Hey guys! Sorry about the last chapter being so short! Thank you to everyone who viewed, reviewed, or followed this story! I was shocked! I didn't think I'd even get 1 review! When I saw my first reviews, I literally walked around all day smiling! Anywho, pretty please with sugar and pistachios on top REVIEW! Um...actually, nevermind that's kind of gross. But enough of this author's note. Happy reading!

Annabeth

I sat at the table while quietly eating. Bobby and Matthew sat at the other end of the table throwing pieces of scrambled egg at each other. I rolled my eyes.

"Ugh, guys, what was the point of me making breakfast if you're just gonna throw it at each other?" I snapped.

"Well, the first reason is because it'll aggravate you," Bobby said.

"And the second reason is because we know you're the one who's gonna have to clean it up!" Matthew finished for him.

"Besides, it's not like we aren't gonna eat it!" Bobby said.

I crossed my arms over my chest. "And how do you suppose you're going to eat it if it's all over the floor?"

"Like this!" they both laughed at once.

I watched as they both leaned down and started scraping their hands on the floor, scooping up some egg. Oh gods. Please don't tell me that they're about to do what I think they're gonna do. They stood up with their hands full of dirty eggs and right in front of me, shoved it in their mouths. I closed my eyes.

"EW! That's gross! Don't you know how many germs are on there? You guys could get sick." Not that I really cared.

"No we won't," they said at once. How do they do that?

"Well, you could after eating off the floor."

I glanced at them and frowned. They had this creepy look on their faces and a spark of mischievous in their eyes. Uh oh.

"Not if we do this."

And with that, they spit everything out onto the floor. I swallowed down the bile in my throat. They cackled evilly. Then they ran forward and 'accidently' pushed my plate onto the floor. The plate smashed into the floor and broke into a gijillion pieces and the food that was on it splattered everywhere.

"Oops!" they said, not so innocently.

I looked up and gave them my famous evil eye. Even they couldn't help but shrink back from it.

"You little freaks! One day I swear I'm gonna-"

"Annabeth! What in the name of Hades is going on in here?!"

I froze. Oh great. And Her Majesty of Annoyance (aka my step-mother, Sue) enters the room. Absolutely, positively just great.

I watched as Sue took in her surroundings. Her eyes widened and I saw her face go from confusion, to comprehension, to anger, and back to a blank, calm expression. Too calm.

"Boys, why don't you go call your friends, Conner and Travis, and see if you can hang out together?"

"Yay!" they both cheered. And started running out of the room. They stopped in the doorway and behind my Sue, so that she couldn't see them, they stuck their tongues out at me. I bit my tongue and resisted the urge to stick mine out at them, but I wasn't that immature.

Instead, I smiled sweetly and gave them my deluxe I'll kill you later look. That got their tongues back in their mouths quick enough. They ran off.

Sue glared at me. I looked back at her with a defiant expression. She wouldn't and couldn't scare me.

"What is the meaning of this?"

I started to speak, but she held her hand up and interrupted me before I even got a chance to speak.

"All I ask of you is to make a nice simple breakfast and you can't even do that without creating chaos. Why did you throw food at your brothers and break one of the plates that your father so graciously paid for?"

"I didn't-"

"Hush! Let me continue speaking! Breaking one plate my seem like a little thing to you, but that's a good seven dollars, maybe more, down the drain! Your father and I work very hard for every cent that we get."

"You don't-"

"SILENCE! I will not have you interrupting me and getting an attitude!"

"Ha. You're one to talk," I say before I could stop myself. I slapped my hand over my mouth.

She narrowed her eyes at me. "What did you just say, young lady?"

I straightened and held my head up high. No way was she going to intimidate me.

"I said 'Ha. You're one to talk.' You are the one that keeps interrupting me. You are the one who's getting an attitude with me. You are the one that won't let me explain myself. For you information, it was the twins who made this mess! They were the ones who were throwing their food around. They were the ones that broke the plate! They were the ones who-"

"ENOUGH! You will never take that tone with me again!"

Then she turned and shouted,"Bobby! Matthew! Come here!"

"Yes, Mommy!"

She turned back to me. "Let's see if you were lying about the twins doing all that, since you're so anxious to blame them!"

I rolled my eyes when she wasn't looking. Wow. Did she really expect the twins to tell the truth? We all know that they're just going to try to save their own sorry butts.

The little devils came into the dining room. I noticed they had their sweet, innocent faces on.

"Mommy, Travis said that we could go over to their house."

"Okay, but first I need to talk to you."

"Why?"

"Well, Annabeth here says that you were the ones that made this mess and broke the plates."

"What? No we didn't!" Bobby yelled.

"Annabeth did all of it! It was scary, Mommy! She was mad at us because she had to make us breakfast, so she started throwing food at us! Then, when we tried to hide under the table, she took her plate and threw it at us. She missed, but it was so scary!"

Then the fake tears started. Oh gods. Absolutely pathetic. It was clearly an act. The boys ran into Sue's arms. She hugged them.

"It's okay, boys. I won't let Annabeth hurt you. Go on and get ready and I'll bring you to your friend's house."

They ran up the stairs and out of sight.

Sue turned on me with fire in her eyes. "How dare you accuse my sons of making this mess?"

"You don't seriously believe them, do you?" I asked incredulously.

"I have no reason not to believe them."

I was about to go on another rant, but I bit my lip to keep myself from digging myself deeper into the hole.

She stepped close to me, and before I could react, slapped me in the face. I stumbled back but didn't fall. It stung, but the shock that she would actually hit me numbed it.

"You will never try a stunt like that again. Blaming your brothers for something they didn't do is just unacceptable! You will definitely not be going over to your friend's house today. You will not tell your father that I hit you. What you will do is clean this place up, then go to your room and stay there. Your dad is at work but you can be sure that when he gets home I will tell him what you did. Now, I will be gone for a few hours while I take the boys to their friend's house and run a few errands, but by the time I get back this room had better be spotless. And if it's not... then let's just say I could do worse things than slap you."

And with that, she walked away, called the boys, and left the house, slamming the door behind her.

I let my guard down, instantly. I hated being week in front of people, but since there's no one else I didn't really care.

I slammed my fist into the wall as I broke into tears. I just couldn't understand why Sue and the boys hated me so much. And I wasn't not even really close to Dad anymore, ever since he married that awful witch. He's always at work anyway.

I felt my cell phone ring and sighed as I took it out of my pocket. The screen read 'Thalia'. I picked it up the second I saw her name.

Thalia is the only friend I have and the only person who ever understands me. Her dad died a few years ago, and after her mom remarried, she was so angry at her mom. But she likes her step-dad, who is always kind to her and anyone else. We tell each other all of our secrets and feelings.

"Hey, Annie! Where are you?"

"Don't call me Annie! And I'm still in my prison. I can't come over today. I'm sorry."

"What? Why? Wait, have you been crying?"

I groaned. "I'll tell you everything later. I've gotta go."

"Wait!" she cried before I could hang up. "If you can't come to me, then I'll come to you. No exceptions!" she added before I could protest.

I knew there was no point in arguing with her so I just sighed in defeat and said,"Fine. I'll meet you half way. I need to get out of this house."

I could practically hear her grinning.

"Okay! I'm so happy we live in the same neighborhood!" she said.

"Yeah. Lucky me," I said sarcastically, before hanging up.

I walked out of the house and took a deep breath of fresh winter air.

I looked around and was surprised to see a moving van parked in the house next to mine. That house had been up for sale for months, and I didn't know anyone had finally bought it.

I ran out of my driveway and started jogging along the sidewalk, right past the house with the moving van, and ran towards Thalia's house. I was about half way there at our meeting spot. I looked up at the rising sun for about two seconds before I ran smack into a large figure. I fell down on my back, him landing on top of me. My head smacked the ground and I had just caught a glimpse of the most beautiful sea-green eyes I had ever seen before my vision started to blur and everything went black.

Hahaha! Yay! Two chapters in one day! I'm awesome! Sorry for typos and OOCness. I know it was really boring and it seemed like this chapter dragged, but it's all leading up to the good parts. So who do you think Annabeth ran into? I'll go ahead and tell you. It was Abraham Lincoln! Ha, I'm so weird. No, it's not him but it's pretty easy to guess who she ran into, so I didn't really leave you with much of a cliffhanger. And thanks to everyone who has reviewed and liked me! Every review is like another Christmas present. Hmm...I think I'll go eat some pistachios. Also I take compliments, tips, and constructive criticism. Thanks again and REVIEW!