The List | Percabeth AU [ORIGINAL]

Chapter 36

                      

Annabeth

                     
Finally, Hazel found a lamp on a nearby desk and flipped it on. We were standing in a simple room with white walls. A large, paper-filled desk was centered in the middle. Next to the desk were bookcases and a small coffee station. Considering how loudly Mr. D's personality (and wardrobe) was, I was picturing some peculiar office with cheetah prints as walls and a student held prisoner or something.

    "So," I said as I studied the crowded table, "what do we do first?"

    "You know how he hates us all?" Leo said as he pulled out a folder. "Well, I took it upon myself to print out hundreds of photos of our class. We're going to super glue them literally everywhere. Frank, Hazel, and Piper, you guys do this with me. Percy, Annabeth, Nico, and Jason, you guys need to Jell-O everything."

    "Wait what?" Percy said, glancing up from a filing cabinet that he was rooting through.

    "Percy!" I hissed, "Don't do that!"

    He grabbed a folder, tossed it on the desk, and started reading the file. "What? It's my file. I just want to see what that bastard has written about me."

    He laughed. "Oh my God! I almost forgot about this."

    Percy's eyes glittered with amusement as he gestured for me to read the paper. As expected, his file was as thick as a brick, filled with what I assumed to be infractions Percy committed against the school. I rolled my eyes when I saw the paper:

Infraction no. 21

Percy Jackson on today, October 15, 2014, got one infraction for back talking an adult during one of his classes today. He, unexplainably, caused all the toilets on the second story bathroom to flood and blow up. I, personally, expect he did it on purpose, but Mr. Chiron won't let me expel him. He has the most infractions in the Freshman class, and his cocky attitude remains. I expect he will be expelled by the end of this year...

"21 infractions? Percy!" I exclaimed. "No wonder he hates you. You're honestly so lucky no one has expelled you yet."

Percy shrugged and gave his infamous I-did-something-bad grin. "Sorry, ma'am."

Leo, who was busy gluing a large photo of Jason posing as superman for Halloween, looked up. "21? I have to admit, I'm impressed, Jackson."

Percy's smile widened as he flipped through more stories by Mr. D. Occasionally, he muttered different phrases of praise for himself.

"Anyways," Leo said after a few minutes of noticing that I was still doing nothing, "what I was going to say before I got distracted was that you are in charge of placing all the objects in his desk in Jell-O. It's not going to be perfect, but I already have it all set. All you have to do it put the stuff in and add more solution. By morning, all his stuff should be good."

I nodded. It seemed easy enough. Leo provided me with a gigantic tub of set Jell-O. It was the perfect shade of grape. Although it happened to be Mr.D's favorite color, I didn't think he would appreciate the gesture.

I placed staplers, pencils, paperclips, and pretty much anything that would fit in the tub. After I was done, the container was full of Mr. D's school supplies. I added the hot solution and waited for it to cool. I hoped Mr. D would hate it.

After a while, we decided the office looked good enough. When we entered, the walls were eggshell white. Not anymore. There had to be thousands of pictures plastered up on the walls. On the ceiling, (don't ask me how they got there) were dozens of fat heads of the most famous troublemakers to pass through this office. I noted that both Percy and Leo were centered in the smack-dab center of the ceiling. Along with them, were the Stolls and a dozen other trouble makers my grade.

I didn't know how Leo got the chance to print out all the photos. He made them go in clockwise order, corresponding to the time passing. At the very end of the office was our Freshman year. Photos wrapped around the room until finally, the photos from Prom the other week were displayed.

It was insane to see the difference. For me, I looked taller, tanner, and more mature after the four years at Goode. In the Freshman photos, I noticed how rarely I appeared in them, the only time being for academic awards or sports things. Now, however, I was in almost all of the recent ones.

Suddenly, I felt overwhelmed with the emotions that washed over me. In the senior photos, I noticed how much happier and carefree I was.

After all, I'd gotten closer with every single person in the room within a span of six months than I had all three previous years. Especially, the boy who was standing right next to me, with his loveable personality and beautiful green eyes that I thought of the moment I woke up every morning. It dawned on me that at one point, I hated him.

Percy snaked his arm around my waist. "What's up?"

He glanced at me; his eyes were full of concern. His kissable lips were curved up into a small smile as he looked at different photos in front of us. I noticed all my other friends had left the room when they sensed we were having a moment. I was thankful but also filled with embarrassment.

I peered at a photo I didn't know existed. The camera quality was blurry, and the surroundings were dark due to the night sky. However, the people in it were unmistakable. It was Percy and me, sitting near the pool. Judging from the snow, I reckoned it was the night we first talked. We were huddled close, laughing. Percy's phone was out, and he was showing me something. I knew the exact moment it was taken. We were making the list. Then I thought of all the little tasks I had to complete by the end of the year. To my understanding, I had finished everything.

At first, I hated it. I couldn't see how Percy could possibly provide what I desired. But after peering at all those photos, I realized he was right. I did need to live a little.

"What are you thinking?" He asked softly. I turned, shifting my weight closer to him. Now we were inches apart, and I could feel the electricity coursing through my body. Every single heartbeat of mine was pronounced.

"I'm just thinking that...I love you." I pointed to the photo of us making the list.

He smiled. I could feel his hot breath fan my eager lips. After what seemed like a million years, he finally closed the final centimeters that separated us. It was a long, sweet kiss. Perfect.

Eventually, to my disappointment, he pulled away. "The list wasn't that stupid, now was it?"

I punched his arm. "Oh, it was. I just made the best out of it."

"Hey, I mean, you got the best boyfriend in the world. Also, you finally stayed up past 10 pm for once in your life," he protested.

"First of all, the latest was probably 11. Second of all, you're not that great."

He smiled at me knowingly. "Okay, fine."

I grabbed his hand and led us out to our friends. I couldn't shake the feeling of dread that passed over me when I turned away from the precious photo of us. I knew things would never be the same...

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Question: Since the List is finally completed, what was your favorite task Annabeth had to complete?

Personally, I love all of them, as they each had a role to play in Annabeth's development. But if I had to chose one it would either be the "say yes to everything for a day" or "wear something risky to school!" They "yes" task was so cute, and I thought it was adorable of Percy to set that whole thing up. And the "risky outfit" would be because of how flustered Percy got.

What are your thoughts?

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