God to my goddess

Chapter 13

Annabeth's POV

"Who are you texting, girl?"

I look up from my phone. Thalia is inches from my face. I had been so lost in thought that I had not noticed her even approach. I quickly turn my phone off and hastily shove it in my pocket, though I realize as I do this that it makes me look guilty.

"No one. I was...looking at something."

"You were totally texting someone. A boy. You are blushing so hard honey." She reached down and pulls my hands from where my head was burrowed. "Girl, you have got it bad. So who was it?"

"No one, It was nothing," I softly protest, but I'm not even managing to convince myself. I was texting Percy and I'm sure I was grinning like an idiot the whole time. I just did not think that anyone else was around to see me.

Thalia nimbly slips her hand in my pocket and pulls out my phone. She only has to hit the power button and the most recent text from him shows up on the lock screen. "Seaweed Brain? Who is tha- oh. OHHHH!"

I bury my face in my hands once again in an attempt to hide the blush creeping up my face from my best friend. Unfortunately, I have never been very good at lying to Thalia or hiding things from her. When I finally look up at her again, her mouth is still open in shock.

She quickly sits on the bench next to me, despite having previously said that she will never be caught dead sitting on a frozen bench while there is snow on the ground. "How long, exactly, have you been keeping this from me? And when exactly, did you plan to tell me?"

"Tell you what?" I ask, almost genuinely confused as to what she thinks I have been keeping from her.

"Don't play dumb with me now, Annie."

"I don't-"

"Of course it had to be my cousin. Of course, in fact, I'm surprised I didn't expect this or even just figure it out sooner. With how much time you two have spent together, the nights in the same bed. Oh. My. Gods. You two have already slept together. It's a secret, isn't it? Too much of a secret for even your closest, bestest, and most trusted friend to know about."

"What in the world are you talking about, Thals?"

"You're in love with Percy Jackson!" She exclaims, a little too loudly.

"What? No, of course not. Don't be silly. It's not like that. wait- did you say 'sleep together'? As in...No we have not, thank you very much. I don't even like him."

She just smirks. "You're rambling, honey. And you only do that when you have something to hide."

"What do I have to hide?"

Thalia looks at me curiously. "So, you haven't even admitted it to yourself."

"Admitted what?" I know what she's talking about, but she is crazy, right?

"You like him, big time."

"Is it that obvious?"

She laughs, "It is majorly obvious to everyone else. I was so stupid to not put the pieces together until now. Malcolm probably has, and so has Percy, probably."

I groan. "Please tell me he is too thick headed to have noticed."

"I can't say for sure."

I slump further down on the bench and attempt to zipper my jacket over my face. "I think I'll go die now, thanks."

She pulls me back up. "Absolutely not. It's a perfectly good Friday afternoon, it would be a shame to waste it. And besides, when was the last time we had one on one time? Good quality girl time? We are long overdue. Let's go shopping. I desperately need some more jeans."

And with that, she is dragging me to her car and into the mall. She doesn't say any more about Percy, but I know that conversation will start back up again soon, especially since she drags me to her flat afterward and decides that I am sleeping over.

In her and Jason's flat, there are two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a living space. Neither of them has a TV in their rooms so we camp in front of the one in the living room and pop in a scary movie per Thalia's request. While we were watching, Jason came in and went straight to his bedroom. After the movie, we went to Thalia's room. She shut the door behind her and when she turned around, she had a malicious glint in her eye.

"So, you and my cousin, huh?"

I groan.

"I notice that you have not been texting him at all tonight."

I shrug, "I told him that I was hanging out with you so I would not be able to text him."

"Text him now." With the way she is bouncing with excitement, she looks like a six-year-old being told they can jump on the bed.

"Whyyyyyyy?"

"Becuase you should try and get a love confession out of him?"

"But he doesn't like me. Ow!"

Thalia smacks me in the head. "Of course he does. Are you blind? That kid will do anything for you!"

"Because of the hospital situation! OW!"

She smacks me again. "If you are so sure that he does not like you like that, call him up. Ask him."

"That's dumb. I'm not gonna do that," I say, shoving my phone further in my pocket.

"Why? Are you scared of the answer?" She asks, pulling out her own phone and before I even realize what she is doing, she has called Percy and he has picked up. She puts him on speaker phone.

"Thalia? Did you need something?"

"Yes. I am here with Annabeth and she has a question for you."

I glare at Thalia. "You ask him."

"Okay, so apparently I have a question for you."

"What is it?" Percy sounds hesitant and nervous on the other side of the line.

"We are having a bit of a debate over here and I was hoping you could settle it for us. Do you, or do you not like Annabeth?"

"I'm going to give you the same response I give you every time you ask me that question. I'm not going to answer it."

Thalia practically jumps off the bed in excitement. "See! He totally is in love with you!"

"You've asked him this before!" I ask, outraged.

"Well, yeah. I knew about this whole thing a while ago, but then I had thought it was still purely one-sided, but then a whole new piece was added to the puzzle but now I realize it goes both ways and this is the best day of my life." She trails off, mumbling under her breath and I pray to the gods that she was not speaking loud enough for the phone to pick up.

"Ima go now, bye Thals." I hear a click and know that Percy has hung up on his end. Thalia still seems to be in shock so I pull out my phone and shoot Percy a text:

Sorry about that

And a moment later:

It's fine

Can we forget about that?

Add it to the list ;)

I smile to myself. Percy just seems to get me.

"You're texting him, aren't you?"

"Yes, I am."

"I can tell. You get a little smile on your face when you do."

"I do not."

"Do too."

"Do not."

"Look at me with a straight face then. Prove that texting Percy does not make you feel all warm and bubbly inside."

I don't look up. I don't trust myself to not fall into a giggling mess. I fall back on the bed in exasperation. After a moment Thalia lies next to me. "At least you know he likes you too, right?"

"I just- I don't even know if I like him, and we didn't get confirmation about it from him, sooo..."

"Feelings, complicated. I get it."

"We already agreed to forget about the whole conversation. Me and Percy."

She sits up in bed in surprise. "When did you decide that?"

"Just now. We have several situations we kinda just mutually agreed to forget about. Several of them we just haven't mentioned since."

She lies back down. "So you two are close. You already have a great understanding of each other. Must be nice."

I look over at her on the bed next to me. She is staring at the ceiling deep in thought, an unusual thing for Thalia to be doing. "Thalia?"

"Hmmm?"

"What's it feel like to be in love?"

"Awesome."

"Really?"

She breaks eye contact with the ceiling and looks over at me. "I don't know. I've never been in love."

Jason chooses that moment to barge into the room. Both of our heads snap to the door, Thalia props herself up on her elbow to see over my head. He takes a moment to survey the scene in front of him. "Well, aren't you a pair."

"Got a problem?" Thalia asks with a smirk.

"Yeah, actually. I wanted to say goodnight and to tell you that you are being ridiculously loud for it being 1 am."

"Aren't the neighbors used to the late night loud noises by now?" Thalia asks, raising her eyebrows suggestively. "I certainly am. You can be very vocal."

"It's considered sexy," he promptly states.

"Piper didn't think so."

I sit up on my elbow. "What exactly happened between you and Piper?"

He sighs overdramatically and leans against Thalia's doorframe. "Prompted by your little spat, she interrupted things with me and Selena in the closet. Selena claimed to have been 'not trying to hurt her best friend' and she walked out on me. Piper called me that night to ask just how long this had been going on and with who and how much else of what you said to her was true. She said some things and then hung up on me. I deserved it all and the truth was going to come out somehow. Luckily, no one has looked into the drugs or where we live yet. I still have my full ride." He shrugs like it could have been worse.

"You've had a lot fewer visitors since then," Thalia points out.

"True."

"Is that a good thing?" I ask.

He shrugs again, "Depends on how you look at it. I hadn't really thought about it. I try to not think."

I glance up at Thalia over my shoulder and then back at Jason. "What's it like being in love?"

"Love? Gee, Annie, I don't know if I've ever been in love. With Pipes, it was sweet and I loved every minute with her, but she didn't make me whole. In the bed with girls, well, that's not really love either. I don't have much to base this conclusion off of since our parents were clearly not in love, but I'd imagine it's pretty great being in love." He shifts. "Why do you ask?"

"I'm just curious," I say a little too quickly. Thalia raises an eyebrow at me and smirks.

"The real reason I came in here." He holds up a small baggie of pills and a juul. "Wanna?"

Thalia shakes her head. "I quit smoking, remember? And I only get high at parties."

"You sure?"

She nods but then looks at me. "Unless Annie wants to?"

I laugh. "Hard pass."

Jason grins at us. "Suit yourselves. I'll be outside." He shuts the door behind him.

The moment the door is shut, Thalia rounds on me. "What was that about?"

"What?" I ask, feigning innocence

"You know what. Asking the guy you are in love with's best friend for love advice? What in the world were you thinking?"

"I am not, and I will say it again, NOT in love with Percy Jackson."

She pats my shoulder. "You keep telling yourself that, honey."

We spend the rest of the night talking and just enjoying some quality girl-time.

The next morning, I say goodbye to Thalia and head back home. I go straight to my room to try and get started on homework. I pop my headphones in and turn the music up. The music is loud enough that I don't hear the knock on my door.

"Annabeth?"

"Ahh!" I shout, startled. I take my headphones out and turn around. Erin is standing in my doorway. "Hey, Erin."

"Hey, I just wanted to see if you wanted to grab a bite to eat. The boys are at my mom's house. We could go anywhere you wanted." She sounds hopeful.

"Sure." I give her a smile. "Let me get changed first."

She shuts the door behind her and I close my notebook. I put on some leggings and a t-shirt. I throw Percy's sweatshirt on as well and some tennis shoes. I attempt to run a brush through my hair, but it is too big of a mess so I just tie it back with a scrunchie. I throw my headphones around my neck and head downstairs.

Malcolm is sitting at the table eating pizza. He looks up at me. "Are you the reason Erin looks so happy?"

"Probably." I shrug. "We are going out to lunch."

"Fun. Where too?" He turns his attention back down to whatever he had been doing on his phone.

"I don't know, and she expects me to choose."

"You could try Tricounty Pizzaria down by the park. The pizza is really good and so is the view."

I look at him with a bit of surprise. "That's actually a really good idea and really helpful. Thanks, 'Com"

He looks back up at me. "Well, don't act too shocked. I do have good ideas sometimes. It's not all dust up here." He gestures to his head.

"Could've fooled me," I say with a laugh.

I start to head out the door. Malcolm calls after me, "Annie, it's been a while since you've called me 'Com."

"It's been a while since you and Percy were on good terms," I say, pausing to turn and look at him.

"You say that like the two are related." He sounds unsure and is talking slowly.

A small smile shows up on my face. "Maybe they are." I turn and walk out the door and do not look back, all dramatic and stuff.

I meet Erin in the car. "We should go to Tricounty Pizzeria near the park," I suggest to her. I know that she will go along with whatever I suggest just to seem more agreeable to me. She'll probably order the same thing as me too, just to show that we have more in common than I think we do.

"That sounds like a lovely idea, honey. I am just in the mood for some deep dish pizza." I roll my eyes, of course, she is.

It's not a long drive, but she doesn't say anything else. I think she is afraid she will run out of things to talk about when we actually get to lunch which is fine by me. I pop my headphones in and stare out the window. I shoot Percy a text:

About to go to lunch with my mom. this might actually kill me.

I believe in you ;)

As we make our way into the building, I pop my headphones back around my neck. I don't need to give her anything extra to pick on me about today. We sit and decide to split a deep dish pizza: cheese and pepperoni with garlic crust.

"So, how are you doing?"

"I'm fine."

"How's school?"

"Fine." I know I'm not doing my part engaging very well, but I really am not in the mood for this today.

"Annabeth, why did you agree to come if you weren't going to actually mentally be here?" She sounds impatient.

I shrug. "I just kinda said 'yes.'"

"Can you pretend to be engrossed in this conversation?"

"Are you going to continually pry into my life?" I shoot back.

"Annabeth, can you please-" She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. "What do you want to talk about?"

I rack my brain and after a minute I ask: "Why did you marry Dad? He doesn't make a ton of money, so that can not have been it."

"I married your father because I fell in love with him," she says simply.

"But Mom had just died, how could you come in so soon?"

"When I first met your father, I didn't know the situation, other than he was a single father. When I found out, I asked him many many times if he thought he was really ready for another relationship."

That gave me a little more respect for her, but still. Now it's my turn to take a deep breath and still the anger that iss4 slowly building up inside of me. I change gears. "What is it like, being in love?"

She hesitates, clearly not expecting that question. "Well, it's when they are the person you imagine raising kids with and buying a house with and spontaneous dance parties or midnight trips to get food. They are the first person on your mind and they treat you right, how you deserve to be treated as the wonderful person you are. And it goes both ways, I don't think you can be in love with someone who isn't in love with you back. Why do you ask? Are you in love?"

I exhale, not realizing that I'd been holding my breath. "Wow, that was deep. And to answer your questions, I don't know."

She looks at me. "Percy." It's not a question, but it's not quite a statement either.

I look at the floor and my shoes and the table and the window and really anywhere that is not her.

"Annabeth, honey, it is okay to like someone. It's perfectly normal for someone your age."

"That's the problem, Erin. I don't want you to tell me that I am 'perfectly normal'. You are comparing me to others and not actually talking to me or helping me through anything. I'm always just another statistic to you, can't you see how that is hard on me?" I know I snapped and probably went too far, but I don't care. I'm done with being treated like crap by her. If she wants our relationship to work, she needs to work with me.

"Annabeth, honey, I didn't realize that was how you felt. I thought that you wanted to feel normal and not like you were different or weird." A weird look comes across her face, it almost looks like...genuine concern.

"I do want to feel normal..." I take a shaky breath and return my voice to a normal conversation level, "But that's not your job as a mom. You are supposed to be here for me. That's not what I need in a mom."

"I wish you would have said something sooner, Annabeth. All those years we lost..."

"That's the thing. I have been trying to tell you for several years now, but you never listen. Blowing it off as a 'perfectly normal act of rebellion: talking back'."

Now I have her full attention. She is silent for several long and agonizing minutes but I do not drop her gaze. She closes her eyes for a count to ten and then looks back at me. "So, how long have you know you liked him?"

I am definitely taken aback by this sudden change in tempo, but I am not going to complain. "I don't know. Thalia pointed it out last night, so I guess since then."

"What about him? Does he… you know, like you back?"

"Why in the world would he like someone like me?"

"He cares about you. He spends so much time with you. And you are an absolutely wonderful person, he would be a fool to not."

It's a bit of a stretch and I giggle slightly. She looks crestfallen. "What? Am I doing this wrong? I thought this is what you wanted me to say."

"No, no, no. Don't get me wrong, you are doing a lot better, but you are way, way, waaaay overdoing it."

She gives me a guilty grin but there is genuine happiness in her eyes. "Laying it on a bit thick, am I?"

"Just a bit." I hold up my fingers to show her just how thickly she is laying it on. Thickly? I do not even know if that is a word or not but nevertheless, it makes me cringe.

We both burst into laughter and I think that this has to be the first time ever that we have both genuinely laughed together or enjoyed each other's presences.

She gently brushes the blonde bangs of her pixie cut out of her face. She adjusts her glasses and tries again. "I have a small feeling that Percy might like you too."

"What makes you say that?"

"Just the little things, honey. The way he looks at you when you aren't looking. The way he seems to linger after your touch. But maybe I am just making things up, it has been a while since your father, or anyone, was romantic to me. I'm probably just being hopeful since Malcolm seems to be getting nowhere in the love department."

I giggle. "Yeah, much to Malcolm's dismay, no one seems interested," I pause, remembering the many times Thalia has said something romantic or sexual about my twin.

"Poor Malcolm," she says with an uncharacteristic childlike giggle.

The pizza comes and conversation stalls for a while while we eat. She does not bring Percy up for the rest of lunch, which secretly makes me glad. I do not want to think about it more than I have to, it is really making my head spin.

My phone buzzes and I lift it to see who texted me. It's Hazel. My shoulders slump when it is not Percy and it takes me a minute to realize that I had been hoping it was him.

Hey, I'm sorry this is so super late, but I really wanted to apologize for the way Piper treated you last week. It was not fair to you.

I grimace. I don't really want to relive the fight and it's really not Hazel's place to say anything.

It's fine. its not your fault.

She was awful to you. She realizes it too, but she has a bad way of showing it.

?

You have noticed that she has not been at school. She is at home crying over her breakup, wishing she had realized sooner.

She's not mad at me?

She hates the world, but she is glad it's in the clear now. She is done with Jason but she hates everyone who hid this from her.

thats fair

I run my fingers through my hair and sigh dramatically.

"You okay, honey?" Erin asks from the driver's seat.

"Yeah, I just," I pause and make the split-second decision to tell her about the fight between me and Piper. "I had a bad fight with Piper last week and one of our mutual friends is texting me to apologize for her."

"How bad was it?" She asks, actually sounding concerned for once.

"It was pretty bad. There was a lot of stuff she didn't know about her boyfriend, Jason, Thalia's brother, and she forced the truth out of me in front of about a hundred students. She thought she could make me look like an idiot but its a whole mess." I shake my head and let my hair fall in front of my face.

"Did you get in trouble?"

"Yes, but its just lunchtime detention, which is like taking out trash and stuff. She is more trouble because she started it and has been skipping most of her punishment."

"Why would she do that?"

"Because she is embarrassed. She was publicly denounced from her throne as the most popular and the whole school now knows that she's been lied too."

"Oh." She does not say anything more.

I look back at my phone and see Hazel has replied:

Are you okay?

Little late for all this, but yes. Thalia and Percy made sure of that.

I know I am late, but the guilt has only grown.

its fine

So, how is life?

Fine, I guess. I'm glad its the weekend.

Me too.

I do not respond but instead, lay my head on the car window and let my mind wander. Hazel had just stood on the sidelines during the fight, didn't she? Isn't she still sitting with Piper's friends at lunch? So why in the world is she apologizing? As much as I try and focus and figure Hazel out, I can't get her to stay at the front of my mind. It is almost as if there is something more important going on. Percy. No, no, no. This is not important. You definitely do not have a crush on Percy Jackson and there is absolutely no chance that he likes you. He is the most popular boy in the year, and you are, well the quiet nerdy girl. You really just need to forget about all of this. Thalia is just overexaggerating per usual and Erin said it herself, she just wants something romantic to be happening around her. You are being utterly ridiculous and you have more important things to be focusing on. I shake the thought from my mind. If anything, the conversation with Erin made my point more concrete: I am not in love with anyone.