Save It For A Rainy Day

Annabeth was typing up a stupid report on her laptop when she'd heard it. She didn't believe it at first, thinking it was the television- which was droning on in the background playing Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Annabeth retrieved the remote control from in between the couch cushions and switched it off, but the noise continued. Annabeth's head snapped up. It was real.

Rain.

One of the upsides/downsides to living in California was that it rarely rained- especially in her hometown. So, when it did rain, it was kind of a big deal.

Annabeth slid the laptop off of her lap and got to her feet. Rain was her second favourite natural occurrence (right after "fate"- which she supposed could be considered more supernatural than anything) and she wasn't going to let it go to waste. She sprinted to her front door and swung it open, letting the rhythmic tapping of the droplets on the asphalt engulf her. She ran out onto the middle of her driveway barefoot- she couldn't really care less about what the neighbours thought. She held out her arms and spun around in circles, yelling "RAIN!" and letting the rainwater saturate her skin and clothes.

The summer had been a hot one, and Annabeth's pool had been broken since last fall (and she couldn't be bothered to call in someone to repair it), so she was ecstatic for the rain. Between running up her electrical bill by keeping the air-conditioners on full bawl all day and putting her bras in the deep-freezer overnight, she was utilizing every cold-source to protect herself from the Californian summer, but (while the bra thing did work very well- so long as you didn't mind practically freezing off your nipples) this rain was welcomed openly, and not only by Annabeth, it seemed.

Annabeth stopped spinning and kept her gaze on a couple of kids down the street. The water was filling up the gutters, and they'd brought out small plastic boats to race down the small currents. Annabeth walked down her stone driveway to where the water was building up at the bottom. If she stood in it, it came up just above her ankles, and was growing slowly, but surely. She heard a sharp cry from down the street, and her head snapped in that direction. One child was standing in front of the stormdrain crying, and Annabeth assumed it was because his toy boat went had followed the current down into it. Next, the front door to the closest house swung open and, though it was hard to tell through the rain, who Annabeth could only assume was the children's mother, started calling to them.

"What are you doing out there?"

"But, mom-"

"But nothing! Get back inside before you catch a cold!"

The older child took the arm of the crying younger one- who started howling as soon as they were ushered away from the drain- and went back inside the house. Annabeth kept staring even after the mother had closed the door. She wondered what was going on inside, and how the outside of a house seems so quiet and can so perfectly hide whatever was happening inside.

The rushing water was now mid-calf, and the shower had strengthened into a downpour. She hoped she'd closed the window to her bedroom.

Annabeth decided to make her way back inside, now that she was properly soaking wet. She opened her front door and was immediately met with the chill of the air-conditioning. The hair on her arms and legs stood up and goosebumps appeared.

"Cold, cold, cold, cold," she muttered as she ran upstairs to the linen closet to get a towel. She wrapped it around her shoulders and made her way to her bedroom to change her clothes. She stripped off her old high school gym shirt and replaced it with a Ravenclaw one she'd scored in an online auction. She changed her underwear and pants so she was now dressed in dry attire and dumped the soaked clothes in the hamper in the bathroom.

She wrapped her hair up in the towel to allow it to dry and took the steps three at a time back downstairs. She skipped to the kitchen and stood in front of her refrigerator, studying the calendar stuck to it at eye-level. She took the pen which was attached beside it with a magnet and wrote on today's date:

RAIN :)

I think I know what you're thinking:

REANNA WHY ARE YOU WRITING ONESHOTS AND NOT PLANNING HIGH SCHOOL HOSTAGES!?

And my answer to that is that High School Hostages is almost done, trust me.

Chapter 32 will be out by January 31st

Also, that other lengthy oneshot will be done soon as well

I'll release that after I release chapter 40 of HSH

Okay?

Okay.

Hope all is well my lovelies!

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~Reanna xx