You Belong With Me

Chapter III

At School

Annabeth

"You ready for school, Honey?" Mommy asked.

I nodded while jumping up and down. "Yeah! I'm so excited!"

Mommy smiled. "Got everything you need? Your lunchbox, is it with you?"

"Yup, all here! Can I go now?" I said.

"Alright. But first, give me a hug." Mommy opened up her arms. I wrapped my arms around Mommy's waist. We held each other for a while. When she let go, I said,

"Is Percy going to school too?"

"Oh, yes! I'm sure he and Sally are around here somewhere." Mommy looked around, "There they are!" Mommy pointed towards the pathway in the garden, not that far from us.

"Oh yeah! I see them. I think I'll go inside with Percy." I said.

"Are you really sure you don't want me to take you?" Mommy asked, looking concerned.

I nodded. "It's really, really okay."

Mommy sighed. "Alright. Good luck with your first day of school, Honey!"

"Thanks Mommy!" I smiled. Mommy kissed the top of my head and I started walking towards Percy and Sally.

Percy

"But Mommy, I don't wanna go to school!" I complained.

"I'm sorry, Sweetie, but you have to go." Mommy sighed.

"No! I don't want to!" I hugged her tightly. "Please don't make me go." I whispered.

"Oh, Sweetie. I— Look, who's here!" Mommy said. I didn't look up.

"Hi Percy! Hi Sally!" I heard a familiar voice behind me say.

"Annabeth!" I said. I turned around, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm going to school with you! And I'm so excited!" She said.

"See, Percy? You don't have to be scared." Mommy said.

"But what if no one will like me?" I said.

"I like you." Annabeth smiled.

"Thanks Annabeth. I like you too." I replied.

"So, are you ready to go now?" Mommy asked.

"I still don't wanna." I said stubbornly.

"Come on, Percy! I'll be with you the whole time." Annabeth said. I thought about it.

"Really?" I said.

"Really, really." She said.

"O-Okay. I think I'm ready." I said with a brave smile.

"Oh! I'm so proud of you both!" Mommy gave both of us hugs and she kissed me on the cheek.

"Bye Mommy!" I called as we were walking.

"Bye Percy!" And with that, Annabeth and I entered the school.

...

"Good morning class! Welcome to Goode Preschool!" A woman in front of the classroom said. "I want to get to each and everyone of you a little better. So, I want you to step up here in front and tell us your name and something about yourself. Like this," she cleared her throat, "Hi! I'm Teacher Kim. I like singing and being with little kids."

She smiled. "See? It's that simple! Now, who wants to go first?"

Nobody raised their hand. I think we were all still pretty shy.

"No one?" Teacher Kim said. "Well... What about you?" She pointed to Annabeth, who was sitting beside me.

"Me?" Annabeth said, nervously.

"Yeah! Wanna give it a shot?" Teacher Kim asked, giving her an encouraging smile.

Annabeth nodded and said, "O-Okay."

She stood in front and gave me a nervous grin. I smiled back and gave her a thumbs-up. She took a deep breath and said, "Hi. I'm Annabeth Chase. And um, I like drawing buildings?"

"Really!" Teacher Kim said. "So, do you wanna be an architect when you grow up?"

Annabeth nodded. "I think that's my mommy's job. I wanna be just like her."

"Thank you for sharing with us, Annabeth." Teacher Kim smiled.

Annabeth smiled back and sat back down, beside me.

"Great job." I whispered.

"Thanks." She whispered back. Soon after that, everyone started to go up in front and introducing themselves.

"What about you?" Teacher Kim said, looking at me.

"Me?" I said.

"I think you're the only one who hasn't recited yet." She said.

"Percy," Annabeth nudged me, "its your turn."

"Oh. Oh, okay." I stood up from my seat and walked in front. I faced everyone and my tummy started doing flips. I looked over at Annabeth and she gave me a smile. I smiled back and I looked at Teacher Kim. She nodded and grinned at me.

"Hi. I'm, um, Percy Jackson. And... I like swimming. " I said.

"Great! Thank you, Percy." Teacher Kim said. She gave me a nod. I think that was the signal that I was done. I walked back to my seat.

"Alrighty, great job everyone! Now, let's precede to our next activity where we'll be learning new words everyday. Word of the day is: Wise."

She grabbed a piece of chalk and wrote 'Wise' on the board.

"The word 'wise' means having knowledge and good judgment. Usually when you say a person is 'wise'," She made air-quotes with her fingers, "the person is really smart and mostly, always right."

Teacher Kim smiled hapilly. I guess she really did like being with kids. Teacher Kim smiled and said,

"Now, onto more fun matters... Who here likes to paint?"

Annabeth

School was over. Percy and I were waiting outside for our parents.

"So, if you have 8 apples and I ate 2 of them, how many apples would you have left?" I said.

"Um, I would still have a lot of apples." Percy answered said.

"Percy! Just answer the question!"

"Fine. Um," Percy looked up and tapped his chin, "5 apples?"

"No, it's 6." I corrected him.

"Ugh! It's not my fault I'm so bad at math!" Percy groaned.

"You just have to try harder, Seaweed Brain."

"Seaweed Brain?" Percy looked confused.

"Um, yeah. Maybe that's why you can't think properly. There's probably too much seaweed in your brain."

"Hey! That's kinda mean, Wise Girl."

"Wise Girl?" I then remembered Teacher Kim's word of the day. "Is that supposed to sound mean?"

"Yes." Percy said with a serious face. We looked at each other and suddenly burst out laughing.

"Annabeth!" A voice from behind me called.

I stopped laughing and turned around. It was Mommy.

"Mommy!" I gave her a big hug. "I missed you."

"I missed you too, Honey." She kissed the top of my head.

"How was school, Annabeth? Did you have fun?" Mommy asked.

"Yeah, it was great! And Percy was there too!"

"Hi, Mrs. Chase." Percy said, from behind me.

"Oh, hi Percy! It's great to see you again. Your mom will be here soon, Annabeth and I will wait here with you, 'till she comes." Mommy said.

"Okay, thanks!" Percy said.

"So... What did you kids do at school, today?" Mommy asked.

"Oh! We met our teacher, Teacher Kim! And she was so fun!" I said.

"Yeah! And she was so nice too because when I ran out of blue paint, she taught me to mix the green and the yellow paint to make more purple paint!" Percy said.

"Yeah, and when it was snack time, she gave us all lollipops. I got the strawberry one!" I said.

"And I got the chocolate!" Percy said.

"Aw, that is so sweet." Mommy said.

Percy and I laughed.

"What's so funny?" Mommy said.

We laughed again and I said, "Mommy! You said it was sweet! And lollipops are sweet! And..." I started laughing again.

"Oh, you kids!" She laughed along.

"And what are all of you laughing about, here?" A familiar voice said.

"Mommy!" Percy said and hugged her. "Where have you been?"

"Oh, I just stopped by the store and decided to bring you this." She held a plastic with a lot of blue candy in it.

"Oh, wow! Thank you!" He kissed Sally's cheek and took the plastic. He started walking away while we all just stood there, watching him. He looked back and said, "What are you guys waiting for? Come on! Let's go back home."

I looked at Mommy and she nodded. I ran after Percy.

"Hey, Seaweed Brain." I said when I caught up to him.

"Hey, Wise Girl. Want some candy?" He held out the plastic.

"Sure." I got some and said thanks. I stepped over a crack.

"What are you doing?" Percy asked.

"It's this game I play. Try not to step on the cracks." I jumped over another one.

"Cool!" Percy said and did the same. We played this game until we got home.

"Got anymore gummy bears?" I said.

"One last. You can have it." Percy handed it to me.

"Thank you!" I said and ate it.

"Wise Girl," Percy grinned. "You're stepping on a crack."

"Aw! Not again!" I complained. "Now, you have 5 points while I have 6." I smiled. "I still win."

"No fair! How come you always win?" He grumbled. I just shrugged and smiled.

"Percy, could you come here? You too, Annabeth." Sally called from where she and Mommy were talking.

We walked over and Percy said, "Yeah?"

"Percy, remember how you told me you wanted to go back to the beach?" Sally said.

"Yeah?" Percy's face brightened.

"Well, we'll be going there in the weekend!" Sally exclaimed.

"Awesome!" Percy shouted and hugged his mommy.

"But wait, there's more." Sally grinned.

"More?" Percy said.

Sally nodded. "The Chases are coming with us!"

"Cool!" Percy said.

"Really?!" I shrieked and looked at Mommy.

Mommy nodded with a grin.

I ran over to Mommy and gave her a hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Mommy hugged back and said, "Actually, I think you should be thanking Sally for inviting us."

"Thank you, Sally!" I said and hugged her.

"You're welcome, Sweetie." Sally said.

We all continued to talk for a few minutes, until Mommy said,

"Well, look at the time! It's getting late and I haven't even started on dinner!" Mommy said. "We have get going. See you both, tomorrow!"

"Oh, okay. Bye, Sally! " I said.

"Bye, you two!" Sally replied.

"Bye, Seaweed Brain!"

"Bye, Wise Girl!"

I grinned and Mommy and I entered the house, hand in hand.

Favorite Review of Chapter II

Sizzlen' Dragon: I honestly couldn't stop smiling when i read this.

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