Hey! I'm back, again, with yet another chapter. Anyway, a really big thank you to the amazing ThatGirlWithaCat, who, as always, beta read this chapter before it was released, and corrected all the little things that neither I nor my computer could catch, and anyways she deserves lots of thanks. Well, a lot of people deserve a lot of thanks but she does in particular.

Soulmate: The term for two people drawn by 'Destiny' to fall in love and be together.
Soulmating: The science of soulmates, and the 'act' of soulmates.
Soulbond: The bond of two soulmates, encompassing the mental and physical parts.
Soullink: The physical link and/or bond of the two soulmates.
Soulshard: The spiritual or mental link and/or bond of the two soulmates.

Soulbreak: The term for the bond of two soulmates being severed or broken.SunBear: XD SnowBear! I mean, sorry, SunBear! Or rather Willow! Hi!

Thank you! Yeah...Annabeth doesn't really want stuff decided for her...does anyone like stuff being decided for them? Anyway, yeah...thank you. (Oh well, sorry) And yeah...the different hair color thing, yes, was Ellie's idea and anyway...some have a different one.
It's not that long, and I enjoy it!

Daughter of Sally Jackson: Yes, yes I did!

LivingInBibliomania: Oofers...that's not good. That's not good...I already said that, but that's not good. Oh well.
Yup.
Well, there was a time skip, but, uh, sorta. :D FuN tImEs!
Yup. And yeah...that's Piper. Anyway, thanks!

KaptainKashew: Hey, LiLith. Cate is a...it's a name. Yup. Idk, because I wanted to? Yes, it is Percy again! Thank you for the movie name suggestions! Bye!

ThatGirlWithaCat: That will have to do E.
Yup. Exclamations!
Well now I'm the one who's hungry sadly.
Yes...too much SS, perhaps.
1. Yeah
2. Yeah...
3. Yeah. Pretty much.
4. Mhm
5. ...perhaps. I guess.
6. Yup
7. *sigh*
8. Yeah
9. What does it mean?
10. *so much* #LilithIsAGrump
11. Yeah
12. Yeah
13. Interesting.
14. Mhm
15. Mhm
16. Yup
17. Oofers yes
18. Yeah...oh well, poor Piper
19. Yeah
20. YES, YES SHE DID. University of California Los Angeles and University of Oregon...dUaL cOlLeGe ThIng
Yay. Sorry it was short, out of time.

Oh...yeah. So, credits to Lilithz (KaptainKashew) and Ezzie (ThatGirlWithaCat) for the movie titles included in here!

That, Annabeth was very, very, happy about. However, one thing Annabeth didn't take into account? How loud the flute could be. Piper's guitar was fully acoustic, so she couldn't still plug it in, thank goodness, but Annabeth learned a lot about the odd silver instrument- it's three (plus) octave range, how high and loud it could be in the 'upper register', and, of course...how pretty it did sound in the lower ones and when Piper got the tuning right.

However, Telemann's Menuet 2 from the Suite in A minor got really old really quickly after Piper started practicing. It wasn't a hard piece from what Annabeth understood- but apparently Piper either loved to play it or loved to annoy Annabeth and both were working rather well.

Following Annabeth's impromptu soulmate speech one week ago, Piper hadn't been exactly understanding- she was a believer, just like most of the population, after all- but Annabeth appreciated that she hadn't pried into why, like many others that had heard of Annabeth's belief. The two roommates had, after a few days, adapted to each other's routines- Piper, who had yet to find a job, stayed at home all day, usually practicing. Annabeth was almost glad- in a dark, almost sadistic way- that Mr. Harrell was dead- she knew the man would have already put in a noise complaint. Annabeth, who worked, was usually home early enough that the two could have dinner.

Annabeth crumpled up a piece of lined notebook paper, Mango looking up, startled at the sound. Mango liked Piper quite a lot- however, not even her liking for the new housemate could get Mango off of Annabeth's bed, except as Annabeth, balling up the paper, threw it across the kitchen and into the living room, into Mango's cat bed. The tuxedo looked at it with distaste and jumped onto the sort of padded bench seat that Annabeth was sitting on at the time- in the small bay window her apartment so oddly had. Piper, who was cooking at the time, cooed and walked over, petting the fluffy little creature. Annabeth glanced up and smiled.

"How's…that?" She gestured at the pot that…was it bubbling? Annabeth had very little experience or expertise in the area of gastronomy, as any restaurant she opened would be limited to brewing tea, microwavable dinner, and Annie's Mac 'n Cheese.

"…It's beef stew, Annie," Piper rolled her eyes. "and 'that' is going quite well, thanks."

"Don't call me Annie," Annabeth said, but there wasn't much bite to it. Piper didn't give up much- and she'd quickly become a friend.

"Pfft, it's practically a given with your name. It's a combination of 'Anna' and 'Beth', surely you realize that the possibilities, including 'Annie', are endless," Piper said. "And it's not that bad."

"Well, after being 'Annie' for years on end when my name is clearly Annabeth Chase, it gets really old really fast. It's like if your name was…'Sophie', and you were always called 'Sophia'. It would get annoying, don't you think? Because it's gotten annoying being 'Annie'."

Piper grinned. "Okay, Bethie." She turned around and adjusted a knob on the burner. "Stew's ready." Annabeth, who had never been 'Bethie' before, raised her eyebrows, and held Mango away from jumping onto the small counter and trying to consume stew- her cat was 'pleasantly plump' by Annabeth's standards- and while she was cute now, she didn't want Mango developing kitty heart disease because Annabeth's new roommate had indulged her cute face.

"Bethie's new," Annabeth told her, questioning without the question in her voice. "and keep Mango away from the stew. You're spoiling her and you haven't lived here for two weeks."

"What, like there's a rule?" Piper scoffed. "She's a cutie," the brunette went on, as if that was her excuse, and spoiling Mango should have been a given. "You can't really expect me to resist Mango's cuteness, can you?"

"I can and I will," Annabeth said firmly. "It's number two on the house rules." She gestured at a piece of paper tacked onto the wall, Annabeth's writing scribbled haphazardly on it, forming a list of rules, if you could read her handwriting. (It wasn't great, per se, but it wasn't terrible, obviously.)

"Well, I think that we should take it off the house rules," Piper said, picking Mango up and cradling her. The cat looked smugly at Annabeth and purred at Piper. "Aww…see, look how sweet she is? You can't deny this face," Piper reasoned.

"Piper…" The other girl set Mango down gently and grinned at Annabeth playfully, changing her mood quickly. Annabeth just raised her eyebrows higher and stared at Piper sternly. "Mango's fat enough as is," she said. "I don't want her to develop heart disease or something, because that would be worse than denying her human food when she has good quality cat food to eat anyway."

"Do you know what they put in some of that mush?" Piper said, looking offended for Mango's sake. "It can be harmful to cute kitties like Mango," she said, cooking at the cat. "But fine," she conceded. "Sorry, Mango but blame your mom. She's banning me from offering you stew…" Mango stalked away, and Annabeth bit her lip to keep from laughing. Her cat had too much attitude these days.

"…So, Annabeth," Piper said conversationally, "anyone special in your life?" Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"Didn't you ask me this yesterday?" Annabeth said resignedly. "No. There's no one 'special' in my life, unless you count people who aren't special in a romantic way." Piper shrugged, ladling Annabeth a bowl of stew, but not eating herself- being vegetarian, apparently.

"Well, you know…it's such a small town, there has to be someone…" Piper said conspiratorially. "And if there's no one special, any crushes? People you've got your eye on? Celebrity crushes?" Annabeth blinked at her newfound friend and roommate.

"Celebrity crushes? Really?" She gestured around her. "You think I have celebrity crushes? I live in a tiny town where I have lived since I finished college, which was years ago." Piper huffed.

"Fine," Piper said. "But really? No one?" She seemed surprised- Annabeth hadn't wanted to pry, but she got the feeling Piper had never lived in a small town before now- she acted a lot like all the new people who came here, most of which were tourists as no one really wanted to settle down in New Pine Creek, as it was so small, after all. Most everyone had been born and raised here and couldn't imagine anywhere else.

"No, you?" Piper blinked for a moment. "Anyone…boyfriends, girlfriends, crushes, people you've got your eye on, celebrity crushes…anyone."

"Well…" Piper seemed just a bit embarrassed. "There is this one celebrity I've had a sort of crush on ever since he grew up." Annabeth raised her eyebrows- ever since he grew up? What does that mean?- before motioning at Piper to go on. "Well, you know Jason Grace?" Annabeth felt she'd probably heard the name many times before, however, when she was kid, she didn't really have time to worry about the latest celebrity, and she didn't really have time now, as she was trapped in New Pine Creek.

"How can you not know Jason Grace?" Piper looked like a five-year-old Annabeth had just told Santa Claus wasn't real- like she'd been slapped in the face and robbed of her whole belief system. It was a little funny, to be honest. "He was only, like, a really famous child actor! He starred in Murder Birds, and Zach from the West Wing, and Petals and Thorns, and When the Sky Sings, and sooooo much more! He was from this cute little orphanage called The Wolf House, got accepted into the boarding school Camp Jupiter. He did these cute little interviews with People magazine! And then he stopped at like sixteen, and then went to college and became a lawyer, and rose to prominence and got super hot." Piper stared at Annabeth as if she was part of a horror movie. "Where were you, in a cave?"

"Actually, yeah," Annabeth said candidly. "Around the time that movie about murdering birds came out, I lived in a cave in Pennsylvania with my friends Luke and Thalia."

Piper looked very surprised- which she probably was…Annabeth didn't really know why she'd let her know that, but she had. No sense regretting it now. "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

The two girls waited in silence for a few moments.

"How can you not know Murder Birds?! And it isn't about murdering birds!" Piper exploded.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Fairly simple. Then what's it about anyways?"

"Murder Birds is about a girl named Fala and her brother Collin. Jason Grace played Collin, and Bianca di Angelo played Fala. After Collin's mother, Fala's stepmother, is killed, Fala goes missing…and Collin goes silent," Piper said. "It's a lot more complex than that, but that's the gist of it." Annabeth shrugged- It didn't sound very well thought out in her opinion. Piper took her silence on it as superiority or something and huffed. "Jason Grace is amazing. He does all these really honorable cases and-" Annabeth, tired of hearing Piper ramble on about some dude named Jason Grace, Annabeth finished her beef stew and shrugged as Piper started talking again. "- and there were all these rumors about some girl, Rainie Ramirez or something, but still-" Annabeth paused.

"You mean Reyna Ramirez-Arellano, the governor of California?" Piper considered the name for a second and then nodded.

"Yeah…but she wasn't a governor when I read the rumors…" Annabeth rolled her eyes. Now was not the time to tell Piper she kinda-sorta knew Reyna Ramirez-Arellano…she could practically see the eyes popping out of her head- you know Reyna Ramirez-Arellano, but have never heard of Jason Grace?!- and jumped at a knock on the door. Initially thinking it was Piper rapping her knuckles on the table, she stood, but Piper jumped up.

"I'll get it!" Annabeth followed her to the door. "Oh, hi…?" Piper asked questioningly. Annabeth peered over her shoulder before ducking out of the way. It was that annoying dude who'd moved into Harrell's apartment- Perry.

"Uh, hi. I'm Percy Jackson, I moved in a little while ago, and I was making cookies today, when I realized I had run out of white sugar, and I've been all around my floor and this one and no one seems to be home-" Annabeth tuned him out. Or rather no one's opening the door to you, Mister Percy. "-so I was wondering if I could borrow some from you, Miss…?"

"Piper," Piper supplied. "And this-" her eyes widened at the venomous look Annabeth sent her, "-is Mango-" she picked up the cat, who protested, "-and yeah, I'll get you some sugar." She beckoned Annabeth back into the kitchenette and gave her a questioning glance. "What was that about?" She hissed. "What's wrong with him knowing you live here too?" Annabeth just shrugged.

"Nothing, that's just the dude who made so much noise and I don't really want to see him again, alright?" Annabeth wasn't sure why she didn't want him knowing she lived there but she just shrugged and asked Piper to drop it. Piper obliged but gave her another questioning stare, kaleidoscopic eyes boring into Annabeth's gray ones.

Annabeth was just glad she actually dropped the subject and didn't carry on, something she had learned the latter was rather prone to doing, and while not a bad thing, it was rather annoying when Annabeth didn't know the reasons why herself.

But she pondered Piper's question late into that night, awake, Mango on her chest purring and snoozing, wondering why- he hadn't really done anything to her, that was true, however ever since her encounter with him, Annabeth knew she had been determined to hate the man known as Percy Jackson.

But usually she was so in control of her feelings.

Yay! Done! It took like a week! That's okay! Anyways...um, yeah, credits to ThatGirlWithaCat and KaptainKashew for the movie titles, and to ThatGirlWithaCat for the suggestion of Jason Grace the Child Actor.

Speaking of...your song for the chapter is Nights in White Satin by the Moody Blues! Yay. Bye!