Hey Guys! Chapter 7 is here! Enjoy!
Annabeth POV:
Upon closing the entrance and taking my seat at the table, I noticed Percy tense up. He pulled his old best friend bracelet I made him out of his pocket and squeezed it. I laughed slightly, not gaining any attention.
Flashback
"Oh, come on, Seaweed Brain!" I squealed, my high pitched, seven-year-old voice, laced in excitement. "This is really cool," I gasped, looking out of the plane window. My knees were tucked under me, securing my spot on the huge seat.
"Maybe for you," Percy said. He gulped. "This thing could fall out of the sky," he held onto his armrests, white knuckles looking like they were going to pop any second. Sally laughed at her son before returning to her book. I had the window seat and Percy got the middle, wanting to be cushioned in between us in case of emergency. I plopped back down into my seat and stared at my best friends' face.
"Are you really that scared?" I asked, getting mildly concerned. It wasn't long until I was looking back below us, taking in the sight of the clouds and tiny houses.
"A little," he admitted.
"Liar," I giggled. "Here," I reached into my backpack. "I made these for us so we could wear them in Florida, but maybe you can wear it now. Yours is blue and green. Mine is gray and blue. The blue connects us together. Whenever you get scared of something or lonely, you can know that you have a piece of me with you. Now when I go to California to see my aunt, you won't be calling me every two seconds." I laughed. His cheeks blushed, taking it from me and attaching it to his wrist. It was a simple string bracelet that I weaved, with beads on it too.
"Thanks," he breathed out. "I feel a little better." He laughed.
"I don't know why. I'm sitting right next to you. But, if it helps, I'm glad you like it," I smiled again. "Here, look out the window, it's so pretty," I stared in awe.
"No thanks, I'm good." He backed away in his seat.
"Your loss," I giggled.
Percy was still holding his bracelet. To be honest, I still had mine, attached to my personal microphone. He looked at me and I smirked at him. He blushed and I giggled a little more. He knew he was caught. I turned back to my songbook, scribbling notes on where to change and harmonize the lyrics. There were some parts that the lyrics lined up, but the chords didn't fit properly. It was truly aggravating.
Miss Moving On, from our first album started to play, and we all laughed. I looked up and started the intro.
"I'm breaking down, gonna start from scratch, shake it off like an Etch-A-Sketch," I pointed to Piper, shimmying my body while snapping to the beat.
"My lips are saying goodbye, my eyes are finally dry," She dramatically flung her arms around Hazel.
"I'm not the way that I used to be, I took the record off repeat," Hazel yelled, and I covered my ears.
"You killed me but I survived, and now I'm coming alive," Thalia screamed even louder. We all joined together, singing like a thousand dying cats just for fun.
"I'll never be that girl again, no oh oh!" We all said, breaking down laughing. I was on the floor clutching my stomach. It was days like these where I didn't worry about anyone or anything, just having fun with my girls. We heard deep laughter coming from the other room and I looked. I totally forgot the guys were here. Percy was laughing so hard he had tears coming out of his eyes, Jason was trying to breathe, Frank was holding his laughter in, and Nico was slamming his head into a pillow.
"It's nice to know you guys can laugh instead of being serious all the time." Jason said. We all stopped and stared. Whoops. I stood up and straightened my shirt before walking into the kitchen area. I scanned through the different smoothie options before landing on a simple kiwi-strawberry and banana power boost smoothie. The machine made a bunch of different noises before spitting out the liquid into my cup. Turning back around, I saw that Percy was in here too. I leaned back against the counter and looked at him. Realizing I used to look down, I now find myself looking up to meet his eyes. As I was taking a sip of my smoothie, he cleared his throat.
"Yes?" I asked, placing the cup onto the counter.
"Uhm," he started. His hand moved to the back of his neck, scratching nervously. "How are you?" he asked.
"The first thing you've actually said directly to me and it's 'How are you?'" I scoffed. "Great, Percy, just awesome." I rolled my eyes.
"It's not my fault that this is the first thing I've said to you." He said angrily. "I wasn't the one who took off and and forgot about my best friend. What did you want me to say? Hey how's it been? Sorry I didn't keep in contact, it's not like you were ignoring my calls and texts all this time." He mocked. My mouth fell open in shock, trying to process the words he just said to me. What he actually just said to me.
"Annabeth-" I cut him off with a wave of my hand.
"You know what? You're right. I'm gonna go." I went to move past him before he spoke again.
"So you're just going to leave again? Real mature Annabeth." He muttered, folding his arms.
"Yup. Watch me." I stormed out of the kitchen and into the girl's room. I changed out of my jeans and tanktop, slipping into a sports bra and matching shorts. Practicing some punches would definitely calm me down. I put on my gloves and velcroed the straps. Throwing my hair into a ponytail, I walked out to the main area. Pressing a few buttons, a punching bag came down from the ceiling. I took a deep breath and began to rap on it. Keeping up a steady pace, I realized I had eyes on me from across the plane. I stopped the bag and wiped my brow.
"What." I growled, looking at all of them and then down at my faint six pack and arms, seeing nothing unusual. I continued back at it again.
"Is something wrong?" Hazel asked quietly. I looked to the other end of the plane, where the boys were seated in the lounge.
"Nope." I scoffed, continuing to hit the leather ball.
"Annabeth, are you sure nothing's wrong? You're killing it." Piper pointed. My knuckles were a little cut up, blood mixing with the fabric of my gloves, and my arms went down. Releasing a sigh, my breaths came out fast but steady as I made eye contact with Piper. I gave her the 'I don't want to talk about it' look. I pressed the button again and the bag disappeared. I briskly walked back down the kitchen, passing the lounge on my way. Jason shot me a glance, so I stopped and folded my arms with a smirk.
"What? Wanna fight me?" I snapped. He looked at me like I was nuts. "Oh come on, it wouldn't be that bad you pansy." I laughed at his expression. The stress of talking to Percy diminished, leaving my shoulders like a weight.
"Maybe someone else wants to take you on," he smirked back. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I instantly knew someone was behind me. I crossed my arms over my chest and popped out a hip, all while staring Jason down with a grin on my face. It must have seemed lethal, because he looked just a tad bit frightened.
"Don't do-" I heard Hazel start to say from the conference table. A hand was placed on my shoulder and I immediately flipped them over my body and onto the plane floor. Lying in front of me was Percy, clutching his shoulder. "That." Hazel finished. I heard Thalia, Piper, and Silena snicker lightly. The other boys looked at me with shock. I bent down so I was still balancing on my feet and looked Percy in the eyes.
"Last year, blackbelt in Tae Kwon Do. Number one in my self defense class too," I chuckled. He offered up his hand and I grabbed it, pulling him up. "I do feel better though."
"Teach you not to sneak up on strangers huh Perce?" Nico laughed. Strangers?
"We're not strangers Death Breath." Thalia scoffed.
"Sure feels like it," he pointed out. "You guys are almost nothing like you were two years ago. It's all different."
"Well then let's fix that?" Hazel asked. She went over to sit across from the boys. Beckoning us to come too, we reluctantly sat down next to her. "What do you wanna know?" She asked. They all looked at each other, probably thinking that they would never get this far.
Jason was the first to speak and cleared his throat. "How are you?" Jason started, looking at Piper.
"Hazel, do I have to-"
"Yes." She put her foot down. "It's time for all of us to make up." She decided. You could hear Piper's dramatic sigh before she answered. Silena was still over at the conference table, spinning in her chair while giggling at our situation.
"Much better in these last few years." She nodded. Cue the awkward silence.
"I'm just going to cut to it," Nico said putting his arms out. "Why did you guys ignore us after you left? We tried to talk to you but we got pushed away." He had sadness in his eyes. Piper's mouth opened and closed like a fish, trying to find something to say.
"I know I personally couldn't handle it." I muttered, gaining all eyes on me. Clearing my throat, I continued. "I didn't want to, but you guys were on the same level as the Populars. And I couldn't help but to think that leaving would make your guy's lives easier." I whispered. "Ignoring your calls and texts was a way for me to try and move on, but I couldn't. When you guys secretly-not-so-secretly mentioned us on TV those few weeks ago.." I smiled, remembering our reactions. "It reminded us that you guys never actually gave us up."
"I just didn't want to lose you guys," Percy replied. "School was-" He sighed and discretely looked at me. "You were the only thing I looked forward to." He smiled. "Arriving and seeing you guys there, hanging out in the hallways or at lunch. It made school fun and something to make me want to be there." My words were stuck in my throat. I stared at him, feeling the heat creep up my neck, and quickly looked away. He did the same, looking at Jason.
"It was hell for us to have to be there without our best friends." Jason said, gaining nods from the rest of them.
"I'm sorry that us leaving impacted you guys the way it did."
"No, I get where you guys are coming from." Percy conceded. "We're sorry for making you guys feel that way."
"So?" Frank tried. "Where does this put us?"
"Can we have our… best friends… back?" Nico asked. He sounded really hopeful, but tripped over the 'best friend' part. I don't know about the rest of the girls but I launched myself at Percy. I engulfed him in a hug, turning to see my other best friends doing the same. After laughing into his neck, I pulled away to look at him.
"I missed you," My eyes filled with tears. He smiled back at me and then ruffled my hair.
"Yeah, me too." He slipped his arms around me and squeezed, in turn burying his head into my shoulder. I hugged him back and let out a sigh of relief. It was good to have him back.
Aaaaaand that's Chapter 7! Sorry it's kinda short.. The next one will hopefully be wayyy longer.. See you guys later!
