Story Name: The Iris Network

Author:turquoiserainlilies

Disclaimer: Do not own Percy Jackson or anything related, just the plot (really, not even that original). THANKS RICK!

Summary: He's a gamer. She's the Queen Bee. Percy struggles with unwanted fame from his father. Annabeth can't forgive her best friend for falling in love. Living miles away doesn't stop two people's fate from meeting, after all, the best thing to fall in love with are someone's words. AU!AH.

Chapter:15 of 22

Introducing: Mr. D, I guess, umm...Athena Chase, but you knew that ;)

wisegirl6 vii

san francisco 01/20/14 09:39 utc-8

annabeth chase

Annabeth tried to remember how she got wedged between the new boyfriend of Silena, and the old boyfriend of herself. She distinctly remembered sitting somewhere by herself for this stupid assembly, but people, as always, flocked towards her.

"Hey." Luke smiled good naturally. Thalia waved from next to him. Annabeth rolled her eyes and made a move to get up when Ethan jammed himself next to her.

"'Lena's coming in a minute." He said, as if Annabeth asked.

"My brother told me that this is a stupid assembly." Thalia grumbled, "I should've ditched."

"So why don't you?" Annabeth retorted back.

Thalia looked like she was thinking about glaring, but Luke held her back. Annabeth rolled her eyes again. Why anyone would do something for a boy was beyond her.

"Class!" The principal, the ever too drunk and ever too nonchalant Mr. D, yelled at the crowd of 17 year olds. Thalia looked towards the crowd as if she wasn't having a stand-off with Annabeth earlier, so she quickly followed.

(Not literally followed, just happened to do it after. No way Annabeth would follow Thalia)

"Welcome to the 2013 senior class grad—" The entire auditorium stared at him in confusion, "Ah crap, wrong speech."

Annabeth rolled her eyes and buried herself in the seat. She so could be doing something more productive with her time.

"Basically graduation is coming up in a few months or whatever." Mr. D said carelessly, "So you need to sit your ass down and do some actual work, ya know? It's a stupid reminder the school board makes me do every week, but you get the jest."

Blinking faces stared up at Summerville's principal, but he barely batted a drunken eyelid.

"I'll give it over to Brunner the bummer, he'll be able to give you the, you know, actual information."

With that heartwarming thought, Mr. D stumbled off the stage, probably going to his secret booze stash in the teacher's lounge. Annabeth wasn't sure how this guy ever became the principal. Or how any of her teachers actually passed teacher's college. She thought of Percy, who talked about his English teacher Mr. Blofis the other day.

Her professor Mrs. Singer was a total bitch, and thought that Annabeth was cheating half the time because "people with dyslexia shouldn't be able to get 100% on reading comprehension quizzes". She hated that people that as a disability, undeniable and unchangeable.

To her, it was a challenge.

Percy understood, maybe he'll be the only one. Most of the people in her life are Mrs. Singer's or Mr. D's.

She thought back to the dinner she had earlier last week, the most awkward position she'd ever been in thus far in the year (as it was only January, 2014 wasn't starting very good).

She sat between Helen and her father at the head of the table, with Bobby and Matthew in front of her. Athena (or mom? Or mother? Or maybe Ms. Williams? Annabeth didn't know) sat where Helen usually was, opposite of her father and looking like she owned the house.

(Which she totally doesn't, she just, you know, designed it)

"It's a lovely casserole you prepared Helen." Athena said plaintively, "I'm not much of a cook myself."

"I'm flattered, thank you." Helen said politely, stabbing a mushroom a little too forcibly. Annabeth winced, it wasn't easy having your husband's ex-wife in your house, she was sure. The odd thing was that she was taking her step-relative's side, and not her own mother's.

"Thea—"

"It's Athena." Annabeth's mom corrected. Apparently Annabeth wasn't the only one who hated a nickname.

"Athena." Dad said slowly, testing out the words that were so foreign, but probably rolled off his tongue easily once upon a time. "Not that we aren't glad you're here—" Helen sure wasn't, and Annabeth…she wasn't sure, "—but you did caught us at a curious time, Annabeth's spring break doesn't start in two months."

"I came at the perfect time, thank you very much Frederick." Athena said flatly, "It's university admission season, if I recall correctly."

Annabeth felt her heart drop. Of course she remembered correctly. Annabeth certainly didn't get her good memory from her klutz of a father (who can't remember anything except for World War II facts). But what business did Annabeth had on her university of choice if she had been in and out of her life for the past 17 years?

She remembered Percy and his goofy face as he talked about Mr. Jackson. That couldn't have been easy either. At least Athena made it to her kindergarten graduation—admittedly only because she caught a break, Annabeth thought she wasn't arriving until the last minute…

If Percy can mend things over with his father, Annabeth was determined to do the same. Hadn't she wished for her mother's return as her Christmas gift?

Well Santa, thanks for the late delivery.

"And well many, many colleges would love to accept my wonderful daughter—" Flattery and praises, Annabeth recognized those as her own tactics in dealing with sticky situations, "—I have found the only one worthy of her choice."

There was the bomb shell.

"It's but of course my own institute." Athena commented, "I've kept it as a secret for a while, Frederick, but the reason I was too busy to visit over the past years is because I've elected my own university in Greece—the Minerva University for Architectural Design and Development." She smiled smugly, "It opens this fall, and I'd be delighted to have my daughter as one of the first scholars."

What the actual fuck?

"Mom." Annabeth said immediately, then wished that she hadn't started with such an intimate phrasing, "My life is in America, not Greece."

"Yet that's preciously what will make it such an illuminating experience." Athena said without missing a beat, "I have persuaded the best professors of the entirety of Europe to join my team, including my own university teacher from my days as a scholar, Mr. Farrickson is quite the—"

"I don't care if he's the king of architect!" Annabeth cried, "I'm not leaving the US!"

Athena pursed her lips, "So you'd rather stay in California? Perhaps Berkeley then?"

Annabeth stopped herself before she can blurt out New York, because her mother definitely wouldn't have approve.

When Athena studied her preliminary courses, she met Annabeth's dad. Thea and Fred were the power couple of Berkeley, the top students of their major and quite the pair.

It was to no one's surprise that they married as soon as they finished their bachelors, and while Thea stayed home to take care of their unexpected (synonym for accidental, as Annabeth thought to herself more than once) child, Frederick pursued a master in history and hoping to become professor himself one day.

But learning to Thea—much like to Annabeth—was a drug. She couldn't get enough of it. So when Annie was in her crib, sound asleep, Thea would go online and look up potential night classes to take to further her education.

She loved designing; blueprints and protractors were like an extension of her mind. She did night classes, then added online courses, then even made it back to a full semester when Annabeth was three and hired a nanny.

Before Annabeth reached her next birthday though, a letter arrived at the Chase household that changed their lives as she knew it.

A personal invitation from the top university in Greece by Mr. Farrickson, came for Thea because of her incredulous work redesigning a building on the Berkeley's campus. She showed potential, a word Annabeth later hated but somehow embraced at the same time, and Thea left without another word.

Thea loved Fred dearly, and Annabeth even more so, but she couldn't be tied down to being a housewife when knowledge was out there. So she got out.

Athena visited, but it wasn't the same without a mother. Sure Annabeth didn't need that much of a prominent female role model in her life, Hermione Granger gave her a lot of that, but the Gryffindor brainiac was no match for a real motherly companion.

Athena changed her life because of that letter, and now she was ready to change Annabeth's as well.

"No." Annabeth answered her mother's question, about whether or not she was staying in California, "I was thinking New York, actually, Columbia is a top school for architecture."

Dad looked surprised, "You wanted to go to New York? What brought this up?"

She tried really hard not to blush. "Some research I guess. Columbia is plenty good mother, and it's not too far—"

"All the way across the country!" Her father protested.

"At least it's not freakin' Greece!" Annabeth retorted.

"I'll just take the boys upstairs." Helen said quietly, and shuffled Bobby and Matthew out of the room without a second glance back.

"No, not just research." Athena narrowed her eyes, "It's too random."

"Thea—"

"It's Athena! And there is something else influencing her decisions!" Athena accused, "Annabeth…"

"Maybe I just like New York, maybe California has too many bad memories." Annabeth said bluntly, "You know, since it's the place that my mother left me."

Her grey eyes were fuming, identical to Annabeth's own that she despised, who would like grey eyes? "You will not speak to me that way, I am—"

"What? My biological predecessor?" Annabeth challenged, "An egg donor? Because the only thing we share is DNA, Athena. Just because you chose work over love doesn't mean I'm going too."

"I knew it!" Athena pointed her finger, "There is a boy! You're throwing away your entire career for your boyfriend?"

Annabeth's face was flaming, both from humiliation and anger. "I'm not you!" She screeched, "And Percy's not my boyfriend!"

"So there is a boy—"

"Thea!" Frederick scolded, "It's not the time to discuss Annabeth's relationships."

"It's Athena. And I think it's perfectly clear. If you want to get anywhere in the world Annabeth, I assure you, emotions are not the way to do it."

Athena packed up to go to a hotel soon after, only stopping by once in a while to check up on her progress—as if she's magically forgive her in a short week. Annabeth chatted with Percy, careful to avoid the topic until absolutely necessary. She hadn't actually got the acceptance letter from Columbia yet, that'd probably make or break the deal.

If she does get in, Athena has no power to make decisions for her since she signed the custody over to Frederick too long ago.

If she doesn't, Annabeth might as well leave, all of her other colleges are nowhere near New York.

She wished she thought of that when she was writing up the applications. She wished that she knew that she'd fall in love with Percy.

Wait, what?

"And if your name is part of that list, please see me immediately following the assembly for more instructions." Mr. Brunner droned on onstage.

"Wait, what?" She said to no one, but to her dismay, Luke answered.

"Some punks forget to do their community services." He said, "But you got that taken care of, Annie."

"It's Annabeth." She winced automatically. It was like she was her mother already, "I mean…ehh…any one we know on that list?"

"Oh, so you'll talk to him." Thalia said crossly, "Obviously."

The blue-eyed girl must've been surprised when Annabeth didn't retort with some sarcastic comment. She was still dazed from her thoughts…and revelations.

What the actual f—

"Dismissed."

Annabeth immediately looked to her left and find that Ethan and Silena are both gone. Wait, was Silena ever at the assembly in the first place? Her stomach boiled, both from her earlier feelings and the disappearance of her best friend.

She couldn't very well ask Luke and Thalia where she went, could she?

"Just get out of my way." Annabeth brushed away the pair of them, and made her way towards the exit. She needed to talk to someone, anyone.

Or maybe specifically one.

"Seriously, what's up with you? Emergency Skype meeting is not very Wise Girl like." Percy's green eyes shone through the screen. Her heart skipped a beat, but Annabeth didn't climb the social ladders of Summerville High by being awkward.

"Don't pretend you haven't been waiting for the call." She teased.

"Maybe."

She hoped that was a yes I love you too maybe and not a I'm letting you down gently maybe.

"Rough day at school?" Percy asked. Okay, she should really stop getting lost in her thoughts.

"Had a stupid assembly this morning, about graduation and shit." Annabeth sighed dramatically, "I was zoned out for most of it, but basically it talked about university and stuff."

"Oh." Percy paused, "Oh! Right, I have news! My dad pulled some strings and got me into NYU for the fall semester."

So not Columbia then, she couldn't help but to feel slightly disappointed, but she still plastered a smile. "I thought you weren't the college type?"

"Nothing too hard hitting, we agreed." Percy nodded, "I'll be taking some marketing and business courses, but he promised no accounting until at least my third year."

She laughed at his fear of all things to do with numbers. She used to fear that before she got a good tutor. "Yeah, accounting kind of sucks."

"Oh, did you sit through Introduction to Boring Mathematics in tenth grade too?"

"Nah, eleventh." Annabeth stuck her tongue out childishly. She looked down for a moment. Should she tell him about Athena and Columbia? It seemed weeks away before it'd ever matter, but as always with Seaweed Brain, she had the urge to spill out her guts and have him examine it.

"My mom came to visit." She said earnestly, figuring that she could at least give a run down, "So that's crazy.

"Yeah, I can relate." Percy laughed it off, but Annabeth didn't see anything funny.

"Maybe not, you said that your father didn't know you existed until you were twelve."

"He could've at least checked." Percy scoffed.

"Obviously." Annabeth said quickly, "But to have someone choose to leave you? That's different."

The three year old Annie watched her mother rolling her suitcase out of the door, somehow she knew that Athena wasn't going to just another day at work. The fourteen years that followed, Annabeth always looked at the door for the sound of the same suitcase, even after they moved, even after she visited a few times, even after she always left.

"At least your mother isn't forcing you into university." Percy retorted.

"Right." She laughed slightly, "But, I mean, you're starting to warm up to going to college, right?"

He was speechless, such a Seaweed Brain, "Uh…maybe."

"I could never do that." Annabeth said as she leaned into the screen. Maybe to examine his face better, maybe just so she can get rid of the overwhelming thoughts. "I'm not open-minded. I'm stubborn as a cow, and if you were to tell me this instant that I have to stop talking to you I'd probably come over to New York and smack you in the face."

"I believe you." Percy grinned. How was she supposed to say something serious when he was grinning like that?

She shook her head. "I mean, I have goals in life, it's basically set in stone, and almost nothing can change it." You changed it, and my mother thinks it's my weakness. "So when someone tells me to change that plan—"

"You glare them to death?" Percy suggested.

"Maybe." Annabeth said, "But I'd try twice as hard to make my original plan work, you know? To prove them wrong? Like that one time in fifth grade Michael Yew told me that mathematics was for boys and I got perfect score until high school."

"How is it you have dyslexia again?"

"And I usually can get my way by proving them wrong, but now…I can't." Because my mother may be right, you are my weakness, but I don't mind that.

Love or work, the ancient question that many had pondered over the ages. Any feminist will always tell you that you have to put work before love, putting yourself before those sexist men, and Annabeth agreed. She would never do anything for a boy.

But she would never do anything just because her mother told her either. That's as much injustice of her rights as if Percy chained her to a post and shipped her to Thailand to work as a slave. Not that he'd do that, he cared about her, hopefully. It sort of sucked to be possibly in love with someone across a country.

"So don't try to prove them wrong." Percy said, "It's sounds too easy, but I mean, you don't have to care what they say, no one really has power over you Annabeth."

Yeah, she definitely was in love with him.

"Thanks." She said, "You always makes this easy, you know?"

"You don't." Percy laughed. Then at her odd look he quickly replied, "I mean, it's good, I could use someone like you. Challenges, you know, not meant to be easy."

She laughed at his awkwardness. She'd never use Silena's term adorkable for anything, but everything with Percy just…fits. Annabeth wished she was in New York, right now. "I am never going to make this easy for you Seaweed Brain." She grinned, that grin, "Get use to it."

Next Update: January 24

You guys alright?

Yeah, maybe. It's actually a lot of pressure because this is one of the more well-perceived fanfics I have. Literally. If you think I've got some master plan with years of experience and character development in my head, you're wrong.

I love love love love writing, and though sometimes I don't feel like I'm good at it, you guys help me through. It sounds so dorky that I want to barf, but I mean, I just wrote the big I LOVE YOU SCENE (which obviously I'm not a hundred percent satisfied with, I'm never a hundred percent satisfied), and I'm feeling fluffy, so, yeah.

Thanks again, and I hope you'll see me through the next month. Remember that big VidGameCon on Valentine's day? Yeah, that'd be really relevant.

Answer from last week: recommendation for books: umm...I'd totally read Gallagher Girls if I was you. I'm just trying to think of underhyped books at the moment 'cuz I dont' want to say something obvious like harry potter or hunger games. I've read divergent (ALLIEGIANT ALLEGIANT ALLEGIANT AHH SHIT I CAN'T SPELL THAT) and it was pretty cool. I liked it but I'm not the biggest fan, you know? Back to Gallagher Girls, you can just skip to the second book because the first is sort of irrelevent. It is pretty light in the beginning, but then there's mention of psychological torture in the fifth book so that gets good :)

This week's question: if you had a unicorn, what would you name it? More importantly? Would you choose to drink it's blood if you were inches from death? (If you don't read Harry Potter, basically you can live but you'll be, like, totally cursed forever)

(p.s. wow, I'm so original)

(pp.s. I know I suck by cheating the system and updating at the latest possible moment, but sophomore years is just tough. My mark's been dropping and tests are coming like flies. At least I'm not in grade twelve, they've got midterm exam this week. HAHAH SUCKERS!)

(ppp.s if you really read that entire author's note, wow, i'm so proud of you)

(pppp.s is it actually adding more p's, or adding more s's? like is it supposed tobe ? what the fuck does it stand for!)