Who: Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase What: Talking about studying When: Backdated: Mid April Where: USC Library Rating/Warnings: Family Friendly Status: Complete!
Percy had been reading a lot about people’s dreams lately and to be quite honest, he felt a little left out. Every time he logged onto Valarnet someone was talking about dreams about vampires or superheroes or time travel and even the ones that sounded more or less normal still sounded better than the weird, disjointed dreams that Percy usually had. Dreams that usually had to do with school or friends back in New York or even sometimes various celebrities he liked. None of them thought felt anything like the dreams other people talked about. In fact, just the night before, he’d had another dream about school. In this particular dream, he’d been twelve and on a field trip at the museum. As far as Percy was concerned there was nothing strange about a field trip to the museum. The only strange part of the dream had been that he hadn’t recognized any of his classmates or teachers as anyone he knew in real life, but then again, dreams didn’t always have anything to do with real life.
As normal as the dream had been, Percy had found himself thinking about it throughout the day and he was currently in the school library, sitting at one of the long tables, attempting to do some homework,but his mind kept wandering as it tended to do since he had ADHD and all.
Dreams were not something that Annabeth liked to focus on. She had more important things to focus on. Yet, as soon as she had mentioned not having weird things happen? Weird dreams started happening. She knew that she should have never said never about something like that. It was just asking for trouble. Annabeth’s spider dream had yet to stop, and she wasn’t exactly too excited to go back to sleep ever again. Not that she had the chance to sleep lately. With finals coming up, she was constantly studying. Focusing was hard enough for Annabeth without having to have wild college students making insane amounts of noise all day and all night. She had tried to handle the situation with words, but the more she protested, the louder they got. Eventually, she gave up and headed to the library, hoping that she would be lucky enough to be able to get some quiet studying in.
Her books were clutched tightly to her chest as she pushed open the library doors and entered the relative quietness of the library. Once inside, she took a second to bask in silence before she made her way to find a table to work at. It didn’t take her long to notice a familiar face, though. She couldn’t help but smile as she made her way over to where Percy was currently sitting. Annabeth slid into the seat across from him and placed her books quietly onto the table. “You look like you’re thinking really hard about something.”
Percy looked up as Annabeth sat down across from him and he couldn’t help the small smile that began to cross his lips. He and Annabeth had been friends for a couple of months now and if he were completely honest, he might have a bit of a crush on her; not that he was going to admit it. Nope, not at all. “Just trying to study. I think I’ve been reading this same page for the last twenty minutes though.” He ran a hand through his hair, pushing it away from his forehead.
Leaning forward, she rested her arms onto the table and smiled at him. Annabeth liked Percy. He was different from most of the people she knew, and she liked that about him. She probably liked that about him a little too much, but admitting that to anyone was out of the question. It could ruin their friendship, and she wasn’t about to let that happen. Instead of lingering on any of those thoughts she shook her head and focused on the book in front of him. “I was trying to study in my dorm, but people there just have no respect. I told them to quiet down, but it only made them louder.” She huffed. “So, here I am.” It wasn’t a bad alternative. “What are you trying to study? Or what’s got you so distracted?” She asked as she started to pull out the things she needed to study.
“You would think that everyone else would be trying to study too instead of making noise and playing their music too loud.” There were also the occasional people who were clearly having sex, but Percy didn’t want to think about that. “I was trying to study history. And not the fun history. This is the boring history.” There were some aspects of history that Percy did find interesting and was easier for him to pay attention to, but there were others that were so boring that Percy would rather watch paint dry.
“You would think, but instead my floor is just a bunch of loud and inconsiderate human beings.” She huffed. “I’d love to get a place of my own. That way I wouldn’t have to worry about any of this.” It was definitely something she had been considering. Or at the very least -- something she was daydreaming about on a daily basis due to her current predicament. Just the mere thought of having her own place made her smile. Annabeth could only hope that she wouldn’t have to wait too long before turning her daydream into reality. For a moment, she had forgotten where she was and whom she was talking to. She shook her head and rolled her eyes at him. “Boring history? What exactly do you consider boring history?” Annabeth couldn’t help but wonder if she found the same history stuff to be boring or exciting. Then again, she loved pretty much everything.
Annabeth opened her math book and glanced down at it. “My math final is first, and it’s my most important final. I need to do well. Today and tomorrow are my math days. I’ve got it all scheduled out to make sure I get my optimum study time in.”
“My own place would be cool, but I might live with my mom and Paul next semester. They’re coming out here next week to look at houses,” This school year was the first time Percy had been away from his mother for more than a summer when he’d gone to camp between junior high and high school so he’d been extremely happy when Sally had told him that her and his stepfather had been talking seriously about moving across country.
He pushed his history book across the table to Annabeth, “This boring history. And I’m dreading my math final. If only I wasn’t minoring in business, I probably wouldn’t need math.”
Annabeth smiled at him, happy to hear that he might have family moving near him. There was a flicker of sadness that crossed her face, though, when she thought about her own family. There was no way her family would ever make a move like that for her. They had their life, and as much as Annabeth was a part of it, she knew that she was always on the outskirts of their family. “That’s great, Percy,” she said, putting the smile back on her face. “Well, if I do get m own place you’ll have to come over. We can study or have movie nights.” She liked the idea.
Pulling his book closer to her she arched a brow. “Oh, this isn’t that bad. You’re just being dramatic.” She shoved the book back at him and tapped the pages. “I could always help you if you wanted.” Not that she had a whole bunch of free time on her hands, but she was sure she could find some time for him. “Are there any finals you are excited about? Math isn’t really that bad. Especially if you’ll obviously need it in the future.”
“It’s still kind of boring.” Percy said, closing the book. As long as Annabeth was there, it was unlikely that Percy would actually get any studying done. He still had time before the final, so he didn’t have to get all his studying in that night, “Probably my finals for my video game design classes.” That was the stuff that Percy enjoyed. That was the stuff that Percy wanted to do most.
“It doesn’t have to be boring. We could make it fun,” she said with a little shrug. Sometimes when she had trouble studying she would turn things into her own game to help her remember the important details she needed to remember for her tests. Annabeth glanced down at her own book and then scribbled something onto the sheet of paper she had pulled out a few minutes before. “Do you have to make anything? What does that sort of final even look like?” She suspected that those sort of finals required something more than just studying from a book. “You’ll have to show me what you’ve got planned.” Annabeth was actually quite interested in it.
“Maybe you could help me then. It’d be nice to get better than a C this time.” Besides, Annabeth helping him study meant that Percy would get to spend more time with Annabeth and he would never pass up a chance to spend more time with her. He noticed her write something down, but didn’t want to seem too nosey, so he didn’t ask. “We’ll have a series of things we’ll need to do. Coding and stuff like that.” Now those finals he would most likely get As on.
She smiled. “I’m sure if we work together we can make that happen. Just name the time and place and I’ll be there.” Offering to help was something she did because she really did want Percy to succeed. On the other hand, she had ulterior motives. Being able to spend more time with Percy had it’s perks, and she knew that she needed to make more of an effort to spend time with her friends. Percy was friend. It made sense. Annabeth made sure to organize her things a little before glancing up at Percy again. “Do you get to make your own games yet? Or is that later?”
“I’ll look at my schedule and let you know.” Percy smiled, opening the book again even though he wasn’t really going to get any studying done at the moment. In response to her question he shook his head, “No, not yet. That comes later. Still got a lot to learn about designing and coding.” Percy still had a long way to go, but he was in it for the long haul.
Annabeth nodded at him. “I’ll text you, and then you can let me know what works for you. How does that sound?” Her head tilted some and she tapped her pen on her chin lightly as she waited for his answer. It made sense that the fun stuff was later. She assumed he had to get through the basics in order to get to what he really wanted to do. “That makes sense. Just like architecture. I have to start at the bottom before I jump right into building.” But then, most things were like that. Her attention turned back to her book, scanning a few lines and then writing a few notes down. She had almost forgotten why she was in the library.
“Great. I look forward to it.” Percy smiled across the table at Annabeth then closed his book again, “I should get going. I’ve got a project I have to finish for one of my design classes.” If he stayed in the library with Annabeth, Percy didn’t think that he would get anything done, because he’d be far too distracted. Putting his book in his backpack, Percy got to his feet, “Have fun studying and I’ll talk to you later.”
“Me too,” she said with a bright smile. Even though she would never admit it, she couldn't help be a bit sad that he was leaving already. Annabeth knew it was for the best since she had her own studying to do. Besides, she promised to text him soon, and she was sure that they would run into each other again. “Have fun with that project. I promise to text you soon so that we can set something up to study together.” Just the thought made her stomach flip, but she ignored it. Instead, without another glance at him she looked back to her book and began a long night of studying.