Shout-outs to: Elmlea, turqoiserainlillies, ElmoDaHorse, Angel-of-the-Seas, Guest, goddess of heroes and time, MusicIsMyLife1214000, Quiet Shadow6631, Rsblue1226, Guest, PercabethWithoutADoubt, FandomsUnite98, and ConverseAthena!

Hi...Well I haven't been here for a long time...I don't really have anything to say except excuse my laziness. I can't believe I didn't update this story since the tenth. Of August!

A belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Years since I didn't update during that time...

Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or any of the songs used in the chapter. Happy reading!

CHAPTER THREE

Two weeks later…

"We're going on in five!" Rachel's shrill voice rang through the back stage, her hands trying to tame her wild curls. "Where is my hair dresser?" She demanded, cursing as the tresses would not untangle themselves. "Why is everything going wrong today?" She continued to whine. "First with the sound prepping, then the outfit, and now my hair dresser didn't even bother to show up! Doesn't she know how important this is?" Rachel continued to rant as she went about backstage, pacing back and forth in quick strides.

Spinning around on her chair in her own little backstage room, Annabeth tuned all of the mayhem out, taking a deep breath as she stared at her reflection in the mirror.

"It's going to be fine. You can do it. It's going to be fine no matter what happens." Annabeth told herself to calm her butterflies. Her grey eyes were accentuated with the mascara, the hoards of makeup covering up all blemishes.

Annabeth Chase felt like a fraud.

She felt like one of those cheerleaders in her high school years, with ten layers of makeup and skirts too high and tops too low. Of course, she was decently dressed and her makeup wasn't too bad.

But still.

Tentatively stepping out of the room, she was relieved that Rachel had finally stopped screeching. It was not good to get a pounding migraine on her first concert.

Rachel's hair seemed to be fine now, but she was currently in a lip-lock with Percy.

A disgusting one, per say.

Annabeth looked away, noticing all the other girls doing the same.

"It's revolting when they do this," Piper whispered, "They hardly ever do this kind of thing, but we wish they never had to."

All the other girls nodded in agreement, but heads not turning around.

"Girls! Your positions!" Rachel's voice came out of nowhere, jolting all five girls out of their misery. Percy seemed to have disappeared, and Rachel showed no evidence of her previous actions. They scrambled to their places, Annabeth at the piano, and the other four scattered among the stage.

This is it. Annabeth thought, My very first concert for Rachel Dare.

For a few moments, all she could hear was the screaming of the many, many fans. This was a concert made up of a few celebrities to fundraise for charity, and Annabeth couldn't believe how many people came.

Suddenly, there was a deafening big sound, and the curtains opened up to reveal the pop sensation, Rachel Elizabeth Dare.

Fans screaming her name, clapping their hands in a timely rhythm. Thousands of posters were waved in the air, saying things such as "We 3 RED", "Rachel, marry me?", and "RED 4ever". The whole stadium was pandemonium.

"Are you ready to make some noise?" Rachel's voice was amplified on the speakers, carrying over the entire crowd of crazy fans.

They replied by breaking Annabeth's ear drums.

"This song is for you guys!" With everything she did, the whole crowd went crazy. Rachel stated, "This song is for my amazing boyfriend." Across the stage, the girls exchanged glances, slightly rolling their eyes, remembering their traumatic experience.

The curtain collapsed, effectively covering Rachel's retreating body. Exactly like Rachel had predicted before the concert, the crowd started murmuring in suspense, wondering what was happening.

A guitar solo rang through the stadium. Just after a few chords, Rachel stepped out, in a completely different outfit. She wore a light pink dress, stopping right above her knees. A brown belt accessorized the dress at her waist, and her hair was put up into a ponytail.

Our love runs deep like a chevy,

If you fall, I'll fall with you baby,

Cause that's the way we like to do it, that's the way we like.

You run around open doors like a gentleman,

Tell me "girl, everyday, you're my everything,"

Cause that's the way you like to do it, that's the way you like.

Just a little west coast, and a bit of sunshine,

Hair blowing in the wind, losing track of time,

Just you and I, just you and I.

Woah-woah.

No matter how far we go,

I want the whole world to know,

I want you bad.

And I won't have it any other way.

No matter what the people say,

I know our love would never break,

Cause our love was made,

Made in the USA.

Made in the USA.

Yea-ea, yea.

The song continued, going through the second verse and chorus.

Cause baby I'll take the bullet,

And take the blow for love.

Woah-oah.

Our love was made in the USA.

Made in the USA.

Made in the USA!

At the last note, there was once again a high note where Annabeth's voice blended in with Rachel's. It sounded surprisingly good, despite all of her doubts about the end result. Maybe she was just overlooking into everything, like always.

Made in the US.

Made in the US.

Made in the USA.

(Made in the USA by Demi Lovato)

The song was over with the last lone note. As if on cue, the ear splitting sound of hoots and cheers erupted in the stadium, and Rachel welcomed them like they were music to her ears.

"Thank you New York!" She positively beamed at every single fan, "I love every single one of you! You're the reason I come!" She made a huge sweeping motion with her arms, stretching from the left to right. "This is my last song!"

Mr. Know it all,

Well ya think you know it all.

But you don't know a thing at all,

Ain't it, ain't it something y'all.

When somebody tells you something 'bout you,

Think that they know you more than you do,

So you take it down, another pill to swallow.

Mr. bring me down,

Well you, you like to bring me down,

But I- I ain't going down,

Baby, I ain't laying down.

Cause nobody tells me what it's gonna be.

Nobody gonna make a fool out of me,

Baby, you should know I lead, not follow.

Oh you think that you know me, know me,

That's why I'm leaving you lonely, lonely.

Cause baby you don't know a thing about me.

You don't know a thing about me.

You ain't got the right to tell me,

What or where to go, no right to tell me.

Acting like you own me lately.

Yea, baby you don't know a thing about me.

You don't know a thing about me.

Mr. play your games,

Only got yourself to blame,

When you want me back again,

But I ain't falling back again.

Cause I'm living my truth without your lies.

Let's be clear baby, this is goodbye.

I ain't coming back tomorrow.

Oh you think that you know me, know me,

That's why I'm leaving you lonely, lonely.

Cause baby you don't know a thing about me.

You don't know a thing about me.

You ain't got the right to tell me,

What or where to go, no right to tell me.

Acting like you own me lately.

Yea, baby you don't know a thing about me.

You don't know a thing about me.

So what, you got the world at your feet, yeah.

You know everything, about everything,

But you don't.

You still think I'm coming back

But baby you'll see, yea yea.

Oh you think that you know me, know me,

That's why I'm leaving you lonely, lonely.

Cause baby you don't know a thing about me.

You don't know a thing about me.

You ain't got the right to tell me,

What or where to go, no right to tell me.

Acting like you own me lately.

Yea, baby you don't know a thing about me.

You don't know a thing about me.

(Mr. Know It All by Kelly Clarkson)

Right after the final song, the lights turned out, and all eight of us got off the stage as quietly as possible.

Percy and his band were waiting for Rachel at the back. To Annabeth's surprise, it wasn't only Percy and Rachel who embraced, but Piper and the blonde guitarist also embraced very tightly.

As soon as they broke apart, The Big Three were ushered onto the stage. While Annabeth was watching them, she had to admit that they were amazing. They knew exactly what to do, when to do it, and where to do it.

All too soon, the concert was over. It was already eight in the evening, and Annabeth had promised her father that she would visit him before visiting hours were over.

Rachel was getting ready, and Annabeth, ready to set out to call a cab to the hospital, was stopped by Rachel.

"Where do you think you're going?" Rachel's green eyes pierced a hole into her, daring her to answer.

"Um, I'm leaving. The concert's over." Annabeth slowly answered, afraid one wrong word would put her in jeopardy.

"Sorry honey," Rachel started, not sounding sorry at all, "While I go sign autographs, you have to stay here and wait for it to finish. But don't worry, it only takes around an hour."

Visiting hours end at 9.

"But," Annabeth spluttered, wondering who came up with the atrocious rule. Looking around for confirmation, she saw the other girls all nodding their heads.

Dejected, Annabeth sighed, looking towards the floor.

"Well now that's settled, bye!"

Annabeth gloomily looked down, disappointed. She was really looking forward to visiting her father and telling him about the concert, and she'd hate to see his expression if she didn't visit.

Piper looked at her with sympathy.

"It's a sick rule, I know. I hate the rule. Dislike it, abhor it, loathe it."

"Her boyfriend's always waiting for her. She feels guilty about leaving him there to wait." Silena half mouthed, half whispered.

Piper, as if knowing what Silena had said, glared at her.

Silena twiddled her thumbs and whistled, pretending to be innocent.

"Hey," A warm hand on her arm snapped Annabeth out of her zombie-like trance, "I know a way to get out the stadium without having Rachel know."

"How?"

"Listen." His plan seemed highly unlikely to work, and Annabeth KNOWS she might be fired for it, but she would really hate the sight of her disappointed dad.

"Okay." She nodded. "I'll do it. "

Later on…

Her arms were crossed, her fingers loosely carrying her carry-on bag. She was in the most balanced position possible. Very slowly, she took a hesitant step, one foot exactly in front of the other.

Percy's plan was quite stupid, if she actually logically thought about it. But right now, she knew she had to get to her dad.

"Okay, I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm re-"

"Okay, we got it, you don't have to repeat it a million times, jeez." Percy interrupted jokingly. "We went through this plan a million times, I assure you, it's flawless."

Annabeth took the step back, and scoffed. "We went through this two times, and there are a ton of flaws, starting with I DON'T HAVE PERFECT BALANCE."

Percy blinked twice, saying "So?"

"Isn't this what the whole plan based on?"

"Yea….?"

"Seaweed Brain."

"Seaweed Brain?"

"Yes, because your brain is full of seaweed. Rachel told me you like the ocean, too."

"Well, then, Wise Girl!"

"Wise Girl?" It was Annabeth's turn to be confused.

"Yea, because you act like you know everything, and you sorta, maybe, do know a lot of stuff."

"Well then, that's a compliment more than anything."

Percy looked embarrassed, ruffling his hair. "Well, I'm sorry that I'm not up to your standards, Wise Girl."

"Seaweed Brain."

"Grey eyes."

Annabeth opened her mouth to retort, when they got interfered by Reyna, Hazel, Silena and Piper, who were watching amusedly.

"Okay, guys, break it up." Silena ordered, though she was slightly smiling, "Some of us can't watch your flirting for much longer." Reyna nodded her agreement, eyes shining.

"Wha-eh-w-we-wa-We were not flirting!" Annabeth and Percy exclaimed indignantly.

"Yea sure, whatever you say." Hazel, said, rolling her eyes. "Now go, Annabeth, you're already even more late."

Annabeth nodded, and turned to go.

"Good luck!" Everyone called to her as she started walking. "Don't get caught and don't get fired!" The last part was Piper.

Annabeth started, feeling a bit nervous. Percy's atrocious idea was to walk in a straight line, down the MIDDLE OF THE HALLWAY. Claiming that he saw the security cameras before, they covered both sides of the hallways, but not the middle, because their logic was that people would want to go down the sides, and not the middle, when they think of security cameras.

She didn't know why she was trusting Percy, but she had to, and now she had to follow through with the plan.

Slowly, she followed the laser she had in her hand, given to her by Percy. Why he had a laser, she didn't know. And she didn't want to know. But lasers were, and trusting what he said too, immune to the cameras, and would help her see a straight line.

After a few minutes, she was through the hallways without any people chasing her or any sirens blasting.

Opening the door and going through, she looked back to the end of the hall, where Percy and the others were standing, watching her. She smiled and gave them a thumbs-up, which they returned.

And then she left.

Arriving at the hospital in a record time, Annabeth went straight to the room to see her dad.

"Hi dad." She whispered, seeing him reading some newspapers with the light dimly lighting the whole room.

"Hey, Annie. Come sit with me." Her dad moved to make space for her on the bed, the bed slightly creaking under the switch of weight.

"It's okay, I'll sit beside you, it's fine, really." She accented as her dad continued to squirm around. "I just came here to see you before you, you know."

Something Annabeth might have forgot to mention was that her dad was going into surgery tomorrow. After that, he would be put into an induced state, where he would stay like until he was willing to wake up.

"We'll get through it together." They both promised.

A promise to keep.

Later that night, Annabeth opened up her laptop, opening up Google. Quickly, she typed into the search bar, "Rachel Dare concert" before entering, and quickly, several articles popped up, with headings like, "Concert- A Blast!", "Amazing artists including Rachel Dare and The Big Three", and "RED once again blows us away!". In all articles, the concert was summed up into a one-thousand words piece, briefly describing the concert. Annabeth scrolled down to the comments, where there were positive reviewers, saying things like "I love her so much!", "Can't wait for Rachel to visit Washington", and "3 her what can I do". Of course, there were a few negative comments, but Annabeth pushed them aside, closing her laptop, getting ready to go to bed.

The next day, she had to get to the practice room at an early time to get ready for touring around, which will be due to happen in around two weeks. Apparently, they had a lot of work to do, and they had to cram into the next two weeks.

It's going to be a long two weeks, Annabeth thought before she got into her bed.

Hectic and chaotic, to say the least.

This chapter took me forever to finish. I actually had half of it finished and was gonna update August, but I kept on putting it off until now. Hehe sorry

My HP story is up, it has two chapters right now!

Please review?