Hey guys! I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Disclaimer: Do I really have to come up with another clever way of saying I'm not Rick? Bleh. Maybe next time.
When Annabeth boarded the plane to the one place she had been avoiding, she was not excited. She just felt dread. Obvious, impending, dred.
At least Piper was with her. And at least she knew she had a place to stay. They had chosen this bed and breakfast place that looked cozy, and rented out their upstairs to newcomers. Sure, she wasn't a newcomer, but it was close enough.
They boarded the plane, and took their seats, which thank god, were next to each other. Annabeth had only been to a place once or twice before, so she didn't know all the edicate, so it was nice that she had an experienced traveler like Piper with her.
Piper had traveled all around the world with her dad, Tristian Mclean, which meant she was a pro at traveling. When they were just getting to know each other, Annabeth learned that Piper was on the train to berkeley, because her father was shooting a scene in their little town, meaning Piper had to take the train to Berkeley.
Annabeth glanced over to Piper to see what she was doing, and saw the girl shoving her carry on bag under her seat, and stretching her arms out to achieve ample space.
Annabeth followed suit, and then looked around, noticing all the weird looks she and Piper were getting.
That didn't matter. She always got weird looks when being with Piper. For one, Piper was astoundingly beautiful, in the most effortless way. Annabeth practically wanted to be her when she grew up, Piper had this aesthetic look that followed her everywhere she went. Take a look at her instagram- although Piper came off as not-caring that much about appearance, her photos always managed to look effortlessly amazing.
On top of that, she was Tristian Mclean's daughter, meaning that she was bound to get a couple of amazed looks or even autograph requests wherever she was.
Continuing on, she turned to Piper, who was now picking at a hang-nail.
"So, do we just wait?"
Piper laughed. "You've been on a plane before, right?"
"Yeah, of course," Annabeth said. "But only once."
"Just from New York to California?" Piper asked.
Annabeth nodded in response. "So, the place we're staying at seems nice. I looked into the reviews, and although they're only a couple, it seemed good."
"That's good." Piper smiled. "Are you nervous about going back? I know about Percy-"
Annabeth cut her off. "Percy isn't going to disrupt anything. I'll be fine, you know, it's possible I won't even see him, I mean, the town's small, but most likely we'll avoid each other right?" Annabeth was babbling, but she found she couldn't stop each other.
Piper looked at her carefully. "You're over him, right?" She asked slowly.
Before Annabeth was able to answer, she was cut off by another voice. "Hey, are you Tristian Mclean's daughter?" She looked up, to see a dark haired girl who was leering over them. "Because you look a lot like her."
She turned to Piper, who flinched just the tiniest bit- but only enough for Annabeth to notice. Piper soon mustered a smile, "Yeah, that's me." She said, "He's my dad."
The girl looked down at her in awe. "That's so cool. Wow, could I get a picture? I've seen you at interviews before, you seem cool."
Piper smiled, though to Annabeth it seemed very forced. "Did you hear that Annabeth," She mustered. "She thinks I'm cool."
Annabeth looked up at the girl. "She's actually really a big nerd."
The girl looked unsure of what to say, and instead nodded awkwardly, taking out her camera, and Annabeth slunk out of her seat to let the girl take a picture. Once she was done, the girl chatted with Piper, who looked extremely uncomfortable, and then left.
When Annabeth sat back down with Piper, she cast a meaningful look at her. "Sorry about that."
"One interview with 'People' and everyone knows who you are." She said, and tried to laugh. "Really Annabeth, it's okay. I'm used to it. I just told her not to tell anyone, and she said yeah. We won't be bothered anymore."
Annabeth shook her head. "It's so weird, being friends with you-" Piper raised an eyebrow. "Best friends," Annabeth added, "Your life isn't private at all. I mean, I didn't even know who you were originally, but now, everywhere I look, Tristian Mclean is plastered everywhere across the walls."
"And I'm just a lowly old therapist." Piper said. "Yeah, I think Hollywood thought I'd follow Dad's footsteps, but nope, not me, never me. I like helping people, not making them forget their problems."
During the few times Annabeth and Piper had talked about their parents, Piper had seemed almost resentful of her father's fame. She obviously didn't like it one bit, and because of that, did her best to distance herself from her father. As long as Annabeth had known her, she'd only been in one interview (the "People" one, as aforementioned).
"You're not a lowly therapist," Annabeth said, "Well, you will be when we arrive at our destination. It's kind of a small town."
Piper squeezed her eyebrows together. "Like the ones in those romance novels?"
"Like the ones in those romance novels." Annabeth laughed at the irony that her high school story could have qualified as a plot in "one of those romance movies." Well, except for the break-up part. In romance novels, there was always a happy ending. A happy ending, Annabeth thought, that I will never get.
She looked up, to see Piper looking at her skeptically. "Wait, did I say that outloud?"
"Yeah." Piper said. "And speaking of romance, both of us have barely gotten an action. Moving to a new town will give us new opportunities to date when we aren't working."
"Seriously Piper?" This was not like her at all. Sure Piper had her fair share of relationships, and yeah, so had Annabeth in her college years, but she never took her as a romantic.
"Come on," Piper leaned toward her. "Tell me, are there any hot people in your hometown?"
Annabeth thought back to it. As she thought further and further, there was an exceptional amount of randomly attractive people in her old town. But of course, beauty was objective, so it really depended.
"Depends." Annabeth said. "What's your type?" She asked.
Piper shoved Annabeth lightly. "You know my type," Piper laughed. "I like blondies." Piper paused. "But also guys with dark curly hair." She paused again. "And I wouldn't mind full lips, but also-"
Annabeth cut her off. "This is so not you." She said, "Why are you suddenly getting all romantic?"
Piper waved her hand in front of her. "Must be all the air pressure." She said.
"Piper, we're not even flying yet."
She shrugged, and soon, they were indeed pushing off and flying. Hometown, Annabeth thought, Here I come.
Percy, here I come.
In this chapter, I wanted to develop Annabeth and Piper's friendship a little more, so I hope you enjoyed it.
I hope you guys enjoyed it, and please, let me know what you think in the reviews! I love reading all of your comments, they all make me feel really happy and motivated!
Also, to all of my "Knelt By Her Notebook" readers, I was thinking about making a short little sequel. I don't know how big it would be, but after I finish this, I'd probably work on that. It wouldn't be as big as "Knelt by Her Notebook," probably ten to fifteen chapters. I don't know. I'd like to hear (or read… I guess?) what you guys think before I commit to anything.
Stay safe and healthy everyone! Next chapter is going to be posted Monday!
TheLil'Lion