Oh my God, it's chapter 30! I have written 30 fucking chapters (well, I'm about to have). I never thought I would manage to do this, I expected to write 15 maybe 20 chapters max. This is crazy! Also, remeber how in this story Sally wrote the PJO books? Ok, so in this au we'll just say she published the first one when Percy was 14. The song (or random lyrics/verses) used in this chapter are once again 'One Call Away' by Charlie Puth. Hope you like the chapter!

Annabeth's POV

For once, I woke up in my own bed on Sunday morning. I slammed my hand down on the alarm clock, having to hit it three times until it finally shut up, and pulled myself out of bed. Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I drearily got up, took my pyjama top off, and opened my closet. I pulled out the first thing I saw, (which was coincidentally my sea green jumper) and slipped it over my head, before grabbing a pair of jeans. I picked up my phone from my bedside table and walked out of my room, checking to see if I had any texts as I did so. As I passed the sofa, I hesitated, Percy was asleep on it, looking incredibly peaceful. Should I wake him up and ask him to come with me? Things were still really awkward last night, but I do love having his company. Still thinking about it, I looked down at my phone - there was a text from Hestia, the owner of the coffee shop.

Hestia

It's Percy's first official day at the coffee shop

Be nice to him

Oh right, Percy is officially starting work today, I guess I should wake him up. I sent Hestia a quick reply and walked around to the front of the sofa and shook Percy's shoulder. "Percy wake up!" I whispered, as quietly as possible so as to not wake up anyone else in the room.

"What?" His eyes fluttered open, meeting mine. "Oh hi Annabeth."

"Hi Percy, we need to go."

"Why?"

"Work, Seaweed Brain." I told him, pulling on his arm. He groaned and sat up, running a hand through his hair and checking the time on his phone.

"Why did I take this job?"

"Because you like money, and you just love baking with me."

"I suppose." He stood up and followed me out of the apartment, yawning as I closed the door behind us.

We got to the coffee shop and I made myself a black coffee as soon as I got behind the counter, I'm just too tired today. "Hot chocolate?" I asked Percy, as he jumped up onto the counter and sat on it.

"Uh uh." He shook his head, "Coffee."

"That tired huh?"

"I think I stayed up particularly late last night, or particularly early this morning." He frowned, watching me as I made the coffee. I handed him the drink and he gratefully accepted it, inhaling the caffeine fumes. "So how's your song going?"

"Hm?" I asked, sipping my coffee.

"Your song. Remember, the one you wrote about me?"

"Yes I remember." I blushed when he brought up the fact that it was about him. "I haven't made any progress."

"Do you wanna work on it just now?"

"What?"

"Well, there's no one here, so why not?"

"Oh yeah, sure. But um, lets go bake first."

"Okay. What are we baking today?"

"I was thinking carrot cake."

"Carrot cake it is." He said, hopping off the counter and walking to the back on the shop.

Percy's POV

"This is a good cake." I said, taking a bite as I went and sat down at my usual barstool.

"What can I say? I'm an amazing baker." She laughed, cutting herself a slice and sitting next to me.

"You have a good teacher."

"If you say so." She shrugged, so I threw a balled up napkin at her. "I'm joking, you're a great teacher."

"I should certainly hope so." I said, eating more of my cake. "So do you want to write your song now?"

"Um...okay." She agreed, looking slightly nervous. "I have it written down." She pulled out her phone and opened the notes app. "Here!" She announced, clicking on the note titled 'One Call Away'.

"Did you come up with a tune for the rest of it? Or do you just have that little verse?"

"Well, I have a bit of a tune, and a couple more lines. It goes like this..." She hummed a little bit, before singing some lyrics.

No matter where you go
You know you're not alone

"And then I thought I would repeat the 'I'm only one call away' bit."

"Cool, that sounds really good. You could use the 'one call away' bit as the chorus, and use those lines as a sort of pre-chorus if you want."

"Sounds good." She smiled, taking another bite of cake. "Now I just need to write the verses."

"That's easy." I smiled, "Just think of how you feel, and try and put it into words."

"Okay..." She trailed off, looking deep in thought. "Nope, I can't do it." She said, after about ten seconds of thinking.

"Yes you can, you barely even gave it a shot, now try again."

"No. There's things that I can do, and things that I just can't, no matter how hard I try. Songwriting is a can't." She said stubbornly, tearing little bits off of the napkin that I threw at her.

"You wrote those lyrics." I tried to reason with her, pointing at her phone screen that was still open on her notes.

"Those were a fluke."

"No they weren't, now come on, try. For longer this time."

"Fine." She stopped tearing her napkin and closed her eyes, trying to think. "How about, you can call me if you need a friend?"

"Good, keep going." I instructed, taking her phone and typing it in.

"I'm trying to help, don't push me away?" She said, looking up at I typed more lyrics into her phone.

"Got it!" I smiled, mentally congratulating myself.

"Got what?"

"The first verse."

"What? How? From that?"

"Yes from that. Listen." I started to sing the lyrics I had written down.

Call me, baby, if you need a friend
I just wanna give you love
Come on, come on, come on
Reaching out to you, so take a chance

"That's amazing! How did you do that?"

"Years of practice." I replied, fiddling with her phone so I could get the chorus in the right place. "I just wish I had my guitar so I could figure out the chords and the melody."

"Well next time I'm at yours, that's what we'll do." She smiled, making me smile too. I like her so much. It's probably unhealthy the amount I like her. The bell on the door rang as someone came in. "I've got it." She said, getting up to serve the customer.

A text popped up on Annabeth's phone. "You have a message from an unknown number." I told her, as she walked around to the till.

"What does it say?" She asked, before taking the customer's order.

I clicked on the message and read it out, "It says, 'Hey, I'm back in town, wanna meet up?'"

"Just delete it." She instructed me, starting to make the drink.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it's either a wrong number, or I've deleted the contact for a reason, so just delete it."

"Okay." I deleted the message, and went back onto the notes app, trying to think of more lyrics for her song.

"So when is your mum's next book coming out?" She asked, handing the customer their drink and coming back to sit next to me.

"What?"

"Your mum's next book, she's starting a second series right? Heroes of Olympus?"

"Oh yeah she is, but I'm not sure when it's coming out, I think she mentioned it being sometime in January."

"Any chance you'll ask her for the specific date for me?" She asked, hopeful.

I laughed, "Sure, next time I see her, that'll be the first thing I ask."

"Thank you so so much!" She said, beaming. "Do you know what it's about?"

"Sadly, no. But I do know that Jason's going to be in it, and it's going to be very...new."

"New?"

"Yeah, there's going to be a lot of new stuff introduced."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. My mum refused to tell me very much about it."

"Well that's not helpful."

"You'll just have to ask her yourself sometime." I shrugged, finishing the last of my carrot cake. I heard the bell on the door ring again and turned to see who it was. "Hi Rachel!" I smiled when I saw my friend walk into the coffee shop.

"Hey Percy, hi Annabeth." She said, before looking down at my apron. "Do you work here?"

"Yep, what would you like?" I asked, standing up and walking around to the till.

"I'll have..." She inspected the menu on the wall behind me. "A mocha to go please."

"Okay, anything else?"

"Oooh is that carrot cake?" She asked, looking down at the display case.

"Yep, made fresh by Annabeth and I this morning." I said, looking at Annabeth. She had a scowl on her face for some reason, but when I caught her eye she smiled.

"I'll have some carrot cake too then." Rachel said, pulling her purse out of her pocket.

"That'll be four dollars."

"Here you go." She set the money on the counter while I got her a slice of carrot cake and put it in a little takeaway bag.

"Thanks." I picked the money up and handed her the cake. "Your drink will be ready in a minute." I said, turning around and walking to the coffee machine, while Rachel took my seat next to Annabeth

"I feel like I haven't seen you in forever Annabeth." She said, while I made her drink.

"Yeah, not since that party a few weeks ago." Annabeth agreed. I thought back to the party, the party that I had kissed her at. That feels like it was so long ago, and now I just like Annabeth even more than I did then. "How have you been?"

"Good, not much has happened, but I'm good."

"Did you do anything for Thanksgiving?"

"Yeah, I went home, but it was just as...interesting as it always is with my parents."

"Sounds fun."

"Yeah... But what about you? What did you do for Thanksgiving?"

"I actually went to Percy's." Annabeth said, and I thought I could detect the tiniest bit of boastfulness? in her voice. No that can't be right, what would she be boasting about? "I had a really good time."

"Good for you." Rachel said, as I turned around with her drink.

"Here's your drink." I said, handing her the cup.

"Thanks Percy." She took the drink from me and stood up. "I should be going, but it was nice talking to you Annabeth."

"Yeah, you too." Annabeth smiled, but it looked slightly fake.

Rachel opened the coffee shop door, but paused before she walked through it. She turned back to me, "Percy, you still owe me that coffee date." She told me, before walking out the door. I had forgotten about that, we'll have to do it soon.

"Coffee date?" Annabeth asked, after I sat back down.

"Uh yeah, a while ago we said we were going to meet, so we could catch up on everything since...high school, I guess."

"Oh, cool." Annabeth said, looking down at the table.

"Do you want to go back to working on the song?" I asked, I think I have a few more lyrics she could use.

"Okay." She said, still looking at the table.

We worked on the song for a while, until more customers had started coming in, so we moved from our seats to behind the counter and talked instead. Eventually, Piper and Frank showed up, followed by Grover ten seconds later.

"Grover!" I smiled when I saw him, "When'd you get back?"

"Super early this morning, which is why I need a coffee." He said, walking over to the till Where I was standing. "So can I get a cappuccino with a shot of nutmeg syrup please?"

"Sure." I started to make the drink, while Annabeth took the money from him. While I was making the drink, Frank, Piper, and him all started whispering about something. "What are you guys talking about?" I asked, giving him the drink.

"Oh nothing." He said, as he sat down on the barstool I had previously been sitting at. Piper and Frank came behind the counter and put their aprons on, while Annabeth and I took ours off. "How was Thanksgiving?" He asked, as I sat next to him.

"It was great, I had a lot of fun." I smiled, thinking about Thanksgiving. It was really fun to have Annabeth there, even if Estelle did almost expose me.

"Have you told Annabeth that you like her yet?"

"Shush!" I said, looking over at Annabeth. She was still behind the counter talking to Piper, and it didn't look like she had heard anything. Good.

"So I guess that's a no."

"It is."

"What happened Percy? You said you were going to tell her!"

"I know but-"

"Just tell her, it's not that hard. All you have to say is: 'I like you Annabeth', why can't you do that?"

"It's not-"

"Percy come on, how many of these talks have you had? Everyone has told you to tell her, so tell her."

"I..." I looked at Grover, who looked genuinely irritated at the fact I was so pathetic. "I'll tell her." I found myself saying. Why did I say that? Now I actually have to follow through.

"Today."

"What?"

"To. Day." He insisted, and I found myself agreeing again.

"Today."

"Good. Do it now.

"What? Now? But-"

"She's about to leave." He said, and I looked at her. He was right, she was saying goodbye to Piper.

"I'm going, see you later Percy." Annabeth said, before starting to walk to the door. What do I do? If I don't tell her now, I probably won't be able to tell her today, and I'm sure if I don't tell her today Grover will make me pay. And I want to tell her, it's just really hard to make my mouth say the right thing.

Slightly panicked, I turned to Grover, who mouthed, 'Tell her'. Well that's helpful.

I do want to tell her, I really, really want to tell her. "Annabeth can I talk to you about something quickly, before you leave?" I asked, running in front of her to block her path.

"Yeah, sure." She stopped, "What is it?"

God this is so much harder now that I'm actually standing in front of her. "I wanted to tell you that-"

"Oh my God." Her faced morphed into an incredibly shocked expression, and her eyes were fixated on the door behind me. Wondering what she was so surprised about, I turned around. A guy about our age was opened the door and walked in. He had blond hair, piercing blue eyes, and a scar across his cheek. Does Annabeth know him? "Luke." She breathed, her expression remaining the same. Wait, Luke? As in her ex? The one who cheated on her?

"Annabeth!" He said happily when he saw her, walking over to us. "Hi!" I looked over to Piper, Frank, and Grover, who all looked just as shocked as I felt. "It's so good to see you!"

"What are you doing here?" She asked, confusion evident on her face.

"I'm back in New York for a couple weeks. I actually texted you earlier, but you must not have gotten it. Did you get a new number? Anyway, I figured I would just come visit this place on the off chance you were working at the moment, and here you are!"

"Here I am." She agreed, but she didn't seem overly thrilled about it.

"Are you busy just now? Or do you want to stay here and catch up?"

"I-" She glanced at me, and I got the feeling that she was trying to decide between me and him. I'll make the decision easier for her.

"I'm gonna go, see you around Annabeth." I turned away from them, and walked to the door.

Mwahahahahaaaa! (Insert me turning around in a chair stroking a cat in a malevolent fashion.) Lol I'm so evil. Yeah so Piper etc have lost the bet. Or have they? Yeah they have. Or am I lying? No I'm not. Is that a lie? It's- yeah I'm done with this, you'll have to find out tomorrow, or whenever I post the next chapter. Please favourite, follow, and review, I'll see you tomorrow!

Replies to Review:

SuperPotatoMan: It would certainly be entertaining.

Pandas Are Squishy: Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. Ugh yeah, it's been ages since I broke up with a guy, but his existence still kind of annoys me.

Banana: I'm glad you liked it!

Carrot Lord: I'm glad you found it so funny. Yes, walking dogs is the best way to do anything. I'll have to try pumpkin scones sometime, and that all sounds amazing. I'm happy you loved the chapter so much. Yeah they're all off to prison, and Kelli was briefly mentioned when Annabeth was talking (well she was technically thinking) about what happened with Luke. She was totally thinking about Luke so much, that it caused him to materialise the next day.

joshannis12345: Thanks for the song ideas, I'm happy you like the story so much!

SeaMaster: Yes time will tell.

Pbeth4eva: Thank you! I'm sorry if you want the chapters to be longer, I'm doing the best I can, this is my first fanfic after all.

Kate101: Thanks! Hope you liked this chapter!

molmeal: You're so nice! Thank you so much for your review. They're going on a date soon! Ish! Maybe! Lol I don't want to reveal anything. Nah I'm actually female, but don't worry I'm not offended or anything, this actually just made me laugh.

AthenaRavenclaw: Thank you! Hope you liked the chapter!

ya6789: Gonna be honest, I don't know. There could be five more chapters, there could be ten, there could be 400 (okay there won't be another 400 chapters). But it's definitely nearing the end. Kinda.

DaughterofBlueFood: I'm glad.

Kaden Flores: I'm so happy that you love it so much!