I crawled out of Percy's old bed to call my dad first thing in the morning. He could be kooky sometimes, but he deserved to know where I was. Dad sounded a little worried, but hey -- he's always worried about me one way or another.
"Do you think the weather will clear up by next week?" he asked.
"I'm sure it will," I said. "I'll be home by Christmas Eve, I promise."
We said goodbye and I hung up solemnly. I still felt terrible about last night's fight. I tiptoed to the kitchen to find Percy already up and munching on a slice of cold pizza.
"Um, hi," I said softly.
He nodded and took another bite of pizza. "There's more in the fridge if you want some breakfast,"
"Oh, thanks," I said, but I just sat down without a slice. "Look...about last night...I'm--"
"I'm sorry," he told me first. He finally looked me in the eye.
"No, I'm sorry," I said stubbornly.
He smiled just a tiny bit. "I said it first."
"But I'm sorrier," I insisted.
"No, I am."
"No, I am!"
"No, me."
"Okay, you are," he agreed, smiling for real. He stuck out his hand. "Friends again?"
I shook it, grinning. "We always were," I agreed, standing up and walking to the fridge. "I think I will have some pizza. We kind of forgot about it last night, huh?"
"Mm...yeah. I kind of owe you," he looked at me. "I was thinking about going to the mall today, you know, 'cause they've got this new ice skating rink. Want to come?"
I felt stupid, as a huge smile was spreading across my face without my permission. "Um, duh!"
My skate blades cut into the ice as I twirled on one skate. "You actually had a good idea for once, Seaweed Brain," I laughed as I spun a figure eight. When I didn't hear a response, I stopped spinning. "Uh, Seaweed Brain?" I asked, skating over to the side of the rink he was clinging onto. "Percy. Listen to me. You can skate."
He shook his head fervently. "No."
"My gods, it's ice. Ice, Percy!" I tugged on his arm. "You know what ice is? Frozen water."
"Manufactured, mechanically frozen, fresh water," he retorted, tightening his grip on the side. "I'm not skating. I don't even know why I thought I would."
I shrugged my shoulder, skating backwards as I did. "Suit yourself," I said. "But you could skate if you wanted to..."
I swished off to the other side of the rink, close to the food court. Mmm. Pretzels. I fished around in my pocket to no avail and wondered if maybe Percy had brought some spare change. They were the good kind too, warm Auntie Anne's with salt, a fresh aroma wafting my way...
"Hey," a deep-ish voice came from behind me. I turned on my skate to see a not-bad-looking guy about my age, brown hair, red t-shirt, standing with some of his also rather cute friends. "Nice skating there. You professional or something?
"No way," I said, coming to a stop. "I'm from San Francisco. I'd never get to practice."
The guys smiled. "Oh, California," the red shirt guy said knowingly. "Nice beaches there, I hear. That would explain the tan."
I smiled, blushing head to toe. "They're okay," I mumbled, embarassed. "Um, have you ever been there?"
His friends all laughed like a pack of hyenas. "In his dreams!" One of them hooted.
"Shut up, Devon," Red Shirt punched his arm. "So, what's a California girl like you doing in NYC?"
"She's with me," Percy interrupted bluntly, flashing by on his skates and yanking me away by the hand. "Nice meeting you," he said before I could say anything else.
I was so stunned I just let myself be dragged away on the ice for a second. "Well, look who just learned how to skate," I said sourly.
"If you go around talking to everyone you see, you'll get mugged or worse," Percy informed me. "Want to look at the Christmas tree?"
I sighed and followed him to the enormous fir in the middle of the skating rink.
"It's really pretty," I smiled, softening a little.
"Yeah," Percy agreed. "Look at the reindeer," he pointed to the little automated reindeer toy that was bouncing on a high branch.
I laughed for a minute, then fell quiet as we gazed at the Christmas tree. I looked down suddenly and realized something.
"Hey, Percy?" I asked.
He was still looking at the ornaments. "Mm-hmm?"
"You don't have to keep holding my hand. The boys already left the rink."
He drew his hand back so fast you would've thought it was on fire. "Oh, yeah, duh," he said, flustered. "Sorry. Just, you know, forgot."
"It's okay," I was blushing again. Turning to the mall's stores surrounding the rink so he wouldn't see my red cheeks, I had the brilliant idea to go, "Oh, wow, look at that! You can go test the iPhone in the Apple store!" Then dash away from the tree and take off my ice skates on a bench.
He stared at me, amused and confused. "Huh?"
"Well, come on!" I told him. He rolled his eyes and followed me up the stairs to return our skates.
We traversed around the mall, stopping every once in a while in a cool-looking place (that meant no clothes stores, no bath and body stores, and definitely, under any circumstances, no shoe stores). Both of us checked out the iPhones and he even got a pretzel to split.
"My mom could've made them blue," he told me as he ripped off a piece.
I munched on mine. "Yeah, but could it be as good as this?"
"Oh, yeah," he told me. "Better. She can bake anything, cookies, cakes...pretzels," he turned to me and smiled.
I smiled back. "You know, I can bake," I admitted, focusing on the salt grains of my pretzel piece.
He stopped and stared at me again. "Really."
"Really," I nodded. "And I'm good at it."
"You? Nah," he waved me off and started walking again.
"I am!" I insisted. "From scratch, and I only use really great ingredients. My dad would let me go by myself to the store and I'd get high-grade flour or whatever. I make breads too, mostly they're...what?!" I demanded of Percy. He was cracking up beside me.
"No, I'm not laughing at you!" he said over his laughs. "It's just kind of hard to imagine you...I mean, being patient enough to bake!"
I stuffed a bite of pretzel into his mouth. "You can just shut your mouth for a while, all right?" I yelled at him, grinning.
He frowned, then swallowed the pretzel and smiled. "Hey, that looks just like something you'd wear," he pointed behind me.
I turned around to see a sparkling diamond store, windows glittering with jewelry. "Which one do you...?" I started to ask, but I stopped immediately. I saw it: a tiny platinum owl, surrounded by golden leaves and clutching a small diamond teardrop. It hung delicately on a thin platinum chain with a heart clasp, and I loved it already.
"It's beautiful," I breathed, inching closer to the window.
Percy walked up beside me. "You can try it on if you want," he offered casually.
"Shut up," I pushed him away. Then I thought about it. "You mean it?"
Inside the store, I had a hard time convincing them to let me try on the necklace. "Ahh, but eet eez a veeeeeery expeensive pendant," the man behind the counter said. "Vee really shooldn't let such a leetle gehl be hahndling eet."
I crossed my arms. "I'm not a little girl. I'm fifteen!"
"Eeven so," he scoffed. "Eet eez not for hahndling."
Percy rolled his eyes. "Geez, it's just a necklace," he said to the counter man, exasperated. Then he got an evil look in his eyes. "I thought you'd want to know...I'm friends with Rachel Elizabeth Dare. Oliver Warbucks Dare's daughter?"
The counter man shut up and made a beeline for the window.
"Thanks," Percy said, taking the necklace. "C'mon, Annabeth. Pull up your hair or this thing's gonna snag it."
Surprised, I turned around and held up my hair. "Uh, okay."
He looped the platinum strand around my neck, and I heard a click that must have been the heart clasp. "Turn around, let's see it."
I swiveled to face him and he smiled. "It looks great. Check it out," he pointed to a mirror.
I trotted toward the mirror and took a peek. Wow. It looked even better on than it did in the window -- not too long, not too short.
"It's gorgeous," I agreed. "How much?"
The counter man sniffed. "Unless you haff an eempressiff trust fund, you cannot afford eet," he said. "Seecks thouzand."
"Dollars?" Percy and I cried at the same time.
He tapped his feet impatiently. "No, I vass talking about yen. Yes, doll-airs!"
I sighed. "Maybe another day," I held up the tiny pendant to look at it. After a second I felt Percy staring at me. "What?" I asked him.
"You know, even if you don't like her, her face kind of reminded me of you," he said quietly. "Calypso, I mean."
So he walked out of the store silently, leaving me alone with nothing but the platinum owl.
