Hey! Decently fast update today, yay! School's *hopefully* going to start easing up soon!

Anyways, you guys (and gals) are so amazing, you know that? You're all super supportive and fun and I love reading your reviews and PM-ing with y'all, so thanks. Also, thanks to the lovely reviewers themselves, SomethingMoreCreative, bxexlxlxa, Burned Blue Cookie, henrie locker, TheKookieKing11, Mila-is-a-bookworm-101, Lolabeth, Heyitsthecats, and ConstantCutie.

This chapter was a pain in the ass to start, as I had severe writer's block and ended up writing 5 different beginnings to this chapter. I then decided to do something on a whim (the flashback), which ended up being really, really personal for me. It got easier near the end, so hopefully the quality's better there.

Anyways, enjoy!

-o-o-pj&ac-o-o-

Chapter 7

Annabeth

For April, Virginia Beach is surprisingly warm, people clad in shorts and the occasional swimsuit as the hot sun beats down on us all. There's a faint breeze blowing off of the water, mingling with the smell of suntan lotion and food to create an aroma that one only finds at the beach. I feel carefree, happy even, as Grover, Luke and I walk along the boardwalk, dodging tourists and vendors alike.

Percy's far up ahead, barely visible in the throngs of people, merely a black haired head bobbing through the crowd. He's moving fast, almost running, but I feel no desire to catch up to him. Our encounter at the diner was anything but pleasant, and I don't want to provoke him any further. So, I simply settle for watching the waves crash onto the sand in the distance, listening to the laughter and catching snippets of conversation as people walk by. The beach brings back memories, both good and bad.

After all, it's where Percy and I first met.

-o-o-o-o-

Before you get any ideas about this being some ridiculously cliché story involving me almost drowning and him being the tanned, shirtless lifeguard that saves me using mouth-to-mouth, let me clear a few things up. First off, this encounter happened before puberty really hit, at the mere age of eleven. I was taller than him, he was scrawny and had a voice like a girl, and despite being at the same school for three years, we had never really talked.

Until, you know, our Grade 6 end-of-year field trip, to a camp out on Long Island. A weeklong adventure with no classes, no parents, and no homework- just me and eighty other kids crammed onto a bus with a couple of teacher chaperones. In other words, bliss.

However, Grade 6 is a tricky year, where kids begin exploring a lot of concepts such as popularity, dating, and cliques. Naturally, as the smartest girl in my grade (not to mention one of the newest), I was thrown into categories such as 'geek', 'loser', and 'nerd'. Those labels don't bother me now- I accept them, because they're what I am and I'm proud of it- but for a little eleven year old girl who just wanted to fit in with the 'popular' kids, this really stung.

And then came along Percy Jackson, an ADHD, dyslexic wimp of a boy who was basically friendless and called a freak on a daily basis. We met in the most unconventional way- he was shouting back at Nancy Bobofit, this bully, when he ran into a door and knocked himself unconscious. Naturally, most of the kids laughed and no one made a move to help, so it ended up my duty to grab his unconscious body and drag him up to the Big House, the large cabin where the teachers were staying.

I waited with him while he was unconscious- after all, I had nothing better to do and nowhere to go- and eventually he woke up, dazed and confused and (although I'll never tell anyone this) asking for him mom. And, well, he looked so weirded out seeing me standing there, holding a cup of chocolate pudding in one hand, that I blurted out the first thing I could think of.

"You drool when you sleep."

Thus started my friendship with Percy Jackson, the loser and the freak, forever united. We were weird kids, I admit it- we spent most of our time talking on the beach while everyone else played games around us, and one of our favourite things to do was to make up stories where our absent parents were ancient Gods- but it was a good friendship. At first glance, you would have thought we had nothing in common, but we worked in a way a lot of other people didn't understand, and our bonding at the camp eventually led to us spending almost the entire summer together, making us very close friends by the time Grade 7 started.

Grade 7 was much better than the previous year, as both of us went into it with a friend at our side. We ended up spending a lot of time at Percy's house, talking with his mom or eating blue chocolate chip cookies or attempting to do our homework. It was one of those days, the two of us sitting at the old wooden kitchen table while Sally, Percy's mom, cooked behind us, when a man came through the door, drunk and bellowing expletives at the top of his lungs.

This man was Gabe, Percy's stepfather, who, Percy finally confessed, was abusive towards Sally.

I didn't know what to say- even though I was supposedly a genius, I was still a twelve-year old girl who barely knew about these kinds of things. So while Sally and Gabe fought in the kitchen, I refused to go home and sat in Percy's bedroom with him, telling him things I had never told anyone before. My dream of my mother coming back, my dream of being an architect, and I even vaguely mentioned my dream of Thalia returning, although I didn't mention any names.

We sat in his room, listening to plates breaking and cuss words being screamed as I talked to him, trying to keep his mind off of what was going on outside. It seemed to work- he calmed down and began telling me about his own dreams, about his deadbeat father that had walked out on his mother when she was pregnant, of how Gabe came to be a part of his family. And finally, the shouting stopped, there was the sound of a door slamming, and Sally walked into Percy's room to find the two of us asleep on his bed.

Needless to say, we became a lot closer after that, and pretty soon Gabe left the Jackson household and life went back to a relative normalcy. School became easier for both of us as well- people were beginning to question the popularity standards in place, and pretty soon the tyranny began to wear down. That summer was spent with more friends, more beach visits, and a couple more crazy adventures- one involving this giant blind dog that chased us around town after we grabbed our kite out of a tree near his house.

The next year began with a bigger group of us, eight or so kids who had banded together to avoid the perils of middle school. Grade 8 went by relatively simply, except for a little scare over Winter break when a group of us went skiing together and I got separated from the group, and ended up stuck in a snowdrift. It took them a little while to find me, and from what I heard, Percy went ballistic, even though he never would have admitted it to my face.

And, naturally, as hormones had begun kicking in full-force at this point, that was the moment I fell head-over-heels for my best friend. Which was awkward, because, to the best of my knowledge, he had no interest in me.

As these things go, middle school eventually ended, and Percy and I graduated, still best friends, but coming dangerously close to being something more. Another summer spent together, another slew of hot, sticky days passing the time before high school and the fluttery feeling that was beginning to ignite in our stomach. Mutual friends began to tease, noticing lingering looks and flushed cheeks, and yet still the two of us never explicitly professed our feelings for each other.

And then came high school. High school, terrifying and formidable from a distance, easier once you got close. High school, where suddenly everywhere you looked there were couples kissing and dates were a normalcy. Dances had more and more slow songs, groups of friends were now joined with their significant others, and relationship drama was the main gossip.

But I resisted. I've always been a bit stubborn, a bit crazy, and I refused to conform to the expectations society had set. It was too cliché, to fall in love with my best friend. If we started dating, everything would change and once we broke up- which would inevitably happen- nothing would ever be the same again. Percy was my first real friend, the one that opened my eyes and showed me there was more to the world than the catty bullies of my elementary school years. I couldn't risk him.

I suppose, by being so obsessed with the idea of not falling in love with Percy, I separated myself from him unintentionally. In a way, that began to damage our friendship even more- he began looking at other girls, I began snapping at him more often, but the oblivious idiot still couldn't figure out why I was upset.

Let's just say that Grade 9 was a rough year for the both of us.

And, of course, that summer, after avoiding each other for the first little bit, we finally caved and began to talk again. Talking led to hanging out, rekindling our friendship, and, of course the inevitable happened- we ended up kissing. It was a short kiss, not the typical passionate one you see in movies after years of growing sexual tension, but it was a good kiss.

Okay, scratch that. It was an amazing kiss, my first kiss actually, but what happened afterwards wasn't so great- he ran off one way, I ran off the other, and I didn't see him until school started back up again three weeks later.

And from there… well, from there, it was all downhill.

-o-o-o-o-

"Annabeth?" I blink out of my prolonged memory, shaking my head to clear those unwanted thoughts that had just swarmed me. Luke and Grover are staring at me, and I realize that I must have been zoned out for a few minutes, at least. Great. First this moment, with the reliving of Thalia's death, and now this? They probably think I'm going insane. "You okay there?"

I realize the voice is coming from neither of the boys standing in front of me, and so I turn to my left, where Percy's standing. He frowns, looking like he wants to place a hand on my shoulder but deciding against it. "This is the second time today. Do you want to lie down?" He inquires, and I shake my head no. I'm not some weakling. I can lead a quest without having to stop for naptime.

I open my mouth to tell him this when suddenly something small latches onto my leg, tiny hands grabbing at my thigh. Letting out a startled yelp, I jump backwards into Luke, who steadies me, before glancing down to see a little kid sitting on my foot with a happy smile. He's big, with black hair and green eyes, oddly familiar in some ways. I blink at Percy, and then back at the kid, and finally the dots connect in my head. "Um, so is this the… family you were talking about?"

"Yep," Percy sounds bitter as he pulls the child off my leg. "This is Tyson. Apparently Dad was busy after he left me." The boy, who looks no older than five, blinks up at all of us with a stupid grin that reminds me so much of Percy it hurts.

"So now there's a toddler coming with us?" Luke sighs as if pained. "Do we really have the stuff needed for a kid? I mean, they need entertainment, food, a car seat… I didn't come here to play babysitter, you know." I look at him, shocked. Granted, I'm not thrilled about the idea of Tyson coming with us on the quest, but we can't just abandon him, no matter how much he'll hinder our journey.

Percy clearly has had the same thoughts as me, as his eyes light up with rage. "He's my brother. We're not leaving him behind." From years of knowing him, I can tell that he's a bit embarrassed about this whole situation, but if there's one thing I know about him it's that he's fiercely loyal to his family and his friends. Tyson's coming with us, regardless of the fact that no one's exactly happy about it.

"Well, he's your responsibility, then," Luke backs away from the child, dragging me along with him. His hand's still around my waist, although his fingers droop down as if wanting to touch lower. I see Percy's face harden at Luke's gesture, and I shake out of his grasp. Ever since we left Camp Half-Blood and talked about what happened at the park, Luke's been oddly… touchy with me. Normally by this point, I would have put the guy in his place, but Luke was like family with me before we moved. There's nothing romantic about his gestures, no matter what Percy claims.

Speaking of which, Percy's still simmering with anger, although I'm not sure who it's directed towards at this point. With a sigh, I pull a ten dollar bill from my pocket and hand it over to Grover, telling him to go with Luke to get Tyson some ice cream. No matter how much Percy's words stung back at the diner, I need to let him vent to me now. Better to let him blow up here than when we're all crammed into the tiny little minivan.

The second Grover, Luke, and Tyson are out of sight, however, my words fail me. I want to scream at Percy for what he's said before, I want to ask him why he's so upset, I want to talk to him about Luke and Tyson and this whole quest, but, most importantly, I want to hug him.

And so I do.

It's a completely platonic hug, obviously, with him staggering back a few steps as I throw my arms around him and bury my face into his chest, breathing in the scent that feels so familiar yet so alien that it makes my heart ache. His hands come up cautiously to hug me back, gentle at first, but eventually he's clinging onto me as tightly as I am to him. Years of memories come rushing back, mingling with my flashback from before- hugs at parties and hugs on the beach, hugs in his room as Gabe yelled, hugs at Graduation, hugs after fights and bad days and horrible marks. The last hug, the last good day, before our fight. We hug because we're scared, because we're angry, because we have no clue what the hell we're doing.

Oh, shit, this hug isn't quite so platonic anymore.

Shit, this isn't a platonic hug- this is the kind of hug we'd have pre-blowup.

Shit, shit, shit, shit, I really should stop hugging Percy like this.

I eventually break away from him, stepping back and awkwardly smoothing down my shirt. My cheeks flush bright red, and it's not because of the heat. Percy gapes at me, looking just as bewildered as I feel, and if possible, my face reddens even more. I look like one of the sunburnt tourists walking around.

"What was that for?" Percy's voice sounds an octave higher than normal. "I mean, not that I didn't enjoy hugging you… because I do enjoy you- I mean, I enjoy when you give me hugs… but that's not saying that that's the only reason I like you- and by like I mean in a completely unromantic way… and, oh, screw it." He sighs, running a hand through his hair.

I bite my tongue to keep from laughing at his flushed face. I'm supposed to be angry at him, I know, but somehow I can't muster up the energy to yell. Instead, I blurt out the first thing I can think of- "Your Dad had another kid?"

Percy's face reverts to neutral, his mouth stiffening, and I berate myself for my bluntness. He sighs, flopping down on a nearby bench thankfully out of the sun. "Yep. Now, not only am I still a bastard child, but I wasn't even good enough for him to stay around. Do you know that Tyson said that his 'Daddy' lived with him for four freaking years? Dad didn't even stay long enough for me to be born."

I'm not quite sure how to respond to that, so I stare at the ground, kicking up some loose sand that had blown in from the beach. "He probably had to leave…"

"And do what?" Percy laughs bitterly. "Hook up with another woman? Face it, Annabeth. He decided me and my mom weren't worth it, and decided to move on. There's no more to this story than that." Percy no longer sounds angry. Instead, he just sounds broken, which to me, is even worse.

"Well," I say cautiously, not wanting to offend him- we're actually getting along half-decently now. "Remember when we were kids and both of us only had one real parent? We would pretend they were Gods, remember? They couldn't visit us because there were rules against it, but they were watching us, even if we couldn't see it. Maybe that's kind of what's happening now."

Percy snorts. "We were kids, we pretended. Gods and Goddesses aren't real, and you know it."

"I'm not saying they are real," I begin to chew on my lower lip, a nervous tick of mine. "But my supposedly dead mother showed up in my life, and she knew about me, about us. She's been watching me from a distance, although I'm not sure why. Your Dad told you to come here, albeit in a dream. He wanted to you meet Tyson. This whole thing is insane, I know, but somehow, someway, they've been watching over us."

Percy frowns, and I can tell he's not believing what I'm saying. Trust me, I'm having trouble thinking about it rationally myself. "But he still didn't talk to me," He finally says, his words quiet. "Even if your insane theory is correct, he still was too chicken to even say hello to his own son."

"Well, I'm not saying they're parents of the year!" I protest. "But isn't it better that they watched from a distance rather than disappearing all together?" In the distance, I can see Luke and Grover walking, hands full of ice cream. Tyson's in front of them, eating a multicoloured popsicle.

Percy follows my gaze, staring at them as he finally responds. "I guess so." He closes his eyes, leaning back on the bench.

I scoot towards him a little, feeling exhausted by the day's activities, and allow my head to carefully droop onto his shoulder. He stiffens at first, but eventually relaxes, leaning his head gently on top of mine. I can't help but think about the parallels of this day and the first time we met, sitting together on beach with the hot sun beating down on our faces. If I close my eyes hard enough, it feels like nothing's changed, really, nothing at all.

But the world is always spinning, always changing. We're not the same people we used to be- hell, I'm not sure if we're even still friends. We're not the two loners on a Grade 6 field trip, talking about our favourite things. We're two ex-best friends on a dangerous quest across the country, and really, that makes all the difference in the world.

I know that this is just a temporary break from our incessant fighting. I know that once we get off this bench, we're back to being mad at each other, back to squabbling over petty things. Once we get off this bench, we're back to worrying about the Mark of Athena and making it to Oregon and Luke and Tyson and this whole damn quest.

But it's too much for me, too much pressure for me to handle.

So for now, I simply lean further into Percy and close my eyes tight.

-o-o-pj&ac-o-o-

Okay, so now you have some more information on Percy and Annabeth's backstory! I tried to stick as close to the books as possible, but I added in some scenes of my own as well. Some of them are based off of my own experiences (hence why I said up at the top this chapter was pretty personal), some are figments of my imagination. And you're welcome for the Percabeth I put in at the end!

Oh! I almost forgot! So my family just said that next year, we're doing a Europe vacation, which has me over the moon, because I've wanted to go to Europe my whole life. We're looking for places to go in the UK, Paris, Italy, etc., so if you have any suggestions, feel free to drop them in a review! It's much appreciated.

No freaking clue when the next update will be, but reviews are amazing and greatly appreciated!

Thanks for reading,

-Jace ;)