I'm so sorry for not updating! But I've been sick lately, and I just had a flute exam so the last 2 weeks I haven't had any time to update.
Chapter 4
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart.
Percy POV
Today Calypso arrived. I was quite anxious to meet her, because David warned me about her issues. Apparently, she could be quite demanding and had some anger issues. I was never good with girls, so I had no idea what to expect.
Me and Annabeth were asked to come to the building for a meeting, so we set off. When we arrived, there were already reporters and paparazzi swarming the building.
"Look it's Percy!" someone yelled, and suddenly it was likes bees attracted to a honey pot. The cameras suddenly forgot about Calypso and started making their way towards me and Annabeth.
"Who's this lady you've brought?!"
"Can I ask you a question Mr Jackson?"
"Are you two dating?!"
"What about Calypso?"
"Is your girlfriend here pregnant?"
I stifled a laugh, partially because of the stupid questions. Partially because Annabeth looked scared out of her mind. She was clutching onto my arm as cameras got into her face, and reporters trust their microphones in Annabeth's direction. I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't enjoying the moment.
We pushed our way through the crowd, just as David walked out of the door, "Percy! Annabeth!" He shouted, "Thank god you're here!"
"Hey David," I greeted
"Come on in,!"
The security held back the reporters as David led me and Annabeth through the building. We stopped at a large studio, with a soft carpet as the floor and a mirror as one of the walls. The room was large, and spacious. In the middle of the room stood about 8 chairs, and 4 of them were already occupied.
Annabeth gasped, looking at one of the guys who sat on a chair, and rushed forward, just as he did. She ran into his arms as he crushed her into a tight hug, burying his face into her fair, so I couldn't see what he looked like.
"Oh my gods, Annie it's you!" I heard him murmur into her hair.
"I didn't know you were in town." She laughed back, then she playfully punched him in the arm, "Why didn't you call me?"
"Yeah, David asked me to come for the movie" He said, grinning madly at her, "But gods I would've come sooner if I knew you were in the movie as well."
I got a good look at this guy. He had blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and a good tan. He was tall, and had a strong build. With looks like that, he immediately struck me as someone who would spend his free time surfboarding.
"Oh I've missed you, Luke." She said, ruffling his hair
"Me too kitten, me too." He said, smiling, and pulling her into another hug.
Kitten? Who calls a friend kitten? That's like me calling Piper a dog. I don't think Piper would appreciate being called that, and I have no idea how in Hades Annabeth is okay with this dude calling her a cat. Heck, if I called her kitten, she would karate flip me so hard I would not be able to physically walk for a week. Who is this guy? Who does he think he his?
"Percy?" Annabeth called to me, and I snapped out of my daydream, "Are you okay?" Only after she asked me did I realize that my hands were clenched into fists so hard that you could see the veins protruding from my arm. Fortunately, the guy - Luke - didn't notice, because he was having a conversation with David.
"Yeah," I breathed, "I'm fine." Annabeth smiled at me,
"This is Luke." She said, lightly touching the guy's tattooed arm. Luke held out his calloused hand.
"Luke Castellan."
"Percy Jackson." I replied, taking his hand cautiously.
"I'm Annabeth's friend"
"That's nice." I said, forcing a smile, "You two are good friends?"
"Yeah, me and Luke have been childhood best friends, until I moved." She said, smiling at him, "But now he's here we can spend time catching up!"
Luke sent me a smirk, and I shot back a sarcastic, forced smile.
David called for us, we our seats. I sat down quickly, because I was starting to feel a little bit light headed. David took his seat, and as on cue, the door swung open and a glamorous girl stepped in.
Her hair was the color of deep chestnut, and hung down past her shoulders. Her skin was pale, almost translucent; completely opposite to Annabeth. Her features were no doubt beautiful. Eyes the color of rich soil flecked with black. Eyes the color of dark chocolate with flecks of hazel nut. Long eyelashes rimmed her large almond-shaped eyes, and perfect eyebrows were placed upon her eyes. Her lips were plush, and soft - looking. She wore designer clothes, and held an expensive - looking handbag. She looked like she had just stepped out of a magazine. David, and a few others stood up to greet her. The girl sat in the last chair.
"Now, as you all might have guessed." David said, "This is our first meeting as the official, primary cast. Now we'll go in a circle and introduce ourselves, and the role that we will play. I'm David, the director of this movie." Luke stood up.
"Sup guys, I'm Luke. I play James, who is Julia's ex-boyfriend." Next, a petite girl, with sparkling, large green eyes stood up. Her hair was long, brown and fell in waves on her back. A few freckles dotted her pointed nose, and she had a shy smile. "Hi everyone, my name is Katie, and I'm playing Alex's sister, Grace." Annabeth nudged me, and I didn't know why at first, but then I realized that everybody was staring at me. Oh! I had to stand up! I scrambled out of my seat and sheepishly brushed of an imaginary piece of dust of my shoulder. Annabeth rolled her eyes at me, so I stuck out my tongue back to her. "Hey guys, I'm Percy. I play Alex." I sat down quickly, not wanting to embarrass myself any more than I already had. "Hello everybody." Annabeth said, and I zoned out again. She was just so... hypnotizing. "I play Evie, the girl Alex cheats on Julia with." After Annabeth finished speaking, Calypso stood up.
"Good morning, I'm Calypso, and I play Julia." Lastly, two guys stood up. They were obviously twins. They had the same mischievous grin, as if they were planning a really horrible joke. Both of them shared the same scruffy brown hair, and lanky physique. "Hi, my name is Connor."
"And I'm Travis"
"I play Kai,"
"No no, you got it wrong. I play Kai. You play Derrick."
"Really? I could've sworn it said that I played Kai."
"No, dumb ass, you play Derrick." Connor - Travis - whichever - said.
"Fine." The other one replied, unhappy that he had lost an argument, "I'm Connor, and I play Derrick."
"I'm Travis, and I play Kai."
"We're the best friends of Alex."
They sat down, and I could tell everybody was a little bit shocked by their spontaneous squabble. I had already forgotten which one was which.
"Okay, now that we know everyone, we are going to do a little exercise which helps us to get comfortable acting in front of one another." said David, "Percy and Katie, you're up first."
After we had finished the meeting, David told us to go outside, since the cameras were still waiting. "Why do we have to do that David?" Annabeth asked, quite angrily,
"It's for publicity, Annabeth," He replies, trying to calm her down, "That way more people know about the film."
"Hey kitten, it's okay" Luke said, rubbing her bare arms, "I'll be with you."
"Stop doing that," She said, swatting his hands away from her arm, "I'm not staying outside for long, though."
"That's fine Annabeth, we only need one or two good photos." David says, "Okay, Luke will be on the far left, and Calypso will be next to him. Percy, you stand next to Calypso, maybe put your arm around her waist." At this, Annabeth visibly clenched her jaw, but Calypso just nodded. "Annabeth, next to Percy, and Katie will be on the other side of Annabeth. Connor and Travis, you guys stand either side of Luke and Katie."
"Dibs standing next to Katie!" Travis shouted, interrupting David's ramble.
"Travis!" Katie says, her head bright red.
"Okay, I need to settle the costume designers, but I'll meet you at the entrance." David says, before hurrying off, his head in his phone. We started to walk through the building. Travis flirted with Katie, while Connor snickered from behind. Calypso made small talk with Luke, and I walked side by side with Annabeth. Suddenly, I start to feel dizzy as a sweet smell filled my nose. It was her perfume. Gods. "Percy are you okay?" She asked, concerned. I stumbled on my foot, and she reached out to steady me, but Calypso got to me first. "Careful," She said, in a sing-song voice, "We wouldn't want to get hurt before filming now would we?" She sent me a sweet smile, and squeezed my hand before walking off to catch up with Luke. We continued walking, my mind fully awake now. I glanced at Annabeth, and found her scowling at Calypso's back. "Hey," I said quietly, "Wise girl, what's wrong?" Annabeth looked at me wearily
"Nothing"
"Its obviously not nothing," I replied crossing my arms, "Seriously, you're shooting daggers with your eyes in Calypso's back."
"No I'm not." She replied, deepening her scowl. I put to fingers on either side of her lips and pulled them upwards. "Turn that frown, upside down Annie," I said, trying to make her feel better. Annabeth pulled her face away from my fingers and glared at me, "Don't call me that." she said grumpily.
"Why not?" I stubbornly replied, "It's cute," I told her, but she just rolled her eyes,
"Can you not think of another nickname?" she said, "Is your head really that small?"
"Hey! My head is very big, thank you very much" I said to her.
"So that's where you keep your ego."
"That's not nice, Annabeth." I told her, "You should learn some manners." But this just got me a smack on the back of my head, "Ow... I think you're growing an obsession with smacking me in the back of my head." Annabeth smiled sweetly,
"Should I do it again?" She raised her hand, but I caught it with my own. Annabeth struggled to free her wrist, but without luck. I smirked.
"Annabeth, you and I both know that I'm stronger than you."
"Hey guys!" Connor called from down the corridor, "Stop having sex and hurry up!"
Me and Annabeth sprung apart from each other, red in the faces, and she shouted back, "We weren't having sex!"
"Yeah right!" He said back, "Hurry up, we're waiting for you! Luke and Calypso are already outside!" We ran down the corridor, to meet with the Connor, Travis, and Katie who were waiting for us at the entrance door. Through the glass, I could already see the paparazzi shouting, and the cameras flashing, trying to shove their way in front of the guards, who were barely straining them back. Travis whistled lowly. "Wow, did David like call the entire state?"
"Nope." David said, appearing out of thin air and startling all of us, "I got my secretary to do it." David pushed opened the doors, walking out, and we followed suit.
As soon as we got out, the cameras flashed more. The screaming got slightly more intense, but the security managed to keep them under control. The eight of us got into position, and it was only then did I realize that Annabeth was slightly pale. "Hey," I whispered to her, "You okay?" It took a moment for her to respond, but she turned to face me and nodded her head quickly. We posed for the cameras,for about ten seconds before Calypso hissed at me, "Percy, put your arm around my waist!" I looked at her.
"Wait, what?"
"You heard me. Put. Your. Arm. Around. My. Waist."
"Calypso I hardly think that necess-"
"Percy, that's what David told us to do." I sighed, knowing that I had lost the argument, and put my arm around her waist. Calypso shuffled up way too much and pressed her body against mine, making me feel more uncomfortable than ever. I tried to shift my body weight to a different angle so that Annabeth wouldn't see. But she did. Did I tell you that I was really clumsy? She must have noticed by my shuffling, and when she saw my arm, she stiffened. Like... a statue... yeah, that's the word. She became as still as a statue, tensing, her gray eyes flashing murderously, as if waiting for Calypso's next move. The cameras were still flashing, making my eyes go a little bit funny. I gave her a concerned look. When I couldn't stand it anymore, I swung my free arm that was hanging limply at my side around Annabeth's waist. She jumped at my fast actions, and I gave her a small smile. She returned the smile. Gods that smile.
"Percy look here!" Someone screamed, and I snapped back into reality, I didn't realize that I had dozed off into one of my infamous daydreams. I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts. Trying to clear my thoughts of Annabeth. Why did I keep thinking about her? We were just friends, no more. Right?
After a few more pictures, David ushered us back into the building. "Great job guys, those pictures will be up on those magazines in no time! You guys can have the rest of the day to do what ever you want, but don't forget that shooting will start day after tomorrow."
We said our goodbyes to him as he climbed into his car. As we watched him speed away,dust flying in all directions, my mind started to wander again. "Sooo..." I heard Luke say, "Ice cream anyone?"
"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Connor and Travis chanted simultaneously, "Ice-cream! Ice-cream! Ice-cream!"
"Travis! Connor!" Katie scolded again, "What are you, five?"
"On a scale of one to five," Travis says, putting his arm around Katie's shoulder, "Yes, I'm five"
"More like minus five." Katie muttered, shrugging Travis' arm off her shoulder,
"Excuse me Katie!" He cried, fake hurt, "But I'm sexy as hell. And you know it." We all laughed as he stuck a pose. Connor went up next to him and copied his pose,
"Ew," Travis says, wrinkling his nose, "No Connor, you can't do the sexy Travis pose. Only I can do that without looking like a dimwit."
"Oh trust me Travis." Annabeth interrupts, giggling slightly "You looked even worse than Connor." I doubled over with laughter, as did Katie when we heard this. Calypso let out a high giggle, and soon, we were on the floor laughing our heads off while Travis stood there looking quite flustered. "We're twins, one can't look worse than the other. We're practically the same person!" He says, and Connor walks up to him, patting his cheek, "It's okay, brother, there will be one day when you'll be sexier than the ever so sexy me."
We all laughed in content as we walked together towards our cars.
Luke climbed into a large black Jeep, and Katie crawled into the other side. Calypso got into a small, blue convertible, just as me and Annabeth made our way towards Blackjack.
I started the engine, and I was about to let her loose, but Connor and Travis stopped me, leaning on the hood. "Hey Percy..." Connor said, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Cut the crap, you guys need a ride don't you?" I said, shaking my head. Travis nodded his head sheepishly and pointed to the backseats of Blackjack. "Can we..."
"Get in." I replied, monotone. Travis and Connor whooped, and high-fived before getting into my car with wide eyes. "Dude, can I just live in your car for the rest of my life?" Connor asked,
"What, do you not have a place to stay in?" I asked
"No, my ex-girlfriend just kicked me out." He replied in a matter of factly tone.
"It's cool," Travis piped up, "He's staying at mine for the time being."
"Man you're place sucks!" Connor whined,
"Just because you're there."
"There's never any food in the fridge!"
"Pizza, man."
"There's never any hot water!"
"Bullshit, there's always hot water, you just never take a shower."
"You're TV sucks balls."
"You ruined my other TV by smashing it after playing bowling Wii."
"Ugh, kill me now." I heard Annabeth mutter, as she slumped into her seat.
"Tell me about it, they won't shut up. They're like an old married couple."
"Talk about incest," she said. I cracked up, and Annabeth joined in. They stopped bickering from behind and leaned over to the front,
"What?" The twins said, their blue eyes shining with curiosity,
"Oh... nothing." Annabeth said still smiling. I returned that smile, but used my free hand to cover my mouth, to stop me laughing even more.
"You guys!" Connor whined, "Stop keeping secrets!"
"Yeah. It's rude." Travis said, pouting, "And mean."
"Oh hush," Annabeth says, still smiling, "Stop acting like kids, we're here anyway." I parked my car next to Calypso, and got out. Connor and Travis were still squabbling over Gods know what.
"Shall we?" Calypso said, and she walked into the ice cream parlor. We all followed her into the shop.
I ran up to the counter, and peered into the selections. My eye immediately caught the blue tub. "That one." I said, pointing to the tub. Annabeth looked over my shoulder and wrinkled her nose. "Cotton candy?" She asked, "That's so sugary."
"Even better."
"Why don't you get chocolate for a change?" She asked pointing to the tub full of chocolate ice cream. I frowned in response.
"Brown ice cream?" I said, incredulous, "Are you trying to poison me?" Annabeth sighed at my childish antics
"Percy, the color of the ice cream doesn't matter"
"It does to me."
"Whatever." She said, rolling her eyes, "Vanilla please."
"I'll have double chocolate." Katie said, pointing at the one Annabeth suggested that I try
"Mocha." Luke followed
"I'll have one raspberry sorbet," Calypso said, inspecting her nails
"Oh my, so many choices." Connor said, clapping his hands together gleefully.
"Cookies and cream, or mint chocolate chip?" Travis thinks to himself
"Caramel." Connor said, "No. Cookie dough. No. Cheesecake."
"Butter pecan please," Travis said happily, jumping up and down.
"Ew, butter pecan?" Connor said to his brother in disgust, "Who eats butter pecan?"
"Who eats cheesecake ice cream?" Travis shot back, "That's like... cake... and ice cream... together."
"Can you guys just shut up and get your ice cream." Calypso said exasperated.
When we all finally got our ice cream, we sat down in a booth. Connor and Travis immediately attacked their ice cream while Katie shook her head in disapproval.
Annabeth daintily scooped her vanilla ice cream, and placed it in her mouth. Calypso did the same, as did Katie. I was having none of that shit. This is ice cream for Poseidon's sake! Why would you take so long to eat it? I threw the manners my mom taught me as a kid out of the window, and took a big scoop of blue ice cream, shoving it into my mouth. I repeated, but with an even bigger scoop. I can never get sick of ice cream.
I took a good look at my surroundings. Travis was once again flirting with Katie, whilst Connor was stuffing himself with ice cream. Annabeth, Calypso and Luke were having a heated debate. I took another scoop of ice cream.
I have a feeling this is going to be a good year.
I have no idea when I'm going to update next, but let's say if this story gets 5 more reviews then I'll update sooner :)
Thegirlnextdoor4702