Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed last chapter. We passed the 200 review mark!
Ok, moving on. Last chapter I asked you guys what Hazel wrote on Leo's arm as his 'tattoo' and we have some winners. The following people all gave me the correct answer of Hot Stuff: ACOOLGUY, Cupcake girl282, Hunter of Artemis101, violleet, prince of the seas, elliefs, awesomeness, DragonClan, MushyTheMushy, wisdom-of-the-sea, ElmoDaHorse, Booknerd4622, percyjacksonlover4ever, PJOfan1 and one guest. Congratulations to all.
Onto the chapter. We pick right back up from where we left off.
Enjoy Chapter Nine of Scars and Recognition.
Disclaimer: Riordan would have made this story more exciting.
Chapter Nine: Percy POV
I stopped what I was doing and stared right at her. She seemed to be scanning over each of us and then she finally landed on me. The two of us stared at each other for a while before Thalia shocked us out of it.
"Ok guys," she said. "This is Annabeth. She just moved here from San Francisco, so I hope you guys give her a warm welcome." She then went on to introduce each one of us. She eventually landed on me. "And this is my cousin, Percy."
"Percy," Annabeth repeated. "That name sounds familiar. Do I know you?"
Maybe she actually did remember, I thought. I decided to play it safe.
"I think so," I replied. "You used to live here, right?"
"Yeah," she replied sheepishly. "I recognized the Stoll brothers immediately, but you're a little fuzzy."
I tried not to let that get to me.
"Hey, it's been ten years, hasn't it?" She gave me a small smile in return.
"Yeah, I guess so."
She sat down across from me and I found it hard not to look at her. She really had gotten beautiful over the years. I was glad the Stoll brothers didn't sit with us. They'd be all over her in a second.
I felt Grover giving me a look from my left, but I ignored him. I'd talk with him later. He was the only one who seemed to realize that I was holding something back.
I felt extremely awkward throughout the entire period and I was glad when the bell finally rang. Being with Annabeth any more than that wouldn't have been good for me.
I stood up and put my tray on the return rack and headed back to our seats to pick up my backpack. I saw Thalia conversing with Annabeth when suddenly my cousin looked up at me.
"Wait, Percy! Don't you have Greek now?"
"Yeah," I replied, not sure where she was taking this.
"Ok, Annabeth go with him," she said, turning towards the blonde." You guys have the same class."
I gulped as Annabeth walked over towards me. Great, this was going to be extremely awkward. I took a deep breath, steading myself.
"So, ready to go?" I asked her. Annabeth merely nodded and she fell in-step with me.
If I thought things couldn't get worse, I was wrong. At that moment, Grover yelled, telling the two of us to wait up. I had almost forgotten he was in the same class as us. He joined in with the two of us and stood on the other side of Annabeth.
On one hand, I was glad Grover was with the two of us. It gave me someone else to talk to. On the other hand, it also gave him a chance to scrutinize me more for not telling the truth back at lunch. He'd let it go, but I didn't think he'd let it go for long.
"So, Annabeth," he said. "How do you like Goode so far?"
She shrugged. "It's hard to tell," she replied. "I haven't gotten through an entire day yet."
"Don't worry," I said. "You'll like Greek. It's probably the best class at Goode."
Annabeth looked over at me. I was about to give her a grin when Grover ruined it.
"Well, of course it is, Percy. That's because it's the only class you can actually pass."
"Ok, that's not true," I replied. "I passed both Science and History last year."
"Yeah," Grover said with a laugh. "Barely."
"How about you try going through high school with dyslexia and then tell me how easy it is."
"Ok man, whatever you say."
"Wait," Annabeth said quietly. "You have dyslexia too?"
"Yeah. Well, only a mild case, but it still makes it hard." We entered the classroom as the bell rang. "Why? Do you have it too?" I sat down in an open chair on the left side. Annabeth sat to my right.
She was about to answer me when the teacher spoke.
"Mr. Jackson," he said and I turned to look at him. "Welcome back. I see you're still as talkative as usual." A little laugh escaped the students. "How was your summer?"
"Great, Mr. Brunner," I replied. "How was yours?"
"Hmph, ok I guess," he told me. "At least I didn't have to deal with you every day."
Another short laugh came from the students and I grinned. Everyone knew that Mr. Brunner actually liked me. He just knew I wouldn't mind if he picked on me and used me in examples and the other kids recognized that. He turned towards Annabeth, as if recognizing her for the first time.
"Oh, and it looks like we have a new student. You must be Miss Chase. Welcome to Greek and Latin Mythology."
"Thank you," she replied.
"Don't worry," I told her. "He won't pick on you as long as I'm here. I'm the butt of all his jokes."
The other kids laughed in agreement.
"That is true," Mr. Brunner said. "You see, Miss Chase, I like to compare Mr. Jackson to a certain god every once and a while. Today we'll go with Ares. Strong, fit and good-looking, but not so smart up here, if you know what I mean." Mr. Brunner was pointing towards his brain. I shook my head as the other kids let out another short laugh. Mr. Brunner had told me one day that my class always had the higher grades on tests, because they would always think back to when I was insulted and they would always remember the answer. I wasn't really supportive of that, but I liked Mr. Brunner anyway. He was a cool teacher.
Annabeth seemed reluctant to answer him, but that was understandable. It was her first day and she didn't want to say anything wrong.
"Ok, let's get started then," Mr. Brunner continued. "The original Olympians were children of which two Titans?" Several hands shot up, including mine. "Yes, Ares?" A couple kids snickered as he called on me.
"Kronos and Rhea," I responded, ignoring the joke.
"Very good Ares. You might have a brain up there after all." The kids let out another short laugh. I saw Annabeth smile at this one. "Next question. The first six Olympians were born in what order? Oh, Miss Chase? Do you know the answer?"
"That's kind of why my hand's raised, sir," she replied and I had to laugh. Annabeth caught on fast.
Mr. Brunner gave her a look of approval. "Very well. Go ahead then."
"Hestia was born first, then Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon and finally Zeus."
"Very good, Miss Chase. Ares, you might learn something from this one yet."
I rolled my eyes as Annabeth gave me a sheepish smile.
The rest of the class went on like that. Mr. Brunner would ask some random question, pick on Ares (me), and then continue on in the same fashion, making sure to insult me where necessary.
At the end of class, Annabeth joined back up with me as Grover wanted to stay behind for a second. I was starting to enjoy her company and I hoped to put the accident behind us.
"So," she asked me, "he normally does that?"
"Oh yeah," I told her. "Every day." Annabeth gave me a look. "Just wait for the first test. You'll probably think about me fourteen or fifteen times. That's how it always works."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I don't mind. It actually helps me too." Annabeth gave me another look, as if she didn't believe me, but then she turned away.
"So, what do you have next?" She asked me.
"Swimming," I said proudly. "You?"
"Ugh, swimming?" She said. "Why would you want to take that in high school?"
"Hey," I defended. "It's an easy class. Why? What elective are you taking?"
"Architecture," she replied. "I have it first period."
"Ugh, architecture," I replied, trying to mimic her tone. "Why would you want to take that in high school?"
"Oh shut up, Percy. Just show me where the science room is."
"Yes, ma'am," I said, giving her a little salute. "Right this way."
I saw her roll her eyes at me. Maybe I won't have to bring up the accident, I thought. We're doing pretty well without it.
After dropping her off at the science room, I made my way over to the pool, only arriving a minute late. I explained that I was showing a new girl to a room and the teacher let it go. I hopped next to Thalia and the two of us got talking. We weren't swimming today since it was the first day of school.
Once the bell rang, Thalia and I walked to our lockers, getting our stuff out before we headed home. Grover was waiting for us, as he had agriculture last period, so he had already stopped by his locker since it was right outside the classroom.
The three of us walked back out to the parking lot. Grover immediately called shotgun and he grinned as Thalia pouted in defeat. We dropped Grover off before heading back to our apartment.
That night, I had a nightmare for the first time in seven years.
I remember it all too well. The date was July 23rd, 2001. Thalia had invited me to come along to the beach with her friend Annabeth, a cute, amazing six-year-old girl with curly blonde hair. Unbeknownst to Thalia, I had liked Annabeth for a while now. Like I said before, she was one of the cutest girls at our school.
But, like the coward I was, I never really got the chance to tell Annabeth I liked her, much less talk to her on a regular basis.
I mean, we did talk to each other, but it wasn't like we were really close friends or anything. Either way, she like this guy who was a year older than us, so it wasn't like I really had a chance.
Anyway, the three of us headed to the beach with Thalia's mom. Annabeth said her mom would pick her up from the beach and I was staying over at Thalia's that night because my mom was out of town.
The three of us put our beach stuff down by Thalia's mom and then we took off towards the surf, which was crowded with people ranging from kids like us to people in their forties.
The second my foot hit the surf, I felt right at home. I had been to the ocean so many times I had lost count, so you could say it was my second home.
I dove down and completely submerged myself in the water. I swam underwater for around fifteen seconds or so, avoiding people's legs before having to come up for air. When I broke the surface, I noticed, surprised, that I was a good twenty-five yards out to sea, which was strange because I didn't think I swam that far.
The day continued. The three of us had several splash fights, trying to douse each other with water even though we were already swimming and completely drenched. We had a sand castle contest (something I failed at), and we took turns burying each other in sand. We were having so much fun, we agreed we needed a break. Annabeth asked if she could get ice cream at the place across the street and Thalia's mom gave her some money. Annabeth took off towards the vendor before I could get my money, so I was basically running to catch up to her.
That's when we hit the street and things went wrong. I tried to stop the dream, knowing where this was going, but I couldn't. Annabeth kept walking and I kept looking at the taxi coming up the road. As quick as I could calculate, I knew the taxi would hit her. Annabeth was distracted, counting her money, so I knew she wouldn't stop to look for traffic.
I practically sprinted to get myself out into the road. I had to stop that taxi. If I was older I probably would have done it differently, but as a kid, all I did was focus on the taxi. It wasn't until I stepped out into the road that I realized the taxi weighed several tons and I was puny compared to it.
The last thing I remembered was the screeching of the brakes and the force of the front end as I blacked out.
A/N:
So, what did you think? First glimpse into the accident in this chapter and I can tell you it won't be the last. Tell me how you liked it.
This was kind of a short chapter, but oh well. Next chapter we have some more Percabeth, although outside of school. Hmm, what could happen there?
Onto news. If you haven't heard yet, my newest story, The Ten, was put on a little hiatus last week in order to give me time to finish The Prince, The Girl and The World by the time I leave for college on the 17th. This story will go on as scheduled, and I will release the next chapter a week from today.
In other great news, if you really knew me, you would know that I have a special anniversary coming up this Friday, August 2nd. It will be the one year anniversary of my debut of The Princess and the Peasant. So bring out your party hats and get ready to celebrate. This Friday I will be releasing my first ever one-shot, which will be based off of one of the songs I wrote for The Big Three. So please take a look at it if you have the time.
Ok, that's it for news, so onto the Question of the Chapter: In Percy Jackson's The Lightning Thief, Chapter Ten: I Ruin A Perfectly Good Bus, Annabeth is explaining the feud between Poseidon and Athena and how they fought for patronage of the city of Athens. Annabeth says that her mom gave the city an olive tree and thus they named the city after her, but Percy has other ideas. He suggests that if Athena had created a certain food item he would have understood the Athenians decision. The question: What popular food item does Percy suggest?
Correct answers receive shout-outs as always.
Make sure to review!
Thanks!
-PSON