“But Annabeth just smiled and put us in jail. As she was heading back to the front line, she turned and winked. "See you at the fireworks?"She didn't even wait for my answer before darting off into the woods.I looked at Beckendorf. "Did she just...ask me out?"He shrugged, completely disgusted. "Who knows with girls? Give me a haywire dragon, any day."So we sat together and waited while the girls won the game.”

“Dance you guys!" Thalia ordered. "You look stupid just standing there." I looked nervously at Annabeth, then at the groups of girls who were roaming the gym. "Well?" Annabeth asked. "Um, who should I ask?"She punched me in the gut. "Me, Seaweed Brain." "Oh. Oh right.”

“Right before the game, she strolled up to me. "Hey, Seaweed Brain.""Will you stop calling me that?"She knows I hate that name, mostly because I never have a good comeback. She's the daughter of Athena, which doesn't give me a lot of ammunition. I mean, "Owl-head" and "Wise Girl" are kind of lame insults.”

“She glared at me like she was about to punch me, but then she did something that surprised me even more. She kissed me."Be careful seaweed brain." She said putting on her invisible cap and disappearing.I probably would have sat there all day, trying to remember my name, but then the sea demons came.”

“Annabeth glared at me like she was going to punch me. But she did something that surprised me even more...She kissed me.”

“Beckendorf walked up with his helmet under his arm. 'She likes you, man.''Sure,' I muttered. 'She likes me for target practice.''Nah, they always do that. A girl starts trying to kill you, you know she's into you.'Makes a lot of sense.”

“Can you surf really well, then?"I looked at Grover, who was trying hard not to laugh."Jeez, Nico," I said. "I've never really tried."He went on asking questions. Did I fight a lot with Thalia, since she was a daughter of Zeus? (I didn't answer that one.) If Annabeth's mother was Athena, the goddess of wisdom, then why didn't Annabeth know better than to fall off a cliff? (I tried not to strangle Nico for asking that one.) Was Annabeth my girlfriend? (At this point, I was ready to stick the kid in a meat-flavored sack and throw him to the wolves.)”