It's been like a month...sorry. This is chapter 3 of The Right Kind Of Mending. This chapter is almost 2,000 words and is longer than the last 2 chapters, so I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. I also tried to make it a bit more interesting...
Annabeth. Luke. Friends. Happy. Luke. Butterflies. Feelings. Evil, evil Luke.
It's been almost a week, and my mind always finds a way to wander from homework and television to Annabeth. In addition to my agonizing pain, Luke Castellan just seems to keep on appearing everywhere. Even worst, the target his eyes always seem to land on is Annabeth. I, in a partially honest opinion, don't have any idea to why I even feel any sort of way when I spot something like this happening. In a completely honest opinion, I'm jealous.
"Percy, sweetie, would you like anything to take to your mother?" Leo's mom asked politely. I obliged and received a few extra cookies to take to my mom in the hospital. She couldn't possibly be satisfied with the crap they call food at that stupid hospital.
Instead of heading straight home, I took a walk around my neighborhood and found myself outside of it. I recognized my location and headed towards the only place where nobody would care to go to at this time of day, the park.
As the park came into view, I quickly spotted a park bench and let out a deep sigh as I sat myself down. I spent hours just thinking about my mother, Gabe, Annabeth, Luke, and I even caught myself thinking about Leo singing that song oh so terribly.
I must've thought way too hard because I started to see a familiar figure walk towards me, and it came to my realization that it was Annabeth. She silently made her way over and I scooted over to the left side of the bench so could could sit down.
"Hey, Seaweed Brain," she chuckled. "I didn't expect to see you, or anyone of that matter, here at the park at this time of day." Wow, I could've sworn this girl read my mind.
"No way, I was thinking the exact same thing!" I looked down letting out this nervous laugh and maybe even blushing. I finally built the courage to look up and found her giving me this amazing smile that could make me blush the way I was a million times in one. I casually shook my head out of it and starting talking.
"I just come here to clear my head of things that keep popping up in my mind. My mom for example, and my step-father." It's funny how it was so easy to rid of my smile as soon as Gabe made an appearance in my mind.
"I'm sorry about your step-father. I didn't know he was hurt, too." she sympathized for me. I immediately felt a sudden urge to laugh come over me, but I withheld. There's no way I couldn't go without a smile though which after thinking about seemed shallow and straight out mean.
"My step-father isn't necessarily the awesome, caring dad you would picture. He's pretty terrible, actually." There, now my smile doesn't look all that malicious anymore...right?
"So what exactly is your step-father like then? Is he like the evil step-mother from Cinderella in man form?" She questioned with a sarcastic smirk playing on her face. I loved it.
"No, he's more like a Duck Dynasty looking, cheating, nasty club goer who is surprisingly married to my amazing, sweet, and beautiful mom. He's in the hospital with some serious conditions. He's not on the verge of death or anything, but they think he's going to be in there for months."
"That kind of sucks. How's your mom?"
"She's going to be out in less than to weeks actually," there was this spark in her eyes for a second and then it quickly went away. "I'm just really happy that nothing major happened to her."
"Sounds to me like you're a mamma's boy." she joked. I wasn't going to deny it though. I was most definitely a mamma's boy.
"So, what's your excuse for being at the park?"
"I was getting a way from someone."
"Who?" and the award for being the most oblivious idiot in New York goes to...Percy Jackson! She would've said who she was trying to get away from on instinct if she really wanted me to know, but I wasn't going to sound even more tremendously stupid like when I told her that she didn't have to answer my question at the hospital. The wisest choice for me was to keep my mouth shut.
"Oh well, I w-was a-actually, um. Luke. Yeah, I was trying to get away from Luke. Running from him actually." and all of a sudden Annabeth Chase became a hidden, insecure, timid teenage girl.
"I'm sorry for bringing it up in the first place," I didn't know what I was feeling but it was like a hole digging deeper into my stomach. "It's not my business, I'm sorry."
"No, it's, uh, I shouldn't be really hiding this from anybody anyway. I know I hardly know you, but can I trust you? With this one thing?" she had this vulnerable, pleasing look and her voice was breaking into pieces. I fiercely nodded my head not wanting to see her any more broken-looking than she already was.
"Yes, of course. You can tell me. What's bothering you, Annabeth?" I was trying my best to be sincere and calm, but I was just overwhelmed with worry. What could Luke possibly be doing that's making her so upset?
"So, Luke and I have been dating for a couple of months. I've known him for years and he's been like a best friend to me. I was a bit hesitant at first, but I agreed to date him secretly to avoid any drama at school. Anyway, he was invited to this party and it was required that he bring a date, and he couldn't bring me if he were secretly dating so he brought Chrissa Morrison. My friend Thalia, who was one of the only people who knew about Luke and I, went to the party and told me that she saw Luke doing things with Chrissa in a closed bedroom." I was utterly shocked to hear any of this stuff spilling from her mouth. Annabeth was a smart, beautiful girl who surely deserved better than what Luke was giving her.
"Annabeth, Luke's a jerk. What he was doing was not okay, and he's even more of a jerk if he thinks it is. I'm incredibly sorry to hear that that happened to you. Why would he do that?"
"I don't know," she was crying at this point. "He was probably getting bored. I don't think I was good enough for him anymore." I was officially broken in half no, thirds no, millionths. I hugged her so tight and hard that she could've bursted, and frankly, she didn't seem to mind.
The next morning, Annabeth was there waiting by my locker with a hopeful look on her face. Last night we talked for hours and I offered to walk her home, but she requested that we stay a bit longer. So, we laid down on the warm grass and talked about everything from our private lives to childhood memories to friends at school. I never felt so launched in serenity in my life. We opened up to each other like we were the best of friends when we barely knew each other for a month.
"Hey, Wise Girl. Your locker is on the other side of the school. What're you doing at mine?" I was really hoping that she didn't jump to any conclusions.
"I know that, but I was wondering if you had anything planned tomorrow night? There's this cotillion thing that my dad is making me go to and my partner canceled on me the last minute. I would ask Jason, but with Piper being his girlfriend and all..." I knew exactly what she meant. It would be extremely awkward to go to a fancy dance ball with your friend's boyfriend.
"I don't have anything planned actually, so I guess I could go." I shrugged. Annabeth's face immediately lit up.
"Thank you so much, you don't understand how much of a relief it is to have somebody I actually know to be that close to. You know, when we're dancing. If my partner didn't cancel, I would be forced to go with a complete stranger." I gave her a cheeky smile and a thumbs up which I found weird and put down after about 2 seconds.
"Gladly, but I just ave one question. How exactly am I supposed to dance with you at a cotillion if I don't know the dance we're supposed to be dancing?"
"Do you think you can meet up with me after school in the studio area of the gym? I can teach you there."
"Sounds good to me. I should probably head to class though, so I'll see you after school right?"
"Yeah, totally," she sighed and smiled at me once more leaving me in a half-dreaming stage. "Thank you, again." she kissed me lightly on the cheek and hurriedly headed to class leaving me with my face on fire.
"I don't know the first thing about dancing." I was being completely honest. The last time I danced was at Leo's 7th birthday party, and I knocked down the 3 layered tray of cupcakes.
"It's okay," she told me coolly. "You don't really have to. You just have to know how to move your feet without looking at them is all." she laughed. She grabbed a hold of my hands and then it began. A weird, fun evening is what I would call it. It took a lot of toe stepping and bumping into one another until we finally got the dance down. It wasn't too difficult and wasn't very long, either. We did a last run through it with her following my lead. We were up to the last couple of steps; I spun her and then pulled her really close, really fast. Suddenly, I couldn't breathe.
I was staring straight into her amazing gray, eyes that would swirl like a storm and suck me in like a vacuum. I still had a firm, tight hold on her waist and her arms were wrapped around my mid-back. I would pull away and call it a day, but I really didn't want to. She was mesmerizing and I just hoped the feelings weren't one-sided.
"W-we got the dance down," she half whispered. She slowly unwrapped her arms from my body and I released my hold from her. There was a sudden rush of cold air on my chest. She grabbed her bag and was about to say her goodbyes when I cut in.
"You want me to drive you home?" she looked taken back then nodded her head. I made a reach for my keys and my backpack and we headed out the gym door. The ride home was a conversation filled with funny moments during our practice for the cotillion that afternoon. When I finally reached her house, I walked her to the door.
"Thank you for tonight, teaching me the dance and all."
"I should be thanking you for agreeing to do something so last minute." I gave her this ridiculously large smile that she attempted to hide her laughter at. When that died out, she took a glance at her shoes then shifted her eyes to mine. Without a warning, she grabbed a hold of my cheek with her hand and pecked my lips. She paused then collected her hand, said goodbye and went inside her house. I smoothly made my way back to my car and took a deep breath to keep myself from screaming loudly enough to alarm the entire neighborhood. I was still contemplating whether I should or not.
Thanks for reading chapter 3 and I'm doing a lot of things this summer so I;ll be writing, but I won't be writing all too frequently. I'll try to post more within a 2 week range. Stay tuned for chapter 4...