Music always gets me inspired to write. For example, seven hours ago, Maroon 5's "One More Night" came on the radio and I started imaginging up a PJO fanart music video (animated) and also a whole story. Then I put OMI's "Hula Hoop" on repeat, and here I am. Times like this, I wish I could draw better. I need to make my pictures more realistic - I stink at drawing noses and hair. But I totally rock at eyes and the base of the face. Sigh.
Thank you guys for a lot of reviews, but I really wish I'd start getting as many as I got the first chapter. I really appreciate all these long reviews you're giving me though - I feel special, practically honored.
I'm going to leave review responses at the end of the chapter or else this author's note will be a mile long. Like, really.
Annabeth pulled into the driveway, spitting out a curl that decided to sneak into her mouth. The problems of having long hair. She let out a nervous sigh.
"Before we get out, we need to figure out what the Hades we're going to tell my parents."
Percy seemed to think it over in his head. It took all of Annabeth's might not to remark that he looked stupid. (When really she thought he looked super adorable - but she pushed that thought into the depths of Tartarus.) "Why can't we just go with your idea of a writing buddy?"
"I'm pretty sure they wouldn't allow it because you're a guy," she huffed in annoyance. "Besides, why in Hera's name would a writing buddy need to stay at our house overnight? Like, come on."
Percy frowned. "I have no idea what we're going to do."
Annabeth reached into her pocket and pulled out her cellphone. Percy stared at it in horror.
"You're going to attract dozens of monsters!" Percy hissed, glancing out the window.
"One, I don't know why you're whispering, we're alone in a car," Annabeth rolled her eyes as she started dialing. "Two, I hate to burst your bubble, but in this world, everything's normal and mortal. If there's monsters, I haven't met any."
"Because you're mortal," Percy challenged. "You can't see them."
"You got a point, Jackson," Annabeth agreed as she hit call. "But I don't give a damn about monsters. If they mess with me, I'll kill them before they could even think about making an attack."
Percy sighed in defeat, annoyedly looking out the window. Annabeth smirked in victory - but not for long - the phone answered.
"Annabeth, honey?" the other side said. "Are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine, dad," Annabeth replied. "I was wondering if a friend could stay tonight."
"You have a - nevermind." Annabeth looked down at her lap embarrassedly, even though he couldn't see her. His voice went dark, "You weren't specific. Is it a boy, Annabeth?"
"Yes," she replied. "It's a homework assignment and I waited 'till last minute, I've been busy writing. You know that."
Percy looked over at her in surprise. 'You're a good liar,' he mouthed.
Annabeth winked in reply, a sly smile on her face.
"Well, I suppose..."Fredrick said slowly. "But he'll be staying in the guest bedroom."
"Yes, dad," Annabeth said in annoyance. "Understood. I'm not stupid."
"I know you aren't," her father said softly.
"I'll be there in two," Annabeth replied.
"Okay, see you two then."
Annabeth hit end call and stuffed her phone into pocket. She grinned at the Poseidon boy. "All set."
"He might get suspicious if we aren't doing homework," Percy pointed out.
"Are you planning something, Jackson?" she questioned, an eyebrow risen playfully.
Percy's cheeks redden. "You have a really dirty mind."
"Of course I do. I write romance," she replied as if it was nothing. She unbuckled herself and took the keys out of ignition. "What did you expect? I do have emotions, you know."
"I just didn't expect you to have those emotions," he said stiffly as he unbuckled himself and opened the door.
"I'm not incapable of loving, if that's what you're implying," she huffed. "I do have female hormones, you know. I'm not a robot."
Percy's cheeks turned pink and didn't reply.
Annabeth got out of the car and scowled. "Out of all the characters to come here, it had to be you. Why not someone cool, like Piper? Hades, I'd even appreciate Leo at this point!"
Percy's face went dark, "I can't believe you'd even talk about him like that."
"Oh, shut up," Annabeth rolled her eyes. "He's alive, you idiot."
Percy's eyes went wide, his mouth dropping slightly. "How-"
"He had the cure, remember, Sherlock?" Annabeth looked up at the sky like 'why me?'. "He's currently rescuing Calypso. That's where I left off."
"Looks like you just got a new idea for a book, huh?" Percy said and walked up to the porch with her.
"Not a bad idea, Jackson. Oh, speaking of which-" Annabeth said as she eyed the doorknob. "Your new last name is Simmis."
"Simmis?" he spluttered.
"Drake Simmis," Annabeth confirmed and grabbed the doorknob, walking in. "I'm home!" she called out. "If anyone cares, that is!"
A man with salt-n-pepper hair peaked his head in from an archway. "Annabeth! And... whatever your name is!" A smile grew on his face, his eyes lightning up. "Oh, he's cute, Annabeth!"
The teenagers both reddened. "He's not cute," she replied stiffly. "Friend," she narrowed her eyes at her dad. "Just a friend."
"Alright, alright," her father replied, stepping into the room. He pushed his glasses back towards his face and studyed Percy. "You got a name, son?"
"P-"
Annabeth kicked his shin and Percy flinched.
"Drake Simmis," he said. "But people call me P.J. I have no idea why."
Annabeth resisted the urge to facepalm and decided to just lean against the wall. Luckily, her father seemed to buy it.
"Well, alright." The adult eyed the boy. I'm Fredrick Chase."
"Pleasure to meet you, sir," Percy offered a hand.
Fredrick grinned and shook it, "You can call me Fred." The man kept shaking PJ's hand and shot a smile at Annabeth. "What a gentleman. I like him, Annie."
Percy's cheeks tinged pink in response.
"Then you can keep him," Annabeth rose an eyebrow. "You're perfect for each other." She said sarcastically before she walked away into the living room, not bothering to care if either them followed.
"I don't think he's single," she heard her father retort.
"Oh, he isn't," Annabeth yelled back. "He's taken. His girlfriend is really hot - I've met her!"
Annabeth heard her father cuss and she let out a victorious smirk.
"She's hot, eh?" Percy whisper-chuckled from behind her.
"Oh, hotter than Aphrodite for sure," Annabeth replied. "Let's go up to my room."
"So that's why you wanted to take me home," Percy whistled.
Annabeth rolled her eyes and walked towards the hallway. "So I'm not the only one with a dirty mind, eh? Good to know for future reference."
Percy followed her up the stairs. "You live in the attic? What are you, the old oracle?"
"Ha, ha, ha," Annabeth said slowly as she climbed up the stairs. "Good one, Jackson. But yes. The twins decided to use both of the bedrooms and my mother insists on having a guest bedroom."
Percy was quiet for a moment. "You're a modern Cinderella."
"Just waiting for my prince to come," Annabeth agreed as she opened the door. "But princess tales are a work of fiction. And apparently my prince."
"What if there's another Percy?" he challenged as they walked into her bedroom.
"Then he's in New York," she said. "Or dead. And not mine - now or ever. I'm an independent woman. I don't need a man."
Percy tried to argue, but she shushed him and shut the door behind her, locking it. "Why are you locking the door?" Percy questioned.
"Twins," she said as if that answered everything. Annabeth walked over to her desk and grabbed her laptop, motioning to the bed. "Sit."
"You just want to get me into bed," Percy joked.
"Enough with that, Jackson," Annabeth said as she sat down next to him, opening her laptop. "I'm the only one who can crack those jokes. I am the romance writer, after all."
"But you're not a fanfic writer," Percy noted.
"Who says that?" Annabeth challenged. "What if I do just under a secret username? Who says I'm not apart of the fandom and write stories for them in my freetime?"
"Do you?" Percy asked in surprise.
"That's for me to know and for you to find out," Annabeth replied and started typing into her computer. "Name a person."
"Chiron?" Percy offered.
Annabeth clicked a few things and let out a frown. Percy peeked over her shoulder. "Only 426 stories of him as a main character on FanFiction. Lucky son of a bitch."
Percy laughed, "How many are there of me?"
"Let's see," she replied and clicked on the sorter again. "25 thousand. That's for you as the main character at least."
Percy paled, "Really?"
"That's not including all the readers," she nodded her head. "Let's check me. I haven't checked in a few weeks." She went back to the sorter and smirked, "Ha! Only 18 thousand!"
"But I'm more popular than you," Percy stuck his tongue out.
"And more people force you to date Nico than people force me to date Luke," Annabeth smirked.
Percy stared at her. "What."
Annabeth cracked up, "Oh, Percico. Shouldn't of mentioned it."
"They WHAT?!"
Annabeth gave him a pouty lip, "Is someone embarrassed?"
Percy's face reddened, "Why would they do such a thing?!"
"Because," Annabeth shrugged. "Why not?" Annabeth clicked a few more choices and scowled. "Dad got us all beat - only 59 for crying out loud!"
Percy sniffled, "Bastard."
Annabeth whistled, "You're learning to curse. Good job, bad boy."
Percy blinked, "Oops."
"Shit," she corrected.
Percy scowled, "Why are you even showing me this?"
"Because if I'm going to send you back to your world, might as well have a bit of fun first," she said and looked back at her screen. "That's what you wanted, right? To see my world?"
"I suppose?"
"Then what do you want to know?" she asked, her curls dancing across her shoulders as she turned her head.
Percy bit his lip in thought, "Stuff about the books?"
"Oh, no," Annabeth shook her head furiously. "Those are trash... you shouldn't read them... Terrible writing. Shouldn't of wrote them. I don't even own a set."
"They're under your bed, aren't they?"
Annabeth cursed. "Should of made you less observent."
Percy gave her a lopsided grin and leaned down, pulling out a very large box. He whistled, "Pretty heavy."
"Thought you were oh-so-strong," Annabeth rolled her eyes.
"Just saying that there must be a lot of books," Percy scoffed and set the box carefully on his lap.
"Oh, not really," Annabeth crinkled her nose. "Just 10, not including my other series. That box is for the Greek and Roman series and the other ones are safely hidden away."
"Other series?"
"Oh, yeah," Annabeth replied, eyeing the box as if it was fragile. "You know, Carter and Sadie, for example. Or Magnus."
"I'm just going to pretend that I didn't hear you say that you wrote a series about them too," he replied and started opening the box.
Annabeth slapped his hands and swiped the box out of his hands, "How can I trust you with these?" Annabeth glared at him.
"Because I totally cannot read a biography about myself," he said sarcastically. "Come on, Chase. Give them here."
"You can't," she whined. "You'll laugh at my writing."
"What's the title of the series?" he rolled his eyes.
"Percy Jackson and the Olympians," she mumbled.
"Then it's in my perspective, I'm guessing. Which means it's my thoughts. Which means it's just me readings my thoughts." He sent her a are-you-kidding-me-right-now look. "Give."
"What if you're sixteen, not seventeen?" she challenged, gripping tighter on the box. "I can't let you read your future!"
"I'm seventeen and a half," he rolled his eyes. "Hand. Them. Over."
"No," she spat, hugging it closer. "You'll laugh at me!"
"Why would I laugh at you?" he asked confusedly.
"Because I'm a terrible writer," she said slyly.
"Who told you that?" he pressed.
"Nobody," she looked away. "But I am."
"I'll be the judge of that," he insisted and took the box in a quick move. She tried to take it back, but he held her back. He opened the box with his free hand and picked up the book on top. "The Battle of the Labrynith," he read aloud.
"Yeah, that's the fourth book," Annabeth said quietly. "Can I have it back now?"
"Don't be shy," he patted the top of her head, a lopsided smile on his face. "It's just me."
"But you're the last person I want reading my books," she argued as he picked up another book out of the box.
"And why is that?" he challenged.
"Because... because..." She huffed in annoyance. "I just don't want you reading my books. It's embarrassing."
"How so?" he asked as he looked over the cover of The Lightning Theif. "The ilistrator totally got my hair too long."
Annabeth managed to let out a half smile for a second before going back to glaring. "Because it's about us! You know... our love story!"
"I thought you said you're weren't Annabeth," he rose an eyebrow.
She reddened, "I'm not!"
"Then why should you be concerned about me reading about my old life?"
"I just am," she sighed. "I probably got your character all wrong. For Zeus' sake, I haven't read the series in months."
"Don't be so insecure," he said sternly as he pulled out more books. "I'm sure you're a great writer - how else would you become a best-seller?" He motioned to the cover of the first book.
They heard a knock at the door and froze, looking at each other for a moment. Percy quickly put the books back inside the box as Annabeth raced to her desk, grabbing school books and papers and pencils. Percy shoved the box back under the bed and helped Annabeth make the place look messy with papers. Percy sat down on the ground and opened up a random book and pretended he was reading it.
Annabeth went over to the door in a sprint and fixed her messy hair before unlocking the door and opening it with a smile at the person there.
"Hey dad," she said in a quick breath. "Need something?"
"Just came to check on you," he glanced between Annabeth and Percy. "Why are you studying a math book? I thought you were doing a project?" he asked Percy.
Percy paled, "I was..."
"Checking up an equation for me while I sorted out our roughdrafts for our Chemistry project," Annabeth said with a smile.
Her dad buyed it with ease. "Oh. Nice to see that you're making progress. Good job."
"We'd be done faster if someone wasn't interrupting our work," she sang.
"Sorry," her dad said sheepishly. "Continue," he said and shut the door behind him. Annabeth locked it and let out a sigh as the footsteps quieted.
"That was... dang..." Percy sighed and threw the math book to the side of him.
"Close," she agreed and flopped down backwards on the bed.
I'd write longer but it's 4am and my dad is gonna wake up soon.
Lost-In-A-New-World: Oh... that's what you were talking about. Eheh... oops. I write out the usernames by hand, and while I have amazing long-term memory, short-term is like hitting myself with a brick. Repeatedly. So, sorry about that. Your review made me all giggly inside and I read it over to myself like 5 times. My cat, whom is sitting next to me, stared at me like I was nuts. (Causing me to crack up.) I really need to read Harry Potter, though. So many references and fanarts I see and I don't understand it! Like, ugh! Even if the stories are complete crap, I have to read them. It's now like... my life goal. I'll do more of Percy's perspective in the future since you all seemed to be interested in it. She's more harsh because unlike her demigod life, her life never changed for the better. So yes, harsh but occasional sign of okay-ness. If I do end up rewriting A Percabeth Life, I might take you up on that offer, haha.
Olympian and Wizard: I'm thinking about it. My life is a lot crazier than I let on, and I'm caught in the middle of family issues. There's a 40% chance of my parents getting a divorce right now so I don't know. Things like that. I just use writing as an escape right now. I really can't answer to any theories as I don't want to give anything away, but I love it when you guys come up with conspiracy theories. I finally got a good idea behind the reason and such about how Percy came so for future notice, I am not taking anyone's idea.
Sonochu - Nice to see a new reviewer! I'm trying to fix that issue - it's just that I really enjoy writing humor and sometimes I'm tripping over myself, trying to stop myself from cracking jokes in the middle of an angst/drama chapter.
Samantha's Library: Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad you liked the chapter! I just love writing embarassing moments. I'm a firm believer of "What is the point of other beings if not to mock them?" so yeah. I might of gotten that quote a bit wrong worded. (Yes, I love SAO and the abridged version.)
annabethsnow: I'd be cussing if I was her. I mean, come on. Her life is crap - you can't really blame her. Glad you liked the story, though! Thanks for the review!
Gonna get more into the parents and stuff next chapter. Hope you liked it!
