Chapter 32: She Loves Me and I Love Her!
No I didn't die, nor did I suffer from some imaginable disease that made me unable to get on the computer. It's just the load and load of homework and me realizing how far behind I was last year… So how long has it been? 2 weeks? 2 weeks in a half? Well I'm a jerk, I apologize, but well… yeah… let's just say it's all my fault cause I was too busy taking over the world with zombies. Anyways! Aside from that I got pretty bad grades and it's barely the beginning of the year! So karma I guess?
Let's see I gave you guys a challenge last time right? FOR THOSE WHO ANSWER: I shall accept Travis and Connor are not siblings!
Winners: Samantha, ilovereading97, Resatice, Archer and swordsman girl, Percy Son of Neptune, veronrocksout, awesome ice ninja, Starla Daughter of Demeter, mkc120, OfAllPeople, AtlantaJackson95, Twelve13, Piano player3, LazySundayGirl, Hunter, viet girl14, Allstarry707 (it's you again!), Jason is Perfect, Lightning-AND'Death, Pokemonchen, AzianDemigod16, Pregnantnun227, AnnyJackson19, Exploding Bananas, Arrow of Artemis!
No prizes this time, cause I'm once again a jerk (making me feel so guilty now..) and frankly it's almost 2 in the morning from where I' m living.
REVIEWS:
Dragonflu: Second story? Nope this is the first of itself I guess you can say :D
OfAllPeople: Nah you're not the only one that's been lazy! I'm to blame too XD But thanks DUDE/DUDETTE!
Hunter: WOAH POOR LUKE! Don't torture him just yet, I still need him to… err… show me the way of Kronos hehe. But yep Luke and me are buddies! FOR REALS NO KIDDING! We just have a little love-hate relationship going on here at the moment :D
ExplodingBananas: First of all nice name, considering my banana that I'm eating just got rotten and I didn't noticed, anyways haha I LOVE THE ORIGINAL BOOKS (haha of course) actually I read it just about half and hour before I sleep everyday, but I totally get reading FF more than original, I was in that phrase for a while XD
Guest: Honestly I really don't know how to express Annabeth's feeling at the moment, because I guess you can say it's kinda hard to feel anything when you're practically torn. But I kinda get where you're getting at, Annabeth does seem rather off.
Disclaimer: Yeah yeah yeah, say what you want… BUT I WILL OWN- *chokes chokes* H- * cough cough* What are you- AHH THE GOD WITH NO ARMS! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!...*15 minutes later* Fine… *pants* I do not own Percy Jackson you evil no armed boundaries god.
Annabeth's POV:
"Why aren't you letting me drive?" Percy's voice whined again for the hundredth time. I'll have to admit, even though my dad and I didn't exactly reconcile, we still managed to talk things out with each other. It ended with me yelling at him, but you know… your typical way of dealing with parents. I wasn't sure exactly how I felt about my parents, now that I know for certain they did care for me. The reason they acted so inferior to me was because my dad wasn't sure how to express his feelings (he still doesn't) and Susan was sure that I hated her from the beginning so she never tried to be a caring mother to me.
"Because after your little shake up yesterday at almost passing a red light, I don't think you could handle driving." I answered with perfect ease.
"Night time driving is much more dangerous than day time." He pointed out.
"Well if it makes you feel any better, during the night is when it's much safer considering there wasn't as much cars." I shot back. Of course the only other reason I offered to drive is just to take my mind off whatever I was feeling yesterday. When Percy said he was engaged to Rachel, I wasn't sure how I felt. First there was the feeling of- well I don't even know how to explain it, but it was worst than finding out when my dad had abandoned me for Susan when I was a kid.
I should feel happy for him finally able to get with the love of his life, but for some reason I felt more disappointed than happy. Maybe it's because it means I won't be able to spend that much time with him anymore? When have I actually liked spending time with this Seaweed Brain to begin with?
"Gee… I feel so much better now." He mumbled as he stared down at his hands.
"So Rachel…" He turned his head to look at me as I continued, "Is she okay with you taking me over to San Francisco like this?"
He nodded, "I told her just the other night after you went to sleep."
"But are you sure it's okay like this?" I asked feeling kind of guilty. Rachel was his fiancé but they are both being way to nice for me. "I mean you guys just got engaged… don't you have to start planning-"
He laughed it off, "We're taking everything slow so just relax. Rachel's dad seem to be trying to rush everything. I got a call from Rachel yesterday that said her dad's already picking the date and everything. From what I heard from Rachel, if I wasn't over in San Francisco, he would've had us married by the end of this week."
"A week? How do you plan a wedding in a week?" I asked incredulously, because from what I know about weddings is that they are stressful and frankly annoying.
"The power of the Dare family." Percy shrugged as he looked out into the streets, "So, where exactly are you taking me now?"
"My old school, since you helped me-" I hesitated for a moment. "Anyways, I think it's time you should meet your sister-"
"Half-sister." Percy emphasized just as Emily had when she realized she had a brother.
"You said the same thing when you met me." I accused him as he held up his hand in surrender.
"But you were easy to get along with. Plus, since my dad favors her so much, she's probably not all that great." He decided.
"Really… you guys are so alike it's scary." I murmured.
"So, how far is this place? You've been driving for almost 10 hours!" Percy exaggerated, ignoring my remark completely.
"One, it's barely been one hour and two, we're already here." I told him as I drove into the parking lot at the university.
"Wait, you were serious about meeting my half-sister?" He asked looking at the dorms we were passing.
"Did it look like I was kidding?"
He shrugged, "Considering we're parking in front of some dorm, I'm guessing you're not?"
"Good answer," I smiled as I turned off the engine and walked out of the door. I never really planned to have Percy and Emily met just yet and to be honest, I never told Emily that I was currently in California. Before I even had a chance to walk into the dorms, I saw a familiar black-haired girl rushing with a cup of coffee in one hand and a washcloth in the other. Her long hair was tied back in a messy ponytail as if she was up the whole night. She was wearing a pair of shorts and a cartooned Mickey Mouse t-shirt. I recognized her immediately, "Emily!"
The girl turned around and sure enough it was my dorm buddy, Emily Kim. Instead of rushing over to give me a warm welcome, she just shook her head and brought the washcloth to her face as if trying to clear her head. She mumbled something to herself before looking away and heading back towards her dorms.
From behind me, I heard Percy chuckled, "You know… I'm starting to wonder if you even remember what my half-sister looks like at all."
I pushed him slightly, "I'll let you know, I have a pretty good memory." I said before leaving him crushed against a nearby tree and walking toward the dorms. I walked through the hallways as if it was only yesterday. My mind taking in all the good past memories I have had here before I decided to move over to New York. However, as I took into consideration of how life was here in California, I couldn't bring myself to leave New York. The year I spend in New York… I wasn't sure if I could leave that place when my studies are finished. Then there's also Percy…
I shook my head and came upon a familiar room that I had stayed at just a year ago.
"You sure this is the right place?" I heard Percy's voice as I turned over to see him with a half smirk on his face.
I would very much like to say I ignored him… yeah let's just say I ignored him. I quickly knocked on the door as Percy stood rubbing his shoulder. The door opened and the familiar face of my friend stood grinning in the doorway. I expected some sort of warm greeting from my friend but instead I just saw a frown, "The coffee is getting to me now." She mumbled almost slamming the door in my face.
"Emily!" I put my foot at the door to stop it from closing. "It's me Annabeth!"
The girl opened the door a bit wider, "Annabeth?!" With that she pulled me into a bone-crushing hug. "You're not a ghost?!"
"Course not, but you certainly look like one." I said pointing at her face.
"Normally I'd take that as an insult, but I'm afraid I have to agree on this one." Emily sighed as if she's tired. "Want to come in?" She asked opening the door wider and finally noticing Percy.
"This is-" I began before Emily interrupted me.
"Your boyfriend from New York?" Emily smirked. "He's pretty nice coming all the way to California with you."
I gave an equal evil smirk, covering up the surprise, "Actually it's your brother."
I nudged Percy as he nervously scratched the back of his head, "Hi?"
~PAGEBREAK~
"So you're not a jerk…" Emily said an hour or two later as soon as the two siblings got acquainted to one another.
Percy looked downright offended, "And you're not a neat freak." He pointed out glancing over at Emily's messy desk.
"Exams are getting to you?" I asked her as she gave us a cup of coffee.
"Pulling all-nighters if that's what you mean. I've been hallucinating my imaginary friends all day." She mumbled.
"Imaginary friends?" Percy coughed as he choked on his water.
"Yes, you have a problem with that?" Emily challenged her half-brother. Percy held up his hands in defeat as Emily continued. "For a moment this morning I thought I saw you out front-"
I raised an eyebrow, "You need to tone it down a bit with the studying Em," I told her.
"I'm perfectly fine, plus, you never told me you were in California!" She grinned excitedly the wariness from her eyes were almost gone.
"Your brother over here-"
"HALF- BROTHER!" Both Percy and Emily interrupted at the same time.
"Anyways, half-brother decided it would be great to go on a little vacation." I grumbled.
"Don't blame me, it's not like you didn't enjoy all those rides." Percy grinned nervously as if he's afraid that Emily might combust any moment and kill him.
"I did, just not the part where we visited my family-"
"Woah woah!" Emily held up her hand. "You guys- him- you! WHAT?! Even meeting your family? I thought you hated your family you said-"
"She did, but I convinced her that she should talk to her family about-." Percy added in.
"More like you forced me to talk to them." I mumbled as I slapped Percy's hand away from my waffles.
Emily looked between the two of us as if trying to form some sort of connection. "You're engaged?! That's why you're here? To tell me you're engaged with my brother and ask permission of your parents?"
"It's umm… half-brother and we're-" Percy began before Emily interrupted him.
Emily looked at me with a puzzled face, "I always thought you were the one to be making logical decisions." Emily shook her head. "And here I thought you were always talking about this other guy."
"Other guy?" Percy's head perked up.
"We're not engaged Emily," I said as that empty feeling creep up to me again. "I was just visiting my dad because of some family problem."
The worst conclusion came into Emily's mind, "Married?!"
"Em, your brother-"
"Half brother." Percy cleared his throat.
"-and I, are not in any way associated with each other." I explained. "He's just being a grade A jerk and making me visit my family."
"You love me." He grinned playfully, but for some reason there was a slight uneasiness in his voice.
I felt a bit lightheaded in my head as he said that but I quickly brushed it off. "Don't push it Seaweed Brain." I warned him as I turned to Emily. "So when's the semester ending?" I asked her. "Since you're cramming now, I'm guessing it's almost the end."
"True," She nodded. "It ends in about a couple weeks." She answered as she still stared between the two of us.
"Are you thinking of coming over to New York?" I asked her.
"No reason too… is there? I mean, he already knows about me-"
"Yeah, our dad has been calling for you." Percy added in. "I can't just keep saying that you're out studying…"
"I have a life here, thank you very much." Emily answered sarcastically to her older brother.
"Well, it's not like I would enjoy babysitting a little kid anyways." Percy scoffed back as if he couldn't stand Emily.
"I never asked you to-"
"Guys, guys!" I held up my hand before they could fight it off. Even Percy looked like he could handle himself, I wouldn't bet against Emily considering she had flipped off some annoying guy twice her side before. "Let's talk like civilized people?"
"I take that back, you are a jerk." Emily grumbled as she sat down.
"Well, Annabeth is a better sister than you'll ever be kid." He shot back.
My friend shrugged as if she didn't care, "I don't care what you say. Annabeth might be used to living with you by now, but I still like life here in California."
"I can provide the plane tickets and everything." Percy started. "Unless you want to start explaining to our dad why you have been studying here instead of in New York for the year then sure go ahead." Percy grinned knowing he got Emily trapped.
"Don't worry," I assured her. "He did the same thing to me to make me stay."
Emily glared at her brother before heading back to her desk, "Fine, first class plane trip to New York. I rent my own apartment and you pay for it." Emily bargained. "But I'm not leaving until the semester ends and in addition I'm only staying for the summer, so you'd better provide a ticket back."
Percy opened his mouth to say something, then looked at me in defeat. "What-?"
"Sorry I don't make the rules." Emily held up her hands in defeat.
"Actually… you kind of do." I pointed out.
"A year with a guy and you're taking his side over mine?" Emily asked with fake sarcasm.
I felt my heart beating a bit as Percy put an arm over my shoulder, "Then it must be that I'm a good friend, unlike someone."
"Take that back! I'm her best friend!" Emily argued as I stared back and forth between the two siblings as they fought over me as if I'm a toy.
"I guess Annabeth and I are just closer to each other." Percy grinned triumphantly.
"As amusing as this is, I'm not a toy-" I began my face coloring.
"We shared a dorm!" Emily argued.
"I practically live in the same house as her!"
"I knew her longer!"
"Longer then goner!" Percy said with a childish face.
"Well she's like a sister to me!"
"Then she's like the best of all best friends to me!" Percy argued back. "Plus, she loves me and I love her! We're practically the best of all best friends!"
This time my face was so red, I swore it could've exploded like a nuclear bomb. "GUYS!"
The two turned to stare at me, "At this moment I'm more in love with this jacket than I am with you guys." I grumbled.
Percy grinned triumphantly, "That's my jacket! So she loves me!"
"Oh? So you're using money as a bargaining chip now?" Emily challenged.
"No, that's just a side bonus. She just loves having me near her-"
"And I thought my siblings were annoying." I mumbled. "Can't you guys just get along like normal siblings? You weren't like this when you knew I was your sister." I looked at Percy while trying to ignore the heat coming up my face.
Percy shrugged and I could've sworn I saw a faint pink coloring his cheek, "She started it."
I sighed and shot Emily a look before she could say anything else. "Well before I go ahead and get migraines from your bickering, you should just buy her the plane ticket and send it over later."
Percy cursed under his breath, "Fine, I'll send over the tickets later."
Emily grinned in satisfaction, "Glad to see we're compromising. By the way, how's dad?"
"Over in Egypt last time I asked," Percy answered. "Well, it's noon now and we're going to head off towards the road. I want to go sightseeing before we leave." Percy said before he took a step out. "Just come out when you're ready Wise Girl."
"Wise Girl?" Emily asked as soon as Percy stepped out of her dorm leaving just the two of us girls inside.
"Nickname." I answered.
"My half-brother's a jerk to me, but he seems to really like you." Emily noticed.
"Torturing me that is," I grumbled. "He dragged me to San Francisco just to reconcile with my parents."
"Well as much as I would like to have you here to trash-talk about my brother, I have exams in a few days… so studying it is."
"You need to give yourself a break." I told her. "You got really skinny the last time I've seen you."
"Trust me, everything will be back to normal as soon as summer starts."
"And you are going over to New York right?" I asked her once again.
"Does it look like I have a choice?" Emily sighed as she walked with me to the door. "Well, at least I'll enjoy a luxurious first class seat." She sighed in contentment.
"Later Em, I'll see you in a few weeks."
Emily smiled, her face brightened up, "Can't deny that I was happy that you visited, but next time, give me a warning that the brother I've never met is coming here so I could prepare my comebacks."
"Comebacks?"
Emily laughed before pushing out of the door, "Go to your boyfriend, he's waiting for you,"
"He's not my-" The door slammed in my face. "-boyfriend." I mumbled as I head out to Percy's rental car.
Percy's POV:
I've never planned to meet my half-sister, and probably wish to never meet her again. Unlike me, she runs in the same circle as Annabeth as someone who probably loves to study and was apparently studying to major in the medical field. Now I can actually say someone in my family is a smart nerd because let's be honest… the only thing my family have ever been good at is the oceans and sea life.
"So aquarium tourism right now, go on a little boat ride, and finally head back to the hotel to pack for the plane rides at night." I concluded as soon as we finished buying our tickets.
"How come you never tell me exactly where we're heading until the very last minute?" Annabeth frowned as she accepted my jacket against the cold air.
"Now, where's the fun in that?" I joked as we headed straight towards the jellyfish section. "Come on, you have to admit that is pretty!" I pointed up towards the transparent jellyfish that changed color according to the light at the bottom.
Annabeth leaned forward to get a closer image as a look of fascination written all over her face. "I have never seen these ones so close. Or anything like this for the matter." She admitted as she walked on to the mini pinkish jellyfish.
"Never seen a real live jellyfish before?" I asked a bit surprised because for all the times I can remember, my mom have always taken me to some sort water place, whether it's the beach of the aquarium so you could say I'm sort of a water kind of guy. In other words, it was pretty common for me to be seeing jellyfish on a monthly basis.
"More like never been to an actual aquarium before." She answered back.
"Well then allow me to be your personal tour guide in this aquarium." I grinned faking a bow.
"You barely know your way around California-" She pointed out.
"Well when we're on water, this is my turf." I smiled. "And today, you are going to have the best of the best experience inside an aquarium."
With that said I pointed out towards the next exhibit of hammerheads shark which Annabeth couldn't help but list off all the facts that she knows about what kind of water pressure they would need. Needless to say, Annabeth might've said she's never been to an aquarium, but with her display of knowledge… I would've thought she was some sort of marine biologist.
"That's a starfish!" She grinned excitedly, looking more happy then I've ever seen her in a while. I couldn't help but felt my heart fluttered a bit as I saw her grey eyes gleamed with happiness.
We walked down towards some sort of tube-tank with a school of fish swimming in circles. I stood on one side staring at the fish before seeing Annabeth's face appear on the other end. "Your face-" I didn't even get to finish my sentence before we both started laughing.
Showing Annabeth around the aquarium took more than a long time, but somehow she ended up chasing me because of some rude remarks I did to her which caused a few disruption in our tour. "I can't believe this! It's amazing!" She exclaimed.
I stayed lagging behind occasionally snapping pictures as she look around. Maybe it was the way she was casually dressed today or just simply because I never noticed it before, but right there she looked like a goddess. I noticed Annabeth turning around, "Are you staring at me?" She asked with a playful smile on her face.
I averted my attention somewhere else, for once glad for the dark lighting in the area, "Of course not," I grinned and walked over casually, "Care for a little touch to one of those rays?" I asked her before leading her up to the touch pool.
After an hour or two later, we finished the tour with the tour guide Percy Jackson, me, and finally headed over to a nearby café right outside of the aquarium near the bay. "You know if you don't want that pizza, I'll happily take it." I grinned as I made a grab for her pizza before getting my hand squatted away.
"I'm saving the best for last." She said as she scraped the last bit of her salad. "You've been taking pictures of me all day." She pointed out as I placed the camera on the table.
"Oh, so you did notice!"
She shrugged, "It doesn't help that I heard a little shutter click. Plus, you've been sneaking pictures of me all day, I think we need one of you."
I laughed, "Trust me, I'm not photogenic."
She stood up from her chair and grabbed me to the rail, "Just pose." I faked a little dramatic pose as Annabeth let out a light laugh, "Real pose Seaweed Brain."
"I think it's out of film though." I complained.
Annabeth checked the memory and smirked, "Exactly one picture left."
I walked over and took the camera out of her hand, "Then that should be saved for something important."
"What are you-" Annabeth began as I walked over to a random family and quickly asked for a picture before dragging Annabeth back near the railing.
"One picture with wonderful me, you should be honored." I whispered to her.
"I am so honored." Annabeth replied sarcastically as I felt her shiver for a bit.
"Still cold?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. "No wonder, you're not even wrapping the jacket around correctly." I pointed out as I wrapped my hand over the other side to help straighten out the jacket. "Bit warmer now?" I asked as I looked at her pink tainted cheek that seems to be freezing in the cold.
"Ready?" The tourist guy taking our picture asked as he hold the camera in place.
I grinned, "Sure,"
"You guys should move in a bit closer." The guy advised as he adjust the camera. Annabeth took a step towards me and I casually leaned closer to her a bit for the picture, feeling warm all over. "One, two, three."
Snap
~PAGEBREAK~
It was past midnight already and we were on a night flight back to San Francisco, so of course I was hoping to get a pleasant nap on the plane and hopefully not face any of the surrounds that I was thousands of feet in the air. Of course, nothing ever comes out as planned… instead I found myself getting distracted so much that I barely noticed I was up in the air.
Thankfully the windows were closed and both Annabeth and I were seated next to each other as we look past one picture after another. "I can't believe you only have one picture of yourself and it was one with me."
"Well I did say to make the last picture special right?" I said softly not wanting to wake up the other passenger.
"Seriously you're spoiling me way too much." Annabeth pointed out as she held up a little stuffed dolphin that I got for her at the aquarium gift shop.
"And you're complaining because…?"
"I'm not complaining," She quickly said. "It's just, this is a new feeling." She admitted.
"Getting gifts?"
"No, actually having someone caring for me." She said softly as she held up the dolphin in her lap. "I'll have to admit, this trip to San Francisco was exactly what I need."
"See, I know you way too well!"
"And I know you well enough to see that you do not like airplanes." She said pointing towards my clenched arms. "You're gripping on the hand rest like your life depends on it."
"Truth to be honest, I'm not a big fan of airplanes." I chuckled nervously taking little glances at the closed windows. "Scratch that… I'm deathly afraid of planes."
"Then why-"
"You're my friend," I told her. "I'll do anything for you, even get on this god forsaken airplane. I just hate airplanes because my grandparents died on here, my mom almost lost her whole career on airplanes, and me, I barely got away with my life as a kid."
"Well, my mom died in New York, but that didn't stop me from traveling there to study at my dream school." Annabeth said as she took a deep breath.
"And meeting this handsome friend?" I grinned.
"Well that was the downer." She smiled as she leaned back on the chair leaving me feeling cold and empty.
"You know, if you really want to, you could use my shoulder as a pillow." I offered. "I don't want you to get neck cramps when we get off the plane." I joked.
Instead of opening her mouth to shoot back a smart response, she just casually leaned over and rested her head on my shoulders as if she was too tired to argue. I felt assured immediately, no longer wary of my surroundings on the airplane. All I could think about was Annabeth relying on me, and her soft breathing as she mumbled a quick thank.
I let out a yawn and finally rested my head on hers. For once in my life, I fell asleep peacefully on an airplane.
Song: Hero- Enrique Iglesias I listened to this at least 100 times already :D
Agent Astro Zombie