Chapter 18
-Percy-
"I can't believe you talked back to her!" Annabeth exclaims once she and Percy gets into his car.
"I think it went rather well," he says with a shrug. "But I could have said some worse things to her, you know?"
He could've said so many things that would've certainly made things a lot worse.
She sighs with frustration. "I don't get it. They're never early and never late. They're always right on time. I don't understand why they're here earlier than they said they would be."
"She also mentioned something about school," Percy points out as he pulls the car out of the parking lot.
"Yeah," Annabeth replies bitterly. "Turns out she already knew about my attendance to Goode but she allowed it because Luke attends. Can you believe that?"
Percy hesitates a moment, but decides to ask. "What did he do before?"
"He didn't do anything to me physically," Annabeth says. "If that's what you mean."
He nods. "That's good, but what does your mom see in him?"
"Hell if I know," Annabeth grumbles.
They stop at a red light and Percy takes the time to look over at his girlfriend. She shrugs and crosses her arms across her chest.
"I really don't know how she doesn't see it," she says softly. "I guess at first Luke was nice. The first day we met, I mean. Don't get me wrong, I was never actually interested in dating him from the start, but I did like him a bit at first.
"He texted me some nice, romantic messages, delivered flowers," she continues. "But the next time we saw each other, he just... suddenly decided we shouldn't be slow about things. He didn't have to tell me directly, either. Just his tone of voice, how he would say certain things. I picked it up right away, but somehow my mother didn't and she was right next to us sometimes."
"The story keeps changing a little bit," Percy observes, though it's not an accusation.
Annabeth shrugs again. "Well, I can't get too comfortable, can I? It's not exactly an easy subject for me..."
"Just take your time with it, okay?"
He keeps his voice gentle and understanding, keeping his eyes locked to hers. It's only for a moment, though, since her gaze turns to the front and she blinks.
"Green light."
Percy's eyes snap forward and he presses his foot down on the gas pedal.
"So what are you going to do?" he asks her then.
"I don't know... Stick to the plan and go tomorrow at noon."
They're silent for a moment, both of them trying to process everything that happened.
"I'm sorry I snapped at her," he says then. "It wasn't a good first impression..."
"Don't worry about it, Seaweed Brain. She wouldn't have liked you anyway."
He remembers that she'd mentioned that her mother always managed to push people away from Annabeth and he grows almost scared. He doesn't want to lose her.
"I'm not going to lose you, am I?" he asks, stealing a quick glance at her.
His gaze catches her smile before he turns back to the road.
"No. This time I won't let her drive you away. She's gotten away with it before... But now I won't let her."
Percy smiles and reaches out to take her hand. Her fingers lace themselves with his and they drive home in silence.
...
Her laugh rings through his ears, even though he never told a joke. They've been trying to wrap the presents they bought from the mall and Percy's failing at it. His wrapping looks like a crumpled mess.
"Stop laughing at me," he complains. "I'm trying my best!"
"I'm sorry," Annabeth gasps, trying to catch her breath. "Here, watch how I do it."
He does as he's told and she talks to him as she wraps another box, explaining exactly how she does it. It makes sense to him, but hearing it and putting it to practice is completely different. He tries again and this time it looks more like an organized mess instead of a jumbled mess.
He groans. "Can't we just put them in a gift bag and throw paper in it?"
"That's too easy, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth says. "Besides, it's more fun this way."
"I think your idea of fun and mine are two completely different things," Percy sighs.
Annabeth raises an eyebrow at him. "Oh? Are you saying I'm not fun?"
"I didn't say that," he says quickly. "I just don't see how you see this as fun."
"Well doing this alone might not be fun, but because you're here to entertain me..."
"Oh so I'm just entertainment to you?"
Annabeth shrugs, innocently. "Maybe."
Percy pokes his tongue out at her. "Rude."
Annabeth rolls her eyes playfully. "Shut up and help me with this last one, will you?"
"Again, rude," he says, but he helps her wrap the last present.
"Looks nice, Seaweed Brain."
"Yeah right," he complains. "Half of it is neat with your handiwork while the other is just... UGH!"
"Relax. You're having fun, aren't you?"
"Like I said before; your idea is different than mine."
"Alright, fine. How about in the future, I wrap all the presents and you can put them in a gift bag?"
Percy smiles. "Now that I can do."
Annabeth rolls her eyes and sighs. "Dummy."
The front door opens and Percy turns to see his mother entering the apartment with Paul.
"Oh, hey mom!"
"Hey Percy. Hello Annabeth," Sally says with a smile.
"Hello Mrs... sorry, Hello Sally," Annabeth says.
"You always slip up with the Mrs," Sally observes.
"Yeah... that's just how I was brought up," Annabeth replies. "I had strict parents."
"Had?"
"Sorry, I have strict parents," she corrects.
"Ah okay. I know how that is," Sally says. "If you need to go somewhere to get away, you're always welcome here."
"Thank you, Sally. They actually don't live permanently in New York, although they do own a house in the city."
"Where do they live?" Paul asks her.
"San Francisco," Annabeth replies.
"That's an expensive place to live," Sally says. "Well, it's expensive here, too but, I digress."
"She's supposed to see her family tomorrow by noon," Percy explains.
"Yeah. No sooner, no later. It's annoying," Annabeth grumbles. "And we ran into my mother at the mall earlier which is unusual. She's always with the family so if she's here, that means my family is, too. Much sooner than I was told, by the way."
"Oh, Percy met your mom?" Sally asks.
"Yeah, kinda. Of course she was being rude to him and insulted him and Percy talked back at her once she did that."
"Percy..." Sally has a disapproving tone.
"I tried to be respectful, mom," Percy defends himself.
"And I'm not mad at him. She needed to be talked down anyway," Annabeth says.
"Well, you shouldn't say that about your mother," Sally says.
"She's not much of a mother... She controlled every part of my life. I was nothing but a puppet or a pawn to her. Now, my brothers, Matthew and Bobby, she absolutely adores them! Not me, though. So, forgive me if I'm harsh talking about my mother this way, but I don't see her like that."
"Fair enough," Sally says.
"Did you wrap all the presents already?" Paul asks, changing the subject finally.
"Yup!" Percy replies, grinning proudly.
"I did most of them," Annabeth says casually.
"Hey!" Percy protests, but he hesitates and thinks a moment. "Actually, that's true."
Annabeth laughs. "Yeah, and don't you forget that I'm always right!"
"Well..."
"Perseus Jackson, remember that the girl is always right," Sally warns.
"Even when she's wrong, she's right. Just take my word for it," Paul adds.
"But..."
"Nope! No buts!" Annabeth says.
"But..."
Annabeth interrupts Percy with a kiss, which she found is pretty effective in shutting him up.
"I said no buts, mister," Annabeth says.
He just stares at her, almost like he's somewhere else now instead of his living room.
"Percy? You still here?"
"Percy's not here right now, leave a message," he says.
Annabeth smacks his chest. "You're being dramatic."
"Oh, no," Percy says. "That's not me being dramatic. You haven't seen me be dramatic before."
"I'm sure I have," Annabeth challenges. "Remember when that McDonald's messed up your order a couple weeks ago?"
"... No..."
"Shall I tell your mom what you were saying?"
"No..."
"What was he saying?" she asks.
"You know how he can get dramatic, right?" Annabeth asks Sally.
"Oh, yeah."
"He started talking about how his life was officially ruined because they forgot to put bacon on his burger," Annabeth explains.
"No I didn't!" Percy denies, unconvincingly.
"That sounds just like you, Percy," Sally says. "You've done something like that before, if I remember correctly."
"Everybody's against me," he grumbles.
"Nobody's against you," Annabeth laughs. "You're just being dramatic."
"I can be a dramatic guy!"
"I've noticed," Annabeth says with a smile.
"Okay, so Annabeth," Sally begins. "Remind me because I've already forgotten, but when do you have to be with your family again?"
Annabeth sighs. "12 o'clock sharp tomorrow."
"And do you know how long you'll be with them?"
"No, not really. Just until I know they're done with me and I should be able to leave them," she replies.
"Well, if you'd like, we can push our Christmas to tonight instead of our usual," Sally offers.
"Yeah, why don't we do that?" Percy asks Annabeth. "I mean, we already have all the gifts for here gathered at the tree, don't we?"
"That's nice of you all, but I don't want to mess things up for you guys," she says.
"Oh, it wouldn't mess anything up, believe me," Sally says. "Except, maybe it would cause conflict with Paul's schedule?"
"I could make it work for tonight," he says with a shrug.
"Again, that's nice of you to offer, but Thalia and I might be having our Christmas tonight. I'll try to make it here for yours and Percy and I agreed that if I can't make it, he'll deliver my gifts."
"It's been a long time since we've seen or heard from Thalia. How is she doing?" Sally asks.
"She's doing pretty well," Annabeth replies. Percy notices she seems happy that the topic has changed. "She has a decent job and a nice apartment. Not a lot of money for herself, but she gets by."
"Well that's good to hear," Sally says. "When you see her you should tell her that she's welcome to come over any time. We could treat her to something in the city if she has the time."
"I'll ask her about it," Annabeth replies. "But it probably won't be anytime soon since she's usually busy during the day anyway."
"I understand that," Sally says.
...
-Annabeth-
"You didn't stay?" Thalia asks her in disbelief.
"We have our Christmas tonight," Annabeth explains to her. "And I didn't want to mess things up with Percy and his family since they usually do their Christmas another day. I didn't want to be a burden."
Percy had just dropped her off at her apartment and went back home. It was too cold to walk, but she still had to convince Percy to take his car. Once she entered her apartment, Thalia greeted her with that confused question.
"Girl, you're not a burden to anybody," Thalia says.
Annabeth raises her eyebrows at her friend. "Oh really?"
"Really," Thalia replies, returning the challenging look she's been given.
"Whatever you say, Thals," Annabeth says. "Now, are you going to open your present?"
She walks over to the tree and picks up her gift to Thalia, holding it out to her. It's a small box concealed by red and white wrapping paper. Thalia smiles and takes it before handing Annabeth hers.
"Alright, you first," Annabeth says.
"It's always me first," Thalia says, faking complaint. She unwraps her gift and her eyes light up. "No way! How'd you get this?"
Thalia pulls the contents out of the small box: a stack of DVDs of her favorite band, each cover signed by every member of that band.
"I knew you were fans of them so I figured I'd make a few calls and get their newest album signed," Annabeth explains.
"That's so cool! Thank you so much!" Thalia says, hugging Annabeth. "My gift can't even compare to yours, I'm afraid."
"Oh, don't worry about it," she replies, pulling out of the hug to open her gift. Once the wrapping is gone, all she finds is an unmarked cardboard box.
When she opens it, she finds a small, wooden box with delicately crafted decorations on it. Sand-colored lines drift across the sides of the box like an ocean wave and little figurines appear to dance on the top.
"Open it," Thalia urges, a smile forming on her face.
Annabeth complies and opens the top, which slides open easily and inside lies several small cubbies near the back of the box and a music player built into the front.
"It's something I made myself, with some help from my coworkers," Thalia explains. "It's supposed to be a musical jewelry box. I hope you like it."
"Thalia," Annabeth says with a smile. "It's beautiful! And you made this yourself?"
"With some help, as I said before, but yes. Merry Christmas!"
Annabeth laughs and carefully sets aside her new box before hugging Thalia. "Merry Christmas, Thalia. I love it."
"I was nervous to give that to you since you're not much of a jewelry box kind of girl."
"Normally, I'm not, but I'll make an exception for you because you're my friend and you put in effort to make something for me," Annabeth says.
"So now that gifts are done, it's time to watch some Christmas movies!" Thalia exclaims excitedly.
"Which ones?" Annabeth laughs.
"I have Elf, A Christmas Carol, the Santa Claus trilogy, et cetera, you pick."
Annabeth looks over at the DVD display next to the TV and hums in thought. She gets up off the couch and crouches in front of the display to better search through her options. She spots It's A Wonderful Life and picks it off the display.
"Ooh, you're going classic this time?"
"Why not? I'm going to see my family tomorrow anyway which is not going to be fun so might was well end tonight on a good note. Besides, I don't remember ever seeing this one. Not all the way through, anyway," Annabeth says.
"Well now's the perfect time to watch it through. If you have any questions about it, just ask me."
Annabeth smiles and puts in the movie before returning to the couch.
...
The following day...
She's nervous again and she has every right to be. After what happened at the mall yesterday between herself, her mother, and Percy, she can already hear her voice berating her on being with "a boy like him". Can she guess what her mother will do to separate them? No. She's always been unpredictable which is one reason why Annabeth has lost so many friends in the past because she can't prepare for what her mother could do. A lot of the time, she doesn't know she's done things until after they've happened, leaving Annabeth lost and confused.
She spots her turn coming up and turns on her blinker before turning down the street leading towards her family's house. It's a neighborhood only New York's "elite" class can live in and she hates how she's technically a part of that because of her family. She drives down the street and her nerves go into overdrive with anxiety once her house comes into view. When she parks in the driveway, she convinces herself to take several deep breaths to calm her nerves. If there's any good she can pick out from her life, it's that she has been taught how to keep herself calm in stressful situations. This definitely qualifies as a stressful situation for her.
Her car door opens and her head snaps to her left to see who it is.
"Greetings, Miss Chase. It's been quite a long time."
She sighs a breath of relief. "Matthew..."
Her half brother grins and lets her get out of her car, which was his first mistake.
Annabeth punches him in the arm. "That's for scaring me!"
"Oww! Okay, I deserved that..."
"ANNABETH CHASE! COME IN HERE THIS INSTANT!"
Her mother's voice echoes from the hallway leading into the house and she flinches. Without another word, she walks passed Matthew and enters the house to see her furious mother.
"Did you just hit your brother, again?" she asks Annabeth sternly.
She doesn't meet her gaze. "Yes..."
"Why did you hit him?"
"He startled me and it was just a natural reaction..."
"I don't want your excuses!"
Her blood starts to boil again, all her anxiety fading and replaced with anger. "You asked me why I hit him and I told you! What more do you want from me?"
"YOU WILL NOT SPEAK TO ME THAT WAY, YOUNG LADY!"
"MOM!"
Matthew's voice cuts through the shouting and she looks over to her son, her anger temporarily pushed aside so she can speak to him calmly. "What is it sweety?"
"It's my fault she hit me. Like she just told you, I scared her and she reacted instinctively. She didn't mean to punch me," he explains.
"That's nonsense, Matthew," Christina says before turning to Annabeth again. "Now apologize to him!"
Annabeth wants to argue, but she knows it won't get her anywhere right now so she turns to Matthew and apologizes.
"Now head on upstairs," Christina orders. "Your father wishes to see you. After that, I want you to go to your room."
Annabeth doesn't say anything. She just marches passed her mother and goes upstairs to her father's office. She knocks on his door and she hears his muffled voice through the door.
"Come in."
She opens the door and enters, closing it behind her. "You wanted to see me?"
"Yes. Have a seat," he says, not even looking up from his newspaper.
Annabeth sits in one of the chairs in front of his desk, which is covered in papers, magazines, newspapers, and letters from various companies and corporate agents from across the United States. She sits in awkward silence as she waits for her father to finish reading his paper, which takes a painful eternity for him to do.
"Father...?"
"Hmm? Oh, yes."
He folds his newspaper and sets it down on top of a stack of read papers before leaning over his desk to look at her.
"So, how are you enjoying Goode High?" he asks.
Is this seriously what he wanted to see me about? she thinks to herself.
No, surely there's a point to this...
"It's a good school," she replies calmly. "I've made quite a few friends there."
"Uh huh," her father muses. "And what of this boy named... Peter Johnson?"
"Percy Jackson..."
"Ah, that's right. Forgive me, it was hard to catch his name clearly with your mother's screeching. So, tell me about him."
"What about him...?"
"Is he just another friend of yours, too?" he asks her.
"H-He is..." She mentally cringes at the lie, but it's necessary if she wants to try to preserve her relationship with him. "He's very nice, father."
"Has he hurt you in any way before?"
"No, and he would never hurt me. Where are you going with this?" Annabeth asks.
"Your mother has a very strong opinion about that boy," Frederick states. "We don't want you seeing him anymore."
"WHAT!?" Annabeth shrieks. "Wha-... Why?"
"He's not a good influence on you, my dear," he says simply. "He doesn't have any fame to his name. Luke Castellan, however, does, and I've heard you've been pretty rude to him lately."
"So this is why you wanted to see me? To get me to dump Percy and go with Luke? Dad, you can't be serious!"
"I am most serious, Annabeth, and you will not take that tone with me, do you understand?"
"NO! I DON'T UNDERSTAND! YOU MOST CERTAINLY DON'T UNDERSTAND!" Annabeth shouts.
"Please, enlighten me on what I supposedly don't understand," he says.
"Luke is a creep! He doesn't care for me at all, he just wants my body!" Annabeth says.
"And what makes you think this Percy Jackson isn't like that, too?" Frederick asks.
"Because Percy hasn't done anything against me since we've met! He was never trying to get in my pants, unlike Luke, who tries to do that all the damn time!"
"Luke is a very respectable young man, Annabeth, and you will respect him."
"UNBELIEVABLE!"
"Annabeth, you will stay away from Jackson, am I clear?"
"What do you have against him?" Annabeth asks her father, furious with what he's told her and rightfully so.
"He isn't good for you."
"How do you know that? You have never even MET him!"
"But I have met Luke."
"Luke is only pretending to be a good guy! Whenever you're not around he's a total creep! He sleeps with other girls all the time!"
"Those are just rumors."
"No, they're true! He's made that clear to me just the other day!"
"You will do what I tell you to do, young lady, and that's final."
"I don't give a shit what you tell me, I will not leave Percy for a God forsaken, perverted creep like Luke!"
"YOU WILL DO WHAT I SAY, ANNABETH CHASE! THAT IS FINAL! THIS IS FOR YOUR OWN GOOD!"
Annabeth clenches her fists and glares straight into her father's eyes.
"SINCE WHEN DID YOU GIVE A FUCK ABOUT MY OWN GOOD!? ALL EVERYTHING HAS EVER BEEN FOR ME WAS JUST SO YOU CAN LOOK GOOD TO THE PUBLIC! YOU NEVER ASKED ME WHAT I EVER WANTED! ANYTIME I TRIED TO TELL YOU WHAT I REALLY WANTED, YOU JUST BRUSHED ME OFF!"
"YOUNG LADY!"
"NO! FUCK YOU! FUCK MOM! FUCK EVERYONE IN THIS FAMILY!"
She turns to leave, but her father shouts out at her.
"If you leave this house, you will not be welcome back here! I will cut off your tuition to that damn poor boy school! You won't get any help from me or this family!"
Annabeth pauses a moment, her hand on the doorknob, but it's not because she cares.
"You do that. You never gave a fuck about me anyway. You think I care about the money? About the family name? Because I don't give a shit! Kick me out of the family! Disown me! I don't care! I don't want to be here anymore!"
"Then so be it!"
Annabeth storms out of the office and bumps into a very pale, very shaken Bobby.
"Annabeth...?"
"Leave me alone, Bobby... I'm not in a good mood..."
She continues down the steps and heads to the garage, but her mother steps in front of her.
"I will not let you go, Annabeth," she says sternly.
Annabeth looks up at her mother and snarls. "Fuck you. I want out, so I'm going to get out."
"This is exactly what I was afraid of. This is all about that Percy boy, isn't it?"
"You made it about him! He didn't change anything about me, mother. None of this is his fault, it's yours. But you don't care about that because you don't care about me!"
"We do care about you, Annabeth!"
"No you fucking don't! Name one time you've asked me what I wanted! Name one time you comforted me when I messed something up! Or when I was upset and needed somebody there with me! Name ONE FUCKING TIME THAT YOU EVEN SHOWED THAT YOU CARED!"
Christina opens her mouth to say something, but before she could, Matthew interrupts.
"Annabeth! I wanna show you something! Come here!"
"Your sister and I are talking, Matthew! It will have to wait!" Christina snaps.
"No! I want to show her now!"
Christina doesn't look happy about being interrupted, but she lets Annabeth go to Matthew. "This talk isn't over, young lady."
"I have nothing else to say to you. So yes it is," she replies before heading back upstairs where Matthew and Bobby are waiting.
"Come on!" they grab Annabeth's hands and pull her down the hallway towards her room.
"Boys, I was just about to leave..."
They push open her door and pull her inside.
"We know, but we don't want you to go yet..." Bobby says. There are tears forming in his eyes, probably from all the shouting that's been going on.
"Why should I care what you want? Everybody listens to you," Annabeth snaps.
"Because we're probably the only ones who understand where you're coming from," Matthew says, taking Annabeth by surprise.