Chapter 4: Annabeth

These last 2 days had been one of the best of my life. Okay, not that great, but really fun. Piper invited me to eat lunch with them on Thursday and Friday. I really liked her friend group (and no, not just Percy). Hazel and Frank were so kind and automatically made me feel welcome, Leo made me laugh constantly, Jason was very insightful and for some reason it surprised me how sarcastic he was. Perfect for Piper. Rachel was sweet and funny, and said so many nice things to me, I wanted to puke from her perfectness. Her and Percy tended to pack on the PDA, but no more than Jason and Piper, who make out every time they see each other.

Ever since Percy and my tutor session, we've been talking constantly in class and even got a repreman from the teacher, a first for me. He was super excited when I joined them at lunch. I really enjoyed hanging out with them.

They teased each other all the time. No one got mad, but laughed and teased back. It was wonderfully strange to me. If I even told Selina that her eyelash was out of place she might burst into tears. I loved her, but it could be very exhausting. My step-brothers ran to my step-mom anytime I just told them to be quiet. My mom didn't understand the word, "tease" and mistook it as annoyance. But she didn't really care. Before I started hanging out with them, the only close person to me that I could make fun of was Thalia (and of course Piper), but that was probably not a good idea now.

I like to think I am good at observing people and relationships. So when Thalia stopped tackling me every morning and texting me every chance she got to complain about her mom, I started to think maybe she was mad at me. At lunch she talked to me, but barely, focusing most of her attention on Nico and Will. When I told Piper about it, she said, "You're overthinking it. But, if you really feel that way come eat with us. I don't know why you don't. Everyone likes you so much."

When I texted Thalia to tell her that I wasn't going to be there at lunch, she just responded: that's fine. Normally she would get annoyed, responding that I was too cool for her, trying to make me feel guilty and not want to eat with them. Or she would want to join me, which would be fine. Jason was her brother anyway.

On Friday during lunch, while I was thinking about how pretty Jason's eyes were, I was reminded of Thalia's similar eyes (although they were normally much more angry). Once he and Percy finished discussing the best vacation place, beach or mountains, I asked him, "Hey, Jason. Do you know if Thalia is mad at me?"

"Um," Jason looked nervous "I think-I mean yes. Kind of. It's pretty stupid."

"Thalia's mad at Annabeth? I thought they were, like, soulmates or something!" Leo joked. "Jeez, Annabeth, what'd you do?"

Piper punched Leo which caused him to while dramatically in pain. Jason sighed at him then said, "Nothing! Well, it's what you didn't do. She says that she keeps wanting you to go to parties with her, but you haven't gone anywhere since winter break."

"That is the stupidest shit I have ever heard!" Piper shreaked, earning a couple stares from some freshmen. I very much appreciated her loyalty.

"It's only been 5 days. What does she expect? Me to go to parties every day?" I said exasperatedly. Jason held his hands up in a "Don't Shoot the Messenger" way. "Besides, I've told her that I'm not a huge partier."

"Don't worry, Annabeth," Hazel said kindly. "Are you going to Stoll's party?" I nodded, glancing at Percy. He looked deeply interested in the conversation. Hazel continued, "Go with her. Then she won't be mad anymore."

Hazel was ever the peacemaker. Apparently unlike Rachel who said, "Absolutely not! Go with us, have loads of fun, flip her off, and make her feel bad for being angry at you for a stupid reason."

That was surprising to hear come out of Rachel's mouth.

"Rachel is on a revenge quest." Percy supplemented. He then kissed the top of her head. Gross.

"I would like it if you took revenge on my sister," Jason straight-faced.

"I would like it too! I hate it when people talk crap about me. Why didn't she just say it to my face?" I said, very annoyed. Hazel pursed her lips in disapproval, but didn't say anything.

Piper clapped her hands. "Then it's decided. Girls-meet at my house at 3:00. We'll get all dolled up, boys will pick us up at 8:00 and then we'll head to the Stolls. It is supposed to be a rager. Then we will have the time of our lives. Percy-can you be the DD?"

He nodded but I interrupted, "Percy, I don't want to get drunk. I'll drive."

Frank waved me off. "No, Percy doesn't drink."

Really? That was surprising. Percy just shrugged, but looked like he didn't want to talk

about it anymore. I didn't ask any questions. The thing that really surprised me is that Hazel and Frank did drink. When did that start?

"Okay, we can co-DD and use one of Piper's big cars," I said. Percy gave me a thumbs up.

I was excited for the party now. With my fun new friends, I might actually enjoy it. Instead of Thalia keep ordering me shots and complaining the whole time.

When I got to Piper's house, everyone was already there. We all looked similarly dressed. I was wearing grey sweats and a zip up hoodie, hair in a bun. The only person who looked even slightly cute was Hazel, who was wearing leggings.

When Piper opened the door she looked me over, laughed and yelled, "Rachel! She knows proper party edicate!" I could hear Rachel giggling upstairs.

"Excuse me?" I asked.

Rachel ran downstairs. "You know! Not looking cute until the party! There's no point." "Ah yes. I am an expert at not looking cute," I joked and walked inside. "So what are we even going to do for 5 hours until the party?"

When we walked into Piper's room, Hazel was laying on the floor looking at options to wear. Piper had told us not to bring any clothes because between her and her mom, there was enough clothes to dress three countries. Most of the clothes were all over her floor.

Piper's room was always a mess. It was so nice compared to my constant cleanliness at my moms. Clothes, towels, makeup, and homework were on the floor, on the bed, and on pretty much everything. One wall was painted white, with no decoration. The second was light green with a mirror on it. The third was grey, and had the entrance to the bathroom. However, the last was covered in posters, pictures of friends and family, and stickers. It took Piper years to make but every inch was covered. Piper loved it and her mother hated it.

"I have it all planned out," Piper kicked an empty water bottle out of her way. "First shower, then facemasks and a movie."

"That is the most stereotypical girl thing I have heard!" Hazel laughed. "Yeah," Piper said "Pretty much."

4 and a half hours later we had showered, done our fask masks, watched 2 movies, and chosen out all our outfits. I was beginning to really get excited about tonight. When I looked in the mirror, I felt almost as beautiful as Rachel. And she looked really beautiful. We all did.

Hazel was doing my hair. I normally didn't let anyone do my hair, because it was curly and hair to make look cute. But Hazel's hair was even more frizzy and big than mine and she made it look amazing everyday. She had straightened my hair and then put it up in a half bun, with a few strands hanging out in front. It looked amazing. The last time I straightened my hair was freshman homecoming.

She then moved onto Piper, whose hair was easy, but she wanted it curled. Rachel just wanted dutch braids, so I did those. Rachel wanted to do make up because she believed it was a type of art.

And she made it look amazing. On my face she did a full face of makeup, with a smokey eye, fake eyelashes, and a nude lipstick. She highlighted and contoured my cheekbones so it made my face look skinny.

"Wow!" I said into the mirror. "Rachel, you are so good at makeup."

"I just brought out the beautiful parts of your face," She said as she applied her own eyeshadow.

All of our outfits were amazing. It was impossible to not find a perfect look for everyone with the thousands of articles of trick for parties, even if it's winter, is to wear summer clothes-it gets so hot while you are dancing. Piper wore flowy yellow shorts that made her look really tan and a black crop-top and yellow checkered vans. Hazel wore a simple purple sun dress that looked fantastic on her and brown sandals. Rachel wore a light green v-neck romper and white vans. I wore a white skinny strap crop-top with an orange butterfly on the chest, high waisted denim shorts, and checkered vans.

When the boys got there the first thing Percy said was, "Wow. You guys look hot" which ended up with him getting punched 4 times by 4 different girls.

The car ride was really fun. Percy and I sat in the front as co-DDs and played loud rap music and we shook the car dancing around.

The party was a rager for sure. About 1,000 kids were there from our school and a couple other schools too. People were making out in the pool, on couches, on counters, and pretty much anywhere possible. The house was huge, and definitely big enough for everyone. Loud music was playing, a big bar was set up and drunk kids were stumbling everywhere. Less than half were drunk though, it was only 8:30.

I was startled when we were walking in when Rachel grabbed my arm and said casually, "Thalia is looking. Laugh at something I said."

I gave a loud laugh and Rachel hugged me like she was so excited I was there. I whispered a thanks, and then looked over at Thalia. She was glaring at me, but I pretended to look at something behind her. I felt a sense of satisfaction. That's what she gets for talking about me behind my back.

By 9:00, Rachel was already tipsy, so Percy was spending as much time with her before she got real drunk. He told me after she was drunk that he was planning on filming all the stupid things Leo was going to do.

"I think he is going to try to jump off the roof into the pool. I need to supervise." He had said.

I was grossed out when I walked into a room where Percy and Rachel were making out on the couch. Everyone was doing it, but something was particularly disgusting about their little session. I promptly walked out and was surprised to find Selina there without Charlie.

"Annabeth!" She yelled over the loud music. "I'm so glad you're here!"

"Hey! Where's Charlie?" I yelled back.

"Out of town!" She hiccuped, obviously a little drunk. "Do you want to dance with me. I'm

lonely!"

I was going to find Piper and see what she was doing, but looking across the room I saw her dancing with Jason. Not wanting to interrupt all of their shenanigans, I agreed and let Selina drag me out to the middle of the dance floor.

We danced like crazy. All around us people were jumping up and down to the music and kept jostling us. It smelled like sweat and the air was hard to breathe because of how many people there were. Selina and I had to yell at each other to be able to understand each other. I danced with some boy I didn't even know for a little bit, but we both quickly got bored and left each other. After two hours my legs were exhausted and my throat hurt from singing and yelling. I shouted at Selina that I was going to go outside to get some fresh air and sit down.

I went out to the big backyard and walked more towards the back to get away from people. I sat down on a bench and took off my shoes and rubbed my feet. That's when I noticed who was on the bench next to me. Thalia. She was glaring at me.

I decided to play it cool. "Hey, cool party right?"

"Ugh." She rolled her eyes and took a sip from her cup.

That made me mad. Sure, she was drunk and not completely in the right mind, but she should still have the decency to try and act curtisay. "Look," I said calmly, "I have no idea what your problem is. Stop acting like a jerk."

"My problem?" She said defensively, "Your the one who is at fault."

"Why?" I raised my voice. No one else was around, I could get loud if I wanted. "Because I went with different people to some stupid party? Are you that jealous and insecure?"

"No!" She threw her cup. "You completely replaced me! All to get in the popular crowd? All you do is hang out with Piper and Percy! The second they want to hang out with them, you ditch us?"

"I've been friends with them for a long time, I just started hanging out with them now because you've been moody and needy! I just didn't want to go to a couple parties with you! Why is that such a big deal?"

"I was just trying to do something nice for you to help you forget about Luke!" She screamed. "Then you act like I'm a burden or something! The world doesn't revolve around you Annabeth."

"I know it doesn't!" I screamed back. "I think you don't know that yourself! No one else had a problem with me sitting somewhere else, because no one else is as insane as you! And you talked crap about me to your brother who is also my friend! I had a great time without you tonight, because I didn't have anyone constantly complains to me about something she wanted to do."

"You're ridiculous! You have this crazy need to fit in and be pretty and cool, that it trumps your friendships. So you decided to just leave up and show up to this party with a whole new group of friends, like I don't even exist or anything!"

"I got a whole new group of friends because they make me happy. I'm unhappy when I'm with you! Maybe I do try too hard to fit in, but you try too hard to make sure you are so out of the ordinary, that you make it impossible for people to like you!"

"People like me because I'm real. You're fake and don't deserve the new friends you got." Then she got really angry. "Maybe that's why Luke cheated on you. Because you were fraud and shallow."

Wow. That hurt. I blinked for a second then said, "You're really drunk. I know you wouldn't say that if you were sober, but if you really do feel that way, I guess I just won't hang out with you anymore. You don't have to worry about me not eating lunch with you anymore. If you keep this up Thalia, you are going to lose a lot more friends than just me."

"Whatever." She rolled her eyes and walked away, but I could tell what I said got to her. It was true. I could tell she was putting a strain on more relationships then just ours.

I sat back down on the bench, put my head in my hands and sobbed. My best friend in the whole world, was no longer even my friend. First Luke, then Thalia, my entire life was falling apart. I regretting coming to this party at all. After a couple minutes I felt a person sit next to me.

"Hey," It was Percy, "You okay?"

He held his arms open for a hug and I fell into his arms. I cried and cried and held my face into his chest. His arms were strong and comforting. Normally I would have died for this moment, but right now I was too sad to care.

Eventually I pulled my head out. "Sorry."

"Don't be," He smiled at me. "What's wrong?"

"Thailia and I had a huge fight," I sniffed. "We aren't friends anymore."

"Your revenge plan didn't work." He laughed in a sweet way. It made me feel so much

better. Like maybe the world wasn't going to end.

"Yeah guess not." I hiccuped. "I didn't know she would care so much that I ate with you

guys."

"Hey, that's on her." He rubbed my back. "I'm so happy you are hanging out with us. You

are a really good friend. And if she can't see that, then I'm sorry for her."

I looked him in the eyes. "Thank you so much. It means a lot."

He nodded. "Where would I be without my co-designated driver?"

I laughed. How was he able to make me laugh after I had the worst fight of my life?

"Stuck alone with a lot of drunk teenagers." I joked.

"Exactly. I need you." He wrapped an arm around me. "Let's go in when you're ready." I rubbed my eyes. "I'm ready. It's fine. Everyone will just think I'm high."

We walked in, grabbed all our friends, and drove everyone home. The car ride was full of throw up, slurred words, and yelling. But each one of these people made me feel so much better. I really liked them. I finally felt free from the toxic relationship I had with Thalia.