Chapter 5

Percy

By the time I left my room first thing in the morning, my mom already had food on the table. There's a large array, blueberry jam, blue berry smoothies, blue eggs and toast, all my favorites.

What's with all the blue? Well it's a long story. My mom's ex-husband, and my step dad, he was a total jerk, but he kept a roof over our heads and food on the table. Either way, my mom was miserable with him, he once told her, sneering about it and calling her stupid, that there was no such thing as blue food.

So of course, the Jackson's rebellious genes kicked in. From that point on she went out of her way to eat blue food, silently telling him what a jerk he was. She'd never call him out, just smile and say 'of course Gabe' but the blue food was her way of saying, he hadn't broken her spirit yet.

A few years later, she divorced him and we've started to do okay on our own, but private school tuitions, especial with my record and grades, were out of the question. So we moved to this suburb in the middle of nowhere (okay probably not true but it sure felt that way).

My mom picks at her fruit salad, obviously troubled by something. My appetite fades almost immediately.

"Mom, are you okay?" I ask while studying her face. She blinks, like she's coming out a trance.

"Of course, just… thinking," She says, attempting to smile but it slides of her face again. "I really should head out." She mutters and grabs her bag for work. It's covered in news paper clippings and ink smudges

"Mom, wait! Were you thinking about dad?" I ask, recognizing the bittersweet look on her face, from every time something reminds her of my father. She sighs, apparently deciding not to try to lie to me.

"Yes, you look so much like him Percy." She puts her hand on my cheek and sighs. "He'd be proud of you."

"What was his name?" I ask, for the billionth time, somehow, hoping for a different answer.

"You know I can't tell you Percy." She shakes her head and wipes away a tear. "I wish I could, but I can't, he made me swear."

"So what?" I demand. "Some guy who just left you, he's more important than your own son!" I shout, losing my temper, but I'm not mad at my mom. I'm furious with my father, the fantastic role model, who got a girl pregnant, and instead of leaving her child support, made her swear to never tell anyone, not even the baby, who he was.

"You know that's not true" She shakes her head, and I feel horrid for hurting her.

"I'm sorry," I breathe, "I didn't mean it." I admit.

"I know" She smiles a little to show me that she's not hurt "Just leave it alone, Percy." She advises and heads out to her car parked in the driveway of our apartment building.

…

Trudging through the streets in the pouring rain would not have been my way to start a day, but unfortunately, I didn't really have a voice in the matter. Rain never really bothered me, but the cold certainly did. I hear whooping as a pickup truck speeds by me, dousing me with water, head to toe. I shake my head and laugh, letting it roll of my shoulders. I keep walking until a battered silver sedan pulls up next to me.

"Hey, Percy, want a ride?" Grover offers. I nod and hop into the passenger side. Grover's not much like Annabeth. He has some song about Muskrats playing in the radio, and he's not the best driver. We stall four times on our way to school and the tires squeal as we turn. It's not like Grover's reckless or anything, it's more like he's nervous, and hesitating.

"So, how long have you known Annabeth?" I ask, trying to see if talking will help him relax a little. It doesn't, he tenses a little and fidgets; obviously nervous.

"Umm about eight years." He admits, and shrugs without meeting my eyes; definitely a story there. I keep quiet, hoping to draw it out. Grover fidgets. Then he squirms; until he finally sighs "She was in trouble, her, Luke and this girl named Thalia. I tried to help but we all got busted anyways. We kind of bonded after that."

"Oh," I mutter. What do you say to that? I remember Luke, of course, but I'm drawing a blank on Thalia. "What's Thalia like?" I ask, he freezes again and the car stalls. He mutters something under his breath.

"She's great, She's… well she's pretty much an older Annabeth, with less cleverness and more rebellion." Grover explains, conjuring some scary images in my head. I almost laugh but then I notice the look on his face, you'd think we were at a funeral. "The thing is; she… went missing in December." The way he says it makes it clear he's counting the days since she disappeared.

"Was that normal for her? I mean was she the type to just disappear?" I ask, not realizing how offensive that could come off. Grover swallows.

"Yes"He admits but shakes his head. "She didn't get along with her dad, but she would've told us first." He shakes his head again, like he can't figure it out.

"By us, you mean: you, Annabeth, and Luke; right?" I check; he nods, and stares resolutely at the road. We're quiet for the rest of the ride. The silence is tense but I don't break it. I'm glad I waited it out though; Grover speaks first when we pull into the parking lot.

"Look, don't mention any of this to Annabeth, she doesn't trust very easily. She wouldn't be happy with me for telling you." He grimaces, just thinking about it.

"Yeah sure, dude" I promise as we head inside, wondering why Grover trusts me when Annabeth doesn't.

Annabeth

"Life is complicated" I think as I hop into Luke's car. He's sitting there, looking adorably messy. He grins at me in that big brotherly way, I've come to know, but it doesn't reach his eyes.

"Can we hang out at your place after soccer?" He asks as he pulls out of my driveway.

"How do you know I made the team?" I ask coyly. He grins, for real this time, and rolls his eyes.

"Don't try being humble." He criticizes and laughs. I shake my head and sigh.

"I didn't want to say it, but I wouldn't count on you making the team this year, I mean you're competeing with a lot of great girls." I tease, mock seriously. He laughs genuinely and lightly pushes my shoulder.

"Very funny, so is that a yes about hanging out?" He asks, much happier this time.

"Definitely," I promise.

…

"Is Ms. Olsen always that... excited?" Percy wonders as we walk out of Greek. I smile a little.

"Actually, she's was kind of withdrawn today," I joke. Percy's eyes widen, as he pictures Ms. Olsen, who I swear was the energizer bunny in a previous life, even more hyper. After I grin at him for a second, he seems to get that I'm joking now.

Suddenly, someone grabs my hand and tugs me over to the side of the hall. I wave quickly over my shoulder to Percy as Luke drags me into the rarely used astrophysics hallway.

"Jeez! Luke, what's going on?" I demand, leaning back for leverage. Luke skids to a stop. He takes a deep breath, apparently steadying himself. He roughly hands me a slip of paper.

"She's not gone." My eyes skim over the crinkled piece of paper before looking up at Luke. His face has the same stunned expression I'd see if I looked in the mirror.

"It's probably just a prank" Luke breathes. I raise an eyebrow, but he just shakes his head. "If it's not a prank then I don't know what to think…" He trails off. I step closer and hug him, just a quick squeeze, but he pulls me back and hides his face in my hair.

"Everything is going to work out." I promise, though I have no idea if I'm lying or not. Luke nods.

"Yeah" He mumbles after a moment and releases me. "I'm sorry, for freaking out." He pinches the bridge of his nose.

"Its fine," I assure him and take his hand. "But we should get to class."

"Of course" He half smiles, and walks with me to Sports and Society, still holding my hand. "You know you're the most goody-goody trouble-maker I've ever met in my life." He teases. I blush and roll my eyes.

We walk quickly into Sports and Society, minutes before the bell. Luke is still holding my hand the entire time. Until we sit down and I notice Percy looking at us like we we're just beamed down from the planet Zoon. I let go of Luke's hand without even thinking about it. This is strange for me, really; really strange. I'm,a overthinker proud and true, not an irrational person.

I spent the last ten-years doodling "Annabeth Castilian" on my notebooks, and now some new kid looks at me weird and I can't even hold hands with Luke? What is going on? Do I have a crush on Percy? Highly improbable, I mean I just met him right? We're barely even friends much less, more than friends.

Mr. Mason starts assigning partners for our first project. I realize nervously, Luke, Percy, Michael and I don't have partners yet.

"Luke Castilian and Michael Yew" Mr. Mason announces. I realize numbly that must mean…

"Annabeth Chase and Percy Jackson" Mr. Mason calls out and then to my humiliation, points out. "Hey look you're already sitting next to each other." I turn bright red as I feel the classes' eyes on me; including Luke's.