Chapter 6

"Annabeth?"

I groaned and turned over, burying my face in my pillow to try and drift back to sleep. That didn't happen, however. Someone grabbed my shoulder and shook me gently.

"Hey, sleepyhead. Wake up, I'm taking you to school today."

I peeked over my shoulder, squinting my eyes at the bright light illuminating my room to see Luke leaning over me. "Taking me to school? Why? Thalia usually picks me up." I wish I had my own car, but I didn't have enough money in my savings account. I was currently searching for a job so that I could buy a car before I went off to college.

Luke sat on the edge of the bed, his hand on my shoulder. "Yeah, but both of your parents have to work, and I want to spend a little more time with you before you head off to your eight hour jail cell. I'm using a rental car so I won't have to be stuck here in the house all day."

I grinned. "Oh, you poor thing. Let me get ready." I hopped out of bed. It took me exactly twenty minutes to get ready. By the time Luke and I headed out the door I'd called Thalia and told her Luke was driving me. The three of us agreed to meet up at the mall later for shakes and cheeseburgers. Feeling relatively happy, I bidded Luke good bye once we reached my school and headed to the gym.

I found Jason, Leo and Percy playing basketball. Jason was obviously the best, not missing a single throw. Percy was okay, but poor Leo was awful. Sports just weren't his thing. Leo was into mechanics, building cars and such. Put a basketball in his hands and he's got two left feet. Put a wrench in his hand and he could probably build his own car.

"Annabeth!" Thalia called. She and a dark-haired girl I didn't know were sitting on the bleachers. I joined them, and Thalia introduced us.

"Piper, this is Annabeth. Annabeth, Piper. Jason's secret girlfriend I had no idea about until like, yesterday."

"Hi," I said, grinning. "So you're the reason Jason's been using up all the minutes on his phone."

"Yep," Piper laughed. She was pretty, with tan skin and dark brown hair braided over one shoulder. "Just transfered here from California. Me and Jason met a long time ago, but when he moved we lost touch for a little while."

"And he never even bothered to tell me, the little brat," Thalia added, glaring at her brother.

Jason glanced at us, saw Thalia staring at him, and walked over, passing the ball the Percy, who immediately shot it into the hoop. Leo groaned.

"Are you guys talking about me?" Jason asked worriedly.

"Nope," Thalia, Piper and I said together. I could tell we were going to be fast friends.

...

I knelt beside Chrion's grave, pushing aside the dead rose I'd left last time and putting a new one in its place. I sat back on my heels, staring at the gravestone, wishing it bore any other name than my mentor's, and that he was still here with me.

"I wish you were here, Chiron," I said aloud. "Luke is in town, and I know how much he admired you." I stopped. I don't know why, but speaking out loud made me feel better. It was almost as if he was listening. I could easily imagine him leaning forward in his wheelchair, his gentle brown eyes lined with years of age but still sharp and observant. He would lace his fingers together, twiddling his thumbs with the strong smell of his morning coffee.

"My parents are divorced," I continued. "My mother has moved out but she still comes over a lot to see me. They're on good terms, and I don't want to ruin that, but I still haven't said anything about his affair. I don't know if I should. My dad doesn't seem to be wanting to tell her any time soon, but if my mother has to hear it from someone, it should be him. Right?"

No answer. Of course.

"Anyway, I just wanted to say that I miss you, and that I hope you're safe, and happy." I paused. "I don't think there's anything I wouldn't give to at least have one more conversation with you. I'll make you proud, Chiron. I promise." I stood, giving the grave one last look before turning and walking back to the car.

I drove home carefully, seeing as it was my mom's car. I had my license, so my parents would let me borrow their car if I needed it, but that was kind of hard to do when they were always working. I pulled into the driveway beside Luke's rental, a nice little BMW.

I frowned. No, wait. Luke was renting a Honda, and dad had his Toyota. Who's car was that?

I went into the house, expecting my dad to have guests. The only people waiting for me were my parents, Luke, and Thalia.

None of them said anything for a moment, but they were all grinning at me. I made a face at them. "Okay, you guys are starting to creep me out. What's going on?"

Dad held up a single key. "Want to take your early graduation present for a spin?"

And oh, did we ever. Luke, Thalia and I must've driven all over New York that evening. My parents stayed behind to let us spend time together. We stopped by the mall, the ice cream shop, everywhere we could think of.

"Could this day get any better?" Thalia said happily, licking her ice cream. We were by the park, enjoying the view.

"As long as you don't drip any ice cream on my new car it will," I warned. Thalia was occupying the backseat, with Luke in the passenger. I was extremely giddy. I had my two best friends in the entire world with me. The sun was setting, making the sky turn a beautiful purple and pink.

"Something good needs to happen, right now," Thalia said, staring off into the distance. "Something to end the year off." Suddenly her phone buzzed. She flipped it open. "It's Percy." Her eyes darted from side to side as she read, then her eyes widened. Her mouth dropped open.

"What?" I asked impatiently. Luke glanced over his shoulder at Thalia, who was staring at her phone in amazement.

"What! Thalia!" I started to grab her phone but she held it just out of my reach.

"Let me look at her for a minute," Thalia teased.

"Her?" Luke and I asked.

Thalia showed us her phone, which had a picture of an adorable newborn baby. Thalia was grinning from ear to ear. "Yep. Meet Percy's new baby sister."

"No way! Sally had the baby?" I had to call later and congratulate her and Paul. I bet he was so happy, it was all he could talk about for the past week.

"Hmm." Luke leaned back in his seat, his expression thoughtful. "I really need to meet this Percy. I've heard a lot about him."

Thalia turned to me, and I carefully avoided her eyes. "Have you? That's interesting. Annabeth, why don't the four of us hang out tomorrow? It'll be fun."

Not if I kill you first, I thought. Thalia had an evil smile on her face, one I didn't like.

"Good idea," Luke said. I mentally groaned. "We can go to the mall after you guys get out of school."

Thalia rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah, I forgot you were an old man. Do we need to bring your cane, too?"

Luke scoffed and held a hand mockingly over his heart. "Ouch. That hurts, Thalia. Truly. Twenty-five isn't that old."

"I think I see some gray." Thalia picked at a strand of Luke's hair, and he playfully swatted her hand away.

"Watch it, Grace." They both laughed.

I however, sat in silence. If I didn't know better, I'd say they were...flirting. No, Thalia wouldn't do that to me. She knows how I feel about Luke. Then again, I wasn't exactly sure how I felt about him. It was too confusing.

Eventually we left the park, and after dropping Thalia off at her house, Luke and I went home. Dad had went to bed already, and mom must've left, so Luke and I both said good night. As I turned to go to my room, Luke grabbed my arm.

"Ah, Annabeth, I just-I thought I should say-" He leaned forward and kissed me on the cheek. "Goodnight, beautiful. See you tomorrow." He turned and walked into his room, leaving me standing there for a moment with my mouth gaping open.

When I got into bed, I couldn't drop the huge smile that was spreading across my face. I think I fell asleep still smiling.

My father's voice woke me before my alarm did.

"You're kidding? That's great news!" He was obviously downstairs but his voice echoed all the way into my room.

Groaning, I crawled out of bed, rubbing my eyes. A glance at my clock told me it was thirty minutes before I was supposed to get up.

"Thanks, Dad," I sighed. Still half asleep I jumped into the shower, letting the warm water relax my muscles. I think I may have fallen asleep a few times.

When I was done getting ready I grabbed my backpack, sliding my feet into my favorite pair of sneakers. Wearing a school uniform was a pain in the butt sometimes, but at least I didn't have to worry about picking out an outfit. I strangled my curly blond hair into a ponytail and descended the stairs. My dad was just grabbing his keys when I walked in.

"Hey honey, breakfast is on the table. Sorry I couldn't do more, but I'm running a little late for work." He kissed the top of my head as I sat down at the table. "Love you, sweetheart."

"Love you too, Dad." He left. A stack of pancakes and sausage were sitting in front of me waiting to be eaten. My stomach growled.

After I'd eaten and washed my dishes, I decided to check to see if Luke was awake. My face burned at the thought of his lips on my cheek, but I told myself to get over it. Taking a deep breath, I knocked on his door. It creaked open. "Luke?"

He wasn't here. His bed had been made, and his backpack was gone. On one side of his bed, a picture of me and him at the zoo sat on his nightstand. He had an arm thrown over my shoulders, both of us grinning. Oh man, what a trip that was. To this day Luke will swear that giraffe tried to eat his fingers, even though he was just trying to lick off the ice cream that Luke had previously eaten beforehand.

Closing the door, I went back downstairs to wait for Thalia, glancing longingly out the window at my car, wishing I could drive to school. Unfortunately you had to register for a parking spot. Hopefully I'd be able to do that today so that I wouldn't have to wait on Thalia to get to school. Not that I really minded, since it gave me more time with my best friend, but it will be nice to have my own ride.

Thalia honked her horn from the driveway. I locked the door behind me and climbed into the passenger seat only to realize we weren't alone.

Three people sat in the back. Two girls, one boy. The girl on the left looked like the oldest, with olive skin and dark hair and eyes. The boy sitting next to her was obviously her brother, but the girl to the right of them looked nothing like them. She had curly brown hair and eyes that almost looked like molten gold.

"Annabeth, meet my newly found cousins," Thalia joked. "Bianca, Nico, and Hazel. Guys, this is Annabeth, my best friend."

"Hey," Bianca said shyly.

"Hey," Nico and Hazel repeated.

I smiled. "Hey. So you guys are related to Thalia, Jason and Percy huh?" They nodded.

"I'm so sorry."

Thalia smacked my arm. "Very funny, Chase. My dear brother decided to ride with Piper today, in case you were wondering, so it's going to be the five of us. You're gonna help me give them the grand tour. Show them the amazing sights of our school and what not."

I leaned my head back against the seat. The dull headache I'd had this morning was getting stronger. "There's not much to see, really. The only thing worth seeing is the gym. It got rebuilt," I added, seeing Hazel's confused look through the mirror. "I would have built it a bit differently, but that's just me. I would've made more space for a swimming pool, and a separate room for sports equipment."

"Annabeth wants to be an architect," Thalia explained to her cousins. "She rambles sometimes. You just have to nod along."

Now it was my turn to smack her. "Don't get smart. If they hadn't wasted so much time over spacing the gym they wouldn't have to keep everything in the Coach's office."

Thalia rolled her eyes. "Only you would argue over this, Wise Girl. Just don't go into full blown nerd on me. You know I won't be able to keep up."

I stuck my tongue out at her. She did the same.

"Wow, you guys really are best friends," Hazel laughed.