Chapter 9: Irresponsible Brother… I Think Not
I'm gonna try something maybe answer the reviews beforehand?
Fluffy Bunnies Are So Cute: Haha you're ranting/explaining pretty much sums up my whole story and thanks, pretty sure my biked is fixed already, now I just need to wait for my one month ban to be over XD
HannaNR: haha here's a tip… well what I usually do anyways… fill your desk with lots of food! Well then I always get yell by my parents for having such a messy desk :D
Allstarry707: Pretty sure it went through (your last review I mean :D) I find it weird that brothers and sisters kiss… my dad made my sister kiss me on the cheek when we were small (when I found out I was washing my cheek nonstop in the restroom XD) but maybe I can make them have a little kiss on the cheek ?
J'aime lire: Haha thanks! I think I'm probably gonna use that later in the story! Love the idea!
Morbid bookworm: Thanks! I'm planning to probably use your suggestion later on in the story! Thanks again!
GemOfOlympus: haha I'll let Rachel jump into glue later, but for now… we need her for the plot XD, and yep I love the story! I'm actually pretty curious what's going to happen between Sophie and Alex, and then comes in Nico who's in love with Alex and then there's Kyle who falls into all this! But about the cliffhangers… I love it but hate it XD you probably know the reason, anyways I hope you update soon!
Disclaimer: Call me when you see the words "Agent Astro Zombie " as an author to a book from the series Percy Jackson and the Olympian… I'll pay you with zombies….no kidding….
Annabeth's POV:
School finally started the next day. I'd be lying if I said I was not nervous… in fact I was excited and almost exploding with nervousness as I stepped into Columbia University. Percy walked by me after he parked his car right outside the school building, luckily I was able to convince my one hell of a lazy ass fake brother to wake up early or else I'm sure there would've been traffic.
Percy yawned next to me, "Seriously… it's like an hour before your first class actually starts…" He said tiredly.
"If I come any later… there will be traffic and I'll be late." I glared at him as we walked towards the administration office. "And plus, I have to go get my papers too."
"Couldn't you just drive here alone instead of waking me up?" He groaned.
"Well… if I remember correctly you said that you will offer to take me." I reminded him with a hint of sarcasm in my voice.
"I thought it was an hour later…" He grumbled."Not an hour earlier…" He added sarcastically. "So did you fill out all your papers yet?" He asked.
"Yeah got them all done in here." I patted my bag, then remembered something I was about to tell him yesterday night but never got the chance too. "Also… you know how Posei- dad said that I have to live with you?" I asked shifting uncomfortably.
"Yeah?" He said raising an eyebrow.
"Well, I'm thinking of staying in the dorm instead," I said quickly. It's not that I hate Percy or anything, but I couldn't stand it being so awkward around us… especially since we're not even siblings, so it's technically two strangers living together and frankly I don't feel very… comfortable.
"Then who will cook my food then?" He added jokingly probably thinking I was joking.
I ignored him and stepped into the administration office to see a lady with brown hair sitting at the desk typing ferociously into her computer.
"Hi, I'm Annabeth Chase, I'm here to transfer to Columbia University." I greeted the woman.
The woman stopped typing for a second and looked up as if just noticing me for the first time, "Please wait just a minute… I'll send out someone to help you with your transfer papers." She quickly pressed a button on her phone, "Mr. Ramos, there's a student out here to talk about transfer papers." She said into her desk phone and quickly hung up as a bald man stepped out with a stack of papers in his hand.
"Please come into my office." He told us as I hesitantly dragged the sleeping Percy along.
"What?" He half-whispered half yelled as I tugged onto his hand.
"He told us to go in." I replied as the bald headed man stepped into his office.
"He told you to go in." Percy corrected me as I glared at him.
"Whatever, stay here by yourself then…" I mumbled as I let go of my grip on him and headed into the office. Percy grudgingly followed behind mumbling something about sleep.
"Please take a seat." The bald man told me as I politely sat down. "Nice to meet you, and what are your names?" He asked us.
"Annabeth Chase," I replied.
He nodded, "And you sir?" He motioned towards Percy.
"Actually I'm not enrolling, it's just my sister that's enrolling, but I'm Percy Jackson, nice to meet you." Percy held out his hand to the guy.
"Well, I'm Mr. Robert Ramos, and you guys are siblings?" He asked raising an eyebrow at both of us.
My heart started beating faster as the fear that someone might find out that we're not actually siblings. I did some quick thinking and answered, "Not fully related if that's what you're wondering."Percy looked at me and gave me a weird look, but I ignored him.
"You have a rather nice brother to be willing to take you at this hour in the morning." Mr. Ramos complimented Percy who seems to be shining with an aura of cockiness.
'You're just feeding his ego.' I wanted to say but restrained myself and instead replied with a simple, "Yes sir."
"Now, Annabeth Chase is it?" Mr. Ramos asked as I nodded, "Do you have your applications ready… or do you still need to fill them out?" He asked.
"Actually I have them all right here, and also the courses and information about what classes I have taken over at Stanford." I informed him.
"Good, good." He said obviously impressed. "Nice to see we will be getting a dedicated and hard-working student." He complimented me which caused me to blush slightly.
"You're complimenting her too much…" Percy mumbled too low for the guy to head but I shot an evil glare towards his direction.
"Well, it seems you have already passed the required entrance exam and transfer exam, all we need is to get you settled into your classes and your dorms." He said casually as he looked through my files on his computer.
Percy quickly stood up, "Actually, she'll not be staying in the dorms," Percy quickly said.
"I could stay in the dorm." I said directly to him. I didn't really want to be a bother to Percy and better yet… I don't want him to become so suspicious of me. It's also kind of weird that I'm living with a guy with no relation to me, even if he thinks I'm his sister when I'm obviously not.
He shot me a look and turned back to Mr. Ramos, "Can I talk to my sister a bit?" He asked the guy.
Mr. Ramos gave us a weird look, "Of course, but if you would just give me your application, transfer paper, recommendation, class list, and additional personal papers so I could get them printed into the school's record." He told me as I nodded and reached into my bag to pull out a folder to give it to him.
He thanked me and walked out the door, respectively closing the door so we could talk. I turned to Percy. I looked at his face to try and read his emotion but he held his poker face. "You were serious when you said you wanted to live in the dorms?" He asked.
"Well… if you're worried about… erm… dad, then it's fine, we just don't tell him that." I tried to assure him.
"Is there anything wrong with my house?" He asked, his face a bit worried.
I quickly shook my head, "Actually no, I mean… it's just I'm not really use to living with another person besides… well… my roommate, and I think the learning environment would be better here." I quickly replied.
He sighed and for a moment he looked like he actually wanted me to live with him, "I guess…" He trailed off. "I mean… it's not like I wanted an annoying girl in my house anyways." He said with a joking tone.
I stuck out my tongue at him, 'When was I ever this immature.' I asked myself, "So I'll be staying at the dorms?" I asked him.
"It's your choice isn't it?" He added with a hint of sarcasm. "But you have to check into work on the weekend, dad's going to be suspicious if you don't." He reminded me. I couldn't help but stare at him a bit, wondering why he even wanted me to live in his house… even in these two days… we fought at least ten times.
I nodded dismissing that thought from my head, "Good job Percy you actually think for once." I joked.
"Thank you mom for complimenting me." He added sarcastically.
At that moment Mr. Ramos stepped back in, "So have you guys decided whether or not to stay in the dorms?" He asked.
Percy quickly answered for me, "Yeah, my sister feels like the school would have a better environment than at home where I'm distracting her with food." Percy joked.
Thankfully Mr. Ramos cracked a smile, "Well, just give this to the lady outside and you'll get your classes and dorm number." He told us. "Nice meeting you guys, I hope you'll have a great year at Columbia University."
I nodded him thanks and Percy shook his hand politely one last time before walking out.
Percy's POV:
I would be lying if I had said I wasn't enjoying my little sister's company at home. I actually wanted her to stay because… well… frankly… my whole life is one messed up world. I'll never actually admit this to my annoying little sister but she kind of made my life a bit easier these two days. With helping to strike a deal to build the new aquarium to helping me play some games at Lotus Arcade the other day without any questions. Even though it might be a bit awkward just standing there without really knowing anything about her, I actually like having company once in a while. I'll admit she might be annoying as hell, but she knows when to stop with the questions, especially with Rachel when she saw my expression yesterday.
After briefly arguing whether or not Columbia is a school for nerds we managed to throw all her stuff into my car… which surprisingly wasn't much of a hassle. "Well it's going to be weird not seeing my annoying sister at home." I smirked.
"Isn't that heaven for me?" She asked sarcastically.
I feign sadness, "You still have to deal with me in the weekends at work." I grinned. "How about you stay at my house over the weekend? It's not really that far apart… and it's really a waste that I got the place cleaned up but no one's living there." I added.
"What? Feeling lonely now?" She smiled, but somehow looked a bit uncomfortable.
"Just hungry." I joked. "I still need to learn how to make certain kind of omelets." I struggled to put the last box in my trunk, before I could lose my courage to ask her to stay one last time I quickly said, "But seriously, consider staying for the weekend… I'll be a bit lonely here anyways… it's a pretty big house and I'm the only one that lives here, and plus, I want to get to know my sister better."
That was when she seem to have gotten more and more uncomfortable. "Urm….I think I should just stay at the dorm, I mean… it's such a hassle to be going back and forth."
I inwardly sighed hoping she didn't catch my disappointment, "You'll still go to work though right?" I asked her, trying to keep the eagerness out of my voice.
"Yeah," She managed a slight smile.
"You want me to pick you up on Saturday to take you to work?" I offered.
"Nah, I can just take the taxi or something." She replied, it seems as if she didn't really want anything to do with me. Almost as if she was afraid of me…
"Well… you got about an hour until your first lecture starts… how about I take you out to some food? We didn't really got to eat anything…" I trailed off as my stomach churned.
Annabeth must've heard it because she cracked a smile, "I guess that's fine, I'm pretty sure there's a little food market in the school's cafeteria." She added.
"I guess that's okay, come on, hop in before I die of hunger." I told her.
-PAGEBREAK-
"Pancakes or French Toast?" I asked her as I looked at the menu.
"Pancakes." She answered.
"Damn… this is almost like a fancy restaurant here…" I mumbled as I look at all the food they have. "Even at work we only have 2 vending machines… and the rest is the fast food across the street…"
"Jealous?" Annabeth smirked as we got our food and set out to find a table.
"Well… you are stuck in lecture for more than 7 hours while I'm out at work on my computer playing games." I joked. "I think not."
She glared at me. "Very funny." She mumbled.
I laughed at her expression, and for the first time since Rachel left me, I actually felt happy. "So any particular reason why you didn't go to Columbia before?" I asked her trying to get to know my sister more.
"No reason, just that my dad-" She paused as I wonder what she meant by dad. "I mean… you know…" She laughed nervously, "Foster dad, well… he never really pay attention to my college fees much and only agreed because my biological mother left a large sum of money for my education." She answered.
"Well… you're pretty smart, getting a scholarship should be easy for you." I complimented her.
She blushed slightly at my remark, "There's also dorms to think about and essential food." She reminded me of my grumbling stomach.
"Then how was life at Stanford before you came here?" I asked her.
"I had a great time, the standards are pretty high there, but I still managed, plus I made some really good friend." She smiled, then frowned as if remembering something important.
"You mean that girl you keep talking about… Em…." I struggled to recall the name that always slipped through her mouth. "Emily right?"
"Yeah that's her." Annabeth said nervously. "How about you? How'd you met Grover?" She asked eager to change the subject.
"You know… your average typical meeting." I scratched my head remembering the awkward moment when I met Grover. "I accidentally thought he was a girl… and pretended to flirt with him… because one of my friends dared me too…" I grumbled.
Annabeth nearly choked on her pancakes, her face looked at me serious for a second before bursting into a laughing fit, "What? How did you even thought Grover was a girl?"
"Don't blame me… he was in the dress sections at the mall…and so even though my friend knew Grover was a guy… he somehow convinced me to flirt with Grover. Long story short… I got slapped by Juniper for flirting with her boyfriend… and hence my meeting with Grover." I cracked a smile remembering how Juniper was so angry at me and somehow I asked her if she was PMSing and earned a slap across my cheek and a good video of entertainment for the Stoll brothers.
"It's amazing how you are running a company like this when you easily fell for that trick." She laughed, "So who was this friend of yours then?"
"More like the devil twins." I mumbled.
"Devil twins?" She asked in wonder.
"The Stoll Brothers, commonly known as the devil's twin. Of course they are not really twins, Travis is actually a year older than Connor, but you could hardly tell the difference."
Annabeth nodded as if understanding, "I have two little brothers, Bobby and Matthew- I mean… you know…" Her eyes shifted from side to side again. "Step brothers." She concluded.
I nodded, "So how was your family back in California?" I asked her.
"Long story short… I hate them… they hate me." She answered and angrily stabbed her pancakes. I looked at her wondering what her family did that made her so pissed at them.
"Come on, they are still kind of your family..." I said scratching my head for the right word. "They can't be that bad… I mean I wasn't much of a big fan of my step-dad at first considering he was my English teacher, but it turned out okay." I told her.
"My d-… step-dad resented me the day I was born, I don't care about them at all." She said coldly. "They could die for all I care."
"You can't really be serious…" I looked at her straight into the eye.
She stared back at me, her grey eyes were blazing with anger, "Oh I'm serious all right. The reason why I wanted to get far away from California is to get away from my family." I looked at my sister, her eyes were filled with determination, "After…" She paused as if looking for the right words, "Someone close to me died, they resented me more than ever. That person stopped me from running away from that horrid house again, but now that she's gone, I'm just happy to leave that hellhole." She mumbled.
"Wait you ran away before?" I asked.
She was quiet for a bit before answering, "When I was about seven years old, my parents divorced… well… umm… my step-parent I guess you could say… " She paused as I urged her to continue. "Well… my mom couldn't take care of me because she was busy with all her work so I was sent to live with my step-dad and I couldn't take it just living with them. They pretty much resented me, and to be honest I hate them, so I ran away, but luckily I ran into a friend." Annabeth let out a smile that seems to brighten up the entire mood of the story. "She was going to sue me for trying to harm her, and believe it or not, I actually got sent into questioning thanks to her." I laughed at the memory.
I raised an eyebrow, "Someone who reports you to the police is your friend?" I asked with a sarcastic tone. "I should call the police right now shouldn't I?"
"Nah, I think I'm good, but she let me stay with her for a while, claiming that her mom was never home." Annabeth continued.
"So she's the person that stopped you from running away?" I asked clearly confused.
"Not exactly… she encourages me to leave that house and come live with her, but my mom came back and told me that I have to live with my er… step-dad or my friend might get sued for kidnapping. So I listened to her and went back to the house." Annabeth said regretfully.
I looked at her in bewilderment, "Then what did you mean when you said she was gone?" I asked.
"Gone… dead, my mom is dead." Annabeth stated sadly. "She died, right after I saw her again, she simply died and so I went to live with my friend again. I couldn't stand living with my family." She studied me with her eyes, then quickly rushed through her words as if afraid I might stop her from talking. "I didn't even get to attend her funeral because I didn't want to see my family, I never got to see her face one last time before she was buried into the ground. Just because of my stupid pride of not wanting to see my step-parents, I didn't go to my mom's funeral" Annabeth said, I could tell she wanted to cry, but her pride stopped her. Her eyes were determined, it was almost as if she was trying to not seem weak.
"I could understand what you mean, a few close friends of mine died a couple years ago… "I mumbled the guilt settling onto my heart again. I remember how I was in therapy, and wasn't able to attend their funeral at all.
"What?" Annabeth asked clearly not being able to hear my mumbling.
"Nothing, just talking to myself." I told her. "Do you regret not being able to see your mom that much?" I asked her, knowing that I regret the death of my friends.
"No," She replied quickly. I looked at her with a raised eyebrow in questioning. "Not that," She continued, "But, she did gave me something when she returned me back to my stepdad." Annabeth reached around her neck and pulled out a golden necklace with grey outlining and a simple grey owl in the center. "Her most prized possession, she told me she never went anywhere without it." Annabeth said dreamily as she looked down at her necklace.
I stared at her, she was able to easily not feel guilt about her mother's death, but I felt guilt about their death, my friends death, of which I had probably caused. "That must be nice," I complimented her.
She punched my shoulders playfully, "You're a better brother than I thought."
I looked at her in bewilderment, "What's that suppose to mean?"
"You're actually the second person I told that story too, besides Thalia." She informed me.
"Thalia?" I asked my face etched with confusion.
"The friend that called the police on me." Annabeth smiled weakly.
"Oh… so should I feel honored to be hearing such a story?" I joked.
"You should be…" She smiled happily.
"Just know you could trust this big irresponsible brother with anything." I smiled.
"Irresponsible?" Annabeth asked cocking an eyebrow. "Now that you said that…hmm… I don't think I can."
I just simply smile, "You already trusted me," I grinned.
Annabeth looked like she was about to shot back an answer when suddenly someone called out her name, "Woah, blondie is that you?" A guy's voice blared behind me. Annabeth's face harden at the word blondie and turned to yell at the guy. However as she turned her eyes widen in recognition. "Annabeth right? Annabeth Chase?"
Annabeth nodded as I turned around to face the newcomer. Short cropped sandy hair, with an easy-going smile, and good looks that could've made it into those cliché magazines that teenagers always read. He seemed around the same age as me, however the only thing unsettling about his appearance was a scar that seems to run down the left side of his cheek, but his smile was intact as he grinned at Annabeth. "Remember me?"
DUN DUN DUN! SO ANNABETH IS SETTLES IN AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY! WHO IS THIS BLOND HAIRED GUY WITH A SCAR…hmmm…. WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT? Are you pissed at me for making Annabeth stay at the dorms instead of Percy's house? But understand that she's uncomfortable living at a strangers house… of course Percy wouldn't understand… he's clueless remember….? ANYWAYS…. REVIEW PLEASE!
CHALLENGE: When was Percabeth first kiss? (Hint: It's probably not the kiss you think it is!) Correct Answer gets virtual cookie!
Song: Welcome to My Life – Simple Plan HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS SONG! (then again… I like lots of songs…XD)
Agent Astro Zombie