Please read my AN at the bottom of this chapter. Thank you.
Chapter 7
Percy's POV
It was quite late when we finished our homework and made sure we had everything we needed for the next day. I ordered a large half cheese, half pepperoni pizza and two large sodas. When they arrived we all chipped in and immediately grabbed a slice.
"So," I asked. "Who wants to play truth or dare?"
Thalia instantly shouted 'ME!' deafening everyone in our mini circle.
"Ok, I think Thalia has answered for all of us." Nico commented, which earned him a slap on the back of the head.
"I'll go first." Thalia volunteered smugly. She turned to Piper. "So, Not-So-Aphrodite-Kid, truth… or dare?"
Piper was clearly balancing everything out, the number of possibilities of what could go wrong. There was only one answer… Everything. This was Truth or Dare! Nothing is easy, especially when there are teens there. Secrets are shared; embarrassing photos are also shared, well, everything is shared eventually!
"I'll pick… Dare."
"Bold choice, Barbie."
"I am not like my siblings! Do you see me wearing mini skirts and bikini tops everywhere? No! Do you see one item of pink on me? No! Am I a cold-hearted, judgemental plastic surgery addict? No! Am I-"
"Calm down, Pipes. Thalia was just being… well, Thalia." Jason said trying to comfort her.
Thalia just smirked. "Anyway, back to her -"
"Butterfly."
Everyone turned towards me. "What?"
"Seriously, dude?" Nico asked. "'Butterfly'?"
My eyes opened wider than I thought they could. I said that? Eesh, way to impress the girl you like, Jackson.
"Um, ADHD, you know. I saw a butterfly at the window."
Annabeth smiled at me. The light coming from the window next to her made her skin glow, her hair look like gold thread, her teeth shine, and her eyes sparkle. Wow.
"Anyway, Piper, your dare is… to act like a pure Aphrodite girl all day at school tomorrow. And that includes the 'Totes', 'Cray-Cray' and much more…"
"That's it!" Piper yelled before attempting to throw herself at Thalia. Jason and I were able to grab her while Nico was kissing Thalia to distract her. I saw Jason shaking with anger at this but he was busy with Piper at the moment.
About half an hour later, Piper had calmed down and agreed to do the dare.
"Okay, Percy, truth or dare?"
"Um, truth, please."
"Polite. Annabeth, he's a keeper." Piper said winking at her. I turned to Annabeth who was blushing just like me. "Um, Percy… Tell us, your deepest, darkest secret."
"Okay, I am invincible."
Thalia scoffed. "Big-headed much, Jackson?"
"Seriously! I bathed in the River Styx and…" I drifted off. I turned to look at Annabeth and suddenly knew why she was so familiar to me.
It was her.
I saw her.
She's the thing that keeps me grounded to my mortal side and all that crap.
But, I've found her.
"Holy shit..." I muttered.
"What? What's wrong, Percy? Are you okay?"
I nodded and gulped. "Er, yeah. Just you remind me of someone."
"Okay then. So about this invulnerable stuff, that means you have an Achilles heel, right?" Thalia asked.
I nodded.
"Can you tell us where it is?"
"Hell no! I tell you it and you would probably use it against me."
"Worth a try." Thalia said rolling her eyes.
"Look, can we just... you know, move on?" I asked, wanting to stop talking about this.
"Yeah, it's your turn anyway." Annabeth reminded me.
I looked around the circle – looking for people who didn't want to be picked. My eyes stopped at Annabeth. She was looking down and fiddling with her t-shirt.
"Pikachu, I choose you!" I said while pointing at Annabeth.
Her eyes widened. "Please not me? I really don't want a turn!"
"Awww!" Thalia mocked. "Is Annie scared?"
Annabeth threw her worst glare over to Thalia who just pretended to look innocent. "Firstly, don't call me 'Annie'. And secondly, you know why I don't like truth or dare!" Her volume increased until she was shouting at the end.
Thalia's eyes widened. "Sorry, I forgot."
Annabeth stood up. "I'm tired. Night."
We all looked at each other. Thalia looked guilty, Piper sorry for what just happened, and us guys confused.
"I'll go and check on her." I said quietly. I stood up and went to Annabeth's room. After knocking on the door softly, I said, "Annabeth? Are you ok?"
I heard a cough. "Yeah," She said. "Just tired, that's all. You know, long day and all."
"Can I come in?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"I'm getting changed."
I nodded, but then realised she couldn't see me. "Ok. I'll wait."
"No, Percy." A sniff. "Go and play the game."
"I don't want to. Please let me in."
"No, just go away."
"But-"
"I said go away!" She screamed. Something hit the door – she must have thrown something – and I heard her crying. I walked in and saw her in a corner wailing. I ran forwards and sat down next to her, holding her. We rocked back and forth as she cried into my chest.
"Relax. It's ok." I muttered repeatedly.
"It fucking isn't! I shouldn't be doing this! Crying means I'm weak!"
"No, it doesn't." I said, shushing her.
After a little while longer, she soon fell asleep. I stood up with her, and carried her to her bed.
I quietly walked out and shut her door.
When I walked back into the living room, I saw the exact same scene I had walked out of. The only difference was that Thalia was muttering "I'm so stupid."
Jason was the first to notice me. "What happened? We heard her scream something, and that's it."
"She's just upset, that's all. I think we should get going. Come on guys."
I looked at the girls. "Tell her I'll be here as soon as possible if I'm not here when she wakes up."
Piper nodded.
Nico gave Thalia a hug and a kiss on the top of her head. "See you tomorrow. We'll pick you up, since you left your car back at the school." She nodded and pulled away from the hug, walking to the front door.
"We'll see you tomorrow. I'm staying off tomorrow. Annabeth is too." I say convincingly. I'll tell her to tomorrow. "Tell her she isn't going in tomorrow."
"Ok." Piper said quietly.
And with that we walked out and the door was shut behind us.
When we reached the truck, I turned the key and felt it rumble as the engine roared to life…
"Come on," I said. "Let's go get some takeout."
Ok, so I guess I have to apologise… But I have reasons to why I haven't updated!
1. I have started my GCSE coursework, which is huge. Me getting good grades mean me getting into good college. I need the good college to get into an even gooder university (don't judge me for my English, I'm apologising in a baby voice…).
2. My classics teacher has given me essay after essay every weekend, as well as booklets…
3. My geography teacher hates me because I can never remember the key terms.
4. It was my birthday.
5. My parents have been threatening to re-home my puppy.
6. I have been working on a new story – this one is about Octavian.
7.I have had 3 hours worth of homework every night, which leaves me drained and I end up falling asleep while eating my dinner.
8. I have been forced to clean my room.
9. I've been looking at exercise bikes.
10. My friend thinks I'm depressed, so I took this quiz she found and the score was high to very high – so she's a but worried about that.
11. I've gone wonky again – for those who don't know I had idiopathic scoliosis and had spinal fusion February 2012 to correct the curvature. The surgery was horrible and I hated every moment of it. But I've recently discovered my hips and shoulders are wonky again and I am scared.
So, those are my excuses. I thank you for being patient with me, for following, favouriting and reviewing this story. Nobody knows how much all of this means to me… This is the best thing that has ever happened to me!
So, again, thank you for everything!
I love all of you!
Elmlea
P.S. I'm going to put up a story, but it has the first chapter of all the stories I have given you to choose from – therefore you can choose which one sounds the most interesting. I am just about finished Criminals, and about to work on TheStreets.
Merry Christmas!
