Hey everyone. I hope you enjoyed everything while it lasted. *Laughs evilly* Anyway, in other news. I think the rest of the story might be in Percy's POV but if you want Annabeth, then just tell me. Enjoy.
I want to give a shout out to these amazing people for always posting reviews: Percabeth151, Son Of Tyche (The first reviewer ever for Eighteen), Hispanic Thug, EpicNuby, and Son Of Jupiter 123
To Carboned: Thank you so much. I really appreciate what you wrote. It really made my day.
Stuck in my Head: It Takes a Lot to Know a Man by Damien Rice
Disclaimer: I don't own any PJO characters or any of the songs used in the story
Chapter 13: Close Call
My day started with a nosebleed.
I walked around the house with my head thrown back and a tissue stuffed up my left nostril. My neck started hurting at one point. Getting ready for school was a lot harder than I expected it to be. But I guess it made sense since the only thing I could see at the moment was the ceiling. I grabbed a sleeveless black shirt, a pair of black skinny jeans, and my dark blue converse. The hardest thing I had to do without looking was tying my shoes.
Eventually, I got it. I checked up on my nose bleed in the bathroom. It stopped. I threw the slightly bloody tissue into the trash bin in our bathroom and washed my face. I wiped my face with a towel and headed downstairs.
"Hey, mom." I said while sitting down at the dining table. She placed the blue pancakes onto the plate and placed it in front of me.
"Hello sweetie." She kissed my head.
"Anything happening today at school?" I picked up my silver fork and dug in.
"I have a project due today." I said with a mouth full of pancakes. She placed a cup of milk in front of me.
"Did you finish it?" I nodded and took a gulp of milk.
"With the help of Rachel. She was my project partner." I informed. She nodded and check the time on her wristwatch.
"That's good." She turned off the stove and walked pass me in the dining table to grab her purse from the couch.
"Have fun at school, Percy. Sorry, that I can't take you to school today. I have to go do a couple errands before I go to work so, I'll see you later. I love you!" She rushed out of the house without another word. I finished up my pancakes and placed the empty plate into the sink. My eyes flickered to the familiar picture on the refrigerator. I sucked in a quick breath.
It was the picture with my dad, my mom, and I.
I ignored it and went out of the kitchen. I picked up my backpack and got ready for a long walk.
In a weird way, I kinda enjoy walking alone. It may be sad and all but it's also refreshing. It gives you time to sort your thoughts and such. I always regretted when I saw that picture. It always brought back memories I never wanted to remember. Like the time we went camping and my dad, being the big hero he was, killed a snake that had gotten into our tent.
I still found it weird and saddening that a fish was the cause of his death. The worst part was that it wasn't an honorable death like I thought it would have been. No, he wasn't killed whilst single handedly fighting a pack of wolves. Or was he killed defending my mom and I against aliens wanting to take the world. Or was he killed in war against robots. No. He was killed while fishing. That's it.
I turned the corner of the street my school was on and gripped my bag straps harder.
"Hello." Leo saluted at me when I appeared in the school. I walked up to my friends and leaned against the lockers.
"Hey, everyone." I said. Our fans, which I still find weird saying, congratulated us throughout the day. Mr. King, the one who told us to try out for Battle of the Bands, looked smug. He crossed his arms and smirked.
"I told you, you would win." He had said.
"Hey, Perce." Rachel sat down in front of me in English. I nodded and twirled my pencil with my hands.
"Hey." Rachel took a couple pieces of paper out of her stuffed up binder and placed it on my desk.
"Here, I took the liberty of writing the last verse myself since we didn't get to finish it." She showed me the verse. It was really good. I widened my eyes in surprise.
"Wow Rachel. This is really good." I complemented. She blushed and smiled.
"Thanks." She said before someone rushed into the classroom.
"Rachel! There you are! You left your jacket at my house last night." The guy with a British accent handed her a blue paint splattered jacket. She snatched it away from him and blushed a bit. Leo wolf whistled.
"What were you guys doing at his house, huh?" He asked. I could recognize the guy. I think he was in my science class… Rachel made a noise of speechlessness.
"Guys, this is my boyfriend, Owen." She introduced.
He gave us a simple wave before saying, "As cool as this is meeting you guys, I have to get to class before the bell rings." He gave Rachel a kiss on the cheek.
"I'll see you later, love." He sprinted out of our English room. I crossed my arms over my chest and rested them on my desk.
"'Love'?" I asked amusingly to the blushing Rachel. We finished up the song and turned it into Ms. Edwins.
The rest of the day was uneventful. The annunciation of prom was the only thing everyone talked about.
"What are you going to wear?"
"When should we pick you up?"
"How much does a limo cost?"
And then the most dreading question: "Who are you going with?"
Obviously, no one. Rachel would be going with Owen. Leo with Calypso. Nico with Thalia. Beck with Silena. And me with no one.
"I just don't get what the big hype about 'prom' is about." I voiced my thoughts as we rummaged around my garage.
Leo tuned his guitar and said, "I don't know either but apparently it's going to cost a fortune." Beck agreed and silently tapped his fingers on his calculus book. Nico was quiet. Quieter than usual.
"What's wrong?" I nudged him with my elbow. He rubbed his eyes.
"Sorry. I'm just trying to figure out a way to ask Thalia to prom." Leo piped up.
"I have an idea. Just do it the traditional way." Nico frowned.
"The traditional way?" He questioned.
"Just ask her!" He yelled at him. Nico glared at him.
"I can't do it the traditional way. It has to be special. It just has to." He directed his hands forward in a direct gesture. I thought of a way to help him. I recalled the time he helped me write the song for Annabeth.
"Sing to her." I said simply. He looked at me like I was crazy.
"What?" He squinted through his baggy eyes. I repeated my answer. He shook his head so much, I thought his head would fly off.
"No, no, no. I can't do that. I can't sing in front of her." He backed out of the plan. I gave him a look. He shrugged.
"Sorry but I can't." He pursed his lips.
"You can sing in front of hundreds of people but not your own girlfriend? Wow Nico. Just wow." Leo pointed out. Nico thought it over.
"But what should I sing?" He asked quietly. I pointed to his songbook that was laying off to the side. He picked it up and flipped through several pages.
"That song you sang for us was pretty good. Sing that to her." I advised. He flipped to the page with the song and smiled to himself.
"This is perfect." He stood up and quickly sang the lyrics to himself whilst running around the garage, picking up random instruments. Beck, Leo, and I watched in wonder as he jumped for joy every second or so.
"Gods, I've always wanted to know what goes through a Nico's mind." Leo wondered out loud.
"'A Nico's'?" I questioned. He just laughed.
…
"Come on, man! I need to get in there! My girlfriend told me to meet her here!" I pleaded with the big burly buff bouncer to let me into the club. He scoffed unbelievingly.
"Yeah, sure! Of course you have a 21 year old girlfriend!" He said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. I tried to push pass him one more time.
"She's 22 and she's real! Let me in!" The bouncer shoved me away from the entrance. I fell back onto the street with a big oomph.
"Hey, hey, hey, no!" Some other teenagers took my spot in the long line. I groaned and got up. I dusted off my pants and went down the block to wait another hour. I crossed my arms and pouted when I got to the end of the line.
"Jeez Seaweed Brain, who made you so mad?" Annabeth appeared in sight. I immediately brightened.
"Hey! I thought you were inside." I said. She shook her head.
"I'm friends with the bouncer that is usually here but he's not here today. I think we're going to be here for a while." Annabeth concluded as she looked down the long line of party crazy teenagers. I sighed and scratched my incoming five o' clock shadow.
"Do you have any other place in mind that we could go to?" I asked. She thought for a second before her eye's went wide. "Yeah… I have place in mind."
…
I coughed.
"Ack!" Dust clouded up in my lungs as I pushed opened the almost sealed shut dusty door. I waved my arms around to get rid of the floating particles of dirt.
"C-" I coughed. "Come on." I tried again.
I stepped inside with Annabeth behind me. Annabeth's face brightened up with excitement. She ran around like a kid in a candy store.
"Oh my gods! I thought this place was blown down or something." She jogged around pointing out certain spots.
"And that's where my friend Heather and I prank called her boyfriend!" She pointed to another spot.
"And that's where I had my first drink!" I laughed. She laughed too. I looked around the old abandoned warehouse. Graffiti littered the walls but none of them looked fresh. Annabeth dusted off a spot for the both of us and sat down. She patted the non-dusty spot next to her and I took my place next to her.
She pulled her knees up to her chest and crossed legs. She had her arms crossed over her knees. I mimicked her position. She glanced around the place and smiled to herself like she had many memories here.
"What is this place?" I finally asked, my voice echoing around the empty area.
"My friends and I used to always hang out here in middle school. We would skip school when we felt it was boring and come here to get away from everything." I gaped at her.
"Ms. Annabeth Chase, the Wise Girl, skipped school when she was just a mere child." She laughed.
"Yeah, shocking right?" She said. I nodded. We got quiet and just glanced around the old building.
"So… What do you want to do?" Annabeth asked.
"I have a couple things in mind." I wiggled my eyebrows suggestively. Annabeth laughed and playfully shoved me.
"Shut up Seaweed Brain." I laughed as I tipped over a bit.
"No but really, what should we do?" I asked. Annabeth got an idea and shot straight up.
"Wait, hold up." She walked around. She looked as if she was searching for something. I frowned.
"What are you looking for?" Annabeth stepped down a small flight of stairs and gasped. She dusted off something and struggle to get it open. I got up and helped her.
"What is this thing?" I strained out while trying to open the box. It made a creaking noise and opened up with a groan. Inside was slightly dirty water with beer bottles in it. Annabeth gasped with excitement.
"No way! It's still filled." She said to herself. She grabbed two bottles out of the water. She handed me one and shut the cooler. The bottle was warm. Not cold.
"Is this even sanitary?" I asked. She opened up the bottle and took a swig.
"Since when do you care about sanitation Seaweed Brain?" She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. I shrugged and opened up the bottle. The beer was warm but not bad.
"How long as this been here?" I asked as we sat back down with our beers. She took another sip.
"Uh, I don't know. I think the last time we refilled it was in senior year which was 5 years ago. So yeah… 5 years." She evaluated. I raised my eyebrows and looked at the bottle of beer in my hand.
"Not bad for a 5 year old beer." I commented. Annabeth laughed and agreed.
We ended up finishing up our beers and talking about random stuff.
"I don't think that's possible, Percy." Annabeth said. I tried to convince her again.
"Yes it is. Breathing underwater is totally possible. You just have to be very special." I said. Annabeth raised her eyebrows.
"'Special' meaning you have to be a hybrid mix of a sea monster and a fish." I awed.
"That'd be so cool!" She laughed at my childish self.
"You'd want to be weird like that?" She asked me. I shrugged.
"Sometimes it's okay to be weird." Oh great… Every time I get drunk I tend get sentimental. Annabeth grinned and nodded.
"I just wish my dad would've been able to see me win that trophy." I blurted out. Annabeth's eyes softened and she laid her head on my shoulder.
"I'm sure he was there. Just not physically." I didn't say anything for a while. After a moment, I did.
"I wish I was there to help him back up." Annabeth didn't comment anything. Not that she needed to. Just being there was comforting enough. "I wish I was there to keep that fish away from him. I wish I could go back in time and fix everything." I closed my eyes and got quieter. "I just wish it was me instead of him." I whispered. Annabeth kissed my shoulder.
"When my dad died, I didn't know what to think at first. Of course, I wished it was me instead of him like you but who doesn't think that? Hearing the news from my mom that he had died was more devastating than ever." Annabeth said. She sniffed and tucked a loose piece of hair behind her ear.
"Before my dad died, he used to always tell me to be strong and keep my head high. Never give up on yourself. But when he died, all that washed down the drain for a period of time. I didn't eat, I didn't sleep, I didn't even talk. Then, when we were moving all his stuff out of my parent's room, we found a box full of pictures. Pictures of forgotten memories. Each picture had at least a paragraph of writing in the back. Every single one." She paused and let a tear slide down her cheek.
"There was one picture. It was of me and him at the park when I was only about 2 years old.
"On the back read: 'If you're reading this, then you probably older, with a nice husband, or wife, I can't tell the future, with lots of kids and I have passed away. This is a picture of you, Annie. When we used to always hang out together, you know before you started growing up and not wanting to hang out with daddy anymore. I remember when you used to always lose your grip and fall off the monkey bars.'" She stopped for moment to laugh softly.
"'But you would never cry.'" She continued. "'You were always such a tough kid. Never let a single tear drop from your eye. Stay strong, I would always tell you. I love you Annie. Don't forget to stay strong. Love, Dad.'" Tears fell down her face but her face didn't hold any sadness. Just sorrow.
"I recognized that paragraph. Word from word. It was the only thing that helped me get back up on my feet. We found out those pictures were like a little timeline he'd been creating so when he died, we find them and have something to remember him by." She paused again. "I- I guess what I'm trying to say is that. Our dads wouldn't want us dwelling on their lives. They'd want us to stay strong and live life at the fullest." She concluded.
I wiped her tears with my thumb and pulled her close to me. I tried to brighten things up.
"How weird would it be if someone walked in and saw two drunk people on the floor, crying?"
Annabeth laughed.
…
We got more drunk than we intended to. Like I said, when I get drunk, I get sentimental. But when I get too drunk, I get… rude.
At one point, I insulted her for being a dumb blonde, when she clearly wasn't. Thankfully, she didn't hear me. But when I insulted her again, she heard me.
"What was that?" She scowled at me. I took a big swig of the old beer.
"What? You didn't hear me?" I rudely replied. Annabeth immediately became sober.
"Really? Are you being serious right now?" I shrugged.
"What?" I said laughing. She scowled harder.
"Say it again." She demanded.
"What?" I repeated.
"Say. It. Again." I did so.
"The only reason I stayed with you after you cheated on me was because I had a feeling you were good in bed." I glanced her up and down.
"And I was right." I concluded with a smirk. She scoffed.
"Please tell me you're kidding around." She said. I frowned.
"About you being good in bed? Definitely not. It's like your whole different person."
"Percy! Do you know what you are saying right now?" She tried to make me realize what I was saying. I was too drunk to do anything about it. So, my drunk self continued to be rude.
"Yeah, that's you're good at sex. Was I not clear enough?" She shot straight up and flared her nostrils.
"I can't believe you." She began to walk out of the warehouse.
"Was it something I said?" I asked stupidly. She swung back around to me.
"No, it's wasn't." She said sarcastically. She laughed humorlessly and put her palm on her forehead.
"You know what, Percy? If you ever see me in public again, don't even bother saying anything to me, got it?" She spat. I stumbled up.
"Now, wait a minute." I strained out as I unsteadily walked to her. My soberness was slowly regaining. She didn't wait. She continued to storm out.
"Annabeth, please wait." I tried again. I started getting groggy and my eye sight was starting to fade away.
I got to the entrance and put my hands on each side of the empty rusty opening. I breathed heavily and stared at her retreating figure, half eyed. A light blinded my right side.
"Annabeth…" I breathlessly called out.
It was too late.
A blood curdling scream was heard and I felt all the drops of alcohol going away. My energy regained and I was now fully sober.
The blinding light was in front of me, just a couple feet away. I squinted to get a better look.
It was a car.
A man got out of the stopped car and put his hands on his mouth. He looked around and spotted me.
"Call 911!" He yelled at me. It took me a while to react but I pulled out my phone and dialed the number.
"911, what's your emergency?" I said the first thing that came to mind. What I thought happened.
"Uh, I'm not sure what happened but I think someone got hit by a car." I walked over to the incident. The headlights still blinded me from seeing but I squinted to see better.
"Okay, do you know where you're at? And can you identify who the victim is?"
"Uh, hold on." I strained my eyes. Finally, I could see.
But then I wished I hadn't seen it.
"Sir, do you know?" I gasped.
"Sir?" Tears welled up in my eyes.
"It-It's Annabeth Chase." I dropped the phone and fell to my knees next to her.
She wasn't conscious. I really hoped she was just unconscious. I put her head in my lap and sobbed.
"Annabeth. Please, don't leave me." The man who hit her picked up the phone and started talking to the police. I heard him telling them where we were but I paid no attention to him. Her head was bleeding and that seemed to be the only injury. It still didn't matter though. She was hurt and that was what mattered. The man hung up and handed me back my phone.
"They said they're on their way." He said cautiously. That's when I blew up.
"This is all your fault! You hurt her! I hate you! You hurt my girlfriend! How dare you?!" I screamed at him. He flinched and backed away from me. I heard sirens in the distance but I somehow knew that she probably wouldn't make it by the time they got here. So I decided to try and stop the bleeding. I took off my shirt and put it on her wounded head. I moved the hair out of her face and cupped her cold cheek.
"Please, please, please! Don't leave me." I trembled. Slouching over, I placed my head on her unusually cold forehead. I sobbed and held onto her lifeless body. The sirens were getting closer and I held on for dear life.
I whispered, "Please." And "Don't leave me." To her and rocked her head back and forth. I still couldn't believe it. It all happened so fast.
First, we were having a heartfelt conversation then next we were arguing over something stupid I said.
"Sir, we need you to let her go." The pediatric told me as he tried to get to Annabeth.
"Never. I'll never let go." I whispered in a broken voice. Eventually, they forced me to let go. I watched from a distance as they worked on her bloody head. I was given a white shirt to put on.
When it came time to put her on a gurney and head to the hospital, I begged to go with them.
Now, here I was. Worried to death, gripping to Annabeth's cold hand like my life depended on it, which in a way, it did. Then, that's when it happened.
The sound no one wanted to hear.
The long elated beep.
Her heart had stopped.
Meaning… Her heart stopped beating.
I felt like my heart had been ripped out of my chest. Doctors worked around to get her heart back up. CPR was performed.
I reacted. I tried to reach out to her.
"No. No. NO! Please! Come back! Don't leave! You promised you'd never leave!" I yelled out. A doctor had to hold me back so I wouldn't disturb the work they were putting into bringing her back to life. Once they figured CPR wasn't going to work, they brought out the defibrillator. They ripped open her shirt and placed the metal pads onto her.
"Clear!" The woman called out.
Nothing. I sobbed and put my head in my hands.
"Clear!" She did it again. Annabeth's body arched upward as volts of electricity went through her body.
Again, nothing. I prayed to every god out there as they did it again.
"Clear!"
Still nothing.
"I'm pulling the plug." A doctor said. I sobbed and pleaded with them.
"Please. You have to help her. I'm begging you. I need her." The woman with the defibrillator sighed and did the sign of the cross.
"Come on! He needs you! Clear!"
Annabeth's eyes shot straight open and a loud gasp was heard from her. I felt as if the world had been lifted off my shoulders. She fell back onto the gurney.
Beep.
The monitor started beeping again. The man who was holding me back let go and crouched around to help the other doctors. Annabeth's left hand was out of the gurney.
I grabbed it and kissed it. I held it close to my mouth, kissing it every once in a while.
"I love you." I whispered, making sure she felt my lips moving against her hand.
Her eyes opened half way and I saw her smile through the oxygen mask.
'I love you too' she mouthed to me. I let out a quiet happy sob out and watched her drift back asleep.
…
"Oh my gods, Percy! We heard the news!" Thalia frantically said as she and the rest of my friends jogged inside. I stayed silent with my elbows on my knees and my hands connected and in front of my mouth. Rachel sat next to me and put a hand on my shoulder.
"Is she okay?" I nodded and gave her a wet smile. Tears threatened to come out again. I forced them back down.
"How long has she been in there?" Nico asked, sitting down on the opposite side of me. It took me a while to answer.
"An hour or two." I shut my eyes and grimaced as the sound of her scream came through my mind. Everyone got grave looks on their face.
Nico's POV:
We waited for what seemed like forever.
Doctors rushed by with mountains of papers and manila folders stuffed in their arms. Nurses jogged from corner to corner, shouting out orders from the other side of the room. There weren't that many people here in the waiting room.
I guess it was because it 11:00 at night.
When we'd heard the news of Annabeth's accident on TV, we dropped everything and came to the hospital.
I was still shocked.
Annabeth got hit by a car.
Not really something easy to wrap your head around. We had tried to figure out what had happened but Percy wasn't talking.
I didn't blame him.
If Thalia would have gotten in a car accident, I don't think I'd be able to live with myself until I knew she was okay.
"I can't do this anymore Nico." Percy whispered to me. I sat forward and leaned closer to him.
"What do you mean?" I whispered back. He sighed and leaned back, rubbing his face.
"I had said it was that man's fault. The one who had hit Annabeth. But it wasn't his fault." He paused.
"It was my fault." I frowned.
"How is it your fault that Annabeth got hit by the car? I mean unless you pushed her in front of the car then it is definitely not your fault." Percy didn't hesitate on an explanation.
"We got drunk and got into a fight over something idiotic I had said. She stormed out of the abandoned warehouse we were hanging out in. That's when she got hit. If I hadn't said that stupid thing, she wouldn't have to fight for her life." He got this look on his face like he had just realized something.
"Actually," He looked at the ground. "If I hadn't lied about my age, she wouldn't have been hurt at all." He concluded.
"What are you getting at?" I wondered. He bit the inside of his bottom lip.
"All of this is my fault. She probably wouldn't have been hurt at all if I just had told her my real age. She would've died. And she almost did. And it's my fault."
"Perce, what are you saying? I don't know what you're trying to say."
"I need to tell her." He whispered almost inaudible. I leaned forward to hear him better.
"What was that?" He looked back up at me, suddenly more sure of himself.
"I need to tell Annabeth my real age."
Yeah, sorry I had to go with the cliché car crash event. Anyway, I still hoped you liked it. This is chapter or maybe next chapter is the climax of the story and then everything starts to happen.
*Smirks evilly*
Please drink responsibly
Bye!
R&R
