Freakshow

by FreeThinker111

AU. After an attack leaving her mute and her family dead, Annabeth moves to Astoria, Oregon, to live with her aunt. But this small town by the Columbia River is not what it seems. In her new home, Annabeth learns secrets and makes new friends, one of which has the same sea green eyes that haunt her nightmares.

10. Chapter 10

Author's notes

Oh-my-god, why did it took so long? Damn, I didn't even finish the whole thing, yup I'm kinda breaking the chapter here into other parts (told you that thing would be big). So far, this is the most difficult chapter I've written. I had no clue on how to start, I was lacking inspiration for the first half of this one. For two days I went trough my playlist on my phone for some inspiration when then I stumbled into this song A Kind of Magic by Queen, and when I started hearing it the image of- you know what? read it to find out. Also, Deadpool, have you guys seen it? HOLY SHIT, what a fucked up good movie. Ten bucks to the person who gets the Ryan Reynolds reference on this one.

Sci-fi Girl- Thanks for replying :D, I'm waiting for the summary. Enough already, to the chapter.

I do not own the rights to Percy Jackson and the Olympians' characters, Rick Riordan does.

Chapter 10

It's a kind of magic

Piper woke up on the cloudy morning to the sound of her alarm on her cellphone.

It's a kind of magic

She got up from her bed and yawned.

A kind of magic

There is no way

Piper slowly started to change her clothes, obeying to the rhythm of the song.

One dream

One soul

She put on a beige long-sleeve T-shirt with a white U.S. star stamped on it and her black jeans.

One prize

One goal

She was putting her trekking boots she liked to wear.

One golden glance

Of what should be

It's a kind of magic

One shaft

Of light

The native girl went to the bathroom with her cellphone, all the while shaking her head side to side, her braids following the movement and the rhythm of the song.

That shows the way

No mortal man

Can win this day

She was looking at herself on the mirror, carefully placing her usual white hawk feathers on her braids.

It's a kind of magic

The bell that rings

Inside your mind

She got out of the bathroom dancing to the song, which basically consisted of her doing the running man.

Is challenging

The doors of time

If you were there to see this, there were two things you might have done, one was to dance along with her with her corny dance moves, and the other, and much more likely to happen, was you recording that scene on your phone to post it on youtube.

The waiting seems

She entered the kitchen, not noticing that her dad was there, sitting on the table, watching her like she was a lunatic, if he heard what song was on he would understand (it was he who introduced Queen to Piper), but she had headphones on.

Eternity

The day will dawn

She was ready to do another dance pose when she saw her dad sitting on the table looking at her, his hand covering his mouth trying to hold the laugh, she immediately paused the song and started walking like nothing happened.

"Didn't expect you to be here". She tried to change the subject and just forget about her morning, silly, wake-up dance from earlier.

"I wanted to surprise you, and I'm sure glad I did it!". He laughed, the girl blushed, embarassed for letting her dad see what she was doing. Normally, her father would be at the hunting lodge getting every item ready for when he opened the shop while the girl had her breakfast and got ready for school. "I think Fleecy would like to hear about it too". Fleecy was Tristan's sister, Piper's aunt, she also worked selling hunting supplies and tours but on another area of, what was previously, the Cherokee reserve.

"Oh I'm sure she would, I also think that she would love to know about that moose who stole your clothes while you were taking a bath on the river and had to come back home-".

"Alright, alright I get it". The brown-haired man cut off. Piper had beat him on his own game. He was trying to forget the image of him having to walk naked using a pine branch to cover his junk trough the woods until he got home. "So, how d'you sleep?". He took a sip of coffe from his #1 boss mug, the 'boss' was crossed out with a sharpie, a little arrow that came out of it pointed to a handwritten 'dad', that year they were out of #1 dad mugs.

"Great actually, and you?". She cheerfully answered.

"Meh, didn't sleep so much, spent most of the night organizing some bills tha-".

"Boring!". She interrupted, Tristan held a chuckle.

"Don't worry, you'll get there someday". He tried to say but the girl didn't look like she was paying much attention.

"Wait, d'you hear that?". She spoke, breaking the man's train of thought.

"What?". He asked.

"An old geezer saying that I'll get boring like that". She provoked, her dad made an insulted expression.

"Why you little-". He stopped before he could say something the MPAA would definetly censor, the girl nearly laughed her ass off. Piper was something you would call a free spirit, she lived in the moment and worried about the consequences later, she hated the thought of getting old and be mature and boring.

Some time later

They were in front of the school, Tristan was dropping his daughter.

"I'll be away for the afternoon, I'll be back at night, there's some leftovers for you on the fridge". He said.

"I love you". She was going to get out of the car, but her father stopped her.

"And don't forget to wash the dishes".

"'Kay, love you". She said with some annoyance on her voice, she got off the car.

"And to take out the trash".

"Does 'I love you' mean anything to you?!". She asked a little bit insulted, Tristan chuckled.

"Bye". He drove away, Piper sighed, she loved her dad, but sometimes. She then felt someone tapping her shoulder, she turned her head to see Annabeth standing there with a smile, the blond girl waved her hand trying to say 'hi'.

"Hey Annie, how's going?". Piper greeted her, the girl wrote on her notepad.

"Please don't call me that". 'Annie' was how she was called by the annoying brats on her previous school, her little brothers also adopted that nickname. Even though they were only three year olds, Annabeth could swear they only did that to annoy her.

"You sure Annie?". The brown-haired girl giggled, the blonde just glared at her annoyed, Piper was lucky that she was a very good friend, or else she would experience one of the special shin kicks that Percy got twice now, they started making their way to the classroom. "Hey, so where's your boyfriend?". That's it!. A murderous voice screamed inside of Annabeth's mind, the pain on Piper's shin was real, she was jumping on one leg while rubbing the other.

"Ow, you little-". There was a smirk on Annabeth's face, after the pain went away Piper asked. "But seriously, where is he?". The blonde stopped, it took some time to write the sentence, once she did she showed Piper the notepad.

"He said he was gonna look for Jason and see what he found out about what we said yesterday".

"Well, I hope he got something for us, or else it will be very hard for us to get a lead of where to look". The brown-haired girl hopefully said, Annabeth nodded agreeing with her. They went inside the building and started to make their way to the classroom, they were walking down the corridor while Piper talked about Half-Blood Park, the park where she and her dad lived, about the pinetrees that towered the place, the relaxing feel, Annabeth was getting some things inside her locker. "You know, you should come over sometime, who knows? We can even have a sleepover".

Annabeth was never invited to a sleepover before, the other kids back at her old school didn't really like her, she didn't care too much, the feeling was mutual. But still, she kinda envied that, having a friend like Piper. I'm almost making it look like my family's death was a good thing. She thought. Annabeth was actually curious about the Park, she loved the idea, so she nodded her head with an excited smile.

"Alright, you and I gotta sit together and talk about it then". Piper said, Annabeth nodded again in agreement. They continued going down the corridor full of people and lockers, until Annabeth stopped, her face showed some discomfort to keep on walking, Drew and her group of evil succubi, also known as the popular girls of Goode Senior and Junior High, were standing next to both girls' classroom door. Piper looked at her friend to see what was wrong, the leader of the barbies approached them, the pack followed, Annabeth looked down at her own shoes pretending that she didn't see Drew coming, pretending that her own existence was false. After their second encounter, she kinda feared those girls. Maybe because they're right in some way. She thought. At first the blonde didn't know why she was so upset when Drew said those things about Percy only pitying her, but yesterday, after he climbed down her window and she looked him in the eyes, she've read enough books to know what that feeling was, the butterflies on her tummy, the stupid smile she couldn't wipe off her face no matter how hard she tried, the euphoria of looking at him, no words can describe it, save one, one that this writer does not fell like writing, because he knows that you are smart enough and already know.

"Pocahontas, mute girl, darlings, how are you two doing?". Drew spoke, some of the girls behind her giggled, while others gave smirks trying to intimidate them.

"Drew we both don't have time for this, so just let me ask you, what do you want?". Piper replied to her comment a little bit tired and annoyed.

"I agree, I'm just here to ask you a question... tell me, how do two freaks, like you girls, manage two hang around with two hot demigods, like Jason and Percy, for so long? Please don't tell me you are making offerings to one of your 'ancestors' and putting charms on them". She did air quotes, enphasizing on the 'ancestors' to taunt Piper, the girls following Drew giggled.

"That's like so true". One of them said in a cringeworthy kind of tone. The native girl only sighed and shook her head with disappointment, Drew was trying again to undermine her confidence so she could get her plastic hands on Jason again, she would not let that go by so easily though.

"Well I don't know, maybe it's because we are actually nice and not sickening like you, or maybe they just caught a glimpse of you and your girls without makeup... I mean, if I saw some iguanas wearing clothes and walking on two legs, I'd probably keep my distance". The girl with multi-colored eyes replied. That got some of the girls holding their breaths, everyone that was on the corridor was now watching them, Annabeth had her jaw almost dropped, that was amazing, the redhaired girl with green eyes looked very angry and tried to walk over to the girls while saying.

"Look here you two pig-faced-".

"Rachel". Drew cut her off and placed her arm in front of the steaming girl, signaling her to not give in that filthy peasant's comment. Rachel reluctantly obeyed her. "Look Piper, darling, I don't think you are understanding what I'm trying to tell you here... When a queen asks you to get out of the way, you GET the fuck out of her way". Her tone made her look like she was teaching an eight year old. The other girls made intimidating looks to Piper, the native girl couldn't help but chuckle.

"Oh, ye, okay Drew". She said massaging her forehead. "This is, that's what I'm talking about, I'm gonna tell you exactly how it is, you seem like a pretty, innocent, junior high student on the outside, but on the inside... on the inside, you're like this, this, this... seething... demon!". Piper said gesturing her hands, trying to find the right words to describe how she felt, she then looked Drew on the eyes and said. "Why don't you go suck a hot cock?". Everyone in the corridor dropped their jaws, some held their breaths in astonishment. "Yeah". She confirmed that she just had actually said that, there was no response from the girls in front of her, no student there could ever expect someone bringing it down on the self-proclaimed queen of the school, Annabeth was amazed by her friend's response, she rocked. Piper looked around and stated shouting so everyone in the corridor could hear. "THAT'S RIGHT EVERYONE! I JUST TOLD DREW TANAKA TO SUCK A HOT COCK!".

"Yeah we heard it". Jason said chuckling as he and Percy came out, walking slowly towards the two girls and settle that argument.

"Jason, good that you're here darling, could you please tell this ranting piece of... work, to watch her mouth?". Her voice was so sugary and fake, that it made the other two girls want to vomit. The girls who were following Drew made pretty faces, to look like they were the victims.

"Well, it is a free country". The blue-eyed boy stated.

"And she straightup kicked your ass". Percy quickly followed, Piper raised her hand asking for the raven-haired boy to high-five her, he gladly accepted, that gesture made Drew twitch very slightly, no one saw it however, she was an expert on not showing weakness.

"I'll let that pass since I'm on a good mood". She started to walk away, it seemed that she and her friends were going to skip class today. "But don't worry my darlings". She said looking at both girls, her eyes with a scary darkness that was hidden to everyone but Piper and Annabeth. "A queen gets what she wants, one way or another". And with that she and her pack walked away from the four. Annabeth didn't want to admit but she was kind of scared of what that threat could mean, she hoped that it was only empty words.

"I can't believe I was friends with that girl once!". Piper spoke a little stressed out.

"It's good that you came to the light side of the force then". Jason said.

"Tell me about it". She answered, back in elementary school, Piper was once a part of those bullies, until she saw how horrible she was becoming, just like the mother who abandoned her and her father. Her withdrawal from the group was viewed as treason, those girls who she called friends started bullying her too, but she didn't care, she became friends with Leo who couldn't believe that one of the 'barbienators', as he called them, had become nice, he later introduced her to Jason who Drew and the other girls all had a crush with.

Jason, Piper, Annabeth and Percy headed inside the classroom, the raven-haired boy was analyzing the mute who seemed to be avoiding eye contact, she was doing that because she didn't want to blush in front of him.

"Hey, are you okay?". He asked concerned, Percy didn't have anything that he cared about, except for her, if someone hurt her in any way, he didn't want to know about the consequences, he would make them pay. She quickly nodded so he wouldn't worry too much, all the while trying not to blush. C'mon Annabeth, you can do it!. She thought. "Are you blushing?". Dammit.

Some minutes later

They were all in a corner of the classroom, ready to discuss about what Jason had found out.

"So tell'em Jason, what you told me". Percy started.

"Yup, so listen up... I called yesterday and asked if the donations could be made by a family, the lady said yes, but she didn't recall anyone besides local companies doing that, it looks like Leneus is responsible for the paperwork regarding them, but he always delivers the documents to Chiron, I would think that Chiron keeps them at his office".

"Leneus, huh?". Piper stated.

"My opinion is that he already gave the papers to Chiron". Percy answered, hoping that the documents would be somewhere around the principal's office.

"I agree with Percy". Jason spoke.

"Me too". The native girl said, Annabeth nodded, it made sense, she then wrote, calling everyone's attention.

"So, any way to sneak in his office and take a look at the papers?". The kids started thinking.

"No, Mrs Dodds would be working on the reception, she would definetly spot us if we tried to do it, and she works until night there". Piper said

"We wait 'till night after she goes away then". Percy suggested.

"What?! No way! What would I tell my dad? 'Hey dad I'm gonna be away untill night because I've got to break in the principal's office to check some documents from school that I can't see', besides, the door to the office would be locked by then". The girl with feathers tangled on her braids answered the boy's crazy plan, Annabeth nodded in agreement, she was trying to think of a way, but she still didn't know about the school much, she haven't been in the second floor yet, let alone Chiron's office.

"Then what the hell do you think we do then?!". Percy complained, Jason who had been very quiet finally spoke, giving a half-answer, half-suggestion.

"Window?". That idea seemed crazy, to break in from the window? The office was on the second floor, they would have to climb up if they wished to do it that way, but to Annabeth, it didn't look like that bad of an idea, she started scribbling down some words.

"Seriously Jason? Window?". The native girl asked.

"Can a ladder reach it?". After Piper read that, she said.

"Annabeth, you are not really thinking about going through the window that's on the second floor, are you?". Some worry on her voice.

"I'd think so". Jason answered not paying attention to Piper's worry.

"I don't even need a ladder to reach it". Percy said trying to impress Annabeth, he felt the need to do that for some reason.

"We'll have a safety net for you then, blueberry". Jason provoked, Percy was going to say something but before he could, Annabeth showed what she'd written on her notepad.

"I'll check the window from outside the building at lunch and see what we can do". Their conversation was interrupted by the teacher who entered class.

Some hours later

It was time for everyone to go lunch, Percy, Jason and Piper approached Annabeth.

"Do you want any help with checking the window?". Percy offered, the blonde shook her head, she could do this by herself and didn't want to bother anyone to do this boring job.

"You sure?". Piper asked, Annabeth nodded her head. C'mon Annie, I can't help you if you don't help me. The native girl said mentally, she was trying really hard to get the two New Yorkers together, but those two were dumb mules that didn't realize that they are perfect together.

"You really sure?". She insisted again, and Annabeth nodded. Her three friends were getting kind of awkward. Oh my god Annabeth!. An annoyed voice said on her mind, it was very discouraging for her, she actually didn't know if the two had the slightest amount of feelings for each other, but she could feel it in her soul, it was like knowing the answer but not really, not really knowing how to explain the answer, it's just because it is, she could feel that they were meant for each other, she just had to nourish those feelings in them, to make them realize that. "Percy could keep you company, I mean, Clarisse is out for you". The mute girl shuddered at the thought, she wouldn't have a chance if those bullies caught her alone.

"What? What do you mean by that?". The green-eyed boy asked concerned. What the hell does she mean by saying that ogre is out for her?. He thought, Percy would never let that sorry excuse of a person called Clarisse hurt someone as important as Annabeth. He cared about that girl a lot, she was the one who made him feel normal, that he had a chance. He never could understand that concept, that feeling, of having a shot, a chance in life, and he had to admit he loved that feeling. She made him forget about his mother, his father, his crappy life from before, she was the thing that kept him going forward, the thing that made him curious and excited, happy and anxious, the thing that made him ask 'so, what's next?'. I think I smell gold here. Piper thought, giving a mental high-five for hitting the mark on that one.

"Didn't you know? Annabeth tri-". The grey-eyed girl's hand instinctively shut Piper's mouth. What are you trying to do Piper?!. Annabeth said mentally, if Percy knew about Clarisse going after her because she tried to snitch her, he would end up doing something stupid, she didn't have to be a genius to understand that. Percy getting beat up by the big bullies because of her was the last thing she wanted. She quicly wrote on her notepad before Piper could do something stupid like that again.

"Do you want to come with me?". She showed the note, trying to change the subject, the boy slowly nodded his head a little suspicious of what was going on, of what he felt they weren't telling him.

"Meet you guys later then". Jason finally spoke. "We'll be at the cafeteria". Annabeth and Percy exited the room and headed to the main hall, Piper was going to the same but she felt someone grabbing her arm gently, not letting her get out of the room, she turned her head to see Jason with a serious expression.

"Pipes... we gotta talk". He calmly said.

"O-kay". She akwardly answered, trying to think of a reason for this conversation.

"What are you hiding here?".

"What?!". She half-asked. What is he talking about?. She thought, asking her what she was hiding? What kind of question was that? It was not like Jason to ask something that way with that kind of tone, unbeknownst to her, Jason had his fair share of these kind of conversations with his sister. He would ask on that same tone if she was getting high again, where was she the whole afternoon, she would lie of course, but deep down he already knew the answer, which then added to his second skill, know when people were lying.

"You know what I'm talking about, the weird conversation with Percy that made you look like a stalker, pratically forcing him and Annabeth to spend time together, and now, almost telling him that she's on Clarisse's hitlist?! What are you going for here?". He spoke, this weird situation made him go slightly nuts for some time now, he couldn't let this keep going, part of it was because he was jealous, he didn't want to admit it though, telling this to the girl, whom he had some feelings for, would make him look stupid. Oh, that. Piper thought, she sighed, trying to figure out a way to get out of that topic.

"Look Jason, it's complicated". That got Jason unsettled, why didn't she trust him? That feeling of jealousy got to him again, but he didn't let that show.

"Piper don't give me that, I don't think I deserve it". That comment made the girl feel bad for not telling him, it felt like a heavy pain on her heart, like it just ate a really bad burrito. He was one of her best friends, no, not just friends, he understood her so well just like her father. He always treated her fairly, he never hid something from her and tried to help her out by being her friend when no one else on elementary school would. He was more than a friend, something more, she didn't know what though. But would it be okay to tell him, that she had kind of a strange obsession with matchmaking? Would he make fun of her for it? She knew that she would. Fuck it. Something on her mind snapped, she then finally spoke.

"Just promise that you won't laugh at this".

"Make fun of you? Pipes I...". He stopped before he could say the other two magic words that would make that drama even more akward. "You're the best person I know". Nice escape Jason, smooth. He mentally told himself.

"Oh, thanks". She replied with a smile. "And NEVER, EVER, tell this to Leo".

"I thought that when you asked me not to laugh, not telling Leo was already included". Piper chuckled at the sarcasm.

"Alright, umm, I'm... I like...". Jason was already assuming the worse. Please don't say Percy, please don't say Percy, please don't say Percy. He kept saying this in his head like a mantra. "I like matchmaking, okay? That's right, fuck you, I like shipping people together". She likes Per-, wai' what? She doesn't?. A voice spoke in his mind surprised. For a moment, there was this overwhelming feeling of relief, it was like he held his bladder for a hundred years and now, he finally could let all of that concern and paranoia out, but then, he started to realize what the girl had just said. Matchmaking?. He tried to hold his laugh, but as each brief moment passed his task got harder and harder, until he couldn't control it anymore. The sound of his laughter filled the empty room, Piper blushed a little, embarassed for having that kind of passion.

"You?! *laughs* You can't be serious *laughs* right? Matchmaking?". It was so funny to hear something like that coming from her. But it wasn't a shock, one of the things that he found most atractive on her was this kind of quality, she saw the best on people and tried to bring it out of them. So when someone said that she wanted people coming together and loving each other and having the best of what life could offer, he wasn't going to feel surprised, but he had to admit, it sounded hillarious coming from the girl who talked crap about the Twilight movies and other franchises of the unreal love genre.

"C'mon! You promised that you wouldn't laugh!". She tried punching him on the shoulder, but he defended himself, she instead hit his arm.

"I'm sor- *laughs*, I'm sorry". He apologized and took a breath from all the laughing that involuntarily came out.

"You better be". She said with her arms crossed, some moments of silence went by and they started to go to make their way to the cafeteria.

"Whoa, so you're trying to make them date each other?". He asked.

"Yeah, but those two are hard". She answered.

"Guess so, and which one of them confessed to you their feelings?". Piper was thinking of an answer.

"Umm, none of them".

"What?! So you don't know if they even like each other?!". He said with a mix of disturbance and confusion.

"I mean, it's not like that, I know that they have feelings, they just don't know it yet". She said with some calm on her voice. The two kids were crossing the main hall, which had other students in groups chatting, laughing together and sharing their lunches, it looked like everyone in there was a big family.

"And how would you know that?".

"Look, there are some things that I just know okay? And you gotta hand it to them, they look perfect together". They got closer and closer to the entrance of the cafeteria, the pale light that came out of the glass dome ceiling was lighting the whole place. It was cloudy that day, it could start raining anytime soon.

"So, your whole argument is that they look good together?". He asked.

"When I get them dating each other you'll see what I'm talking about". She said a slightly annoyed by his comment, it felt like he doubted her amazing, not-so-real skills. They entered the cafeteria, a lot of people were there having their lunch, minding their own business, some teachers were there too with the students to socialize and help them with their respective subjects, Apollo could be seen juggling some apples and at the same time singing some pop song from the 90's while a group of kids and Gleeson Hedge encouraged him, Hera was looking disaprovingly at the rookie teacher.

"Sure Pipes, what I'm trying to say is that you should be careful when messing around with these kind of emotions".

"Don't worry, I got everythin-". She was cut off by a blonde girl with braces and glasses.

"Hey Piper! Can I just say how awesome you were back at the corridor when you totally kicked Drew's ass? You basically defined what we all feel". The native girl scratched the back of her neck and spoke a little bit weirded out.

"Umm, thanks Lacy?".

"There's some people who recorded your argument with them, it's going viral here, you should see how those girls are reacting, here let me show the video to you". Lacy said as she took her Iphone out of her pocket, Piper placed her hand over the screen.

"Best... not". She stated. Even though she liked how the girl was 'complimenting' her, she preferred not to watch the whole situation again.

"Oh okay... hey, do you wanna sit with me and my friends? They would totally love talking to you".

"Uhhh". Was all she could manage to say, that definetly got her by surprise, Jason was holding a chuckle, Piper now got a fanclub. She looked back to him, her face asked him a mixture of 'if it was ok for her to join them', 'should I go?' and 'what the hell is happening right now?'. He honestly didn't know what to say so he just shrugged with his charecteristic smile. She looked back at the girl with braces who was anxiously waiting for her answer. "S-sure". She said.

"YES!". Lacy celebrated, excited by the brown-haired girl's answer, Piper kind of started regretting it. "You'll see how cool they are". She grabbed the girl's arm and started walking over to her table.

"I'll be with Leo!". Jason hollered, Piper gave a thumbs up in response. The blond boy started walking to their group's usual spot, he then finally spotted Leo standing. "Sup bro?". Jason greeted.

"Hey". The hispanic boy answered.

"C'mon, let's find somewhere to sit". He said looking for an empty table for them.

"Sitting with you?! After you and Piper replaced me by the blondie and that other guy?! No way!". Leo spoke with a dramatic tone. Does he really mean that?. Jason asked mentally, he recognized that Piper and him have been treating like he wasn't part of the group anymore, he didn't explain why were they hanging around with Percy and Annabeth so much.

"Look dude, I'm sorry if you're feeling left out and I-". He started apologizing, but then he was cut off.

"SIKE!". Leo abruptly spoke and started laughing, Jason facepalmed for falling for that, typical Leo.

"Goddamit Leo". He complained, some seconds of the brown-eyed boy laughing went by. "So?". He asked to make sure there was nothing really bothering his best friend.

"Nah dude, no hard feelings, I just got invited to sit with Hazel and some of her friends". Leo's thumb pointed somewhere behind him.

"Hazel...". Jason said trying to remember who it was. "Oh, you mean that chick you've been digging since-"

"Yeah, yeah Jason, that one, shut up before the whole school hears about it". The boy with black hair cut him off before anyone could hear them.

"So what's the deal with you two?". Jason asked, curious if his friend made any move. He remembered how Leo always wanted to confess his feelings to the girl, but he never had the courage to go for it, Leo didn't even like touching on the subject.

"For now I'm just trying to know her better, you'll see, in no time she's gonna be drooling for me". He said full of himself.

"You wish". Jason sarcastically replied.

"You just wait blond Peter Pan". The blond boy grunted at the nickname. "Well, I'm off, see ya". Leo walked away, to meet the girl he had a crush on.

"Go get 'er tiger!". The blue-eyed boy hollered, hoping the best for his friend.

Some few minutes before on another place

Percy and Annabeth opened the door that exited the main building, a gust of cool wind passed through them the second they stepped outside, the sign that it would possibly start raining soon. The girl gestured for Percy to follow her, she mantained a relatively quick pace, but not that quick. The raven-haired boy followed her pace he wanted to be over with that too.

"But seriously, I think I can climb it". He said, he was being honest, he had clibed fences, walls, and trees before, and he had easily climbed down from the girl's window the day before. Annabeth didn't like the idea for many reasons, but the one that most convinced her it was not worth it, was the thought of Percy falling. She couldn't bear seeing him get hurt just because she was too lazy on planning something. Yeah, she was realizing that she had a crush, imagine seeing the person you loved hit the cold ground from the second floor of school, Annabeth knew she couldn't. But of course she wouldn't admit that was the main reason, she thought of a way to convince him not to climb.

"It would take too long for you to get there and I also want to have a look at those papers myself too". She showed him what she'd written.

"Okay, fine". He spoke with a feeling of disappointment, so far he contributed with nothing on their little cruzade, he wanted to show Annabeth that he wasn't useless. They stopped walking, they finally got to their destination. A square closed window was above them, it was relatively far from all the other windows on the second floor that seemed to belong to classrooms. "We're here I guess, now what?". He asked, the blonde slowly walked around the area, observing from different points of view. The height seems to be around 6-7 meters, maybe more, adding an angle of maybe 75-60 degrees we would need a. Her thoughts were interrupted when she caught a glimpse of the boy, his dark strand of hair that partially covered his forehead, his green seaweed eyes, his whole figure made Annabeth sigh on the inside, a sigh of longing, a desire to be with him, for him to feel what she feels. She didn't know why after he had escaped her house, she started having these emotions and daydreams about him, but they felt good, they made her forget about the tragedy in New York that got her here to meet him, she felt something she didn't know how to explain, she felt it, she felt it. She decided to call that emotion it, because love would then be a hard blow to her pride, the voice called self-esteem would not leave her alone. It, was simply a mixture that chemistry would have a hard time explaining, a mixture of a sweet happiness, peace and a change on the heart rate. It, was the feeling of sunking on the ocean of her dreams when she looked him in the eyes, the undertow. The girl liked the new emotion that she created, love was what she felt for her now deceased family and her aunt, maybe Jason and Piper could also fit there somewhere, but she only felt it to Percy. She felt like she wanted him to be with her at all times so that feeling could never leave her again. But when she wished Percy could feel the same about her, she remembered what Drew and the others told her. They were, in a logical sense, right, what if he was only being her friend because he pities her and nothing else?. Earlier that morning, before Percy called her to go to school she checked herself on the bathroom mirror, she saw her slightly curly blond hair she got from her mom, she remembered how beautiful her mom's hair was, but, to the girl her own hair was nothing out of the ordinary, so was her face. Nothing in her stood out much, save for maybe her eyes and definetly her scar. She remembered what the Asian girl said. Soon he'll leave you for someone who is more beautiful and can at least talk to him, like us. That sentence bothered Annabeth so much.

"What are you staring at?". The boy asked, his tone wasn't rude, just curious to what the girl was doing. Annabeth felt her cheeks burning and was quickly thinking of an excuse, she grabbed her notepad and started writing something that would make sense.

"Just calculating how tall our ladder is going to be". He read the thing and looked at the window, also trying to calculate the height. Trying was a very accurate word because he had no clue of calculating how tall that was.

"And how tall do you think it is?". He spoke after some seconds of silence, she started writing and some moments later she showed her answer.

"I'd say that the height of that window is around 6-7 meters, plus the angle, I think a 9 meters ladder should be enough".

"Meters?! What kind of measure is meters?!". He said a little bit confused, his whole life he's been using the normal U.S. measuring system, he heard about the metric system before but never saw someone actually using it. Annabeth wrote on a page of her notepad.

"The kind that the rest of the world and the scientific community uses?". Annabeth read a lot of science and architecture themes on the internet and most of them, if not all of them, used the metric system, after studying it so much she kind of adopted the meter instead of the foot, but she could convert them no problem. Her parents were very weirded out when she told them she was 1,38 meters tall when she was ten years old.

"Alright smartpants, how long, in feet, our ladder needs to be?". The girl quickly did the math in her head and showed him the notepad.

"Around 28 ft".

"Why did you learn that thing anyway?". He asked curiously, it was a weird thing to be using after all.

"I want to be an architect when I grow up".

"Architect, huh? I'll make sure to look for you when building my house". That's not actually what an architect did but sure, she would definetly help if he wanted to build his own house, so she just nodded with a smile in response. She gave another look at the window that was closed and wrote on her notepad again.

"Also, we need that thing to be open if we want to get in there".

"Yeah you're right". as soon as he finished his sentence the noise of a thunder reached their ears, it wasn't very loud which then indicated that it was far away from there. "It's gonna be raining soon anything else we gotta do?". She quickly wrote some words on her notepad she didn't want to stay outside much longer.

"Go look for Piper and Jason and tell them what we found out here, I'll be with you soon, just gonna check this thing out, see if we missed anything". She wanted to make sure everything worked, if there was no hidden cameras and stuff like that.

"Alright, just hurry up, don't wanna get you all soaked from the rain". She waved him goodbye, soon he disappeared from the scene leaving her alone to analyze that place.