AUTHOR'S NOTE: I AM SO HAPPY RIGHT NOW! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR LETTING ME ACHIEVE WHAT I HAVE TODAY!! It is absolutely amazing! Thank you for the 9600+ views and 185 reviews! Could we please try to make it to 200 reviews? I would be completely ecstatic and love you guys FOREVER (in a completely not-stalkerish way) ;)

Anywho, I made this chapter extra long and happier than usual so I hope you guys like. So thanks again, and PLEASE review! Luv you guys and happy reading!

The next morning, I was woken up by the sound of my house phone ringing furiously: so loud that probably woke Percy up too.

At first I was scared. Scared that Matt would get mad at me for having a friend call so early in the morning, but then I realized that he must already be at work, if he hadn't already went up stairs and yanked me by the hair.

Thank God.

I took a peek through my bedroom window. Percy hasn't moved. He was still passed on the bed.

I smiled at myself. It was funny how he looked when he was sleeping. He was so relaxed. So innocent, unlike when he was awake. He still looked stunningly handsome-there was no doubt about that. But there was always something different about it. It was always hurt-pained in ways I couldn't understand.

The phone rang again, and I let out a groan of aggravation as I picked it up.

"What?" I asked harshly.

"Whoa, Annie! You ok?" Thalia's bubbly voice came through the phone.

"Besides the face that you woke me up at 7:00 in the morning, then yeah I guess!" I said with fake enthusiasm. "Oh, and don't call me Annie."

I could practically hear her rolling her eyes.

"The mall-remember?" She reminded me.

I groaned louder. "Yeah. I guess. I'll meet you there later."

"You said we would go get lunch though!" She whined.

I smirked. It was so easy for her to sound like a little kid. Something I terribly miss. Something that was ripped away from me. I wish I could be like her. Carefree. Not having to worry about anything. Almost like Percy...

I scowled at the lifeless wall.

Stop it! I chastised myself.

My world doesn't revolve around Percy Jackson. It won't come crashing down just because of him.

"Okay then. I'll see you at Starbucks at 11:00. That okay?"

"Yep!" She said, popping the 'p'.

I couldn't help but laugh.

"K, I'll see you then. Bye girly."

"BAIIII!" Thalia squealed through the phone with excitement, and hung up, before I could say anything else.

I chuckled to myself, shaking my head walking down the stairs.

What did I do to deserve such a crazy best friend like her? I thought to myself walking into the kitchen-only to find a note hanging on the door.

"My room better be spotless when I get home, bitch. Better watch your back.
~Matt."

Oh, the love in this house we have for each other in this house is astounding.

I grabbed a pop tart off the counter and gulped it down with a bottle of root beer.

I slowly made my way down to the deathly lair-I mean-Matt's room and opened the door with one finger, as if there was a hideous beast trapped inside. I felt bad for the beast. That is one battle that it would have not have won.

Recoiling at the horrific smell, I stepped inside and looked at the damage. It looked like warfare. Broken bottles were scattered everywhere, along with packets of cigarettes.

Tables, chairs, lamps, and even his bed were lopsided: hanging on to the dear life it had. I got onto my knees and started picking up shards of glass before I saw the crowded clusters of papers on his table. Standing up, I let curiosity get the best of me, and I started walking toward the desk, avoiding the ghastly shards of glass.

The phrase 'curiosity killed the cat' ran through my mind, but I couldn't stop myself.

Picking it up, I held it so that I could see the headline clearly.

"House on Fire!
Three people who inhabited the home, along with their only daughter were devastated. The family is destroyed from the loss of the mother, Christina Chase."

I grimaced remembering the day that caused me so much pain. I picked up several other papers, all having to do with our house burning down-all having to do with Mother's death.

That's when I accidently knocked over the picture of Matt and Mother, hand in hand at the church they got married in. I picked it up, hands trembling. They looked so happy. Like nothing could ever destroy their love. But there is apparently one thing. And that was Death.

It was the only picture in the room standing up right, staring right back at me. It almost felt as if it were staring into my soul.

I shuddered at the creepy thought, tears gathering in my eyes. To realize that Matt had never gotten over Mom was unbelievable. The barrier that he had put up to keep everyone out was what I have done all these years. We weren't so different after all.

I put the picture down, turned around and sighed. Even though I know that Matt still missed Mother, I knew he didn't care about me. Not anymore-at least.

Taking a look at the time, I cursed silently under my breath. It was already nine. It was going to take more than two hours to clean up the shit he has in this room.

I started working frantically, shoving everything under my bed; flipping over furniture so that it's standing up right.

I picked up all the glass-not without scratching myself first- and straighten out the papers on his desk, while putting on my jeans and a T-shirt, pulling my hair back into a high pony tail. I wasn't going to have time to waste.

As soon as I saw it was decent enough, I grabbed my bag, slinging it over my shoulder and started running as fast as I could to Starbucks, which fortunately was only a couple blocks away. It wasn't that I didn't know how to drive- it was just cause Matt never bothered to buy me a car.

"Too irresponsible and reckless." He says.

Irresponsible? Reckless? Look who's talking! He's gotten in five wreaks in the last two months-all of them his fault. I'm more responsible than he will ever be in his whole lifetime.

I arrived twenty minutes late, making it worse seeing Thalia's disappointed face.

"What the fuck Annie? I've been waiting here for like...six years!" She scolded.

I slung my bag off, huffing. "Matt made me clean his nest-that thing he calls his room." I explained, annoyed.

"Oh." Thalia said, apologizing indirectly. Even though she doesn't know that Matt abuses me, she knows that he's not the best father.

"Well, I already ordered a coffee. You can order whatever you want. My treat." She handed me a dollar bill and winked.

I smiled. "I can't take money from you!"

She rolled her eyes. "Must I have to do everything?" She sighed over dramatically, dragging me towards the ordering counter.

"Now order." She demanded, glancing over at the employee, waggling her eyebrows.

I giggled and turned to see a baby-faced guy, staring at me.

"May I take your order?" He asked anxiously, maybe a little too anxiously.

I decided to have a little fun with this.

"Um... a vanilla frappuccino would be nice...Tyler." I read his name tag, handing him the ten dollar bill, which made him ecstatic.

It was amusing to see the effect I had over him.

"Thank you," He replied warmly, "Ms...?"

"Annabeth Chase." I told him, winking.

He flung his arm to the back of his neck and started biting his lip, clearly nervous.

"Ms. Chase." He repeated with a smirk.

As soon as he walked away, Thalia gave me a playful blow to the side.

"You are such a flirt!" She joked. "That's mean how you played with him like that. Poor guy. He's probably hyperventilating over there!"

I winced painfully, clutching my side.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to do it that hard! Let me see it." She demanded, trying to lift up my shirt.

I held it down as best as I could, clenching down on my teeth and shaking my head no.

"It's fine. I'm okay." I lied smoothly. I've never been a good liar, but I've been saying this so often that it sounds almost real.

Thalia ignored my comments and lifted it up anyway, uncovering a line of bruises, trailing along my side.

"Annabeth..." She began.

"Nothing. Thalia. It's. Nothing." I said, pronouncing each word conspicuously and obviously as I could.

She looked at me wide-eyed with her frightened electric blue eyes, but soon realized that Tyler was standing in front of us.

"Anything else I can help you with?" He asked over-generously. It made me sick.

"A pack of ice would be nice." She replied sickly sweet. But the look in her eyes said something like:"Hurry the fuck up."

I objected vigorously while feeling the bitter coldness of the ice pack touch my tender, throbbing bare skin. But when it started numbing the hurt, I welcomed it strongly.

"God, Annabeth, I am so sorry. What happened to you? Why didn't you tell me?" Thaila asked, firing questions at me like a machine gun.

What was I supposed to do? Tell her the truth? Tell her that Matt, the chief police in this town, abuses his only daughter?

"I fell." I replied lamely, sipping my drink suspiciously-hoping she wouldn't notice.

She glared at me. "You fell," She repeated. "I may not be in the advance classes, but how dumb do you think I am?" She asked.

I smirked. "Do you really want me to answer that?"

She rolled her eyes and pursed her lips. "Stop avoiding the question! What happened?"

I sighed, still drinking my delicious drink when I felt it viciously yanked away from me.

"Hey!" I exclaimed. "Give it back!"

"Not until you tell me what happened."

"Okay," I told her, scooting up my seat and putting on the most serious face I could muster.

"Santa Clause found out I was being a bad girl and pushed me down the stairs. He's evil, I tell you. EVIL!" I whispered furiously.

"OH MY GOD I KNEW IT!" Thalia screamed, backing away slowly.

I erupted into laughter, falling onto the floor with every single person watching me as if I were crazy.

Thalia blushed bright red, biting her lip.

"Not. Funny." She spat.

I wiped away a tear that appeared from laughing so hard. "It's a little funny," I said snickering.

She started to get up and walked away but I chased after her, grabbing her hand.

"What?" She asked bitterly, clearly getting aggravated.

I told her quietly as I could, making sure no one was watching. "Listen to me. I know you won't believe me, but this is the truth."

"What is it?" She asked agitated, hands on her hip.

"Matt. He has abused me ever since Mother's died. And you are the first person I have told this too so please-" I said, but was interrupted by her snatching my wrist, being pulled into the bathroom.

Thalia's face was red, not because she was embarrassed, but was because she was mad. The angriest I've ever seen her in my life.

"He abuses you?" She demanded. "And you never told anyone." She stated, dumbfounded.

I nodded, tears gathering in my eyes.

She stared at me for a while and then pulled out her phone and started dialing 911.

Slapping the phone out of her hand, I gave her a look. "What the crap!? You can't tell the police about this! Matt IS the police. Plus, they wouldn't believe you!" I explained.

She stood there, thinking about it for a while before sighing, knowing that she couldn't do anything.

"I'm sorry I've ruined this for us... I should just go home." I told her turning around and tried to walk out the door, before I felt her tug me back.

"Where do you think you're going?" She demanded, a smile playing on her lips. "I was promised a girl's day out!"

I rolled my eyes and gave her a tight hug. "Thanks for understanding." I whispered.

She just smiled and shook her head. "Don't worry about it. Let's just go have some fun." She said with a wink.

And with that, we were speeding down the highway singing to the top of our lungs.

We didn't have enough money to buy any clothes, so we headed over into the toys section.

"Follow me."I whispered wickedly.

I went down every row and started setting off every toy one by one, and making a run for it after award behind the counter. The manager came running out, and we watches his bewildered expression seeing every toy in the store going off.

"SECURITY!" He yelled, and four guys, one including Matt came, and started searching for whoever did the "crime".

I could have shot my self then and there. I should have known today that Matt was going to take his shift at the mall. He does every other day. Then again, he never tells me anything in the first place.

I felt a genuine sense of fear run down my spine. Not the fear of being caught, but the fear of being caught by Matt.

Trying to escape without making a sound, I had to step on an Easter Bunny toy, and it went off singing:

"I come when the children are sleeping,
And many surprises I bring;
As long as no child is peeking,
I'll leave my tokens of spring,
I'll leave my tokens of spring.

I come when the children are sleeping,
Hiding eggs in each cranny and nook;
And then quick as a wink, I'm leaping
Right back into my storybook,
Right back into my storybook."

God I hated the Easter Bunny.

Two police men came behind us, and twisted our hands back. I heard the metallic sound of hand cuffs clicking and I looked at Thalia, watching her kick and squirm.

"Let me go!" She demanded.

I looked at the two police men carefully as they escorted us into the mall jail where we had to wait for our parents to pick us up.

Oh the joy.

One of them looked pretty young, almost as young as me. He was very tall; broad shouldered, and has messy brown hair. I looked at the name tag that he wore. Tyson.

I thought furiously of what I could do. I couldn't stay here. When Matt found out that it was me, he would start punishing me again every night, tougher than he already does.

Think Annabeth! My mind forced me to think.

I thought of Tyler, and how I played him today. If only he was this easy...

I sat in the corner and forced myself to cry, which I found wasn't very hard.

"What's wrong?" Tyson asked sympathetically, right on cue.

"My Father. He's going to kill me when he finds out that I got in trouble." I sobbed. Thalia seemed to play along, trying to comfort me.

He hesitated. "I'm sorry. Is there anything I could do for you?" I looked up, wiping away my tears and fluttered my ashy eyes.

"A glass of water would be nice..." I told him.

"I'll be right back." He promised, blushing shades of red.

As soon as he left, I sprinted into action.

"Thalia, you have a bobby pin in your hair right?" I asked.

She took it out without a question and I stuck it into the lock, moving it around until I heard a click. That's one of the very little things I learned from Matt, most things that I am not very proud of.

I pushed the gate open and we made a dash for the door, stopping when I heard that familiar voice that I didn't want to hear and the lethal sound of a gun cock.

"Freeze bitches, and put your hands in the air."

Thanks for reading! Please tell me any suggestions, comments, or ideas by clicking the button below! (Even if you are a guest!) :D Thanks!

Oh! I almost forgot:

REVIEW CHALLENGE: If you had a superpower, what would it be and why?
(I just got finished watching X-Men and I am IN LOVE with superpowers/mutants if that explains anything. :D)

I
I
I
I
I
V