I never remember having a mom. My dad said Mom died from cancer when I was two and my big brother Luke was six. So it was just us three until I was seven and Luke was nine, when Dad decided to remarry to a rich Barbie doll named Aphrodite and her two twin klutz daughters named Drew and Silena. They were also seven. It didn't take Luke and I long to realize that Aphrodite, Drew, and Silena resented us. They threatened Luke if I told Dad, so we struggled through it. But when Dad died in a car crash when I was ten, things only got worse. They made Luke and I do all the work in our huge house and if we weren't as smart as we were, we could have failed in school. But now I am sixteen, a junior in Goode High School in Manhattan, and Luke is twenty and going to New York State University. I have figured out a good routine of balancing homework, housework, and my own stuff.
*beep beep beep* I groan and slap my alarm clock. 6:30 a.m. I wish it didn't say that. I roll out of bed and run my hand through my curls. I skip a shower and put on ripped skinny jeans, my orange summer camp tee shirt and converse. I flip my hair into a pony tail and take the stairs two at a time up fron my basement room and into the living room. I go make french toast for it's frying, I go up stairs and bang on the doors of Drew and Silena. Then I hurry back down stairs and flip the toast. Once it is all cooked, Silena and Drew are finally in the kitchen.
"It's only 7:00," Drew complains."Why do you have to get us up so early, Annabeth? You know what, I'm going to tell Mom."
"No, I am!" Silena argues.
"I don't care which one of you tells, Aphrodite told me to." With that, I serve breakfast, and scarf down mine. Bus comes at 7:15, don't forget." I clean up after they are done and leave, but just as I am done, Aphrodite decided to honor me with her presence.
"Good morning, Annabeth, I hope you got the girls up in time?" She left the unsaid threat hanging in the air.
"Of course," I said. I got a plate of orange crepes with chocolate drizzle out of the fridge and hand them to her. "The crepes you ordered." She lifted them to her nose and sniffed them.
"I hope they are made correctly?" I nodded. "Good. You may get ready after you make our beds." I clenched my jaw. She has no right to talk to me like I am her slave. But I nod and leave or she will take away my phone privileges. Go figure. I trotted upstairs and into Silena's painfully pink room and made up her pink polka dotted bedspread. Then I went into Drew's painfully purple room and made up her purple and gray flowered bedspread. After that, into Aphrodite's painfully fancy room and make up her black and white bedspread, then down ten stairs, then down all fifteen stairs to my room and made up my aqua blue and sea green chevron bedspread. Then I picked up dirty clothes, architecture books, and graph papers. FYI, I am an absolute nut for architecture. I spend any spare time reading and designing. I get out a bowl and dog food for my white Husky Draco, who is a marshmellow on the inside. I slid open the sliding glass door leading to the backyard.
"Draco! Here boy!" Dracoo looks up and runs over. "See you later, buddy." Finally, I grabbed my messenger book bag. I slid all my books in and ran up the stairs. Drew and Silena were by the door.
"Hurry up, Annabeth!" They complained. I shook my head.
"Look, the bus is here," I said, pointing outside. I dashed outside. My best friend, Thalia Grace was waiting for me. She had short black hair, electric blue eyes, dressed like a punk rocker, and looked like she could beat up any tough guy, which she could. She grinned at me.
"Let's go!" She exclained, and hopped up the bus steps. We sat down in the back next to a window. Drew and Silena sat with popular girl, Rachel Dare. The bus ride was uneventful. When the bus pulled up, I was ready to get off. On the way to my locker, one of Rachel's girls "bumped" into me, and I spilled my books everywhere.
"Watch where you're going!" I yelled.
"Don't bother with her," a voice said behind me. I spun around. There, standing before me was a tall guy with sea green eyes and black hair that looked like he'd come back from a walk at the beach. He picked up my books before I could say anything. He grinned a mischiveous grin, handed me my books, and said," By the way, my name is Percy." And he walked off.