Amigos! I know, I know, it's been literally centuries since my last update. The month of October was hell. I had college applications to get done and sent out and on top of all that my teachers decided to give me all these pointless projects the same week as college deadlines so yeah, that was fun. Fall sport season is finally over as well and 90% of my college apps are done so I'm really relieved and less stressed for the time being. I finally have time to write again! I hope you all like this update sorry if it's a little weird, I have to get into the zone of writing fanfiction again. Here are a couple reviews I decided to respond to as well. I'll be picking another couple for the next update!
Review Responses:
Samuraipanda85: How was your search to find Oreos? Any person who goes looking for food at 2am is a friend of mine haha. I hope you liked them!
Dragon Tamer (Guest): I'm glad you like my story so far! I totally know what you mean about the fast paced Percabeth in some fanfics. I'm trying super hard to make sure things go at a realistic pace. Thanks for the luck! I'm pretty much finally done with my applications and I couldn't be more relieved!
Disclaimer: Don't own
The next few days went by like you would expect them to. School was well…school, filled with crazy assignments teachers expected their students to get done in only one night and tests that could make or break your grade. Annabeth found herself having to stay up past one in the morning to finish the work she was given. That was probably why she currently looked like a zombie with huge bags under her eyes from exhaustion upon entering the school building. Walking down the hall, her eyes feeling heavy and her body slouching from her tiredness, she had never hated school so much in her life. Did all teachers have secret meetings with each other where they decided to make students suffer by making everything due on the same day? Because she swears that's what happens behind their backs.
By the time lunch comes around her stomach is growling in anticipation as she walks to her locker. She had skipped breakfast this morning simply cause she had almost slept through her alarms again. She has to keep herself from gagging when she overhears a conversation a few lockers down from hers.
"—Strong." She hears the end of a comment before another voice chimes in.
"So strong. You must work out like a lot." A high-pitched giggle breaks out and Annabeth has to force herself not to cringe. She knew that voice.
Her thoughts are confirmed when she looks over from the side of her locker to see two girls, one with dark straightened hair in a cheer uniform and another with vibrant curly red hair. The redhead was currently twisting a lock of her hair as she giggled at the boy standing before them who was smiling cockily while the black-haired girl had her hand on the male's bicep muscle, a flirty expression on her face. She wondered where Drew was.
Who were these people do you ask? Well one of them Annabeth hadn't recognized but she seemed to be just another stuck up popular from the cheer squad. The other two went by the names Rachel Dare and Percy Jackson.
None of them seem to notice her standing a few feet away and she's glad. The last thing she needed was a confrontation with them or an argument with a certain redhead this early in the day. After hearing another fake laugh from one of the girls, Annabeth roles her eyes, turning back to shut her metal locker door.
She nearly screams when she closes the locker to see Luke Castellan on the other side, mere inches from her face. He was leaning against one of the lockers right next to hers, his arms crossed over his chest. Dark grey Nike skater shoes adorned his feet and he had on a pair of dark washed jeans with a grey zip up hoodie. His expression held a smile as a look of amusement crossed his features.
"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you Blondie." He chuckled, standing up straighter. Getting over her initial shock, Annabeth smiles in return.
"It's ok." She breathed. "Just didn't see you."
"Yeah, I could tell." He teases, getting a mock scowl in return from the girl. He smiles at her before she speaks up.
"So…don't mean to be rude but is there any reason you're here instead of in there?" She asks, pointing to the cafeteria doors where everyone was eating lunch.
"I just figured I'd walk you."
"You wanted to walk me…to the cafeteria right across the hall?" She questions, her eyebrows raised teasingly as she tries to keep herself from laughing at the idea.
"Yes! Things happen all the time. As a friend I need to make sure you get across the hall safely!" He exclaims sarcastically upon seeing her expression of disbelief.
She laughs, shaking her head at the boy's antics. The two of them turn to the double doors and walk into the lunchroom together, chatting aimlessly amongst themselves. The entire time Annabeth fails to notice a pair of sea green eyes following her from a few feet away, having observed the whole scene.
After she turns in her worksheet activity to Mr. Brunner, Annabeth realizes she still has about ten minutes left of class before the bell would sound. She takes her seat next to Piper and notices a few other people who had also finished the history work early just texting on their phones or listening to music through their earphones. In the far back of the room still working on that day's class activity sat Percy.
If she was being honest with herself, she didn't know how she should treat him. They never really talked in school, it was only at practice and then that one time when he had come over to her house so they could work on their project that they talked. Were they friends now instead of acquaintances? She just didn't know.
She must have been staring for a second too long because he looks up and catches her gaze before she has the chance to look away. When he recognizes her his lips quirk up in a smile and he gets up. At first Annabeth thinks he's coming over to her but then she notices the paper in his hand. He was getting up to turn in his paper to Mr. Brunner. She wasn't completely wrong though because he then turns back from the desk and starts walking towards her. For some stupid reason she starts to feel nervous. What was he coming over for?
"Hey." He says, stopping in front of the desk she was sitting at. Annabeth immediately feels Piper's stare on them.
"Hi…" She greets back unsurely.
"Uh…so I just thought that since we didn't finish the project yet and it's due tomorrow that we could work on it tonight. We can work at my place since last time we went to yours." He offers.
She's shocked. It was true that they hadn't finished their project but she was just planning to finish it tonight by herself. She thought he wouldn't contribute anymore to the project than the little pieces he had done but here he was, offering her his help and a place to work on it together.
"Yeah, that sounds good. I guess I'll just follow you to your house after practice." She agrees, having gotten over her initial surprise. Right at that second the bell rings and everyone starts packing up their things to leave.
"Cool. So I'll uh see you later." He waves, walking back to get his things and then leaving the room.
She shakes her head. That boy confused the hell out of her.
Her last two periods of the day went by fairly quickly. Mrs. Dodd's had given their AP calculus about 30 questions to solve for homework and her physics teacher had given her another 10 on top of that. Looks like she was going to be doing lots of math that night.
Getting into her car and starting up the engine, Annabeth followed Percy on the route to his house. For the first time since she started skating at the rink she had used the small showers provided in the girls locker room to get the sweat and dirt off of her skin. Christina had them doing drill after drill and practically giving them no time for breaks in between. Whenever a competition came up her coach made sure that there was no fooling around and everyone was completely focused on the task at hand. To qualify for regionals this Sunday Annabeth knew she needed to bring her A-game to get a spot.
Momentarily lost in her thoughts, she almost misses the turn Percy makes onto a street. They soon pull up to a small apartment building and she sees him get out of his car after parking. She follows and makes her way over to him. She was surprised, she never would have thought that he lived in an apartment. It made her wonder how many other things he kept from people.
He leads her inside and up the elevator until they reach the sixth floor where she presumed his apartment was. Coming to stand in front of room 6C he swiftly unlocks the door with his key and pushes it open for them to enter.
"Percy, is that you?" She hears a woman's voice ask from a few feet away. She doesn't fail to notice the way Percy's eyes seem to light up at the person's voice.
"Yeah mom, it's me." He replies while closing the door, gesturing for her to follow him further into the apartment and towards the place where she heard the voice.
A woman who looked to be about in her early forties comes into view wearing plain jeans and a light blue shirt. Her brown hair cascades down her shoulders and right away Annabeth can feel a very comforting aura around her. She smiles, pulling her son into a hug.
Her deep brown eyes widen when she sees Annabeth.
"Oh! I didn't know we had company!" She apologizes, taking a step back from Percy to look at her. Before he can introduce them, Annabeth steps in.
"Hi it's nice to meet you Mrs. Jackson, I'm Annabeth." She greets, sticking her hand out to shake the woman's hand.
She stares at her outstretched hand for a second. Instead of taking her hand the woman moves to embrace her quickly. Annabeth is shocked to say the least but eventually hugs her back. The embrace is warm and full of comfort. It was as if she was hugging someone who she'd known for years rather than a couple minutes.
"It's very nice to meet you too Annabeth, call me Sally." She smiles warmly once they separate. Annabeth finds herself grinning back, nodding silently to acknowledge her statement.
It's then that Annabeth starts to wonder where Percy's father was. Did he only live with his mother? Deciding that it wouldn't be appropriate to ask, she figures it's best not to say anything. After all, if that was the case she could definitely relate.
"Uh so, Annabeth and I have to finish working on a school project. We'll be upstairs ok mom?" Percy interrupts, asking for permission politely.
Again, Annabeth realizes that he was acting completely different from how he acted during school. He was smiling genuinely instead of having the usual cocky smile that always played across his lips whenever he was around his friends. She could clearly see the strong bond Percy and his mother shared for each other as well.
"That's fine. Remember my rule, keep the door unlocked." She replies, looking him straight in the eye.
Annabeth instantly feels heat rush to her cheeks at the response. There was no way…Percy and her wouldn't…she couldn't even come up with a complete sentence in her head much less out loud. She notices Percy's cheeks turn a shade of light pink as well and he nods sheepishly before leading her up the stairs to his room.
There was a full size bed near a wall on the right side of the room and posters of many different bands and hockey players all over the place. Several pictures lie around the room of him with the rest of the hockey team and a couple with his mother. The walls were painted a dark blue color and the room was accented with black furniture. It wasn't overly messy like she had originally suspected it to be. As if reading her mind, Percy breaks the silence.
"Don't let the floors fool you. It was a lot messier before I put everything away. Well kind of, just don't look in the closet." He warns carefully. Annabeth snickers and he smiles, this was the Percy she remembered. She takes out her laptop and gets to work while he grabs his from his desk.
They finished their project in about an hour and a half. They would have finished sooner if it wasn't for Percy whining about how bored he was every ten minutes. In the end though their project looked pretty dang good in her opinion.
As she was packing up her stuff and getting ready to leave, she was stopped short when Mrs. Jackson came into view. She announces that dinner is ready and Annabeth silently laughs at the way Percy's eyes triple is size at the statement. She's about to excuse herself before her voice chimes in.
"Annabeth would you care to join us for dinner dear?" She offers.
"Oh, no I wouldn't want to impose. Thank you for the invite though." Annabeth declines, adjusting the strap of her backpack on her shoulder.
The truth was she was starving and her mom was working late tonight so she had to figure out her own dinner. She didn't feel like cooking but that was what she was going to have to do. Maybe she could just heat up some ramen noodles and call it a night. It would have been nice to eat a home cooked meal but what if Percy didn't want her there?
"Nonsense! You wouldn't be imposing, I insist. We both do, right Percy?" She says, looking over towards her son who hadn't said a thing the entire time.
Annabeth's stomach growls. She looks over to Percy standing next to her. For a second he looked like he was having an internal battle with himself. Just when Annabeth is ready to start heading for the door again, he nods his head surely, a couple pieces of hair coming into his eyes.
"Yeah, stay. It's ravioli night, you don't wanna miss it Princess." He says, the expression on his face showing that the offer is genuine. She ponders the idea unsurely before giving an answer.
"Ok, I'll stay. Let me just tell my mother. Thank you so much Mrs. Jac-Sally." She corrects herself. The woman just waves it off as if it's nothing and gives her another smile in return.
A few minutes later the table is set with plates of piping hot ravioli stuffed with cheese in a red tomato sauce. She notices Percy practically drooling at the sight. She takes a seat next to him as they all dig in.
Annabeth's taste buds savor the flavor of the dish and she has to force herself not to eat too fast. She'd never tasted any ravioli as good as the one Percy's mother had prepared.
"This is amazing Sally! You have to tell me your secret." Annabeth compliments, taking another forkful of the pasta on her plate.
"Sorry dear, no can do. It's a family recipe passed down through the Jackson women. When I became a Jackson it was given to me. Not even Percy knows it and he's been trying to get it out of me for years." Sally explains, looking over towards her son who was currently finishing up his second helping of ravioli.
"I'll get it out of you one day mom. You're gonna crack I know it." He rebuttals.
"Mmhmm sure I will. You should've seen what I've had to put up with Annabeth. One year he was so persistent on getting the recipe he dressed up as ravioli for Halloween. I guess he thought he could use his cuteness to get me to tell him."
Annabeth nearly chokes on her food as she tries to keep her laughter under control. Percy's eyes widen in terror and he briefly stops eating as his face turns fire truck red.
"Mom! You said you'd never speak of that again!" He shouts, wanting to just die from embarrassment as the blonde next to him continues laughing hysterically.
"Y-you did w-what?" Annabeth tries to speak, her words stuttering because of her laughter.
"I was five ok?!"
"You wanted to know the recipe that badly?" She teases, enjoying this much more than she should.
"I don't like not knowing things!" He tries to defend. A small smile manages to break through on his red face and Annabeth thinks he's never looked more adorable than in that moment.
Sally smiles as she observes the scene. She hadn't seen her son act the way he was in a long time. He wasn't as serious and distant, he was relaxed and making light-hearted jokes. She wondered if it had anything to do with a certain blonde.
"Let's talk about something else now. Mom Annabeth figure skates, did you know that?" Percy says, trying desperately to change the topic before more embarrassing things would be released about him.
It seems to work as Sally turns her attention away from her son to focus on the girl next to him. Her eyes sparked with newfound interest.
"Is that so? You know I used to be quite the figure skater myself. Been trying to convince Percy here how hard it is and I think he's finally starting to get it." She comments.
"You used to skate? Wow that's so cool! Yeah I've been skating for a while now."
"Well it's great to have a fellow figure skater here for once. Have you landed your triple Lutz yet? That was the hardest jump I probably had to learn." Sally replies.
"Somewhat. I land it about half the time but I could still probably use some more practice. Qualifications for regionals are this Sunday though so I've got to be on my game."
"Oh I'd love to come watch sometime!"
Percy's head moves back and fourth as he watches the two females talk amongst themselves, not having anything to contribute to the conversation. He wasn't complaining though, as long as the subject of the conversation wasn't embarrassing childhood stories of himself he was a happy camper.
After dinner Sally asks Percy to do the dishes. Annabeth decides to help him before she leaves. It's the least she can do since they had fed her dinner. She washes the dishes while Percy dries them. They work in silence but she surprises herself when she's the one to initiate the conversation.
"I like your mom. She's pretty awesome."
Percy smiles. "Yeah, she's great. Can be a little much sometimes as you've seen at dinner but I love her."
Annabeth laughs. "Oh no, that just made her ten times better in my opinion." She teases, looking over towards the boy next to her.
"Shut up." Percy says jokingly, taking another plate from her to dry.
They work in silent harmony. If you had told Annabeth a month ago that she would be at Percy Jackson's house helping him wash the dishes and actually making friendly conversation she would've thought you were mentally insane but here she was doing exactly that.
"So what about you?"
"What about me?" She asks confusedly.
"Your mom. What's she like?" He asks.
Annabeth looks at him closely. She was trying to decide if it was a good idea to tell him. He seemed to be gaining her trust and it wasn't like she was about to tell him her entire story so what was the harm?
She sighs. "Well to start, she's no where near as loving and considerate as yours."
"What do you mean?" Percy asks. At this point he had stopped in the middle of drying one of the ceramic plates to give her his full attention. Annabeth stops as well, taking a deep breath as she continues.
"She's got this idea of a 'perfect daughter' in her head and I'm constantly finding myself needing to prove myself to her. I just feel like nothing I do is good enough for her, you know? It's like I'm a failure or something. On top of all that, she won't say it out loud but I know she doesn't like me skating. I love her but… it's tough love I guess you could say." Percy nods in understanding.
"Well if you ask me, you're not a failure. Quite the opposite actually and skating is something you love, your mom will be able to see that one day."
She smiles, looking back down to finish the dishes. He was being so caring and considerate of her feelings. Where had the ignorant playboy gone? "Thanks Hockey Boy."
"There's that name again. Just couldn't come up with another one could you?" He teases, making her laugh as she dips another one of the plates into the soapy water.
"Keep calling me Princess and I'm going to keep calling you Hockey Boy. Simple as that."
"Guess I'll have to put up with it then cause 'Princess' isn't going away anytime soon." Annabeth groans and he laughs at her reaction.
"Can I ask you something?" She starts, not being able to resist.
"Shoot"
Gathering up the courage, she finally asks the question she's wanted to know the answer to for so long. "Why do you act so different while we're at school compared to when we're not at school?"
His shoulders tense and he pauses in the middle of drying a plate. It's silent as he tries to come up with an answer. His eyebrows furrow in concentration and he appears to be deep in thought.
"You don't have to answer if you don't want to." She says when she realizes how hard the question is for him.
He sighs deeply, looking over at her. "It's just… a really long story.
She nods. "It's ok. I get it, we all have things we want to keep a secret."
He smiles gratefully. "Thanks."
"So, now that you know something super embarrassing about my childhood tell me something embarrassing about you." He asks, lightening the heavy atmosphere that had surrounded them.
"Oh yeah sure, like I'm going to do that." She replies, finishing up the last thing for him to dry.
"What, that's not fair!" He argues as she dries her hands and pulls on her backpack. He meets her over by the door, arms crossed on his chest and looking to her for an answer.
"Life's not fair Jackson." She defends, a hint of a smile on her face. Why was she acting so…flirty? It was totally unlike her and she didn't know how to stop it.
"I'll find something embarrassing about you Chase, just wait."
"Oh just like how you were going to find out the ravioli recipe? Yeah, good luck with that."
"Hey!" He pouts.
She laughs. "I should get going. Tell your mom bye and thanks for the dinner." He nods.
"I will. Goodnight Chase."
"Goodnight Jackson." With that, Annabeth exits the apartment building and gets into her car, thinking deeply about everything that had happened and wondering what Percy meant when he said it was a long story.
The two wouldn't realize the significance of that night until much later. For that was the night that the figure skater and the hockey player became friends.
So there you go! Love it? Hate it? Tell me by writing a review! Promise the next chapter will have more action in it and there will be a better first look at how Percabeth acts as friends. I'm always open to ideas too so if you have any feel free to review or PM me!
REVIEW, REVIEW AND REVIEW!
-M