Sorry it took SO long... I've had it written for a month but my computer hasn't been working properly... :(

He's Gone Away…

Chapter 25

Winter Formal

Annabeth's POV

School on Friday was canceled, due to wining from the girls that they wouldn't have enough time to get ready for the Winter Formal. Annabeth was just annoyed with them.

When she woke up on Friday, she just watched T.V. until she heard a knock on the door. I wonder who that is? Why are they here on a school day?

When she opened the door, she saw Piper, Mitchell and Lucy. "Hi, Annabeth!" they coursed. "What are you doing here?" "We're here to get you and Thalia ready for the Winter Formal." "Really." "Ya!" bounced Lucy. "Where's Thalia?" asked Mitchell. "Sleeping." "I'll go wake her up," said Annabeth, "she can be nasty in the morning."

"We'll start setting up. After you wake her up, go and take a shower. We'll be waiting for you."

So Annabeth woke Thalia up and then took her shower. When she came down the stairs in a bathrobe, she smelled food.

"Good, I'm so HUNGRY!" "We made lots of food." "Crêpes, bacon, eggs, cinnamon buns, scones, whipped cream and hash browns." Sally walked down the stairs. "Annabeth, I didn't know you could cook." "I can't, but Mitchell, Lucy and Piper can." "Oh, hello. Annabeth, could you tell me next time if" "I didn't know they were coming." "That's fine then, but if you do know, let me know." "Sure thing."

"So, let's eat this delicious food and hear why you're here." They loaded up their plates and started eating. "It's so much fun to eat! You get shunned in the Aphrodite cabin if you eat this many carbs and fats" said Lucy. "That's one of the reasons I'm here." "I like to cook and we don't have ovens or stoves in the Aphrodite cabin" said Mitchell. "Cooking is beautiful and expresses love, but Drew said it was weird, so she wouldn't let me cook. Pips, on the other had, likes it." "But our most important reason we're here is to get Annabeth and Thalia ready for a dance." "I didn't know prom was today. Annabeth, why didn't you tell me?" "I don't think it's important." "It's a right of passage through high school." "Are you sure? What about homeschoolers? Kids who go to small private schools? They don't get dances. I don't believe it's important for life." "You're probably right, but I missed my ALL my dances and I want your dances to be great." "Well… I'm glad you care, but I don't… There's nothing you can do to make it better then it is, well besides getting rid of Lexi & her crew and maybe bring Percy back so he can go to it with me. But that's impossible though, so… Nothing, I just have to learn to live." "I'm sorry this is going to be horrible for you." "Oh, it's not going to be that bad, I would find it better if Percy was there… I miss him."

Thalia walked in the room. "Something smells good, what is it?" Mitchell said, "Crêpes, cinnamon buns, scones, whipped cream, bacon, and eggs." "You forgot hash browns," added Lucy. "Oh, and hash browns."

"Annabeth, who are they?" They all laughed at Thalia, and Annabeth explained "Piper's here to help us get ready for winter formal and she brought Mitchell and Lucy." "You answered why. Who are they?" "They are her half siblings." "Oh, figures." Thalia got her food and sat down.

"Ummm… This is good! Dang, Mitchell, you're a really good cook." "Na, I'm not. I just do it for fun." "I agree with Thalia, you're great!" Sally added. "Ya, I agree," piped Lucy. "Me too." "And me!"

After they finished eating food, chatting and cleaning up, Piper said, "well, we might as well get to helping you get ready." "It's 11, we don't need to be ready til 7:30." "Ya, well, we could start early!" "It would take an hour at most." "Fine, let's go shopping!" "Why?" "Do you have jewelry?" "No, but we don't need any!" "Let's go anyways." "Fine! To the mall."

They wandered around the mall for a couple hours, eating and looking at stuff to wear with their dresses. They got back home around 4.

"So that shopping trip was COMPLEETLY pointless!" stated Thalia. "Not completely pointless…" "So, how isn't it pointless?" "Well… We got a necklace for Annabeth, as well as matching earrings…" reminded Piper. "Fine."

So they watched TV till 6 and then started dressing for the dance.

Next to paragraphs describe what they wear. If you don't like that kind of thing, just skip them!

Annabeth put on her long ice blue/gray dress; it had one strap made out of silver leaves and flowers intertwined together. She put on her silver Greek sandals. She donned her silver necklace and earrings; her necklace was a delicate silver flower on a think chain, the earrings matched the necklace. Then she put on the most natural makeup, foundation, a little blush, some light pink lip gloss, mascara and some light silver/blue eye shadow.

Thalia put on her red dress; it hung just above the knee and had black lace and ribbon. She then put on black patent open toe sandal. Then the jewelry she bought from Clare's a while ago. Then she put on black mascara and eyeliner, some red lipstick and dark brown/red eye shadow.

Once they were ready to go it was only 7:10ish, so they put the TV back on, till the boys arrived.

When Nico and Malcolm arrived they were wearing black pants and jackets, with different ties and shirts. Nico was wearing a silver shirt and a black tie, Malcolm was wearing a red shirt and black tie. "Well, don't you two look nice," commented Annabeth. "Ya, thanks to Piper, she picked out our shirts and stuff." "You can thank her now, she's here." They shuffled into the room.

"You look great, both of you…" Nico said awkwardly. Sally entered, "Oh my gosh! Aren't you adorable! I'll take pictures." "Sally, please no pictures." "To bad!"

After Sally took enough pictures to be satisfied, they climbed into the car and Annabeth noticed "Oh, shoot! We're going to be LATE!" "Annabeth, it's not so bad… Late doesn't matter" replied Nico. "Yes. It. Does." "You know, people are usually late for winter formal, prom, ect. It's called being fashionably late," said Malcolm. They drove in silence.

When they got to the school, they got out and headed inside. "Okay, here we go." They entered the room with loud music blaring… They wandered towards the edge of the crowd. "Wow, it's loud! Almost louder than the battle of Manhattan" "Ya, I know." Meanwhile Nico was just staring at the dancers, "Malcolm… I don't know how to put this… THEY AREN'T DANCING THE WAY YOU TOUGHT ME!" "Calm down… I only know how to waltz and I thought it would be funny to have you waltz…" "Malcolm you are SO dead." "Nico," said Annabeth sternly, "you may only kill Malcolm AFTER winter formal."

They wandered onto the dance floor and started dancing. Lexi and her posy wandered over… "What unfortunate people did you get to go with you?" "Hi Lexi." "I asked you a question, answer it!" "Oh, well, this is Nico, his father is extremely wealthy and powerful… maybe your dad knows him, probably not. And this is Malcolm, my half-brother. You already met him, but with a brain like yours I doubt you'd remember. His father and our mother work in a secret operation together." "What's it called?" "I'm not permitted to disclose the name." "What does that mean?" "I'm not allowed to tell you." "You're making this up," she whined. "No, the government… shoot, I'm not going to say anything. Bye!" And the four of them walked off.

"Brillant! Bloody Brilliant!" "Nico, when did you become British?" "Ummm… well… I read Harry Potter… and sometimes I go to England and such…" "Aw… That's SO cute!" "Um… who are you and when are we getting Annabeth back?"

A slow dance song came on and the started to dance, Malcolm and Thalia, Nico and Annabeth.

Annabeth started to cry… "Um… Why are you crying?" "I *sniffle* just miss Percy." "Um… Malcolm…" Malcolm came over and switched places with Nico. "Hay, Annabeth, it's okay. You can be sad… It's hard to lose a loved one. I know…" He rubbed her back in circles. Meanwhile, Thalia and Nico were dancing, "It's so cute, the way he know how to comfort her perfectly…" "You know, you do have a sweet side… I think it's lovely." "No like you have one." "Well… I just don't show it, like you… You know we are very similar." "What's your sweet side?" "Well… That's for me to know and you to find out." She stopped dancing and dragged him over to the side of the dance floor.

"I'll tell you what makes me like that, EVERY thing. And then you'll tell me yours." "Fine." "Well… I love Annabeth like a sister, when Percy left I cried, I cried myself to sleep after I joined the hunters (for weeks), I don't hate boys like I'm supposed to so that kind makes me an outcast amongst the hunters and… that's it." "Okay… So once I killed a bird by accident and I cried for a long time… I cried when Percy left, I cried when Bianca died, I still don't like talking about her, but I don't blame Percy anymore… I really do think the hunters need to get over the hating men thing…" "That's not on topic Nico!" "Sorry… I don't like it when anyone I know gets hurt or dies… Even though I can still talk to them… I don't like it…"

"So what are you two talking about?" asked Annabeth as she and Malcolm wandered over. "Um… Nothing…" "It can't be nothing… Oh were you discussing your hidden feelings for each other… Sorry, we'll leave!" Both Nico and Thalia turned white, than looked at each other than laughed, a loud raucous laughter. "She thinks…" "So funny…" "So wrong…" They continued laughing till people stared awkwardly.

"Let's start dancing." So they wandered on to the dance floor and finished that song. A new song came on, a slow one... Thalia leaned up against Nico and they slow danced.

I wrote some Thalico, for all you Thalico lovers... I like it too!