Someone deserves a shoutout!

ICECREAMROCKS don't dis me - Robyn has been super nice and we've been talking and she so awesome! I'm glad to know she likes my story, just like the rest of you! You should check out her stories!

I recommend Kidnappers and Flashbacks by her :3

Friday

As the week past on by uneventfully, she climbed out of Luke's car, smiling at him before turning away. She walked in her house, closing the door silently, careful not to make much noise. She didn't like to slam things, especially when her hearing was more acute than most people.

Annabeth coughed slightly, a strange sound. She frowned in confusion. Well that was new. Perhaps she was catching something. But the cough didn't sound as such. She gave herself a shrug, pushing it to the back of her mind, though it nagged at her as though she should be truly concerned.

She walked into her room, dropping her bag and walking back into the living room, surprised to see her father there, looking ready to leave. "Come on Annie! Time to get going or we'll be late!" Frederick said, making Annabeth perk. She had forgotten!

"Crap, I forgot! I need to call Thalia!"

"Call her in the car."

"But-"

"Come on!"

"Fine!" Her tone was mildly playful, a smile curling at the edge of her lips. She jogged to catch up with her father, who was at the door, exiting and closing the door as he locked the door. She couldn't help but notice she was already fatigued with the small jog. She frowned, catching her breath, careful that her father didn't notice.

Annabeth climbed into the passenger seat, dialing Thalia's number. Thalia picked up almost immediately. This is how their conversation went like this:

"Hi Annie."

"Don't call me Annie." She could practically see Thalia roll her eyes.

"Whatever Annie. Anyways, what did you need?"

"I can't go over right now."

"But Annab-"

"I have a doctor's appointment! I'll try to make it later, okay?"

Annabeth heard a grumble. "Fine."

"Talk to you later!"

"Later, Annabeth."

With that, the line went dead and Annabeth put her phone in her jean pocket, relaxing as they drove to the hospital.

They hopped out of the car when Annabeth coughed again. Frederick frowned, tensing slightly. "Good thing we're getting you checked out today," he said. Annabeth nodded, though gave her father a reassuring smile. "Don't worry. It's probably nothing, or just a cold." Her father managed a grin and nodded. "Probably," he decided, holding the door open for his daughter.

As Annabeth walked in, she winced, hand coming up to her chest. The pain was there again. She tried a deep breath, but that made it worse, so she stopped breathing so heavily. It slowly subsided as they walked to the clinic. Just as we got there, we were called for. I followed the women back to the room, telling me the doctor, Dr. Normand, would be in shortly.

Finally, after five endless minutes, coughing once in the time period, a man who she guessed was Dr. Normand came in. He gave her a smile, a small, sincere smile. "Hello Annabeth. Here for your checkup, hm?" Annabeth returned his smile. "I believe so. This is the hospital, correct?" The doctor gave a small laugh. "Yes, this is the hospital."

He went over standard procedure, finally checking her breathing. He frowned as he listened to it. "Well, Annabeth, it seems that your breathing is uneven. Have you been experiencing shortness in breath lately? Or getting fatigued easily?" Annabeth frowned and nodded. "Both. It started not long ago, but it's still different." Dr. Normand nodded, his face serious.

"Well have to do some tests. I'll order a CT to find what's wrong," he said and Annabeth nodded, starting to feel worried. She coughed her raspy cough, getting the doctor's attention. She winced. Oops. "When did that start Annabeth?" She looked away. "When I got home today." He nodded.

"Okay," was all he said, exiting the room. Frederick entered after. "Hey honey! Everything go fine?" Annabeth glanced at her father, who oblivious to the problems. "I need a CT."

His entire face fell. "What's wrong?" Annabeth shrugged cynically. "My breathing is uneven."

They got the test done and they were brought back to the room. Dr. Normand arrived with her, motioning for her father to sit, which he did.

"Well, there is no easy way to put this, but I won't try to trim around the flowers. Mr. Chase- Annabeth- I'm afraid you have a tumor."

Annabeth just stared at the doctor confoundedly, eyes barren, and for once, vacuous. Her father tried to talk, but he couldn't make out the words.

"C-cancer?" Annabeth squeaked, voice small. Dr. Normand nodded gently. "Lung cancer. I have the scans. Would you like to see them?" Annabeth nodded, and he set them up. He pointed to her left lung.

"This is your lung." He pointed to a big mass, not as big as her organ, but big. "This is the tumor. We can't do surgery with such a big risk of tearing your lung. You would be on the bottom of the transplant list, which would mean you would die before you got one."

Frederick piped up, voice spent, "How long does she have?" Dr. Normand had picked up the demeanor a doctor used when telling bad news. "The maximum is a year and a half. The minimum is about nine months. But it depends if the cancer starts to spread."

Annabeth sat there, gray eyes hollow, portraying what a rock looked like. The irises at least. She felt numb, her body rigid. Her father and Dr. Normand were speaking of Chemotherapy, but there voices were indistinct. How?

Her whole world felt like it was slowly decaying.

Sunday

Percy was staying with Grover at his house, lounging with his friend as they talked about really nothing.

"Do you think Juniper likes me?" Grover asked suddenly, causing Percy to smirk.

"Why do you ask?" he mused innocently, making his friend's face flush full of color. "Screw it!" Percy chuckled. "Calm down G-man!" he exclaimed. He noticed Grover smile. "Do you?"

Percy leaned up and clapped Grover on the back. "Of course! I can tell by the way she smiles at you and talks to you," he assured his friend, heartening him. "Really?"

"No, I just said that because I wanted to hear my beautiful voice." Grover had been waiting for a snide remark, but he just grinned. "Okay then."

"I better be going Grover. We have school tomorrow and it's getting late. Thanks for keeping me for dinner though!" Percy said, getting to his feet. "'Course! See you at school."

"Bye!"

And with that, Percy left.

Monday - 3:37

Annabeth sat in the storage room she had sort of sheltered in everyday since the news. She'd practically turned into a person that was fake, forcing sincere smiles, pretending to be okay. What really made her feel herself again was her annoyance with Percy Jackson. All throughout the day, whenever he was near her and her friends, his sea-green eyes pierced her, as though he knew she wasn't meaning anything she was doing.

So as she on the floor of the storage room, criss-cross, elbows on her knees and head in her hand, crying, she felt so mad! At him!

Annabeth assumed she had been louder than she thought because the door opened, then closed again after some shuffling. She felt the need for comfort, so without truly thinking, she immediately leaped up, holding on to the person as hard as she could, crying into a shirt. By the feel of his shoulders, it was a boy. She prayed to God it was Luke. She assumed, being the boy embraced her back.

As she calmed down, a hand stroking her back, it occurred to her Luke didn't hug her like this, not even when she was sad or upset. He never stroked her back. He just hugged her with strong arms and said calming words. But no words were spoken.

Annabeth wiped her eyes and moved back slightly, her heart literally skipping a beat when she saw who she had embraced. Black hair, pale skin, sea-green eyes, piercing right through her gray ones.

Percy Jackson.

How did she react to this?! She just leaped into Percy freaking Jackson's arms! Without even looking! She mentally scolded herself, but felt herself not wanting to move away. Apparently, Percy seemed to notice this, being he smirked at her. "So Miss Perfect likes hugs from Nobody, hmm?" Annabeth frowned and stepped away, wrapping her arms around herself. Percy blinked, surprised.

"Geez, Annabeth, what's wrong?" he asked, green eyes softening for once, which they never did when he looked at her. Annabeth scowled at him. "Like you'd really like to know." Percy didn't even looked slightly annoyed or frustrated at her answer. He merely sighed and leaned against the door, crossing his arms, a finger tapping repetitively against his lower ribs. Annabeth found it kind of distracting.

"Why are you here anyways?" the blonde girl asked, insistent on shaking off the cold she got when she stepped away from him. Percy shrugged. "I heard crying. I thought the voice sounded familiar. So I came in and you didn't even look up. Just...hugged me," he explained, scratching the back of his neck. She managed a smile at this gesture.

Apparently, this made him feel more awkward because his brows furrowed together. She dropped the smile and sighed.

"What's wrong?"

Annabeth internally thought about slapping him. Couldn't he just butt out?! She grumbled some obscenity, though Percy didn't hear it, or pretended not too. Annabeth slid down against some free space, Percy sliding down beside her. She blurted it out without thinking.

"I have a tumor."

Percy's eyes widened.

"Lung cancer. I have a minimum of nine months, which depends if the cancer spreads or not. If it does, I have a higher risk."

Percy was absolutely stunned. "B-but-"

"No!" she snapped. "Don't you dare look bad! You didn't know, you're hardy mean to me, I'm mean to you, and yet you're here," Annabeth motioned around them. "-with me, being so nice." She shook her head.

Percy nodded. "Okay. Do your bratty friends know? Your boyfriend?" Annabeth shook her head, feeling warmth flood her face. He merely nodded, as if he didn't understand.

"You shouldn't tell them."

"I wasn't planning on it."

"Oh."

"And if you tell anyone, anyone! I don't care who it is you tell, I will…."

"Okay, okay!" Annabeth smiled and looked forward at Percy. "Do you always hear people crying and go comfort them?" By the way he rubbed the back of his neck again, she assumed he didn't.

"I've never heard anyone crying other than you. So, on a different point, since you told me about your cancer, are we like, friends?" he asked clumsily.

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "Do you want to be friends?" He shrugged. "If you think about it, you might want- I don't know- sincere sympathy? Because if your friends even bothered to tell how you really felt, maybe they would have learned to read you by now."

As the words sunk in, she frowned. He was right. She lifted her gaze back up that she hadn't realized she dropped. "Okay then. Friends."

That's when he gave her a smile. His smile. Not like he gave everyone was mean to him, but something he gave to his friends! It was….gorgeous, if you wanted to put it like that. Wonderful!

So she returned it with her best smile. Because that smile was worth a thousand.

Proud? Or no? I hope so. This chapter took two days to do. Five pages long. I'm getting better guys! It took two days because I don't have a lot of time, really.