Omg this is the freaking last chapter! *wipes away tears.* I'm so sorry for a month of not updating, but I had lots of stuff to do. (My birthday, reading THE TRIALS OF APOLLO: THE HIDDEN ORACLE). Anyway, without further adue, I present to you the final chapter of YBWM. ;)

Chapter 29

Thanksgiving

"Girls!" Mom called from the kitchen. "Come help me with the food!"

Annabeth and I raced down the stairs and into the big kitchen where Mom was.

The smell of stuffed turkey and mashed potatoes wafted up my nose. Pots of squash soup sat in the stove and trays of casserole in the making were placed on the marble kitchen island.

Mom was busy stuffing the two large turkeys and Lacy was squishing the potatoes rather violently.

"Would you two be considerate enough to go make pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce in the other kitchen?" Mom asked. "The supplies are in there. Recipes are on the table."

We nodded and went down the stairs to the second kitchen.

It took more than half an hour to make twenty-four servings of cranberry sauce. Only eighteen people were expected to come, but hey, some of us had huge appetites.

The pumpkin pie took about an hour and a half to make. By the time we were done making the two deserts, it was about 4:00. We put all the meals into the refrigerators while we waited for all the guests to come.

Of course, the first was Jason. He came a little after we were done cooking and baking.

Jason. We hadn't exactly said "I love you," to one another yet, but I knew I already loved him. I had loved him for a long time, I just hadn't known it. The guy was something special. We'd been dating for only a month, but I felt like it had been much, much longer than that.

I opened the door to see his very familiar grin. He was wearing a lightweight sweater and nice jeans. He held up two big plates of spinach puffs.

"My dad's coming in an hour," he said. "But he and I made these spinach puffs this morning. You'll love them."

I smiled and led him to the main kitchen. "I sure hope so."

"Am I the first one here?" Jason asked as we entered the kitchen. "Where is everyone?" He glanced at my track pants and loose tie-dyed shirt. "You're not even dressed yet."

I pulled my hair up into a ponytail. It had grown out since October, so it wasn't quite as choppy anymore. "I was just about to get dressed. Annabeth and I were making stuff, so we decided not to get dressed. She's actually upstairs changing right now. My mom is doing her makeup and Lacy's doing her hair. My dad's getting dressed. So besides them, yeah, you're the first one here."

Jason put the spinach puffs into the refrigerator. "You know what I need right now?" He opened his arms.

"Just a wild guess, but," I said, "a hug?"

Jason laughed as I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed him.

"Whoa." I heard Annabeth's voice come closer and closer. "No PDA, please, people."

I smiled and let go of Jason to look at Annabeth.

She wore a dark gray t-shirt dress with black leather three-quarters sleeves and a black and white flannel tied around her waist. A third of her curly hair was tied up with the rest falling down to her ribcage.

"You look cute," I commented.

"Hey," she said, smirking, "I am not cute. I am anything but cute."

"Beautiful," I tried.

"Better," she said.

I shook my head but my smile didn't leave my face. "I'm going to change now. I'll be back in a bit."

I skipped up the stairs and went into my room to the outfit that I had set out earlier. After putting it on, I did my hair and stopped by Lacy's room to see what she was up to.

"Coming!" she shouted when I knocked on the door.

When she opened the door, I gasped and covered my mouth.

My little sister was wearing a striped white shirt with a light blue suspender skirt. Her hair was tied up into a cute braided ponytail with tiny glittering flowers woven into it.

I picked her up and twirled her around. "Well, don't you look cute today?"

Lacy squealed as I put her down. "Thanks, Piper! I FaceTimed Sadie, and she helped me pick it out. She has her own Thanksgiving dinner to host, that's why she couldn't come."

I gave her a sympathetic frown. "Aw, well, that's too bad. Now I'm going to go downstairs and leave you to, um, whatever you're doing."

Lacy seemed to be happy about that. She shut the door in my face.

I chuckled and went downstairs and into the kitchen.

When Jason saw me, his eyes bulged out of his head, taking in my appearance. Annabeth just grinned at me like a proud mother.

I was wearing a cream colored sweater tucked into a maroon skirt. A golden statement necklace dangled from my neck. My hair was pulled up into a neat ponytail with a single braided strand.

Jason recovery from his shock. "Wow, Pipes. You look… You look amazing! Wow, I totally don't deserve you."

I hugged him. "Don't say that. That's a breakup line."

Jason hugged me back and squeezed my hand. "All I'm trying to say is, you look absolutely stunning. I mean, you look beautiful all the time, and super gorgeous at Homecoming, but it's different when you give half an effort to look good. It's, I don't know, more you."

"That doesn't make sense, Jason," Annabeth pointed out.

"I think it makes sense," I said with a chuckle.

Annabeth fake gagged.

A few minutes later, Hazel arrived. She was wearing a gray cowl neck sweater dress with black leggings and black flats. Her curly hair fell all around her shoulders and down to the middle of her back. She had a tray wrapped in tinfoil in her hands.

Her half siblings stood behind her.

Bianca di Angelo stood on her left side which was to say, my right. She wore a beautiful silver dress with layers of mesh as the skirt. Her glittery black hair was braided to one side. She wore black ankle boots, and held another tinfoil wrapped tray.

To Hazel's right was Bianca's brother, Nico di Angelo. He was wearing black jeans and a black button-up. His hair came close to covering his eyes and a silver skull ring glinted on his finger.

The guy seemed nice enough. Most people didn't think that, but I believed he was a good guy. He had a good heart, but sadly, everyone found him creepy. I would sympathize with the guy, but he was the kind of person who wouldn't want sympathy.

"Wow," I said, opening the door wider so that they could come in. "You guys look nice. Thanks for coming."

Hazel kicked off her flats. "No problem, Piper. Our dad couldn't come, as you know. He's really busy. But Bianca and I made buttermilk biscuits."

I noticed she didn't mention Nico.

"That's great," I said, taking Bianca's tray so that she could take off her boots. "Why don't you guys head upstairs to my room? Jason and Annabeth went up there. I can take the trays."

Hazel handed me her tray and led Bianca and Nico up the stairs. Nico trailed behind like he wasn't exactly eager to be here.

I shrugged and took the trays to the kitchen. Maybe he was just an introvert. Yes, that was probably it.

Percy arrived next. He was dressed in a black sweater with a dress shirt underneath. He looked so much like a seriously uncomfortable gentleman, it kind of made me want to laugh.

He took off his dress shoes and shoved a pan into my hands.

"Blueberry cheesecake," he said. "It's actually blue, not purple."

I looked at the cake through the plastic wrap. What was the guy's deal with blue food.

"Thanks," I said. I really liked Percy. He always made me have an urge to laugh.

"Upstairs?" Percy said, pointing to the direction my room.

"Yep," I nodded.

He took the cheesecake from me.

"I can just put it in the kitchen for you," I offered.

"Nah," he said. "You'll be doing a lot more things tonight than putting a cake on the counter. I can handle this one. Stay here and greet your guests."

Huh. He seemed good for Annabeth. Best friend approval: check.

I smiled gratefully and watched him go into the kitchen. It was a small gesture, but sweet.

Next was Calypso, who always dressed like a goddess. Today, she was wearing a crisp white romper with a light pink cardigan. A golden daisy chain headband wrapped around her head.

"I'm sorry," she said, taking off her brown ankle boots. "I couldn't bring anything. I was going to make some stew, but I had to a lot of cleaning around the house."

"That's completely fine," I assured her. "We have plenty of food. You can just go upstairs. Everyone else is up there."

She didn't say anything for awhile, but curiosity got the best of her.

"Is Percy up there?" she asked sheepishly.

I gave her a tight lipped smile and nodded.

She smiled back and went up the stairs.

Everyone came by five. Almost all of the brought food with them, which was really nice of them. At first, I wasn't sure if we would have enough food for everyone, but there was plenty. Mom told me she even made tofu turkey for me.

The adults went into one of the living room to "politely converse," as my mother always claimed.

The teens went to my room, and the kids (Lacy, Bobby, and Matthew) went into Lacy's room. It all worked out fine.

When I entered my room, I realized that hey had just been talking about food the whole time, which was actually pretty understandable.

"- the best stew," Percy was staying when I opened the door.

Calypso smiled, sitting on the floor with her legs crossed.

"What?" I said.

"Percy was talking about how Calypso makes delicious beef stew," Jason informed me. He was sitting on my bed and patted the blanket next to me so I could come and sit there.

I looked at Calypso as I sat down next to Jason. "Yeah, I've heard. Just never tried it. How come Percy…?"

Calypso looked down and muttered something.

"What?" Hazel said, leaning closer. She was relaxing on my furry blue beanbag chair in the corner of my room.

Calypso glanced at Annabeth uneasily.

Annabeth scrunched up her eyebrows.

"Percy came to my house a lot one summer," Calypso said a little louder.

Both Nico and Annabeth tensed. I understood why Annabeth would feel uncomfortable, but Nico? What reason did he have to not be comfortable? Well, then again, when was he ever comfortable?

"Right," Annabeth said, glaring at Percy.

Percy grinned back.

Boys.

"Anyway," Leo said, probably trying to clear the air, "best sophomore year ever, am I correct?"

"I'm a freshman," Nico reminded him.

"I am too," Hazel said. "Even though I'm thirteen…"

"I'm a junior," Percy commented.

"Me too," Frank said, hugging my stuffed animal elephant.

"Also, we only get one sophomore year," I said. "For those who actually are sophomores."

Leo huffed and sat down. "You guys are all sticks in the mud."

"Not me," Percy protested.

Leo didn't respond.

Half an hour later, we went to eat. The adults went to sit at the main dining table, while the teens and kids sat at the other one. There was so much food. I was sure we wouldn't be able to finish it all.

But we actually did finish most of it, especially thanks to Percy, Leo, Jason, and Frank. Percy even volunteered to eat my tofu turkey, which most people thought was gross. They all sure had big appetites.

When dinner was over, we did a bunch of dumb things like a Truth or Dare and Ghost in the Graveyard.

I didn't know who's bright idea it was to play Ghost in the Graveyard in such a big yard with formal clothing (I'm looking at you, Leo Valdez), but it was surprisingly a lot of fun.

We were into our seventh round when Jason became the Ghost. We counted to a hundred while we waited on the front steps for Jason to hide.

When we got to a hundred, I immediately sprinted around my house to the pool at the back. He usually hid up in a tree near the pool.

But this time, he wasn't there.

"Jason?" I called, digging through a pile of deflated pool floaties.

He wasn't there either.

I crouched down to look under a table near the edge of the pool. I heard the water ripple.

Too late, I realized it.

"Ghost in the graveyard!" I screamed desperately. "Ghost in the-"

I felt an arm tug on my waist and I fell into the pool with a big splash, clothes and all. I heard everyone shouting and running towards the front of the house.

"Jason, you ruined my-"

The idiot wrapped his arms around me and pulled me under.

Everything was much calmer underwater obviously. With a struggle, I opened my eyes and saw Jason's familiar blue eyes staring back at me. He pulled me closer and put his lips on mine.

I closed my eyes tangled my fingers into his wet hair, which didn't feel wet since we were completely submerged. My other hand went on his upper back, hanging on to him.

He bit my bottom lip lightly, and felt him smile against my lips. I smiled back as his hands found a bare strip of skin on my lower back because my sweater was floating up. I wrapped my legs around his waist and he held my butt to keep me up.

Slowly, we started to float up. Finally, we broke the surface of the water.

"Jason," I gasped. "One, we're both wet and you ruined my clothes. Two, everyone is probably at the front door now."

"Shh." Jason put one of his fingers on my lips and kept his other hand on my butt. "I ruined both of our clothes, and I don't care about everyone else. Also, I'm touching your buttocks, and you don't seem to care."

I leaned in closer and touched my nose against his. "That's because I love you, Sparky."

"I love you, too, Beauty Queen."

We were just a few seconds into our kiss when we heard the sound of a camera and saw a flash.

I looked up and everyone stood around the pool, trying not to laugh.

"One," Annabeth said, grinning. "You are so putting that on your story. Two, don't make out in the pool, please. And-"

"Three," Leo interrupted, putting his hand on Annabeth's shoulder. "I'm the one who calls her Beauty Queen. You just call her Pipes."

Annabeth jabbed her thumb at Leo. "Yeah. What he said."

Jason and I laughed and got out of the pool, soaking wet and freezing cold.

When we got inside, we dried ourselves, and changed clothes. Well, Jason and I dried ourselves and changed out clothes, being the only ones drenched with water. The adults gave us weird glances, but decided not to say a thing. Mom was probably secretly holding the urge to start rolling on the ground with laughter.

Then, they asked me to play a song for them in the family room, where our beautiful black grand piano sat, waiting to be played. It was mostly used for decor, because I didn't play much.

But I wanted to play tonight. And I knew exactly what song to play.

I sat down and started playing and singing "You Belong With Me" by Taylor Swift. So many people sang along. It all felt so great.

By the last chorus of the song, mostly everyone was singing along, even Dad. I'm not going to lie though, it was likely he only sang along because he'd met Taylor Swift before and thought she was so sweet and nice.

"You belong with me," I finished.

Right when I was done, I stood up and hugged Jason, burying my face into his chest. Everyone was cheering and I felt like I was in some fairytale. This was not real life.

But it was.

And I loved Jason Grace.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. I CANNOT STRESS TO YOU HOW GRATEFUL I AM OF EVERYONE WHO HAS STAYED WITH ME THIS WHOLE ENTIRE TIME. I WILL NOTIFY YOU WHEN THE SEQUEL "EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED" (I picked this title. Somebody did suggest it, but it was after I picked it already) IS OUT. I LOVE YOU SO SO SO MUCH, AND THANKS FOR BEARING WITH ME. -JACKIE