Hey everyone. I finally got my computer back and can update again. Yay! This is new and I don't really know about the format. Anyway here you go and tell me what you guys think in a review please.

)( )( )( )( )(

Annabeth

I used to have a normal life.

Well, as normal a life as a young girl's usually is.

My life used to consist of homework, family, friends, the discovery of boys. You know, the usual for a preteen girl living in San Francisco. I would wake up, shower, then dress in my favorite jean shorts and any old t-shirt, while throwing my curly blonde hair into a half-hazard ponytail.

I would head downstairs to get breakfast while giving my twin half-brothers morning hugs and try to avoid the step-monster since my dad was at his office this time of day. See, I have nothing against my brothers, loved them immensely in fact, but i could never bring myself to love, or even remotely like the woman that was there mother. When I think back on it I understand why.

My own mother was dead, leaving behind a daughter who was flown across the country at the age of seven to live with the father she only saw on every other holiday and went to stay with during the summers. Despite not seeing my dad that often before my mother's death, I loved him with all my heart. When I was young and was in the same room as both my parents, I could tell that they still loved each other, their marriage had just decided to fall apart.

When I was real young I would dream of them getting back together. But as I got a few years older, I realized it was a false hope. I can remember my older brother, Malcolm, telling me stories about how they used to be so perfect together. Then things fell apart. Dad's sponsors wanted to move him across the country. Mom was just starting her own architecture company and couldn't leave while it was still in its baby moments. Malcolm was just starting as a freshman at a prestiges high school. Dad decided to tell his sponsor that when Malcolm graduated,thats when he would go to California.

Only four years. Both of my parents thought that by then mom's company would be off the ground and she could open a branch in California and that she could fly back and forth to be with dad and still be able to run her company easily. Her family had money anyway so airfare wouldn't be a problem. They were fine with not spending as much time together, both okay with solitude. They were in fact spending less time together to prepare for the long distance. Only four years till the inevitable, right?

Well, one year later and I happened along and threw a wrench in the works. They didn't want to raise me in that kind of environment, where I wouldn't have at least one parent at all times because of their work schedules. So, when the time came for Malcolm's graduation came, so did the time for my parents' divorce. Mom moved to New York to be closer to her family and dad moved to San Francisco for work. I lived between the two till my mom died.

I was with my father for his wedding to my step-mother, there for the birth of my younger brothers. I was also with my dad when my mom died in a car crash, hit by s semi driver who fell asleep and drifted into the into the wrong lane. Not a scratch on him. He was only two exits away from his rest stop too. I can barely remember the funeral. I only remember feeling numb, constantly hugging my father and older brother, and meeting too many people, who I didn't know, that my mother considered "family".

You see Athena Chase nee Olympia's "family" wasn't her actual family in blood, just in bond. After her parents died when she was sixteen she was unofficially adopted by the Olympia family, who had always been close to her original family. When she reached her majority she took the Olympia name. She truly felt like she was one of them and they welcomed her with open arms.

These were the people I remember meeting at her funeral, a few were actually around my age. Afterwords, my brother went back to school to obtain his doctorate and I left for California with our father. The money my mother had made was put into a trust for myself along with the rights to her very successful company, which would be run by members of the Olympia family till my eventual take over. We knew that they would keep the company intact and prospering till then. My brother didn't want any of the money nor the company. He would make enough money with his future as a doctor with his loans already paid off. He also knew that I enjoyed architecture just as much as our mother, even at the age of seven..

So that's how it was, me living with my father and his new family in California, seeing Malcolm sometimes on major holidays. Still, I had known that my step-mother didn't like me. I was just the genius, little reminder of the woman my father still loved, despite her recent death. I also knew she was jealous of the money I had in my trust, despite my lack of access to it till my majority. Malcolm would say that she was jealous of my looks also, having the same looks as my mother despite her dark hair, having gained my father's hair color. I didn't quite believe him. I could understand having to look at a reminder of the woman your husband truly loved, but I thought I could never shine a light compared to my mother's radiant beauty.

Despite her jealousy and dislike, I tolerated Helen to the beat of my ability. Bobby and Matthew, though, they are easy to love. Regardless of the amount of noise they make. I'd enjoy just sketching buildings and such while half listening to my father recount many WWI battles to the boys and I while relaxing in the family room. That was his passion, my dad's, military history. Especially WWI planes, mainly the Sopwith Camel. To bad his passion ended up killing him.

Fredrick Chase died while flying his newly restored Sopwith Camel. First time he had flown it. The landing gear had malfunctioned and he ended up hitting propeller first into a huge tree, dying on impact. My twelve year old self was on the landing strip, waiting for my chance to take a short flight in the two person plane with him. For this funeral I wasn't numb. I was beyond numb, barely recognizing the fact Malcolm, who I rarely saw since our mother's funeral, was hugging me tightly while our younger brothers wept into their mother's sides.

When Malcolm went back to the East Coast I truly realized a life altering fact. A simple acknowledgement really, but one that made my heart break all the more. The fact being that now I was alone. My old, loved life completely crumpled like the metals of my mother's car and my father's plane. The void inside me seemed larger than the distance between Malcolm and myself. I admit that I began to become depressed and withdraw, not trusting that the other people I loved wouldn't be taken from me next.

Then, everything went to hell thanks the woman I am unhappy to call my step-monster.

)( )( )( )( )( )( )( )( )( )( )( )( )( )( )( )( )( )( )( )( )( )( )( )( )( )( )( )( )( )( )( )(

Hope you guys liked. Please review and I hope you guys check out my other stories. I don't know if I will continue if don't get reviews. You can even review or PM me just to tell to update, I don't care. Just no negativity or hate please. Bye love you all. :)