Chapter 27: The Dare Exhibit
Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson, only thing I own is … well nothing so onward with the story!
Annabeth's POV:
I walked into the museum doors to see a big sign, "SPECIAL ART EXHIBITION BY RACHEL ELIZABETH DARE" with a big fat yellow arrow pointing towards a big crowd of people admiring pictures and paintings.
A girl stood in the center of attention with paint splattered jeans and a casual t-shirt. I recognize her at once as Rachel Dare, Percy's girlfriend. "We got a big shot here! So are you interested in another trip over to Europe?" A guy standing next to Rachel asked with a grin on his face.
"I think I'm going to turn that offer down," Rachel smiled back kindly. "I've already got what I want here."
"I heard you got back together with Percy." The guy grinned so big that his sparkling white teeth seems to blind everything in sight. He's good looking that's for sure, with his blond hair and playful smile… he could practically be a male model. "Is that what is stopping you?"
Rachel shrugged, "My career is already at its success, I don't think I need for there to be anymore drama in my life."
"Oh come on, we were famous in Europe! Even though we didn't work out, it's still cool! Plus it would be my honor to be your agent." The guy grinned.
Rachel was about to answer when she saw me standing there, "Annabeth! Over here."
"See you forgot about me already." The blond-haired guy pouted.
"Oh… quit being a baby Fred."
"It's APOLLO! Fred just ruins my charm… I mean seriously Fred?! So common, but Apollo… NOW THAT'S UNIQUE! " The Fred guy grinned.
"That's the name of the Greek god," I vaguely remembered.
"Exactly! That's what makes it so unique!" The blond-hair guy grinned.
Rachel laughed slightly before turning to me. "So you found your way here with no problem?" She asked.
"Yeah, it was pretty obvious with the big sign," I pointed at the banner up top.
"Well, hello there!" The guy from beside Rachel grinned at me holding out his hands and a charming smile on his face. "I'm Apollo Kiron. Nice to meet you."
"It's Fred Kiron, he's technically my manager… kind of, and quit flirting Fred," Rachel told the guy purposely exaggerating his name.
"I told you! Enough with Fred!" Apollo/Fred grumbled.
"Ignore that stranger-" Rachel begin.
"Oh so now I'm not longer your friend! Just a stranger, my horrible life." The so called stranger sighed in a joking tone.
"-come on I'll treat you to some pizzas." Rachel continued ignoring the interruption.
"There's no need-" I begin before Rachel interrupted me with a wide smile.
"I told you it's my treat, plus I'm rather hungry." Rachel added. "I've been walking around the exhibition all day with nothing to fill my stomach."
"I'm hungry too. So I sing the blues. Hoping for food. So please if you could." Fred recited.
"That was the worst poem yet." Rachel sighed. "I'll treat you too Mr. Big Boss." Rachel said back before turning back to me. "You're not busy or anything right? I'd hate to be a bother to you."
"No it's fine, I'm just kind of curious of why you wanted to talk to me." I begin. "I know Percy is my brother and all that but-"
Rachel laughed, "Ignorance is funny, come along Percy's sister, we've got a lot to discuss."
'Bliss...' I thought correcting the saying in my mind. 'Ignorance is bliss… not funny' I didn't say it out loud instead I just said, "Umm… sure?"
~PAGEBREAK~
"I know you're not Percy's sister." Was the first thing Rachel said as soon as her friend left to get food.
For a moment I was thinking that she said 'girlfriend' before realizing she had actually said 'sister'. I hesitated, choosing my words carefully before answering, "I'm not his sister, more like his half-sister." I added in a light laugh to make the situation seem less tense.
Rachel raised an eyebrow, "No one is here, so you don't need to worry about keeping it a secret. Percy is off somewhere at work and Fred-"
"APOLLO!" A voice yelled from behind me.
"-is going to buy us some food." Rachel continued as if nothing has happened. "Now." Rachel said directing a glare at her friend, who immediately again rushed towards the long line for another serving of food.
"So who's that friend of yours?" I asked motioning towards the guy that was 'buying' us food, but rather is flirting with the girl that was currently in front of him.
"Oh him? That's my manager… kind of. We have a complicated relationship." Rachel laughed. "Don't let his ego get so big. He already thinks that he's a hot guy, no need to boast that ego. I call him Fred all the time, pisses him off a lot." Rachel placed her handbag down next to her and faced me, "But that aside, see only me now and plus I'm easy to get along with so you could tell me anything."
"What are you talking about?" I asked cautiously.
Rachel seems oblivious to my suspicion because she simply said, "Don't need to be so scared, I already told you, I'm not the bitchy or scary revenging girlfriend. I knew for a while that you weren't Percy's sister."
I stared at the red-headed girl for a moment, "So Percy really tells you everything…" I began.
"Depends on what is your definition of everything." Rachel replied with a simple shrugged. "He didn't even trust me enough to tell me that his father was a famous rich person until I saw his face on the cover of a magazine while I was in Europe."
"You were in Europe?"
"I was in Europe," Rachel smiled. "I actually just got back recently and then I finally found out Percy had a little sister, just to find out it's not his little sister."
"Yeah, sorry about that." I mumbled.
"Listen, Percy may be the world's sweetest boyfriend, but even to me he doesn't reveal all his emotions. He thinks that it'll make him seem rather weak… for some odd reason, he thinks everyone depends on him. He was always the person to go to when there's trouble, but the poor guy doesn't know who to go to when he has problem."
"What are you trying to say?"
"I'm saying that Percy cares about you." Rachel clarifies.
I knew that Percy cared about me and it was not out of responsibility like I had thought so in the beginning but honestly I'm not ready to face him yet, I have no plan, no sense of understanding at all when it comes to a certain fake brother of mine. "Did Percy sent you here to talk to me?"
"No one sends me here." Rachel laughed good-naturedly. "I simply pry out information when I want to and I don't listen to anyone. I do everything according to my own agenda."
"I can see that," I remarked.
"Just talk to him." Rachel suddenly blurted out. "He's working himself like a workaholic. Whenever I ask him to go out now, he always seems to be a bit 'out of it'. Then he would quickly deny that nothing was bothering him." Rachel sighed.
"Well he shouldn't be too bothered. He may care about me but he needs to stop butting into my own life." I grumbled.
"Just because he punched your friend?" Rachel smirked. "You should-"
"I know what you are going to say… Percy is not the kind of guy to be punching another guy senseless without a suitable reason. If he's not that kind of guy then why did I see him punching Luke." I asked her back as Rachel seem a bit speechless with my little speech.
"Trust me, just like how boys can't understand girls, we can never understand how the violent nature of boys works." Rachel laughed as if my question was nothing serious, but rather just a simple yes or no answer. "I think you're cool, and I know Percy cares about you. It doesn't matter whether or not you're his sister, he just seems to have you on a real high priority list."
"What about you?"
"I love Percy, but sometimes I feel as if he keeps a whole other part hidden from me, maybe you can help me with that." Rachel said shyly.
I hesitated, "You're telling me to talk to him? I can't do that, the situation is just going to get awkward."
"I just can't bear to see him sad, he's always acting as if it doesn't affect him, but I could clearly tell that he's rather troubled. The Percy I'm used to, is happy and occasionally a scatterbrain." Rachel laughed.
"I can't do that."
"It's not that hard," Rachel began. "First you call him up to meet you. Then you start of the conversation by saying, 'how is it going? Since I'm no longer your sister, can we be friends?' see not that hard at all."
"That's not what I meant." I mumbled.
"Oh and before I forget, Percy told me to tell you-"
"So Percy did tell you to come here." I pointed out.
"More or less, but I decided to come here myself." Rachel smiled. "Anyways, he had some things to do," Rachel scoffed as if saying 'yeah right'. "And he told me to give you an invitation to this dinner party." She held out a fancy looking envelope.
I reached over to open up the flap, "Well tell him, I'm not going." I decided.
"What do I look like? A messenger? You want to tell your so-called brother something, you do it yourself." Rachel crossed her arms.
"But-"
"FOOD IS HERE!" A rather loud cheerful voice interrupted our exchange. The Apollo guy from earlier placed down three trays of food as he grinned at the girl who had helped him, "Thank you," He winked at her before slipping something in her hands.
'Such a flirt,' I thought disapprovingly.
"So what are we talking about?" The guy sat down at the only other empty seat as the girl he flirted with walked away with a huge grin.
"Nothing that is of your concerns." Rachel told him.
"Hey, hey, I'm your manager, I have rights to know of your whereabouts and problems." He grinned.
"Personal problems are not included in the contract." Rachel said as she lifted her fork to try the salad.
"But as an ex-boyfriend I have a right to know." Apollo winked flirtingly.
"As an ex-boyfriend, you have no privileges to know about my personal life at all, considering you could use it to blackmail me." Rachel shot back. I stared back and forth between the two of them a bit shocked as they continued their barter.
"I thought we ended on good terms!" The ex-boyfriend whined.
"We did, but it doesn't mean I have to tell you every single thing." Rachel said with finality before another guy came up to her with a clipboard in his hand.
"Ms. Dare," The teen guy with the clipboard called out. "We need you in Exhibit A, there are a few people requesting your presence and you as well Mr. Kiron-"
"It's Apollo, Ben," Apollo grinned at the guy.
"Sorry Apollo, but they are also asking for you, something about collaborating with the museum to have a showcase of Ms. Dare's artwork." Ben replied as he handed Apollo a folder. "Information is all in there and if you may, follow me."
"Do you need a lift anywhere? Ben could drive you there or something." Rachel offered.
"It's okay, I drove here." I told her before stuffing the invitation into my bag. "Well, it was nice meeting you Apollo," I decided to be nice to the harmless flirting guy.
"The pleasure is all mine." Apollo grinned before getting slapped in the head by a laughing Rachel. "What was that for?"
"Nothing," Rachel grinned holding in her laughter. "Trying to save Annabeth from your raged cashier girlfriend." She pointed towards the counter where a girl seem to be sending death glares at me.
"Aye, I just met her too." Apollo fiddled with the planner in his hand. "Looks like I'm going have to cancel my date with her."
"You're a jerk." Rachel grumbled.
"Watch it girl." Apollo warned jokingly. "I'm your manager."
"I'm your biggest selling artist." Rachel shot back.
"True true." Apollo turned to me. "Looks like we're not destined to be." He faked a sigh. "My ex-girlfriend is getting rather jealous." He joked.
Rachel didn't even seem fazed, "Leave her alone Fred, come on. Oh and Annabeth," I lifted my head up towards her direction. "Don't forget about the invitation." I nodded as Rachel turned around to find the Apollo guy off at the next table full of tourist, young ladies to be exact. Rachel shook her head sighing, "Well, I'll see you around Annabeth."
Without warning she motioned towards the teenager guy from earlier. "Ben!" Rachel nodded towards Apollo. Ben nodded and soon Apollo was dragged off by his collar while Rachel walked behind the guys with a satisfied smirk on her face.
Percy's POV:
"You need to chill man." The annoying voice said aloud again. I swear I was just itching to go find him and punch his sorry face. "Annabeth just simply drop her phone as she rushed off somewhere. Look, I'm going to apologize for-"
"Being an ass?" I offered trying to control my anger.
"Taunting you like that, never knew that you couldn't take a joke." He said with a smug tone.
"Luke." I tried to say his name as nicely as possible. "I could take jokes, but that was clearly not a joke."
"What? Been too spoiled as a little daddy's boy that you couldn't take someone questioning you?" He smirked.
"Are you done yet? Get out." I said rudely, not that I care
He was poking around in my office, according to him however, it was part of being a guest. "Shouldn't you like welcome me or something?" He asked smugly as he lifted up a few pieces of papers on my desk. I just want to punch his face right now. He's been looking around my office like a snoop and frankly it's annoying me.
"Not when you weren't exactly welcome." I snarled.
"A guest is a guest, plus I'm just waiting for Annabeth, so don't mind me." Luke sighed as he took a seat in a guest chair… when he certainly isn't one.
"Well bad luck for you, Annabeth probably isn't coming to work today." I told him, not technically the truth… heck it was what teachers would call an 'educated guess'.
Cause: since Annabeth probably feels like I'm a grade A jerk
Effect: She will be hiding from me.
In addition a third conclusion to that little cause and effect is:
Problem: I need her to go to my dad's dinner party. Oh yeah, did I forget? I have an overly annoying cocky jerk in my office right now.
"How would you know?" Luke asked not even having the decency to get his feet off my coffee table.
"I just know!" I grumbled not wanting him to be all happy smiling knowing that Annabeth is not exactly as close to me as she was before.
"Oh what's this?" Luke suddenly asked as I turned around seeing him hold up a ring box.
"Don't touch that!" I yelled at him quickly grabbing it out of his hand.
"So proposing are we? Who might it be?" He asked with a cocky grin that I was itching to slap off his face.
"You'd better leave before I have security come in." I threatened him, putting the box in my coat pocket..
He finally had the manners to look up at me, "Look, you may have a big business behind your daddy's ass, but I'm still the older one here." He warned me, which was probably true, if we're counting a couple days or months.
"What are you for me to respect you? This is my office and I have all the rights to kick you out of here." I warned him.
"Okay okay, no need to bring out the violence, I'm leaving." Luke held up his hand while probably holding in a smirk. "I'm done looking around anyways-"
"When no one exactly gave you the permission to…" I mumbled too low for him to hear.
"Tell Annabeth I stopped by. Later daddy's boy." He smirked, probably knowing that he had gotten under my skin already.
I grumbled as I rearranged my papers that the so called Luke guy messed with. 'What the hell was he doing here anyways? Didn't he already see Annabeth at that so call school of his already?' I thought but quickly brushed it aside.
I poked my head out of my office door, "Did you give me the invitation for that dinner party yet?" I asked Michelle as I saw her typing away on the computer.
"Rachel said she'd give it to you."
"Rachel was here?" I asked rather surprised. If I'm not mistaken, she had an exhibit showing today at the museum.
"She dropped by this morning while you were out checking on the supplies." Michelle answered with a kind smile, "It's nice to see that you're no longer holding on the past Percy."
I gave her a weak smile, "Compared to now, I think the past was easier." She gave me a weird look, but I shrugged it off. "If there's anything, call me okay? I'm going out a bit." I reached in to grab my jacket and keys. "Oh and tell Alan to double check the contract that got send in today. Make sure that he's checking the number of zeroes on the supply list."
My elder co-worker laughed, "Don't worry, I'm double checking everything now. Just leave everything to me. You could use a break, you've been coped up in this office for a while now." Michelle noticed.
"It's nothing, just the construction and such." I quickly said before leaving everything to Michelle and heading out to my car.
Turning on the engine I quickly dialed a call to Nico. "You're disrupting my sleep… this better be worth it." A deep voice went through my ear piece.
I adjusted my microphone, "Nico, so how's Annabeth and Thalia doing-?"
I heard something fall in the background at the word 'Thalia' and Nico's voice asking again more alert, "Who is this?"
"Dude, chill, it's just Percy." I assured him.
"This is not some voice changer thing is it?" Nico asked nervously.
'No… it's really Percy." I told him.
"You don't have any kind of tracking bug on his phone or anything right?" He asked cautiously as his voice drifted away.
"No," I answered a bit unsure at where Nico was getting at.
"My dad didn't put you up to this, did he?" Nico continued his suspicion.
"Your dad hates me." I trailed off. "Why are you asking all these questions?"
There was a silence on the other end before I heard Nico's voice again, "Oh yeah. It's nothing, just- wait, why are you calling me?"
"Just asking how you are doing-"
"Get to the point."
I sighed, "Have you been over to Thalia's lately?" I asked taking a turn towards the parking lot of a crowded museum.
"Maybe. Why the sudden interest?" Nico asked cautiously.
"Stop with the mysteriousness, I just want to ask how Annabeth is doing." I spilled as I took a turn towards a busy street.
"She's been taking up all my time with Thalia if that's what you mean." Nico grumbled. "Other than that… she's perfectly fine. Apparently she found out about Thalia and I."
"I guess you're not as secretive as you think you are." I grinned despite knowing the fact that he couldn't see me.
"More like it was your fault." Nico mumbled.
"Don't be blaming it on me." I warned him. "Can you do me a favor?" I asked him as I quickly parked my car into an empty space.
"Depends. What do you need?"
"Can you head over to Thalia's and-" I paused a bit, turning off my engine. "-tell her that there's a dinner party that she needs to be present at."
"The heading over Thalia's I can do, but your little problem with Annabeth is none of my concerns." Nico said rather cold-heartily.
"Nico, I've never asked you for any other favor, just this once-"
"No is no." he said with finality before discontinuing my call. I murmured a few unpleasant words before opening my car door and heading towards the front steps of the museum.
'Fine,' I thought to myself. 'I'll just not tell Annabeth and go alone… I mean it's not like anyone is going to know. Right?' I asked myself.
As I walked up the steps, I could've sworn I saw someone with curly blond hair rushing past. I brushed that thought away and headed up the museum steps.
"Rachel!" I called out to my girlfriend as I saw her walking behind two guys, one of them, I recognized as Fred.
Rachel turned around and let out a surprised look as if she couldn't believe I was here. "Why are you here?" Rachel asked as she walked over.
"I have to support my girlfriend don't I?" I smiled warmly at her, pulling her into a bear hug.
Rachel raised an eyebrow, then snapped her fingers as if she just remembered something, "Oh, Annabeth was just here."
I released her from the hug and stared at her, "Did you say Annabeth was just here?" I asked not sure if I heard it right. "Why was she here?"
For a moment Rachel look disappointed, "I asked her to come."
"So, the famous Percy Jackson!" I heard Fred's voice from behind me. "How are you doing old buddy?" I turned towards the voice, he looked the same as he had three years ago. He walked up to me and placed an arm on Rachel's shoulder. "Now having your security guy taking me away like that… is not good for my publicity."
"You have no publicity." Rachel retorted back not even bothering to take Fred's arm off her shoulder.
Despite how much I wanted to hate the guy for taking my girlfriend away years ago, I couldn't bring myself to. This guy was too playful to be pissed at. "Fred-"
The guy shook his head and threw his hands up in frustration, "APOLLO! You and Rachel… It's Apollo! Fred is much too common!"
Rachel laughed, "Fred just go over there to discuss the showcase, I think I deserve a little alone time with Percy." Fred walked away, mumbling to himself angrily about the difference of Apollo and Fred.
I looked at my girlfriend, "How about some food?"
"Thanks for asking like a good boyfriend, but I'm afraid your little sister has already got that covered. How about I show you a few famous paintings?"
"You know I hate that, it's not even interesting." I complained.
"And being in your office the whole day is any better." Rachel said before she led the way to a hallway of paintings.
THEY WERE SO DAMN CLOSE TO MEETING AGAIN! aye… But how was that? Good? Bad? Horrible? Terrific? Not exactly my best chapter… but it's more like a filler chapter I guess… But yeah, I'm not going to answer reviews this chapter because I actually have to finish my homework… found out I got this class… and yeah homework is just laying there. I'll try to post up another chapter before I start school if possible since we're having a test on the first week… but yeah I'll try :D
CHALLENGE! When was the first time Annabeth's nickname, "wise girl" was mentioned in the series?
If you are able to get this challenge right…. Hmm… what should we do? YOU'LL GET TO LIVE A DAY IN CAMP-HALF BLOOD! CABIN OF YOUR CHOICE! EVEN THE MINOR GODS CABIN! (yeah.. that mean expect a long author note next chapter XD)
Song: Fly Over State: Jason Aldean
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