Disclaimer: No one is as awesome as Uncle Rick. Especially me. Characters belong to him.
Warning: slight cursing
*****7 MONTHS LATER*****
Annabeth slumped onto her bed, unable to move. She groaned into her pillow. "Piper," she whined. All of her muscles were on fire, and she was drenched in sweat.
As the filming went along, they required the leads and supporting actors to come in for more training sessions and every time Annabeth felt like she might die. Beckendorf might've been nice, but when he was on duty he was a monster.
Hazel seemed to be doing good, but Annabeth felt like it got worse every time. Hazel pat Annabeth's back sympathetically, still panting. "Why did you book double sessions?"
Piper, who sat crossed legged on Hazel's bed, tried to hide a smile. "Chiron wanted you to be extra ready for another day of filming tomorrow. I never asked why."
Annabeth flipped on her back, looking at Piper. "I'm sorry, who's assistant are you?" Hazel laughed, and Piper stuck out her tongue.
"I'm sorry spoiled little rich girl," Piper joked. "How about I make it up to you and you two to lunch?"
"I dunno, Pipes. I need to study my lines and-"
"No excuses, Anna. You- you both are trying too hard. Why don't you relax for a second?" Piper said. Annabeth snorted, sitting up. "Yeah, says the girl who booked us two training sessions."
Piper gave Annabeth a pointed look. Then she looked over at Hazel. "Are you coming?"
Hazel looked at Annabeth as if asking for permission. She shrugged. "Knock yourself out, Hazel. But be warned; Piper is a little crazy in the brain." She laughed a little nervously, looking over at Piper, who stuck her middle finger up at Annabeth. "Hazel. I'm kidding."
"Oh," she said quietly, her cheeks tinting pink.
The girl reminded Annabeth so much of an adorable little girl it wasn't even funny. She seemed unsure about most things, and anything farther than a kiss seemed to 'scandalous'. She seemed like a girl taken out of time from the early 1900's.
Hazel nodded and stood up, pulling on a sweater and pushing her dark hair out of her face. Piper linked arms with Hazel and stuck her tongue out at Annabeth, waving and disappearing around the corner.
Shaking her head, she let herself fall back on the bed. She was going to get Piper back.
She roamed around the suite for a while, too bored to do anything, even though there were almost a million activities to do. So she sat herself on one of the couches near the window, and did what she did best; studied.
She didn't know how long she'd been alone in the suite when the door banged open, startling her from her script. She immediately regretted looking up.
Percy and Kelli were heatedly making out, oblivious to the girl in the corner staring at them with disgust. She cleared her throat, and immediately the bright green orbs stared at her over Kelli's shoulder. The girl didn't seem to notice her, or the fact that Percy had almost stopped kissing completely.
Apparently Percy had lied to her when he said he'd set her straight. She had arrived last month from a trip to Beijing, eager to get as much Percy time as possible. Annabeth didn't really mind the fact that she was all over him- he was a celebrity and he had a lot of fans- but the part that bothered her the most was Percy didn't even spare her so much as a glance if it wasn't in front of the camera.
Percy pulled away, ignoring the whine he received. "I'll uh, meet you in my bedroom, babe. I'll be there in a sec."
Kelli giggled, scraping her finger up his arm seductively. "Don't keep me waiting too long." With a peck on the lips, she left, leaving Percy and Annabeth awkwardly staring at each other.
When she realized she'd been staring too long, she looked down at the script again, pretending to be busy while she felt his eyes burn into her.
"You know you can't ignore me, Annabeth," Percy said, sitting on a loveseat across from her. She ignored him for a few more minutes, and said, "Judging by the fact I haven't really talked to you in months, I think I'm pretty damn close."
"We still have to talk."
She looked up at him with an apathetic expression. "I'm sorry, what is there to talk about?"
"Annabeth. You pretending nothing happened doesn't change things. You were the one who ending us." He said, almost pleading her to look at him with his eyes.
Okay, Annabeth had to admit that she'd missed Percy, even though they'd never really been apart. It caused her anguish knowing that Percy could never really be hers, and that he had a girlfriend who he allowed to walk all over him. As cliche as that sounded.
Maybe she loved him again. Maybe 'loving him again' was something that required her to stop, even though she never did. Even when Percy was gone from her life, she'd fallen in love with the memories, no matter how much pain they caused her. The fact that Percy had known her most of her life had impacted her greatly. Maybe she was obsessed, even though Percy had clearly moved on.
Gods, since when did her life become so cliche and melodramatic?
She continued muttering her lines, her mind mentally scanning over the sheet of paper.
She paused at a specific line. 'It's me. Please look at me. Stop! Please. It's me. It's okay. I love you.' She tried in vain to continue scanning over the script, but the few words seemed to have implanted themselves in her mind.
She hesitantly looked at him, and their eyes locked. Giving in to her stubborn nature, she refused to look away, searching for something in his eyes. "If I remember correctly, there was never really an 'us'. And the short time when we actually talked and weren't on rocky terms, you were preoccupied with your girlfriend who was out to get me."
Annabeth had to admit; Kelli was kind of nice. You know, when she wasn't trying to ruin your career. But now that she knew Annabeth was out of her hair, she'd been considerably cordial.
Percy stood up and walked to her, and leaned in, only stopping when their noses were touching. "I don't want you to hate me, Annabeth. You...mean a lot to me and I don't want to lose you. I still love you." He whispered. She held her breath, waiting for the inevitable to happen.
But it never did.
He pulled back, regret evident in his eyes, but still turned and walked off, towards the direction of his room. Annabeth hugged herself, feeling tremors running through her body. She had no idea what to do with the current information, especially when he had a girl waiting for him in his room. He probably didn't even mean it He was probably trying to toy with her emotions.
Percy changed. For better or worse, that was what Annabeth was still trying to figure out.
"Wait, you're telling the truth?" Piper asked, her laughter ceasing. She glanced at Annabeth quickly, her smile slipping, then looked away again.
Annabeth nodded mutely, staring out the window of the dressing room. She could have sworn she had seen Kelli watching them around the corner, or maybe that was just her paranoia kicking in. But either way, she decided to keep it from her friends.
It had been a week since her last encounter with Percy, and she was afraid that something bad was going to happen. It was clearly evident, especially with Kelli's history of ruining reputations.
"Well maybe that makes sense..." Piper said almost to herself, looking away. Annabeth's eyebrows knitted. "What do you mean, 'that makes sense'?"
Piper and Hazel exchanged identical looks of dread. "Guys? What's going on?" Annabeth asked, her grip tightening on the arm-holder. Hazel looked at Annabeth sadly, her eyes almost brimming with tears. She patted Annabeth's hand with trembling finger. She supposed that was supposed to be a reassuring gesture. The panic that flared in Annabeth's chest was unbearable.
Piper rubbed her forehead, obviously debating whether she should tell her or not. "It's really bad this time, Annie. Why am I always the one who has to tell you these things?"
"Kelli found your note, Annabeth," Hazel blurted, and then covered her mouth, her eyes wide. Annabeth stared at her for one baffling moment, and then it clicked. That was why they were acting so weird.
The note. She found the note.
Annabeth's heart actually stopped for several seconds. And then it sped up, feeling like it was trying to rip out of her body. Sitting there in shock, she felt like the world had stopped moving.
"Piper?" She asked, her voice quivering. "Please tell me you're not serious. She didn't find it," She said, trying to convince herself.
Piper shook her head. "I'm sorry Annabeth. This morning, Kelli had a open interview. Everyone thought it was just to gush about her new modeling job, but then she dropped the bomb- she um, she started reading your note and showed the camera your signature at the bottom."
Kelli Empsai was a monster. Annabeth was actually foolish enough to believe that she was tolerable and as soon she turned her back, Kellie struck.
Her life was over. Actually, Annabeth felt like dying in a corner. This was serious. No one would look at her the same. Even her friends. Hazel couldn't look at Annabeth without almost crying, and Piper carried a sadness in her eyes whenever she even glanced in Annabeth's direction. But either way, she could tell they were trying to help her, which only made her feel a little better.
She fisted her hands in her hair, close to screaming.
"Um, hi, I'm Annabeth." Annabeth hadn't really gotten a chance to talk to the boy since he first arrived at the hotel. She held out her hand. The boy stared at it. Hazel slowly pulled Annabeth's hand down, whispering in her ear. "He doesn't like being touched."
Annabeth nodded. "Nico," The boy finally said. His shaggy black hair fell into his face, almost completely covering his obsidian eyes. His colorless skin seemed to make him look like the undead. "You're Percy's friend, right?" He couldn't have been over 17. He always seemed so closed to himself she rarely got a chance to speak with him, especially when he was around Percy.
Nico nodded. "Nico here is my step-brother. He's playing Al. But you already knew that," Hazel said, sitting down next to Nico. The six of them were shoved into a green room waiting for their interview they were forced to take, nothing but old magazines as entertainment.
Percy was staring at the window, occasionally glancing at her with a hard look in his eyes. Hazel was sitting cross legged on the couch, talking softly to Nico, who barely spoke. Travis and Connor- who were both cast for the role as Peter-were doing something on Percy's phone, laughing. Was Annabeth the only one who was nervous? What if the press didn't like her as Tris Prior?
What if they mentioned the note? She knew everyone in the press were nosy idiots who had no regards for anyone's personal business.
No one flat out said they hated Annabeth portraying Tris, but Annabeth was certain that this cast interview was going to end horribly. Something bad was just bound to happen, especially with her current problem.
The red light above the door turned green, their signal that it was time to start the interview. Travis jumped up, pushing her out of the way. "Step aside, Annabeth. You may be Tris, but you know everyone's just curious about Peter's kick-ass moves."
"You mean the one where Tris shoots him and he begs her to stop?" Annabeth asked, shaking her head. Travis stuck his tongue out at her.
It had started fine, questions beating around the bush. But whenever the questions came to her, some of the reporters would get nervous and try to skip her, or ask the simplest questions that annoyed her to no end.
"Annabeth," a reporter said tentatively, drawing her attention. "What made you want to leave the world with a poorly-written note and try to commit suicide?"
A/N:
Really sorry for the nuclear bomb, in case it was that surprising to anyone. I probably won't explain why until the next story.
What next story, you ask? A sequel of course! If you're up to reading it, I'm up to writing it. Probably not immediately after the end of this story, but soon. There are a lot of loose ends that needed tying, so I figured a sequel was the prefect idea. Yay or nay?
Tell me in a review what you think.
Oh, and I know this is a lot to ask, but do you think we could reach 200 reviews by the end? Maybe 185? I'd be forever grateful. And I promise you, every positive review I receive, I squeal like a little girl.
Two more chapters left! I feel like crying. Stories are so easy to start but so hard to end.
TeamLeoValdez101: I can't really make promises about when they're officially going to get together because we all know I make empty promises (unintentionally of course).
Seaweed and Wise: I'm so sorry! I don't really mean to make it all so confusing :(. But, I'm trying. As I said before, that will probably be another thing I'll be covering in my sequel.
Please tell me your thoughts!
~greekfreak302
I am also very sorry about the extreme clicheness!