Hey guys! I'm back for another update! Sorry for taking so long. I need to get better at updating...

Anyway, new thing! For every hundredth, twenty-fifth, fiftieth and seventy-fifth reviewer will receive a brief preview of the coming chapter. This goes for ALL my stories...so if you want a preview REVIEW!

Well here we go! On with the story!

Chapter Twenty

Annabeth, still a little shocked from Rachel's sudden bravery said the first thing that came to her mind, "Why should I come to talk to you?" She said it a little harsher than she had antipicated, and Rachel, taken aback by her tone, winced.

Rachel sighed. "I understand where you're coming from Annabeth, but I really do need to talk to you."

"She doesn't want to talk to you Dare," Thalia interjected, a nicer comment then what Annabeth had wanted to say.

Rachel winced again. She turned to her former friends, hoping for anyone to show a little sympathy and compassion toward her.

No one gave her any.

She finally turned to her last resort: Percy.

"I know that I was mean to her, but can you please convince her to come to talk to me?" Rachel begged. Annabeth's boyfriend refused to look at anyone, staring down at the floor.

Annabeth scoffed. "As if Percy would listen to trash like you."

"Annabeth!" Percy snapped, and she fell silent, surprised by Percy's tone.

Annabeth tentatively looked at her friends, who helplessly stared at Rachel, dumbfounded. Percy, who didn't seem at all worried about Rachel, very calmly nudged Annabeth, indicating for her to follow Rachel. But his girlfriend seemed extremely nervous about the thought of having a talk with Rachel.

"Annabeth, please?" Rachel pleaded. "It's important."

"Annabeth, just go," Percy reassured, annoying Annabeth even further. Shouldn't he be taking her side? "What's the worse that could happen?"

Annabeth immediately began to think of nearly every horrible possibility that might occur.

But Annabeth, refusing to look fearful in front of Rachel Elizabeth Dare, stood up and gestured for Rachel to go. "Fine," she spat, icily.

Rachel looked thankfully at her. "Thanks." Annabeth remained expressionless and silent while she followed Rachel out of the cafeteria. She could feel Percy and her friends' stares on her back. Then, Rachel rounded a corner and soon Annabeth found herself in a nearly deserted hallway alone with Rachel Elizabeth Dare, her enemy.

"What do you want Dare?" Annabeth snapped immediately.

Rachel cringed at the malice in Annabeth's voice. "Look…Annabeth…I…," she trialed off, chuckling nervously. "The reason why I called you out here – alone – was because I needed t-t…I needed to apologize." The words came out so fast, and soon Rachel's face matched the color of her hair.

Annabeth froze, her eyes wide with pure shock, the expression, the emotion returning to her face. "You wanna what?" Her voice came out in a gasp.

Rachel took a deep breath, fighting back the urge to dash away from Annabeth, attempting to hide embarrassment and humiliation that she was undoubtedly feeling. "Annabeth, I-I was thinking about before…and the kind of person that I was and I realized that I was a horrible person, a horrible friend. And I want to apologize. No…I need to apologize for the person that I was."

Annabeth stared at Rachel, her mouth wide open and let out a very involuntary gasp. Did Annabeth really just hear those words come from Rachel Elizabeth Dare, the girl that Annabeth refused to talk to her, the one that made Annabeth miserable, the one that terrorized her life for almost three years, the girl who nearly made Annabeth drop out of Goode High School? Was Rachel Elizabeth Dare finally realizing who she was, and what kind of person she had become? Was it because of Mark? Did they breakup?

"Why?" Annabeth asked, curiosity getting the better of her.

Rachel sighed, knowing that this was the difficult question that she was going to have to answer. "Because...because I realized how much I missed you guys...all of you. I miss Connor and Travis's pranks. I miss Katie's reactions to them. I miss Thalia beating up on Nico. I miss how kind Luke was. And I miss you. You were my best friend, and even though I didn't treat the way that I should have, I still appreciated you, and when you guys all of a sudden talking to me...I-I hit rock bottom. I was angry at all of them, especially you, for just abandoning me. I turned into what I am now, and took all my anger and disappointment and sadness out on you. And I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that..."

Annabeth still struggled to understand what Rachel was saying. Did Rachel mean that? Was she was truly, genuinely sorry for everything that she had done?

"After everything that you've done, how could I trust you? I almost dropped out of school because of-," Annabeth cut herself off when she noticed that Rachel was crying.

It was a strange thing to Rachel Elizabeth Dare cry. She was so headstrong, so stubborn, practically immune to tears and yet there she was crying into her hands, and Annabeth was only person that seemed to pay attention, that seemed to care.

"Oh Rachel," Annabeth whispered, pitiful.

"If I hadn't turned into what I was, and just tried to be nicer to you, everything would have been different," Rachel mumbled, wiping tears away from her mascara-stained cheeks. "I'm so sorry, Annabeth. D-do you...do you forgive me?"

Annabeth hesitated.

This was the important make it or break it question. Would she forgive Rachel? Would she forget everything that Rachel has ever done for her? Would she ultimately choose to look past the horrible deeds that Rachel has done and accept her back into the group that she once belonged in?

Annabeth took one last look at the teary-eyed Rachel and whispered her answer.

"Yes."

Yes: the three lettered-word that could change the rest of the year for Annabeth. The one word that held so many different outcomes and consequences. What would happen now that Annabeth decided to forgive and the forget that one person that terrorized her life. The one person that would relentlessly Annabeth every possible second of the day.

"I forgive you Rachel," Annabeth said, clearly, no regret in her voice.

Rachel looked up at Annabeth, a large smile plastered on her face. And suddenly, Rachel grabbed Annabeth and threw her into a massive bear hug. "Thank you so much Annabeth!" Rachel shouted, attracting the attention of many confused students.

Annabeth laughed a little. "Come on."

She kindly took Rachel's hands and brought back into the cafeteria.

The first to react was Thalia. She let out a strange, muffled shriek when she saw Annabeth bringing Rachel to the table. The next was Travis and Connor, who, for once, remained silent, staring at the strange sight. Finally came Katie, who was staring wide-eyed at Annabeth and Rachel. the lastly, the most important of all: Percy. he had a funny grin on his face, the one that Annabeth loved so dearly.

"Annabeth," Travis mumbled, his voice stern. "What in the hell is going on?"

Annabeth sent Rachel a distressed look. They both knew that this was going to happen.

"Um, guys, can you make some room for Rachel?" Annabeth said, shakily.

No one dared to move.

"Annabeth? Why is she here?" Katie said through clenched teeth.

"Go away Rachel! No one wants you here!" Thalia snapped, earning appreciative grins from Travis, Connor, and Katie.

"Thalia-!" Annabeth started, a little angry.

"Annabeth, it's okay," Rachel said, calmly. "You have to admit, that you knew that this was going to happen. They're not going to be as eager to forgive as you would be." She sounded gentle, kind even.

"F-forgive?!" Thalia shouted.

"I-I forgave Rachel for everything that happened before."

"You forgave her?!" Thalia repeated. "After everything that had happened?"

"She had her reasons," Annabeth mumbled, a little put out.

Thalia gaped at Annabeth. "She had her reasons?! Need I remind you what she did? She tortured you every single day of high school! She almost made you switched schools. Without us, you would be somewhere halfway across the nation. We stopped you from losing your best friends. Without us, you would have never met Percy. Do you really want to throw that all away because she apologized?!"

"Thalia-!" Annabeth started.

"No, Annabeth! It's either us or her."

Annabeth didn't know what to say. She looked back at Rachel and then at her friends, gasping at the frightful choice.

After a few seconds of silence, Thalia scoffed, rolling her eyes. She stood up, taking her tray along with her, "Here. Rachel can have my spot." She quickly stormed away, tossing her tray aside and ran out of the cafeteria.

"Or ours," Travis and Connor said together before following Thalia's example.

Katie took one last look at Annabeth.

"Katie," Annabeth started.

Katie shook her head. "You choose her Annabeth. We all know that." Then, she got up and left.

Just like the rest of them.

Annabeth took a seat next to Percy and leaned into his shoulders. She felt his protective arms wrap around her and he placed a very gentle kiss on her forehead.

"I'm so sorry Annabeth," Rachel whispered, leaning down to Annabeth's level. "This is all my fault."

Annabeth shook her and turned to face her former enemy. "Rachel, it isn't your fault. I didn't know that they would react like this. I thought they would be most understanding...like Percy."

Immediately, when Annabeth said Percy's name, Rachel looked up to gaze at him in awe. "Thank you for...you know...not treating me like I'm a horrible person."

Percy shrugged. He loosened his grip on Annabeth and turned to face Rachel a little closer. "Anyone that Annabeth trusts, I trust."

Percy extended his hand toward Rachel, and she smiled at him appreciatively.

"Thank you," she said with a smile as she took Percy's hand. They shook it for a few seconds, before Percy retreated his hand, gesturing for Rachel for a take a seat beside her two new friends.

The relationship between Annabeth and her other friends grew chilly, at best. Most of them just altogether stopped speaking to her, except for Travis or Connor, who occasionally said hi when they passed Annabeth, or when they came across each other in a class they had together. But Katie, who was almost always lagging a few paces behind Travis, would give Annabeth the cold shoulder as act as Annabeth was the enemy. But Thalia...Thalia was worse. She acted as if Annabeth didn't exist at all, as if she was just a figment of everyone else's imagination. If Annabeth were sit down beside Thalia at lunch and try to start a conversation with Travis or Connor, Thalia would butt in and talk to them, as if Annabeth wasn't even there.

But the only person that she could really rely on to always be there was just one person: Luke.

"I don't understand why they hate me so much...," Annabeth thought aloud, picking up a rock on the cliffside and chucking it into the ocean.

Luke, Percy, Rachel and Annabeth had driven for nearly three hours to get to Montauk Beach (Is that right?), a beautiful in which Percy had vacationed at with his mom when he was young. They were planning on the spending the weekend out there all by themselves, just to give them all a little of separation from the cruel, outside world.

While Percy and Rachel, who had already been to Montauk multiple times, were setting and cleaning up their cabin, Annabeth and Luke decided to explore the beach. They found themselves trailing along a small, rocky cliffside that jutted out into the ocean.

"They're just worried about you, that's all. They'll come 'round," Luke reassured.

"Why can't they just forgive Rachel, like I did?"

"I'm sure it isn't that easy for them," Luke clarified. "Having to watch you go through what you did wasn't easy for us either Annabeth. We all hated seeing you feel like that, go to that extreme. I'm sure they're just acting like this because they're worried that something bad is going to happen to you."

Annabeth stopped where she stood and looked at Luke. "Are you worried about me?"

Luke gave Annabeth a small smile, "Of course I'm worried about you Annabeth. You're like my little sister. I, of all people, am the last person that wants to see you get hurt."

"Then how come you're not treating me like the rest of them?"

Luke sighed, pondering this question for a moment. "Because I know that there's nothing that I can do to convince you otherwise. If you trust Rachel, then I have to trust that you know what you're talking about. If you think Rachel isn't going to go back to being what she was used to be, then I think the same. I'm just the only person that's admitted so far."

"I doubt any of them are going to admit to that. Especially Thalia."

Luke laughed. "Don't worry about Thalia. She misses you already. By the next week, I'm sure you'll friendship will be has good as it's ever been."

Annabeth chuckled. "Doubt it."

"Annabeth, I'm serious. They all miss you. Sure, it won't ever be the same with Rachel around, but they'll learn to cope if they really want keep you as a friend. And trust me...they do. Especially Thalia. I don't think I've ever seen you as sad as she's been now."

"I miss her too," Annabeth sighed. She took a few steps closer to the cliff, before sitting down on the edge, dangling her feet over the harsh waves.

"Be careful, Annie," Luke warned, jokingly. "You wouldn't want to fall."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Like you'd let me."

Luke strolled over to Annabeth. "You never know. Some random, powerful wind might just come and push you over." In that instant, Luke gave Annabeth a sharp jerk and Annabeth let out a shrill scream as she desperately clutched the ground. Luke laughed. "I told you to be a careful."

Annabeth, outraged, stood up, glaring at him. "Luke Castellan," she spat, "I'm going to kill you!"

Hahaha! Hey, no cliffie! That's always good!

Yeah, I know this chapter doesn't contain much Percabeth...but...it's getting there...

Sorry this chapter is kind of short...but I really did need to update

REVIEW PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

~Juicyfruity39