Hey guys! Back for another update :)
I'm working on Speak Now, but I'm a little stumped on 'Dear Luke' but I'll try to get both those stories updated some time this week. By the way, I just updated New Kid at Goode High School, so check that out if you haven't already!
Random Question: Do any of you know any good Percabeth/adventure stories or any Thuke stories? Just let me know in a comment!
You should also check out my poll on my profile page ;)
Now, let's get on with the story!
Previously on GHSIY:
"I'm sure she can catch up tomorrow. After all, she does a visitor."
"Who?" I blurted out, unable to control my curiosity.
"Annabeth?" Someone said, stepping into the classroom.
I gasped, and bite my lip in fear. They were last person that I wanted see, the last person that I wanted to talk to.
"Dad?"
Chapter 11
The class's gaze seemed to shift between my father, then me and then back at my father. My peers all had the same expression: wide eyes and open mouths. I felt my face go beet red, and felt the sudden urge to run to my room and hide under my bed for the rest of my life. What was my dad doing here? Why did he all of a sudden have an interest in coming back to my life? He hated me. He didn't care if I was miserable for the rest of my life. He only cared about Tyler.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, remaining glued to my chair in Chiron's classroom. Gwen, who I could see just barely out of the corner of my eye, was trying very hard to look everywhere except at me.
"Can we talk?" Frederick asked. "In private?"
I scowled. I wanted to say no and demand that Dionysus or Chiron call security and kick him out immediately. It would be easier to just cower away from any type of confrontation with my previous life, the life that I was trying to forget...but maybe Frederick was here to deliver good news. Maybe he was here to tell me that he wised up and left Tyler and wants to take me back. I would leave Goode High School for Insane Youths in a heartbeat if it meant I could go back to Bobby and Matthew.
But, leaving would mean leaving Thalia, or Percy. Imagine how Percy would feel: he was just starting to get over Calypso, and if I left, it might hurt him...badly.
"Annabeth?" Frederick continued. "Can we please talk?"
I looked around, a little embarrassed and hesitant, but I nodded in agreement. "Yeah."
"I'll find an empty conference room," Dionysus offered. He tapped his foot, waiting rather impatiently for the two of us to follow him.
People gazed at my father and I as we passed through the school to the conference room. I locked my fingers together and studied my shoes as I made my way to the conference room, which just about two hallways away from Chiron's room.
"Thank you," Frederick said as Dionysus unlocked the room and left.
We stood for a couple seconds, sending each other fleeting glances of distress, before I uncomfortably took a seat in front of my father. I looked up at him, seeing the very familiar worry lines appear on his forehead, which he rubbed, anxiously. He cleared his throat several times, before looking up at me, attempting a smile. "Hello Annabeth."
"Dad?" I asked, icily. My voice was full of mixed emotions, of shock and anger and pity. "What are you doing here?"
"It's nice to see you Annabeth," he said, his voice shaky. He took a seat in front of me.
"I wish I could say the same," I snapped.
Frederick winced, "Now, Annabeth, I know you're upset-."
"Upset is an understatement! You practically disowned when you left me here," I castigated. "You didn't try to help me at all. You probably wouldn't care if I died here since you have Tyler. Isn't that all you want?! Tyler?"
"Annabeth, can we not talk about this...right now, at least?" My father whispered, painfully. He tried hard not to look into my eyes.
I sighed, "Fine. But you're not leaving here without giving me some answers."
"Of course."
"How's Bobby and Matthew?" I asked in order to change the subject.
Frederick shrugged. "They're holding up perfectly fine, given the circumstances. They still don't understand why they can't see you. They don't think it's fair."
"Trust me, they wouldn't want to be down here."
"They want to be where you are. They miss you. They're scared without you."
"And who's fault is that?!" I shouted. "I didn't ask to be taken away from them!"
"Maybe you should have thought about that when you stabbed my wife in the chest and tried to kill her!"
"I was defending them!"
"You put her in the ICU! You almost killed someone!"
"Because she hit a kid and she tried to kill me before. Why do you keep defending her?!"
Frederick sighed. "Why did you try to kill Tyler? What good would that had done? Sure, it would have taken her out of their life, but it would have taken them out of your life too! You have only yourself to blame! You are in here because you chose to be! I didn't ask you to take a knife and try to kill her, and neither did Bobby and Matthew! I'm sure that they would rather be yelled at by Tyler every single day than not have you around."
The words hit me like a boulder. My father was right. It wasn't his fault that I was thrown in her. He didn't force me to the take the knife and stab Tyler with it. It was my fault that I was in here, my fault that I left Bobby and Matthew when they needed me the most. I only had to make it through for just a couple of years before I could move out the house and take Bobby and Matthew with me. Instead, I had to be stupid. I had to the irrational thing. I had to take a knife and try to kill someone. If I hadn't been so stupid...
Frederick sighed. "Annabeth, I didn't come here today just so that we could yell at each other."
"Then why are you here?" I questioned.
"Annabeth, I came here to apologize. I shouldn't have doubted you the way that I did. You were right about Tyler. She is nothing but trouble, and even though I don't agree with how you handled you, I wish could have been there for you."
"You still can," I mumbled.
Frederick picked up on my words and he sighed. "Unfortunately, Annabeth, it's too late for me to do anything about it."
I looked up at the sound of his voice. He sounded as if he was giving up, as if he didn't care anymore. I slammed my fist on the table with downright anger. "What do you mean it's too late? Just divorce her and tell the police about what she's like."
"It's not that simple. She has leverage over us."
"She's blackmailing you? What have you ever done?" Annabeth demanded.
Frederick signed, "I shouldn't tell you..."
"I don't care if you shouldn't tell me! What makes her so scary that you have to leave your daughter here and let Bobby, Matthew and yourself suffer through Tyler every single day?"
Frederick looked up at me and sighed. "Annabeth, you have no idea what's going on..."
"Then tell me!" I shouted, standing up in my chair, irate. "Let me help! Let the police help!"
"It isn't that simple!"
"Yes it is!" I argued, tears brimming the corners of my eyes. "Stop being such a coward and just tell me!"
"I can't. It'll kill you."
"Leaving you and Bobby and Matthew alone is killing me. I don't care about whatever the hell you did. Just tell me and let me help!"
Frederick in response stood up and clenched the table with his fists. "I did it, okay! I killed her."
I stared at him for a couple of seconds, trying to comprehend the ricky riddle that he just told me. "What? Are you talking about tyler? Did you kill Tyler?"
"No...no...I wish it was Tyler. Look, Annabeth," my father paused, rubbing his forehead, "I swear that everything that happened was an accident. I...she...she kissed me and I got distracted." A tear fell from my father's eyes and rolled down his cheek. "It's my fault...and Tyler found that out."
"Dad, you're not making any since. What happened? What was an accident?"
"Your mother!" Frederick shouted.
"W-what?" I whispered. "You said that mom was hit by a drunk driver. That couldn't have been your fault."
Frederick shook his head, "I-I lied. I was ashamed."
Tears brimmed the corners of my eyes, one shedding, and dripping down my cheek. "W-what are you talking? Someone hit her and she died on impact!"
"No, Annabeth...that's not what happened. I was with your mother that night. You were over at a friend's house, and so your mother and I decided to go out to dinner for the night. We both had a little bit to drink, but I swear to you Annabeth that neither of us were drunk. On our way home, your mother leaned over and kissed my cheek and looked at her, just for a second, a split second, and before I knew it, a car came out of nowhere and hit us."
"B-but it was an accident. How is your fault?" I whispered, falling back into my chair.
"Because I had been drinking, Annabeth, and I was scared that the police would blame me. The other driver was unconscious, and there was smoke and people running around and I just panicked. I made it look like your mother was alone and I just ran. I ran back home, cleaned myself up and waited for the police to call. I wasn't in horrible condition and when they asked how I got the cut on my face, I told them I tripped. Then, when Tyler showed up, I fell in love with you. You remember what she was like before she started drinking?"
I thought about it for a moment, and I had to admit that my father had a point. Tyler wasn't always the malicious devil that she is now. Before she started drinking, she was practically my older sister. We got manicures together, went to the movies, and did each other's hair. She was practically my go-to person, the person who I would share all my secrets with. In fact, she only started drinking when I was about fourteen.
"Yeah, I remember. I would tell her everything, do everything with her. But, I still don't get it. Why you didn't leave Tyler."
"Because, like you, I told Tyler everything as well. Including the story of how your mother died. And once she started drinking, I threatened to leave her unless she stopped, but she said that she would tell everyone about what happened that night, so I stayed with you."
I stared at my father, my mouth slightly ajar as I began to understand my father's reasons as to why Tyler has been in my life for so long. "B-but...How could you just let her push you around like that?! It was an accident! You should have said something!" I shouted, standing up, tears pouring down my cheeks, disgust boiling my stomach, all these emotions fueled by the anger toward my father and stepmother. "Do you not understand what she did to me?" I pulled up the sleeves on my arms, revealing the scars that were forevermore burned onto my skin. "She did every single one of these to me and you didn't do anything to help. You let her do this! You let her hurt me!"
Frederick stood up, insulted by my accusation. "It isn't that simple."
"You wouldn't have been arrested for what happened!"
"I know that..."
"Then why are you still with her?! Is this about pride?"
"I'm not with her just because she knows about what happened that day…"
"Then what?! Is she threatening me? What is going on?"
"Because I love her!" Frederick shouted, and I was stunned to silence.
My father did not love her. I refused to believe it. In fact, who could love someone as horrible and inhumane as Tyler? She was nothing. She was a disgrace to human nature, an undeserving, horrible, monstrous excuse for a human entity. Someone with a body. Not a soul. I stared at my dad, as if he had personally stabbed me a thousand times, but kept alive long enough to feel the overwhelming, hellish pain.
"Y-you're lying," I whispered.
Frederick shook his head. "Deep down, before this happened, she was a good person and a part of me remembered the old her. And so I still loved her."
"How?" I mumbled. "How can you still love someone like her? She…she hits me! She hit Bobby and Matthew! She treats you and everyone else around like garbage and still say that you love her?! I don't understand. Help me understand!"
Frederick sighed, glowering, "I don't know how to explain it. When you love someone, no matter what they do, you'll always have a soft spot for them."
"But Tyler blackmailed you! She made our lives miserable! I hated you because you stayed with her! You're responsible for me being in here because you didn't walk away."
"Annabeth, she is not to blame for her behavior. The alcoholism–."
"Is not an excuse!" I shouted, choking a sob. "She deserved everything that happened to her…and more!"
Frederick stared at me, blankly. "What? What do you mean 'and more?'"
I felt myself choke, freeze as if I wasn't expect the conversation to come to this. It was like we were in a cage match, pitted against each other, fighting to the death. "I mean that Tyler doesn't deserve what she has. She doesn't deserve to standing in a house with you or Bobby or Matthew. She doesn't deserve anything. In fact, the one thing she does deserve is death."
Frederick froze, as if the words were poison. "Take that back Annabeth."
"No! You know that it's right. Tyler should be dead right now. She should be rotting in the ground like the scum that she is."
And then, the next actions happened so fast. The pounding against my cheek, the flush of warmth and agonizing pain all seemed to attack me in a split second. I clutched the table, shocked, my legs crumbling as the realization of my father did hit me. I pressed my cold hand against my red cheek, and I stared up at Frederick, who was gazing at his hand.
"Annabeth…," Frederick mumbled, "I-I…I'm so sorry."
I sniffled, pressing my icy hand against my throbbing cheek before running, running far away from Frederick and running far away from the last connection that I had to my previous life.
Well, there's the big reveal on Tyler
If you haven't already, check out my poll!
How about...15-20 reviews?
Till next time!
~Juicyfruity39
