Annabeth was of no use to anyone right now. It wasn’t a feeling she was familiar with. The boys didn’t need help setting up and Chiron’s set up was too advanced for her to operate yet. She’d never had reason to examine it before, but she vowed to look it up later. Either way, she couldn’t do anything at the moment, so she sat at the bar next to a portly man with graying hair, drowning his sorrows in what smelled like an entire bottle of whiskey. She scooted a little further away from him.
It was nearly time for the audition; Leo had just finished setting up his drum set, refusing help from anybody. “Leo Valdez is the only one to lay hands on this equipment,” he’d stated proudly when Annabeth offered to help. Jason took that opportunity to point out the other piece of Leo’s equipment that only Leo ever laid hands on. He responded in kind, asking Jason if he wanted the honor himself. Annabeth sighed to herself and thanked every god she knew that Chiron was too busy setting up the lights and sound system to hear their exchange.
The anxious feeling that she needed to be doing something only grew as they came closer to being ready for the audition to start. She was bouncing her leg against the barstool, hard enough that it moved her whole body. She was too keyed up, too nervous. She needed to calm down.
“I’m going to the bathroom,” she announced to no one in particular. The man sitting next to her lifted his drink to her and then downed the rest.
She made her way down the back hallway, bypassing the restrooms and continuing on to the back exit. She was already digging in the bottom of her purse as she shouldered her way out. Her fingers found the pack and she pulled it out, tapping the bottom against the heel of her palm.
She’d just put the cigarette in her mouth to hold while she searched for her lighter when a voice spoke from the shadows beside her. “Need a light?” Annabeth squeaked in surprise, whirling to search for whoever had spoken. Not that there was any doubt who it was.
Percy leaned against the wall of the bar, watching her. He held out a lighter. She relaxed her frozen posture and cleared her throat. “Yes, thank you.” She took the lighter and lit up, taking a long drag before handing it back.
“So class prez does have a dirty little secret,” he mused, pocketing the lighter.
“I’m not even class president,” she said, spilling smoke as she did. “And it’s hardly a secret. Except from my family of course. I am trying to quit, though. Not cost effective.”
“Good. Smoking is bad for you, you know,” Percy replied, reaching for his back pocket. “It kills your lungs.” He pulled out a pack of his own. “Gives you cancer.” Took out a cigarette. “Kills you slow.” Put it in his mouth. “It’s a bad habit.” Lit it and took a drag. “Filthy, really.” Looked her over in a way that made heat blossom in her chest.
“Correct on all counts. But you forgot their way of making everything seem more manageable,” Annabeth said. “The grounding effect.”
“This is true. I’d pay quite a bit of money for that feeling. Well, more than I already do.”
“This is my last pack, then I’m quitting, I swear it. At least until finals, anyway.” Percy laughed, loud and deep. The rich sound wrapped around Annabeth and pulled the sides of her smile even wider.
“Maybe I’ll do it with you. At least until finals,” he winked.
“How does Rachel feel about your smoking?” Annabeth asked, curious. She’d never have guessed that Earth and health conscious Rachel Dare would date a smoker.
He made a face and looked down at his shoes, seeming to slump lower against the wall. “She’s not a fan, to put it lightly.”
“Oh.” Percy didn’t look back up at her, keeping his eyes on the ground. She didn’t know what had been said to make Percy look so glum, but she was sure it was her fault. Maybe he and Rachel fought about his smoking more often than she had thought. “Bet I can go longer without a smoke than you can,” she challenged in an effort to get him to smile again. Bets between them had been common when they were younger.
Percy remembered and immediately brightened, eager for the challenge. “You’re on, Princess.”
They counted down their last puffs together and put out their cigarettes at the same time. The bet was on.
It was considerably darker in the bar than it was outside, and it took Annabeth’s eyes a minute to adjust. When they did, it appeared that everyone had finished setting up. Percy took up position at the front of the slightly raised area in the back of the bar that served as a stage, with Jason on his right and Leo in the back. Annabeth watched from one of the tables in the middle of the bar and they waited for Chiron to take the chair opposite hers to begin.
“We’re going to start with a cover of Anthem Part Two by Blink 182,” Percy said into the microphone. Jason started playing right at the same moment Leo started hitting the drums, seeming to move at the speed of light. Then Percy started singing. “Everything has fallen to pieces, Earth is dying, help me Jesus….”
It was funny to watch Chiron’s face transform from annoyed and put upon to a kind of wonderingly impressed expression over the course of the song. Leo was on fire, slamming out the beat, and Jason laid down a beautiful harmony. Percy, of course, was perfect, belting out the song Annabeth had told him to turn down the night before, getting just the right amount of whiney quality into his voice that mimicked the original. Turns out that practice had been important after all.
They let the last cord reverberate around the room and fade away. The man at the bar clapped loudly and Annabeth joined a second later. Chiron schooled his face back to impassiveness. He showed his approval simply by gesturing for them to continue on with the next song. They played an original called Red is the Brightest Color. It was pretty obvious the song was for Percy’s redheaded girlfriend, not that Chiron would know that. But Annabeth did. It took her two seconds too long to start clapping at the end of that one.
They finished, watching at Chiron, waiting for the verdict. He was chewing on his bottom lip, eyebrows furrowed. Percy opened his mouth to break the silence, but paused when Annabeth held up a hand.
Finally, Chiron relaxed his tense position and face. “Okay, okay, you won me over. You guys can really perform. You can play here. We’ll work out a schedule later, maybe you’ll draw in that college crowd on the weekends. Just don’t let it interfere with your schoolwork. I don’t need any angry parents getting on my case.” The boys whooped with joy, and Annabeth allowed herself a brief moment of celebration before getting back to business.
“Thank you so much, Chiron. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure they stay on top of everything. You won’t regret this,” she said, hugging him for the second time that day.
“I believe you, kid. Now beat it, the band playing tonight will be here soon to set up,” Chiron shooed her away.
The boys quickly started packing up, once again refusing to let Annabeth help. “This part isn’t your job,” Percy told her as they put the last of it in the back of Jason’s van. “How did you like the show?”
“It was great. I mean, Chiron approved so it must have been,” she said, checking the time on her phone. Only five fifteen. They had time to kill before they needed to head to Piper’s.
“I didn’t ask if Chiron liked it, I asked if you did.”
“Oh, yes. I mean, yeah of course. I loved your cover.” There was no need to mention that she wasn’t particularly fond of the original they had played. “Blink is probably my favorite band.”
“How does a girl like you end up liking Blink?” he asked in wonder. A girl like her? What the hell did that mean? She doubted he’d meant to offend her, but it came out sounding like an insult. Like she wasn’t cool enough to like punk music. She narrowed her eyes at him. He backtracked quickly. “No, I just mean you don’t seem like the type that would typically like them. Like you seem more like an indie or underground band kind of girl.”
“We did grow up together, Percy. We listened to The Ramones on repeat for hours together. Bought that Green Day CD to share in the bunker together. We were bound to have similar tastes in music.”
“Oh yeah we did. God, those were the days. I remember the day we bought that CD. You were so excited for it, and we begged our parents for half the money each until they relented,” Percy said, mind far away, in a different time.
“And I made us listen to it over and over until we memorized the lyrics to all the songs,” she chuckled. “I think I probably still remember every song on that album.”
“I definitely do. That was the album that convinced me to start playing.”
“It was? I didn’t know that,” Annabeth said, surprised.
“It was. I saw how happy you were listening to it so I decided to learn to play it for you. But then, well, you know….”
“But then,” she repeated softly. Then Luke happened.
An abnormally dark look flitted across Percy’s usually cheerful face, but it was gone by the time Annabeth blinked. "Well Miss Manager, what's next on the agenda?"
Annabeth made a face. "That sounds like I'm not doing a good job. Miss manager, mismanaging."
"Oh yeah it does. Guess we gotta stick with Princess," Percy said with an exaggerated shrug.
Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Well Piper said no later than ten, so we should get there by at least nine to get everything in the house and set up. We have a solid couple hours before we have to do anything.”
“Let’s get some food then,” Leo said, coming around the side of the van. Annabeth hoped he hadn’t heard Percy call her princess. “I’m starving.”
“Cool, I’ll see you at nine then. I’ll text you the address if you give me your number,” she said, looking back at Percy.
“I don’t think so,” Jason yelled from the driver’s seat, the window down so he could hear the conversation. “It’s band bonding time. You’re coming with us.” He slapped the outside of the door twice.
“I’m not part of the band,” she objected. “Besides, I can’t leave my car here.”
“After pulling all this together for us there’s no denying it. You’re one of us now. Just gotta deal with it. Let’s drop your car off at home and then you can ride with us to the party. Then you can let loose a little, maybe actually have some fun. Jason is DD tonight since he has to take the van back so you can drink all you want,” Percy said. Then he frowned, considering for a moment. “I do still want your number, though.”
Annabeth waffled for a minute, weighing the pros and cons. Pro: she was actually getting along with Percy for the first time in a long while. Years, really. Con: the more time they spent together, the higher the chances of a fight breaking out. Pro: get to know the rest of the band better. Con: they might want to get to know her better too, which meant answering questions about herself. Pro: drink as much as she wanted without worrying about sobering up enough to make it home. Con: she’d be putting off her schoolwork for another night. Pro: food.
That last one won her over. “Yeah, let’s go get some food. And I should probably have all your numbers, actually.”
“Awesome, we’ll meet you at home then,” Percy said, jumping in the back of the van with the instruments and slamming the door as Jason gunned it, laughing as Percy lost his balance.
Jason, already knowing where Percy- and therefore Annabeth- lived, didn’t slow down to wait for her to catch up. They were all still in the van when she pulled up in front of her house, Sum 41’s Hell Song blasting out of the open windows. “There she is!” Leo yelled to be heard over the music. The side door to the van slid open to reveal Percy, crouching under the van’s low ceiling.
“There are no seats back here,” Annabeth stated the obvious. She hadn’t noticed when they were packing the equipment up.
“Yeah, it’s an old van. Don’t worry, you’ll be perfectly safe,” Percy tried coaxing her in.
“I’m a great driver,” Jason assured her. She was extremely skeptical after having watched him pull out away from The Big House but climbed in next to Percy anyway. They sat on the floor, facing each other with their backs to either wall of the van. Jason lurched away from the sidewalk.
“Alright, give me your phones so I can put my number in,” she said once she was confident that Jason’s driving was decent. She still wasn’t a fan, but at least he wasn’t going to kill them all. They all obliged, and she programmed her number in, sending texts of their names to herself from each so she would have theirs, too.
They pulled up in front of a pizza parlor not too far from the school and Jason cut the engine. The sudden lack of music made Annabeth’s ears ring and her chest feel empty.
“How do I open this?” she demanded after a couple unsuccessful tries to pry open the sliding door.
“Oh, you just have to jiggle the handle up and down. Here, I’ll show you.” He pressed close behind her so he could reach around her, putting one hand on her shoulder for balance. She stiffened under his touch and he let go quickly. “Sorry,” he mumbled, jerking the door to the side.
Inside the parlor it was dark and loud, clearly a college student hangout. They’d clearly come in the middle of the dinner rush. The place was nearly full and it took a bit of looking to find an empty table that was clean.They took a seat in the back corner booth, Jason and Leo on one side and Annabeth boxed in by Percy on the other.
“So, Annabeth,” Leo started. Annabeth sighed quietly, waiting for the inquisition to start. “Settle an argument for us.” Wait, what? “What do you put on your pizza?”
“Don’t drag her into this,” Percy warned, but he had a slightly smug look on his face, like he’d already won.
“Afraid you’ll be further outnumbered, Jackson?” Jason asked.
“Okay then, fine. Tell us, Annabeth, what kind of pizza do you prefer?”
“Extra cheese and that’s it. Same as you,” she answered, confused. Percy already knew all her favorites, and she his.
“Are you kidding me?” Leo groaned.
“That is the most boring option you could’ve chosen,” Jason commiserated.
Now she understood Percy’s expression. “I see, you hoped to use me as ammo against Percy’s pizza preferences. This didn’t turn out well for either of you, did it?” Annabeth laughed with Percy. “What do you guys put on your pizza?”
“Leo puts jalapenos on his, and Jason is a fan of Hawaiian,” Percy chuckled.
“Fine, I suppose it’s one one half jalapeno and one half Hawaiian and one extra cheese pizza,” Jason shook his head in defeat.
“Sounds good to me. I’m going to go smoke before we eat. Excuse me, Percy,” she said, turning to face him.
“You smoke?” Leo asked, surprised.
“Not anymore,” Percy answered for her, a twinkle in his eye as he looked down at her.
“Oh, fuck, that’s right,” she muttered. She cursed herself for coming up with this stupid bet.
“You smoke and you say fuck?” Leo looked scandalized. “That class president front is just a lie then?”
“I’m not even the class president!” Annabeth said, exasperated.
“You’re not? Wow, I should really figure out who the class president is then.”
They were all still laughing when the waiter came to take their order. Percy put his arm on the back of the booth seat and Annabeth settled into a comfortable rhythm of getting to know the boys and letting them know her. She found herself relaxing, even without the help of a cigarette.
Annabeth sighed. “Look Chiron, they’re good. Just give them a chance, would you?” She didn’t actually know if the Half Bloods were any good because she’d never actually heard them play, but she wasn’t about to tell Chiron that. She’d heard Percy play, and for now that was good enough.
“I’ve never even heard of them. They’re just a high school garage band. And punk music doesn’t really fit the atmosphere of my place. We’re not a dive. Our customers probably aren’t going to be interested in them,” Chiron said, wiping down his counter. “Shouldn’t you be in school?”
“Free period. I’ll be back in plenty of time. And that’s your problem, Chiron, you need something with an edge that will appeal to a younger demographic. Namely the college kids around here. Have the band play on the weekends. That’s when the college kids are out anyway and you can take advantage of that, you just need something to bring them in. The Half-Bloods can give you that.” She had already gone through the list of the arguments she thought he would bring up and thought of counters for all of them on the ride over.
“The Big House already has a reputation that doesn’t include punk. Nobody is going to expect a rock show here and I don’t have money for advertising. The best I can do is put up a sign on the door saying that they’re going to play. I don’t think that’s going to pull in many people, kid.”
Okay, every argument except that one.
Annabeth laughed it off anyway, lying smoothly. “You’re worried about PR? Please, I’ve got that covered. Just let them come in and audition this afternoon and you’ll see how good they are. Let me handle everything else. You know me Chiron, have I ever steered you wrong when it came to money?”
Chiron thought for a moment, then finally relented. “Yeah, you were a pretty big help with the remodeling on my budget. Fine, kid. Bring them in after school and we’ll see. Now get going. Can’t have you being late to school because you were hanging around in my bar,” he chuckled.
“Thank you! You won’t regret it,” she promised, hugging the much taller man.
She allowed herself a moment of brief celebration when she reached her car. She was already pulling her weight as manager. Percy would be thrilled.
The minute she arrived at school, she went searching for her friends. She found them quickly in front of her locker, apparently waiting for her.
“Hey,” they said in unison as Annabeth approached. Hazel was covered in paint and marker spots, which wasn’t out of the ordinary, but Piper was dressed in her uniform, indicating that there would be a football game tonight. Hazel’s boyfriend, Frank, was a linebacker for the football team as per his father’s wishes, so Hazel was among the few that painted banners and posters that hung all around the halls to build school spirit before the game. They also did face paintings of the team mascot, a pegasus, at the game to raise money for the art program. Piper was a cheerleader, but she was probably one of the least cheerful people Annabeth had ever met. She was only doing it for her college resume, not that she really needed it. Her father honestly could’ve just paid any college to take her, but she wanted to get in on her own merit. Annabeth admired her greatly for that.
“Hey,” Annabeth responded, slightly out of breath. “I have an emergency.”
“What’s up?” Hazel asked worriedly.
“No time to explain everything, class starts in four minutes. Short version: I’m Percy Jackson’s band manager. I got him an audition at The Big House but I need to get the word out about his band so people will actually show up to see them perform,” she said in a rush, barely breathing.
“A public relations problem you say?” Piper smiled mischievously .
“I think we could probably do something about that,” Hazel said. “But I thought you hated Percy?”
“I do. Not the point. I’ll tell you guys about it later. Two minutes to class.” With that, she hurried off to her Engineering and Design class.
Not ten minutes into it, she got a message from Piper in the group chat. Party at my house after the game. Bring the band. No later than 10. Now explain yourself.
Annabeth smiled to herself and began explaining her predicament.
~~~~
When the school finally broke for lunch, she went to her locker to put away her books and wait for Piper. Hazel was going out to lunch with Frank, so Annabeth wouldn’t see her again until after the game. Annabeth had been planning to go to support her friends, but she’d be too busy prepping the band for the party.
Piper walked up and bumped Annabeth’s hip with her own. “You ready to deliver the exciting news?” she asked sarcastically. “I can’t believe you got roped into this. I can’t believe you roped me in.” Piper wasn’t as ecstatic as Percy had been last night about Annabeth accepting the position of band manager. She handed Annabeth a key. “To the house. You can set up before everybody shows up for the party. You know how the speakers work better than I do.”
Annabeth rolled her eyes and smiled but didn’t respond as they walked outside to the grassy area behind the school where some students chose to eat their lunches when the weather was warm, including Percy, Jason, and Leo.
She looked around, searching for the boys. She found two of them, Percy and Leo, sitting in the shade of one of the trailers that housed extra classrooms, looking up as though they expected to find something other than clouds in the sky. Jason was nowhere to be found.
“You ready?” a disembodied voice called.
“Yes, just do it already!” Leo yelled back at the sky.
Annabeth looked around, bewildered, until she saw a shadow on top of the trailer. Before she had a chance to yell for him to stop or for the boys to move, Jason took a running start and vaulted off the roof, doing a flip. She heard Piper mutter, “Wow,” under her breath. Annabeth was not as impressed, watching in abject horror as Jason went end over end off the roof, landing squarely on Percy and Leo.
She ran toward the boys to make sure they were all okay. Everybody was staring at them all, thanks to Jason’s stunt. She felt slightly embarrassed to be seen with them, the assumed valedictorian and a cheerleader talking to the burnouts. No doubt there would be rumors following this.
Annabeth shook the thought off. It was wrong to be embarrassed by them just because they were different from her usual crowd. If she was going to manage them, she was obviously going to be seen around them. She made herself focus on the dog pile in front of her.
With a lot of grunting, yelling, punching, and wiggling, the boys finally managed to disentangle themselves. They finally noticed the girls watching them and straightened up. Both Leo and Jason were blatantly checking Piper over, but Percy had eyes only for Annabeth. She would have blushed, but then she remembered Rachel and realized he was probably just still grateful for her help.
“Are you done now, Superman?” Annabeth said to cover any redness that might have snuck into her cheeks.
“Yes,” Jason said sheepishly. Piper smirked at him, and he was the one blushing now.
“Good, try not to mess yourselves up before tonight. I believe we all know each other vaguely, but I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced. I’m Annabeth, and this is Piper. Percy told me you might be interested in me as a manager,” she said in a no nonsense tone of voice, holding her hand out to shake theirs.
“Oh yeah, Percy mentioned that,” Jason said, shaking her hand and then Piper’s. He held hers just a beat too long before tearing his gaze from her to look back at Annabeth. “I’m Jason, bass and back up singer.”
“Leo. The drummer, obviously,” the short boy said, shaking her hand just a little too enthusiastically. “Percy says you’re going to help us with some gigs. And that you walk on water.”
“I did not,” Percy said indignantly.
“Whatever, you wouldn’t stop talking about her,” Leo snorted.
“That is an exaggeration,” he protested, then quickly changed the topic. “Why tonight, is something happening?
“We have a few things on the to-do list today.” Annabeth looked at Percy, because he was the only one she really knew. “You have an audition tonight at The Big House. Be there by 4:30. At 11, you’ll be doing a couple sets at Piper’s post-game party for publicity so people know you’re good and will actually come watch you at The Big House, assuming you get the gig. You will be there, you will not be late.” Annabeth looked at the other two now. “All of you.”
They were clearly impressed she had managed to book them twice in one day, her first day as manager. They stood in silence, just gaping at her. Percy was the one to recover first. “See, I told you guys. She’ll be a great manager.”
“I’ll say,” Leo muttered. Piper laughed, clearly delighted to see they had underestimated Annabeth.
“I need to talk to Percy real quick, will you be okay for a minute?” she asked Piper.
Piper scoffed. “Of course. Go ahead, I’ll wait.”
Annabeth walked a little ways away, putting them in the sun. She heard a soft gasp from behind her. She turned back around. “Are you okay, Percy?” He stood behind her, not moving, just looking at her. “Do I have something stuck to me?”
“No, no,” he assured her. “Just a pain spasm from Jason. Don’t worry about it. What did you need to talk to me about?”
She was skeptical, but instead of pressing, she asked, “How many original songs do you have?”
Percy thought for a minute. “We have the whole album plus a couple others that were finished after the recording. About twenty in all. That are ready, anyway. We have a few that haven’t been finished yet.”
“That’s perfect. At the audition, play one cover and one original song. The cover will be used to compare to the original to show that you are as good as a band that’s made it big, and the original will show that you’re creative enough and good enough to be able to come up with it and display your own style. At the party you’ll be playing your own songs the whole time, unless you have any songs memorized that you can cover.”
“Got it. I think we might have a few we could reasonably cover,” he agreed. “You really are good at this.”
This time, Annabeth did blush. “Just doing my job.” They both stood there awkwardly, not knowing what else to say. “Well great then. I’ll see you at the bar.” She started to turn back to where their friends were sitting and talking.
“Wait.” She pivoted back. “Thank you again. You’re really helping us out, getting us where we need to go. Thanks, princess.”
She felt her stomach tighten a little, but she put on an annoyed face and glared at him. “Don’t let anybody else hear you call me that.”
“Naturally,” he replied. “That’s just an us thing.” He winked and walked backwards to the other three, smiling widely as he did so.
love the idea that luke would get jumped as soon as he reached elysium or if he reached it at all bc I doubt stabbing urself in the armpit cancels out the whole fact u tried to kill some 6th graders and in some cases actually got away with it lmao
annabeth being denied affection & care & attention her whole life vs. percy being like “she [annabeth] smiled for the first time in days and that made it all worthwhile”
annabeth being abandoned so many times in her life vs. percy turning to look at her at the end of tlo and then facing the gods and refusing immortality...........
annabeth’s welfare being rarely if ever prioritised by other people her whole life vs. percy going “the world was collapsing, and the only thing that really mattered to me was that she was alive”
Annabeth feeling unwanted and abandoned by literally everyone vs Percy almost having a panic attack thinking he was gonna lose her to the hunters in Titan’s Curse
"You dropped this" @annabethfuckingchase - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
