I am so proud of myself. TWO CHAPTERS IN ONE DAY! (This is a life acheivement right here, people.)
I would like to give a special thank you to the people who reviewed in the past 12 hours, especially the guest named DayDreamer. You guys don't know how much your comments mean to me- even if they're just a smiley face! I love you all, so here is your super special gift- another chapter! (Yay!)
I am not Rick Riordan. (That's how you say "I'm not Rick Riordan" in English. Cool, huh?)
Enjoy! (::)
Annabeth sat down on Piper's old Hello Kitty bedspread (an old joke from college), and looked around the bedroom. It hadn't changed much in all the years Annabeth had known her friend. There was the stuffed toy cornucopia that they had found on the army base after Thanksgiving one year, still sitting in it's place of honor on Piper's night table. All of Piper's teen boy band posters had been torn down when Jason had come around, so hanging in their place was a large picture of the happy couple sitting on a rock as they took a break from hiking. Annabeth smiled as her eyes turned to Piper's bookshelf. Annabeth always teased Piper about having no books on a perfectly good bookshelf, but the piece of furniture was one of her favorite things about Piper's room. It had been made by their good friend Leo (who had named it Buford II), and was now a shrine to Piper and Annabeth's years of friendship. It was covered with tiny souvenirs, magazine clippings, and pictures of the two of them throughout the years. There were always new photos appearing on it. Piper had given up trying to keep them all in frames years ago, so the bookshelf was covered in layers of loose photos and strips of peeling duct tape. It was basically a giant scrapbook in the shape of bookshelf.
Piper slipped into the room silently, and Annabeth patted the spot beside her sharply without even looking away from the bookshelf. Piper rolled her eyes and sat down slowly as Annabeth turned to face her.
"Annie, why are you smiling your creepy-calm smile?" she asked cautiously. Annabeth's complacent, yet regal smile stayed glued firmly in it's place.
"What did you say to Percy about a notebook?" she asked calmly. Piper's eyes flashed with fear. Could Annabeth know? She was certainly smart enough to figure it out, Piper thought, but it should have taken at least a little longer. They had been so careful in hiding it from her! Piper laughed nervously.
"I, uh, told you already. Percy thought we should work on the bridesmaid dresses. So that it would be one less thing for us to worry about. Yeah," she stammered. Annabeth continued to smile.
"That's not what I asked you," she said with a slightly condescending tone. "I asked what you said." Piper gulped, and looked around her room frantically, as if searching for an excuse to leave. Her eyes caught on the little dove necklace Annabeth had given her for her birthday.
"I lied," she said quickly. Annabeth's perfect smile did not waver.
"Continue."
"Percy was helping me figure out what to get you for being my maid of honor, and he came up with the idea of giving you a new notebook, because he knows that you like to draw-" Annabeth wasn't convinced, but she decided that she had scared Piper enough today. She let her mouth relax into a normal smile.
"Alright," she laughed. "I'll pretend I never heard anything." Piper let out a huge breath in relief.
"You know, you're really scary when you do that whole calm-and-in-control thing. It's truly frightening how you manage to show no emotions. The FBI lost a valuable employee," she giggled. Annabeth smiled.
"Who says I don't help them out from time to time?" Annnabeth pulled a pen out from her bag. She looked up at Piper. "Well, what are you waiting for? Let's design some bridesmaid dresses!"
Back in the library, Jason was cracking up. "A notebook," he laughed. "Seriously? You were trying to impress Annabeth by embracing your inner office supply." Percy looked offended.
"That's what Piper told me to do." Jason shook his head once more.
"I'll let her deal with this. But first, you've got to help me start my half of the guest list." Percy frowned, and Jason sighed. "Fine. We'll watch Finding Nemo tonight. Happy?" Percy beamed.
"YEAH! Can we make some pizza first?" Percy's stomach growled loudly, and he had the decency to look slightly ashamed.
"Oh, Percy. What are we going to do with you?"
Annabeth was pretty sure that the whole state of New York could hear Piper squealing. Plugging her ears, she sat on the bed and waited patiently. After a few minutes, she determined that it was safe to try and speak to Piper. "PIPER." Piper looked down at Annabeth in surprise.
"When did you sit down?"
"Ten minutes ago. Are you done screaming?" Piper blushed.
"Yes... but these dress designs are so beautiful!" Annabeth smiled.
"I'm glad you like them. I tried to emanate each of the personalities of the different bridesmaids-"
"EEK!"
"Really Piper?"
"Sorry, I got a bit too excited there."
The bridesmaids and groomsmen were basically a group of Piper, Annabeth, and Jason's good friends. Piper had chosen Annabeth as her maid of honor, with Thalia and their friends Hazel and Calypso as the bridesmaids. Jason had obviously chosen Percy as his best man, and his friends Frank and Leo as the groomsmen. They had all been friends in college, minus Percy, who had gone off to study marine biology in Florida. Piper had acted like the matchmaker fo the group, being happily in love with Jason (whom she had convinced to go to NYU to be able to spend more time together). Hazel and Frank had fallen for eachother soon after their first meeting, but they were both very shy. Piper ended up being the one who had gotten them to tell each other about their feelings. They were now five years engaged, and happily living together.
Leo and Calypso, on the other hand, had an entirely different backstory. They didn't really start off on a good foot, hard as Piper tried. Leo had dated a clingy girl named Khione back in high school, who refused to accept that he had broken up with her. And Calypso had actually met Percy in Florida while she was on break, and had fallen head over heels for him. Not long after, (since Percy wasn't interested) she realized that it would never work out, so they just became friends. When Calypso and Leo first met, it was more of a nuclear disaster than love at first two were polar opposites- a great cook and fabric designer versus a fire-loving mechanic and inventor. The situation wasn't improved when Khione reappeared and started to stalk Leo, and threaten Calypso's life. Annabeth had ended up calling in a favor with the FBI, and gotten Khione (who was actually an infamous Russian mobster's daughter) locked up for good. (Leo still commented about Annabeth's bad-ass super-spy-alter-ego from time to time. Calypso continued to tell Annabeth how she was eternally grateful for her help.) Calypso and Leo had finally realized their feelings for each other not long after the situation with Khione had been taken care of, and were now happily married with a baby on the way.
Jason and Piper had actually asked Thalia's cousin, Nico, to be a part of the wedding party as well. But he had refused, saying that he didn't feel comfortable. Nico and his sister Bianca had been good friends with Thalia and Annabeth for a long time. When Bianca died in a fatal car accident during her freshman year at college, Nico basically shut down. With Annabeth's help, he had gotten back on his feet. He was still reclusive, and always dressed in all black, but he still remained very close with Annabeth. She was, after all, the one who had helped him sort out his feelings during college, when he realized that he was in love with a boy for the first time. Nico was now very happy, being partners with William Solace, a surgeon who had joined their group of friends in their junior year of college.
Piper was successful in all of her matchmaking endeavors except for Annabeth, who remained single throughout college, though many boys pursued her (and recieved broken noses in exchange). Piper continued to try to set Annabeth up with boys time after time. Each one was worse than the next. Annabeth had almost strangled Luke Castellan, an actor friend of Piper's who had somehow managed to throw up on Annabeth's blueprints on three seperate occasions. Now Annabeth had a lurking suspicion that Piper was trying to set her up with Percy.
"No chance, no way- I won't say it, no, no. It's too cliche. I won't say I'm in... loooooove-" Annabeth's phone sang. "You changed my ringtone?!" she shrieked at Piper. Annabeth glanced at the caller. Percy Jackson. She hit ignore call. "PIPER!" Said person smiled at her innocently.
"I didn't do aaaaaaaaanything." She started to hum the rest of the song. "Great Disney movie, Hercules. Totally wrong with all the facts, but still really cute. You remind me a bit of Meg, Annie. You're both sassy, smart, brokenhearted-"
"We're looking at dress designs for your wedding right now, Piper. So shut up."
"Oooh, defensive. Are you hiding something?" Piper taunted jokingly. Annabeth ignored her friend and turned her attention back to her designs.
"JASON? I CAN'T SEE ANYTHING! WHERE ARE YOU?" Percy yelled.
"OVER HERE- ouch! I THINK I FOUND THAT FORK YOU WERE LOOKING FOR..." Jason yelled back.
It was practically impossible to see through the giant mushroom cloud of flour in the kitchen, and Percy kept pknocking stuff over.
"ANNABETH WON'T PICK UP HER PHONE!"
"WHY DID YOU CALL HER?" Jason screamed.
"I DON'T KNOW! SHE SEEMED SMART, LIKE SHE KNEW HOW TO MAKE A PIZZA WITHOUT MAKING IT IT EXPLODE!"
"WHY DID I LET YOU MAKE THE PIZZA?" Jason said, waving his arms around blindly and subsequently crashing into a pan.
"CAUSE I MAKE THE BEST PANCAKES EVER!" Percy retorted, yanking the oven door open.
"I THINK THAT'S ABOUT THE EXTENT OF YOUR CULLINARY ABILITIES, PERCY."
"I WOULDN'T SAY THAT JUST YET. BEHOLD THE MOST BEAUTIFUL HOMEMADE PIZZA IN EXISTENCE!" Percy exclaimed, brandishing a pizza pan above his head. The cloud of flour slowly started to settle, revealing sauce, cheese, pots, pans, and various cooking utensils strewn everywhere, all covered in flour. Percy shrugged his flour coated arms. "Should we clean this up?" he asked a frowning Jason.
"We should clean this up," Jason agreed.
Piper was oohing and ahhing over all of the dresses. Each one was the same style of dress (except for Thalia, who refused to wear anything with a skirt) but with different accents on them. Hazel and Calypso's dresses were a dark electric blue, made of flowing chiffon and silk. The tops were formed like sweetheart strapless dress but with one strap from the shoulder flowing around the bodice area to the back. Hazel's strap was sparkly silver with little embroidered gems and coins on it, as she majored in archaeology, and loved learning about ancient currencies. Calypso's strap was sparkly gold, with little suns embroidered on it, partly as a joke because of Leo, and partly because of her ever-sunny disposition. Annabeth's dress was a little different, though, being for the maid of honor. It was also made of chiffon and silk, but it was a light turquoise green color, the same shade as Percy's eyes. (Which was a detail that did not go unnoticed by Piper.) It had two thin sparkly silver straps instead of being semi-strapless, and it's bodice was a little bit different. It featured a bronze sparkly girdle (think Amazonian Queen war belt) embroidered onto the dress with little olive branches and owls in it's design. Wise like Athena, Annabeth thought to herself. Each of the groomsmen's tuxedoes was a deep black, had a white satin vest underneath. They also would have a white rose in the lapel. Each person had a different bowtie, though- each also made for the person's personality or interests. Frank's bow tie was silver to match Hazel's dress, and had designs of little chariots and scepters on it. Leo's bowtie was basically the same as Calypso's dress, but had little flame designs as well. Percy's bow tie was sea green, like his eyes (and Annabeth's dress, Piper noticed) with tiny bronze waves and tridents pictured on it. Annabeth had also included a bowtie for Jason, which was light gold with tiny wedding bells and gusts of wind on it.
"These are the most beautiful things I have ever seen!" Piper shrieked happily, clapping her hands. "We'll have to get them immediately!" Annabeth smiled at her friend.
"I'm glad you like them, Pipes. We should probably go find Jason and Percy now. I wonder what they've been up to all this time," she trailed off, sounding suspicious. "They're probably getting into trouble. Come on, let's go find them."
Annabeth and Piper walked into the kitchen, and Annabeth's eyebrows shot up. "What are you doing?" she asked Percy and Jason. The kitchen was relatively clean except for the two boys, who were covered in head to toe in flour. Percy smiled widely at Annabeth, who looked a little freaked out.
"I made you a smiley face pizza," he said proudly, holding up a dripping pan with some pepperoni in the shape of a droopy smiley face on top.
"That's supposed to be pizza?"
Piper elbowed Annabeth, and said, "It looks beautiful, Percy. You, uh, must have put a lot of work into that. Let's order some pizza, then we'll all eat dinner."
"And then we'll watch Finding Nemo!" exclaimed Percy happily.