Eventually we had to leave but not before we watched the sun set, at my request. Percy dropped me off at home and I walked upstairs to my room to change. I put on some sweatpants and Percy's sweater and threw my hair into a messy bun, then walked back downstairs to pour myself a glass of water. I found a note on the counter that Susan left for me. It said that they went to dinner and a movie and wouldn't be home until late. I was scrolling through random things on my phone when there was a knock on the door. I rolled my eyes figuring it was Percy, who'd made me hold onto his phone and forgot to ask for it back. I opened the door.

"Did you forget somethi-" the words died in my throat when I saw who was standing on the other side of the door. "Rachel?"

Yeah, yeah. I know what you're thinking. Rachel? As in Rachel Elizabeth Dare A.K.A. RED? That Rachel?

Yes. That Rachel. She was standing in front of my front door with her hand raised as if she were about to knock again. Make-up stains were running down her cheeks along with tears. I wordlessly opened the door wider and ushered her in. Now you're probably thinking, Why would you do that? Well, three words: I'm. Not. Heartless. I brought her to my room, sat her down on my bed and handed her wet wipes. I also handed her a blanket considering the sun had gone down and she had only a tight tank top on and shorts. I then sat down across from her and waited. On what, I'm not sure. After a few minutes she spoke.

"Why?" I was caught off guard by her question.

"What?"

"Why are you helping me? Well, being so nice I mean. I was always so horrible to you. Just look at your wrist."

"I don't know. I guess I just thought of the old RED. I miss her, you know." I said. The old RED was alot different from the one sitting in front of me. She wore baggy shirts and paint splattered jeans and she loved to paint. She was probably the nicest person I'd ever met. Rachel laughed softly, which snapped me back to reality.

"I do too." She said. "And that's why I'm here. I never wanted to be this person. I want to go back to the old Rachel and I need your help."

"Really?" I asked. She nodded. "Okay well then first thing's first. Follow me." I led her into my small bathroom. I pulled out a chair. "Sit." She wordlessly obeyed. I grabbed a couple of wet wipes and make-up remover and after alot of scrubbing and I mean alot, her face was make-up free and you could see her freckles. "Gods, Rach. How much make-up do you use?" she laughed.

"A fair amount." After we finished with that I pulled her back into my room. While she brushed her frizzy hair, I picked out some of my clothes for her to wear because, let's be real, she was not going to wear that revealing top and don't even get started on her jeans. After much debate I decided on a plain purple shirt and jeans that were, let's say, a little less tight. She changed in the bathroom and I smiled when I saw the old Rachel walk out.

"Yay!" I said holding out my arms. She laughed and hugged me.

"So," she said when we were laying on my bed watching Friends. "What's going on with you and Percy?" she wiggled her eyebrows. I rolled my eyes and shoved a pillow in her face.

"Why does everyone suspect that there is something going on. There is nothing going on."

"Oh come on. Really?" she said.

"Um, yes really. What makes you even think something like that?"

"Hey, Wise Girl." She said in, what I guess was, a really bad imitation of Percy. "Oh hi Seaweed Brain." She said in another horrible accent while fanning her face, batting her eyelashes and straining our nicknames.

"If I knew you were just going to tease me I wouldn't have let you in." I mumbled while stuffing my head into a pillow. I heard Rachel laugh. "Well I don't know about you, but I'm starving." I said while standing up and walking out of my room. Rachel continued her teasing downstairs and was debating if I should throw the leftover lasagna we were eating in her face when the doorbell rang. I wasn't surprised when I came face to face with Percy.

"Hey…" he said rubbing the back of his neck. I rolled my eyes and pulled out his phone. He grinned sheepishly and took it from me. "Thanks! And is that Susan's leftover lasagna I smell?" he wiggled his eyebrows. I sighed and opened the door wider so that he could come in, but for some reason I felt like I was forgetting something. I followed him into the kitchen and almost bumped into him when he stopped walking suddenly. I looked over his shoulder to see what he was looking at and realized it was Rachel, who was smiling sheepishly. Oh schist.

"Hi…?" she said uncertainly. Percy held up a finger as if to say one second and dragged me into the living room.

"I think I deserve an explanation as to why Rachel is in your house right now!" he started out calmly but kind of whisper-yelled the rest. I winced.

"I- she-we." I let out a small frustrated scream for my lack of words. I took a deep breath. "She came to my door crying and I'll have you know I'm not heartless so yeah, I let her in and then we went upstairs and she said she missed the old Rachel and I said that I did too and then I gave her a sort of make-over and then we bonded over lasagna!" I said really, really fast. I looked up a Percy and saw that he had a very confused look on his face. After a while he opened his mouth but then closed it again, unsure of what he was going to say. I rolled my eyes again when Rachel popped her head from around the corner.

"Should I leave or…"

"No!" Percy and I said together.

"I'll go. You were here first and I only came to pick up something." Percy said.

"Um. It's fine I'll just leave."

"No no no. I'm already late for something." And that's how Percy and Rachel started arguing about who would leave my house.

"Stop!" I yelled startling them both. "Both of you are staying and shutting up or so help me gods…" I left the threat hanging and almost smirked at Rachel's scared face. Percy just rolled his eyes and walked back towards the kitchen and started eating my lasagna. And that is how Percy, Rachel and I became really good friends.

~o0o~

"Shut up." I said while shoving Percy with my shoulder. We were back at Montauk and it was about a week after Rachel joined our friend circle. Rachel couldn't come but we were at the beach with Percy's mom and his stepdad Paul. Percy and I were sitting on our towels eating blue cookies.

"Well it's true." Percy said. I rolled my eyes. "Hey! What'd I say about rolling your eyes?"

"They'll fall out." I said with a sigh.

"And that would be a waste with such pretty ones." He said while tapping my nose. I heard Sally squeal as quietly as she could. She was what you would call one of our biggest fans. She along with Piper, Chiron (an old friend), Hazel, Frank, Leo, the Stolls and Rachel were in a fan-club. They host meetings once a week while I'm tutoring Percy and pretty much talk about us and bet on when we will get together. They even have a ship name for us. Percabeth. It's embarrassing, really. I heard Paul try to calm Sally.

"But Paul!" she whined. "They're just so cute! And I'll be sure to cut off Percy's cookie supply if he doesn't make a move soon!"

"Moooooooom, stooooooop!" Percy whined while I face-palmed.

"I'm going swimming." I said, standing up.

"I'll race you to the water." Percy said.

"You're on." I said while taking off.

"No fair! Cheater!"

I was already half way to the water and sure I was going to win, when I saw Percy in the corner of my eye. It ended up being a tie. When we got to the water we both dove in. It was extremely clear so I could see alot. I swam down really deep and lost sight of Percy and knowing him, he would probably pop up and scare me. I started to swim up when I felt, who I guessed was Percy, grab my foot and pull me down further so you can tell why I wasn't concerned. But that's when I saw Percy having a pretend conversation with a fish who was, weirdly enough, not scared. But I was. I turned around in the water and came face to face with Luke. I inwardly groaned and tried to swim away but he grabbed my wrist and pulled me back. I tried to rip my arm from his grasp but he had an iron grip. He pulled me to his chest and I started thrashing because 1) I didn't want to be that close to Luke, 2) My oxygen was low and 3) maybe I could get Percy's attention. Luke being the dimwitted idiot that he is forgot that I needed to breath. He could hold his breath alot longer than I could so he was fine. I started pounding on his chest and screaming, or whatever screaming is underwater, trying to get away. I don't know what Luke was trying to accomplish but a few seconds later I started seeing black splotches and I knew that wasn't good. I slumped forward knowing I was just moments from passing out. That's when I realized maybe screaming was a bad idea. That was also when I felt someone grab my arm and rip me from Luke's grasp. Percy pushed me up and when I broke the surface I gulped down as much air as I could. Percy popped up beside me a second later and put an arm around my waist to support me and when he could stand he picked me up bridal-style and brought me to our towels. Sally by now was freaking out and asking both of us questions while suppressing her fangirls screams. I just coughed in response.

"What the Hell?" I heard Luke yell as he walked out of the water. Percy whipped around faster than I thought humanly possible and punched Luke square in the jaw. Luke tumbled to the ground and touched his already bruising jaw before jumping up, angrier than he was before. "What the Hell, Jackson?"

"What were you thinking?" Percy yelled.

"I was thinking I want Annabeth and she obviously wants me considering how she started screaming in delight." He said motioning towards me. Percy scoffed and turned away for a second, trying to suppress a laugh. "What you think that's funny?"

"Yeah actually. She was panicking and started screaming because she wanted you to let her go." He strained the last part.

"Oh yeah? Why'd she let me hold her then, huh?"

"She was drowning, you idiot!" Percy yelled throwing his hands in the air. "You could've killed her!"

"She was not drowning. Look at her she's fine!" he said but I didn't hear for I was coughing my guts out…because I almost died. Sally rubbed my back comfortingly. And apparently Percy had enough because when I looked up again he was on top of Luke… punching him…repeatedly.

"Percy enough." Sally said but I guess he didn't hear because Percy got up and started kicking his sides. "Percy!" he continued.

"Perce." I said through coughing fits. "Percy!" he finally stopped and looked at me. He had a wild look in his eyes and his hands were bloody from both his and Luke's blood, though it wasn't alot. "Stop." I heard yelling as Luke's buddies came and helped him up and wisely decided to steer clear of Percy. He walked to the water to wash off the small amount of blood that was on his hands. After that he walked back over and kneeled down next to me as I sat up.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Are you?" I said back while taking one of his hands in mine and inspecting it.

"Annabeth, you're the one who almost died."

"Yeah but you could've gotten hurt."

"But I didn't." he said taking his hand out of mine.

"But you could've." I grabbed his hand again and brushed my fingers overs his knuckles. "You're an idiot, you know that?" I looked up at him.

"Yeah." He said looking back. He moved closer, just a smidge. I saw him glance at my lips and I couldn't help but take a quick peek at his. He started to lean in and we were so close, just a centimeter apart, when someone decided to turn on a blaring radio. Percy and I jumped apart, startled.

"Are you kidding me?" sally yelled at the guy with the radio. Then she let out a string of colorful curses. I blushed. Was he about to kiss me? Was I going to kiss back? What was happening?!

"We should go, it's getting late." Percy said.

"Yeah." I agreed. "Good idea." He stood up and started walking back. He was rubbing his neck and I knew he did that when he was nervous and occasionally when he was pissed. I'm guessing he was pissed. I stood up and grabbed our towels and Sally and Paul grabbed the rest.

And thus begun the most awkward car ride of my life.

~o0o~

"Annabeth?" Thalia asked. "Annabeth?" she started shaking me. I slowly opened my eyes. We were still in the hall and quiet the crowd had formed around us. Thalia saw I was awake and turned around.

"Scram!" she yelled and the crowd scattered. "You okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine." I said. But I had to pass through that hall. I stood up slowly an took a deep breath. I steeled myself before turning to walk back into the hall.

"Annie are you sure-"

"I'm fine. Let's go." I said as I walked into the dreaded hallway. I almost fainted again when I saw the posters. They were everywhere. They had pictures of me on them and they fed lies about my life and family. There'd been posters like this before, people who get betrayed by their best friends. And they get rewards. I wondered who would do such a thing until I read the bottom of the paper.

Percy Jackson.

"No…" I whispered. "No no no no no."

"Annabeth… Are you okay?" Thalia asked again.

"No." I whispered.

~o0o~

Hiya! Here is another Chapter! Sorry it took so long. So yes or no to fangirl Sally?

-DaughterofPoseidon34