As the days got shorter and the leaves fell off the trees, students and teachers alike began feeling restless and nostalgic for the days of early June when they were just beginning their summer vacation.
Annabeth put away her flip flops with mixed emotions. She loved fall, all the changing colors and the leaves crunching underfoot, not to mention the weather was perfect for her fabulous leather jacket. But it also meant more schoolwork for the students, which in turn meant more grading for Annabeth.
As she checked her email one morning a few weeks into October, her mind buzzed with all the tasks she needed to complete before the day ended.
Chaperones for Halloween dance wanted!
Annabeth snorted- yeah right. She had enough to deal with without having to babysit 400 plus kids on a Friday night. Especially since the Halloween dance took place in the gym, which smelled like her little brothers' dirty laundry.
She deleted the email without reading it and continued down the list. She read through an email from Reyna about a department meeting Friday morning and hastily scanned one from her father about dinner Saturday evening. She replied to Reyna's promptly but left her father's to sit in her inbox for awhile.
This was the third email in a month that Annabeth had received from her dad, asking her over for dinner. She hadn't accepted one yet, always using work as an excuse, but she was starting to feel guilty. Here her dad was, making an effort to reach out to her, and she was brushing him off. Still, it was hard to forget the lonely nights in her bedroom and the disapproving looks from her stepmother when she woke in fits of hysteria after one of her nightmares about spiders.
She was saved from dwelling any further when Frank came in looking for a book on ancient Roman mythology Annabeth had checked out of the library weeks ago. He followed her back to the office and they talked breezily about the Trojan War over a cup of coffee until the bell signaling the release of the students rang.
It was a fairly simple day. Most of her classes were watching the movie Troy to go with the Greece unit they were working on and she'd given her AP kids a work day for their projects on the Greek and Roman gods.
This allowed Annabeth to spend her day catching up on her grading and working on lesson plans for next week. She most definitely didn't spend the day thinking about the email from her dad sitting in her inbox.
By the time sixth period rolled around, Annabeth was ready to delete her entire email account and forgo technology completely.
"Miss Chase?"
Annabeth looked up from her grade book to find Malcolm wringing his hands.
"What's up, Malcolm? Did you finish the quizzes?"
"Oh no, I'm almost done though."
"O-ok, what do you need then?"
He ran a hand through his hair and took a deep breath.
"I-was-wondering-if-you-could-write-me-a-letter-of-recommendation-for-college."
He said it all at once and Annabeth almost didn't understand him. She chuckled and said, "Of course, Malcolm. I don't know why you were so nervous asking- you're the best TA I've ever had."
He let out the air he'd been holding in his lungs and a smile lit up his face.
"When would you like it by?"
"Not soon or anything, I just wanted to give you plenty of notice. Maybe by next month sometime."
"You're applying early admission then I'm assuming?" Annabeth asked seriously. Malcolm had talked about college in passing a few times before but they'd never discussed it in depth.
Malcolm nodded. "My applications are due in November."
"Excellent. I'll have it to you within the week."
"Thanks, Miss Chase. I really appreciate it."
"Not at all, Malcolm. I'm happy to do it. You're one of my best students."
Malcolm blushed but Annabeth just smiled. He went back to his seat, flushed with embarrassment (and a little pride if Annabeth were to take a guess) and Annabeth opened up her email. The subject line basically screamed at her from the screen as the bell rang: Free for dinner on Saturday?
With a deep breath Annabeth clicked reply.
Dinner sounds great. How's 6?
"She wants to come to the dress store!"
Annabeth blinked, slightly taken aback at the outburst. They'd been talking about the standardized tests coming up when Piper's eyes had gone wide and she'd shouted at the computer screen.
"Who?" Annabeth asked in confusion.
Piper shot her a look of annoyance. "Hera, obviously. God, can you imagine her and my mother in the same room? No less in a wedding dress store?"
Annabeth grimaced. She could imagine it alright; it was terrifying. Piper's mother and her future step-mother-in-law did not get along at all. The last time they'd been in the same room (the engagement party Piper's mom had thrown) there'd been a huge fight over, well, Annabeth still wasn't sure what the fight had been about. Something silly and petty, no doubt. And that party had taken place in Aphrodite's huge estate home.
"Where did that come from?" Annabeth asked, not yet sure how to comfort her friend.
"She just emailed me. And I never even gave her my school address! How did she get my school address?"
Piper was looking positively manic now.
"Oh my gosh, she's trying to take charge of everything. She's going to hate everything I try on. And she'll probably tell me I look fat."
Annabeth sat up straight. "First of all, Piper, you couldn't look fat in anything. Second," she said grabbing Piper's hands across the desk, "she's not going to take charge of anything because we aren't going to let her. And as for her and your mother, leave that up to me. You don't need to worry about them or their pettiness.
"Now take a deep breath," Annabeth took one with her, "and remember what all this grief is leading to."
Annabeth could see Piper visibly calming down as she let out another deep breath and said, "Jason."
Annabeth smiled. She had no clue how she was going to handle Hera and Aphrodite, but she would do it. She wasn't the maid of honor for nothing.
She left Piper in Jason's hands at the front of the school and went home to sort things out. The appointment she'd made at Lovestruck had only been for five, so she called and worked something out with the owner. She called the restaurant Leo worked at and changed their reservations from five to six there as well. Then she drafted an itinerary for the day and sent it to Piper for her approval.
The appointment was Saturday afternoon and as Annabeth read her father's reply (Six is great! I can't wait to see you on Saturday.) she couldn't help but feel like maybe she should have postponed dinner again.
Percy glanced through to the kitchen where Leo was whistling at the stove. The smell of tacos wafted through the apartment and Percy heard his stomach growl.
"Dude, hurry up in there! My stomach's trying to eat itself."
Jason laughed and Leo stuck his head out of the kitchen. "Hold your horses, man. I'm creating art in here."
"You're making tacos in my kitchen and I want to eat them."
"You can't rush perfection."
Leo winked and disappeared back into the kitchen.
Percy took a sip of his beer as the buzzer for the front door went off.
"Yeah?"
"Hey man, it's Frank."
Percy pressed the button that unlocked the front door and opened the door to his apartment. Frank bounded up the stairs with his keys jangling from his belt.
"Hey," Frank said slapping Percy on the shoulder as he came inside.
"Tacos aren't done yet?" Frank asked loud enough for Leo to hear.
"Dang, Zhang. Hold your horses. You-"
"-can't rush perfection," Jason and Percy chorused.
Leo stuck his head out to glare at them but they just laughed.
"I will accept payment in the form of bills no smaller than twenties," Leo said emerging from the kitchen with Percy's Kiss the Cook apron (a gift from his mom, of course) tied around his neck.
"Remind me again why you work at a French restaurant," Jason said through a mouthful of taco.
"Because French food is expensive which means I get paid the big bucks."
Percy was pretty sure the four of them were going to set some kind of record for most tacos eaten. He enjoyed spending time with these guys. It was nice having friends in a new place. Out of nowhere, Annabeth's face popped into his head. He was definitely grateful to have her as a friend. He'd actually been fairly disappointed she hadn't been in her room at the end of the day.
Percy pulled out his phone and shot off a quick text to her.
missed you after school today
Sorry, wedding drama :|
if anyone can deal with drama, it's you
:)
Percy smiled, stuffed his phone back into his pocket, and went back to stuffing his face with tacos.