Chapter 11
Annabeth
Annabeth felt like someone had smashed her head with a hammer. She could barely open her eyes, and when she thought of doing so, she'd rather jump into a pool full of spiders.
She cringed at the thought and groaned.
She considered falling back asleep and that way she wouldn't feel so crappy.
She could hear soft voices coming from her surroundings, and she suddenly became very aware that she was in a car. She shot up at once, instantly regretting it from the pain that coursed through her head, and how she felt like vomiting once her eyes were open.
"Where-"
Percy and some boy Annabeth didn't recognize turned around in the front seats, and Annabeth fumed.
"What the hell-"
"Hey, you were drunk," Percy said putting his hands up in surrender. He still had his goddamn sunglasses on. It made Annabeth want to slap him so hard those glasses flew off his face and broke.
She was fuming.
"Bring me home!" she hissed, and Percy smirked as if he were resisting the urge to laugh in her face.
"What do you think we're doing, Wise Girl?" he questioned. The boy driving – the one Annabeth didn't recognize – laughed and Annabeth shot him a glare, shutting him up instantly. Annabeth stared at Percy and the odd nickname he had given her danced in her mind for a moment before she realized that she was in a car with a millionaire and his chauffeur and she was drunk.
"Oh my gods," she murmured while rubbing her head. "What happened at that party?"
"You were drunk," Percy repeated without turning around. He was leaning his head against the window, and kept adjusting his sunglasses every few seconds. Annabeth was ready to lose it.
"No duh, Seaweed Brain."
Percy looked at her with amusement, but didn't make a remark to the nickname. Annabeth closed her eyes and felt every nerve in her brain pound. She made a mental note in her mind to never get drunk again if it was going to hurt so much with a hangover.
"We're almost there," Percy replied, and Annabeth just wished he would take off those damn sunglasses for once. They weren't even outside and he wasn't even driving the car, so why did he need sunglasses? Because he's rich and Percy Jackson can do what he wants.
Annabeth really wanted him to jump out of the car.
She didn't respond to him and just leaned back in the seat. She snuck a glance over at the boy driving, and was almost shocked by his appearance. He had a curly mop of hair on top of his head, and a seriously bad case of acne around his chin that was partially covered by an incoming goatee. He was wearing a plain green t-shirt, and from what Annabeth could see – jeans. He seemed like a regular twenty year-old. Not someone who would associate themselves with Percy Jackson.
She gave the boy one more skeptical look before staring at the window. They were almost home, and Annabeth just wanted to get home, go to bed, and never wake up.
They rode in silence for a little while longer until they reached Annabeth's neighborhood.
"How did you know where I live?" Annabeth asked suddenly very freaked out as to why they knew exactly where to go.
"Your phone," Percy answered nonchalantly. Annabeth looked down at her phone that was lying next to her and snatched it up.
"What about it?"
"We called Piper and asked."
Annabeth felt rather idiotic, but she mumbled an inaudible 'oh' hoping that it didn't praise Percy Jackson's oh-so-wonderful ego.
Finally, the boy that was driving stopped in front of Annabeth's house, and she breathed a sigh of relief.
"Uh, thanks," she said while climbing out of the car. Percy rolled down the window and smirked at her.
"No problem, sweetheart. Just remember, you owe me one," he grinned as they started to pull away, and it took everything in Annabeth not to throw a giant rock at the car speeding away.
Oh how she can't stand Percy Jackson.
Percy
It was fun teasing Annabeth Chase.
Percy was smirking to himself as he and Grover pulled away from her house, leaving her outside on the front lawn. Yeah, maybe it was a jerk move, but Percy had to keep up his wonderful image of being the Percy that Annabeth saw in the tabloids, right?
"You like her," Grover suddenly said in the silence of the car, which caused Percy to jump.
"I don't, actually," Percy said while looking back out the window. He could tell that Grover was trying not to smile from beside him, but he did a poor job at hiding it.
"You do," Grover said once more, and Percy rolled his eyes, although Grover couldn't see since it was under Percy's sunglasses.
"Nope," Percy said, and was thankful that Grover had dropped the conversation. He didn't like Annabeth. He barely knew Annabeth, and besides he had bigger problems on his hands.
As soon as they arrived back in the big city, Percy spotted the limo that had both his parents in it, pulling up in front of their apartment complex.
"Shit," Percy mumbled, and Grover looked at him warily. His parents weren't supposed to be home for a while, and if they got home before he did, then they would know that he left the auction early and went out with his friends.
Grover pulled into the parking lot reserved for only residents of the complex, and Percy practically jumped out of the vehicle as it was moving. He raced towards the elevator, and upstairs, hoping that by the time his parents got out of the limo and were mobbed by the press, he would beat them inside.
"Come on," Percy grumbled under his breath as he waited for the elevator doors to open. Grover caught up with him as they stood in the lobby. The sounds of cameras clicking and photographers shouting came from outside, and Percy knew that if they didn't get in the elevator now, his parents would see him, and he would be screwed.
Finally, the doors opened, and Percy grabbed Grover by the collar of his shirt as they stepped inside.
"Hey Perce," the elevator man, Mark, said as soon as Percy and Grover entered.
"Hey, close the doors," Percy said frantically, just as he saw his dad walk into the main lobby. He ducked his head as Mark hit the close button, and the elevator shot up towards the penthouse. Percy almost leaned against the elevator wall and let out a sigh of relief, but he decided against it.
"Everything alright?" Mark asked, and Percy nodded.
"Yeah, just…past curfew," Percy said slyly. Mark shot him a knowing look, but said nothing more.
The elevator reached the top with a ding! and Percy and Grover rushed out. Percy raced as quick as he could towards his room, and just as he was kicking his shoes off, ruffling his hair, and trying to change, the door opened downstairs and he heard his mother's voice.
"Percy!" she called, "we're home!"
Percy walked over to his bureau and sprayed some cologne on himself so he wouldn't reek of alcohol before walking downstairs.
"Hey, how was the auction?" Percy asked as he bounded down the stairs rather lazily to appear as if he had been taking a nap. His father was dressed in his wonderful suit (as always) and he even managed to pour some champagne in the two minutes that it took for Percy to get downstairs.
"Good, we made a lot of money, son," Poseidon said with a grin before sipping his drink. Percy managed a smile, but he couldn't help but think of how their family could get any richer. Why did his dad need so much money? To buy another private jet? To buy three houses in Paris? They already had two.
"That's great," Percy forced. It was good, because although his father could be rather greedy at times, his mother balanced them out. A lot of the money that they make goes to various charities around New York, and some nationally. With the persuasion of Percy, they even got involved in some charities internationally, and went to Nicaragua for a summer to help those who needed it.
"Did you have fun with your cousins?" his mother asked while placing her purse on the kitchen counter.
"Yeah," Percy answered thinking back to how Jason and Thalia were doing.
"Good," Sally responded and looked at her son warily. "Are you alright, dear? You look sick."
"I'm fine," Percy tried to protest, but his mom was already walking towards him, her heels clicking against the floor like brass drums, as she made her way to him. She pushed his hair back and rested her hand against his forehead.
"He's fine," Poseidon said, and Percy kind of hoped he wasn't, just to prove his father wrong. Sally pulled away and looked at Percy worriedly.
"Why don't you go get in bed and I'll make you some fresh tea with honey," she said. Percy smiled, remembering back when he was younger. Every time he got sick, his mother would make him tea with honey, and would always place a cool wet cloth on his forehead. It worked like a charm.
"You don't need to do that," Poseidon said and gestured around the house, "we have servants."
Percy wanted to smack his father, but he resisted the urge to. Sally, however, glared at her husband.
"I want to make it," she said sternly and walked over to the kettle. Percy smiled and trudged upstairs to crawl into bed and to not think about a certain blonde haired girl who called him Seaweed Brain.
Annabeth
Valerie didn't talk to Annabeth all weekend.
From the moment Annabeth walked in after the party until late Sunday night, her step-sister didn't say a word to her. She barely even looked in her direction. They had recently painted Valerie's room, so as a result, Valerie didn't want to sleep in her room because of the fumes.
Late Sunday night, Annabeth walked into the living room that went into the kitchen to grab a drink of water, and there Valerie was lying on the couch.
"Hey," Annabeth said quietly. Annabeth knew Valerie was awake because she was lying still, and Valerie never slept still during the night. She tosses and turns and kicks and sometimes falls off of the bed.
"Hi," Valerie said back softly from across the room.
"Why aren't you talking to me?" Annabeth questioned. The room was silent, and dark, and Annabeth could hear her breathing and her heart pounding with every second.
"You abandoned me," Valerie snapped, "at the auction, you completely left. With Percy Jackson nonetheless."
Annabeth felt her heart rate quicken, and she tried to calm herself before she exploded. Sometimes Annabeth acted too rashly and impulsively, mostly when she was angry, and she needed to sort her anger out.
"First of all," Annabeth state, keeping her voice steady, "you ignored my existence until Piper came and got me. And second of all, I went with Piper. Percy and all of the others just happened to be there."
"You could have invited me-"
"Why would I invite you?!" Annabeth snapped. She and Valerie were never on great terms, but sometimes Annabeth hated her almost as much as she hated the tabloids and media.
"Because I'm your sister!"
"Step-sister!"
The room was quiet for a moment, and Annabeth saw Valerie shift so she was sitting up. Her heart was racing with anger, and she couldn't help but feel so used by Valerie. She ignored her until Percy was in the picture. Valerie didn't care about Annabeth until a party with rich and famous people were mentioned.
"Go to bed, Annabeth," Valerie scoffed, and Annabeth almost slammed the glass of water on the counter, but she restrained herself.
"Gladly."
And with that, Annabeth stormed upstairs to her room and closed the door a lot harsher than she had meant to.
Annabeth and Valerie didn't speak to each other at all Monday morning, and at school, Annabeth was so relieved that she could get away from her.
Annabeth spotted Piper, and raced over to her. Piper was talking with Jason, and Annabeth walked quickly to get away from Valerie as soon as possible, who was heading the other direction.
"Hey," Piper greeted.
"Hi," Annabeth said back.
"You look like you're in a rush," Jason commented with a grin pulling at his lips.
"Yeah well, got to get away from the ugly step-sister," Annabeth said with a grin. Piper laughed loudly and looked at Annabeth with a twinkle in her eyes.
"What'd she do now?"
"We got into a fight last night," Annabeth said with a shrug. "She was mad we didn't invite her to the party."
Piper scoffed and rolled her eyes.
"She's so dramatic."
"Tell me about it."
A sudden whiff of the ocean and mint filled Annabeth's nose, and she turned suddenly, and almost bumped into Blake. Annabeth smiled upon seeing her friend, and invited him to join the conversation.
As she, Piper, Jason, and Blake continued talking, Annabeth kept noticing that Blake would shift uncomfortably every few moments, and keep glancing at her, or someone else in the hallway that would walk by.
"Are you okay?" Annabeth asked in a hushed tone as Piper and Jason started arguing over which show was better; Cake Boss or Georgetown Cupcakes. Annabeth wasn't ready to get into the middle of that.
"Yeah," Blake answered while shoving his hands in his pockets. Annabeth looked at him warily, and was about to pry even more when the bell rang, signaling them off to class.
Annabeth grabbed her bag, and went to catch up with Blake in the hallway, but he had already disappeared into the crowd of students. Annabeth groaned and headed to her first class of the day; AP History.
How fun.
"We have a new student today," Dr. Jefferson said in Annabeth's AP Psych class. Blake was seated next to her, and he was drawing aimlessly on a random sheet of paper. Annabeth watched as he did so, and didn't pay attention as a redheaded girl walked into the room.
Her hair was in frizzy curls around her porcelain face, and her nose was splashed with freckles. Her eyes were a bright green, and she was dressed in a gray t-shirt, and jeans that had doodles all over them.
"Rachel, you may take a seat anywhere," Dr. Jefferson said, and Rachel smiled politely before taking the open seat in front of Blake.
Blake looked up as soon as Rachel sat down, and smiled kindly at her.
"You're new right?" Blake asked, and Rachel gave him a look.
"Yeah, she just told you that," Rachel said with a slight grin. Blake chuckled and held out his head.
"I'm…Blake," he said, and Rachel shook his hand while laughing.
"Are you sure?" she questioned, and Blake's cheeks flushed.
"Yes," he said with a nervous grin. Rachel smiled.
"I'm Rachel."
Annabeth couldn't help but feel a slight pang in her heart at the sight of the friendly encounter. Blake had been so cold to her today, and all of a sudden this new girl comes in, and he's completely friendly.
Annabeth scowled under her breath, and looked back at the board to continue taking notes. Why did she care? She didn't. She didn't care if Blake was cold to her and completely friendly to this new girl.
Absolutely, she didn't care.
For the rest of the class, she looked down and realized that she hadn't been writing the notes that she thought she had been, but she had been writing; I don't care over and over again on her paper.
She sighed and ran a hand through her blonde curls. Maybe she did care.
I'm so sorry for not updating in so long.
I got distracted with other things like school and sports, and I just completely forgot so I'm sorry.
But anyways, I hope you liked it.
Review, tell me what you think.
Thanks for reading xx (:
~stay beautiful~
