A/N: Thank you all for your patience and support! Those things have meant the world for me! I know that the updates have meant quite slow, but thank you for always having patience with me! I want to make each chapter interesting and offer the kind of story that I'm proud of and what you want to read. I want to this time give a special thank you to one of my lovely reviewer that has been on this journey until now from the very beginning: MadisonSquareGarden167, thank you! Your endless support and reviews have always made me smile and made my day better! Thank you! xoxo!
Chapter 10
It had been two weeks since Annabeth and Percy had last talked to each other. Two awfully painful long weeks. It felt like the time had stopped now that their interaction was gone. It was like the kiss had never happened. Nor the actions they had shared before it. They were back to being two complete strangers that wanted nothing to do with each other. The truth though, couldn't be further away from reality.
The two young people rocking their teenage years had done their very best in avoiding each other. Annabeth was still quite new to having feelings for another. She was scared of them – feelings were dangerous, they lied and betrayed. No feeling as everlasting. She had learn this the hard way. Her father had left her mother and her when she was young making her mother so heartbroken afterwards for so many years. It hurt her soul to remember those days when her mother didn't want to get out of bed, because her heart had been crushed by a man she once loved. That sealed the nail to the coffin. Feelings were never a good thing. And so she kept on thinking to this today. Or before Percy stepped into her life. After seeing the heart pain of her mother, she desperately wanted to shield herself from the same destruction, so she made the decision to make sure to never fall for anyone. She was better off alone. But then he happened. The school's ultimate bad boy gang leader Percy Jackson happened. He made Annabeth conflicted about her world view. About everything. He made her conflicted about her own feelings towards him – they had, no matter what, just known each other for such a short time. Deciphering what she was feeling at this point was useless. She was unsure of lots of things right now. Was this all just a fling that would end before it even started or something that could develop into something much more serious? Only time would tell.
For Percy his own feelings and opinions of Annabeth were very clear – he liked Annabeth. A lot. That was something for sure. Annabeth was different from the other girls – she wasn't an attention seeker nor a typical lonewolf. Annabeth was someone that couldn't really be fitted into any stereotype category. She was something truly special that intrigued Percy a lot. She was more like a suitcase of light in a dusty, lightless room or a dazzling flame in the cold winter snow. Nevertheless the real question was: did she feel the same way about him.
It was lunchtime and the campus of Goode High was filled with the usual lively chit-chat. The continues source of life in Goode High mostly came from the Party-Girls' table where the hot topic: tonight's start-of-semester-party, was being actively discussed. Questions were being bombarded one after another and analysed like some chemistry lab exercises. Who was going to be there? Which boy had already asked which girl to be his partner? Which couple was going to win the title of King and Queen? The flow of questions was never-ending. It was funny how perseverant girls could be when talking about certain topics like the party or boys. They could just talk and talk, and continue forever. Like usual, the conversations about the party were started to be discussed at least a month beforehand, but could be continued even until just a few hours before the event. Tonight it also meant only one thing: a lot of drama.
After some weeks of going to school in Goode, Annabeth had in fact successfully made some new friends: Thalia, of course, was her first friend here and total best friend, a curveball of fire and energy that had striked through the sky, basically the pure opposite of Annabeth, but that was maybe the string that made their bond so strong, then their came Juniper, a golden haired blonde like Annabeth too from art classes, she was a passionate animal lover and like a glass of orange juice, sweat and kind. The most unexpected friendship was formed between her and Grover Underwood, another student from the Greek Mythology course. Grover was like Annabeth, also a transfer student but just from last semester, so they shared this and their interest for the subject. He was also very very kind and the boyfriend of Juniper.
Now, the reward for having friends was shown by getting some company during the lunch breaks, though she didn't really need company since she was an introvert herself. The conversation in their table was also about nothing else but about tonight's party.
"Hey, Annabeth, what are you planning to wear for the dances?" Juniper asked enthusiastically like always.
"Truthfully, I don't really know yet… Parties and dances aren't really my thing."
"Well, then we are gonna make you one, and I assure you, Juniper is going to make sure this mission is accomplished!" Now it was Thalia's time to talk. She either wasn't a too excited party-person, but teasing Annabeth a little was a core part of their friendship. Thalia might look tough and dangerous from the outside, but from beneath her cold exterior she genuinely cared a lot for her friends.
"Oh, yes, I am going to make sure of that. Am I right, Grover? "
"Yeah… for sure" Grover replied with a sigh underneath his breath. This was his girlfriend he was talking to.
Just as Juniper was going to continue her rant about how she was going to do Annabeth's makeup and choosing her outfit, the bell signalling the end of lunchbreak rang loudly interrupting the lively atmosphere inside the high school campus.
The next periods went by in a flash and Annabeth headed home as fast as possible when the next bell rang, making the high school students dash out the school building. She had, regardless of resisting Juniper, booked herself a makeup appointment managed by who other than her dear friend Juniper. Truly, she was even slightly excited and looked forward to it, even though she would never admit it outloud. Her mother wasn't any makeup artist or as a matter of fact her mother didn't even possess the makeup skills of an average person. Her mother's skills were very poor if we were being blunt, that came out to also be a reason why she never did makeup for Annabeth nor did Annabeth have any motivation to try doing it by herself. She never thought it was necessary.
It was getting significantly close to four o'clock in the evening when the front door's doorbell rang in the living room and Annabeth rushed to open the door for no one else than Juniper and Thalia. The plan for the evening was that Juniper and Thalia would first come to Annabeth's house to do her makeup and choose her outfit. Then if there was still leftover time, they would just hang out, and at six o'clock head to the party.
Annabeth wasn't too hyped and thrilled about the makeup part, but the results turned out amazing.
"Ha, I told you, you wouldn't be disappointed after the master has done her work! Now look at you, girl! " Juniper had said proudly throwing her hands in the air and pointing and admiring her newest art, which in this case was Annabeth herself.
The light layer of mascara applied with Juniper's magical brush made her skin look fairer, and the hint of dark eye shadow made her stormy grey orbs look more fascinating and full of wisdom, making her feel sexy and confident. The deep plum red lipstick added as the final touch made her lips look slightly fuller, luscious. She looked like the Athena's, the Goddess of Wisdom and Reason's human child.
After Juniper had finished doing her magic: makeup, it was Thalia's turn to pick the dress. Because Annabeth wasn't exactly the party type so she didn't own too many dresses, Thalia had already picked a few of her own dresses and now she and Juniper would choose which Annabeth would wear to tonight's start-of-semester-party. Thalia had brought three different dresses each representing a different style. The first one was a classic party dress, suitable for parties and different balls. It had an elegant shoulderless black upper body with a long princess-like navy blue frock. The second one was a cute baby pink satin dress with slim shoulder straps and a delicate cowl neckline. The third one was something Annabeth put straight out of consideration. It was a short shiny black dress with an asymmetric neckline, one shoulder strap accompanied with one ruched bra cup and a sexy slide slit. It was over-the-top! The whole dress practically screamed no to Annabeth. No, no and no! After choosing back and forth between the first and second dress they came to the understanding: Annabeth would wear the baby pink satin dress for the party. She didn't want to be overdressed, overformal. The party should be fun and the dress was the closest to the definition of fun, right? But in the back of her head, unconsciously, Annabeth wondered what Percy would think of her appearance tonight.
A/N: Thank you so much for reading! Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Review and guess what will happen at the party! See you next time my loves!