Chp 5
Percy's POV
I tried to control my nervousness as Annabeth walked towards me where we arranged to meet up. She gave a smile and we exchanged hugs. "So, which way?" She asked. We had to walk to my house as my car was in for a service. We started to walk down the pavement to my house two blocks away.
"So you said your mom was-?" She asked. "Friendly, caring, lovely person." I said. "And your-" she started. "Step dad is Paul Blowfis, our English teacher." I finished. She nodded. When we got to my house I got out my keys and unlocked the door.
I held it open for her and she went in. I closed the door behind me and sighed. I helped her out her jacket and hung it up. I did the same with my jacket and we went through to the kitchen. Paul had to stay late for detention duty and mom said she was going to lunch with a friend.
"What you want to eat?" I asked. She smiled. "I'm fine with anything." I found a slightly open tin with a note from mom. 'Newly baked cookies for you and your friend' it read. I picked it up and put all he cookies on the plate. I switched on the kettle and starting pouring hot chocolate mix into two mugs.
"We can't have cookies for lunch." She said, in a cute tone. I laughed. "They're really good. Just try one." I said. She shook her head but I took a cookie and walked right up to her. "Just one bite and tell me you don't want it for lunch." I said. She took the biscuit and had a bite. I left her to groan over the chocolatey goodness.
"Why are they blue?" She asked. "My mom and my favorite colour." I simply said. She laughed and we took our things to the lounge. We sat down and took out our homework. We were sitting on a two seated couch, her on one end and me on the other.
She took her shoes off and tucked her legs under her. She started writing stuff down and then stuck the pencil behind her ear. She wrote with a pen for a while and then took the pencil that was perched on her ear.
She glanced up and chuckled. "What?" She asked. I just shook my head with a smile and started my homework. My eyes kept trailing back to her. She was just so- different.
I couldn't stop admiring her shiny blonde princess curls. And the way she wasn't fragile but was slim and athletic and not fussed over fashion and stuff. And her eyes. The most tantalizing, unique, intriguing grey eyes. I had never seen eyes like hers before.
And now I couldn't help feeling that I really liked her for her, and her natural beauty. She broke me from my daze when she closed a book and put it aside and looked at me. "So, need help with anything?" She asked.
~ Line Break ~
We laughed yet again as I tried to pick up my dictionary to put it in my bag. But we had been laughing so much my muscles had become weak and I couldn't concentrate on controlling myself.
I finally got it in and zipped up my bag. We sat there side by side pressed up against each other. "And the weight of that stupid book is ridiculous." I said, making her burst into laughter again. I heard the front door and knew my parents must be home.
They came in and stopped when they saw us with our school stuff and the leftover crumbs from lunch. "Hello." I said, smiling at them. Annabeth stood, dusting off her clothes, and I rose too. "This is Annabeth, my Maths tutor." I said, gesturing to her. Mom gave her a warm smile and shook her hand. "Lovely to meet you, I'm Sally." She said.
Paul smiled and said, "You're in my English class. You're dyslexic as well as Percy." I frowned and she tuned around. "You never mentioned you were dyslexic." She said, a slight smirk on her face. "Neither did you but I wouldn't have guessed so because you read." I said. She just smiled and said, "I'm amazing." We laughed and collected our plate and mugs and took them to the kitchen.
Mom sent me a look and asked Annabeth, "So did you always live here?" Annabeth gave a polite smile and said, "No, I just moved here from San Francisco." Mom smiled and said, "Oh, and did you like it there." Annabeth nodded. "Yes, but the schooling wasn't great. And at least when I finish my senior year I can take my scholarship from NYU." She replied.
Paul looked up from his drink and asked, "You got a scholarship already?" She nodded and said, "Yeah, they offered to pay full fees for me because I was thinking of going to Cornell." I smiled at her. "Smarty pants." I said. We all chuckled and Annabeth started to pack up her things. "Annabeth, would you like to stay for supper?" Mom offered.
Annabeth checked her phone for the time. It was already half five. "No, it's fine. I have some work at home to finish. Maybe another time." She said. "Well it was lovely to meet you." Mom said. "I'll drop you off at home." I offered. "It's fine. I'll get a taxi." She said.
I took her bag and Paul's keys and said, "Nope." She laughed and followed me out to the car. We got in and I drove her to her apartment. I got out and walked her to the entrance of the apartment building. She must have rich parents to live somewhere so fancy.
She smiled at me and took her bag. "Thanks for helping me." I said. Sh chuckled and looked down, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "It's a pleasure." She said. She gave me a hug, wrapping her arms around my neck and I wrapped my arms around her waist. She pulled away and gave me a smile. "See you tomorrow." She said. I gave a wave as I watched her walk inside.
~ Line Break ~
I dropped my keys by the front and went through to the kitchen. Mom and Paul looked up and smirked at me. "She's pretty." Mom said. I chuckled and said, "She's just a friend."
Mom waved that off and said, "She seems really nice, very smart." I smiled and helped her by getting out the plates for dinner. "She's quite interesting. Dyslexic but reads a lot. That's why she mouths her words when she reads." Paul said. I decided I would check that the next time she read.
"Are you going to ask her out?" Mom asked. I choked on my glass of water, and they just laughed. "Okay okay, I'm just being a mom." We ate dinner and I went for a shower. While I crawled into bed, I checked my photos. One of my whole group and Annabeth, one I took of her when we had coffee and a few we took together today. I smiled and closed my eyes.