Annabeth's POV

I swear I've never heard anyone complain more than Percy Jackson. He's going on and on about how he wants to wear his ninja suit... And this is a serious conversation for him. We keep telling him no, but then he goes and uses the puppy dog eyes and I'm sold.

"Fine." I cave. He grins.

"Works every time." He says, acting cocky.

"Don't make me change my mind." I say and he shuts up.

"So, are you sure this will work Annabeth?" Piper asks, nervously.

"Don't be nervous pipes, it'll work. I'm the one making the plan and not this doofus after all."

Percy holds his hands up in mock hurt. "Hurtful." He says and I laugh.

"Ok, but seriously we need to get going on this plan." I say and they nod.

"How about tomorrow? We can meet at my place around noon?" Percy offers.

"Make it 1:00 because I've got this huge literature exam to prepare for." I say.

"How can you worry about school at a time like this?!"Percy asks.

"Sorry, but I'm already behind."

He shakes his head. "Only you Annabeth." And he kisses me on the cheek. I blush as Piper watches us with a huge grin on her face.

"I'll never understand it. One week ago, you guys hated each other's guts and now... All lovey dovey."

"What can I say? The universe has it's own plans." I say, grinning.

"Yes, it does." Percy agrees.

"Ok, ew. No need to get all sappy." Piper says. "Oh great! Now I'm starting to sound like Thalia-"

She shuts up. But now I'm thinking about her again. Oh Thals.. I wish she wasn't mad at me. I mean, why should she be resentful towards me anyway? I mean, when we were eleven, I don't think I could've just blurted out that I was being abused.

"I'm sorry Annie, I try to remember not to bring her up."

"What's going on with you two anyway?" Percy asks.

"I... I told her about my... Situation and she flipped out and called me a bad best friend."

I feel even worse just talking about it. Percy gets a protective/angry look on his face.

"She has no right to be that way towards you! I'm going to go talk to her."

"No, this is something I have to do on my own. I think she needs a bit of space for a while."

Percy sits back down but still doesn't seem convinced.

"Fine, but if she's mean to you, tell me. I'll always protect my girlfriend."

Hearing him say that gives me chills. Girlfriend? I like the sound if that. But we haven't even gone on an actual first date before. Unless you count tonight but Piper was with us. It makes me happy that someone cares about me. I know my friends always will but having a boyfriend is different. It makes you feel wanted and special. I wonder if I'm special to him, because he's definitely special to me. I snap out of my trance when a hand waves in front of my face.

"Annabeth? Hellooo? Earth to wise girl?"

"Sorry, just thinking. So we good for the plan?"

"Yep, we're good." Piper says, eating the last of her ice cream.

"Ok, let's go get your stuff Annabeth then we can go unpack at my place."

"His place?" Piper asks. I blush and she grins.

"Ooh! Well, let's get going then!" She says and I roll my eyes.

We get back into Percy's truck and drive back down to Piper's house. I walk in and grab the tiny amount of stuff that I brought with me and stuff it all in my suitcase. I wave goodbye to the Maclean's and meet Percy outside. Piper gives me a hug.

"Remember, don't forget to call me." She says.

"Pipes, I'm only going to Percy's. Not Iceland!"

"You know what I mean." She says and I blush again.

"We'll talk about it later." I say and quickly get into Percy's truck. He smiles at me.

"Ready to go?" He asks.

"More than ready." I say and his grin widens.

"Then why are we still here? TO THE PERCY CAVE!" He yells starting the car.

He slowly backs out of Piper's driveway and begins driving. God, he's slow. I start laughing when he knocks over a garbage bin at the end of someone's lawn. He swears and I laugh louder. He glares at me.

"Some driver you are." I say.

"Ha, at least I've driven before. Do you even have a licence?" He asks and I fall silent.

"No..." I whisper.

"No? Really now?" he jokes, laughing.

"Keep your eyes on the road." I say.

"Kinda hard when such a beautiful girl is all I can stare at." He says and I blush.

The rest of the drive falls into a comfortable silence. The radio station starts playing a song And I begin laughing. The song is "Girl on fire" by Alicia Keys.

"What are you laughing about?" Percy asks me.

"This... Song..." I say, trying to catch my breath. "Reminds me of... Leo Valdez."

"Who? Leo Valdez? That weird little geek who builds robots?"

"Yes him. He's Thalia's brother's best friend and is very close to Piper... In a brother/sister way. One time, this song came on while we were all driving to the beach and he lost it. The people driving beside us actually looked over to see where all the screaming... Or singing as Leo calls It was coming from."

"That... Is an awesome story. I wish I was there."

"Don't worry, next time." I say, reassuringly.

His phone beeps and he goes to get it but I slap his hand.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"You're driving! I'll get it." I say.

I pick up his phone and feel instantly upset. It's a text... From Rachel Elizabeth Dare. It says "Babe, I miss you... Call me love ya XOXO"

"Why is she still texting you?" I ask.

"Who?" I show him the text. He sighs. "Crap I forgot to dump her."

"You forgot? How can you forget?"

"Well, it's been a pretty hectic week..." He says and I agree with him.

"I'll call her later and end it, okay?"

"Fine. But please make it unsentimental and rude? I wanna make her cry."

"You're kinda evil, have I ever told you that?"

"Well, she's humiliated me so many times... It's about time her mascara runs down her face from her own tears."

"Then she'd probably cry some more because of the running mascara." Percy notes and I laugh.

"Why did you even date her anyway?"

"Um... I don't know... Popularity? I guess?"

"Oh." I mumble. "I see."

"But that was then... I was trapped. Like hansel and gretal when they saw the candy house? They thought it was the best thing ever but it turned out to be bad because of the evil witch... Well that's like my story... Rachel is the evil witch."

"Wow... That's probably the first hansel and gretal reference to real life I've ever heard."

"Don't judge, my mom read me a lot of fairy tales when I was young."

"My mom read me political articles and architecture stuff."

"What a dull childhood."

"It was not dull!" I say, defending my mother.

"Whatever... But do you even know who Cinderella is?"

"Of course I do! She's the princess who ate the poison apple right?"

He shakes his head. He doesn't say much after that. We finally get to his massive house and Sally Jackson greets us at the door.

"Annabeth! So nice to see you again! I'm happy to have you staying with us."

"Thanks again for letting me stay here Sally. I know there are quite a few rumours about me going around... I'm sure you've seen the news."

"Yes I have, darling what's going on?"

"Mom... I think you should sit down, and get some tissues and blue hot cocoa." Percy says. "I'll keep Tyson busy."

Sally looks confused but nods. She leads me into a beautiful living room with turquoise couches and cream coloured walls. A picture and Percy and an older man hangs on the wall. I'm guessing it's his father. Percy looks a lot like him, with the sea green eyes and jet black hair. But he also has a lot of his mother in him, his shy smile, his pale skin. I sit down on the couch and Percy hands me a mug of blue coloured hot cocoa before leaving again. Sally faces me with a warm smile,

"So, what's going on dear?" She asks kindly.

And the story comes out. It feels even harder to talk about with Sally. She's such a kind mother-like figure and when I talk, it feels like I'm talking to my own mother. She listens to every word I say and I can tell she cares. When I'm finished, I have tears all over my face and the couch. She pulls me into a hug and whispers soothing words into my ear.

"Shh, honey, it's okay. Everything will be okay. He will never hurt you again ok?" She says. I nod.

"Thank you Sally, you're like the mother I never had." I say and then she tears up.

"Sweetie, that's so kind. Now, I'm going to go make some chicken soup. Why don't you go upstairs to the guest room? Percy can help you from there."

I walk up the stairs and try to find the the guest room. I finally find an empty room at the end of the hallway. I set down my duffel bag and look out the window. It's a beautiful view of the water. People enjoying themselves on sailboats, I long to be them right now.

"Hello!" I tiny voice says. I jump and turn around. I meet the green eyes of Percy's little brother.

"Hi... Tyson, right?" I ask and he nods.

"You're Anniebell! Percy always talks about you. He really likes your princess curls."

"It's Annabeth, and princess curls?"

"Yep! Do you like video games?"

"I've never really played any." I say. His eyes widen.

"We must fix this!" And he drags me by the hand to his room.

He turns on his xbox and hands me a controller. A see the game pop up on the screen. Minecraft... I've heard of this.

"Ok, so you take this button and-" he starts but stops shocked. "Yeah, that's right... How did you learn so fast?"

"I don't know... But this is fun!" I say, cutting down a tree.

Percy's POV

I hear yelling coming from Tyson's room and when I open the door my eyes widen. He and Annabeth are playing minecraft together. And Annabeth is totally owning the game.

"Die creeper! You see this DIAMOND sword?! I own you!" Annabeth screams at the tv.

"Tyson, you've broke her." I say, laughing. I turn to her. "And how did you get a diamond sword on your first time playing?"

"She's awesome at it Percy! She doesn't fall in lava every five seconds like you do!" Tyson says. His kills an ender man and Annabeth holds up her hand.

"High five!" She says and they smack hands.

This is probably the weirdest scene I've ever laid eyes on in my life. I shake my head and shut off the tv. Tyson and Annabeth both face me.

"What the hell Percy?!" Annabeth says. "I was sooo gonna kill that zombie!"

"Sorry, but if I could have some alone time with my girlfriend?" I say, taking her hand. Tyson starts gagging.

"Fine, but I'll be back later Tyson." Annabeth says.

"See ya later Anniebell!" He says, turning back to his game.

We walk down the hall and into Percy's bedroom. It's just like last time I was here, nothing has changed... Except it's probably messier.

"Ok, so the plan... Can we go over it one more time?" I ask. She rolls her eyes.

"Percy, we've been over this multiple times. I'm going to call the police and tell them I'm found and I'm at my house. Then I'll say there's an emergency going on. And before they can answer, I'll hang up the phone. This is when you and Piper come into play." She says and I nod along.

"Ok..." I say, telling her to continue.

"Then, You and Piper arrive and make sure the evidence is in place. My dad always goes out to the pub on Sundays so when he gets back and police are there... He'll be so drunk he won't be able to defend himself."

"It's good... I just hope the evidence is enough."

"Don't be getting cold feet on me. This will work." She says, finalizing her decision.

"Ok, ok."

"KIDS, SOUP'S READY!" My mom calls from the kitchen.

"Come on," I say grabbing her hand in mine.

I look into her mystery grey and eyes as I kiss her delicately on the lips. She smiles and we walk downstairs hand in hand. My mom notices our intertwined hands and grins at me. I roll my eyes and sit down next to Annabeth. During dinner, my mom and Tyson hound Annabeth with questions... Avoiding the topic of her family of course.

"Oh, my favourite colour is green, I love cats, I hate spiders... Long story. And um, yeah I guess you could say I'm a smart student."

"Please! You're the school's valedictorian and you're only a junior! How is that even possible?!"

"They like my brain, I guess." She says, shrugging causing my mom to giggle.

"I wish Patrick was here to meet you darling." My mom says and we all fall silent. My dad.

"Who's Patrick?"

"Oh! Percy didn't tell you? He's my husband."

"Oh, I see. I believe I saw I picture of him on the wall. They really look alike."

"They do..." Mom says, getting a lost look in her eyes. "Well, enough about us!" She says suddenly. "Tell us more about you."

I can tell she's trying to change the subject as quick as possible but Annabeth doesn't seem to notice. She seems awkward about something.

"You okay?" I whisper.

"Yeah, just never been asked so much about me all at once." She whispers back.

"Well, get used to it. My mom really likes you... And asking questions."