Thank you seagull3, AnnaUnicorn, PrettiestChricken, GoldenRacehorse, PoppyOhare, 1quintisfan, when darkness meets light, chador reulle, psyche castle, Artemis Izzy, and Shutup and Be Creartive all your reviews wer much appreciated. Love you all. (Thanks for the advice Shutup and Be creative, no promises Ill take it though)
Disclaimer- I do not own the characters, just the basic plot.
It was about two weeks later that things got interesting again.
Firstly… those two weeks were incredibly hard. All the humans had a really hard time paying attention in class, with everyone pacing and talking at once with the teacher.
Clarisse got six detentions and had to speak to the principle three times. Though, she was clarisse so no one too surprised.
The guardians were so used to talking to their humans and not have them respond, they were used to their humans not listening to them and suddenly their humans could talk back and they took their advice…. It was so weird.
Blackjack tried to give the guardians the best advice he could about clear-sighted mortals, and percy did the same with the humans, but it was still hard.
The guardians still jumped in shock when their humans asked them questions and the humans still had to get used to all the rules of being a human to a guardian. Percy and Blackjack were already used to it, but that was at least understandable!
There was even more problems that just getting used to it, Bobby had a really hard time, because somewhere in this two week period it fully registered that his brother wasn't actually alive… he was still dead and it hurt him a lot. Bobby told Annabeth and Malcolm he couldn't describe the way he felt. Upset? Angry? Happy? It was the Annabeth fiasco without the part of feeling betrayed.
Bobby even cried when his brothers anniversary came along even though his brother was right behind him. What do you do when you can see and feel your brother but you know they aren't actually there, it was like Bobby was constantly dreaming and he refused to wake up. Percy also had a tendency to mention that the seeing the guardians was just a temporary thing, and Bobby didn't want it to be temporary.
But that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Annabeth had been watching a lot of movies and shows that weren't even in theatres yet on the guardian TV. (Coolest thing on the planet.) But it caused so many problems when she'd be watching the movie and her parents would walk in seeing her watching a blank screen or watching something she normally wouldn't like.
For the first day Frederick kept asking Annabeth if she was alright, and Percy kept yelling in her ear rule number 6, "DO NOT WATCH GUARDIAN TV WITH BLIND MORTALS AROUND!"
By the first Sunday of being clear sighted, Percy informed Annabeth the Overwhelming crush Chris had on Clarisse and watching Chris around her was honestly sad half the time.
The other half it was down right hilarious. Annabeth was on the edge of being called insane when she laughed without having a prober reason when she saw Chris trip over, fall through Clarisse and stutter a scared, nervous apology.
But it was more than just trying to deal with the fact they could see, feel, hear and smell things that technically aren't there. No, no, no; there was more…
The guardians were so confusing!
One time annabeth got kicked in the leg in PE when they were playing soccer, and it hurt like hell. (She had a foot shaped bruise on her shin for eight days after) All that happened was a lot of pain and percy laughing at her expense. A few days later the same thing happened to Calypso and Annabeth can still hear Junipers loud screams of pain as she jumped and whined around the court for two minutes.
At first Annabeth thought it was the gender difference until during break some genius threw a basketball in the hall and hit the back of Nico's head really hard.
She remembered Bianca's look on her face. She looked like she was the person that got hit in the head with a basketball.
The next weird thing was one day Bianca came by in her normal look of an eleven year old but the next day she was much older… ten years older in fact. Another time zoë aimed a bow at Connor and he turned into a 80 something year old man and said, "You wouldn't hurt an old man would ya?"
Another thing Annabeth realized (and a few others) on Sunday no one was where they were supposed to be. Either Percy was off with his brother and family or everyone is at her house gambling or talking or watching TV or doing all three at once.
Last but not least, they all ate the same thing everyday. Blackjack was always eating glazed donuts, Percy was always eating blue cookies. (though that wasn't surprising at all, actually.) Magnus ate falafel, Matthew ate nothing but potato tacos, (a Mexican street dish. Mashed potatoes in a corn tortilla shallow fried till the tortilla is crisp… yum…) and the list went on and on.
Honestly it was so confusing trying to remember all the rules. Half the rules she didn't have the heart to ask about, like the things just mentioned.
Also, around this time, Leo, Nico, Will and Annabeth decided to sit in the back of the school at lunch.
The back of the school was a lot of grass surrounded by large trees and side of windowless buildings. It was known for being creepy and just plain weird, so no one went around the back of the school. (Truthfully it was more like the North-West corner of the school.)
The reason why they sat there now was because it was so difficult not being able to acknowledge the guardians when they were in the cafeteria.
Their seat in the cafeteria was in the corner of the room by the bathroom and exit/entrance. Yeah, not a good idea to sit there anymore.
Some guardians like Connor decided to spend more time with his brother at lunch instead of playing games with the other guardians. That also included Selina,(Though she came a lot of the time to spend time with Beckendorf.) Juniper, Chris and Magnus.
The rest stayed playing games, 'it was there thing,' Sammy claimed.
This day was interesting though.
It started at lunch, Annabeth was by herself (Not even a guardian in sight) at the back of the school, leaning against one of the buildings, not eating but studying.
She looked up after a few seconds of feeling someone's stare to see Percy standing in front of her curiously. If he was still a normal person he would have shadow stretching over her but he didn't anymore.
"Yes?" Annabeth asked, wary and confused. Percy shrugged.
"I have questions," He replied. Annabeth raised an eyebrow and went back to studying, but not really paying attention to what was on the page much.
"I have answers," She replied flatly. Percy sat down in front of her, leaning forward in interest.
"Firstly, why did you feel betrayed about me dying?" He asked bluntly. Annabeth looked up, guarded, (Pun not intended.) finding his question weird.
"Why?" She drawled. Percy shrugged, putting his head in the palm of his hand.
Percy wasn't his normal… 'age'… he looked like he much older than he normally did; 27 maybe, at most. His clothes were different too. Instead of a high school swimmers jacket, he wore an Olympic swimmers jacket, black sweatpants and grey Nike's. He looked so much more mature in this form than his other one.
If Annabeth didn't know any better… he looked better in this form then the late teenager one.
Yes, she was insane.
"Just found it out of character, that's all," Percy reasoned. Annabeth bit her lip as she thought for a good couple minutes.
Finally she opened her mouth and just let her mouth do the subconscious talking.
"I guess I was angry," She reasoned. "I know it's stupid and all but you promised to sleep over the next day and that was the same day I heard you died. I guess I kept thinking about my mom, my biological mom about how she just left me and Malcolm…" She snapped her fingers together. "Like that, and she promised to love my dad forever. Plus, I never got to say goodbye, and I gelt like a terrible friend because of it… I think I was angry with myself and took it out on you." She flinched and nodded, knowing everything she said was true.
Percy mouth twitched.
"Yeah, I know," Percy assured. Annabeth snapped back at his confession.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN!" Annabeth yelled, making Percy burst out laughing. Annabeth hated him so much in that moment.
Percy smiled really big as he explained, "I know just about everything about you, annabeth! I knew already, I just wanted to hear it, see if you felt like you could have deep conversations with me again!" Annabeth went to punch his arm but her hand phased right through percy's shoulder.
He laughed harder, even though it felt weird having her hand go through his body.
Something else she realized, sometimes object went through the guardians (like her fist just then) and sometimes they were actually hit. (Remember Bobby Kicked Matthew?)
Once Percy relaxed her smiled, "Okay, seriously I have a true question." Percy's face turned a bit more serious, it made Annabeth nervous…
Percy was never serious.
"Okay, what's up with you and Luke?" Annabeth blushed bright red at Percy's question. Half of her wasn't surprised and the other half was mortified.
Luke Castellan was this guy from her history class and one of the top twenty most popular kids at the whole school. On the scale he was number 11 on the list.
He was handsome, very handsome. He had short blonde hair, the kindest icy blue eyes and evenly tanned skin; last but not least, he had this blinding smile that lit up a room like a Christmas tree. He also had this scar that framed the side of his jaw from when tripped on the first day of the eighth grade and crashed into the corner of the teachers desk.
He was kind, known for being romantic, and wasn't a player like the rest. He actually cared about the people he dated until either they broke it off or they both broke it off mutually. Luke was warm hearted, lovable and just all around great guy.
Annabeth had a crush on him, big time, but Luke didn't know that. That day they got partnered for a Greek/Roman mythology project.
The project was to make up a Greek or Roman myth. Annabeth and Luke were partnered up and they hadn't come up with anything yet.
There was good new and bad news about the project.
Good news, The teacher, Ms. Lupa, decided to have pity on them and said the project wasn't due till the beginning of the third quarter in February as a long term project. Bad news, the project has to be twenty pages long at least.
Annabeth shrugged to Percy's question.
He made a face like, "seriously, we are playing this game?"
"Annabeth," Percy scooted over and threw his arm around her shoulder. His arm felt like solid wind or little dust mites crawling all over her skin. "I may be an idiot, but I know there is something with you and Luke, at least on your end."
Annabeth blushed and then her eyes narrowed in defiance.
"I thought you were my guardian," She spit. "Shouldn't you know the answer already." Percy raised his eyebrows and smirked.
"Not really, no," Percy answered. "Even without the gender difference I wouldn't be able to really see if anything is going on between two people. I have my suspicions but that's from our time together before I kicked my bucket." Annabeth glared at percy.
"And what are these 'suspicions?'" Annabeth asked. Percy smirked widen.
"LUKE AND ANNIE SITTING IN A TREE, K-I-S…" Percy shouted to the heavens. Annabeth gasped and before he went any farther with his song, she slapped her hand over his mouth.
He start to laugh like a madman, even fell on his side and clutched his stomach; literally rolling around on the floor.
"DON'T CALL ME ANNIE!" Annabeth yelled, face bright red with shame.
He didn't seem to care.
Percy kept laughing his head off and pointed at her.
"I'm right!" He shouted. "I am so right! You have a crush on Luke!" Annabeth blushed bright red and crossed her arms in protest.
"How come Bianca knows about Nico but you say guardians and crushes don't mix?" Annabeth asked in a desperate attempt to change the subject. Percy finally stopped laughing and pulled himself off the grass.
"Uhh, because, he's her brother," Percy said in a, 'duh' tone, he kicked his feet up so he was crossed legged and sighed in joy.
"But yeah," Percy continued. "Guardians don't know anything about their humans romantic, in this case, crush, life. It's a long story, don't ask… actually, scratch the previous statement, guardians don't know anything about their humans romantic life until after their human is married." Annabeth (still blushing) gulped and nodded.
"But, back to Luke," Percy smirked evilly. "So, you like Blondie?" Annabeth blushed a darker red, again. Percy smirk widen.
"Ahhh, Annie has a crush…" Percy cooed, Annabeth tried to punch him but her hand phased through, again. "Come one, Annabeth, I'm just messing with you!" Percy laughed for a few minutes before he relaxed.
"But seriously, he's a good guy, from what I heard anyway." Percy added. Percy went into a thinking state before he added as an afterthought, "he used to have a guardian." Annabeth looked at Percy shocked.
Annabeth cared for Percy a lot, and he went through a lot of changes since he last time they saw each other from personality to looks. Oh Goodness, looks was a whole different level of change, but that's off track; yes percy went through many changes but it was always good to know his vague bluntness never left him.
"What do you mean?" Annabeth asked. Percy gave Annabeth a sideway smirk.
"Juniper and Grover had a joint guardianship over Luke," Percy said offhandedly. Annabeth really wanted to know what a 'joint guardianship' was but she put that in the back of her head for later. "And a few years earlier they asked for a three-way-switch."
Annabeth stared at Percy.
"I'm sorry, I'm not following," Annabeth said honestly. Percy smiled like he forgot that part.
"Right," He muttered. "A joint guardianship is like having a part time job, one guardian gets twelve hours and the other gets twelve hours, it's really hard to get clearance for a joint guardianship. And a three way switch is basically when a guardian decides they don't want to guard their human anymore." Percy held up three fingers.
"A three-way-switch is when you feel like you're human doesn't need protection anymore, so you go to the boss and ask for a three-way-switch." Percy wanted to go into more detail, but that was for another day.
Annabeth stared at Percy for a couple seconds.
"So, in summary, Luke had two guardians but they thought he was doing perfectly on his own, so they decided to stop being his guardian?" Percy nodded, thinking that it was a perfect way of describing it.
Annabeth wanted to ask for more details on the whole situation, maybe even ask a few questions about Luke; what was his childhood like in a few words, is he really a good guy, especially since he was coming over to her house that night. Then Leo came around a few trees and made a big scene over him being there.
Annabeth and Percy's conversation was left on hold for the rest of the day and maybe for a few more days.
Right behind Leo was beckendorf who was drawing something on paper.
"Guys, Connor is a genius!" Leo shouted as he sat down with his lunch. Percy snorted, I'd like to contradict that, he put in Annabeth head, it made her snicker. "He has so many ideas! And do you know how much dirt we got on teachers from just Connor following Travis around! Imagine what we'll get from him spying!"
"Tartarus on earth?" Percy guessed. Beckendorf looked up at Percy with a solid nod. But Leo just smiled and laughed like a madman.
"I love being clear sighted!" Leo sighed as he slumped into the tree behind him. Beckendorf and Percy hummed.
"I don't," Beckendorf replied honestly, making Leo glare at him. Percy said just after Beck, "This is just temporary, don't get used to it so much." Leo crossed his arms and grumbled.
Annabeth watched all of this and didn't know whether to smile or frown, it wasn't like Percy to be logical but it was percy to destroy Leo's arguments. Annabeth looked at percy, he looked late 20 year old now, even as a 20 year old he acted different, but not logical… Did his personality reflect his age? Did his personality reflect her own, because she is a pretty logical person. Annabeth then realized that there wasn't a thing 'logical' about this whole thing; she was talking to people dead for years and she wasn't looking up possible diseases.
Annabeth pushed that bit into the back of her head, besides, what possible disease could make you hallucinate but have a dozen other people see the exact same thing as you and keep your relative mind. Unless a new found disease that hasn't been discovered yet, none that she knew of.
Annabeth had some research to do when she got home, maybe she should also talk to Will about this too, because she knows from guardian gossip that he was still trying to find out if this whole thing was a crazy hallucination.
Speaking of guardian gossip…
"It's not like anyone is going to judge!" Turns out Nico, Sammy, Chris and zoë showed up minutes before, and so had the guardian talking about their humans like they weren't in the room.
Nico was already red with embarrassment as he shoved food into his mouth, he was already used to this conversation.
Leo asked Nico every chance he got to ask Nico about, "who's the girl that stole your heart," but Nico never budged.
"One day," Bianca claimed to her fellow guardians who never seemed bored of the same rant everyday, probably because there was nothing else to talk about. "I will just shout it out to all the humans." At that Nico choked on his salad as Leo cheered a, "DO IT NOW."
Annabeth was slightly dying from the curiosity so she was slightly hoping Nico's crush would come up someday soon. She tried asking Percy but he would just say, 'It's not my secret to tell.'
"NO!" Nico screamed, Bianca smiled at her brother innocently in a, 'you have been warned,' way. Nico looked to Annabeth for help.
Annabeth shrugged while percy said, "No," next to her. That was still something she needed to get used to, percy answering for her. In truth that was annoying but also kind of cool, mostly annoying. in fact she kept telling him to not answer for her. He never seemed to get it through his thick skull.
This time she let it go.
"Honestly," Annabeth replied. "I really, really want to know who this girl is too." Nico glared at her with his cold black eyes in a, "I hate you," way. Annabeth did a single shoulder shrug with Percy laughing next to her.
"I love how she thinks she has room to talk," Percy told his friends, everyone who was there perked up as Annabeth felt the blood leave her face. "Miss Annie has a crush." Leo and Nico smiled, completely forgetting about earlier.
"Percy!" Annabeth shouted, he ignored her. Shocker.
"Ohhhh, dirt!" Sammy exclaimed hoping in his branch over the rest (Sammy had this thing with sitting in trees) . "Who, who, who, who!?"
zoë sighed, "I had faith in you, chase, I am very disappointed." Percy snickered at everyone's response for who this person was.
"Percy, I swear…" Annabeth begged, she was ignored but…
"Sorry," Percy shrugged, seconds later the bell rang and Annabeth got up to ran away from the embarrassment.
...She was saved.
"Gotta go…" Percy called chasing after annabeth who was wondering how to kill a person already dead.
At home Annabeth sat on the living room couch, thinking to herself with her laptop in her lap. Bobby was in his room doing his homework and from what she had heard from Matthew, thinking about nothing else but a book he'd been reading.
Percy was in the corner of the room eating a bag full of blue chocolate chip cookies. Annabeth huffed at the sight, Percy had always been a bottomless pit when he was alive, now all he does it eat and it is always a bag of blue chocolate chip cookies; the same his mom used to make.
Annabeth made a mental note to ask, along with every other question she had stored in her head.
"Blondies here." Percy called from the corner of the room. He was sitting by the front door, looking like he was waiting for something.
Annabeth's house was simple. From the front door you instantly were in the living room, the TV was on the same wall as the front door and two couches surrounded it with a brown coffee table in between. From the opposite side of the front door was an open entryway. Inside was a dining table, with six chairs. In the eating area was cabinets filled with random antiques and models of planes.
To the right of the eating area was the kitchen. Back in the living room on the right was a door that lead into a bathroom. To the left from the living room was a hallway that lead into each bedroom and another bathroom.
Again, simple.
But annabeth still had no idea why Percy was sitting by the door or why he said, "Blondie is here," until there was a knock at the door.
Matthew raised an eyebrow but stayed silent.
Annabeth however jumped up and went into a small state of panic. Luke. Luke was coming over, oh why was she so stupid!
Annabeth rushed to grab her history books and change the tab on her laptop, all the while trying to make herself look presentable.
Percy was laughing by the door and Matthew was cracking up silently to himself.
Annabeth stopped to take a breath and walk calmly to the front door.
It's okay, it's just Luke, he's just a guy.
Annabeth waited for Percy to say some smartass comment about, "he's also the guy you have a large crush on!" But nothing came out of his mouth except fading giggles.
Right, he can't hear some thoughts and can't know about my crushes/relationships until I'm married.
Annabeth took a deep breath and opened the dark brown front door; and lo and behold stood Luke Castellan.
Annabeth's heart skipped a beat at the sight of him.
Luke was also very tall, not as tall as Percy (Annabeth asked, Percy Is six foot one) but Luke was still tall.
He smiled at Annabeth kindly and said, "Hey, Annabeth, sorry I am late I kind of got held up." Annabeth shrugged in what she was begging was casual.
"It's okay, Luke, come on in." Annabeth offered a smile as Luke entered the room and muttered a, "thank you."
Luke looked around.
"Wow, this place is really nice." Luke commented. Annabeth laughed nervously to herself.
"Uh, thanks… eh, I helped decorate and paint." Annabeth mentally kicked herself for speaking in such a tight voice.
Percy snickered sarcastically, "Smooth, like silk, I promise."
Go jump into Tartarus, Annabeth thought.
"Hey!"
Luke turned around looking taken aback.
"Really? Wow, that's awesome, my dad wouldn't let me near a can of paint." Luke joked as he sat down.
"I don't like him," Matthew stated from the spot next to an oblivious Luke. "He's too nice."
Annabeth fought the urge to strangle Matthew on the spot.
Percy hit the back of Matthew's head for her, score.
Annabeth pointed towards the kitchen.
"Uhm, I can get you a drink, water? Soda? tea? Lemonade?" Annabeth asked still feeling awkward. Luke perked up in curiosity.
"You got lemonade and Tea?" Luke asked kind of jokingly. Annabeth blushed as she stuttered, "No, yes… eh, we have those power packets that you pour into water. I have sweet tea, fruit punch… ehh, lemonade, raspberry, strawberry, and pink… dragon fruit…" Luke smiled while he half laughed at her.
"Euhm, I'd like some sweet tea." Luke said. "Thanks." Annabeth nodded stiffly as she rushed to the kitchen.
While filling a cup with water and looking for the box labeled, "Sweet Tea" Percy materialized behind her, laughing.
"Oh, I love this!" Percy wailed. "Seeing you and him is so cute and pathetic at the same time!" Annabeth felt her cheeks burn as she fumbled with the packet.
She eventually got the powder into the cup and stirred.
She came back to find Luke with his text books open and own laptop out on the coffee table.
Annabeth smiled tightly as she sat down and handed Luke the sweet tea.
He smiled as he accepted the brown drink with foam on top and took a drink.
He seemed surprised by the taste.
"Wow, that's good," Luke took another drink while Annabeth subtly exhaled.
"How long does she have till she dies from a heart attack?" Matthew asked Percy who was now by him. Percy snickered much to Annabeth's annoyance.
"A few minutes." Percy choked out also trying to stop himself from laughing.
Matthew hummed.
"I give her thirty seconds." Matthew nodded. Percy burst out laughing.
"So," Luke said drawing Annabeth's attention again. "Do you have an idea for this assignment." Annabeth shook her head.
"No, eh, story writing has never been my thing." Annabeth looked at the ground trying to hide her blush.
"No, I guess you don't need to know how to write a narrative when you are a world famous architect." Annabeth snapped her head up, surprised at Luke's comment.
"How... how di-did you know?" Annabeth asked. Luke shrugged.
"Last years first English assignment was to write an essay on what you wanted to do as a career, we were in the same class remember. You wrote about being an architect, said you wanted to go to Cal Poly, the best public college for architecture." Luke said like he said it a thousand times. Annabeth smiled shyly.
"Ehh, yeah, and you wanted to be a fitness trainer if I remember correctly." Annabeth giggled, GIGGLED, to herself. It was Luke's turn to looked shocked but happy.
"Yeah, hey, have you applied for Cal Poly yet?" Luke asked curiously. Annabeth nodded, blushing a little redder.
"Uhh, yeah, but I don't think I'll get in, Cal Poly has the best architecture program like you said, and it's the hardest college to get into in California, period." Luke looked at Annabeth doubtfully as he scoffed.
"You'll get in Annabeth, I'm sure of it." Luke said. Annabeth blushed. She picked up her history textbook flipped a few pages.
"Yeah, we should start brainstorming." Annabeth said looking over some of the myths they already knew.
The rules were, they had to make up a myth based off Greek or Roman mythology. It can be placed any time period, it has to be original and has to have original characters.
Luke nodded as he flipped to the page she was on.
"This is hard, I am really glad we have such a long time to figure this out." Annabeth nodded in agreement. "Do you want to try to win the contest or just get a decent grade."
Annabeth sighed.
Since it was such a long term project Ms. Lupa made a contest, the pair with the best original myth would get their story told to every single one of Ms. Lupa's classes and all the senior English classes.
She was a competing person but there was no way she was going to win a writing contest, so she just said, "Just get a decent grade, but winning should be kept in mind." Luke nodded muttering that he agreed.
"Yeah, besides, with Nico and Will partnered up for this assignment, we have little Chance of winning anyway." Luke flicked through a few more pages.
Annabeth hummed in agreement.
Will and Nico were also in their class. They somehow always managed to get paired together but that's besides the point. Nico had been writing in a diary since he was little and was just a plain good writer, his flow could beat S.E. Hinton and his grammar was spot on. Will on the other hand was really good at coming up with plot and was just plain creative.
They were unstoppable together in writing projects.
Annabeth took a paper out when she had an idea.
"So, next week same time?" Luke asked Annabeth. It was two hours later, they didn't have a story but they had a character, which was good enough.
Luke was about to leave.
Annabeth nodded.
"My place or just stay here?" Luke asked. Annabeth shrugged.
"Wherever is fine." Annabeth tucked a stay hair behind her ear.
"Great," Luke nodded. "Its a date then, bye." Luke waved and walked down the hall of her apartment building until he turned a corner.
Annabeth stood frozen in her spot, shell shocked.
Annabeth managed to close the door and fall back against it.
"Urg, what just happened?" Annabeth asked Percy who had a garbage eating grin on his idiotic face.
"I think you got a study date with you man of your dreams." Percy said as he fell to his knees laughing.
A small, dreamy, happy smile formed on Annabeth's face.
Okay for everyone who tried to guess who is the woman from last chapter, Artemis Izzy, AnnaUnicorn and Seagurl3, you have guessed the woman correctly! Congrats.
Psyche Casle you have guessed the woman correctly but not the girl, sorry.
If you reviews last chapter and dont see your name up above then you have guess the girl and the woman. Now here is the question for you, what will 'the girl' gain from helping 'the woman.'
Anyway, all the facts about Cal Poly is true, unless my teachers have lied to me all year...
And I am sorry for taking awhile writing, its just that lately I have been doubting my work for this story. I don't think its very good and I have even thought about deleting it either start over or put the story up for adoption to a better author... and so my passion for this story has come in short burst but I have managed.
I hope you all enjoy, sorry for grammar I suck.
Bye.
-Kayla.