The last person I expected to see the morning after the party was Percy. I thought him to be too proud to fix mistakes, he probably would just push them to the side. Yet as the doorbell rang, and I attempted (unsucessfully) to shove the last bit of a poptart in my mouth, there he was, standing rather sheepishly with his hands tucked in his pockets.

"Hi. So, um, I've come to thank you." Percy began, clearing his throat. "I know that this is pretty lame but I'm really, really grateful. And I'm sorry that I had to put you through that."

The poptart inhibited me from making any comments, so I stood there, hoping my expression was conveying what I was trying to say: that's nice but please leave.

Unfortunately, Percy didn't get it, so we stood in awkward silence until I swallowed.

"Apology accepted." I said curtly and closed the door.

I slid across the floor back to the kitchen.

If that boy knows what's good for him he'll go away and leave me alone.

I managed to grab a glass from the cupboard and some milk from the fridge before the doorbell rang again. I let out a heavy sigh.

Should I tell him to leave or ignore him. The doorbell rang again, so I slowly walked back to the door.

"Yes?" I asked innocently, before noticing no one was at the door, but an envelope had been left on the ground.

I opened it to find a drawing inside. There was a picture of a pool and two poorly-drawn people with 'thanks you' written across the top. It made me smile. I walked back upstairs to tape it to my wall. Walking into my room, I managed to avoid my school backpack, but fell over the cat, Sav. She scurried away, her black tail whipping around the corner. "Stupid cat." I muttered under my breath, and stood up.

I glanced around my room. The blue walls were gleaming, which meant one of the maids had opened all of the curtains. My desk was tidy and the things I had taped up on my wall were now stacked in a pile on the floor. There was also a pile of clothes in the corner, that were clean and no reason for them to be out of my closet. Nope, not the maids, my step-mother. She was a perfectionist and some of my things were not deemed perfect. Mostly t-shirts and ripped jeans she didn't think were lady-like. The piles were meant to be collected and thrown away later. When I had come home last night and she saw that my dress had been ruined, she'd had a fit and this was her way of punishing me.

I had to hide my stuff, which my cousin, Malcom had helped me with years earlier. He'd built a secret compartment in my closet for things like this. I gathered the pile of clothes up and brought them to the closet. There was a small keypad where I entered the code 0712. My birthday. Not very secretive, but I doubted anyone in my family actual remembered. I walked back to get the pile of papers, when I saw the picture on the floor. It had been turned over. I hadn't even known there was another side. It was a letter:

Jules,

Cute picture huh? My little brother Tyson drew it for you. He thinks you're some kind of superhero.

Anyway, I was pretty sure you wouldn't talk to me so I wrote this letter just in case. If we actually had a conversation,

then disregard this. I feel really bad about Tyson. He's my little brother and I would have never forgiven myself if

anything had happened to him. I just wish I hadn't been completely drunk and had to rely on someone else to save him.

Don't get me wrong, I'm really glad you acted when you did. You were probably the most level-headed person there.

So, thanks, again.

But, I have another favor to ask you.

Do you think you could come to my next party? This Saturday? And watch Tyson for me?

I know this probably makes you feel like a babysitter, but this event is the last one before I can get out of my Dad's r̶e̶s̶t̶r̶a̶i̶n̶t̶s̶ place.

I don't really know anyone else here, and well you took care of him the first time I messed up.

I'll explain later. Ya know, if you say yes.

Thanks,

Percy :)

P.S.

I knew Juliet wasn't your real name.

Much to my annoyance, Percy was right. This was a babysitting job. But as irresponsible I thought he was, I knew what he meant when he was trying to get away from his dad.

And going to another party would make my mom happy. I glanced at the paper again. Oh yeah and he knew you lied to him. But... Tyson would be safest in my hands.

I finally retrieved the stack of papers and put the letter on top, before sticking it all in the compartment.

It was getting kind of full of stuff, I'd have to ask Malcom to help me build another one the next time I saw him.

But for now I had to think about my decision.


I had let the thinking go too long. It was Saturday morning and I had still not made up my mind. I lay in bed weighing the consequences. Part of me didn't want to help because Percy's actions were so abhorrent. Part of me felt bad for the guy and for his brother. Percy didn't deserve my time so that he could party without worrying about his brother. All these thoughts were spinning around in my head.

Just then my door swings open and my mother marches into my room with a new dress. I prop myself up with pillows.

"What's this?"

My step-mother tutted and hung the dress on the door of my closet.

"You are going to redeem yourself young lady. I expect you to return as you left." She turned to look at me. "The Jacksons are having another gathering, and you are going."

"What! No! You don't know what happ-"

My mother held her hand up. "Annabeth! Young ladies do not speak like that. You are going. You can get ready by yourself, or I can get you ready."

She walked out of my room and closed the door. I turned and screamed into my pillow. That woman!

My door reopened. "You leave at six, be ready by five. Also have a date, or I will arrange one for you."

My decision had been made for me.


At three I got in the shower. Steam rolled off me as I stepped out. I had a lot of work to do.

My dress was gorgeous, because, unfortunately, that was something my step-mother was good at. She had excellent taste and always knew what went well. Always.

It was a deep peach color with darker red near the bottom. It had sheer long- sleeves and cinched at the waist with hand-decorated designs downward where the material flowed just to the ground. I turned away from it because it wasn't time to get ready for the party. It was time to get ready for babysitting.

At five I walked down the stairs for my step-mother to make sure everything was in its place. My parents were sitting on the couch in our living room, each reading their respective literature. For my father, an auto-biography of a pilot and a fashion magazine for my step-mother. But both of them paused their reading to look up at me.

"Hmm.." my step-mother remarked, emotionless.

"You look lovely Annabeth." my dad complemented and returned to his reading.

My step-mother got up and was prowling around me like a predator circling its prey.

She was muttering to herself. "Not awful... take up... tuck this..."

Finally, she stopped behind me and was fiddling with my hair.

"Just tucking a few hairs back into place." she mumbled, concentrating.

I knew that was a lie and she was doing something fancy but if that was all she disproved of, I wouldn't complain. She pinned something back that really squeezed my head, but I would have to fix that later.

"Okay you are good to go. Your car will be out front in fifteen minutes." She pursed her lips together. "And your date...?"

"He's meeting me at the car drop off. Old-fashioned style."

My mother loved gentlemen, so she gave a tart smile which actually meant she was happy.

"You may have a small snack, as long as you don't spill anything on your dress."

My dad suddenly piped up. "Yes we wouldn't want you to be sopping wet before you even left the house, this time."

He guffawed and his wife chuckled. They thought they were funny.

In the car I pulled some strands loose from my tight hairdo. Then I took off high heels and slid on some slippers: you couldn't tell with the length of my dress. I had opted for a larger purse which held some movies and a t-shirt. I was wearing sweats underneath my dress. Because hey, if I was going to babysit, I was going to do it in comfort. I arrived to the party unaccompanied, and if my step-mother found out, she'd have a heart attack. I would have to find someone to bring me home and call them my date. Luckily I'd arrived kind of early so not many people were there. I thanked the driver and began walking up to the 'castle' again.

As I got closer, I saw Percy standing near the door and he looked bored out of his mind. He saw me and I gave him a little wave.

Percy was staring and it started to make me self-conscious. I was standing right next to him before he said anything.

"You came." he blurted. I gave him a funny look.

"Yeah," I said tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. "Yeah, well, I didn't really have a choice. My step-mother made me come."

He looked me up and down and chuckled. "Well you look nic-not like a babysitter." I raised my eyebrow.

"No, my step-mom doesn't know that's what I'm doing. Look." I shook my foot beneath the dress's material, revealing the slipper.

Percy smirked. "That matches perfectly."

"Just take me to Tyson."

"Will do." he held out his arm.

Percy Jackson always the charmer.