The Player's Proposal

31: The Scars

Annabeth POV

"UGH, I HATE POOL PARTIES," I exclaimed.

I tried so hard to turn the vote of my friends, but they still decided to have a pool party for the Stolls' birthdays. We were throwing a surprise party for their seventeenth birthdays.

Piper rolled her eyes while Hazel laughed.

The three of us were walking to class after lunch. The Stolls were absent today, so it gave us the perfect opportunity to decide on a venue. Piper had access to the private indoor swimming pool in her community. Since it is Winter, we needed an indoor setting.

"Why couldn't we go with Percy's suggestion. The trampoline park is a lot of fun," I complained.

"What is your problem with pool parties, Annabeth?" Piper asked.

"I don't like the concept of pool parties. Everyone is pretty much half-naked, and I have to deal with the constant stares from the guys because I'm still single," I snapped. "Connor and Leo in particular are way too flirtatious."

"GIRL, deal with it. You have a sexy body. Just own it and show it off."

Hazel laughed while I blushed. Sometimes, I wondered if Piper was bisexual. She randomly compliments guys and girls alike without any filter.

"Besides, you probably won't have to worry about Connor or Leo this weekend because everyone knows that Percy likes you."

"Yup. The bro-code will be active," Hazel confirmed.

I froze in the middle of the hallway. Piper and Hazel bumped into me while I simply stared at them in confusion. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"It's so obvious, Annabeth. Percy likes you," Hazel responded.

I sighed. "If he liked me, then we wouldn't have pulled away from our kiss. But, he did. He didn't want to be kissing me."

"HOLD UP," Piper shouted.

I winced while looking around the hallway. The entire student body froze as they turned towards Piper's commotion. I forgot that I haven't told my friends about Percy's and my kiss. They didn't know about all the drama.

I scolded Pioer while pulling them both into a nearby classroom. Mr. Bruner was sitting at his desk, but he told us to continue. He had a small smile on his face while he went back to grading papers.

Hazel, Piper, and I sat down before I explained last Friday night.

"Wow, I can't believe Percy reacted like that. He likes you so much, so why would he pull away? That makes no sense," Piper huffed in frustration.

"Maybe, Percy has other issues right now."

"That never stopped him from getting into relationships," Piper commented. "Although, Annabeth is special to him, so it could be different. He could be feeling different."

I continued to listen to their commentary about my love life.

I like Percy a lot, and I want to see where our relationship could go. However, I can't do anything if he doesn't want to. I realized that I know Percy, but I don't know about his life.

"Girls, may I intrude into your conversation?" Mr. Bruner asked. He wheeled himself towards us as we watched him.

"Sorry, Chiron, were we being too loud?" Hazel asked shyly.

"Well, yes. You were being quite loud. As such, I couldn't help but hear you all talking about Percy Jackson. He's quite an interesting character, isn't he?"