Chapter 4

Paul picked up by the second ring. "Hey Percy, what's up?" he asked. I told him my plans and that I needed a ride. He sighed, "Well it's about time. But I'm on my lunch break at the school so how about around 3:30 we go get it." I agreed and headed to my room to take a shower. When I opened the door I saw Annabeth turn around and smile. Her hair was wet but still beautiful.

"Hey Seaweed Brain" she said. Her smile was so big the edge of her cheeks seemed to be touching the bottom of her eyes.

"Hey. My mom is almost ready to go."

"Ok. Can I borrow her hair dryer?"

"Sure" I smiled and she nodded and went to go fetch it from my mom's bedroom. I hopped into the shower. When I got out I dried off and pulled some jeans and a shirt out of the dresser. Picked Riptide off the table and put it in my pocket. Then remembered the last time I used it: Defeating Kronos. It seemed so long ago. I wondered how all the people at camp were doing. Of course we had lost so many campers in the war. Clarisse and Chris had gotten married shortly after the war, Silena and Beckendorf had both been lost in the war. The Stoll brothers had gone off to who knows where. Then I thought about Rachel. The Rachel who liked me. The Rachel who kissed me. The Rachel who used me. I thought I had gotten over her but I guess not. I guess Annabeth had been right about her all along. Enough thinking about Rachel. Tonight is my night. It might just be the most important night of my life.

I sat on the couch in the living room watching TV. A winter snow storm was coming in by…TONIGHT?! I opened the blinds only to see snow starting to fall down. Well actually it was more like a blizzard. My phone started to buzz in my pocket. I pulled it out my phone looking at the screen only to see Paul's number. I reluctantly pulled out my phone and flipped it open "Hello?"

"Hey Percy, um well I might not be able to take you shopping later. The roads are already pretty bad." Paul said into his phone. My jaw dropped. This whole evening ruined. I thanked Paul for offering anyway and went to go tell Annabeth the news.

I walked as slowly as possible to my room. I walked in only to see her in front of the TV munching on a piece of toast and sipping coffee. The second she saw my face she jumped up and looked me straight in the eyes. "What's wrong Percy?!" she screamed. I explained to her why I was upset. For some reason whenever I was around her I ended up saying whatever was on my mind. Don't tell her about the ring. Do not tell her about the ring! Somehow I was able to stop myself right before telling her about the ring.

"Well how about we just hang out here?" She offered.

"I don't know. Paul and my mom will be here though."

"So it doesn't matter to me. We'll have a family Christmas. It will be nice."

I nodded. She had no idea how close we were to all being a family. I agreed to her idea. We spent the rest of the day just being lazy and sitting on the couch. Luckily I was able to sneak into my room for a few seconds. I took a package of sand that was from the beach at Montauk beach. I sifted through it with my fingers using my awesome son of Poseidon powers to form a ring of coral and sea diamonds. It was beautiful. She would love it or at least I hoped she would.

I stood in the kitchen cooking spaghetti. Annabeth had joked around and not believing my parents would let me cook. I just laughed. When dinner was done we went and huddled by our newly bought Christmas tree. There was only two presents wrapped and put underneath it. We were just talking about how Annabeth used to spend Christmas in San Francisco with her dad and step mom. When I was finally ready, and my stomach was done doing flips, I pulled out the box with the ring.

"Um Annabeth, I love you more than anything in the world. You are the girl who has been through everything with me. And right here I would like to ask you. Will you marry me?"

She just sat there in silence. Her eyes sparkled with tears "I…

Hey everybody! Thank you again to everybody who has been reading and reviewing. I tired to update as soon as possible and now that I'm on winter break: I get sick. BUT it is nothing super bad. Again I have been trying to make things longer. Sorry if it just kinda drags on and doesn't have much action til the end. Anyway keep reading and reviewing. I'll update as soon as I can! Thank you again!