Annabeth sighed as she made herself comfortable. She snuggled into her blanket and pillows while she flipped to the next page of her latest romance novel. Annabeth was a romanticist at heart. While she hated it when people 'in love' ate each others faces in public, she loved to fantasize about true love, especially that of princes and princesses. The fifteen-year old never had romantic feelings for anyone, as she believed that true love only existed in books. 'Why then', she mused, 'would my mother have to leave my father – and me?'. The young girl lived her love-life through the characters from numerous romance novels.

Annabeth's father was a middle-class man, while her mother was the daughter of a CEO. Zeus Olympus, the CEO of Thunder Airlines was perhaps the richest – and meanest – man on earth. His daughter, Athena, met Frederick when they were in college at NYU. Both of them dreamt of becoming well-known professors after graduating, and hit it off immediately. A few months later, Frederick gained enough courage to ask Athena out on a date. He was ecstatic when she blushed and accepted.

Athena and Frederick were a power couple. They were not fueled by lust, but by passion to help other people. Both of them aimed to develop the education system, and help unprivileged students who had real talent. They worked hard and long, aiming to become the best-known professors, and open their own schools and colleges. Their long course took years, but their relationship was as strong as ever.

They were both very level-headed, and never acted on impulse. Three years into their relationship, Athena decided to introduce her boyfriend to her father. She knew that Frederick, though he didn't have a rich background like her, was destined to become great. With that in mind, the couple went to meet Zeus for dinner.

Dinner did not go as smoothly as Athena expected. She knew her father wouldn't fawn over Frederick, but she never expected him to taunt his background. Sure, he wasn't as rich as them, but he would work his way to success. By the time dinner was finished, Frederick was almost reduced to tears, after listening to Zeus' rants about him not being worthy of his daughter. Devastated, Frederick ran to his house as soon as Zeus left.

Athena was furious. She demanded her father to meet Frederick again, and judge him based on his personality, not money. But Zeus was adamant. Upon listening to his daughter raise her voice against him for the first time, he forbid her from meeting Frederick, as he was a bad influence on her.

An infuriated Athena threw all her level-headed thoughts out of the window, and ran out of the house. She kept running until she was tired. The girl was thirsty, and without giving it a thought, she entered a place with a brightly lit signboard. 'Jones' Bar' it said, and Athena went inside, unaware of what was to happen in a few hours. A few drinks later, a buzzed Athena met a drunk Frederick. She consoled him and promised him that she didn't care about what her dad had said. Soon, neither Athena nor Frederick knew what was happening, but the next morning, they woke up to each other's limbs tangled together. Frederick was scared that they had ignored Zeus' words, but Athena convinced him that they would talk to her father later.

All was good for the couple. They did have to sneak around to meet each other, but they slowly worked out ideas on how to get Zeus to accept their relationship.

Alas, not all good things last forever, and when Frederick received a call a month later from a crying Athena, he knew his life was about to change forever. He immediately met her at their secret spot – a cave near the local park. Minutes later, he had the shock of his life when Athena gave him a positive pregnancy test. Her stormy grey eyes were bloodshot and he could almost hear the gears in her brain whirring. They were both only twenty years old. Neither of them could a raise a baby. They still had a couple more years to finish college, and Frederick was barely able to make ends meet while Athena could never raise a baby because of Zeus. Adding a baby into the equation would result in them having to give up on their dream of opening schools and colleges.

Frederick was given the shock of his life when Athena announced that she would just abort it. He was appalled that she could think of doing that to their own baby. The man tried to reason with her, but she did not budge. After hours of fighting over it, Athena ran away, leaving Frederick behind. He was scared for his baby, and upset that they were killing a baby, without giving them a chance to see the world.

For months, he tried to contact Athena, but to no avail. One summer morning, Frederick opened the door of his new apartment, stunned to see a golden-colored cradle by the door. A closer look at the cradle, and Frederick saw the face of his angelic daughter. She looked about a few days old, and was observing her surroundings, her grey eyes wide open. When they landed on her father, she smiled. Looking at his daughter, Frederick, despite being only twenty-one years old, knew that he would protect her with his life. The young man brushed a strand of curly blond hair away from her face, and noticed a card in the cradle. 'I'm sorry.' were the only words written in the card, and he knew that his daughter – Annabeth Chase he decided, would grow up without even knowing who her mother was. Frederick pledged to make her feel no absence of a mother, but sighed, as he knew his little baby would be as smart as her mother, if not smarter.

He pressed his lips against her forehead and prepared for his life to change.

Hello! I'm back again. (Laughs cynically)

Anyways, I just started this story, and I think it's going to be pretty good! This is only the first chapter, and I have no idea how many chapters it'll take, but I have a good idea of the main plot and ending.

Reviews are highly appreciated! (I'm begging you!)

It feels great to know that people have read my first story 'As The Tears Fell', and I would love it if you could tell me if you liked it!

Once again, I'm not the best writer, and I want to improve my skills on this platform.

See you soon!

~LittleMissPrincess