A/N: IT'S BEEN A WEEK AND CHANGE. SORRY I'M JUST UPDATING. I SORT OF RUSHED TO FINISH THIS CHAPTER DUE TO HOMEWORK. YEAH, I KNOW.

ANYWAY, THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE REVIEWS. I REALLY APPRECIATE THEM, I'M NOT JUST SAYING THAT. AS ALWAYS, IF YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS AT ALL, PLEASE PM ME INSTEAD OF REVIEWING THEM. THAT WAY IT'S EASIER FOR ME, AND WE CAN MAYBE CONVERSE ABOUT DEVELOPING THE IDEA.

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVEN'T NOTICED, THE TIME CHANGED FROM AFTER TTC TO AFTER BOTL. I THINK THAT'S IT!

DISCLAIMER: I'M AS GOOD OF A WRITER AS RICK, SO I DON'T OWN PJO.

"Come on! Let's go, let's go, let's go!" Percy exclaimed, pulling Lesley's hand and trying to run.

"Percy, calm down. We have to wait for her to come out." Claire rolled her eyes.

"You know," Roger said, "I've never seen a teenager as excited to see his mother as Percy is."

"That's because you've never met Percy's mom before," Annabeth added.

"She's the best! Plus, she makes the best cookies!" Percy nodded.

"Well, not the best, but a very close second," Annabeth smirked. I smiled at how much Annabeth loved her step-mom, especially after for a while, she hated her guts.

Percy rolled his eyes. "Please, Wise Girl. Your mother is horrible!" He looked up to the sky and dodged Annabeth's hand from slapping him. "Sorry, sorry, sorry!" he said, missing Annabeth's glare, but looking up to the sky.

James and I exchanged looks. How could Percy say that about Mrs. Chase after all she's done for him? How could he say that in front of Annabeth?

"My mother is not horrible!"

"Not to you maybe, but you should hear the things she tells me!" He started speaking in a high-pitched voice, as if imitating Annabeth's mom. "You are a danger to my daughter and her family; You stupid boy; Why don't we kill him?; Stay away from my daughter!" At the imitation he stopped short, just realizing what he had just said.

Annabeth flushed and looked away, not saying anything. It was funny. Mrs. Chase would never say any of those things Percy just did.

Voicing my thoughts, Sara said, "How could you say that about Mrs. Chase?"

Percy's eyes widened. "Oh, no, no, no! Not Helen! Annabeth's real mom!"

I nearly spit out the water I'd been drinking. Percy met Annabeth's real mom? I thought she'd disappeared!

"Woah, woah, time out," James put one hand over the other signalling a time-out. "Annabeth, I thought your mom left you on your dad's doorstep and abandoned you guys."

Annabeth shot Percy a look and he mouthed, Sorry. "Well, that's sort of true. She did leave me with my dad and step-mom, but I never said I hadn't met her. I see her sometimes, mostly during the summer when I go to camp."

"And Percy's met her?"

"More than once, actually. Don't feel bad, it's not something you want on your bucket list."

"Percy!"

"Sorry, Annabeth, but she hates my guts, and I'm supposed to say nice stuff about her?"

"Just stop talking about her! Please!"

"Okay, okay. What on earth is taking that woman so long?" He said looking around the airport for his mother, Sally Jackson.

"Percy, be patient," Roger fake scolded.

"Percy, be patient," he mocked. "There she is! There she is!" Percy Jackson, a fifteen year old boy was bouncing on his feet with joy for his mother. Normally, teenagers hid from their parents. Then again, Percy was not exactly normal.

I turned around and saw a woman in her mid-thirties with long curly brown hair and warm hazel brown eyes walk toward us lugging a suitcase behind her. Percy rushed forward. "Mom!" he cried wrapping her in a huge hug.

Mrs. Jackson smiled, which made small crinkles in the corner f her eyes. "Percy. I'm so glad to see you. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Mom. How's Paul?"

"He's okay. He's sorry he couldn't make it, he had a lot of papers to check. And he really wanted to come see you."

Percy's shoulder sagged. "So I made dad get 2 tickets for nothing?"

"Well, I wouldn't say that," she winked at his puzzled face. She and Percy walked back to the rest of us ad smiled.

"Annabeth!" Mrs. Jackson exclaimed, smiling.

"Sally! It's so good to see you!" Annabeth hugged her tightly.

"You too, dear. Oh, look how much you've grown!"

Annabeth flushed and turned to the rest of us. "These are our friends—"

"I want to do the introductions, Annabeth!" Percy complained. His mom's eyes sparkled with amusement.

"And what if I do them?"

"Then, I'll—I'll—"

"Exactly."

"Oh, I've missed the sound of you too bickering, but stop it!"

"Yes, mom," Percy said obediently. "Mom, this is Lesley, James, Ben, Roger, Claire and Sara. School friends."

"Are any of them—"

"Nope."

"Can either of them—"

"Nope."

I didn't know how he understood that, and what she wanted to know about us, but she seemed satisfied.

"Well, let's go, Mom. You're staying with Helen and Frederick, right?"

"Oh, no Percy, I can't."

"But why? It's just you. We have space. You can have my bed. I'll sleep on the ground." I marvelled at the way Percy loved his mom. That was definitely at least one of the things I admired about him.

"That's the thing—"

Just then, another figure emerged from the entrance and made her wa toward us.

"Sally, did you find them? Oh, there they are," a red headed, green eyed girl said. "Hey, guys."

"Rachel!" Percy exclaimed. He ran to her and hugged her. She returned the hug just as tightly.

"Hey, Kelp Head." She smiled. "Hi, Annabeth."

Without much enthusiasm, she replied, "Rachel…you came! Perfect."

ψ

If there was one thing I'd learned in an hour that I spent with my friends and Rachel Elizabeth Dare, it was that Annabeth definitely did not like her. Whatever Rachel did to her…I'm not sure, but it had to be something bad. I don't think Rachel liked her very much either, but she did a much better job at hiding it than Annabeth did.

"—so then, when I got home, turns out my parents did realize I was missing for, like, a week. So thanks a lot guys, for getting me into trouble."

I heard Annabeth mutter, Yeah, well. I didn't ask you to come.

I inwardly smirked at her attitude. If nothing else, she knew what she wanted…or didn't want in this case. And that was to hang out with Rachel.

We continued swerving through the afternoon crowd of the mall, trying to find a good place to eat.

"Can you stop talking for a minute so we can actually choose a place to eat?" James complained.

"Yeah, Rach, slow down," Percy teased.

She stuck her tongue out at him, but shut up for the first time since she arrived in San Francisco. She stopped in the middle of the mall, causing a few glares from passersby, but she didn't move.

"Rachel, now is not the time, just move already!"

"Shh, Annabeth, I hear something." She closed her eyes and held up her fingers lost in thought.

Annabeth groaned. "Not again."

Percy sent us an amused look, but he didn't look weirded out,or upset at Rachel. He looked 100% comfortable.

Rachel snapped her fingers. "This way. Come on."

And she made her way to swerve through the people milling about the mall. Confusedly, the rest of us had no choice but to follow her throughout the mall. Annabeth grumbled the entire way, so I grabbed her hand and, with a deep breath, pulled her behind me.

Rachel stopped in front of a Japanese restaurant and breathed in slowly.

"Mmm," she smiled, "Sushi."

Percy busted out laughing at Rachel's antics along with James and Roger. Annabeth rolled her eyes and folded her arms; Lesley, Claire and Sara chuckled but said nothing. I just stood there awkwardly, not wanting to laugh and get on Annabeth's bad side, too.

"Well," Lesley said weakly, "Are we going to eat, or what?"

"Eat!" Percy cried. Laughing, the nine of us walked into the restaurant.

ψ

Walking out of the ice cream store, each of us holding our respective ice cream cone, we ran into a little bit of trouble. Remember a while ago, I mentioned a school bully who hated Percy due to his excellence in PE? Yeah, well, we ran into him.

"Well, well, well," he drawled. "If it isn't Prissy Jackson."

"Hey!" he protested. "Only Clarisse can call me that!" Annabeth raised an eyebrow, but stayed silent.

Anthony looked puzzled, but didn't let it bother him. "Tell me. How much did you pay these lovely ladies to be your friends?" He winked in Claire's direction, who gagged.

"He doesn't have to pay us anything, you—"

"Woah, there," Percy grabbed his friend's hand. "Calm down, Rachel. I don't care what he thinks."

Rachel humphed and folded her arms. "Why don't you leave us alone, Anthony?" Percy sighed.

"Hmm, let me think. Because I don't feel like, Jackson! That a good enough reason?" He stepped up into Percy's face.

Percy made a face. "When last did you brush your teeth, man?"

Anthony fumed. "I am going to kill you, Jackson."

"You wouldn't believe how many times I've heard that."

"And you're still alive?"

"Freaky, right?"

Beside me, Annabeth snickered, though I wasn't sure why. Sure, he was good at PE, but I doubted he could hold his ground against Anthony and his goons.

Anthony held up his fist and aimed directly for Percy's face. I winced, not wanting to see Percy's black eye. I didn't have to. He ducked down and grabbed Anthony's arm. A very confused Anthony tried to pull away, but Percy had him in a lock.

"Don't try me, Marin," Percy growled.

Pulling his hand out of Percy's grasp, Anthony turned his direction to Rachel.

"Who's this chick?"

"Not someone you want to mess with."

He held up his hands, but winked at her. "You can ask for my number later. I don't want your boyfriend to see you cheating on him."

Percy frowned. "I'm not her boyfriend," he said cocking his head to the side.

"Oh, yeah, forgot, it was that Lesley loser."

Lesley flushed and swallowed. I figured she'd never handled bully all that well. I remembered about a year ago, the fragile, quiet Lesley that had been paired up with Percy to tutor him. It seemed so long ago. I had forgotten all about that Lesley.

"What? Neither is Lesley." He shook his head. "Look, Lesley is not my girlfriend, and never will be. We're just friends. So leave her out of this."

Anthony looked about to reply, but a girl came out from the bathroom behind him.

"Anthony!" she shrieked. "Let's go already!"

She peered around Anthony's body frame and saw Percy Jackson.

"Oh, hello there," she stepped around Anthony, but sensing what was coming, he put an arm around her shoulder.

"Come on, babe. I was just leaving."

The girl pouted, but allowed him to steer her away from us. Before he walked away, he turned around, and, behind his girlfriend's back, winked at Annabeth.

When they left, Rachel said, "That was disgusting. You do that every day at school? Huh. Annabeth, I haven't given you and Percy enough credit."

"You never have."

Ignoring that comment, she continued, "It must kill you too. You know, more than usual."

Through the corner of my eye, I saw Claire whisper something to Sara, looking pointedly at Lesley.

"Excuse me," Lesley said quietly, reminding me again of the 'old Lesley.' "I have to use the bathroom."

She walked quickly to the bathroom, and I thought I heard her sniffle, but dismissed it quickly.

"I'm going with her," Claire said.

"So am I," Sara added.

I rolled my eyes at girls' need to go to the bathroom together.

"So," Rachel started conversation yet again. "what now?"

Finishing my ice cream cone, I said, "I'm going to follow the girls and go to the bathroom."

Snickering, James and Roger said, "I'll go too!"

"No. Stop being idiots."

They mocked hurt, but followed me anyway. I'm pretty sure Annabeth was not happy with us for leaving her with Percy and Rachel, but I couldn't do anything about it now.

The three of us walked silently to the bathroom, passing the female's one in order to get to the male's. However, I heard something while passing the female's one.

I stopped Roger and James and gestured for them to listen. We paused by the door and heard the girls talking.

"Don't cry, Les," Sara said.

"Yeah, Lesley," Claire added. "I know it's hard. I can tell, but don't worry about it, please."

Lesley cried, "I know, I shouldn't, but I can't help it. I hate it, I hate it I hate that I do. I try so hard not to, but—"

"I get it, Les," Claire said. "It's easy to fall in love with Percy Jackson."