Full Summary: Percy and Annabeth used to be friends. Annabeth and Percy used to care for each other. Percy and Annabeth used to have each other's backs. Annabeth and Percy used to love each other. They 'used' to a lot. But then one day, Annabeth moves and Percy's left to deal with the heartbreak alone. He's a player, he's abused, and he's worried everyone who cares about him over the only girl who's ever left him.
Until she comes back, junior year to Goode, where she realizes her Seaweed Brain isn't who he is anymore. Can Annabeth change him, or is he already too far gone to be helped?
This is edited and reuploaded. Thanks so much for everyone sticking around this story even when I haven't updated it in, like, a year. LIKE SERIOUSLY, THANK YOU, EVERYONE!
This edit, while I added some, still has the basically the same scenes in it. I just added some more stuff. However, the other chapters will have new information. It will have new scenes added and some people's relationship (cough cough Annabeth and Percy cough cough who else would I be talking about?) will not develop as quickly as it did in the older version.
So, to summarize, you should probably read the edited chapters. Especially if you've forgotten as much as I have while rewriting.
ANYWAYS, ON WITH THE STORY.
DISCLAIMER: EVERY PJO/HOO CHARACTERS ARE ALL RICKS, SADLY I CAN'T KIDNAP THEM. SUPER SAD. ANYWAYS THERE ARE SOME MADE UP PEEPS HERE THAT IVE MADE SO THERE MINE EVEN IF I DON'T WANT THEM. WHATEVS. STORY NOW!
Prologue
Percy
The sound of the heels clicking and boxes shuffling could be heard from the neighbor's house but he, Perseus Jackson, didn't once look out his window, or gaze at the beautiful blonde who would be leaving him. Instead, he sat in his room and did nothing.
His best friend was leaving him, and there was nothing he could do.
The moving van was already here and their stuff was packed. Percy couldn't help but hate the workers for taking away all of their cherished memories, couldn't help but hate his best friend, Annabeth Chase, for not telling him this, for not preparing him for their last goodbye. He wanted to scream at them, cuss them out with the bad language he had learned from his father, but decided against it as he watched the movers continue to move their stuff - pristine furniture, hefty books, and everything else that ever made up the Chase family.
Percy would surely miss the Chase family, that was for sure. They managed to worm their way into his heart like no one else had so now, knowing they were leaving, only made him feel even more lost. He wasn't sure what he would do without Annabeth, what he would do without her witty comments or her feisty personality. Without her hidden kindness and her, albeit embarrassing, loyalty towards him, the most bullied kid in their grade. He wonders now what he would do without her soft-spoken words of encouragement, her level-headed voice, her thoughtfulness, the way he always wanted to listen to what she said even if it was some boring lesson on architecture. How happy she was, how happy she made him feel.
He would miss her; he would miss her a lot.
Missing her only makes him feel angrier, so when a familiar knock resounds in their house, he freezes.
Percy wants to throw something at it – maybe a lamp or a chair he doesn't know – as he sighs and walks to the door. He may have felt mad, devastated even, but he knows even more that he would regret it if he never got to say goodbye.
Stretching his limbs, he pulls open the door, letting it swing back as he makes out the familiar gray-eyed beauty he met six years ago. He ignores the flutter in his heart at the sight of her, how beautiful she looked. It wasn't like his feelings mattered anymore. She was never going to be around to him to tell her.
"Hey Seaweed Brain," she says and he gives her a goofy smile as always, forgetting for a second he has to be mad at her.
"Hey Wise Girl," he responds, walking outside, and closing the door behind him. It's around midday when the Chases' are getting ready to go, and his heart plummets when he sees the moving truck behind Annabeth's head. Maybe somewhere in the back of his mind, he hadn't fully realized how she was moving, how she was actually moving, and how it wasn't some trick or bad nightmare. But now, now that he's standing out in the sun with the love of his life and a moving truck taking her away, he understands that she's leaving. He's hit with a wave of emotions, ones that he can't decipher, as he glares at the moving truck. Annabeth, seeing his anger, gives him a bitter smile.
"That's the truck," she says distractedly, almost saying it to herself than to Percy. She turns towards him with a soft smile on her face. "I got something for you," she says teasingly, as she knows she's always been horrible with presents.
A genuine smile graces Percy's lips. "I got something for you too. Want to come in?"
She nervously looks behind her before looking back at him. "I don't see why not," she answers and steps inside his house.
The faded blue walls were peeling, the sloppily placed chairs were in a mess, and Percy's pictures over the years were starting to be crooked, but Annabeth still smiled. "Just like home," she says absentmindedly and Percy smiles before ushering her up the wooden stairs.
She follows him, tracing the walls lightly with her fingers as if to say goodbye and Percy smiles wistfully as he watches her do this, pained by the fact that this would be the last time she ever stepped into his house.
It felt as if she was leaving him, not because of Annalise's job, but because she wanted too. And after his father had left with no reason at all, the situation's were oddly linking up.
But he chose to wave this off, knowing that his father and Annabeth were two completely different people. Annabeth, after all, was his best friend and had been there through the circus act that was Percy Jackson. She hadn't left him in all the other moments he thought she would, and had managed to stay even when he screwed up. She was there for him, and he was there for her. There was nothing that could change that. They would call, they would text whenever they got phones, they would use that website his mom told him about. They would do everything in their power to stay connected even when life was pulling them apart.
Before they could enter his room, Annabeth stops him. He gives her a confused look as she sighs, shifting uncomfortably between her feet.
"I'm sorry," she says in a low voice, despite there not being anyone around them. "I'm sorry that I never told you I was leaving."
"It's okay," he says, "I'm not mad." At least, he doesn't think he is.
"Still," Annabeth says, looking down as if trying to hide from her shame. "I never even told you. Your mom had to do it for me."
The memory fizzles into his mind at the mention. The look his mother gave him when she saw him. The way her lips quivered, her misty eyes shimmering when looking into the light. The way she had grabbed for his arms and given him a tight squeeze as if she was making sure he was steady before giving him the news. Like, she knew that he would need someone to stabilize him for when she told him.
She had been right, of course. As soon as she said the words, he had needed her to hold him in his arms and let him know that everything would be alright even if they weren't.
He smiles now when he looks into her guilty eyes. He knows how sorry she is, how terrible she must be feeling. He's not even sure himself; if his mom was getting a new job, if he could look her in the eye and tell her the news. So instead, he clasps her hand in his and gives it a tight squeeze, letting her know that it's okay, it's alright, that he would always be there for her without having to say anything.
She leans into the touch, a small smile brushing against her lips before she looks down at her feet. "I just want you to know how sorry I am."
"Is that the real reason you bought me a present," he teases, and she smiles, a genuine smile, before shrugging her shoulders.
"Maybe," she informs him, and before he can comment, she's already turning the knob and entering his room.
Percy knew Annabeth had been to his room, but he still loved the way she grew overly excited whenever she entered it, as if every time she came, it was the first time she was ever seeing it. He loved that about Annabeth, each time she came into his room, she would always find something new and unique about it that she hadn't seen before. She thought of that stuff as if she thought of a person; every being was so complex that you had to see them in all the different lights to really get to know that person. He likes the way she thinks.
He never, of course, told her how he had moved something around each time just so she would think she was oh-so-clever, when in fact, it had been his doing all along.
He realizes that he may never get to tell her that, never get to see her eyes light up in amusement or see her face blush in embarrassment, and the thought pains him even more, so he pushes past it and instead walks towards her as she sits on his blue chair.
The room was rather tiny with small fishes painted on the walls of the freshly sea-green color. His room was barely different than last time, with only a few differences here and there. His action figures were still there on his nightstand, but instead of Pokémon cards and such, Annabeth's present was wrapped tediously with bright blue packaging. Annabeth slightly chuckled as she looked at it. "Why must it always be blue?" she asks him playfully, and Percy grins.
"Because blue is the best!"
Annabeth rolls her eyes. "I beg to differ."
"You're just jealous."
She raised an eyebrow, utterly confused. "Of who?"
"Wow," he says, rolling his eyes, "And I thought you were the Wise Girl."
She huffed, grabbing her present off the table. "Well, only a Seaweed Brain would still fear heights!"
"Hey," he yelled in mock annoyance. "Heights are scary!"
"They are not."
He shrugs. "Well, it beats fearing spiders."
The twelve-year-old girl immediately blushes, making him look triumphant.
"Whatever," she says, her cheeks still tinted pink. She grabs her bag and shoves it towards Percy. "Open it," she says and he smiles.
He expects some book that Annabeth probably got but instead, to his surprise, it's a collage. "What's this," he asks her, fiddling with the edges.
"It's a collage, dummy," she says, pointing to the object in his hands. "It's like a poster except all the pictures is of us so you never have to forget me!"
He looks at it, looks at the gold font and the blue paper. He looks and he looks and he looks and just when he's about to give up, say he's too stupid to see the importance of the collage, it all clicks into his mind. He sees it, he really sees it. The different pictures of all of the memories that made up their friendship. Annabeth even placed some captions on the bottom, and Percy smiles thinking back to all of these moments. The time they went on their first roller coaster, to the time when they sat outside all night in the rain so that they didn't have to go to school the next day, the time when Percy taught Annabeth how to play games on his DS, or the time when he first met Annabeth because of their mother reading club they had both been invited too.
The time when they were in his house playing hide and seek, or out at Annabeth's house, making snowmen and snow angels, challenging each other to see who's was better. He wishes he was back at her house, weaving her hair together with his fingers as she read Harry Potter to him for the first time.
All of their first's like the first time Annabeth tried a blue cookie and had this huge grin on her face that made Percy's heart race. The first time Percy climbed a tree and his mom got him his favorite blue pancakes from Blackjacks. The first time Percy finally got an A on his English quiz and he was so happy he gave Annabeth a kiss on the cheek, grinning widely for the rest of the school day.
He now holds the collage - a diary of their friendship - out in the air, cautiously, knowing that all of the memories that are here, right here, are fragile and precious. It's almost as if he knows that if he drops it, the memories will shatter around them, their world will collapse, and the only thing left of their diary of friendship would be themselves, lost in a never-ending storm of chaos, stuck across a barrier they wouldn't be able to cross.
So he touches it lovingly, almost petting it, before closing it around his heart like a shield.
"Thank you," he breathes out in almost a whisper, too stunned to say anything else as he takes in the ragged cut-ups of the pictures, the background and the smiles and laughter that they shared. He feels a tear dribble down his face but he doesn't do anything as a bittersweet smile appears on his face, memories of these scenarios occurring.
He wishes he was back in those moments. He wishes he was back in time instead of being here, right now, saying goodbye to the last person he wanted to say that too.
It's Annabeth who pulls him out of his trance as she walks over to him, wiping away the tears and giving one of her own wistful smiles. "You're welcome," she breathes back and that's when he realizes how close they are to each other. Her lips are mere inches away from his, their bodies mere centimeters apart.
And suddenly, he wants to kiss her.
He isn't really sure he knows how to kiss. What's the right angle? What does one do when they lock lips for the first time? No one at school ever gives you a lesson on how to kiss someone, that's for sure. He isn't a master kisser or whatever. He was twelve, was he supposed to be? All he knows is that he wants to kiss her, really badly. He wants to do that thing they do in the movies where they run their hands through each other's hair. He just wants to be there for her. He wants to hold her and protect her and comfort her and lock her away from her step-mother, so she never has to leave him.
If it was to go to the ends of the world for her, he would.
If it was to leave with her, he would.
If he could be selfish with her and force her to stay, he would.
All these emotions cloud his judgment and for a second, for one, pain-staking second, he thinks of closing the distance between them. He thinks of just taking a chance to be with the girl he's had a crush on for years, the girl he thinks too much about, the girl that's always been there for him even when he didn't deserve it. He thinks about the fact that they'll never see each other again after today, that it's just one kiss and one friend and one memory in a sea of memories. He thinks of the fact that he'll never see her beautiful face or her stormy gray eyes that light up whenever she's happy. How unimaginable his life is without her. God, just how much he couldn't get enough of her.
He's going to miss her, forever and ever and ever, because she was his first love and she would always be the one he loved. And he didn't want to let her go so soon when he was just starting to feel something pretty, something beautiful and magical and earth-shatteringly brilliant.
But he can't be selfish with her. And maybe in his twelve-year-old mind, he doesn't understand it yet, but eventually, he will finally understand everything, and that's when he'll truly cry for Annabeth Chase, for his Annabeth Chase, because he's in love with her.
He will always, always, always, be in love with the girl with the stormy gray eyes.
But he doesn't understand that now so instead he pulls away - he figures its because he doesn't want to embarrass himself - and looks at anything but her. He scratches his head. "Can I hang this up," he asks.
"Of course," Annabeth says, and she shows him how to do it perfectly, making sure he understands everything. He's not listening though, too busy seeing the way she explains it - her hands waving viciously around, the way she methodically shos him each and every step - and he can't help but think that this and everything else will always be Annabeth Chase, the Annabeth Chase he knew. How this part makes up the whole of who she was and how he would never get tired of seeing every new section of her.
When she's finished explaining, she looks at him. "Did you get that?"
Even though he barely listened, he rolls his eyes playfully, shoving her lightly away before grabbing the collage in his hands. "Of course, Wise Girl." He winks. "I know everything."
"And yet you're called Seaweed Brain," she says teasingly and he playfully glares at her.
"Shut up," he says. She only laughs.
Suddenly, the two hear a door opening before a familiar voice yells from downstairs. "Annabeth," Annalise calls, her voice loud and crisp. "We need to go now!"
Annabeth looks down at her gift and then at me, worried.
"Don't worry, open it whenever you get the chance." He secretly wanted to see what she thought of it, but he knew they wouldn't have enough time. They never had enough time anymore.
"Okay," she says, stuffing it in her pockets before turning away.
Before she can though he gently grabs her wrist and slips his hands into hers, letting her know he's there, he's always going to be there, just like they always do, but then she pulls her hand out of his and looks at him, tears streaming down her face.
"Not anymore," she says, almost as if she can hear his thoughts, before walking through his door and closing it softly behind her.
It's like she's already decided to cut ties with the boy she loves, to break the connection between them and let their diary of memories rip in front of them.
And that's when he begins to cry.
Even though this chapter is edited, I read it over like twice, so please tell me if there are any spelling mistakes. THANK YOU FOR STICKING WITH THIS STORY AGAIN AND I CAN'T WAIT TO CONTINUE IT. Know that you should probs read the updates because some stuff is going to change and be a little different than the old version.
One thing I did not anticipate with editing (since I don't edit a lot… haha, yeah, I know I'm terrible) was that it takes literally forever for me! So you might get one edited chapter per day or something (though technically this prologue is a lot longer than some of the others so maybe I'll get more done on some days, idk). But I just can't thank you guys enough, you are awesome, and I love you all so much!
P.S. let me know if you see any mistakes. I tried not to gloss over on anything, but sometimes people miss things so please let me know! SORRY THIS CAME SO LATE! My computer's had major problems for the last couple of weeks because of the amount of viruses on them soooooo yeah, fun stuff. Anyways, thank you all so much and see ya in the next update! WILL DEFINITELY BE COMING SOONER THAN THIS ONE I PROMISE!