HEY GUYS! Here is the 9th chapter of Layers and it's kind of short, but there wasn't much I wanted to do with it and it fulfilled its purpose. :).
FOR THIS CHAPTER YOU WILL NEED TO GO BACK TO CHAPTER 1 AND READ ABOUT THE DREAM SHE HAD AT THE BEGINNING OF THAT ONE... IF YOU DON'T REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENS.
There were flashes...
Her vision seemed sharper.
Everything brightened.
When everything cleared she was in Central Park.
There was a tug in her mind telling her to turn around.
She spotted the little girl, who turned around to smile at her.
The toddler's eyes were glowing bright green...
Annabeth gasped and sat up slowly, leaning against the headboard of her bed to keep upright. She was shaking and was sweaty, though she couldn't understand why. It's not like she had had a nightmare. Sure it was bizarre, glowing eyed children don't appear everyday, but it was nothing to cause this reaction.
She shivered as she looked over at her clock, the numbers glaring back at her. She was surprised to see how late it was. It was a good thing it was Saturday because showing up to school at 11:45 is usually frowned upon.
Speaking of frowned upon, she had to be at Athens in less than an hour and still needed to shower.
She groaned as she pushed her self up in a sitting position. Her back, neck and arms were all sore like she had just done some hardcore exercise. She walked into her bathroom and got under the shower spray, not bothering to let it heat up first. She pushed her head under the spray and let the tepid water wash the perspiration from her face. She thought about her odd dream and laughed at herself for being so shaken up by a dream that probably stemmed from a scary movie she had seen earlier that week. She got out of the steam box that was making her feel lightheaded and wrapped a towel around herself.
She was leaning over the sink brushing her teeth when she paused. The park, the girl, the luminous eyes... they all seemed oddly familiar to her, but she didn't know why. She shook her head and tried to dispel her thoughts, but became quickly grossed out when some toothpaste foam dropped from her mouth onto her frozen hand.
"Now that...was grossome."
Annabeth jumped, startled to see Thalia leaning against the bathroom door tossing her car keys between her hands.
"God, Thalia you can't just creep up on people like that!"
She yelled as she rinsed off her spitty hand.
Thalia shrugged, "I didn't creep up, I had been standing there for like 5 minutes, but I'm glad I got here when I did 'cuz that was, like i said...grossome."
Annabeth rolled her eyes, "Grossome? That's not a word."
"Sure it is. Just think of the words 'gross' and 'awesome' having a baby."
She shook her head and walked passed the small girl into her bedroom. "What is it with you appearing out of nowhere while I'm in a towel?" She went straight into her closet to find some clothes.
"I feel like I should be asking you that question. Why is it that most of the time I'm at your house you're half naked? If you wanted me to see your lady bits, all you had to do was offer."
Annabeth shook her head chuckling even though Thalia couldn't see her. "Yeah you caught me. That's my one goal in life. Seducing Thalia Grace," She murmured sarcastically.
She heard her friend walking over and stand next to the closed door, "Well worry no longer bud, you've won me. The only problem with that is Nico, but I'm pretty sure he wouldn't object, he'd probably like to watch."
Annabeth laughed and stepped out of the closet coming face to face with her best friend. "I love how secure we are with our friendship that we can have abnormal conversations like this."
Thalia bumped her with her hip and smiled, "Well yeah because we're the coolest BFF's to ever exist."
Annabeth chuckled and pulled her damp hair up into a ponytail, grabbed her purse and started out the bedroom not even bothering with fixing herself up more. "Okay, I'm ready."
(slight line break)
Both girls were silent on the trek down the stairs to the lobby. Annabeth waved to Holland, who was sitting behind his desk reading a magazine and exited the building, getting hit by a gust of chilly air.
"So," Thalia started as they climbed into her car, "What happened before I got to your house?"
"What do you mean?" She swore her friend was psychic sometimes.
"You looked pretty deep in thought before the whole toothpaste fiasco."
"Well yeah, I had a dream."
Thalia narrowed her eyes, "Same situation afterwards? You wake up not remembering anything that happened?"
Annabeth shook her head, "No, that's the thing I remember it and it feels really familiar."
"You mean you've dreamt about it before?"
Annabeth nodded.
"What happen?"
Annabeth sighed and told her all she remembered about the vivid images in her mind.
Thalia chuckled when she was done, "Well that wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. Why is that bugging you so much? Maybe it's just a reoccurring fear from watching "ET" last year. Remember how freaked out you got?"
Thalia laughed even harder, but Annabeth couldn't find it in herself to find it amusing.
"No, I get that it's weird, but those few seconds right after I woke up was terrifying, I was sweating and shaking like I had just had a nightmare about an ax murderer; not some mutant 4 year old." She practically shrieked.
Thalia stopped laughing and sneaked a peak at the irritated blonde next to her. She sighed, "Okay, if you're seriously worried about this then sometime this next week we'll see what this dream means."
"How would we do that?" She asked with a raised brow.
"They have all these ways of finding out what dreams mean. A lot of dreams are caused by something going on internally. Like if you have a dream about your hair falling out, it usually means you have a fear of becoming older and unattractive."
Annabeth stared at Thalia, "And how do you know all of this?"
"You get bored sometimes and result to the strange side of the internet," she said shrugging.
Annabeth chuckled and nodded her head begrudgingly, "Yeah, okay. We could try that, thanks Thals."
"No problem. But I am curious to see what green eyed children mean. You probably just need to get laid."
Annabeth snorted and grabbed her purse as they pulled up to the bookstore, "And there she is ladies and gentlemen...Thalia Grace."
The girl just laughed, her bright eyes shining, "Bye Annie, call me when you're done."
Annabeth just rolled her eyes and she got out of the car. She started walking towards the entrance of the store when Thalia called out for her, making her turn around.
Thalia leaned out the open window, "Chill out today and stop worrying about things and I might just talk to my brother about getting you laid," she said with a wink and drove away before the stunned girl could utter a word.
"Quite the friend you've got there."
Annabeth spun around and blushed fiercely when she saw Sally standing in front of the door, apparently having heard everything Thalia had said.
"Sally I'm sorry, she doesn't have much of a filter and-,"
Sally's laughter cut her off.
"I didn't mean anything by it Annabeth, she just seems like a very entertaining person and actually reminds me a lot of my husband."
Annabeth's eyes unintentionally flashed down to her left hand and decided not to ask any questions when she didn't see a wedding ring on her finger.
"Yeah," she shuffled awkwardly, "Thalia is awesome, but she can be a handful a lot of the time."
Sally smiled warmly, "I can see that." She turned and started walking into the store, motioning for Annabeth to follow her, "Get in here where it's warm and let me see what I have for you to do today."
Annabeth smiled and followed the older woman to the back room where she dropped her purse onto one of the couches tucked off into the corner. She had gotten used to how things worked around the store. She had been working for almost 3 weeks and she loved it. Sally would tell her what needed to get done and once she was done with all of her jobs she would get to read anything on the shelves. She hardly had to do any work with customers seeing as bookshops weren't necessarily bustling with people, a fact in which Annabeth found tragic.
"Okay," Sally said clapping her hands, "Today I need you just go around and see what books need to be put back in their places and I have a few that have been returned that I need you to check in. That's pretty much it for today, Saturdays aren't very busy so I think you'll be fine out here by yourself. Jessica is out for today so I called my son, but I'm not sure if he can make it, so today is on you Annabeth." She said with a reassuring smile.
Annabeth nodded and walked back out to the floor in search of misplaced books. After about a hour, she was done with shelving and moved behind the the desk to scan the returned books. Halfway through she got up to use the restroom when she spotted a book on the floor in front of its shelf. She picked it up and flipped it over to read the summary.
In the back of her mind she noticed the chimes coming from the front of the store signaling her that someone had entered it, but she didn't acknowledge it until it was too late and she felt a hand taping her shoulder.
"Excuse me, can I-." A deep voice said from behind her.
Annabeth turned around to find herself staring into familiar bright green orbs. Her smile instantly drooped as she took in the appearance of the person in front of her. The boy was wearing a blue and white Goode High School hoodie and a green baseball cap that seemed to match his eyes perfectly.(A.N- I think Percy in a baseball cap would be seriously hot.) Annabeth would have been able to take a moment to appreciate the fine specimen of boy in front of her if she hadn't been so thrown off when he spoke.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
Then she remembered who he was.
Annabeth gritted her teeth and fought the urge to say something nasty back at him, but she had to remember that she was at her work place and needed to keep a cool head and act professional.
No matter how much of an asshole this customer was she had to treat him like everyone else.
Percy Jackson didn't seem like the type to just wander around libraries very often and figured he would need as much help as he could get. So she found some sympathy deep within her heart and decided to help him.
She cleared her throat and brought out her sweet voice, "May I help you?"
Percy's eyebrows shot up in confusion, "I'm pretty sure that's my line."
Annabeth sighed, "Jackson, I don't want to play any games. I'm serious."
"So am I. I came over here to see if you needed help with something, but trust me if I had known it was you I would have just walked the other way."
"What are you talking about?" She asked, purposely ignoring his jab.
"I work here dumb-ass."
No.
Annabeth felt her heart pick up as dread seeped through her body.
"No you don't. I do. I've been here 3 weeks and I haven't seen you in here once."
"I've worked here since this place opened." He said as he narrowed his eyes at her. "And you weren't apart of any of that, she would have told me if she hired someone."
"Who Sally? Why would she tell you anything?"
She watched as Percy's face got pale, he looked frightened for a few moments. "Please tell me you're joking."
Annabeth rolled her eyes, she was tired of his games. She should have never tried to help him, screw being professional. She turned around and yelled towards the front desk at the same time as Percy.
"Sally!"
"Mom!"
Annabeth whipped around and stared at Percy, frozen. Did he just say mom?
This could not be happening.
She kept repeating it in her head hoping that maybe that would make it true, but she realized she was doomed when Sally walked out of her office smiling at her...and Percy.
Annabeth heard herself whimper as she walked up to Percy and reached up to grab his face and bring it down to kiss his cheek. "Hey baby, I'm glad you could made it."
Sally turned towards Annabeth, "Percy I see you've introduced yourself to-."
Percy cut her off, "Oh I know who she is."
He turned sharply to face Sally. "Annabeth Chase, Mom...really?"
Annabeth just gaped at him, pretty sure that that was the first time he had actually said her actual name.
Sally looked at the two of them with wide eyes, "I-I don't understand. Do you guys not get along with each other?"
Percy threw up his hands, "No Mom we don't. She's the bit-."
"Percy! You do not, under any circumstances talk about a woman like that!" She said and smacked the back of his head.
Annabeth had to hold back her laugh as Percy clenched his jaw.
"Excuse me, she's the girl that attacked me in the hall on during school!"
Annabeth blanched and started panicking.
He told his mom about that?
Seriously?
Sally's eyes widened even further as she glanced at Annabeth, but quickly narrowed in suspicion when she looked back at her son.
"What did you do to make her do that?"
"What makes you think I did something?"
Sally raised an eyebrow.
"Fine. I said some stuff, but-."
"Would you say it me?" Percy blushed.
"No," he mumbled.
"Would you say it to Caly?"
He shook his head.
"Then why, Perseus Jackson, would you say it to a girl that you didn't even know."
Percy decided not to comment on Sally's scolding and just glared at floor like it had done something to piss him off.
"And you," Sally pointed to Annabeth. She saw Percy start to smirk out the corner of her eye. "I read that apology of yours and I've got to say... good for you!" Percy's jaw dropped, "I'm glad you stood up to him. Girl power makes the world go 'round." She said and patted Annabeth's shoulder as she walked past her back into her office.
"Oh and Percy," Sally called, "Be nice."
(line break)
"Jackson, you might want to close your mouth. The flies might try to come home," Annabeth said as she placed a lost book back on its shelf and turned to see Percy still gaping at his mom's office.
"She's known me my entire life, but she becomes friends with you in a few weeks and chooses you over her own son!" Percy whined.
"Maybe because she knows her son is an asshole," Annabeth mumbled under her breath, but he heard anyway.
He fixed a fierce glare her way, "What is this? Are you stalking me?"
Annabeth scoffed, but could tell he was serious. "Why would I want to be around you anymore then I already am? Isn't school enough?"
"Then why are you here?" He asked, ignoring her question.
"I needed a job and this one was open." She shrugged, "It wasn't even my idea."
"Then who's was it?"
"Your girlfriend's." Annabeth said, and felt an unhealthy amount of happiness in seeing Percy's screwed up face at that moment.
He growled, "Calypso, suggested you take this job?"
Annabeth nodded, her face smug, "She even called Sally and set it up for me. She's so sweet. How did she end up dating you?"
"Why does this world hate me?" He yelled to the ceiling, completely ignoring Annabeth once again.
"What have I done to deserve this kind of punishment?"
Annabeth rolled her eyes at his dramatics and sighed, "Look I'll stay out of your way and you stay out of mine. We never have to know we work together."
Percy shook his head still looking towards the ceiling, "I can sense when evil is close. That won't work."
She wanted to chuckle at his stupidity, but settled for shaking her head and walked over to the lounge area.
She sat down on a bean bag chair and pulled out her phone to text the little devil herself:
Why'd you do it?
It only took Calypso a few seconds to reply.
Oh hey Annabeth! I was just thinking about seeing if you wanted to get some lunch later.
I'm not going anywhere with you, traitor.
Why ever would you say that, Annabeth?
She almost laughed at the false innocence in her words.
I don't know. How about you tell me why your boyfriend showed up at the bookstore a few minutes ago.
Percy is at the store? Well that's odd, he doesn't read.
Yeah that's what I was thinking too, but then he informed me that he works here...Know anything about that?
Ohhhh. Well THAT would be a good reason to be there then.
Annabeth gave up on texting and found Calypso's number and called it.
She picked up on the second ring.
"Hello?" She answered sounding chipper.
"Why the hell would you help me get a job where he works?" Annabeth whispered furiously.
"Well you said you needed a job."
"Not with Percy Jackson!"
"Yeah, but he's only there a few times a month."
"How did you think it would be okay to leave out the fact that my boss's son was practically my arch enemy."
She heard Calypso sigh over the phone. "Don't be so dramatic Annabeth."
"I am not being dramatic. This is like Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy working together!" (A.N- From Harry Potter and if you didn't know that already. Shame on you. JK LOL)
"I don't speak nerd, you're gonna have to elaborate."
"Why did you not tell me about Sally being Percy's mom?" She said getting to the point.
"Well I figured you would find out eventually. Sally's always talking about him."
Annabeth tugged hard on her ponytail. "Yeah, that's still not good enough, but whatever. I need to get back to work, but we will talk about this later."
She said in what she hoped was a threatening voice.
"Wait, how did Perce handle it?"
"He's probably still asking the sky what he did to deserve this."
Calypso laughed, "I'll probably be getting a call from him pretty soon so i need to prepare for that."
"Have fun with that. I hope he chews you out."
Calypso laughed even louder. "Bye Annabeth."
"Bye traitor."
There it is guys. Chapter 9. I know it was pretty short, but that's all I have right now :) PLEASE REVIEW
QUESTION: How do you guys feel about Percy and Annabeth working together?
~TUTU