Author's notes

I was reading some of the previous chapters and it seems that I miscalculated some years, this story is supposed to be set on 2014, which means the NY Yankees vs. the Boston Red Sox finals had to happen in 2008. Mathematics, I still don't know its ways, I've already fix it, this is just to keep that in mind. Reviews are always welcome. Enjoy the chapter, I'll try to update as quickly as I can.

I do not own any of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians' characters, those belong to Rick Riordan

Chapter 4

Annabeth woke up with a jolt, she was breathing heavily, sweating a lot and her heart felt like it could jump out of her chest anytime. She then touched her throat, that agonizing pain was back, she grabbed the little jar on her drawer, there was a note under it.

'Sorry, I had to leave a little earlier to catch the plane, didn't want to wake you up, I left you $4000 on my bedroom, I think it should suffice for 2 weeks, Mellie will come over and pick your laundry at noon, don't forget to brush your teeth and don't go to bed late. Hope you enjoy school. Be back soon, XOXO Athena'.

Four thousand dollars?!. Is she going to leave me for two weeks or two months?!. Annabeth's thoughts were interrupted by the pain that burned her throat. She walked downstairs to the kitchen for a glass of water, to swallow her pills. She reached a water bottle in the fridge, and drank the fresh water with the painkillers, she could feel the pain going away already, she then proceeded to heat the waffles in a microwave, she went to the fridge and grabbed the vanilla ice cream, when she opened the recipient she saw that someone already had eaten part of the white sweetness. You're so sly, aren't you aunt Athena?.

She went back upstairs to put her painkillers back on its place, she got to her room and put the little jar on the drawer, she decided to open her window's curtains, it was raining. Of course it is. But at least the view was still as amazing as it was when it was sunny, she went downstairs to finish making her breakfast, the waffles were heated, she brought a plate and the stuff she bought at the store to the coffe tabble, she was sitting on one of the couches, writing on her notepad some sentences she would have to use often, so that she wouldn't have to write it down later, sentences like: "I'm Annabeth", "thank you", "I can't speak", etc.

She took a bite out of her waffles while thinking. So this is how my life is going to be now, huh? A lot of free time with nothing to do. She was bored, she wished this was all a nightmare that she could wake up from and tell how crazy it was to her family, but none of this would happen. The waffles tasted good though.

3 days later

Annabeth woke up to the sound of the alarm on her phone, time to go to school, she felt nervous but she was ready to face it. The last three days, she got to know Mellie, her aunt's assistant, and the building where they worked. She also got to buy some new clothes and school stuff, like notebooks a backpack, pens, notepads (God knows she would need a lot of them) and some pencils. She stopped having nightmares, she didn't dream either, but she preferred this than having to face something that haunted her and couldn't comprehend. She could finally get some deserved rest from that madness and she was grateful for that. Annabeth ate some fruits for breakfast, she went upstairs to change her clothes, she opened her wardrobe and took a Columbia University (where her mom teached) T-shirt, her old blue jeans, a black hoodie and of course, a scarf. She then heard a knock on the front door.

"Hey Annabeth, it's Mellie, you ready?".

On the same day that her aunt left, Annabeth found out the doorbell was broken, everyone would have to either knock on the door or shout her name. The girl grabbed her backpack, put her Yankees cap and ran to the front door, she sighted the short brown-haired woman, waiting next to an old black Corolla.

"Good morning Annabeth, how are you?". Said the woman with a cheerful tone.

Annabeth opened her backpack where she put all the cards with sentences she wrote, in those three days she wrote over 150 of them, Annabeth thought if she put a number on all of them, she would know what each one meant, she was a smart girl like that. However, her plan missed one important detail, actually remembering which number meant which sentence. So a 'good morning' or an 'I'm fine' should work. She thought. Which number was 'good morning'? Was it 18? No, 'what's your name' is 18, right? I think that 'I'm fine' is 34 or a 33. Meanwhile the atmosphere was getting very awkward, Mellie was thinking to tell the girl she didn't have to answer back, but she looked so determined to get a card with a right sentence she decided to do nothing. C'mon Annabeth, Mellie is looking like you are a whackjob, pull out a card already! Okay, number 33 here it goes!. She held the card in front of Mellie.

"Do you smell that?". The assistant slowly read the sentence out loud, she then smelled her armpit. "Why? Am I smelling bad? I thought the bath I took today was enough, I'm so sorry, this is so NOT like me I promise". Said the woman with a worried tone, Annabeth wanted to facepalm herself really hard, why did she even write that in the first place? She grabbed her notepad and started scribbling down something, she then showed the woman the paper.

"You smell fine, I got the wrong card, I'm anxious, besides that, I'm fine".

"Oh thank God, hygiene is something I take VERY seriously". She said relieved as they both entered the car. Annabeth noticed that, she remembered that when she visited her aunt's office at Olympus Corp where Mellie worked, there were air fresheners everywhere, there was even one of those hand sanitizers sitting on her desk, she decided not to comment on the little woman's weird obsession, after all she felt like she was a freak too. Her thoughts drifted into what other people might think of her when she got to school, were they going to laugh at her? Call her names? Would she even be able to make friends? Annabeth decided she was overthinking all of this.

"You know, it's normal to be anxious on the first day, I remember my first day at the company, I couldn't stop sweating, so I decided to use deodorant all over my body, some people called me 'deodorant Mellie', better than be called 'sweaty Mellie', am I right?". So, here's something I didn't need to know. Thought the girl, but however weird the story was, it calmed Annabeth a little, because if people on this town were that crazy, she wouldn't look like too much of a freak, her thoughts were interrupted by Mellie again.

"Oh and there was the time I got promoted to be Ms. Athena's assistant, when I first saw her office it was a nightmare, DUST! DUST EVERYWHERE! I think there was even a-". And it was from this point on Annabeth decided to ignore the coffe-haired woman. The girl wanted to listen to some music, she grabbed her phone and started choosing which one of the 12 songs she had, she wanted to hear. This is a good one. The girl hit the play and 'Whistle for the Choir' by The Fratellis started playing on Annabeth's ears.

4 minutes later

They were in front of the school, it was just as Annabeth imagined, kids her age everywhere, running, hugging each other and laughing together, ending the longing to see their friends.

"Ok then, here you go, I'm sorry I can't pick you up today". Mellie apologized, Annabeth didn't mind, the school was only 14 blocks from her house, she, personally, would rather come on foot, but Mellie insisted, the woman was afraid that the girl wouldn't know the way and would get lost or something, Annabeth shrugged in response to the assistant's statement.

"Don't forget to always wash your hands before eating, bye bye". And with that Annabeth was left there trying to figure out what she was supposed to do, should she try and go meet someone new?. Nah, better not. She walked towards the main building where she would find out which classroom she was assigned to, as she strolled she was admiring the ambience. Everyone seems to have someone to talk to, looks like I'm the only "new" student here.

"Hey, you!". Annabeth turned around to see six, very well dressed girls walking towards her, she pointed at herself as if she was asking 'who? Me?'.

"Yeah, you". Said the girl at the middle, she had slanted eyes, straight black hair, was wearing a Chanel white blouse, a black skirt, and rather too much makeup in Annabeth's opinion. It looked like the other five girls were following her, the Asian girl was walking around her, inspecting her, those slanted eyes, piercing Annabeth's soul. Those eyes were more effective than steel, they calculated their prey's movement, the voiceless girl didn't know if they were going to talk to her, if they were just going to walk off, or if they were going to tackle and start devouring her, Annabeth was really hoping it wasn't the latter, surrounded by lions, that may probably be the best comparison this limited writer could come up with, savage beasts but yet majestic like the sun.

"You're new around here, I don't remember your face, not that I would care". Annabeth was very uncomfortable, what could all of that display of hostility mean? Annabeth felt like she was the very meaning of the word outlander at that moment.

"Yeah, I suppose you could walk with us if you changed this... outfit, tell me, what's your name?". Annabeth didn't experience this pressure since one of her nightmares, when she was standing in front of the killer, the man in her dreams at least wept, she wasn't sure if the girl in front of her could even do that.

"Hey are you deaf? She's talking to you". One of the girls said.

"Hey, leave her alone, it's obvious that she doesn't want to speak to you". Said a girl behind Annabeth, she turned her head to see who it was, the voice belonged to a Native American girl, she was wearing a 'keep calm and follow the trail' long sleeve T-shirt, black jeans and trekking boots, her brown hair had two braids and hawk feathers tangled on them, her brown eyes, no wait, blue, no, green?. What's up with her eyes?.

"Piper, darling, we're busy, so why don't you go back to your little forest and go perform a rain dance or something?". Said the Asian girl with a smirk, despite the insult the brown-haired girl was still smiling.

"You're on a such bad mood today Drew, what happened? Haven't you eaten your daily riceballs yet?". Drew huffed.

"Whatever, hey, new girl, don't ever forget what I'm going to tell you... Chiron maybe the principal, but it's me, Drew Tanaka, who is the queen of this place, got it?". Annabeth decided to just look at that girl like she was crazy, that might make her go away, and it worked. Is it even legal for a girl to wear that much makeup?. She turned to the other girl at her right.

"Hi, my name's Piper McLean, are you really new around here? Where you from? What's your name? I like your cap". Piper cheerfully said.

"Pipes, you just told them to leave the girl alone, and now you are annoying her too?". Asked a boy walking towards them, he had blond hair and sky blue eyes, Annabeth had to admit he was very handsome.

"I'm just curious about her Jason, that's all". She answered.

"Yeah, right". He smiled, then he turned his look to Annabeth.

"Hi, I'm Jason, Jason Grace, what's your name?". Annabeth thought about getting her sentence cards, but she thought she would end up in a similar situation she got earlier, so she just grabbed her notepad and wrote.

"It's Annabeth Chase, sorry but i can't speak :(".

"Oh". Said Piper with a surprised tone, Jason didn't seem to get it.

"Why? Do you have a toothache or something?". Piper facepalmed, Annabeth tried not to laugh at the native girl's reaction.

"Jason, why don't you go, uhh, look for Leo?". She calmly said.

"But I was just asking if... wait". Jason made a contemplative face, as if he was trying to crack a puzzle. "Oh, now I-". He realized how dumb he was looking. "Sooooo, I'm gonna go look for Leo, see you two later". And with that he was gone, Piper sighed.

"Boys, am I right?". Annabeth let out a soundless giggle, they were walking towards the main building.

"Annabeth that's a pretty name, where are you from?". Asked the braided girl, the blonde wrote.

"Thanks, I'm from NY City".

"And have you always been like this?". Annabeth shook her head. "Can I ask how it happened?".

"It's sort of a long story, can I tell it later?".

"Oh, sure". Annabeth didn't want to look shady to someone who looks like genuinely wants to be her friend, but her past wouldn't be something she would like sharing with others, her story wasn't something she could simply write down while walking. Both girls were now on the main hall, there was students, from both senior and junior high, everywhere, looking at lists that told them which classrooms they were assigned to.

"C'mom, I think that the eighth grade's assignments are over here". They walked over to a list with lots of names on it, Annabeth found hers and put her finger on it.

"Hey, it looks we're in the same class, cool huh? Classroom number eight". Said Piper as she found her name as well.

"ARE YOU FREAKING SERIOUS?!". Annabeth and her new friend got startled by the scream that came from an hispanic boy that was next to them, Jason was with him.

"Calm down dude". The blue-eyed boy camly said.

"Calm down?! CALM DOWN?! We're not on the same classroom, el trío dorado is broken, the golden trio is broken, how can I possibly calm down?!". The boy frantically said.

"There is still recess, and we can still meet after class at your mom's shop". Jason tried to keep his cool.

"Where I'll be working all day? Why this always has to happen with me?".

"You're overreacting again".

"Dude, Clarisse is in the same classroom with me". Some seconds of awkward silence passed between them when Jason finally spoke.

"No, yeah you're definitely screwed". That made the latino boy drop on his knees and face the ceiling with his fists raised.

"Why do you have to do this to me? Is it because I'm too handsome or too smart?".

"More like too dramatic". Piper said sarcastically as she walked over to him, Annabeth was trying really hard not to laugh at that situation, it seemed like those three had something special together, she wasn't comfortable getting into their conversation, so she decided to stay out of it when she heard someone coldly say.

"Excuse me". She stepped aside and turned to see the person who said it. When she did, her eyes gazed open, she couldn't believe what she was seeing, the tan-ish skin, the raven colored hair, the green seaweed eyes that were as deep as the ocean itself.

"Classroom eight huh?".

It was the enigmatic boy from her nightmares.