her, he quietly leaves the shelves while she tries to get closer without them seeing.

She hops over to the next row of shelves that gets her within hearing range of the conversation.

“—evidence to point that they are together,” Piper is saying when she is finally able to listen in.

What?

“So…” Thalia says slowly.

“So,” Piper says with more passion than before. “If I’m right, and I have presented my evidence, then they’re dating and hiding it from us!”

“You make some good points,” Jason says, probably to mostly be in support of his girlfriend.

Annabeth has no idea what Piper’s evidence is, but it’s clear that they are talking about her and Percy. Otherwise, they would have been invited to this group meeting.

“So they might be lying, which is rude, but what do we do?” Thalia asks.

The grin that makes its way on Piper’s face is actually a little scary.

“Well, first we see if I’m right, and that means…” she trails off, but Thalia is finally picking up what she’s trying to put down.

“We fuck with them.”

And that’s all Annabeth really needs to know. So before her luck runs out and she gets caught, she hightails out of the library to find Percy waiting around the corner.

“Well?” It’s clear he’s dying to know what’s going on.

But Annabeth is a bit busy gathering her thoughts, after all it takes two to play…

And she’s not half bad at games.

-.-

The next morning, Piper is at her locker earlier than normal, chatting away about Katie’s secret admirer like it’s a normal day. And like she hadn’t been planning on testing her best friend on a potential relationship just yesterday.

Honestly, Annabeth isn’t even mad, it’s going to be fun and she really shouldn’t be lying to their friends about said relationship anyway.

She’d discussed it with Percy afterwards and their plan culminated into basically messing with them back. And then to come clean because they’re both about ready to be done with the secrets anyway.

But why not have some fun while they can?

Sure enough, a minute later Jason and Percy are walking towards them.

“Piper, you forgot your notebook,” Jason says, clearly using it as an excuse.

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[high-quality-tiktoks]

undefined

psgwsp > f around & find out. argue with the wall

[blogdoityourself]

I Made Little Medieval Shields for my Boys

[stickyyouthstudent]

Replacement Belt Pin

In the move, we lost the pin for the flat leather belt on the South end lathe. What material is appropriate as replacement? I was thinking brazing rod, but don't know what I'm doing.

submitted by /u/PSGWSP [link] [comments]

[forevfangirlwrites]

play stupid games, win stupid prizes chapter 20

“You’re going to look great!” Piper yells from her closet. “I have the perfect thing!”

“Okay,” she replies, laying sideways on her bed. They’re getting ready for Jason’s New Year’s party, hence the lack of Thalia who is no doubt being forced to help with the setup.

She’s scrolling through Pinterest absently when Piper finally pops out of the closet.

“Okay so this dress…” she trails off suggestively waiting for Annabeth’s reaction. It’s a short, off the shoulder, red dress with long sleeves made from a velvety material. It’s gorgeous.

“Piper! I couldn’t…” The dress is too stunning.

“You can and you will. It’ll look great on you, you’ll feel great,” Piper starts listing the benefits, “And it’ll be jaw dropping to anyone else there.” The unsaid implication of ‘anyone’ is undoubtedly, Percy.

“He’ll regret everything so quickly,” Piper adds.

A stab of guilt runs through her at her friend’s words. She really should just tell everyone, but she just wants to stay in this bubble for a little bit longer. It doesn’t stop her from feeling bad though.

At her non-reply, Piper pushes the dress into her hands.

“Well! Go try it on!”

She does as she’s told and changes into the dress. Piper is right, had her and Percy actually still been broken up he would have regretted everything. It looks fantastic.

“Oh my god it’s even better in person!” Piper squeals.

“Thank you so much for letting me borrow this,” she responds, turning to the side to check it out.

“It was made for you today,” Piper responds with a smile. “Now help me choose which one I should wear.”

 She helps Piper choose (a classic little black dress) all while fighting the temptation to snap Percy a picture. (Something tells her the surprise will be better in person).

They pull up fashionably late, as Piper calls it, to the party and as soon as they walk in, Piper immediately starts scanning for her boyfriend.

“He’s in the kitchen,” a voice next to them says causing them both to jump.

“God Thalia, you gave us a heart attack.”

Thalia smiles. “Good.”

The three go over to the bar kitchen area, Annabeth all too familiar with this scene, to find Jason grabbing more cups.

Piper doesn’t say anything, just stands expectantly until he turns around and sees her. He drops the cups. Luckily they’re plastic.

Thalia rolls her eyes and picks up the cups. “You’re stupid,” she tells him.

Jason ignores her in favor of greeting his girlfriend (with a kiss that Thalia makes a gagging noise at and she can’t help but giggle).

“Want a drink?” Thalia offers.

“What kind?”

“Well what kind do you want?”

“Um…”

“Hey Jason, did you find the—” Percy’s voice and movement halt in place as their eyes meet.

She wanted to smirk or something in a show of confidence, but all of a sudden, she’s drowning in the green and they’re just standing there staring at each other.

“Hi,” she finally says, breaking the moment.

“Hi.” He takes half a step towards her then, as if remembering, steps back. “You look…nice.”

The nice is a little strained and she knows it’s because he wants to replace it with other words.

“So do you.” And he does. He’s wearing his usual jeans, but he’s got on a black button up untucked with the sleeves rolled up and somehow he’s pulling it off.

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[forevfangirlwrites]

play stupid games, win stupid prizes chapter 21

She walks into the first day of school back from break with some trepidation. Now that she’s going to be around everyone again, it’s going to be harder to hide her relationship with Percy.

Yet part of her is a little excited at the prospect.

Piper shows up to her locker first, rolling her eyes at her phone. “Thalia is,” she starts, “as always with the first day back, running late.”

Annabeth smiles. “Typical. She didn’t even say she would try when we brought it up yesterday.”

The three had hung out at Piper’s house to celebrate their last full day of no school the previous day and it’d been one of the few days of break that she hadn’t seen Percy.

“Honestly,” Piper says. “But anyway, did you hear about—” she breaks off as Jason and Percy walk toward them.

Speak of the devil. He looks unfairly good in that dark green shirt he’d worn for the pep rally with the matching black zip up hoodie. Annabeth wonders if he’s trying to test her with his outfit.

But as he gets closer, she has to fight the urge to let her jaw drop because…did he get his ears pierced?

Is that what he got up to yesterday?

She tries not to stare and fails miserably because the next words out of his mouth are:

“What’re you staring at princess?” His tone is teasing, maybe with a hint of mockery, but his eyes paint a different story. He’s clearly trying to gauge her reaction.

“Color? Is that your new years resolution or something?” She shoots back, gesturing to his shirt as if her eyes hadn’t been locked on his face.

He rolls his eyes and she has to hide a smile. So this is what they were doing in public now?

Piper’s eyes are wide when Annabeth turns back to her after Jason pulls Percy away. “What the fuck?”

Annabeth shrugs, trying to appear normal. “We have a truce.”

“And that means you’re back to…to…whatever it was before?”

“I guess.”

Piper lets out a sigh. “Wow.”

Thankfully, the bell rings before Piper can go down that line of conversation. And as Annabeth heads down the hall, she actually looks forward to Math.

It seems Percy must have felt the same way because he’s there early, meeting her eyes as soon as he walks in the room to sit beside her.

“Were you just not going to tell me about the earrings,” she says in a low voice as soon as he’s close enough.

They have yet to discuss this development and she’s not over it.

He grins at her. “Surprise.”

“Yeah…” Her eyes once again lock onto the small studs on his ears.

His grin morphs into a smirk. “Seems like you like the surprise.”

She does like it. And though he’s her boyfriend, she still does not want to admit how much she likes it. Something tells her she doesn’t have to say anything though, Percy’s smirk indicates he knows.

“Shut up.”

He shoots her a wink that causes butterflies and, of course, she has a hard time paying attention to math for the rest of the class period.

Lunch means she gets to see him again, something she’s realizing she always wants nowadays. He walks in and sits across from her because sitting next to her is out of the question.

And it’s stupid that she misses him next to her, playing with her hair and stealing her food, but she tries to at least focus on the positive of seeing him again. (And his new earrings.)

All eyes turn to the two of them as Percy sits down, but he ignores everyone, including her, in favor of pulling out an actual lunch for once.

“What?” he says, finally addressing the silence, just before he takes a bite of his sandwich. “Am I not allowed to eat?”

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[forevfangirlwrites]

chapter 10 play stupid games, win stupid prizes

It’s a little-known fact that Annabeth Chase did cheer for a year as a freshman before dropping it to fully pursue student council and homecoming committee. (Plus, she wasn’t that good at cheer anyway but that’s beside the point).

And since she bought the outfit for a ridiculous amount of money, she still has it. Its only use is to be worn on school pride day and even then, she switches out the skirt for jeans before the pep rally so as not to be confused with the actual cheer team.

“Wait, I get to ditch my last class?” Percy Jackson is walking over to her locker staring at his phone as he, undoubtedly, reads the reminder email that Mr. Brunner just sent out. “I should’ve joined this years ag-”

The words die on his lips as he looks up from his phone, gaze finally landing on her.

She shakes her head, shutting her locker to turn towards him. “It’s to set up for the assembly, not ditch.”

His normal black band tees and hoodies are swapped for a plain green shirt shrouded in a black zip up jacket that’s been left open. It’s the most amount of effort he’s put in this entire spirit week. And though he’s still wearing the rest of his usual black wardrobe, the pop of color looks nice.

It actually looks better that way.

“I see you’ve finally made an effort,” she says, gesturing towards his shirt, trying not to seem like she’d just been staring at him.

But he doesn’t respond, in fact he doesn’t do anything but stare at her until she realizes that she is also wearing something she normally doesn’t.

And judging by the way he’s looking at her, he doesn’t seem to mind.

Trying to use this information to gain the upper hand (and calm down the flutters that have started in her stomach) she takes a tiny step towards him.

“See something you like Jackson?” she teases, leaning her side against the locker.

She’s expecting him to roll his eyes or maybe even blush, but instead he moves closer. “Very much so.”

Those words should not cause the flutters to turn into a whole storm, yet she can feel herself melting towards him.

Now is the time she should come up with a snarky remark, or tease him, or anything to take the tension out of the situation but she can’t really think when he’s looking at her like that.

Thankfully, the bell rings, forcing them to jump apart.

Though she’s pretty sure she’s lost her upper hand, she makes an attempt to smile sweetly at him before she walks away.

“See you later Percy.”

-.-

“Is there a reason why Jason is walking over to us?” Thalia asks, leaning back to open her bag of chips.

They’re sitting at their usual lunch table with Piper to her right and Thalia in front, giving her the best view of the rest of the cafeteria.

Piper quickly glances back and smiles shyly. “I, uh, invited them to sit with us.”

Thalia has time to shoot her a half-hearted glare by the time Jason and Leo end up by their table.

There’re a few seconds of awkwardness before Jason speaks up.

“Hey,” Jason says quietly, mostly directing it at Piper. Leo, in contrast, just rolls his eyes and sits down next to Thalia.

“Are you guys also bearing the brunt of their relationship or is it just me having to listen to Jason go on and on?” he asks by way of greeting.

Shockingly, Thalia is the first to respond. “You’re not alone there.”

Both Jason and Piper turn at her voice with different reactions, Jason making a face and Piper looking apologetic.

“You don’t know the half of it,” Leo continues, addressing Thalia. “On one hand it’s Jason, on the other it’s Percy.”

“What is Percy saying?” The words leave her lips before she can help it. She leans back, as if physically distancing herself will do anything about the way her heart stuttered at hearing Leo’s words and the immense curiosity they incited.

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[forevfangirlwrites]

play stupid games, win stupid prizes chapter 19

The next morning finds her lighter, as if a weight had been taken off her chest. Percy had left a little bit after their conversation, clearly not in the best state given he had been drinking and fallen asleep. Jason had taken him home, but not before he shared a last discrete smile with her.

That smile is on her mind all morning and afternoon, letting her breathe a little easier. She still doesn’t know what is going to happen, but she knows that it’s okay. And all it took was one conversation.

If only they’d done this before, maybe everything wouldn’t have blown up then. But it’s in the past and there’s nothing she can do about that now.

He head is so full of thoughts she doesn’t register that Helen has asked her to take out the trash three times now. Trying to shake herself out of it, she grabs the bag and walks it to the curb.

The cold air feels refreshing as she unceremoniously dumps the bag on the ground and is about to walk back when she sees none other than the object of all her thoughts.

“Percy?”

He’s standing with his hands in his pockets looking a little sheepish, as if he’d been caught loitering.

“Hey,” he says quietly, taking a hand out of his pocket to give her a little wave.

“What’re you doing here?” she asks, bewildered. She hadn’t expected to see him so soon. Then again, she doesn’t quite know what to make of the situation as a whole.

“Um, I was wondering if you wanted to grab a bite to eat?” The hand that had waved goes to the back of his neck and is she crazy or is he…nervous?

“Uh, sure, just let me grab…” she doesn’t finish the sentence, just points to her front door and jogs away as soon as he nods.

Quickly grabbing her purse, she stops to look at herself in the hallway mirror. Running a few fingers through her hair, she curses. At least her leggings and sweater weren’t bad, and her hair looks halfway decent after her attempts.

And though she was not prepared to see him, her heart is thumping in excitement and she can’t help but smile at the fact they’ll be spending some time together.

Stop it Annabeth, she tries to tell herself, he could be trying to tell you that he doesn’t want to see you again.

But there’s not enough time to really think and she makes it back down her driveway, breathless for a multitude of reasons.

“Okay, I’m ready,” she says, stopping a few feet away from him.

Percy just nods, and they both stand there for a second of silence.

“Um…so where to?” she asks, breaking the silence. Okay so maybe she should be more nervous.

“Oh, right,” he starts, “there’s a new diner if you want to check it out? It’s supposed to be old school.”

“Sure,” she replies, following him to his car parked a little down the street. He opens the door for her and she thanks him as she gets in.

It’s weird. The formality, the fact that he’s driving combined with everything they’ve been through.

“I heard they have good milkshakes,” he says after thirty seconds of him driving in silence. “So I figured you’d like it.”

“I’m sure I will,” she replies, still a little baffled by how nervous he is. It’s making her feel nervous too.

Thankfully it’s a short drive and he pulls into the parking lot a few minutes later.

“Cali’s,” she reads the sign. “Sounds cool.”

Percy leads her in, and they end up getting seated in a booth at the back by a window. She sits opposite of him and they start to look over the menu.

It feels so much like a date. And now that she’s had the thought, she notices that he’s made an effort to tame his hair and—

“What do you want?” he asks, cutting her thoughts short. He still hasn’t looked up from the menu and she can’t help but blurt out.

“Is this a date?”

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[forevfangirlwrites]

play stupid games, win stupid prizes chapter 17

It’s the week before winter break which means Annabeth’s workload has increased. School and also wanting to spend time with Percy has her stretching a little thin.

But today is one of those days where Percy is sitting with her in the library as she works. So far, he’s cycled between doing some homework, staring at her, playing with her hair, doing homework again when she gives him a look and trying to sneak a kiss.

Despite all that though, she manages to finish all her assignments.

“Done,” she tells him, closing the textbook.

“Finally!” Percy immediately stands up, stretching. (And she doesn’t look when his shirt rides up, definitely not.

He smirks at her because of course he catches her. She frowns back. (Why can’t he just not notice for once).

“Cute,” he comments, leaning down to peck her on the lips.

It still causes butterflies.

The days are already short but it’s pretty dark when they step out and she realizes she’s been working for a long time.

“Thank you,” she says as they walk to her car. “For staying with me.”

Percy just shrugs, and looks away at the compliment, clearly still not used to it.

She loops her arms through his and leans against him and though she can’t make out his face really well, but she thinks he’s smiling.

“I’ll drop you off,” she says, leading him to her car.

She’s dropped him off many times (though she’s never been in his house) and after that first time, she sticks to the side to the road instead of turning into the driveway now.

“Did you get anything done?” she asks as she begins to drive.

“I did get some valuable playing with your hair time,” he replies, the grin evident in his voice. She can feel him looking at her and makes a face.

“You mean some valuable annoying me time?”

“You think I’m annoying?” It’s said with a dramatic tone but she still glances over at him to make sure he isn’t actually hurt by her comment. He’s clearly joking but why does she feel like there is a hint of a real question in there?

“No,” she responds truthfully. “Well, you used to be but now—” How does she finish that thought? Now you’re my boyfriend and everything is different and you don’t make my life hell anymore?

“Now…” Percy prompts.

“Now you’re just Percy,” she decides.

“What does that mean?”

It’s kinda funny to see his eyebrows scrunch up in confusion.

“Exactly what I said of course,” she replies with a smile. “You’re Percy.”

“But what does being Percy mean?” he pushes back. Somehow, for once, she’s managed to get under his skin and it’s fun to see him squirm.

“You’re cute,” she tells him.

The compliment furthers his confusion, and at the stop sign before she has to turn into his neighborhood, she leans over and gives him a kiss on the cheek.

“I guess that’s a good thing,” he mumbles under his breath and she actually chuckles out loud. His eyes are back on her, a smile slowly making its way onto his face.

As she pulls up to his house though, a figure is approaching the side of the road with a trash bag. Evidently, tomorrow is trash day.

She glances at Percy as she pulls to a stop and the smile is gone. He mumbles a thanks and makes to quickly get out of the car but his mom stops him.

“Percy?”

She’s ducking down to look into the car from the open passenger side door.

“Hi!” she says with a smile. “I’m Sally, Percy’s mom! Nice to meet you!”

“Hi,” Annabeth responds somewhat nervously. “I’m Annabeth.”

“Annabeth! Right, Percy’s talked about you! It’s nice to finally meet you!”

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[forevfangirlwrites]

play stupid games, win stupid prizes chapter 16

It’s getting harder to deny that Percy is pretty much unofficially her boyfriend at this point.

They hang out after school, text, call and, of course, kiss. Despite all of that, they still haven’t entirely discussed what they are, and Annabeth knows that she should probably bring it up at some point. But it’s surprisingly difficult to get herself to mention it.

She’s, once again, dwelling on the topic when he appears by her side in the middle of the hall during a passing period.

“You, me, mall after school,” he says quickly.

She’s barely managed to get an “Okay” out before he leans down for a quick peck. Then he’s off down the hall leaving her with seconds before the passing period ends with a blush on her cheeks wondering if anyone saw him do that.

Another trend is how much more brazen he’s been about them lately, with frequent touches and flirting. She doesn’t think people generally think anything of it, but in the friend group it’s so obvious that Leo doesn’t even have to make jokes about it anymore.

Annabeth manages to slip inside the classroom just in time, mind still stuck on Percy and wondering why he chose the mall. (Then again it is getting really close to winter break and too cold to really hang outside.)

Per usual, he shows up by her locker after school.

“Ready princess? He asks but doesn’t wait for a reply as he grabs her hand and starts to pull her towards the exit.

 “Sure,” she replies, stumbling a bit at the quickness of his pace. “But why are we going there?”

“I want ramen.”

“And,” he says, shooting her a sideways glance. “you.”

Outwardly, she shakes her head, but internally she feels the telltale giddiness she’s come to associate with Percy.

Percy is bouncy on the car ride, somewhat distractedly trying to hold a conversation while asking about her day.

She’s beginning to think that something is up, there’s more to this than ramen, but she doesn’t say anything.

They get to the mall and Percy reaches for her hand.

“Ready?”

It’s the second time he’s asked her that, and she’s not sure what she needs to be ready for.

“Yeah, you okay?” she asks, unable to help herself.

He shoots her a quick glance. “Yeah, why are you asking?”

She just shrugs, trying to play it down after noticing how he reacted. “Nothing, you just seem…jumpy.”

“That’s cause my heart is racing from being around you,” he says with a grin. A sentiment that would have been sweet is he hadn’t delivered it with such dramatics.

“Sure…” She rolls her eyes.

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[forevfangirlwrites]

play stupid games, win stupid prizes chapter 8

“This is what you wear to bed, princess?” Percy’s teasing voice calls as he strolls up to her, gesturing towards her pajamas for spirit week. “I was expecting a little less…everything.”

“Some daydreams are meant to stay in your head, Jackson, no need to torture everyone around you,” she retorts.

In her peripheral, she sees Piper and Thalia looking visibly shocked at the exchange. Percy stops just inches away from her, something that’s become a new normal for them, apparently, which is the only reason she lets herself smell his cologne. (Better to be desensitized, right?)

She hears Piper gasp but Percy grins at her, ignoring their audience, and pushes further into her space to whisper in her ear.

His breath sends, frankly, unwarranted tingles as he speaks so no one else can hear. “Trust me, you were far from tortured.”

Her face flushes at his words and the awareness that her friends are watching forces her to recede.

“At least I got into the spirit,” she says loudly, crossing her arms while trying to regain her thoughts. “Where are your pajamas?”

She realizes it’s the wrong thing to say when Percy’s smile widens further. “Not school appropriate, princess, but I’m sure you’d love the show.”

She scoffs. “Let me guess, less of…everything.” She pointedly flicks her gaze down for a half second.

Thalia bursts out laughing and the only proof she gets that Percy is embarrassed is that his ears turn bright red.

“So you’re thinking about my—”

“Percy!”

Jason’s voice rings down the hall and Percy, thankfully, refrains from saying the rest of that horrible sentence, walking over to Jason instead.

Piper corners her as soon as he leaves. “What the fuck was that!” she whisper-yells.

Annabeth squeezes her eyes shut, hating that Percy’s face pops into her head as she does. She quickly opens her eyes to find her friends staring at her. Honestly, she doesn’t even know what that was either.

“We’re kinda…uh…”

“Flirting?” Thalia cuts in. “Hooking up?”

Her face flushes even more. “Of course not!”

Piper shakes her head. “I have to agree with Thals here. What’s with the sexual tension?”

Annabeth slumps against the lockers, running a hand over her face. “It’s kind of a competition…”

Thalia figures it out the fastest. “You’re playing chicken….with Percy Jackson?”

Well, when she says it like that it sounds…well, it sounds like pretty much what’s happening.

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[forevfangirlwrites]

play stupid games, win stupid prizes chapter 13

It shouldn’t be funny.

But the whole situation is so utterly ridiculous that she can’t stop a laugh from escaping. Of course, that makes all three of them turn towards her in various states of confusion.

And for some reason that just makes her laugh even more.

“Come on,” she says to group, grabbing Percy’s hand to pull him along. “We haven’t found Jason and Piper yet.”

Percy lets himself be dragged and the look on his face suggests he’s bewildered towards the approach she’s taking with the situation.

They make it to the gym doors only to run into the people they’re looking for.

 “What happened?” Piper asks, taking in the looks on everyone’s faces.

“They kissed!” Leo blurts out, clearly unable to keep his shock in.

Now that the giggles have started, she can’t stop laughing and Piper looks at her like she’s grown another head.

“It’s hilarious,” Annabeth says by way of explanation, patting Piper on the arm. “Anyway, you guys wanna get out of here?”

“Aren’t you hoco president?”

It’s the first thing Percy has said this entire time.

“Yeah, but we’re all done for the night, except Travis and Connor, but they’ve been switching off.”

She turns towards her stunned group of friends. “Ice cream?”

Thalia is the first to break the silence, looking at Annabeth curiously. “I mean it’s like forty degrees out so yeah, I’m down.”

Piper turns to her. “How does that make sense? Also what ice cream place is even open right now? And can we back up to the whole kiss thing?”

“McDonalds,” Leo supplies helpfully.

“Great, let’s go.” Annabeth decides, turning towards the exit and walking down the hall. Whatever questions they have, she doesn’t have answers anyway so might as well just keep moving the night along.

She just wants to enjoy whatever this is while it lasts, tomorrow-Annabeth can deal with the thinking it all through part.

Percy pulls up right beside her a second later and she wonders what he has to say about the whole mess. Other than being on the same page about their friends finding out about their kiss they also haven’t talked anything through.

He leans in closer to her and she holds her breath as he murmurs quietly so only she can hear.

“Didn’t realize you were this bossy outside of school too.”

She turns to him in a mixture of shock and creeping anger until she catches his darkened gaze and realizes it’s not the mockery she thought it was.

Oh.

“In many more places than you can imagine,” she teases back, unable to stop her gasp when his hand slides onto her waist as he opens the door for her.

“I think I can imagine just fine,” he replies, the smirk on his face is suddenly entirely too attractive.

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[forevfangirlwrites]

play stupid games, win stupid prizes chapter 12

“You little—”

She cuts off his sentence, waving to Travis while increasing her pace towards the small DJ booth.

“How’s it going?”

“Good!” Travis responds, looking up from his phone.

“I’ll take first shift so you can see Katie,” Connor says, poking his head from behind the booth as he messes with some wires. Standing up he walks towards them with a smile.

“You look great Annabeth!”

She smiles back at him. “Thanks, you too!”

Connor grins. “Oh, I know.”

She raises an eyebrow at his confidence. “Do you? If so, then where is—”

“Alright, whatever,” he interrupts her teasing. “Everything is good, now go and take your snarling guard dog with you.”

She turns to see Percy standing by her side, he still hasn’t said a word this whole time, but honestly snarling guard dog isn’t that far off.

Failing at hiding her smile, she shakes her head and grabs Percy’s hand to pull him along. “Down boy.”

He shoots her and annoyed glance. “I’m not a fucking dog.”

“No? Then why are you snarling like one?” she teases, noticing that despite his frown he hasn’t pulled away from her grip.

“I’m not snarling!”

“Whatever you say!” She’s fully goading him at this point, and he knows it.

His eyes narrow as he’s undoubtedly about to strike back, but Rachel approaches them before he can.

“Hey Annabeth! The photobooth is all set up and…” she pauses, realizing Percy’s there and turns to him. “Oh, hi Percy!”

Now Annabeth knows that Rachel and Connor have this unspoken kind of thing going on, but for some reason her mouth doesn’t follow the logic and she ends up with a frown.

“Is everything okay?” Rachel asks, turning back to her and noticing the frown. Annabeth quickly schools her face into something passive.

“Yeah, sorry, just realized I need to ask Mr. Brunner something,” she replies, waving it off. Then with a smile she adds, “but it’s great to hear everything is set. You should let Connor know!”

And then she continues to pull Percy along, leaving a blushing Rachel behind.

“Who’s the dog now?” Percy teases as soon as they’re out of earshot.

She drops his hand, crossing her arms to look at him. “Still you.”

Percy is not done gloating though. “Oh, but you were jealous!”

She rolls her eyes. Why did she ever feel the need to kiss him again?

“You want me to be Jackson, doesn’t mean I was.”

“Oh, so you wouldn’t care if I went to go hang out with her then?”

Something inside her flares at the words. (Because it’s rude to leave your date and she thinks manners are important.)

 “You trying to run away from me?”

Percy’s gloating grin immediately disappears and she wonders if maybe she said the wrong thing. Or maybe she just said too much.

He approaches her slowly, getting closer and closer causing her heart rate to spike with every step until, finally, he grabs her hand and pulls her closer to him.

“You’re not getting rid of me that easily princess.”

She looks up to meet his darkened eyes. “Good.”

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[forevfangirlwrites]

play stupid games, win stupid prizes chapter 18

The next day is, thankfully, the last day before winter break. It’s maybe the only solace she has in all this is that at least she won’t have to be at school and around him for the next two weeks.

At least it was a good time to blow it all up, she thinks bitterly as she walks down the halls. There is no sign of Percy all morning, not by her locker or in the halls.

Math class brings trepidation because there’s no way they can avoid each other here right? And sure enough, he walks in a few seconds after the bell. She’s not supposed to look at him, and definitely not supposed to care, but she can’t help but notice the bags under his eyes and just how tired he looks. His shirt is rumpled and he just slumps into his seat without looking at anything else around him.

She turns quickly before he can notice that she was looking, but not looking doesn’t stop her mind from racing with thoughts. Why does he look so bad? Clearly this has affected him as much as her right?

It’s the first time she’s seen him since she told him she doesn’t care about him and walked away.

Maybe she actually had hurt him.

He’s the first to leave as soon as the bell rings and if there was any doubt left in her mind that everything was entirely messed up, this is proof it really has gone to shit.

She has a feeling he probably won’t show up to lunch either but even then she hesitates at the door of the cafeteria. After a whole day and a half of feeling like shit, she’s too exhausted to deal with much of anything, including the group.

Deciding to head to the library instead, she’s only a few steps in when the call of her name makes her turn around.

“Annabeth!” Connor walks up to her with a smile.

“Hey!” She tries to respond with the same energy and hopefully it works, she can’t really tell.

“Party at our place tomorrow night to celebrate the start of winter break, you’ll be there right?”

“Um…” The last thing she wants to do is go to a party. Then again, she doesn’t really know what she wants to do.

“Oh, come on! Piper is coming, I talked to her earlier.”

Well Piper will likely ask her to come with anyway. Maybe getting out of her house would be better than sitting in her room thinking about Percy (which is basically all she’d done last night.)

“Okay,” she relents after a second.

“Awesome! See you!”

She nods in response to his smile and looks up to see the librarian glaring at Connor as he walks out.

And though the situation is not the same, she can’t think about the first party Percy had goaded her into attending.

Stifling a groan, she dumps her bag on the table. Can this boy leave her mind for a single second? How is it even worse then when they were actually together?

-.-

As she had expected, Piper had been ready to ask her to come to the party when she’d cut off her friends pleading by saying she’d already accepted.

Piper had tried to hide her surprise, pivoting instead to getting her excited about the change of pace. She appreciates her attempts but honestly, she’d really only said yes so she’d be more effectively distracted from thoughts of Percy.

Thalia drives them and naturally the place is already full of people by the time they show up and of course she ends up losing both her friends in the first fifteen minutes.

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[forevfangirlwrites]

play stupid games, win stupid prizes chapter 15

Annabeth’s social life is officially the busiest it’s ever been. Not that she’s complaining but she really needs a day to catch up on her work. She’s not really running behind on assignments, but she likes to be ahead instead of on time.

She tells Thalia and Piper as much the next morning when they’re handing out by her locker.

“What about Percy?” Piper asks.

“What about him?” Annabeth responds. “I just said I’m going to the library today, what does he have to do with that?” But even as she says the words, she knows that, lately, everything has to do with him.

Piper shoots her a look. “You guys are practically a couple.”

“Practically being the key word here,” Thalia cuts in. “Have you talked about this? What are you doing with him? Because I swear if he’s stringing you along—”

“He’s not,” she says quickly in response to Thalia’s anger. “At any rate, if he is I’m letting him, knowingly too, so it’s not all on him.”

“That doesn’t make it better.”

“You’re right,” she looks up at the worry on her friend’s faces. “I know what you’re thinking. This can very easily be toxic if he’s leading me on, or not committing or whatever. But you have to believe that I’m okay. It’s not bad. I think…”

She takes a breath, speaking the words she hasn’t quite wrapped her own head around yet.

“I think we’re both just trying to see what’s happening right now.”

There’s an unsaid admission there and Piper picks up on it.

“You want there to be something don’t you?”

She just nods, unable to form the words.

“But what if he doesn’t?” Thalia pushes back.

“Then I leave.” Annabeth looks at Thalia. “If it comes to that, I’ll leave.”

Thalia nods and Piper puts a hand on her arm. “For what it’s worth Annabeth, I think he does too.”

“He supposedly wants that with other girls but then he dumps them,” Thalia mumbles.

“I agree, but…and maybe I’m wrong but…I think he really likes Annabeth,” Piper says. “That’s not to say he won’t hurt you,” she turns to Annabeth. “But he does like you.”

The bell rings and they separate, going their different ways to class. But Piper’s words continue to echo in her head.

She thinks Percy likes her too. But Piper is right, that doesn’t mean he won’t hurt her. In fact, she thinks, the only reason he can hurt her is because she likes him.

In a way her feelings towards him have given him power.

The thoughts continue the rest of the morning until she’s sitting in math class, realizing that unconsciously she’s watching the door, excited to see him. Quickly, she looks down.

Last time he had caught her he’d called her eyes pretty and smiled at her and—oh god, now that’s all she’s thinking about.

“What’s wrong princess?”

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