I grabbed my school laptop and walked over to Ann-Elizabeth's desk, which was in the corner of the classroom. I pulled up an extra chair, and sat down across from her.

"So, I guess we have to work together on this" She said, stating the obvious.

"Yeah, apparently. Let's just get this over with" I opened up my laptop

"Fine by me" We sat in silence for a minute.

"What should we do?" I asked, breaking the silence. She rolled her eyes at me, as if it was a stupid question.

"Duh, we look up our parents first. You have seaweed for brains" I was angry about the last comment, but I kept my mouth closed. She did have a point, I'm not the brightest. Anything that I said she could just use against me.

"Fine, whatever you say, smart girl" I typed in my dad's name, Robert Chase. My dad was a successful architect, and had his own business. When I searched up his name, there were a bunch of hits. Most of them were about the buildings he had designed.

"I can't find much of anything" I complained

"Quit complaining. Keep looking" She continued looking at her laptop, as if she had found something interesting.

"Have you found anything?"

She didn't respond. I figured I should just continue working, and hope the I would find something. I scrolled down, and found something different.

The Chase trial close, Annabeth Chase declared dead.

Annabeth Chase? Where have I heard that before? I recognized the name, but I didn't know who it was. I clicked on the link.

Two months after Annabeth Chase, 29, was declared missing, the police have still yet found evidence. Annabeth Chase was the single mother of Robert, 5, and Linda, 7. The father of the children was never determined. The children were dropped off from school at the Chase household on April 17, 2025, only to find the mother gone. After missing for 3 days, the police were called. After two months of searching for Annabeth Chase, the case is now closed and Annabeth Chase is now declared dead. (*enter evil laughter here*)

Well. That explains why I've never met my grandmother, and why my dad never talked about her. I knew that my mom and her parents had died in a car crash when I was younger, but I was never told about this. I've never met any of my relatives, outside of my family.

I decided to look into it more. I typed in Annabeth Chase, and the article that I had just looked at was at the top. There were a few more like the first, but they all basically said the same thing. Apparently, my grandmother was depressed at the time, and then one day she just disappeared. The police had looked into it, but found no evidence of foul play and declared that she had left of her own free will and was most likely dead. I was actually thinking that this was going to be an interesting assignment, and was about to talk to Ann-Elizabeth, when Ms. Strussel announced that class was going to end soon and we needed to get back to our seats.

"Remember class, the project is due by Friday" Friday! That was only three days from now! "And I expect you and your partner to present your findings. Now you may go back to your seats" I was about to leave to go back to my desk when Ann-Elizabeth interrupted me.

"We need to get together to work on this project"

"Um, yeah, sure. How about if you come to my house?"

"Fine by me. What time works for you?" I looked up at the clock and realized that class had ended, and I needed to get across the school in 5 minutes unless I wanted another detention.

"Um, here's my phone number. We can talk about it later, ok?" I tore a sheet of paper from my notebook and jotted down my cell phone number.

"Here" I quickly went back to my seat to grab my stuff, as people started walking in for the next class. I ran to science, hoping that I would make it on time. I really didn't need another detention.

Luckily, I just made it to science class, and class was easy, so the time went by quickly. Before I knew it, it was time to go to PE. I changed into my sneakers, since I was already in my PE clothes, and headed out to the gym. My buddy, George, was already in the gym. He had some sort of disability, so he was excused for all the classes.

"Hey man!" he shouted across the gym, as soon as he saw me come out of the locker rooms.

"Hey" PE was the one class where we were allowed to actually talk, so we used that time to the fullest.

"Man, you have to work with Ann-Elizabeth for the LA project. That must suck"

"Yeah. It sucks. And now we have to work on the project outside of school too"

"Oh man, that really-" Just then the teacher walked in, so we had to start warm ups. When the teacher is talking and during warm ups is the only time we actually have to be quiet in PE.

"Okay class, today we're going to start our new unit, badminton!" The whole class groaned, with the exception of a few people. Badminton was known as one of the worst sports at our school, not only because of the fact that it's boring, but because the rackets are terrible. I'm sure everyone would much rather play football or dodge ball. But of course, neither are one of the units, because it's considered too dangerous.

"Now line up, so I can number you off, and then once you get your number go and join your teammates. Remember who's on your team, because you're going to be playing as a team for this whole unit" The teacher numbered us off, mixing up the numbers so we wouldn't know who would be on our teams. I ended up with team 5 and George was in team 10. I ran over to where team 5 was meeting, and of course, Ann-Elizabeth was on my team. Just my luck.

When the teacher was done numbering everyone off, we had 10 minutes to practice before we started playing in actual games. I was nominated as team captain, so I was in charge at the moment.

"Ok, we all know each other, so we can skip that part. Who all has experience playing badminton?" neither of them raised their hands. "Ok, so we basically a suck a playing badminton. Good. Well then, let's get in a formation" Since there were three of us, two of us played and we rotated to let the other person play.

"Okay everyone, gather up! 1 and 2 will play each other, 3 and 4 will play each other, 5 and 6, 7 and 8, and 9 and 10" the teacher assigned us to our courts, and we had the rest of the class to play. We played three games against team 6, and lost to them one to two. They won two of the three games, while we only won one. Then it was time to change, and then the day was over.

Once I had gotten my backpack and was on my way to the bus, I was able to look at my phone. I had a text message from George

Hey man

I texted back

'Sup

He immediately responded back, as I was getting on the bus

What are ya doing this afternoon? Wanna hang out?

I wish. I have to work on the LA project with A-E, remember?

Oh yeah, I remember. Sucks

You're lucky you got partnered with Jasmine

Jasmine was a nerd like Ann-Elizabeth, but she was a popular nerd. She was also sporty, and wasn't snotty about her smartness. And she was always planned things out, so you didn't have to do hardly any work.

I know right? Tell me how it goes with A-E

I will. Wish me luck

As soon as I sent that text, my phone told me I had got another text.

Peter,

I can come over between 3 and 6. What time works the best for you?

-Ann-Elizabeth

She even wrote her texts like a letter?! How snotty could she get?!

3 works fine with me

I forwarded George the text Ann-Elizabeth had just sent me

Dude, look what A-E just texted me

Peter,

I can come over between 3 and 6. What time works the best for you?

-Ann-Elizabeth

How stupid is that?!

I sent him the text just as I received a response from Ann-Elizabeth.

Ok. What's your address? It's not in the directory

Huh. She didn't write it like a letter this time.

Oh, it's 5898 371st street

George responded

Wow, that's stupid. Writing a text like a letter?

I know right. At least the second wasn't like the first

Ann-Elizabeth replied

Ok. See you at three.

I decided not to respond to her text, and besides, I was home anyways

Hey man, I gotta go

Bye dude

I took out my key to the door, and shoved it in the key hole. Like always, rather than turning the key, I giggled it around and the door opened. My dad worked all day, so I always came home to an empty house. He never came home until late, sometimes even after dinner or even after I'm in bed. As for my mom, well, she was gone.

I looked at the clock and saw that it was 2:30. I still had some time before Ann-Elizabeth came, so I decided to do some more research. When I looked into it more, I found that my father and his sister had gone to live with my great grandma, or his grandma. When I looked into my dad and his sister more, I found that my dad's sister then also disappeared when she was older. She disappeared when she was around 16, and was assumed to have run away. The police also looked for her, but like their mother, it was assumed she left on her own.

Before I knew it, the doorbell rang. I looked up at the clock, and it read three. I ran to the door, and opened it. In the doorway, there was a lady who couldn't have been more than twenty five. I assumed that Ann-Elizabeth would come with her mom, but I guess I assumed wrong. This lady couldn't have been her mother, she was too young.

And there was Ann-Elizabeth, but she looked totally different. She usually wore a blouse with a pleated skirt to school, like a school uniform. But now, she was wearing a simple t-shirt with jeans and a hoodie. And her hair was different too. Rather than the simple braid she wore to school, her long blond hair was down, and looked, well…pretty. I realized that I was staring.

"Oh! Come in" I opened the door so they could walk inside.

"It's fine," the lady looked down at Ann-Elizabeth, "I will be back in an hour" then the turned around and left.

"Well, come inside" She walked inside, and I saw that she had brought her school laptop.

"Ok, well, do you want to go work in my room?"

"Uh, sure, I guess" I showed her up the stairs, and down the hallway to where my room was.

My room was fairly large, with my bed, my desk, my dresser, and my huge closet. And then there was a whole bunch of space on the floor too.

"So, what should we do for the project? Mrs. Strussel just said we had to 'present our findings'. What do you think we should do?"

"Well, I guess that we could draw up a family tree or something. That seems like the most obvious way"

"Sure" I realized that we were both just awkwardly standing. "Oh, do you want to sit?" I motioned to the floor.

"Oh, sure" we both sat down on the floor, which didn't really help the awkwardness. I couldn't help but stare at her. She looked so, different. She was almost…pretty. Oh man, what was wrong with me! I couldn't actually be, falling for her, could I?

Ann-Elizabeth's POV

He was staring at me. Was that good? Or did I have something on my face? Oh well.

"So, um, do you want to start working?" I don't understand why I was feeling nervous. I was never nervous.

"Uh, sure" I pulled out my computer and went to work. I didn't really find anything during class, so I decided to use a different site this time. I typed in my mother's name, Linda Jackson. When I looked it up, all I found was some other Linda Jackson. I scrolled down, and found an actual site about my mother. I could tell, since it had a picture of her. Well, at least it looked a bit like her. I clicked on the link to see what it said.

Linda Chase

Wait what? My mother wasn't Linda Chase. She was Linda Jackson. But the picture looked exactly like her. I looked at the caption under the picture.

Age Processed, what she would look like at age 39

I continued to read the article. Apparently, Linda Chase's mother was killed when she was 7 and went to live with her grandmother along with her younger brother. When Linda was about 16, she ran away and was never found. But the picture looked so much like my mother, it couldn't be a coincidence. I scrolled down to find a picture of Linda when she was younger, but couldn't find one. I went and searched Linda Chase up to see if I could find any pictures of her. Right at the top, there was a picture of her taken right before she ran away.

My mother had the same picture in her bedroom.

Peter's POV

"Peter! Look what I found!" Ann-Elizabeth screamed.

"What is it?!" I figured it must have been important, Ann-Elizabeth wasn't the type of person who screams

"My mother, her name was Linda Chase. She ran away when she was younger, and was never found! My mother is Linda Chase!" I was in shock. Linda Chase? That was dad's sister. That means…Ann-Elizabeth is my cousin? That couldn't be right.

"Ann-Elizabeth, that can't be right. Linda Chase was my dad's sister. Besides, your mom's last name is Jackson, right?"

"Well yeah. I need to look into that more. Wait, my mother is you dad's sister?!" Wow, for someone so smart, she didn't catch on too quickly.

"Yeah. But it could just be a coincidence, right?"

"I don't think so" She showed me her laptop, which was open to a picture of a teenage girl. "This is a picture of Linda Chase before she ran away. My mom has that exact same picture in her room. I don't think this is a coincidence"

Ok, this was getting crazy. Ann-Elizabeth couldn't be my cousin. Just, just no.

"Peter? What have you found about our parents" Ann-Elizabeth asked, quietly.

"Ann-Elizabeth, I-"

"Oh, call me Anna. That's what my dad used to call me. My mother tells me to tell people to call me Ann-Elizabeth though. I don't like my name, but my mother refuses to let me be nicknamed Anna"

"Well, ok then Anna. If it's is true that our parents are siblings, then how can you prove it?" She thought for a minute, and then answered.

"We need to find proof. Can you come over to my house tomorrow?"

"Yeah, sure I guess"

"Great. We'll find the proof tomorrow" The doorbell rang, and I saw that an hour had already passed. Anna and I ran down the stairs, and I opened up the door.

"Ann-Elizabeth, time to go home" The same lady who dropped Anna off was back to pick her up.

"Mother, this is Peter, the boy who I'm working on the project with. Peter, this is my mother" Wait, that's her mom?! But she looked like, twenty five! Before I could ask, Anna's mom was pulling her to the car.

"I'll text you later!" Anna yelled, as she got into the car. I smiled as I walked into the house. Yeah, I was definitely falling for her.

AN: Yay! This chapter was long, just as I hoped! Over 2,700 words! Anyways, please don't forget to review! Tell me if something's wrong (in a nice-ish way please!), if you have any suggestions, or anything else! I'll try and post the next chapter soon, probably tomorrow or Saturday.