Warning: Unedited. Probably cliche. Read at your own risk.
Word Count: 2,500+
Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HoO.
Guest: ;)
Harris: Aww! Thank you! Hopefully, I can upload faster too! But for now, I'll upload about every two weeks so I can get more chapters typed up and ready to upload.
PoppyOhare: Don't worry, it's coming.
Thank you to EVERYONE who have followed and reviewed. It is much appreciated. In this chapter, you'll also get a little bit of a surprise. Until next time!
Annabeth's POV
One thing I noticed after school was that I forgot to ask Percy where he lived. Poo. Don't you just hate it when something like happens? I do. I stood outside the school building, wondering if I should ask the front desk lady for his address, but she wouldn't give it because of private reasons.
A hand on my shoulder made me jump as I got prepared to hit whoever it was. I turned around, my right arm ready to sock the person in the face but was met face to face with Percy, who had his hands up in a surrender position.
"Woah, woah. Hold it! It's just me. Remember?" He said, eyes wide in alarm.
I let out a breath of relief, lowering my arm. "Of course. Just don't do that ever again."
Percy looked confused. "Do what? This?" He put his hand on my shoulder and I jumped.
"Stop that!"
He smirked. "Are you ticklish?"
Hmm... That smirk was suspicious, suspicious indeed. I frowned. "No, it just freaks me out when you do that. Don't ever do that again."
His smirk was still in place as he said, "Fine, let's go to my house now." He started walking off to the left in a fast pace. When I didn't move, he looked back at me. "Well? Are you coming? We still got to bake something you know."
Quickly slinging my black bag over my shoulder, I followed after him and kept in pace with him. I attempted to make small talk. "So… what's your foot size?" I blurted out. As soon as I said that, I immediately turn red.
Percy looked at me with a funny expression. "What kind of question is that?"
I suddenly felt defensive of my, very weird, question. "A question about your foot size. Is there something wrong with that?"
"Well… it's just so… random. It's something you wouldn't ask most of the time."
"Yeah, I get what you mean."
There was silence between us as we continued to walk through an unfamiliar street. It was about ten minutes before we stopped in front of a tall apartment building made out of bricks. We walked through the back door, which was made out of metal and had a lock that Percy had keys to.
"So, you up for walking a couple flights of stairs?" He asked me, looking up.
I shrugged. How bad could this be? I bet he doesn't even live that high.
"Sure. Which floor is your place?"
"The sixth."
"What!?"
"Come on, you, we're only on the second and we're barely at the top," Percy remarked as he stood next to me, who was sitting on the floor, breathing heavily.
"Oh give me a break, I didn't expect you to live this high up. By the way, you walk too fast!"
He shook his head. "Nope, you're just too slow to keep up with me. Though, that's what I would expect since you have shorter legs."
I scowled. "I don't have short legs; you are just too tall!"
"Whatever you say. But seriously, hurry up, we spent fifteen minutes here already." And he started to walk up the stairs in a fast pace.
Getting up from the floor, I practically had to run up the stairs to keep up with him. "Well, sorry if I don't want to die from the lack of oxygen from running up the stairs and only taking one break right now," I gasped out, knowing he could still hear me.
I continued to run, pushing myself and feet, counting the number of floors along the way. Just when I thought it would never end, on the six and final floor, I bumped into the green-eyed idiot, nearly knocking me down to the floor as he put his arm in front of me.
"Hey! Why'd you stop?" I asked, looking at him.
Percy motioned for me to be quiet as he whispered. "Stay here. Somebody who isn't supposed to be here is on this floor. I'm going to go and check it out."
"No! That's just being suicidal and he's wearing black! What if he has a gun or a weapon?"
"He hasn't even seen us yet and he isn't that stealthy either, most of the neighbors can hear him.
"The. why don't we just run down and call the police? That way we both can survive."
He shook his head. "No, I know who he is and he isn't here just for anyone. Go down and call the police, I'll hold him off until the authorities arrive."
I was hesitant as I took a step down. "I don't know… are you sure you can take whoever it is?"
"Yes! Now go before he realizes we're here!"
Percy didn't need to tell me again. I ran a couple floors before dialing 911.
"Hello?"
"Yes? Is something wrong?" A woman's voice asked me.
"Yes, this is an emergency. A person in black clothing is currently lurking around the apartment. And a friend of mine is currently watching the stranger to make sure he doesn't escape.
"Okay, the police are coming. First, you must tell me if he has a weapon and where you are.
"Um… I'm not certain if he's armed-"
THUMP!
"What was that?"
I was getting more and more worried as I continued to speak. "Uh-h I don't know. Do you know the giant billboard on that green building?"
"Uh-huh."
"Yeah, take a left, then go about two blocks up, then you'll see a middle class brick apartment."
THUMP!
"Thank you, can I take your name?"
"Annabeth Chase. Should I go check upstairs or should I just wait down
here?"
"Go check to make sure your friend is okay, but be quiet just in case."
I quietly ran up the stairs as fast as I could. I looked through the door window, pushing my hair back to be able to be a little hidden. Looking cautiously left and right, I decided it was alright to go in. For self-defense, I zipped the zipper to my bag securely and made sure all the pockets were closed tightly.
Opening the door, I poked my head through it and looked down the hallways, left and right, until I saw Percy's body on the floor. Unmoving. I rushed over to his side. His body lay on his side, curled up. I felt his pulse.
Still alive.
"Percy? Percy?" I called, patting his slightly bruised cheek, which wasn't the best thing to do but made his eyes open. He groaned, making no indications that he was going to move.
Using all the strength I could muster, I helped him to sit against the wall. "Why did I ever let you handle that guy by yourself? I am such an idiot! You could've gotten killed, or worse! I am such an- "
"Idiot. Yeah, I know. I've heard it once already," Percy mumbled as he shifted, closing his eyes. "Now, shut up and let me sleep."
I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Go and sleep- wait, what?" He opened one eye at me as I looked at him like he was crazy, which he was.
"You can't sleep out here! The paramedics and police are coming. You could possibly be interrogated later on, and you'll need to be awake for that."
Percy's eye was already close and I glared at him. Well, if he was annoyed when someone tries to wake him up, don't say I didn't warn him. Before I could let him fully succumbed to his sleepiness, I quickly asked him, "Wait! Did you catch who that man was? Or if he explained why, what, or who he was here for?"
He didn't respond for a minute, then he shrugged and winced. "Um… I can't remember. It's kind of fuzzy right now."
I nodded and touched his forehead. "Does it hurt?"
"No."
I moved my hand to the back of his head. "Here?"
"No…" he was half awake now.
"Does anywhere on your head hurt?"
He shook his head, closing back his eyes. "Not really, besides the bruising on my cheek, my back hurts, and the fact that I really want to go to sleep, I feel fine."
He was lying. I knew it. Grr… that boy, er… teenage boy? But still! I didn't want him to know I was lying, and I didn't want to do nothing since he lied (which is obviously wrong). So, I poked him on the forehead. Hard.
"Ow! Why'd you do that for?" Percy rubbed his head in annoyance.
I said nothing as I shrugged. We both fell into a comfortable silence as we waited for the police.
About thirty minutes later...
"So you're saying you don't remember anything, and I mean anything, about who was in here?" Officer Junior asked again to Percy, who was sitting outside on the sidewalk with an icepack to his face.
I stood on the side, watching awkwardly as they spoke.
"Yes," Percy sighed tiredly.
Officer Junior closed his note pad. "Can I have your last name? This is necessary since we'll need to list you as a victim of this case. My boss will be contacting your mom in an hour or when she comes back to ask her if she noticed any strange things around here."
Looking a little alarmed suddenly, Percy asked him, "Will you be continuing to search for who did this?"
The officer shook his head. "No, with the details you've provided for us which was, 'A guy in black clothes walking around suspiciously,' wasn't enough to be too alarming and my boss suspected that this man is just a common crook who will be caught. Thankfully, he didn't hurt anyone else in the building so we'll be on the look out for him."
Percy nodded. "Okay."
After that, he gave the officer the info he needed and left, but not before saying to me, "Remember to keep out of this business, miss, it will definitely save your life. Have a great day, you two!"
I frowned. "What odd words..." I murmured to myself. "What do you think he means?" I asked Percy as I stared after the police man.
I heard shuffling behind me and saw Percy had come to stand beside me, shrugging. "I don't know. Don't think about it too much, we still have to bake a cake."
"With all those pain meds they gave you, are you sure?" I pointed out with uncertainty at his sleepy expression.
"I'm fine, let's just go inside and hurry up with this baking so I can sleep." He
I followed him inside and proceeded to gather the necessities for a blueberry cake. Only... I had no ideawhatsoever of where the ingredients were.
"Uh... Percy?"
"Yeah?" He mumbled distractedly, looking for a recipe from a cook book.
"Where are the ingredients?"
"On the shelf on your left, bottom compartment."
"Oh, thanks."
I moved around quietly, gathering everything together. I was in the middle of grabbing a bag of from the top when his voice broke through, "How come none these have the right picture?"
My eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. "I thought you were supposed to be looking for a recipe with words, not pictures..."
He glared at me. "Well, then, why don't you look for it then." Percy slammed the book closed on a counter and stormed away.
I sighed. Good job, Annabeth, you've pissed off the guy! What a great thing to do to the person who lives here and just got injured. I rolled my eyes at myself. Oh well, the least I could do was let him cool down and try find that recipe. I took the cook book from the counter and flipped through the pages. I realized something and stopped when I got half way through the book.
This was a cook book. For meat. Argh. I looked toward the bookcase full of books and shuffled through them. I finally found one that had a recipe for a blueberry cake and my, did it look delicious. Drooling at the covers and reading the instructions, I didn't hear Percy coming toward me. He tapped me on the shoulder and I jumped up, shrieking loudly.
"Don't do that!" I reprimanded as I shuddered. Then I asked, "Are you... still angry with me?"
Percy looked confused for a moment before he replied, "Angry with you? What are you talking about? I wasn't angry with you."
"Oh, then what was that all about?"
He scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "Well, I was kinda... uh..."
I gestured for him to go on.
"... I have dyslexia and ADHD."
I gaped at him in shock. "You do?"
He nodded.
"I do too."
He frowned. "Are you sure? I don't think you have it. You seemed to read that book pretty well," Percy said as he looked at me, surprised at my words.
I nodded. "I'm sure. I've just had a lot of practice concentrating on simple words and I've been able to read pretty well ever since. Lately, it hasn't been much of a trouble except I still get distracted sometimes."
"Wow," Percy said as he looked at me, in amazement.
I had the urge to squirm under his gaze and tried to subtly look away from him. He caught my movement and hurried to say, "Sorry! I'm just surprised since I don't know anyone who can focus on things so well."
My face heated up as I smiled. "Thanks."
Percy looked towards my hands that were still holding the book. "We should get baking now, it's getting late. What time do you have to go?"
"Just a couple minutes before six," I said. "Why?"
"It's almost four forty-five, so we better get started," He replied as he took some bowls out. "Oh, and just to let you know, I don't know how to bake."
I stepped through the door of Percy's apartment and turned to him. "Thanks for inviting me over, it was fun baking."
He smiled at me. "No problem! Sorry about the cleaning, I guess I should have also told you there was going to be a mess."
"It's okay, it didn't take as long as I thought." Something vibrated in my bag and I took out my phone. My eyes widened at the time. "I should probably get going now. I'm am really late, my dad is freaking out right now."
"Okay, see you at school," he said, grinning.
"Bye!" I waved at him as I left.
Percy waved back and I looked away from him with a smile on my face.
Percy's POV
Too close. Too close. Too close.
Those words chanted in my head as I closed the door, but my smile still there. After we had made one layer of a blue blueberry cake, the kitchen was a mess and she had offered to help me clean up the kitchen. I, of course, said no since it was already a few minutes past six. Annabeth insisted, giving several reasons on why she should stay and help out.
Let's just say, she is too persuasive. Especially with the smell of lemons in her hair. Weird? I know. Usually, it would smell disgusting and sour, but it actually smelled fresh on her.
Wait.
I did not just think that.
NO.
Man, it felt like she was taking over all of my thoughts and I'd just met her!
As if someone flipped a switch, the words from earlier suddenly dawned on me and I didn't want what happened to Rachel be repeated twice. I needed to prevent anything going on with her, and I need to do it sooner than later.
