A/N: Welcome back, everyone. And to all of those new to my writing…'sup? I'd like to start off by saying that I'm welcome to constructive criticism and I'll respond to the respectful comments. Any flamers will be ignored. But please keep in mind that I'm a human being, and yes, my feelings do and can get hurt, as weak as that makes me sound. I'd also like to make it clear right now that I don't own any of these characters; they belong to the genius, Rick Riordan. I will try to update as much as I can, maybe once or twice a week, it is Summer after all, and I want to get outside.

Enjoy, and keep in mind of my note.

I'd also like to dedicate this chapter to toe walker, who correctly answered the mini-contest I had! *Claps*

Chapter One: It's All Over…In a Way

The second hand of clock on the wall melted down to the twelve, three…two…one. He could hear the bell out in the hallway ring, and his teacher talking over the sudden commotion of rustling papers and shuffling feet.

"Alright, alright!" Mr. Mulder jiggled over to the door, blocking his students so they couldn't stampede out the door, "Walk, don't you dare run, or I'll send you right back here!" He stepped aside so they could leave, and most everyone ran, ignoring his orders. Percy tossed his backpack on and was about to walk out the door, but Mr. Mulder grabbed his shoulder, "And by the way," He looked over his glasses, "You have no idea how happy I am to have you out of my sight for good."

Percy wriggled his shoulder from his sweaty death grip, "Ditto, Mister Mulder." Before his beefy teacher could stop him on his smart remark, he bolted out the door. Percy jogged down the bustling hallway towards his stepdad's classroom; he leaned around the doorway in the direction of where his desk was. "Hey, Paul." Mr. Blofis looked up from a stack of folders he had been packing for storage over the summer.

"Percy," He set the folders down into a box and put the top on them, "How was your last day of school?"

"Same old, same old." Percy shrugged and fiddled with the straps of his backpack.

"If you insist; let's go out to the car and get out of here!" Paul said with a great amount of excitement.

"Definitely, I'm more than happy to say goodbye to this place." Percy mumbled. Paul grabbed his messenger bag and they walked out to the Prius in the teacher parking lot. Percy hopped in the front seat and tossed his backpack in the back seats. It took a while to get to their apartment, with all the New York City traffic, it slowed things down. But either way, they still got to there after a while. Sometime in the fall, they had all moved into a new apartment. It was in a nicer area of Manhattan, and it was a nicer apartment on its own, even though it was still about the same size as the old one; but that didn't matter after you lived in a grungy apartment for so long. Paul unlocked the door and flipped the light on as soon as he got in. Percy went right into his room and dove onto his bed, face-first. It was hard to take in, the fact that high school was over for good-it was a lot to take in. He looked up from his blue blankets, and pulled his phone out of his pocket. He dialed Annabeth's number. He paced around, his ADHD creeping up on him while he was waiting for someone to pick up. Percy half expected Bobby and Matthew, Annabeth's half-brothers, to pick up and play a prank on him, but instead-

"Hey, Percy." She said.

"Hey Annabeth, are you out of school yet?" He asked, still a little thrown off.

Annabeth laughed, "We've been out for like, a week now. We didn't have any snow days, obviously."

"Okay, fair enough. So when are you flying in?" Percy asked, cutting right to the chase.

"Oh, um," She got quiet for a few seconds, "I don't know quite yet."

"What's wrong? Are you not going to be able to go to camp this summer?" He was starting to panic a little.

"Of course I'm going to be able to come to camp." Annabeth was quick to say, there was definitely something wrong.

"Tell me what's wrong!" He insisted playfully.

"Alright, alright," Annabeth muttered sadly, "Well, my dad is sick, really sick."

Percy furrowed his eyebrows, "Isn't it just the flu or something? He'll get better in no time."

She sighed shakily, "Percy, it's much, much worse than that. Yesterday, he was lying down because he was saying he felt really light-headed. Later on, when my step-mom went to check on him…" She paused, and sounded like she was choking up. "He wouldn't answer her. So we got him to the hospital to get checked out." Annabeth was sobbing heavily now, and pulled the phone away for a minute or two, "The doctors told us he had been diagnosed with Brain Cancer." She had started to cry.

"Oh my gods, Annabeth. I'm-I'm so sorry." Percy sat down on the windowsill and leaned back on the frame.

"What am I going to do? Should I stay here with him or fly into the city?" She asked him.

"Well," Percy looked outside his window, and he looked at the sun setting, "Maybe you should ask your family."

"Okay," Annabeth had regained her composure a little more now, but she was still sniffling every once in a while.

"Well…call me when you know what you're going to do." He said.

"Okay, bye, Percy." Annabeth managed.

"Bye." He mumbled. He ended the call. Sighing, he looked out the window again. Percy heard the apartment door open.

"I'm home!" He knew the voice as his mom's, but he felt too depressed and too worried to go out to greet her. He hadn't seen Annabeth in person since they parted ways at the airport last summer. It wasn't easy, but it wasn't like she could stay in New York. He heard his mom talking to Paul,

"Where's Percy? Is he in his room?" Her voice was muffled, but he could still understand her enough.

"Yeah, I think he was on the phone, though." Percy heard Paul say. Footsteps came towards his door, and then a knock.

"Percy? Are you in there?" His mom said.

"Yeah, mom." He sighed.

"Oh, okay. Well, there's pizza in the kitchen, if you want some. And by the way, Paul's going to take me out to a movie…Will you be alright?"

"Yeah, mom." He couldn't help but laugh a little. Her footsteps faded away. He heard mumbling from Paul and Sally, and the door closing. He rested his head on the window frame, and shut his eyes.

A/N: I know, I know. Giving Annabeth's dad Cancer is probably wrong. But it's sort of out of experience because my aunt had it. I don't know what it's like for a parent to have it, but I'm sure it's devastating.

Until next week,

~IGwyn12