Shout-outs to:

goddess of heroes and time, Turtles3, lovinbooks10, Rsblue1226, ElmoDaHorse, jallapercabethjiperhazeleo, MusicIsMyLife1214000, and Elmlea!

I'm so happy right now because my theory test is over! :D So happy!

I have a question. Am I allowed to use song lyrics in the story? Because some people say no, but there's ton that use song lyrics.

Disclaimer: I do not own PJO. Happy reading!

CHAPTER TWO

Walking to the stadium once more, Annabeth hurried along. She was going to be late. LATE. And then fired before her job even started.

Why did Thalia have to have the extreme movie marathon? Annabeth thought. I knew she went overboard.

Rapping on the door twice, she walked in not to be greeted by only Rachel, but a small group of people sitting in chairs.

"Hi Annabeth!" Rachel greeted, the incident that happened the day prior seemed to be forgotten as Annabeth was greeted. "Take a seat."

As she sat down, she observed the other people around Rachel.

One girl had chocolate brown hair tied in braids, her eyes looking almost kaleidoscope like. She looked Cherokee and was looking at the floor.

Another girl reminded Annabeth of Thalia the way she held herself. She had brown hair and brown eyes and reminded her of someone who held great power.

This one girl had a flawless complexion, with black hair and blue eyes- not really like Thalia, it held more girlish features.

There was a girl who had dark skin and hazel eyes that seemed to look through you.

Lastly, there was a pair of blonde twins that looked exactly like each other, both looking like real life-sized Barbies.

"This is my backup group," Rachel introduced, "Piper," She pointed at the kaleidoscope eyes girl, "Reyna," She pointed at the powerful looking girl, "Silena," She pointed at the flawless girl, "Hazel," Rachel pointed at the hazel eyed girl, "And lastly, the twins, Connie and Katie."

All six girls politely greeted Annabeth, mostly keeping to themselves.

"Okay, okay" Rachel loudly clapped her hands. "Let's get to work. Girls, teach Annabeth the usual routine." Rachel demanded.

Immediately, the girls lead her to the same makeshift stage from yesterday. Reyna began a monologue, it sounding bland and uninviting.

Halfway through, Annabeth was staring at a hand shaking in front of her.

"Hello? Earth to Annabeth?"

Annabeth snapped back to earth, realizing everyone was staring at her.

"I'm really sorry," She began, trying to formulate word, "It's just-"

"It's fine," Rachel interrupted, waving her hand dismissively, "Besides, I really should go. Got another date with Percy. You guys take the time to bond and get to know each other! Lock up after yourselves!" Even before the words left her mouth, she was gone.

Annabeth frowned. She didn't know what to think of Rachel- maybe she should be honored that Rachel already trusted her enough to allow her to lock up; however, Annabeth didn't like Rachel always leaving with hardly any instructions for her to follow through.

Immediately, the twins got up, lugging their somehow already packed bags, explaining, "And we've got to go to the appointment we were talking about." Nodding towards the other girls, they swiftly left the room.

Looking around, the other girls looked unfazed, meaning things like this happened a lot.

"The twins are allowed to come and go as they please," Silena explained, "They were here for much longer than any of us."

All of the other girls held a sad look, perhaps jealous of the two blondes.

"Well," Piper started, taking a chair to sit down, the rest of the girls following her, "since we're here, I guess we should…"

They were going to be there for a long time.

Later that night…

"May I see ?" Annabeth politely asked the receptionist, eager to see her dad after the long day at the stadium.

The receptionist looked up to glance at her, then promptly scanned a map of the hospital that was taped to the computer.

"Room 205A, to your right."

Although Annabeth already knew which room her dad was in, she gave her thanks, and then started walking down the familiar dimly lit hallway, her feet making a hollow squeaking sound that echoed loudly.

Strangers glared at her, being irritated at the lack of peace and silence. Even the little children looked so, making Annabeth feel self-conscious of herself.

Thankfully, she walked to the more isolated part of the hospital, for those people in critical condition.

Annabeth studied her plain black flats, worn down from the years she had worn it. I should get new ones for the concert, Annabeth thought, These probably wouldn't make Rachel too happy.

All of the sudden, she wasn't staring at her flats anymore.

She was staring at the green cotton material of a V-neck shirt.

Groaning, Annabeth picked herself up, quickly gathering her scattered belongings on the floor. Very faintly, she could hear someone apologizing over and over again, but that was put to the side as a headache started to appear.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there! Here, let me help me."

A large, calloused hand appeared in front of her face, and she gratefully took it, allowing herself to be picked up.

"Again, so sorry. If you know me you'll know that I'm quite clumbsy sometimes and- Annabeth?"

Bewildered, she looked up to see those vibrant green eyes intently staring at her.

"Um…Percy! Hi!" She greeted, her voice void of emotion. "What are you doing here?" Wrong thing to say. His eyes immediately hardened, probably remembering a bad memory.

"My mom got into a car accident," He answered stiffly. "I was just going to visit her." Annabeth nodded, being able to relate to the problem. "What are you doing here?"

Thrown off track by the question, she complemented whether or not to tell him the truth.

"My dad," She started, "has cancer." She truthfully said, her voice barely a whisper.

"Oh," was all he said, looking sympathetic.

Annabeth Chase did not need his pity.

For a while, they just stood there, beside each other, in an awkward silence. Annabeth watched as Percy shifted his left foot to his right foot, and then vice versa, his body swaying along.

Deciding to break the ice, Annabeth asked the first question that came to her mind, "How was your date?"

Percy looked up from his shoes, looking extremely confused. "What date?"

She faltered, not expecting such a reaction. "Um… the date… Rachel had with you today?" She asked, now curious.

"Rachel and I didn't go on a date today." Percy said, his nose scrunched as he carefully chose his words. "She told me that she had to help prepare you for the upcoming concert."

By now, Annabeth was deeply intrigued.

"Really?" She asked, as taken back as he was. "Well, she told us she had a date with you today."

"That's weird. Rach would never lie to me like that."

Annabeth winced at the nickname, for some odd reason.

"Well," she said, looking for the quickest way out of the conversation. "I better get going! My dad's expecting me, bye!" Although she saw that Percy wanted to say something, she quickly turned on her heel to get to the hospital room, leaving him gaping at her like a fish.

Annabeth knew she was being a bit unfair leaving him like that once again, but she had her reasons.

Obviously.

Reasons she weren't quite sure of. Yet.

In the hospital room…

"Hey dad," Annabeth whispered at her dad's sleeping form, "Are you awake?"

As an answer to her question, her dad slowly opened his musty blue eyes to look at her.

"Hey Annie," He greeted, almost too cheerful for someone who had cancer and was going to have surgery, "How's my baby girl doing?"

"I'm doing fine with my job. We're preparing ourselves for an upcoming concert. I'm really scared." Annabeth replied, absentmindedly playing with the edge of the bedsheet.

"Really honey? Do you need help?"

"I'm fine, dad." Annabeth replied, slightly laughing at the thought of her dad trying to help her. "You should just rest, don't worry about anything, because I can take care of it."

Sighing, her dad seemed to be bittersweet. "I still remember when you were a wee little girl," Her dad started dramatically, "You always came to me for everything- a school project, a knee scrape, boy troubles," He winked at the last one, "And now, look at you! You're all grown up, you graduated from college, and you're taking matters in your own hands." He looked fondly at her, his pride swelling. "What I'd give to see you as that little girl again."

"Dad, I-"

"I know, I know, you're a woman now. You're just still so young, and you're trying to support the surgery fees. I know it's not easy for you."

She felt her nose starting to sniff at the last sentence.

"Oh, Annie, come here."

And she hugged her dad tightly.

"You're so much like your mom, you know that?"

"I might have been told once or twice."

His smile widened, becoming those bright smiles that used to light up Annabeth's entire world.

And Annabeth knew, she just knew, that she had to keep on seeing that smile and she was determined to keep on seeing those smiles.

OMG, I hate the ending. But whatever. REVIEW!

FOR HARRY POTTER FANS, I got an idea for a Jily story. This is the summary: When Lily was young, her parents had wrote out a list. They titled it "What Your Boyfriend Should Be". In this list, they wrote up the essentials their boyfriend must have, and good things that are an extra. For spring break, Lily Evans invited her boyfriend, James Potter to stay over for the week. Her sister also invited her fiancé to stay for the week. Watch the sister rivalry begin. Should I write it?