The Player's Proposal

16: The Coffee

Annabeth POV

Percy rejected Rachel. He literally slammed the door in her face. I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't feeling giddy about it.

Percy looked like he wanted to get with Rachel. For a few minutes, I thought that he would have sex with her. Then, something happened, and he rejected her without hesitation.

Rachel wouldn't talk to us after the incident. I didn't blame her either. Percy was the playboy of Goode High who had sex with any girl, yet he didn't want to interact with Rachel. That must've stung, but I wasn't complaining.

The incident demonstrated how much the proposal meant to Percy. He was serious about finishing the three months, and that was a scary realization.

"Annie, we need to finish this project. Why do you keep zoning out?" Thalia asked.

"Sorry, Thals, I didn't mean to. I'm just distracted."

"What are you distracted about? Is everything fine at home?"

"Yeah, everything's the same at home. I'm not sure if you could call that fine. Sorry, I'm just thinking about Percy," I answered honestly.

Thalia paused coloring the chemistry poster. We were drawing and describing the quantum mechanical model of subatomic particles. It was a boring subject but an important one for scientists. I didn't care much about it though.

My best friend seemed deep in thought before looking at me.

"Why is Percy distracting you?" she asked seriously.

"Well, I didn't tell you this, but we tried to set Percy up last week. Rachel tried to seduce him so that we could make him break the proposal."

Thalia simply blinked and stared at me. I couldn't get anything from her neutral expression. Then, her face illuminated with anger. Her back straightened as she deadpanned me with a glare.

"Annie, why would you do something like that?" she snapped.

"What do you mean? We were trying to make him lose the deal. After all, I don't want him to win, Thalia."

"That's horrible, Annabeth. You were manipulating him, especially during a time of vulnerability," Thalia expressed angrily. Since when did Thalia start supporting Percy. She took a deep breath before continuing, "Look Annabeth. This proposal is awful, but Percy is a great guy. I don't appreciate this one bit."

"I understand that Percy's good. However, We are still in a war of sorts. I don't want to lose. Besides, Percy was just sick. I wouldn't say that it counts as vulnerability. Percy rejected Rachel anyway."

"Percy is going through a lot," Thalia hesitated. "I wish that this proposal didn't even happen, but please don't push him."

Thalia was actively supporting Percy by telling me to back off. While I felt bad about the incident, I didn't regret it. The incident showed that Percy was passionate about this proposal with me. I was happy that he rejected another beautiful girl's advances.

"What do you know about him?" I asked seriously.

"I can't say, Annabeth. Jason made me promise that I'd keep it a secret. Besides, it's not my place to tell anyone."

Jason was one of Percy's best friends. It made sense that he would tell his sister information that could change Thalia's mind about Percy. I wondered what Jason knew that I didn't.

We continued our chemistry project in silence.

***

Things got back to normal in the week to come. Percy returned to school, but he didn't interact with me much. I felt that he was ignoring me.