Sorry I couldn't update any sooner. School basically sucks the life out of me. Anyways, here's the next chapter! I hope you enjoy :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Perseus whatever his middle name is Jackson!
Chapter 3: Flashback
Percy
I stood with my arms crossed on the fence. My neighbor was standing across from me with a guitar in her left hand and the angriest look on her face. I smirked at her and I swear I thought her face turned redder.
God she was attractive.
There should be a law against looking so undeniably hot when you're angry. It should literally be illegal. Her cheeks were as bright as a cherry, her eyes swirled a dark silver, her right hand on her hip that was cocked to the side, and her chest heaved with fury-
Oh shit. I think noticed I was checking out her chest. Ok, play it cool.
"Hey you perv, my eyes are up here!"
"I don't know what you're talking about" I lied smoothly "I was just looking at your guitar. What is it? A Yamaha? A Fender?"
She narrowed her eyes. "Jasmine."
I nodded my head. "Good taste. I think I have a few that are Jasmine."
She sighed dramatically. "Listen buddy, I have better things to do than to have you creepily watch me play and talk to me about guitar brands."
"Yeah, I bet your schedule must be filled with burning household items" I say sarcastically. "Are you some kind of pyromaniac?"
"No" she snarled. "I just didn't need those things anymore."
I raised an eyebrow. "So you burn it instead of throwing it in the trash?"
"I don't have to explain myself to you!" she exclaimed.
She then started stomping back to her house, but I called after her. "Wait!"
She stopped, but didn't look at me. I could practically see the anger rolling off of her in waves. "What?"
"Did you write that song?"
It took a minute for her to answer. "Why do you care?"
I rolled my eyes. This girl was really starting to get on my nerves. She was too stubborn for her own good. Kind of like- No. Stop thinking about her. You're only going to make yourself feel more depressed.
"Because it was really good. And your voice was amazing." I wasn't lying. This girl had talent. I was captivated from the first word that came from her mouth. She sounded like an angel. A really heartbroken angel from how sad the song was, but an angel nonetheless. I was definitely putting her on my 'Potential Superstars in the Making' list.
She sighed. "Yeah, I wrote it a while back." She then looked at me over her shoulder and my knees almost gave out. Her eyes softened to a heather grey that made her look so fragile and vulnerable. I've seen that same look before. I saw it every day after Will Solace's freshman party. But it couldn't be her. She looked so different. So-
"Did you really think it was good?"
Her voice snapped me back to reality. That's when I made the connection. The honey blonde hair. The princess curls. The snarky attitude. The rosy cheeks. The familiar singing voice. The eyes. Those beautiful grey eyes that have haunted my dreams for years. How did I not realize this before? God I'm such an idiot.
"I thought it was more than good" I replied, trying my best to keep my voice steady. "You're incredibly talented."
She looked away, but not before I caught her blush. "Thanks, but I'm not that good."
"I'd have to disagree. By the way, what's your name?" This is it. The answer to this question would determine if my assumption is correct. If she says the name of the person I've known for years, then I might just die on the spot.
She looks back again and smirks. "I'm sure you'll figure it out soon enough. Think about it." She then entered her house without another word, but that was all the information I needed.
It was her.
My childhood best friend.
My first crush.
My first kiss.
The person that I cared about the most.
The person that I betrayed.
That I lied to.
That I hurt.
Annabeth.
I was positive that it was Annabeth. I mean, that last comment was such an Annabeth thing to say. I just... I couldn't believe it though. I can't believe that I didn't recognize her. But she looked so... Different. A good different, but to tell you the truth I was completely caught off guard.
I always wondered what it would be like to see Annabeth again after high school was over. She was always pulling off the 'cute nerd' look. With her large round glasses that made her eyes look owl like. And her hair that always seemed to be in a messy braid. Despite what everyone said about her she was without a doubt one of the cutest girls I've ever laid eyes on. But in a blink of an eye she changed from that shy book reading girl to this guitar rocking goddess.
To say I was shocked was an understatement.
When I went to bed that night, I couldn't sleep. The guilt of what I had done to Annabeth over the years was eating away at me again. I thought that maybe if I drowned myself in my music and just moved as far away from her as possible that maybe I wouldn't feel so bad anymore. But obviously, fate is really freaking cruel.
The memory of the first time I ever hurt her crossed my mind more times than I would have liked. It felt like it was on constant replay. Reminding me of how much of a jerk I was to her and how I could never earn her trust back again.
~x~
"Come on Perce! Play with us! It'll be fun!"
"Huh, what?" I was shaken out of my daydream by Will Solace. He looked towards my line of vision and shook his head.
"Dude, I don't get what you see in her."
I tried to keep the blush that was threatening to spread across my face. "I don't know what your talking about."
He gave me a bland look. "Seriously Percy? Everyone knows you have a thing for Annabeth."
"I do not! We're just friends."
"See, I don't get that either" he said while dragging me to the circle of teens. "She's such a smartass and she looks like she just brushed her hair with a rake. No one in the class likes her so why do you hang out with her?"
I shrugged. "She's cool once you get to know her." Actually, Annabeth was more than cool. She was the best. She was better than vanilla ice cream cake, my mom's blue cookies, and cheesy crust pizza combined. In short, she was my best friend, and she was awesome.
And I might have had a slight crush on her.
Ever since we went to the movies a few weeks ago, I haven't been able to stop thinking about her. We both reached for the popcorn at the same time and I accidentally grabbed her hand. Her hand was soft. And warm. If you think about it, we basically held hands... Even if it was only for like three seconds. I wanted to do it again. I felt like I would die if I didn't. My hand was twitching throughout the entire movie when out of the blue, she put her hand on mine.
"Will you stop? It looks like your hand is having a seizure."
My hand stopped twitching, but she didn't let go of it. In fact, we didn't let go for the rest of the day.
"Yeah sure she is" Will scoffed. "Look Perce, all I'm saying is that you really need to watch yourself. If the other guys in the class find out that you actually like her, they're going to beat you silly."
Panic started to swell in my chest. The last time a kid in our class got a beating, he came back with a broken arm and a black eye. "Joey wouldn't do that just because I hang out with Annabeth would he?"
"Yeah he would. You know he lives for torturing us. And imagine what he would do to Annabeth. She already gets enough shit from the girls as it is. He'd go after her too just to piss you off."
Joey was the school bully. He and his posse just loved to scare kids until they peed themselves. I made the mistake of hitting him in the face during a dodgeball game in gym class and he's been gunning for me ever since. I've been lucky enough that they were just pranks, but a beating from Joey is like being tackled by an NFL player.
"Anyways, the rest of us are playing seven minutes in heaven. You wanna join?"
I hesitated. I have never kissed a girl before and for some reason, the whole class has already had their first kiss. Except for Annabeth though, she was on the same boat as me. I wonder if I will ever get a chance to kiss her. Would she let me? Would I mess it up? How-
"Come on Perce" Will persisted. "You aren't afraid are you?"
I glared at him. I wasn't scared of anything. Except maybe Joey, but everyone's afraid of him. "Don't be an idiot. Of course I'm not afraid. Let's play."
The first few rounds passed smoothly. Soon it was my turn. I'll admit, I was a bit nervous, but I wasn't going to let everyone think that I was a chicken, so I spun the bottle. It landed on Greg.
The group laughed while Greg and I looked at each other disgusted.
"Don't worry" Will said, trying to contain his laughter "When that happens, we just pick the person that's standing behind him." What? I never heard of that rule before.
When I looked to see who was standing behind Greg, it was Annabeth.
I was going to kill Will. He totally did that on purpose.
Before I could protest, I was being pushed into an extremely cramped closet. Poor Annabeth had no idea what was going on. She was too into playing on her phone to notice the group of people sneaking up on her. She was then pushed into the closet after me.
"Hey!" she yelled while banging on the door. "Let us out!"
"Sorry!" Will yelled back. "No can do! Your seven minutes start now! Have fun you two!"
Even though I couldn't see a damn thing, I felt Annabeth turn to face me. "You just had to play the game. Didn't you Seaweed Brain?"
"They were going to tease me if I didn't!" I protested. She sighed and I could feel her hot breath on my face. How small was this closet?
After a long awkward pause I said "We don't have to do anything you know."
"I know. Can we do a thumb war or something? I need to distract myself before I go insane." You see, Annabeth and I both had ADHD, so being in a cramped place like this, even for a few minutes, was basically torture.
"Ok, give me your hand."
She put her hand in mine, but we didn't do a thumb war. I couldn't get over how her hand fit perfectly with mine. And when I thread our fingers together, I could feel my body heat skyrocketing.
I took a risk and put my other hand on her waist. "Percy?" she whispered "What are you doing?"
"Annabeth" I whispered back. "Would it be alright if- if I..."
"Yes."
"... Really?"
She laughed softly. "Yeah, it's ok."
"Oh. Ok, I'll just... Yeah."
"Just kiss me you idiot." Even though it was a demand, I could still hear the smile in her voice.
I leaned in and I swear my heart was going to explode like in those Fruit Gushers commercials. I wanted to kiss her so bad it wasn't even funny. I put my lips against hers and God, my world turned upside down.
It was slow and her lips were so soft and holy crap I couldn't even think straight. Now I knew what all the hype was about. But my first kiss wouldn't have felt like this with any other girl. It was because it was Annabeth. My best friend. That's the reason why it was so great. That's the reason why I almost fainted when she put her arms around my neck.
It was perfect.
She was perfect.
Just then, the door swung open and a bright flash blinded my vision. As soon as my eyes adjusted, I found myself face to face with Joey Samuels.
"Well look at what we have here" Joey sneered. "Annabitch and Prissy, making out in the closet. How cute."
Remembering Will's warning, I stood in front of Annabeth. "We weren't making out."
Joey laughed "Oh really? Then what do you call this?" He then held a picture of Annabeth and I kissing in front of my face.
I shrugged. "She was the one who kissed me. It's not my fault I couldn't push her back in time." I heard Annabeth gasp behind me and I instantly felt like a jerk. God that was the wrong thing to say, but I couldn't think of anything else to get Joey to back off.
Joey raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Wow, I never knew Annabitch was such a slut. Who knows what else she's done."
The crowd laughed and from the corner of my eye I could see Annabeth's eyes start to fill up with tears. That's how I knew how much this was hurting her. She never cries. Ever.
"Awww, is little Annabeth gonna cry? Why don't you just do us all a favor and leave. Clearly no one wants you here."
I turned to look at her and I felt my heart shatter into a million pieces. She stared and me with wide broken eyes that silently asked me 'Why? Why don't you stand up for me? Why are you betraying me like this?' I tried my best to show her through my own that I'm honestly trying to protect her. If I admitted my feelings for Annabeth, Joey would come after me and then torture Annabeth every day just to make me suffer. If he thought I didn't like her, he'd embarrass her this once and then leave her alone.
Annabeth left the party. She ran out of the house without saying a word. I assured myself that she'd forgive me. I'd explain everything to her and we'd go back to the way things used to be. I'll even buy her a few packs of Reese cups to make her feel better. She'll understand. She has to.
"Hey Jackson," Joey called "you should sit with us at lunch on Monday." Knowing better than to refuse Joey, I nodded.
I left the party feeling as crappy as ever. I decided to go to Annabeth's house to explain everything to her and tell her how sorry I was for being such a douche. When I rang the doorbell, she answered the door with red puffy eyes. My god I'm the worst best friend in history.
"Annabeth I-"
"Don't" she held her hand up. "I don't want to hear what you have to say. I hate you Percy."
I took a step back. It felt like she just punched me in the face. Actually, a punch in the face would have hurt less than that.
"I don't ever want to speak to you again. So you can go hang out with your new best friend Joey and just leave me alone."
"But Wise Girl-"
"Don't you Wise Girl me!" she yelled. "I hate you Percy! What you did hurt! I don't care what your reasons were! You were an asshole! A jackass! The biggest son of a bitch on this planet!"
Annabeth had never cussed so much in her life.
Tears started streaming down her face as she continued her rant. "We're through Percy! We are no longer friends! So don't ever come near me or my house again! I HATE YOU!"
She then slammed the door in my face.
And I stood there. Completely lost.
She was gone.
~x~
Little did I know that denying my feelings for Annabeth meant that I would be forced into Joey's crew. Another amazing perk was that one of the targets he loved to mess with was Annabeth. He, along with another group of girls who I mentally titled the Barbies, bullied Annabeth all through high school.
She stood up for herself though. She never let them get the best of her. But I knew she was hurting inside. I could see it in her eyes. How shattered they were. How broken.
I did my best to help her without making it obvious. Like that time during our high school graduation. God that day must have been horrible for her. After the incident, I never saw her again.
Until now.
And this time, I'm not going to fuck things up. I'll find a way to get her to forgive me. To get my best friend back. Because God only knows how much I freaking missed her. I still do.
There was a plan forming in my head that I knew was full proof. It had to be. There wasn't any room for mistakes. Not this time. Not if I want her back.
The first step is figuring out a way to spend time with her. And I know just how to do it.
By making her an offer that even she can't refuse.
Author's Note:
Thanks for reading and please remember to comment/review on what you think so far!
The next chapter will be posted as soon as I have some free time. Exams are next week, so I'll be studying like no tomorrow. We'll see after then.
Until next time!
