HAPPY NEW YEARS! Here's a little surprise, and hopefully I can make someone's day better.

First of all, Dang guys! The views for my story blew out of the water! Thank you!

To the people who think Annabeth is annoying and whiny: LMAO that's sort of how I wanted to portray her. She's frustrated with her life at home, and with Percy in general. Her sass is a little weird, so I'll lay off on that just a bit. You'll get to see a little more of her life at home.

Remember to review, and I'll see you on the other side ;)


Percy POV

I sighed and leaned back in my chair, watching Ms. Chase walk out of the door, her hips swinging back and forth. Man, I'm such a creep. I thought to myself, dragging a hand over my face. I don't even know what it is about her that makes me so...intrigued. Maybe it's the way her eyes sparkle when she gets defensive, or her childish innocence.

I can't lie. To be completely honest, I love her innocence. The rosy blush that covers her skin when I allow my eyes to sneak a look at her face. Her charming smile that actually touches her eyes.

That's more than I can say for most of America, including myself. Morals become corrupt, and society is too quick to forgive, making every person believe that forgiveness is something automatically granted. 'Mistake' is a word that has lost all meaning. Some tears are shed and everything is just the way they were two days ago.

Think about it: how does someone accidently send nude pictures of themselves to their "lover?" You don't. You voluntarily took of your clothes, took the picture and pressed send. Owning up to your mistakes is one thing. Being sorry that you got caught is another. In the moment you do those things, something pure and beautiful is lost. My own innocence was taken away a long time ago, when I was young and stupid. Lust was mistaken for love, and I gave that girl my everything. Maybe that's why Mother won't even stand to look at me.

To think, that no man has ever shown her what a real kiss feels like, makes my stomach flood with determination and excitement, only to be ruined by the taste of disgust that filled my mouth. Don't you dare touch her. My mind screamed at me, and I almost whacked myself in the back of the head to shut it up. Pft. As if I didn't already know that.

My busy thoughts are interrupted by my phone, buzzing in my back pocket. I grunted in annoyance, and took it out while glancing at the name before pressing decline. It started ringing again, and I angrily swiped to answer the call. Do they not get the fact that I want to be left alone?

"What, Gover?" I barked into the phone, rolling my eyes at my best friend's hurt tone.

"Jesus Christ, Perce. You need to chill out. Come over, me and the guys have a surprise for you." I could hear the sickly sweet smile in his voice. Oh gross.

"I don't want to," I basically pouted, "I still got a whole stack of papers to grade and I'm fucking exhausted."

Gover let a sigh of frustration out before saying, "It's the damn weekends man, you have Saturday to sleep in and finish your shit. Have a little fun."

Rolling my eyes and running a hand through my hair, I shook my head. "Fine. I'll be there. No more than an hour, got it?"

"It's a miracle! See you so-" I pressed end and stood up from my chair shoving all my papers into my already disoriented suitcase, waiting for the guilt to hit me.

It didn't.

Annabeth POV

When I pulled the car into the driveway, I opened the car and immediately the voices of my irate parents filled my ears. The sound was so loud that I could hear them from outside the house. Well shit.

Circumspectly, I walked through the back entrance, praying that they wouldn't hear the door shut. Click. The sound of voices filling the air came to a deadly silence, as I heard the padding of their feet come toward me. I cursed inwardly as I took off my shoes and slung my book bag to the floor, bracing myself for what was to come.

I saw Mother's head turn around the corner of the wall first. "Where the hell have you been? Your father and I have been worried sick!" She exclaimed, the bags under her eyes so large that it seemed to take up her whole face.

"I'm sorry," I began, but I couldn't get a word out before Father cut in.

"We were about to call the police! You couldn't have answered your phone? Of course you couldn't have, you do nothing but text your friends and ignore everything we tell you. You don't care about us or this family! How can you be so selfish?"

EXCUSE ME? What the actual fuck?

"First of all, I had detention with Mr. Jackson. Second of all, my phone was on vibrate, stuck in my bookbag. If I had taken it out during detention, Mr. Jackson would have had my ass on a silver plate. Third, I never even use my phone for those purposes; how can you stand there and accuse me for doing something I haven't done? And lastly, don't you dare talk to me that way. Are you really going to stand there and call me selfish? Your the one who spends all the money that Mom makes, on things like alcohol and whatever the hell else."

I was surprised at my rude behavior. I have never in my life talked to someone of authority, especially my parents like that. But they crossed the line, and there's only so much a person can take.

Father's face was contorted with anger. "DON'T SPEAK TO ME THAT WAY ANNABETH, I'M YOUR FATHER, AND I DEMAND FOR SOME RESPECT."

"BULL SHIT!" I exploded back at him, my fists at balls hanging at my sides. I have never been so angry in my life; I was literally "seeing red."

"WOULD YOU SHUTUP AND LISTEN TO ME FOR ONCE?" I screamed back with as much rage as he had done, feeling warm streams of angry tears start flowing down my cheeks. "You both are so good at taking care of your own problems aren't you? But you don't stop to ever think. What about Katie? Huh? Do you realize that she's basically been parent-less for the past year or so, when she needed you guys the most? She needs a role model; someone that she can look up to when she has no idea what to do. What you say and do not only affect her, but me. WHAT ABOUT ME?" I sob, my voice involuntarily cracking at the end as I watched their faces turn from pure fury and hatred to regret and heartbreak.

"You don't care about us. You didn't even know that she lost her panda pillow pet. She hasn't been able to sleep for the past few weeks." My voice came out barely in a whisper, countless nights of Katie thrashing in her bed flashed before my eyes.

Mother covered her mouth with her hand as tears started glazing over her eyes. It's absolutely pathetic that it took her so long to realize how broken I was. How broken this whole family was. "Oh, God, Annabeth... I'm-"

She reached out to dry my tears, but I recoiled back, jerking back as if I was burned.

"Don't touch me!" I hissed, gasping for air, digging my nails into my scalp. I can't breath. I can't stay here. I can't take this anymore.

Turning around, I opened the door and started running, ignoring the plump raindrops pounding down onto my numb skin.

"Annabeth, come back!" I heard my Father's voice call out behind me, getting more distant as adrenaline filled my lungs, allowing my feet to carry me away from the hell hole I call my home. Home isn't supposed to be like this. It's supposed to be full of 1000 piece jigsaw puzzles and playful banters about who made the best cookie. It's the small fights with my sister and the mild embarrassment that you feel when your parents brag about you to their friends.

I almost didn't feel my bare feet hitting the side walk; it was surely to leave bruises and cuts the next morning. I couldn't tell which drops of water were the tears that fell from my eyes; the rainwater merged with the salt and turned all of them in to freshwater. Eventually, my body started getting ridged and cold, and my lungs slowly started to give out, running out of oxygen. Every single one of my limbs ached and my heart felt like it was going to fall out of my chest.

I limped over to a bench, seated close to a bus stop and closed my eyes tightly, trying to wrap the sweater, that was dripping wet, tighter to my body. No matter how hard I tried to stop, my mind was in overdrive, trying to picture a world where I actually had a functional family-one that I could count on. A world where I didn't have to call a man with the beautiful green eyes "Mr. Jackson."


So? Loved it? Hated it? REVIEW! They really keep me writing. Let me know what your thoughts are! You guys WILL see Luke again, I promise. And I promise that the next chapter will be longer. A lot longer. Thanks again for reading, remember to review, and until next time loves. xoxo.

~Chubbypandaz

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