Chapter 14 – My 18th Birthday

The minute I drove up to the camp's borders, I felt like I wanted to sleep forever. I had, after all, been driving for two days. I had stopped just for a few hours and slept in my car in a Wal-Mart parking lot. I was exhausted.

I ditched my car by mile marker 3.1415 and trudged through the dark forest into camp. Thankfully nothing tried to eat me as I passed through. Even more fortunately, no one was awake when I exited the forest. I went straight to my cabin and flopped down on my bunk. I didn't even bother to change out my clothes. I just stared straight up at the ceiling. I didn't know where Annabeth and I stood. We hadn't exactly broken up, but I hadn't left on good terms either. I knew in my heart that nothing was really going on between her and that guy Josh, but seeing them together made my blood boil. I knew being apart from Annabeth was going to be hard, but I didn't think it was going to be this hard.

Even though all I wanted to do was sleep, I couldn't. Instead, I took my phone out of my pocket and pulled up a new text message to send to Annabeth. I typed 'I'm sorry.' I stared at the send button. I knew I should send it. I knew I was the one who had overreacted. Or had I? I mean, Annabeth wasn't exactly thrilled to see me. And she was the one who had changed. She was the one who didn't seem to care about camp anymore or our relationship. Why should I be the one who was sorry? I deleted the words I had typed.

I rolled onto my side and thought about if I should try a different tact. I typed in 'can we talk?' but then promptly erased that too. I didn't feel like talking. I felt like…well, like wallowing in my misery. I put the phone back into my pocket and decided that I was going to sleep on it. Maybe in the morning I'd be more level headed.

My plan didn't exactly work out. I wasn't any more level headed in the morning than I had been when I had finally fallen asleep. As matter of fact, I was probably even more miserable given the fact that I had only slept a few hours when I was awoken by some people sword fighting outside my cabin. I yelled at them to knock it off. I heard campers scatter, but the damage was done. I was awake. I pulled on a fresh pair of clothes and meandered my way to the mess hall.

"Hey," Harry said, standing next to me in line to get food. "Back from Arizona so soon? How was Annabeth?"

"I don't want to talk about it," I mumbled.

"What happened? Did you guys break up or something?"

Even if I had wanted to answer his question, I didn't have an answer. I just took my tray, dumped most of my oatmeal in the bronze brazier as a tribute to the gods, and then sat down alone at the Poseidon table. I spooned a few bites of oatmeal into my mouth and decided I wasn't hungry. As I stood up to leave, Chiron spotted me and trotted over.

"Percy!" He exclaimed. "I'm surprised to see you back so soon."

"Yeah, well, here I am," I answered sarcastically.

"How is Annabeth?"

"Having the time of her life," I said, the sarcasm still dripping from my voice. And Chiron knew it. Having worked with pre-teens and teenagers for most of his life, Chiron knew a moody teenager when he saw one. And I was the definition of a moody teenager.

"Is everything alright?" He asked a little more quietly so others couldn't overhear. "You know you can talk to me, Percy."

"Well, let's see…my girlfriend is across the country doing something she loves more than camp with a guy I don't trust while I'm stuck here at this stupid camp alone. So yeah, everything is just fine."

I took off. I knew I wasn't being fair to Chiron, but I was mad. At who or what I wasn't sure. I mean, I guess I was mad at Annabeth for going out to Phoenix in the first place. And I was definitely mad at Josh for being such a jackass. And I was mad at myself for acting the way I was acting.

Chiron opened his mouth to say something, but I didn't want to hear it. Instead I left my breakfast tray on the Poseidon table and made my way down to the lake. It was the only place I knew I could find some peace. I ran down the edge of the dock and stopped. I looked up at the sky. I knew my dad was up there somewhere. And I needed his help.

"Dad," I began. "If you're up there, can you like, give me a sign?"

I waited. Nothing.

"Ok, well, I could really use your advice. You know…guy to guy?"

Again nothing.

"You see, I have this girlfriend, Annabeth. I'm sure you already knew that. She's amazing. She's smart and pretty and she understands me, you know. We've been through a lot together. Well, she went off to pursue her dreams and everything and it's been tough not being together. And when I went out to visit her, I saw her with this other guy and I know nothing's going on between them, but I…I was jealous."

Woah. That was the first time I had ever said that word out loud. That's when I realized I wasn't so much talking to my dad as I was giving myself the pep talk I needed.

"And I think I'm a little jealous that she's out there doing what she loves. You know, I thought staying here at camp is what I love. I mean, I do love it here. Camp is like home to me. It is home. But maybe Annabeth's right. Maybe we're growing up and it's time to leave home. Maybe it's time I find my own place in the world like Annabeth did." I sighed. "I don't know. What should I do, dad?"

I wasn't really expecting a response. I doubted my dad was even listening. But then I heard a rustling in the lake and suddenly I noticed little waves happening, which was weird because the lake didn't have waves. The waves got bigger and bigger until the water was crashing onto the grass around the lake. I would have been getting soaked if not for the fact that I could keep myself dry. I didn't know what it all meant until something hit the dock next to my feet. Immediately the waves stopped. I knelt down to see what had been tossed ashore. It was a white camp bead, the same kind every camper got for every summer he or she went to camp. This one had a red painted heart on it. I guess that was my dad's message. Love. But I wasn't sure if love was enough.

As the days went on, things got a little easier for me around camp. I wasn't so mad all the time and I settled into a routine of sword fighting, rock climbing, and teaching the younger campers how not to fall off a Pegasus. I'm not saying I was happy, but I was content enough. Grover even came and visited for almost a month, which made the days go by much faster. And I had plenty of time to think about and plan my future.

The one thing that didn't happen was any communication with Annabeth. We didn't text, we didn't Iris message. It's like we were pretending the other person didn't exist. Chiron still got a message from her every few days so I knew she was ok. I had written out dozens of text messages to her, but had deleted them all. I wondered if she had done the same thing. After the first few days went by and then the days turned into weeks, it just seemed like too much time had passed. I hated to think about it, but maybe Annabeth and I weren't destined to be together after all.

As the summer came to an end, I found myself sitting on the edge of the dock. It was my birthday. Several campers had said 'Happy Birthday' to me in passing and my mom and Paul had sent me a nice birthday card. But I was sad. It felt wrong celebrating my birthday without Annabeth. I took my phone out of my pocket, expecting to see a birthday message from her, but there wasn't one. It pained me to think she had moved on.

"Happy Birthday, Seaweed Brain."

At first I thought I had imagined the voice, but then I turned and saw Annabeth standing in the grass at the edge of the dock. She was in her normal Jeans and orange Camp Half-Blood T-Shirt. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail and her feet were bare. She looked the same as she always did. Beautiful and strong. It was the way I always remembered her whenever I pictured her in my mind. She was holding a white box.

"What…what are you doing here?" I stammered, afraid that she was really a figment of my imagination. Maybe I had wanted to spend my birthday so badly with her that I had made her up in my head.

"I wanted to say Happy Birthday. And to give you these."

She made her way down the dock and sat down next to me. I noticed she kept more distance than usual between our bodies. She handed me the box.

"What is it?" I asked.

"The best cupcakes in Phoenix," she answered.

I opened the box. Two cupcakes with bright blue frosting and blue sprinkles were neatly sitting in the box.

"I hope they didn't get too squished on the plane."

"You flew all the way here just to give me cupcakes?" I asked.

"I…I didn't like how we left things," she answered.

"Me either."

We both paused. I don't think either of us knew what to say.

"I thought about texting you or sending you an Iris message a million times," she admitted quietly.

"Me too," I told her.

"Percy, I don't know what happened between us. I…I just want to say I'm sorry."

"I'm the one who should be apologizing."

She shook her head. "No, you were right."

"About what?"

"About Josh," she said quietly.

"What do you mean?"

She didn't answer me right away and I knew whatever she was about to tell me wasn't easy for her. I didn't press. I just waited for her to find the right words.

"A few days ago, Josh and I were working late on a project at the firm. He tried to kiss me."

"He what?" I burst out. I had the sudden urge to ring the guy's neck.

"I pushed him away before he could. I mean, I really pushed him. Hard."

"Good," I said.

"I explained to him that what he was trying to do wasn't appropriate and that I wasn't interested. I told him that you and I were still together."

Just hearing her say those words gave me hope.

"I knew that guy was a jerk," I said under my breath.

"Yeah, especially because he tried it again the next day. He cornered me after an office meeting."

"Now I really want to kill him," I stated.

"Don't worry. I did more than push him that time."

I raised an eyebrow. "Did you hurt him?"

"Let's just say he found out that I carry a knife with me at all times."

I smiled. "What happened next?"
"I stormed into my boss's office and told him exactly what was going on. They fired Josh immediately. They said they had a zero tolerance policy for any kind of harassment in the world place."

"Good."

"You were right about him," Annabeth said. "I should have trusted your instincts. I should have…"

"No. I should have trusted you," I corrected. "I should have realized that even if the guy was a jerk that you would do the right thing."

"I never had feelings for him, Percy. And nothing ever happened. I swear to you. He really was just a friend."
I sighed. "I know."

"I don't know how things got so messed up," Annabeth admitted.

"Me either."

We sat in silence for a few minutes and I couldn't help but notice she shifted a little closer to me.

"Annabeth…" I said.

"Percy…" she said at the same time.

We both laughed awkwardly.

"You go," I prompted.

"I'm not going back," she stated.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not going back to Phoenix. I told my bosses that I was leaving the program."

"But you were really enjoying it there," I said.

"It wasn't worth what I had to give up."

"Annabeth, I never wanted this to happen. I don't want you to quit because of me."

She shook her head. "It's not just you, Percy. I did love it there. I loved working as a real architect. I love being around people who love building as much as I do. But I also missed this. Nobody there knew who I really was. I couldn't talk to anybody about centaurs or cyclopi or the fact that my mother is the Goddess of Wisdom. This is my home, Percy. Here with you. If you'll take me back, that is."

She said the last part in barely a whisper.

"Well, that's going to be really difficult." I could see her eyes darken. I put my hand on her arm reassuringly. "Because I'm starting college in Phoenix in a few weeks."

"Wait…what?"

"I started thinking about what you said. How we all have to grow up. And I realized that I do want to be here in the summers to help kids who are just learning how to be a half-blood. But I also need to have my own life. I need to do something else."

"So what do you want to do?"

"I want to be a teacher."

"A teacher? You?"

"I know. It sounds crazy. I can barely read or sit still, but that's exactly why I want to do it. I want to help other kids. Not just half-bloods. There are so many kids out there who have dyslexia or ADHD or other learning disabilities who aren't half-bloods. I want to help them. I want to be a special educator or maybe a school counselor or something. I don't have it all figured out yet, but I did apply to the Arizona State University and I got it."

Tears began swimming in Annabeth's eyes. I wasn't sure if they were happy or sad tears.

"So you were willing to move to Phoenix for me?" She asked.

I shrugged. "It's not like it's a big deal."

She flung her arms around my neck and kissed me hard on the lips. It didn't take long for me to melt into the kiss. It had been way too long since I had felt her lips and tasted her. She was better than I remembered.

"Wow," I said when we parted.

"I've missed that," she replied.

"Me too."

She pressed her forehead against mine. I could feel her breath against my nose. I wanted to stay like that with her forever.

"But now we have a problem," she whispered.

"What?" I asked.

She pulled away from me so she could look me in the eye.

"I just quit the program in Phoenix."

"So I'm moving across the country to be with you and you're coming home to be with me?" I asked.

She nodded. For some reason, we both found this to be incredibly hysterical. We locked eyes and just started laughing. Annabeth rested her head on my shoulder as our laughter rang over the lake.

We didn't know what we were going to do, but somehow this was the best birthday ever.

Author's Note: Thanks for sticking with me! I know it's been a while since I've posted. With it being the end of the school year, life is getting pretty busy. There's only one more chapter left so stay tuned!