IT'S PERCY'S BIRTHDAY TOMORROW! Sorry, I just felt the need to remind anyone who forgot. And the Greek Gods is coming out too, on Tuesday! Yay! Okay, so in this chapter, there is some past-Percabeth fluff. Probably one of the only, in this story. Mind you, I'm not that good at writing fluff, so just bear with me.

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson. Risk Riordan does. Nor do I own the songs in this chapter, or any quotes in italics. They all belong to their respective owners. I also don't own Messenger, by Lois Lowry.

Chapter Twenty

(Percy's POV)

It is now Friday. Gabe has gone off to his friend's house, and I never encountered Annabeth or Thalia for the entire week. Now that Annabeth is back in the picture, after years of trying to forget her, she has been on my mind a lot. I'd always think about the happy memories and the sad, but I can never stop thinking about her. Even with that big fight, I still miss her. When Luke broke up with her, after not even two weeks of dating, we both never made any move to repair our friendship. It was permanently broken.

I had no school today, so here I am, lying on my bed, waiting till 3:30, so I can go to work. It was raining outside, and I didn't really feel like wanting to dance in the rain, today. So there was really only one option left, that is not homework. I got up from my comfy bed, with difficulty, may I add, to walk to my bookcase. No, I was not going to read, although that isn't a half-bad idea. Maybe I should do that too. Well, my original idea was to find this particular book and go somewhere. I scanned the top shelf for this particular book, and after a couple seconds, I finally found it. A thick red book, with absolutely no title. Did that come off a little flat or anticlimactic? Oh well. Now I just need a book to read. I closed my eyes, and pointed to a random spot. It was Messenger, third in The Giver series. Good enough. I went back to the red, title-less book, and pulled it. Something clicked, and the bookcase popped out. I went to the edge of the bookcase and swung it outwards, because behind the bookcase, was a hidden room. Amazing, huh? Well, I was fascinated by it.

Only four people, besides me, know about this secret room. My mom, dad, Tyson, and Annabeth. She was the first and last person, outside of our family that knows about this. Gabe doesn't even know, so that's why this area serves as a little sanctuary for me. A place where I can just escape reality, and pretend to be normal, and not dysfunctional. This room is probably the same size as my bedroom, and has a window, with a skylight on the roof. Sometimes Annabeth and I would just come in here, lie down on the floor, and stare up into the skylight. We usually do that on days when it rained, so we can see the rain fall on the skylight, and make the all too familiar pitter-patter sound that we like. Today was the perfect day for doing that, so that is what I did, the book laying forgotten beside me.

The ugly brown walls of this room were filled with little quotes and pictures, and whatnot, that we just tape or glue on. Some of them fell onto the floor, due to the stickiness wearing out. There are even some drawings on the walls, courtesy of Tyson. Everyone contributed to the pictures on the wall. We even have a stack of paper, tape, and some pens in the corner, so that, just in case that when we are in here, and are bored, we just do whatever to that paper, tape it onto the wall, and voila! There are a lot of blank spaces, due to not enough contribution, since I'm the only person left to visit here. I sighed. I got up, and went to the stack of papers in the corner. There were some cobwebs on it, but I didn't care. I got a sheet, and wrote this quote I once saw before. People Change. Memories Don't. I ripped it off, and taped it on this blank piece of wall. Great, now there's a new one. I wrote down another one. My worst enemy, is my memory. I placed it on the wall.

I was just about to write another quote, or at least sketch something, but my eye caught on something. It was this little infinity sign with SB in one half, WG in the other, and a plus sign in the middle. SB stood for Seaweed Brain, and WG stood for Wise Girl, and an infinity symbol for forever. There was another one with SB+WG in a little circle. A circle has no beginning or end, so it was supposed to symbolize forever. While others used hearts, we used infinity symbols and circles. While others used their initials, we used our nickname initials. We're different and unique like that. Maybe one day, we'll make it a trend. But, then again, these symbols mean forever. It means commitment. I thought of this other quote I read before, but I changed it to suit this situation. You promised to be forever. But please warn me when your forever starts to end. I, once again, taped it to the wall. That's enough for today. I walked back to my previous spot, and laid down on the floor. Gods, this place brings back so many memories.

"Percy!" A ten-year-old Annabeth shrieked.

"Yes, oh dearest Wise Girl?" I asked, feigning innocence.

She glared at me. Even back then, it was pretty scary. "Where's my iPod?"

"You tell me, you're the Wise Girl."

"Well, I say that you have it."

"As always, thou art correct." I said, in a fake British accent.

She laughed and held out her hand. "Give it."

I pretended to think about it, while stroking an imaginary beard. "I don't think so."

"Percy." She warned.

"Fine." As I handed it over, I may have "accidentally" pressed play. Cinderella, by Steven Curtis Chapman, started to play. "She spins and she sways..."

"I love this song!" Annabeth exclaimed. She then started to dance and sway a bit to the music. While feeling a bit courageous, I grabbed her hand, and twirled her. She laughed, and I couldn't help but laugh, too. Pretty soon, we just started swaying a bit to the music. After a few minutes of swaying, the song suddenly changed into this really upbeat one. It was She's So High, by Tal Bachman. I gave her a pointed look, and she scowled. "I'm going to kill those twins." She was referring to her twin step-brothers.

"Come on, Annabeth. It's a good song." To prove my point, I started jumping around, and dancing to the music. She laughed at my antics.

"Gods, you're a horrid dancer." She stated. But, pretty soon, she too, started dancing to it, while flipping her hair.

"Like you're any better." I countered.

"I am." I rolled my eyes, but stayed silent. She was. After that song, You Belong With Me, started playing. Annabeth started singing along. "You're on the phone with your girlfriend-she's upset..." I didn't stop her, she was actually pretty good. She started dancing, and sometimes copying the movements in the music video. I just watched her, not to sound like a stalker. After a while she stopped, and looked at me. "What?" She asked, defensively.

"Nothing," I replied. "Continue, you're pretty good." Her cheeks coloured a little bit, but continued, nevertheless. At one point, she just grabbed my hands, and we started dancing together. So that's what we did for the rest of the day. Just randomly jamming out to the music on her iPod, and dancing, while singing very off-key. Once this song, that I didn't know, came on, Annabeth suddenly stopped.

"What's the matter?" I asked.

"This-this was my mom's favourite song." Her voice cracked a bit. "It played at their wedding."

I hugged her. "It's okay."

"Why does everyone have to leave me? First Mom, then my dad started neglecting me, and then..."

"Shh." I said. "I'm still here. You have my family, who already accepts you as their daughter, and you have me. I'll always be there."

She gave me a watery smile. "Thanks. I'll be there for you too." If only she knew that that was a lie.

"Come on." I said. I'll Be, started to play. "This is a good song."I took her hands, and we swayed to the music a little bit.

"I wondered what all the ruckus was all about." Said a voice behind us. We turned around so fast, that I was surprised we didn't hit our heads together. My mom was there, holding a camera, while grinning from ear to ear. I'm pretty sure I was as red as a tomato right now.

"How long were you there?" I asked.

"Long enough." Was her cryptic answer. "You two are so cute together!" She gushed.

"Mom!" I yelled. She just laughed.

"We're only friends." Annabeth reasoned. My mom just waved her off.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. You two are just so adorable."

"Mom!" I yelled once more.

"Okay, I'll just go now. Have fun." She said, as she walked out the door.

"Well, this is awkward." I stated.

"No duh, Seaweed Brain." She replied. It was my turn now to laugh, and pretty soon, Annabeth joined in.

"Gods, I miss those days." I whispered to myself. I looked at my watch, and it read 2:57. I guess I should go now. I picked up my book, put it back in the bookshelf, and pushed the bookshelf back into its position. As I headed out of my bedroom, I could almost see the little ghost figures of the younger version of Annabeth and I just swaying in the middle of the room. And for once, in a while, I smiled. A true, genuine smile.

I actually did my research for this chapter. All the songs mentioned should have been released before Percy and Annabeth were ten. Yeah, I really wanted to be accurate. Anyways, I hope you liked it.