You know, I'm really glad that you readers liked last chapter so much! I'm glad that people were happy with how ended, and (JUST A LITTLE SPOILER) you'll be happy with this chapter too.
Thanks for reviewing! We're SO close to 600 reviews! Do you think we could get this story to 600? It'll be my late birthday present XD
I forget to mention this last chapter, but HAPPY LATE ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY! I started this story about year ago and I'm proud to know how much this story and my writing has improved!
SCHOOL STARTS NEXT WEEK! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!
Enough of me! Let's read :)
Chapter 28
The following day, Percy woke up and felt like a million bucks. It was the first time in several months that he woke up single and didn't feel like he had struggle through the day, carefully thinking over everything he said just so that it didn't offend Rachel. It was the first time that he was felt free. He didn't have to worry about looking perfect or about not being able to see his other friends because Rachel demanded all of his attention and time. Percy could actually walk outside of his apartment doors, hang out with Nico and Grover and actually talk to girls. He had to admit that he was still disappointed he couldn't talk to the girl that he wanted to talk to but he was pretty sure that dumping Rachel would please Annabeth.
Percy grinned, leaping out of his bed. He opened up his window and smiled the fresh air. It reminded him of one of those cheesy cartoons with over-exaggerated happiness from the characters. But that's how he felt! He felt like a million bucks and today, he was going to enjoy freedom.
He grabbed a pair of khaki shorts and a orange t-shirt. Yeah, orange wasn't exactly a color that suited him, but hey, it's not like Rachel was going to be around to go and tell him to change. He ran his fingers through his hair a couple of times and smirked at his reflection, which was seen through a family portrait hanging up on a wall. He threw on a pair of socks and ran into the kitchen where he saw his mother cooking.
"Well hello, Mr. Senior!" Mrs. Jackson shouted. She set down a frying pan. "Someone looks awfully excited!"
Percy poured himself a glass of orange juice as he spoke, "Believe me! I haven't felt this good in months!"
"Why? Are you meeting up with your friends today?" She asked.
"Nah! I'm single and ready to mingle!" Percy admitted. Sally set down the plates and looked at her son. For a second, Percy thought he was going to get a pretty serious talk, but Sally just laughed and returned cooking. "I'm going to hang out with some friends for the day. Do you mind?"
"No. But make you sure you come home by at least five! We have to carry out our family tradition."
"Oh yeah!" Percy said, grinning. At the end of every school year, Percy and his mother would make a huge batch of blue chocolate cookies for him and his friends. They would practically devour the entire batch while they watch a bunch of R-rated horror movies. Mrs. Jackson didn't normally join Percy on those movie nights, but Mrs. Jackson always saved a couple for her and Percy for the next day.
"I got Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Human Centipede, which sounds really gross by the way and lastly Friday the 13th! Just as you requested!" Mrs. Jackson held out three DVDs.
Percy shuddered. He had Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Friday the 13th multiple times but they were fantastic movies, and they still scared Percy every time he watches them. As for the Human Centipede, he always thought that it looked a little gross for his liking, but he was willing to try out new things. Besides, it would be pretty fun to see the daylights get scared out of Nico and Grover.
After Percy had a delicious and big breakfast made by his mother, he was off. He picked up Grover, Nico, Chris and Clarisse on the way to the mall, where he was meeting the rest of his friends. Once they reached the mall, he told his friends about the horror movie idea. It seemed to scare Grover a little but the others seemed pretty excited to get the stuffing scared out of them.
"Oh come on, Grover! Don't be such a kill joy!" Percy urged. "Don't you want to have a nice, fun night with the friends?"
Grover muttered something inaudible but decided to drop it. "Fine, fine, fine!"
"Let's stay up all night!" Thalia said, grinning. "We'll all come over at like eight and just stay up the entire night and eat five pounds of popcorn and drink three liters of soda!"
"Sounds like a plan!" Chris said.
"Great! I'm sure my mom would be okay with that!" Percy agreed.
"So where to first?" Silena asked, her eyes eyeing the different stores lined up across the mall. Silena had never gone shopping at this mall that they were at and she was awfully excited to go spend more money on clothes that she didn't need.
Beck groaned, "More shopping?! Sweetie, I just worked out yesterday. I don't think my arms can take holding that many shopping bags. "
"Girls," Connor mumbled. "They're so crazy."
"And that thought is the exact reason why your still single," Travis said, grinning. Connor punched his brother in the arm.
Suddenly, Percy heard Katie gasp and tense up. She seemed to be staring at two people standing in line at some bakery store. Percy looked over and gasped just like the rest of his friends. He saw Annabeth and Malcolm standing there and laughing, like they didn't have a problem in the world. Annabeth said something to Malcolm, which made Malcolm laugh and he gave his little sister a huge hug. They finished buying what looked like a huge cake and started walking toward the group of friends.
She stopped dead in her tracks. She smiled at Percy and his friends. "Um, hi...," she whispered. She was staring directly at the floor, refusing to make eye contact with any of them, especially Percy and Luke.
"Hey, Annabeth," Thalia said.
She gave her best friend a small smile, before looking up at her older brother, Malcolm. Percy saw Annabeth's older brother give him the worst glare in the whole wide world and Percy quickly looked away. Honestly, Malcolm was scarier than Annabeth sometimes.
"Um, we'll see you guys around," Annabeth mumbled. She awkwardly grabbed Malcolm's arm and started to practically run away from us.
Percy looked at his friends and then after her. "Annabeth, wait!" Percy gently reached out for Annabeth's arm and pulled her to a stop. Malcolm and Annabeth turned to face Percy, and Percy shuddered, trying not to look at Malcolm as he spoke. "Look, uh, I was wondering if you wanted to come over to my place. The rest of them are going to be here, and we were going to have a little small party. We were going to watch some movies. Maybe go that karaoke cafe first."
"What about Rachel?" Annabeth said.
Percy grinned, "Trust me, she won't be bothering us for a while."
"You mean...," Malcolm muttered before Annabeth could, his eyebrows raised.
"Yup," Percy said, "Rachel is, as you would say, a destroyed architectural failure."
Annabeth chuckled, "I would never say that in my life, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth looked up at her older brother. She smiled at Malcolm, "Um, I'll meet you at the car. Can I talk to Percy? Alone?"
Malcolm hesitated. "Fine...," He muttered. He grabbed the bag that looked have cake in it from Annabeth and walked to out of the mall. Before leaving, he looked back, gave Percy a very quick glare that reminded Percy so much of Annabeth when she was mad, and then left.
"You and brother are awfully alike," Percy muttered.
Annabeth chuckled. "Whatever. So, you broke up with Rachel? Why?"
Percy shrugged. "I was tired of her being so mean to our friends...and you, in particular. I was just tired of listening to her insult everyone I cared about. I hate bullies."
"Funny how you dated one," Annabeth pointed out.
"Funny how your dating one, too," Percy retorted.
Annabeth rolled her eyes, and chuckled. "So, about tonight? What movies are we going to be watching?"
Percy grinned. "Just a couple of horror movies, if you don't mind getting scared."
"Scared? I'm Annabeth Chase. I don't get scared."
Percy smirked, "We'll see about that."
Annabeth grinned. "Whatever, Seaweed Brain. Look, I should get back to my brother. It was nice seeing you."
"It was nice seeing you too, Wise Girl. I'll see you tonight."
Annabeth smiled. She turned on her heels and started walking toward her brother, who was impatiently waiting by the doors. She met up with him and the two of them walked out to Malcolm's car. He set down the cake that they were buying for a celebration that they were having in a few days and hopped into the front seat, while Annabeth got into the passenger's side.
"So you and Percy?" Malcolm started. "Your friends again?"
"Do you really want to talk about boys with your younger sister?" Annabeth challenged.
Malcolm shrugged, turning a little red. "It's not that. It's just, I need to make sure that you and him don't do anything stupid. I don't want to see you get hurt again, Annie. And just remember, if you do get hurt I'm always here to throw the first punch."
Annabeth snickered. "Don't worry. That's...," Annabeth trailed, "Luke's job," she whispered even quieter than before.
"What's wrong with you and Luke?"
Annabeth shrugged. "Nothing. We're just having some problems."
Malcolm scoffed. "What?! We are talking about you and Luke, right? You two never fight."
"Well, this time it's different! We've been arguing with each other a lot lately and I guess it really has started to come between us."
Malcolm sighed. "Annabeth, I'm going to tell you a story that I hope you listen to and appreciate. When I was college, I had a friend and we were the closest. We shared the same interests, I cared about them, they cared about me, kind of like the same relationship that you have with Luke. Well, one day, we got in a huge fight. I mean, I've never fought with someone the way that I fought with them. For about two weeks, we didn't talk to each other. We pretended like we hated each other. But one day, I was reading in the library and stumbled upon a quote that changed my perspective. 'This is certain, that a man studying revenge keeps his wounds green, which otherwise would heal and do well."
Annabeth nodded, "So you saying that if I don't forgive Luke, I'll stay hurt."
"You know, Annie, after that I day I made things up with my friends. Things worked out pretty well for us."
"Oh really? How well?"
"Well, I am married to her now."
Annabeth raised her eyebrows, "So your saying I should forgive Luke and then marry him." Malcolm glowered at his younger sister, who simply laughed at her brother's reaction. "I'm kidding! I'm kidding! I will take your advice in mind."
"Good. Now, about tonight. There won't be any sex, right?"
Annabeth stared at her brother. "Malcolm!"
Luke and Thalia were sitting hand in hand at an empty table, waiting for their friends to come back from the food court. They had spent most of the day walking around the mall, letting the girls shop and forcing the guys to carry their bags. Now, it was lunch time and Luke and Thalia had finished getting their spaghetti and meatballs, which they were sharing.
"Your coming to Percy's house tonight, right?" Thalia asked.
Luke shrugged. "I was hoping that you and I could have some alone time tonight."
Thalia smirked. "We're having alone time right now." She touched Luke's fingertips. "We're sharing pasta, like the Lady and the Tramp, and I promise that no one is going to sit here with us. It'll just be the two of us." She gazed into Thalia's eyes, and then suddenly, only to ruin the moment, Nico popped up and took the sit next o Thalia.
"Hey guys! What's up?!" Nico shouted. "Guys? Why are you staring into each other's eyes?"
Thalia pushed Nico off of the bench. "I told you," she said to Luke, "No one is going to ruin this."
Then, Luke's phone went off and Thalia scowled.
"Damn it! I thought you put that on vibrate!" Thalia shouted. Luke shrugged, sheepishly and he took out his cell phone. Then, as he looked at Caller ID, Luke gasped and clenched Thalia's wrist. "Luke, what's wrong?"
"It's uh...it's Annabeth," Luke muttered. He quickly picked his phone. "Hey, Annabeth? What's up?" Luke's eyes light up and his smiled at his girlfriend. "That would be great. With Thalia? Cool! I'll see you then." Luke hung up his phone and beamed at his girlfriend. "Guess who is finally getting along with Annabeth. She just asked us to go hang out with her at the mall today."
"Right now?" Thalia asked.
Luke smiled, "Right now."
(Page Break)
Annabeth was restlessly waiting by a bench outside of the mall. It was a fairly warm day with a nice breeze and she felt like getting some fresh air before she met up with her friends to spend the day together. She was waiting for Luke and Thalia, the two people that Annabeth was nervous about meeting. She felt stupid thinking that. This was Luke and Thalia. They were her best friends, but after everything with Mark and Percy, her relationship with the two of them, especially with Luke, was pretty strained but after listening to Malcolm's words of wisdom, she had finally decided to stop being so stubborn.
This meant, of course, that she would only forgive the people worth forgiving. Luke, for example. She knew that Luke was trying to protect her and she figured that he was just frustrated with Annabeth. And secondly, Percy. Sure, he probably did the cruelest, most cold-hearted thing that he can do in a relationship but Annabeth knew that it was a mistake. She knew that Percy learned his lesson and that he was broken up with Rachel, she didn't have to worry.
Yeah. Him and Rachel. Their done. Thank god! Is it selfish to think that? Is it selfish to be glad that your ex isn't in a happy relationship? No, Annabeth reassured herself, It's good. I'm only looking out for him because I know that Rachel is no good for him.
Of course, now that Percy doesn't have a girlfriend, this created another layer of complication between Annabeth and Percy. Annabeth is dating someone and Percy isn't. Percy still has feelings for Annabeth, and the better question is: does Annabeth still have feelings for her Seaweed Brain? Does she still...love him? She stills refers to him as Seaweed Brain and he consumes her thoughts just as much architecture or college does?
She groaned. She thought she is some overly cliched, cheesy high school story. This was awful! She missed the way things were before Percy. She even missed Rachel and Mark picking on her, only because she knew that Rachel would never hurt Annabeth this way. But to honest, if Percy hadn't showed up at Goode High School, Annabeth would have been even more saddened. What if Percy hadn't showed up? Would she still be single? Would she be dating Connor?! Or Nico?! Or worse yet, would Annabeth be dating Travis? Because of Percy swooping and saving Annabeth, Katie and Travis ended up getting together.
What if Annabeth would be with Travis? Annabeth shuddered, slightly disgusted.
"Is it too cold outside?" Someone asked smirking, obviously noticing her shudder.
Annabeth looked up to see Luke and Thalia walking toward her. She smirked. "Nah. Just thinking about what would have happened if Travis and I really got together after you guys set us up."
Thalia raised her eyebrows. "Don't let Katie hear you say that."
"Or anyone else for that matter," Luke added, smirking. He faked a shiver, and Annabeth laughed. The two met eyes and Luke sighed. "Look, Annabeth, I'm-."
"Don't," Annabeth interjected. "Don't apologize. I don't want you to apologize. You were just trying to protect me and I shouldn't have gotten to so mad. If anything, I'm the one that sorry."
"I'm still sorry for getting so mad at you and saying all the things that I said. You know, no matter what happens, I'm always going to be there for you."
Annabeth smiled, "I know."
For a second, Luke and Annabeth grinned at each other like there wasn't a single problem in the world. Thalia cleared of her throats. "Okay, enough staring into each other's souls for a second. Let's go shopping!"
Luke laughed. He wrapped his arms around Thalia and Annabeth and the three best friends started walking into the mall together. "So where to first?" Annabeth asked.
Thalia's eyes light up and she looked at the rows of the stores. "We could just go store by store."
"Until we run out of money?" Annabeth figured.
Thalia grinned, "Until Luke runs out of arm space."
"Oh god," Luke muttered. "I'll be waiting outside. If you need me, call me. If you need me for money, my phone number isn't available."
Thalia and Annabeth laughed and they walked into the nearest store, which sold every kind of shoe imaginable.
Annabeth and Thalia, to be honest, didn't need to buy any more shoes. They had plenty and after the shopping trip with Silena, Annabeth barely had enough money. So, instead of going shopping and buying things, they deciding to try on every shoe that fit their size. They skipped around the store, boxes and boxes of shoes around them, trying on heels that were way to big for Annabeth's taste, trying on flats that weren't Thalia's style and then trying on shoes that neither one found attractive.
It felt nice to hang out with a friend and not have to worry about boy problems, about Mark or Percy. She got to hang out with a friend, two friends actually, and for once, it was like this problem with Mark and Percy never existed. It was like Annabeth was still dating Percy, and that she was just hanging out with a couple of friends while Percy was away on swim meet that her mom didn't let her go on.
They continued to 'shop' for a couple more hours. Luke did, at one point, get bored of waiting outside (since his phone died) and so he decided to come in at one point. He watched the two girls try on dresses at some expensive store and shudder every time he looked at the price, as if worried that Thalia would make him buy it. Then, he would help them carry different outfits to the dressing room and put them all back when they didn't want them.
While Thalia and Luke were trying on matching outfits for their weird little couple photo album, Annabeth sit down on the bench near the dressing room and thought for a second. She found it hard to believe that actually managed to ignore Luke for two months. She had to admit, though, that it wasn't. It was like trying to fight water with fire.
When it was around 4:00 and their feet hurt ridiculously, Annabeth, Luke and Thalia were heading toward a bench when that one little curve ball deciding to appear, and miraculously and somehow, decided to smack Annabeth right in the face.
"Annabeth?!" Someone shouted from afar. Annabeth looked up, startled, by the sound of her voice, as did her two other friends. Walking over to Luke, Annabeth and Thalia was Mark, who was holding a small bag in his hand. He ran over to her, grinning. He gave Annabeth a hug. "Hey! What are you doing here?" Annabeth looked at her friends. "Oh, uh, hi!"
Thalia and Luke awkwardly smiled at Mark. "Uh, hi," Thalia muttered back.
Mark turned away from Thalia and Luke and looked at Annabeth. "So, Annie, did you hear about Percy and Rachel? They broke up! Could you believe it?"
Annabeth smirked, "Trust me, I'm still in shock."
Mark chuckled, "Oh well. I mean, you know it wasn't going to last. The two only hooked up because...well, you know why. Anyway, I was thinking maybe we could go out to dinner tonight. Just the two of us? We could go to that restaurant that you like so much. The La Ritz!"
"Where all relationships start," Luke muttered.
"And all relationships end," Thalia finished.
Mark looked over at the couple, "What was that?" They shrugged, deciding to play dumb. Mark just rolled his eyes and looked back at Annabeth. "So, what do you think? Should I pick you up at, say, 6:30? Afterwards, you could come back to my place and we could catch a movie together? It'll be a great night! We could go rent whatever movie you like the best!"
Annabeth hesitated and looked down at her feet, awkwardly. "Look Mark," she looked into his eyes, "I, uh, I already have plans tonight."
Mark looked hurt. "Doing what?"
"Um, Percy invited me and some other people over to his house to watch a couple of movies. You could come if you wanted."
"Can't you just cancel? I mean, please? You know I leave in a couple of days for vacation."
"Look, Mark, I had promised him that I would be there," Annabeth said, trying not to make eye contact with Luke or Thalia, who were awkwardly pretending to have a sudden interest in the pattern of the floor.
Mark rolled his eyes, "Annabeth, I thought that we could do something together. I mean, come on! I'm your boyfriend! Just cancel on Percy."
"I can't cancel on Percy! I already told him that I would be there."
"Annabeth, the kid broke your heart! You don't need that loser," Mark urged.
Annabeth rolled her eyes, "Not you, too. Mark, I am not defenseless. I can take care of myself."
"I'm just worried that..."
"Mark, look everybody knows that I love Percy...I-I mean you!" Annabeth's eyes widened at her mistake. Did she actually just say that she loved Percy...to her boyfriend, which wasn't Percy? She was hoping that Mark hadn't heard what she said, but judging by the anger in Mark's eyes, she was clearly wrong.
"Shit just got real, Thals," Luke muttered.
Annabeth heard Luke grunt, and assumed that Thalia had hit him. Annabeth, however, didn't care to much about Luke's well being, considered that she was about to deal with a very, very angry and very jealous boy. "Annabeth, you just said that you loved him!"
"That was an accident. It happens!" Annabeth defended. "I'm sorry, Mark. Honestly, it didn't mean anything."
Mark glowered at Annabeth, "If didn't mean anything, then I want you to look into my eyes and want you to tell me that you don't have any feelings for Percy and that you feel completely indifferent about Percy and Rachel breaking up."
She hesitated, tentatively opening her mouth and then shutting it again. She hadn't really thought about how she felt toward Percy. Sure, he broke her heart in the worst way possible, but she knew that he felt guilty about it and even though he ended up dating Rachel, who was Annabeth's arch enemy, Annabeth knew that he still cared about her. After all, he was always trying to reach out to her. But does this mean that Annabeth still cared about Percy? Does that Annabeth still feels...that way with Percy?
She thought about even further. Sure. He saved her from almost dying, he defended her against Rachel, he was there for her. Percy was a total dork sometimes, but Annabeth loved him for that. She couldn't deny it. She couldn't pretend to have completely moved on. Maybe Luke had been right from the start. Maybe Mark was just a rebound.
Mark glared at her. "That's what I thought."
And then he walked away and turned his back on Annabeth forever.
Yes. YES! Finally! Finally things are starting to turn around!
I'm pretty sure that every reader is jumping up and down thinking about how excited they are for Annabeth and Mark to finally break up. Now guys, how about you leave me a little review and then I'll update this.
Honestly, you are going to LOVE next chapter.
So how about you review? :)