Encounters

AN: Adressing Reviews: Javaxe 1: I know right? Starbucks is my life.

Natz 14: Good guess, and thanks, hope this was soon enough

Elleibarra: Whenever I see your username I think of ellie goulding lol. One of your guesses was correct.

Percyrocks: Thank you Thank you Thank you, it does make me really happy.

son of all: Well the wait is over.

Frosted Rock: don't worry, they won't by the end of the story

Knowlife90: I'm sorry, I know it was too short.

Zammy 987: Your wish is my command :P

jordycat2000: yeah, I guess they are.

Alright, well wanted to let you guys know that the sequel to Exception sis up and running, so check that out when you have a chance! Alright, let's get it.

Annabeth

I hated her. And not just like a regular kind of hate. You know, some people say they hate certain foods, or hate a certain sports team. That's normal hate. That's not what I felt for Helen. Not in the slightest bit. Hate is not a strong enough word. I absolutely despised her, I had no mercy. I didn't hate her to the point where I wouldn't help her if she was dying- that's just cruel and brutal-, but I wanted nothing to do with her, ever. When I graduated, I wouldn't look back. I mean I'd miss my Dad because he was great, but my hate for Helen overpowered my love for Dad. The lady was absolutely insane.

Way back when I was an innocent little toddler without any actual way of remembering things, Dad informed Malcolm and I that Mom had died in a plane crash. I didn't really get it at first, I thought she was going to come back, but then about two years after I was informed of the news, I saw my Dad talking to a woman at a coffee shop, and that's when everything sunk in.

I didn't really get why Dad went for Helen, she was literally the worst. And it wasn't a gradual thing, I mean one day we were all a nice happy family, and then the next, there was a woman with an engagement ring on her finger being introduced to us.

The entire marriage was shotgun, but there was no unexpected pregnancy or anything related at all. Dad said he loved her, and when you love someone, why wait? But I called bullshit so hard, and to this day, I still do. Dad just didn't look happy. At least, not as happy as he used to be with Mom. He always had this thing in his eyes that I couldn't place, and ever since Helen and Dad got married, he hasn't gotten to make one decision for the family. Whenever I asked him why he was still with Helen, he'd envelop me in his arms and let out a breath, mumbling something about how love was hard, and sometimes you had to sacrifice for the ones you loved. But I just didn't understand. How could he love her? What did he see in her other than bitchiness?

After the marriage, Helen's nice facade wasted away in less than a month. We used to be able to handle each other, but then came the day.

Malcolm and I were both deathly allergic to peanut butter. Like, just being close to it made us break out in hives. Helen was not aware of this. Dad worked at an architectural company, and Helen was the chief at our local police station. She had a very clean and respectable reputation there, and she was known as the most trusted officer there could be. I didn't know if she was manipulating people, or if she was just a good actor, but the Helen I knew was anything but trustworthy and respectable.

One day, around the time I was seven and Malcom was eight, we were left alone with Helen because Dad had a really big project in his company. We didn't have much food at the time, and so the cabinets were empty. Malcolm and I were really hungry, and we were begging Helen to make us some food. She immediatley launched for the easiest thing to make- peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches. Malcolm explained to her that we were allergic, but what did she say? She gave us a glare and then scolded us, blabbing about how we were being paranoid and stupid. Less than half an hour later, we were being rushed to the hospital- no thanks to Helen because Malcolm had to call 911 for both of us.

The most shocking part about the whole experience was that I told Dad that she forced us to eat the sandwhiches, and he just stared at his feet and defended her. Ever since then, I've hated the woman. Hated her. I couldn't really express how much I hated her, but I really really did. She treated my Dad like a pile of shit, treated Malcolm and I like a pile of shit, and she had the bitchiest attitude I would ever come to know.

And she was fucking abusive. I had a scar up the left side of my torso from one time that she was cooking and 'accidentally' slashed me with a butter knife. That day, Malcolm had almost lost it. The thing was, we couldn't really turn her in for being abusive because she was the chief. No one would believe a pair of teenagers.

I missed Mom more than anything. She was so beautiful, and I never even got a chance to know her. At least Malcolm was lucky enough to remember her, I could only stare at old pictures of her and fantasize about seeing her again- which would never happen in this life time.

After I actually understood what happened to her, I threw myself into my gymnastics. That was one of the reasons I didn't really fight against Piper's request for me to try out for cheerleading with her. Dad told me that when I was small, Mom was the one who wanted me to be in gymnastics, and I couldn't stop doing it after she'd passed. It kept me closer to her.

So after hearing all that, I'm sure you can imagine how not at all ready I was to introduce Helen to the guy that I had just maybe started to get along with. I mean, he'd given up a peace offering, and although I'd never admitt it, it was pretty delicious even though it was ridiculously priced. I didn't want Helen's disgusting attitude to ruin our whole semi- friendly mood.

But, I had to introduce them, otherwise Helen would yell at me and I'd have another bruise on my arm for Dad to ignore. So I reluctantly spit words out of my mouth, trying not to sound distasteful but failing miserably. Helen gave me a tight smile as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Hi Mrs. Chase, I'm Percy, Malcom's best friend. I recently moved here, and I have an english assignment with your daughter which might require me to be over quite a bit. I hope that's not an inconvenience for you."

"Oh, not at all. You seem like a very charming young lad. Annabeth, I need to talk to you in the kitchen." She bit back. And then she whisked herself away without another word. I hated how fake she acted towards everyone. I rolled my eyes at her moving figure and turned back to Percy. He was trying to stand still and had an embarrassed look on his face.

"Your mom's kind of intimidating." I scoffed.

"That lady is not my mom at all, don't even think about relating her to Mom. You can go wait upstairs if you need to." I replied calmly, trying not to sound offensive or rude. I padded towards the kitchen and let out a breath. "Yes, Helen?" She turned to me from the island in the kitchen and motioned for me to come closer. I had a bad feeling about the whole thing.

"We got a package from your school. You're going to a cheer tournament in Florida?" I groaned internally. Shit. Helen was never supportive of my cheerleading or Malcolm's spot on the football team. That's why I never told her anything. I did, in fact, have a tournament in Florida that I was really extremely excited about. It was really exclusive, and each member had to find their own way there. Malcolm was going with me because we were allowed one plus one to take for free entry into the tournament. We were going to drive all the way there and back.

"Yeah. It's in like a month. Fees are already payed, Malcom and I are driving there." She arched an eyebrow and gave me a smile that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

"Driving there? I don't think so. We got this package yesterday, your Dad and I talked it over. We got you tickets." I stilled and stared at her confused.

"Tickets?"

"For a flight." She stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"A flight? What? Why would you do that, I'm terrified of flying, you know that!" A look of anger flashed across her face, but at the moment I couldn't give two fucks. Both Dad and Helen knew I was scared of flying, how could he agree to this?

"I'm not letting you and that hog you call a brother waste my hard earned money on hundreds of gallons of gas just so you won't have to fly. Stop being a brat."

"Are you kidding me? We weren't even using your money! Malcolm has funds that he had stored away, he was going to use his own money to pay for gas!"

"I don't care what you have to say. Either you accept the flight, or you won't go." And that was that. I shut my eyes and held my breath, trying to avoid from saying something that would piss her off. Instead, I whipped around and marched up the stairs, trying desperatley to hold myself together. As soon as I was in my room, I slammed the door in the quietest way possible and leaned against it, trying to control the anger and pent up frustration wanting to be released. I rubbed my eyes with my right hand and squeezed the bridge between my nose.

"Are you okay?" I jumped at Percy's voice and pressed myself up against the door momentarily. He was sitting on my bed, looking stiff as a board. You vowed to never look weak, I reminded myself. I let out a breath and nodded as I fingered the necklace around my neck. Way back when, Mom had tons of jewelry in a big chest in the master bedroom. One day, when Helen was at work, Dad gave it to me. Now it's in my closet, but I always wear the Chase nameplate necklace mom used to have.

"Yeah. What are you doing up here?" I asked as I shut myself in the closet and slid an oversized shirt over my head. I opened the doors back up then shut the closet doors, grabbing my computer and sitting down on my bed.

"I don't particularly want to be alone, waiting for your brother in an empty bedroom." He admitted sheepishly.

"So you thought the next best thing was to be in his sister's room, on her bed, while she's changing clothes?" He rolled his eyes at me as I fixed my reading glasses on and turned my computer on.

"You're making it sound worse than it actually is. I like being around people, and, I mean, maybe we should get to know each other. We are going to see each other a lot." Talking about Malcolm made the fact that he still wasn't here spring back in my mind. I quickly pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed his number. Thankfully, he picked up.

"Malcolm! Where are you?" I could hear him panting over the phone and my nerves wracked.

"I told you, I'm at the store." A muffled voice from the back made my eyebrows scrunch together.

"The store my ass, what's going on? Where have you been? You said you'd only be gone for an hour." The panting was quieting down, but I was still trying to figure who the voice was.

"There's been a lot of traffic, Anna. Please, trust me?"

"Why are you lying to me? What's really going on? Where are you?" There was a long pause over the line, and I shut my eyes, trying to forget Percy was here.

"I have to go Annabeth, I'll see you at home." And then before I could get a word out, he hung up and the line went dead. I sat there with the phone in my hands for what seemed like forever.

"Is he okay?" I looked up at Percy and nodded, confused and upset, and wanting to punch something. "Where is he?"

"I don't know. Apparently he's at the store still."

"Are you okay?" He asked with concern. I shut my computer and slid it on my bed stand, playing with my hands and fixing my glasses.

"Yeah." I lied. He raised an eyebrow and laid down on my bed, staring at the ceiling.

"For some reason, I feel like you're lying."

"Ha, wonder why." I answered back sarcastically, and after a beat of hesitation, laid down next to him. Why shouldn't I be able to lay down? It was my bed after all. "You know, now I can say that I've had a guy in my bed."

"Ha ha, very funny." He responded with a smirk. "But seriously. Is there something wrong? I know we don't really know each other, but if there's something wrong, I'll listen." I shut my eyes and bit my lip quietly.

"I just have a lot going on right now. I'm worried about Malcolm, but apparently he's fine or something, and now I have to fly to Florida." I said without opening my eyes.

"Scared of flying?" I nodded and rested a hand on my forehead.

"Ever since the thing with my mom. I haven't gone on a flight since then. I just don't want to even be in that situation."

"Why are you flying to Florida?"

"I have a cheer tournament there in about a month." There was a pause, and then I heard him open his mouth.

"You know... I don't think cheerleaders are that bad, I don't see why all the football guys hate you people." My eyes shot open and without thinking, I covered his mouth with my hand, not even caring that I was half on top of him. I'm pretty sure I looked like a lunatic, but I didn't care. His eyes grew wide and for a second, I let myself admire them, catching evey flick of a differing color with my scrutinizing gaze. There were golds, and ambers, and something else I couldn't describe off the top of my head, but it was conflicting to see all the colors come together in such an entrancing way. I mean the guy wasn't unattractive. I snapped out of my thoughts and met his gaze, noting that his eyes were now alight with mischeif and smugness.

"Are you insane? If you get caught saying that your whole team will slaughter you. Cheerleaders and football players do not mix. Our interaction for the project is pushing it, a cheerleader and a football player being friends is considered a misdemeanor, and under no circumstances can a cheerleader or football player date a person from the opposing team. It's a felony, people will kill you." I uncovered his mouth, but kept leaning over him to emphasize my point. He had a smirk on his face that just screamed cocky.

"You were checking me out." He stated, disregarding my small lecture about his confession of not hating cheerleaders. I bit the insides of my cheeks to keep from blushing.

"Was not. And you know, I think you're the last person who should be accusing me of doing said action considering the fact that you called me hot earlier today, and you touched my bra."

"You were too, and I already apologized for touching your bra, it was an accident! By the way, I like the position we're in." I rolled my eyes at him as his smirk deepened, making his dimples stand out against his cheeks.

"I was not checking you out. That would imply that I was looking at you as a whole. I was just looking at your eyes."

"So you admitt you find my eyes attractive? And if you want to be able to fully check me out, you could've just asked."

"No, and even if I did I wouldn't tell you because you're a football player. And why would I want that? Pig."

"Well why not? I'd admitt it. And I'm just screwing with you. Not literally of course."

"You so would not admitt that my eyes are-"

"I find your eyes attractive. They're really beautiful, and unique." I could feel my mouth pop open slightly in shock. Did he not listen to anything? Did he have common sense? Where was the logic?

"Are you flirting with me? I'm your best friend's sister!"

"I'm not flirting with you! I'm just saying that your eyes are pretty. Can't I give you a compliment?"

"I'm a cheerleader."

"But why does that even matter?" He inquired, and I stayed silent as I laid back down. "Why does it matter if I'm a football player and you're a cheerleader? We should get to be friends, we should get to hang out with each other. This isn't fair for any of the two teams. What if someone from the cheerleading team really liked someone from the football team? Would they just shut up about it?"

"No one from either team would ever put themselves in that position anyway." I muttered.

"Because they feel like they have restrictions." He defended. "I just don't see the point. Why is it this way? I mean it's not like I could date you anyway, you're my best friend's sister, but we should at least have a say in who we can be friends with. How did this even start?"

"No one knows. It was like twenty years ago, and apparently some football player screwed over a cheerleader, and then the cheerleaders took revenge and now we all hate each other." He sat up in the bed quickly.

"Are you kidding? That's ridiculous! So both teams are feuding over something no one remembers it's pathetic, honestly."

"You act like I haven't figured that out already, Percy. It doesn't matter if what we're fighting about is stupid. What matters is that if anyone from either team breaks the unspoken rule, they get kicked off. Who would ever want to risk not being able to be part of something that has to do with what they love? That's why nobody fights against the rule, we don't want to give up something that we enjoy doing." And that shut him up. He leaned back on the bed and continued staring at the ceiling. "So tell me more about the tournament." He said after some time.

"Well, I have to fly there and I really really don't want to. I hate flying."

"Understandable, so do I. Continue."

"And the thing was, Malcolm and I were going to drive there together, but now Helen has decided that we should fly, and I'm pretty sure Malcolm is going to be just as freaked out about flying as I am." He nodded and I glanced over at him. A piece of his hair was sticking up at a differing angle than the rest of his disheveled hair. "Fix your hair." I spilled out instantly. He gave me a quizzical look and then reached up to fix his hair.

"So what's so bad about Helen anyway?"

"She's a bitch. She's just a horrible bitch, and if you hang around here long enough, you'll understand." He laughed and I smiled at the ceiling. I mean, I guess this was good. We couldn't really be all friendly with each other because of the feud, but at least we weren't at each others' throats. He really wasn't that bad. My smile disappeared as my thoughts turned back to Malcolm. Where the hell was he?

"Stop worrying, I'm sure he's fine. Malcolm knows how to handle himself." He assurred.

"It's just he sounded... weird on the phone. And I could've sworn I heard someone in the background. I feel like something's wrong with him, or maybe he's in danger." Because at the moment, all I could imagine were bad things. I should've been talking to Thalia about these things, not him, but right now I was too busy blabbing to even think about calling her.

"I know why you're worrying." He stated matter of factly. He scooted closer to me and gave me a sincere look. "But Malcolm is fine. You're not going to lose him. I'm sure he's just off being a wild teenager, and he'll be back in the early morning hours. He's not going to leave you. He'll still be here for you when you wake up in the morning. He's not going anywhere." I sat still, initiating a staring contest between the two of us. How could he know what I was thinking? How could he know how I felt? After what felt like hours, I broke my gaze.

"I care about him a lot." I said quietly. "He might be annoying and stupid, and sometimes a manwhore, but he's my brother." He laughed and shook his head at me.

"I'm sure he cares about you too. Don't worry so much. He knows how to fend for himself." After some beats of silence, he looked around my room and then back at me.

"You should leave now." I declared, stretching my arms above my head and locking eyes with him intently. "I'm getting tired, and I definitley don't want you in here when I fall asleep. Go to my brother's room and crash in there if you need to."

"Maybe I'll stay in here just to tick you off." He said, getting up from my bed.

"Then maybe I'll accidentally kick you in the nutsack. Welcome to the Chase family. Night."

"Night."

Malcolm was home the next morning, and you can bet your ass I interogated him till it physically hurt to speak. When I saw him in the morning, something was off. He smelled like a familiar scent, maybe pine or incense, but I knew I'd definitley smelled it before. I'd marched into his room as soon as I was up and dressed in my cheer uniform, and I was more than reliefed to see that he was sleeping on the top bunk of his bed because Percy was occupying the bottom.

"Where the hell have you been? I've been worried sick about you, you said you were going to the store to get groceries." He looked tired, but I was just glad he was okay. I wrapped my arms around his neck and held him close as soon as he was on the ground, and honestly, I couldn't care less if I'd woken him up.

"I was just out, Anna. Don't worry I'm fine, it's no big deal." I pulled back from our hug and spotted a bruise at the base of his jawline. It was red purple, and pretty noticeable.

"What the fuck happened here? When did you get this bruise?"

"Will you stop cussing?" I raised an eyebrow and ran my thumb over the bruise, pressing lightly, and noting that Malcolm didn't wince in the slightest.

"Will you stop avoiding the question? I've been cussing since I could talk." He ran his hands through his shaggy, overgrown hair and rubbed his eyes. I knew this technique. He was trying to distract me, but I knew for a fact that Malcolm couldn't lie to me if he was looking at me directly. I grabbed his shoulders and forced his face towards mine. "Where did you get this bruise?" His nose scruched up slightly for less than a second and I knew before he even started speaking that whatever was about to come out of his mouth was complete and utter bullshit. Malcolm and I both had the same lying give away, we always scrunched up our noses when we were about to lie.

"I ran into a pole." He answered unconvincingly.

"Really dude? That's the best you can do?" Percy asked from the bed. Malcolm shot him a glare.

"Malcolm, where were you, what's going on?"

"Anna please. It's nothing. I just wanted to have some time to myself. Don't worry about me, just let it go." He broke away from my grasp and tossed his shirt over his shoulder, throwing on an old camp shirt and covering it with a flannel.

"Why won't you talk to me?"

"Why won't you trust me?" He shot back, and I can't say I wasn't shocked. My phone dinged, signaling me that my ride was here, and after a cold stare between my brother and I, I marched down stairs and out the front door. I jumped into the passengers seat of Thalia's car and strapped myself in, greeting Piper who was in the back, also wearing her cheer uniform.

What the hell was wrong with Malcolm? I just wanted to know he was okay. He'd been gone all night yesterday, I didn't understand what his problem was.

"Malcolm's acting weird." I spoke out loud, turning down the music blaring from Thalia's radio.

"Yeah? How?" Piper asked from the back.

"He was gone all night last night, and when I asked him where he went, he told me not to worry about it and to let it go."

"Maybe he's just being a teenager." Thalia offered, repeating what Percy had said yesterday. I shook my head and leaned back against the seat as we reached the school parking lot.

"But Malcolm and I tell each other everything. We're really close, and now he's just shutting me out. I don't understand."

"You're not going to lose him." She assured me, again, repeating what Percy had said yesterday.

"Yeah, well I'm not so sure. I don't know what's going on with him, or where he went, but I don't like it." I finished as Thalia parked the car and turned the engine off. And that was that. That Friday came and went like most Fridays, Percy and I bickering- although less so now that we were on good terms-, math class sucking, the marching band being amazing, and our football team stomping the opposing team. The only thing that changed was what came after the game.

After most games the cheerleaders are pissed off because they had to spend the last four hours cheering for an organization that they hate. So there was that. Every year, the cheerleaders have a lock-in on our one free saturday for the entire season. It's actually pretty fun, and we all sleep in the bandhall because it's the biggest room in the school other than the sweaty gyms. Now let me make it clear that this lock-in is solely for cheerleaders.

Our cheer coach, Ms. Lavor, gathered us up after practice and instead of addressing us only, she addressed the football players as well.

"As you all know, both teams on the field right now have yearly lock-ins, with the cheerleading lock-in in the first semester, and the football lock-in in the second. Both the football coach and I are fully aware of the long lasting feud between these two teams, and so this year, we've decided to try to make amends by joining the two lock-ins to make one."

"Wait," Rachel cut in from the back, "You mean to tell me that we're going to have to spen twenty four hours with the football players? In the same building?"

"This lock-in, unlike the others, is fully mandatory for all members of both teams. There will be team and trust building exercises, but also what you would expect at the normal lock-in for both teams. We are tired of this useless fighting, and we'd be fools if we didn't at least try to fix it. Next Saturday, you all better be here, or else there will be consequences. You're dismissed."

And as you can imagine, everyone protested.

AN: I don't know how to feel about this. I tried to make it longer, but I really wanted to get this update out to you guys and I'm ultra decked with homework right now. I'm sorry if this royally sucks. Anyway, can anybody see the start of some major plot points? Anybody? Leave me your guesses, and also let me know where you think Malcolm was the night before! Let me know what your favorite quote or part from this chapter was, and I might give you a spoiler for upcoming chapters. Also, check out my new story, the sequel to Exceptions. Please drop me a review because those things really do matter to me, and I'm aiming for at least ten for this chapter, so hopefully you guys can make that happen. Alright, I'll stop typing now, love you guys, till next time- ShyGal