Guys. I have 58 favorites and 89 followers for this story. You guys are incredible.
But onto more important matters. The HoH cover was revealed! Who saw it? I'm flipping out! Was it just me, or did Annabeth look slightly unconscious? I don't know, it just looked like that. And I didn't like how the artist portrayed Percy (he looked kinda...what's the word...overgrown?). But overall, it was a good, mysterious cover, and it's making me want the book so bad!
Anyways, here's the next chapter. Sorry if there are more typos than usual. I have a terrible headache, so I was trying to hurry. Plus, Letters To Juliet is on, so I kinda wanna watch that.
Disclaimer: All rights to Rick Riordan.
Chapter Seven
Annabeth's POV
You kinda, like, make me stop and stare. You distract me from my life when I think of you. You make my heart pound when you look at me. You make me dream about you at night. But sometimes, I end up laying awake all night thinking about you, because I caught you staring at me too.
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He called me.
It felt weird, seeing his name and picture on the screen of my phone. It hasn't been there for eight months. Seeing it again sent me into a shock, a paralysis, as emotions ran rampant through me.
I hate this. I hate how vulnerable he can make me feel. I hate how one small thing can send a torrent of memories-memories of pain-down onto me, all because of him. I hate this.
But despite all of this hate that I feel, I still find that there's one person that I can let my guard down around. One person who brings out my real smile, who seems to extract information from me, who is the opposite of me in every way, but still manages to make me laugh.
One person by the name of Percy Jackson.
That day at Starbucks was magical. I found myself pushing away every thought about him and Calypso and all of my old friends involuntarily. I found myself focused on the present, not the past.
I've never really understood the term "capture the moment". I always wanted the future to arrive so quickly, thinking it would be spent with him and all of my other friends. But now that that's all gone, I think I finally understand what it means. It's like an unfinished quote: capture the moment...because once it's over, you can't get it back.
And I did. I captured all of those moments at Starbucks. When Grover completed Thalia's dare. When Percy and Thalia teased each other. How I felt so involved, so included. Percy's smile, the way his eyes shine. Grover's nervous laugh. Thalia's electric blue eyes, crackling with energy. And even after, when Percy invited me to attend regularly with him. The way I had to decide to move on, or stay behind and fantasize about winning him back, even though I know that my fantasies will never come true.
And, for the first time in eight months, I chose to move on.
It felt good. Yes, the hurt is still there. No, I might not ever fully get over him. But that choice to accept Percy's invitation fueled me to move on completely. And the fact that I actually believe in myself proves that I can.
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"And what would you like, miss?" our waiter asks me.
I blink and pull myself out of my thoughts. Our waiter-a guy with cocoa-colored, cropped hair and green eyes-is staring at me expectantly, his pen and pad in hand."Oh, uh, a water, please," I stammer.
The boy walks off to get our drinks. I look at the other three girls at the table: Silena, Reyna, and Rachel. Rachel seems to be admiring the waiter as he walks and Silena and Reyna are talking about who knows what.
It's Saturday and these three girls invited me to go shopping with them. After a morning of being shoved into a dressing room with loads of clothes to model, they took me to their favorite diner for lunch. Once we finish eating, Silena's convinced all three of us to go to the boys' swim meet, since Beckendorf is on the team.
For some reason, I'm excited to go watch the boys. Percy'll be there. Ever since free period yesterday, I've been wanting to be around him. We sat next to each other in English and at lunch. We ran next to each other in gym class while doing laps. And he texted me last night, which resulted in a two-hour long conversation. If we're not at leats friends, then I don't know what we are.
Nonetheless, I find myself anticipating the meet.
"So," Silena drawls, pulling me out of my thoughts, "what's the news with Percy?"
"What news?" I ask innocently.
Silena rolls her eyes. "It's no secret that you two have been practically inseparable lately. So what's up with that?"
"Do you like him?" Rachel asks.
I open my mouth to reply and say that we're just friends, but then our waiter comes by to deliver our drinks. Silena and Rachel both look annoyed by the interruption, but Reyna just sits with an amused look on her face.
"Thank you," I tell the waiter as he sets my drink down in front of me.
"Only the best for a beautiful girl," the waiter replies, winking. I feel my face heating up and know I'm probably blushing profusely. I smile at him.
Inside, my heart is pounding. Am I really ready for this? Ready to move on? Moving on means dealing with people, like that flirty waiter. Then again, what difference does it make? I've dealt with other guys before, right? Ones that were flirting with me and ones that weren't?
I take a sip of my water. Maybe I'm just overthinking this whole "moving on" thing. Yes, that's what it is. I just need to relax and forget about him. Him and everything else connected to him. Starting at the meet.
Silena and Rachel gape at me. "What?" I ask, acting like I didn't notice the waiter.
It doesn't work.
Rachel rolls her eyes. "Oh, please, Annabeth. You just expect us to believe that you just happened not to notice that the hottest waiter at this diner just flirted with you?"
"He's not very hot," I murmur.
"Then you are obviously blind," Silena states."I have a boyfriend, and even I can see that he is very attractive."
"How does your having a boyfriend have anything to do with the waiter's attractiveness?" Reyna voices the question I fail to ask.
"Love clouds one's vision," Silena answers dreamily. "Mostly."
"Oh, I see now," Rachel announces teasingly. "He's just not her type. She likes scruffy, green-eyes swimmers. Now, who do we know who fits that description? Oh, yeah! Percy!"
I glare at the redhead. Why did she have to bring him up? I thought I had done good avoiding the topic. Apparently, I was wrong.
"I don't have a type," I snap. "And Percy and I are just friends. I've only known him for a week."
Silena shrugs. "There's a couple at the retirement home I work at who got engaged after only a week of dating."
"High school relationships don't last anyway," I retort, feeling a sharp pang in my heart. I know that from personal experience.
"Whatever," SIlena says, waving her hand in the air, as if she were erasing our argument. "You haven't answered my question yet. What's up with Percy?"
"Nothing," I say, exasperated. "We're just friends. That's it."
"That's not what I've been seeing," Rachel says pointedly. "He's crushing on you bigtime."
"Maybe even in love," Silena says, looking at me like she's deciding which flowers would look best at my wedding.
"Guys, stop it!" I plead. I turn to Reyna, who's been quiet the whole time. "Help me, please."
She looks at me apologetically. "Sorry, Annabeth. Even I can tell that he likes you."
I groan as the waiter comes back to take our orders. We all order the same thing: cheeseburgers with fries.
"I love how he's wearing an Oxford," Rachel drawls."With the sleeves rolled up."
"And his eyes are so green," Silena adds. "Like Percy's!" All three girls look at me pointedly. I duck my head and study the tablecloth, my face hot.
"Aw, look! She's blushing!" Rachel screeches.
I close my eyes. It's going to be a long lunch.
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The meet isn't until three, and we finish lunch at two, so we go to a nearby grocery store to get little containers of ice cream.
"I feel like I've gained ten pounds," I complain from the back seat of Reyna's car. "Thanks a lot, guys."
"No problem!" Silena says cheerfully from the passenger seat. She's been perky ever since we got in the car to go to the school. I think it's because she gets to see Beckendorf. She says it's because of all the sugar in her.
By the time we get to the school for the meet, the room is roaring. The cheerleaders are in front of the stands doing flips and stunts and pumping up the crowd. As we search for a place to sit, I can tell there's almost every high schooler here. There's no open seat.
Finally, the four of us spot Leo and Malcolm in one of the middle rows. After fighting our way up and through the shouting crowd of high schoolers, we get to the two boys. I take a seat inbbetween them.
"Why are there so many people here?" I ask Leo.
"We're playing our number one rival," he explains. "The New Jersey Jaguars."
"Oh," I say.
"Plus, everyone, er, every girl wants to see Percy without a shirt on," Malcolm adds.
"Oh," I say again, my cheeks reddening, though I have no idea why.
"Last year, the Jaguars beat our team by a few seconds," Reyna informs me, leaning across Leo. "Only because Percy had hurt his shoulder a few days before and it was sore."
"Poor Percy," I say, feeling bad. I know what it feels like to let people down. I also know what it feels like to be let down. I also know what it feel like to be let down.
Reyna grins at me. "Yup," she says, leaning back. "Poor Percy."
I shoot her a glare, then begin talking to the boys. I find that Malcolm's a lot like me; loves to read, but dyslexic also. Leo tells me that he's ADHD, bu I dind't need him to tell me that. It is obvious by the way he fidgets in his chair and his hands never stop moving. A few minutes into the conversation, leo pulls out a small contraption out of his pocket and starts messing with it.
"What're you working on?" I ask.
Leo looks up at me, startled, then says sheepishly, "I'm repairing one of my mom's old watches. I'm trying to get it to tell you the time if you ask it instead of you having to look at it."
"That's really cool," I say, studying the watch, which he's showing off to me. It's a simple watch-silver face, faux diamonds lining the outside, silver wristband matching the face-but beautiful. "Where'd you get it?"
Leo's face darkens. "It was my mom's," he says quietly.
"Oh," I reply, feeling awkward and trying not to think about his use of past tense. "I'm sorry."
Leo shrugs. "Nah, it's fine," he says, his tone happy again. "That was a while ago."
I smile and nod, still feeling uneasy. I kind of know what it feels like to lose a parent, and I've never liked people being sympathetic for me when I tell them that my parents are divorced. I feel like I should say something to Leo, something about how I know how he feels, but I just let the subject drop.
The crowd of students begin to cheer loudly and I see that the swim team has is running out of the locker room. I scan the faces as I clap, looking for one in particular. I see Beckendorf, a big smile on his face as he waves to Silena. I look over at the black-haired girl and can practically feel her happiness at just seeing her boyfriend radiating off of her. I begin to wonder, yet again, what the story is between those two. It isn't everyday that you come across a couple as much in love as they are.
Then, I see him. His midnight black hair is as floppy as ever, and his eyes shine with happiness. He runs in with strong, confident steps, and I immediately know that water is where he belongs.
Percy looks up and waves at me. The girls in front of me all sigh, thinking that he's waving at one of them. Both Silena and Rachel lean over Malcolm and grin at me. Leo and Malcolm both shoot me questioning looks.
I feel my face heating up, but my stomach sinks. I feel guilty. Why do I feel guilty? My last relationship is over and done. It's not like I'm betraying his trust. He's already betrayed mine. There's no reason to feel this way.
Percy gets up on a board as one of the representatives for Goode High. He shakes out his arms and legs and rolls his head around to stretch his neck. The other swimmers hurry to their boards and get in the diving position.
I hear the girls in front of me discussing how Percy looks in his swim trunks. I roll my eyes. Please. They have to have better things to do with their voices than talk about Percy Jackson's looks. Such as, I don't know, cheering.
The gunshot signaling the start of the race brings me out of my thoughts. I turn to see Percy dive into the water in perfect formation, leaving nothing but a small splash behind him.
The cheering dies down ever so slightly as the crowd watches the race with intensity. A few still cheer and I near people exchange who they thought would win. Most involve Percy.
But all of these conversations are just background noises. My whole attention is fixed on Percy. Well, Percy's swimming to be exact.
It's like nothing I've ever seen. His arms move swiftly, cutting through the water like a shark's fin and propelling him forward. His head comes up for breath only a couple times. And when he flips and pushes off the wall, all the muscles in his arms and legs tense up, only releasing when he's off of the wall.
I never take my eyes off of Percy. Not until the race is over. "Wow," I say out loud, to no one in particular, "when they told me he was good, I didn't know that he was that good."
"Told you!" Silena exclaims, her tone triumphant. I laugh and roll my eyes.
I look back down at Percy treading water as he celebrates his win. His eyes scan the bleachers until they stop and rest on me. I see his smile widen and he winks playfully. I laugh and wink back. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Leo wink too, with a slightly confused look on his face, probably thinking Percy was looking at him. That makes me laugh.
Something in my chest builds up as I laugh. Something by my heart. As Percy climbs out of the pool and all of the girls go back to admiring him, I let my mind wander back to the Incident. Or, more precisely, how I felt after. I notice that there's a distinct difference between then and now. Then, my heart was completely broken, just shards strewn on the ground. Now, I can feel parts of it reconnecting and building up to how it used to be.
The difference between now and then is that now, I'm moving on.
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"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9