That Rachel Elizabeth Dare. Annabeth thought to herself. R.E.D. That's exactly what she was seeing. She was seeing red every time she thought about Rachel. But what really got Annabeth's blood boiling was seeing Rachel and Percy together. The thought of Rachel and Percy made her see infrared, a wavelength just higher than red, if that were even possible.
Rachel was rich. She had a huge mansion with an entertainment system equipped with a massive flat screen and an Xbox, Wii, Playstation and any other game console you could think of. Every meal was like a banquet. She even had a gigantic pool with diving boards and a slide. At least that's what Percy had told her. Annabeth had never been to Rachel's place before. It's not that Rachel didn't invite her, it's just that Annabeth couldn't stand to be around Rachel. Annabeth always politely declined her offer. Well, actually, her decline wasn't exactly polite. The words were polite but the tone wasn't quite there yet. Annabeth would have to work on her tone some more.
This sounded crazy, but sometimes Annabeth wished Rachel would be mean to her. At least then she would have a good excuse for not liking her. As a daughter of Athena, she was logical and always came to decisions in a reasonable manner but for some reason she couldn't evaluate Rachel's character in a logical way. Rachel was kind to everyone, even kind to Annabeth. She was funny, without being rude, obnoxious or offensive. She was brave, and, dare she say, daring. She was a strong and smart female who was not afraid to share her opinions, but she was still opened minded and respectful. No doubt, these were all noble characteristics. In fact, Annabeth hated to admit it, but there needed to be more people in the world like Rachel. And still, Annabeth couldn't justify why she didn't like Rachel.
Maybe Annabeth didn't like Rachel because she was pretty. She had gorgeous red hair and when it was straightened, she looked like Arielle the mermaid. Rachel had porcelain skin dotted with freckles on her cheeks. Rachel was on the short side, standing at 5' 3" and that got her a lot of teasing. It was good natured teasing, though. The Stoll brothers would make an overused term like short stack, they would proceed to laugh at their own joke, and then Rachel would get pretend annoyed. Annabeth wouldn't call herself an attention hog, but the attention that Rachel got was just excessive and unnecessary. Yes, she has coppery hair. Yes, she has olive green eyes. Yes, that's a rare and beautiful combination. Annabeth just wished everyone would accept those facts and get over it and stop making comments about how Rachel's head was on fire or something stupid like that.
Rachel pretty much had the whole package. She was kind, smart, pretty, and fun. But the ribbon on the package was that she had Percy. Rachel and Percy went to the same high school while Annabeth stayed at camp. Every once in a while Annabeth would get an Iris Message from Percy. Normally, Annabeth would be happy to hear from Percy, one of her only friends, but lately getting an I.M. from him was like a slap in the face. He would tell her all about school and how much fun he was having. Annabeth thought it was silly, but she felt almost hurt and betrayed that Percy was enjoying school. Whenever she tried to get him to go to the library with her or when she tried to teach him calculus, he got bored or fell asleep. Now that he was with Rachel, all of a sudden he loves school.
Sometimes Annabeth wished Iris Messaging was more like using a cell phone so she could pretend that the signal was bad and hang up. The last time Percy called, he told her about the latest prank he and Rachel pulled off. He claimed that he and Rachel would become legends at the school. Annabeth wanted to yell at him about how pulling pranks is juvenile and wrong, but she figured that would only drive him farther away from herself and closer towards Rachel. Instead, Annabeth put on her best smile. Annabeth wasn't a very good actress. If it were anybody besides the obtuse, seaweed-of-a-brain, Percy Jackson, they would have noticed her smile was fake.
Annabeth felt like she was getting replaced. She and Percy were supposed to be the dynamic duo, the dream team. After all, they went on quests together and saved each other's lives on multiple accounts. Instead, here he was telling Annabeth about how he and Rachel made a good team. He even suggested that Annabeth should come hang out with them because "Rachel's amazing! She's so much fun. We're going paintballing next Saturday!"
From the sounds of it, Annabeth bet that Percy and Rachel were glued at the hip. They probably walked to school together in the morning. They probably spent lunch together. They were probably partners for every class activity. Rachel and Percy were just compatible for each other. Percy and Rachel shared the same mischievous glint in their eyes while Annabeth was a stickler for the rules. Annabeth liked reading and designing buildings while Percy and Rachel liked comic books and video games. Percy procrastinated with everything while Annabeth liked to do things as soon as she was assigned it. Annabeth liked order and schedules while Percy was relaxed and just went with the flow. Percy liked dogs while Annabeth was more of a cat person. Maybe Annabeth was unnecessarily blaming Rachel. Maybe it was her fault because she didn't have anything in common with Percy. Or maybe it was Percy's fault. He was just so darn obtuse about things not concerning water, sword fighting and questing. Annabeth doubted that Percy knew she liked him.
Annabeth dropped subtle hints but he never picked up on them. It was obvious to everyone else, even to Rachel. That's why Rachel requested to meet with Annabeth. She wanted to call a truce between them. What are you talking about? There's no feud between us. Annabeth had said. Rachel raise her eyebrows at her in disbelief. Really, there's no feud unless you have a problem with me because I don't have a problem with you. Annabeth said as kindly as she could. Okay. Rachel nodded, still not quite buying it. Another reason why Annabeth disliked Rachel. Rachel had to be the bigger person and call a truce.
Annabeth disliked Rachel, but who she disliked even more was herself. She hated that she was jealous of another person. She hated that she disliked a girl for being a model citizen. She hated that she was upset over some boy, even if he was the saviour of Olympus and had the most beautiful eyes. It was irrational and completely against her logical nature, but Annabeth couldn't help but see infrared at the sight of Rachel Elizabeth Dare.