Disclaimer: I don't own PJO

Annabeth

Annabeth walked through the streets of New York, she had just finished going shopping for clothes and supplies for school. Her father had deemed her responsible enough to give her his credit card to purchase whatever she may need. She knew he was only trying to cheer her up, he knew how much she hated when he left.

He had made her get out of their apartment in New York and go shop for clothes for the upcoming year. Normally, teenage girls wouldn't pass up a chance to go shopping with their dad's credit card, but then again, normal teenage girls probably had friends.

Annabeth did not.

Her mind wondered to a few months ago, when she still had friends, when times were better. She hung out with Luke Castellan and Thalia Grace. Then Thalia's mom died, and she was forced to move in with her father, who she barely knew, and live in California. After that, Luke slowly began to drift away from her, he joined another group of friends and then eventually, he stopped talking to her or even acknowledging her all together.

That happened at the end of last year. Annabeth dreaded this school year. She would have no one to sit with at lunch, sure, but what bothered her the most was that her father would be leaving for work for months. He had recently acquired a new sponsor for his research in WWII planes and he had been going back and forth from New York to Virginia, but this time he was required to stay there for months. He had thought of having us move there, but Sue, my step-mother convinced him otherwise.

After all it was beneficial to her.

Whenever her father left, Sue treated Annabeth like her own personal slave. She would babysit her little half brothers while Sue went out to dinner or shopping with her friends. She was left to do everything. The cleaning, the laundry, the cooking, it was all her, not to mention her own homework. Yea, she was sure going to have a blast the next few months.

She knew that her father had meant well by sending her out here, he wanted her to get out of the house and have a normal life. Her father always meant well, that was one of the reasons why he married Sue.

After her mother left, her father was devastated. He knew he couldn't do it by himself, he could barely take care of himself, much less a five year old. Most importantly, he wanted Annabeth to have a mother. So after a year or so, he met Sue and married her ten months later. Sue had always been distant towards Annabeth when her and her dad were dating the only time she was nice to her was when he was around. Once they found out Sue was pregnant with the twins was when things really got bad. She started treating Annabeth like a disease, only being civil to her whenever her father was there. Sometimes, when she was younger, she pretended to be Cinderella, she cleaned the house and didn't complain. In her young mind she thought that her torture would eventually stop, and she would get her happy ending. As the years went by, however, every scream began to tear her down and with every mean word Sue threw at her, she began to lose more and more hope that it would get better.

Thalia would always manage to cheer her up with her jokes, and Luke was always sympathetic and listened to her whenever she went on rants.

But they're gone now, she thought.

Thalia was in another state, and Luke pretended she didn't exist.

Annabeth sighed and continued her way home, weaving through the busy sidewalks of New York with her bags in tow. Today was Sunday and she would be starting her senior year tomorrow, she just had to get through this one year before she was able to leave. That was what kept her going ever since Thalia left.

This time next year I'll be settling into my dorm, or maybe I should get a loft. She was lost in her own thoughts she didn't notice when she bumped into someone in front of the elevator, her bags spilling all over the floor.

"Oh, I'm sorry I-" she stopped when she saw who she had bumped into. A boy who looked about her age with the most dazzling sea green eyes and raven hair was staring back at her, he had a skateboard in one hand and a helmet in the other.

"No, it was my fault I really wasn't paying attention," he replied, "let me help you with that."

He dropped the skateboard and helped her pick up her bags from the floor.

"Thanks," she replied as he gave her the bags.

They both got in the elevator, "What floor are you heading to?" he asked.

"Sixth"

He smiled and pushed the button.

"Aren't you going to push yours?" she asked.

"I'm also on the sixth, my mom and I just moved here." Annabeth nodded. Huh, she thought.

The door slid open to the sixth floor and they got out. The boy stopped at the apartment right across from hers, he opened the door and then turned around and looked at her, she was still looking for her keys.

"Do you need help?" he asked.

"No, no it's fine, thank you," she replied as she kept rummaging around her purse and looking in her pockets. She must have dropped them somewhere when he bumped into her. The boy must have thought the same thing because he then said, "Maybe you dropped them when I bumped into you, I'll go look."

"No, really, that's not necessary I can go," she replied ready to carry all her bags again. He shook his head, "You really want to carry your bags all the way down there to just come back up again? Seriously, let me go look. It's the least I can do after bumping into you."

She hesitantly agreed. It took the boy but five minutes to come back up with her keys, he smiled and said, "See, much faster that way" He gave her the keys.

"Thanks, uh what's your name again?"

"Percy," he smiled, "Percy Jackson."