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Here's chapter 4! Enjoy!

Chapter 4

Percy's Pov

"-best of things." A voice feminine voice shouted, traveling from the living room downstairs all the way up to my cozy room on the second floor. Mrs. Chase was clearly not happy about something, her voice taking on a dark tremor filled with a sense of hatred. I'd never heard her speak that way to anyone that way. Normally, she's a very calm woman, always keeping her temper in check, and never raising her voice to such a shrill pitch. Even when the twins got themselves into trouble, she never rose her voice higher than a stern scolding; this was flat out screaming. Obviously, they'd done something terrible to have made her react in such a way. But as the second voice screamed back, I was shocked to find that it belonged not to the boys but to Annabeth.

"You're not my mother; I don't have to listen to you." Her voice matched her stepmother's pitch perfectly. This must've been what my file meant when it said Mrs. Chase and Annabeth didn't get along.

"Whether you like it or not, I am your mother and I expect you treat me as such."

"You'll never be my mother. She was a great woman, she treated me like her daughter while you act like I'm a nuisance who's standing in the way of your happy-pappy life with my dad. News flash for you, honey, I'm not going anywhere so good luck with that."

"What makes you think I want to get rid of you?" Mrs. Chase asked, suddenly taking on a quieter, more serious tone.

"I heard you and my dad arguing the other night. You were telling him all about how you wanted to ship me off to some boarding school so you wouldn't have to deal with me. But when he said he could never do that to me, you got all pissed at him and accused him of picking me over you. Which in case you didn't know, he was. Obviously, you're not as important as you think." Really? Mr. and Mrs. Chase had been fighting? I hadn't even heard them, but I guess I was a heavy sleeper. Like a really really heavy sleeper. I guarantee that if a tornado ripped through my house, I'd hardly even stir.

"Don't you get it? I'm trying to help you. You've become almost unrecognizable, not the girl you father talks so proudly about. What happened to that sweet, straight A student that didn't care about what others thought of her? Hmm? What happened to her? I really believe it would be best for you to leave." I could practically feel the frustration coming off of Mrs. Chase's words. How could she be so harsh? Annabeth may be hardheaded, but that's no reason to be so mean. Besides, Annabeth is so not cut out for boarding school. She'd get eaten alive, she just doesn't seem like the type of person who would gladly give up her butlers and expensive cuisines for bitter students and inedible school lunches.

"You want to know what's best for me? Butting the hell out of my life, that's what. All you've done since my father married you was bitch about me and I'm sick of it!" A crash reverberated around the room, a noise sounding like a glass shattering into tiny, pointed shards.

I climbed off from my seated position on my bed, pushing away my unfinished Chemistry homework, and bounded down the steps two at a time. At the bottom, Annabeth brushed past me, her face taking on an angry red hue, fists clenched so tight her nails, shaping crescents into her palms, drew blood. The thick, red liquid dripped from her hands and leaked onto the steps, but Annabeth either didn't notice or didn't care that she'd unintentionally wounded herself.

Walking into the living room, I found Mrs. Chase hunched down on the floor, picking up pieces of what used to be a brilliant, light blue vase that held a luminous bouquet of flowers. Now, the petals were ripped from their stems and were buried beneath the glass. I crouched beside her, sifting through the pieces gently until I found larger shards that could be easily picked up without cutting my fingers. The smaller pieces would have to brushed into a dust pan and disposed of that way.

I turned my attention back to Mrs. Chase and noticed unshed tears glistening in her wide, blue eyes.

"Are you okay?" I asked, concerned for her well being.

She sighed heavily, barely holding herself together from breaking down.

"Yes, Percy, I'm…fine." Her voice was deflated and filled with sadness. "It was just a little spat, nothing serious."

"From the looks of it, it seems pretty serious." I replied, eyeing the broken vase.

She laughed. To be honest, it was a homey kind of laugh, bringing back memories from my childhood filled with images of my mother. Her laugh sounded similar to Mrs. Chase's, a soft melodious noise that you couldn't help but smile at.

"Well, it's not the first time Annabeth's broken things. She tends to do that when she's enraged. As you'll soon find out, these fights are pretty regular. Since you're going to be living her, I thought it would be fair to give you a little warning." She exhaled a long breath. "I just wish things were different. Truth be told, I've always wanted a daughter and I know Annabeth isn't my flesh and blood, but she feels like she's mine. When I'd found out Fredrick had one, I was thrilled. Someone to give advice to, to talk with about things she probably wouldn't confide in her father. You know, girl stuff. But Annabeth has been nothing but harsh towards me. I've tried, I really have, but I'm starting to lose hope of ever having a relationship with her." She sounded truly disheartened by this and I felt bad for her. All she wanted was a stepmother/daughter bond, but Annabeth seemed to be less than ok with that.

"Mrs. Chase, you have to remember that this is hard for Annabeth, too. I mean, imagine yourself in her shoes. Her mother died when she was so young and then, out of the blue someone else paints themselves into the picture, acting like she's her new mom. She just doesn't want anyone to try to take her mother's place."

"I'm trying to overshadow Athena, I just want to be there for her, be someone she can talk to if she needs someone willing to listen."

"You should tell her that. Let her know that that's not your intention and that instead of thinking of you as a mom, think of you as more of friend. But first, you should probably let her cool down. She walked past me earlier and I'm pretty sure I saw steam coming out of her ears." Mrs. Chase laughed, a real one this time.

"Thank you, Percy. That's good advice. You should consider a job as a guidance counselor or something of that nature."

"Actually, I want to be a swimmer."

"Interesting." We resumed picking through the glass in silence after that. Mrs. Chase had a faraway look in her eyes, lost deep in thought, thoughts no doubt about how to patch things up with her stepdaughter.

Once the large fragments were picked up and thrown in the trash, I grabbed a broom, the ends bristled and worn. Grabbing a dust pan, Mrs. Chase and I swept up the remnants of the vase off the shiny, marble floor. Looking over our handy work, I caught sight of one flower that managed to stay intact. It was pale white and the edges were stained a light pink. So much beauty was smushed into such a simple flower. It even smelled beautiful, a sweet flowery scent that left my nostrils satisfied and aching for another sniff. I picked up the flower and held it delicately in my hand, afraid I'd crush it with my man hands.

"You found one that hasn't been damaged." Mrs. Chase took it from my fingers, giving it a sniff, soaking in its heavenly aroma, before handing it back to me. "It's beautiful."

"Yeah, it is." My eyes drifted back to it, unable to stay off the lovely flower between my fingers.

After double checking that no glass remained, I headed back up to my room, preparing myself to spend hours staring at a sheet of paper that was nearly impossible. I'm pretty sure sawing my own arm off will be less painful than trying to work through something I had knew nothing about. Rocket science would be easier. My teachers must think I'm a genius or something. I'm flattered, but by know they must know that I'm not.

Before I mounted the stairs, Mrs. Chase stopped me.

"Percy, could you do me just one more favor?"

"Of course. What do you need?"

"I know you and Annabeth aren't on the best of terms, but I'd really appreciate it if you'd go and talk to her. Since she refuses to speak with anyone except that boy, Luke, I think she could use someone to talk to, help her through everything. It seems like a lot to ask, I know, but she has a lot going on and I don't think it's good for her to keep all that bottled up. If it's too much trouble-"

"No, it's no trouble at all." That was a lie. It was a problem, considering the second I tried to step foot in Annabeth's room she'd probably slam the door in my face…or try to kick me where it counts, if you know what I mean. But it was worth a shot.

I ascended the steps and briskly walked down the hall, stopping at the room across from mine. The door was shut as always, but instead of blaring music, the only sound was quiets sobs, muffled by the wall separating us. I knocked, hoping Annabeth would let me in, but all I got was a "go away". Clearly, she was upset and needed comforting, something I don't she'd gotten very often. Between the arguing with her step mom and her brothers, she had no one to really comfort her. And her dad was out of the question because of their strained relationship had developed after his and Athena's divorce.

Ignoring her, I pushed the door open and stepped inside, closing the door quietly behind me. Upon walking in, I was met with a sea of miscellaneous items that had been thrown around the room. Papers were scattered all over the plush pink carpet. Everything that had sat on her desk were now lying on the floor. Her pink notebook filled with song lyrics lay against the wall where it had been obviously thrown. Needless to say, the whole room was a disaster. From the one other time I'd been in Annabeth's room, I'd learned that she liked to keep things orderly, this was anything but. Evidently, she does more than wreck vases, she turns her clean room into a pigsty.

A soft whimper caught my attention, dragging my eyes to the person seated on the bed, knees pulled up to chest, arms wrapped tightly around them as streams of tears poured down her cheeks. Annabeth's nose was red and her eyes were puffy; as crazy as this may sound, she was even cute when she was in tears.

I approached the bed, seating myself beside her, the bed shifting under my weight. She hardly acknowledged me, but as I scooted closer, she shot me a halfhearted look that was supposed to be intimidating, but fell short. Ignoring her glare, I wrapped my arms around her thin frame, rubbing her back soothingly and almost awkwardly. I've never been good at these sorts of things. Comforting my mother was one thing, but comforting cry girls was another. I always seemed to draw a blank whenever I try to come up with ways to cheer them up, but most of the time, I fail miserably. But for once, it seemed to be working because Annabeth melted into my embrace, her hard sobs turning into soft sniffles until her crying stopped entirely.

She pulled herself out of my arms, scooting back until her head was resting against the wall behind her.

"Are you okay?" I asked softly, but immediately felt stupid afterwards. Of course, she wasn't okay, she's crying her eyes out. Sometimes I just want to pound on my head until my pops out of my ear because I seriously think it malfunctions more than it should.

"No." She answered honestly, dropping the whole snarky, tough girl attitude from yesterday.

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

"Do I have to?"

"Only if you want to."

She sighed. "I miss my mom, always have, always will, but when Martha and I fight like this, I only miss her more. She'd never yell at me like that, treat me like I'm not as important or don't matter to her."

"Why don't you just try to get along?" She rolled her eyes at this.

"It's not that easy, Percy. She expects so much from me, expects me to just accept her into my family, but I can't do that. She acts like she's my mom when she's not. It's not right of her to just pop into my life like she'd always been there. When my father married her, I couldn't believe it, my mind couldn't wrap itself around the idea. When my mother died, we cried and grieved for a long time and then suddenly, he's getting remarried to some bitch who's trying to replace her."

"Yeah, I know how you feel."

"No, you don't, you have no idea."

"Your wrong. I lost my mom about…what? Two weeks ago? And not only did I have to deal with that heartbreak , but I had to adapt to an entire newly family in a strange new state that I'd never been before. Do you know that when I first got her, I felt like all of your family were trying to erase the memories of my mom with ones filled with yourselves? It was hard for me, but I realized that that's not even a possibility. I realized all Mr. and Mrs. Chase wanted was to be there for me when I needed them and that's what they want to do for you, too. If you'd let them that is."

Annabeth's jaw rocked back and forth, chewing her thoughts and hopefully, thinking over everything I'd said and that is wasn't going in one ear and out the other.

"Why can't you be the one to do that?" Well, that was unexpected. I thought she hated me and now she wants to be her…what? Friend? Personal therapist? Whatever it was, I chose to ignore it for the moment. For once, Annabeth was actually be nice to me and not screaming in my face at how ugly, stupid, or lame I was.

"Why would you want that?"

"Because you understand." She said, throwing a small smile my way. "Anyway, since we've managed to stay in a room together this long without causing the other bodily harm, I think it would be a good chance to get to know each other better. You are going to be here for a while so it's not like I could ignore you forever."

"Good idea. So what do you want to know?"

"What's your favorite?"

"Blue."

It went on and on like this for hours, just us sitting next to each other asking random questions, learning things about the other we'd never known. And in this moment, I finally saw a different part of Annabeth, a part that I wouldn't mind seeing all the time. For once, I could picture us as best friends, joking around and poking fun at the other. Secretly, I think this was the real Annabeth coming out, making a surprise appearance. I could be wrong, but this side of her seems to come more natural to her than the snotty celebrity part. Needless to say, I liked this side of her much, much more.

Throughout our silly game of 20 questions, I'd picked up on her sense of humor; it was odd to hear her crack jokes, but it was refreshing after her high maintenance attitude had thrown insult after insult for the past two weeks. Whenever I'd answer one of her many questions, she'd always add a silly comment or joke that made us both crack up from the hilarity. I liked it when she laughed; it was such a pretty sound, it was hard not to smile whenever you heard it. One time, I even made her laugh so hard she snorted and she ended up rolling around on her cluttered floor for several minutes, unable to sober herself up.

But my favorite part of our game was when I asked about what she wanted to do in the future. Her eyes sparkled and her face lit up, an enormous smile plastered on her face. She told me she wanted to be an architect, constructing permanent skyscrapers all around the world. I'd never seen so animated before as she talked about angles, joints, and suspensions. Architecture lingo that I wasn't familiar with. Eventually, my eyes glazed over and I almost fell asleep during her excited commentary, which I felt bad for. But when she noticed she wasn't angry or put off by it, she simply laughed, moving on to the reason why she wanted to be an architect in the first place.

"You see, everything used to be perfect before. I had a wonderful mother and a happy-go-lucky father, a nice house, plenty of friends, it couldn't have gotten better than that. But then mom died, she was gone, my friends hate me for a stupid mistake I made that still makes me feel guilty, dad became so obsessed with his work that he lost that happy childish joy that used to make me smile. All the things that made my life so good were crumbling down, threatening to crush me. Things change, people change or leave you behind, but buildings, buildings will always be there. They may have to be remodeled throughout the years, but they will always be the same structure that they were originally. Like you said so yourself, in a few years, my music and I will be forgotten, replaced by some new younger star with better songs."

"You sound like you don't want to be a musician."

"I do, I love the music, but my heart just isn't as into it anymore. My music career isn't something I want to spend the rest of my life doing."

"Architecture is?"

"Yep."

"Wow, that's really…"

"Lame?"

"Your words, not mine." I said jokingly, eliciting a laugh from Annabeth. "But seriously, I think that's really great. If that's what you want to do, I say you go for it."

"Wow." She said, staring at me in awe. She seemed genuinely surprised that someone supported her dream, but I don't see why. Annabeth would make a wonderful architect. Granted, I'd never seen her design a building before, but her motivation and enjoyment for such a career is admirable. Someone with so much love and appreciation for a difficult job like architecture deserves it more than all the others. Most people dislike their jobs, clocking in and clocking out, not caring what-so-ever with the fundamentals of their occupations, but someone like Annabeth, someone who thoroughly enjoys what she does, those are the best at their jobs.

"Why do you sound so surprised?"

"Well, it's just that, not many people agree with my decision. Martha and my dad think I'd be better off sticking with music along with the majority of my friends and family. Even my own grandparents laughed in my face when I brought up the idea. Nobody thinks I can do it."

"That hurts my feelings." I said, clutching my hands to my chest as I feigned hurt.

"Why?"

"You just called me a nobody." A small smile broke out on her lips. "Well, its getting late. I should probably get to sleep, you know, with school tomorrow and all. Good night." I said as I made my way to the door, but jerked around as I remembered what I'd planned to do earlier.

I stepped closer to Annabeth and placed the beautiful flower into her hand. She smiled-she'd been doing that a lot lately- as she twirled the flower around in her fingers. Annabeth lifted the petals up to her nose and took a big whiff, absorbing its delightful fragrance.

"Thank you, Percy," She whispered softly, admiring its beauty. "It's lovely."

"You're welcome." I let myself out of the room, throwing a quick "goodnight" over my shoulder to which Annabeth returned.

Returning to my room, I yanked off my clothes and pulled on fresh, blue plaid pajama pants before jumping into my bed, pulling the covers over my waist, arms behind my head. I laid in silence, waiting for sleep to overtake me, but tonight it evaded me. Too many thoughts raced through my mind, blocking the darkness from coming for a visit.

For hours, I stared up at the blank ceiling above me and tried to push the thoughts away, but they were relentless. The second I felt like I pulled off the task, they'd reappear and I'd have to start all over again. Eventually, I just gave up and provided the attention my head was in need of.

The thoughts were pointless, but held so much meaning it hurt. After hearing Annabeth talk about her mother, memories of mine jumbled together, demanding my attention. One was of my mom in the kitchen, baking blue chocolate chip cookies, while another was just us talking. Memory after memory flashed through my mind, a silent slideshow of my life. Some made me laugh and smile and others deflated the elation I'd felt from the happier memories. It went on and on until it ended on the most recent memory I had of my mom. The last memory. The thought made me frown. It was of my mother and I sitting on the couch watching one of her favorite movies, The Blindside. She'd complained earlier how I was busy with the swim team that she hadn't spent much time with me. So to make up for it, we'd sat down with a bucket of popcorn and plopped down on the couch, immersing ourselves into the movie.

I hadn't realized I was crying until the salty tears dripped down my chin. Lifting up the blanket, I wiped the tears from my eyes. I sighed as the heartbreak and loss flooded through me, the wound in my heart I'd spent weeks sewing up had split open, unleashing the deep, throbbing ache in my chest. I felt like I could sit and cry forever, but then the good memories materialized behind my closed eyelids, engulfing me in the happy experiences we'd shared. I smiled as they filled me up with nothing but pleasant feelings.

And that's how I fell asleep. With a smile on my face and a giddy feeling consuming me.

*gasp* Annabeth and Percy actually got along?! Yep. I know, the world has ended. But I figured after last chapter where they were so hateful to the other, I thought they deserved one moment where they weren't at each other's throats.

Anyway, what did you think? Good? Bad? Okay? So terrible it should be thrown in Tartarus and never read again? Review and tell me what you think!

Lets try to get the review count up to 20 for this story!

~TwistedTrident~ :)