Longest chapterrrrrr! YAY :) I'm also very excited because after months and months of trying to fit puzzle pieces of my other story together, I'm actually getting somewhere! So, the next chapter for "Why Him?" May or may not be out in the next week.. :D (For people who follow that story obviously) Okay, enough about that! Here's chapter eight!
Disclaimer (Haven't had one in a while): All characters and names in this story belong to Rick Riordan and others, besides the ones I've made (I don't think I have) And the Mall of America is actually a thing so I didn't make that either.. Anything I've missed let me know!
Percy POV:
We landed on a private runway somewhere in Minnesota for our first stop. We had only been flying for a few hours but the girls insisted we stop and let us get out for a bit, which was fine with me. Apparently we weren't just flying straight to New York. This trip was going to take days at this rate. They were running around the plane grabbing bags, purses, and shoes. Annabeth walked out in a sweetheart neckline dress that had a black top and peach bottom, separated by a silver belt. She had on black laced stilettos that made her almost my height, and held a silver clutch in her right hand. Her hair was pulled up in a crown braid, but it also had a bun on the top of her head. Piper came out with a white frilly shirt and black shorts, pairing them with dark green high heels. Her hair was down and feathered, like usual, and she shrugged a white purse over her shoulder. Thalia had a navy blue low cut shirt and black skinny jeans, pairing them with her combat boots. Her hair was spiked as usual and she held a teal clutch. Hazel was last, with a white topped dress and a light blue bottom. She had a golden satchel across her body with matching high heel greek-styled sandals. She had her hair pulled back in a ponytail, but a lot of curls were hanging loose.
"You guys are wearing that?" Piper asked with a disgusted look on her face. I looked down at my usual black v-neck shirt, jeans, and Nike sneakers. Just because they were wearing high end clothes and intricate makeup doesn't mean that we had to. "We're going to the Mall of America. Your fans don't want to see you dressed in those clothes." she scoffed.
"This is what I usually wear, and I'm not changing it. And the Mall of America? Seriously? You guys stopped the plane to go shopping." I laughed.
"Some of it is for shopping but some of it is also to show our fans where we are. If you're gone too long they create stories. Which is also why you guys will be nowhere near us when we enter that building." Thalia commented. "Don't need those types of stories floating around." she grimaced. I heard the guys snicker and the girls turned red-faced.
"Guys I can't wait! Let's go already!" Hazel whined. I saw why Frank liked her, she was really cute when she did that. She's so little.
"We can't leave until they agree to the rules." Piper crossed her arms.
"We agree," We all sighed. Annabeth grabbed my arm and dragged me out of the plane and towards the limo waiting for us. We got the seats right near the door, and Annabeth smirked. She seemed really proud of herself and I didn't understand why until the other girls got here.
"Annabeth! No fair, you always get the seat closest to the door when we shop." Piper pouted.
"Yeah 'cause I want to get this done and over with as soon as possible. I can't do that if you stand here waving to your fans while the rest of us are trying to get out." Annabeth laughed. She smiled even bigger and rolled down the window when the car started moving. Some of her curls came loose and were moving with the wind, framing her face and making her even more beautiful.
When we pulled up to the mall, all the girls put on their Ray Ban sunglasses and stepped out. It wasn't even a second until we heard 'Oh my God! Look! It's The Sirens!' from inside the limo. As soon as we saw that they were gone, we circled the building and pulled back up to the front so it didn't look like we got out of the same vehicle. Well, at the same time. Climbing out of the limo with our shades on, we were crowded by our own group of fans. I think I signed somewhere around 20 autographs before I even made it two steps away from the car. By the time we had gotten into the mall, the boys and I were scarred. That was our first on-contact meet with fans without a security guard, and the girls blew right through it no problem. To make it less suspicious, and also so we didn't get mauled, we split up and went looking for the girls. I know, we weren't supposed to, but I wanted to see what Annabeth was shopping for. She was never the shoppy type of girl when we went to those New York malls all those years ago. I passed by different stores, peeking in and taking a guess if she would be there or not. As I was passing Victoria's Secret though, I noticed her at the center counter. I mentally laughed, never even guessing Annabeth as this type of undergarment shopper. Sneaking up behind her, I looked at the blue lacey bra she had in her hands.
"That looks nice," I commented in her ear. She whipped around and held up her arms, ready for a fight. When she saw it was only me, she turned back to her selection with a deep blush on her face.
"Oh yeah?" she said sarcastically. "It's the new version of the one I'm wearing." she laughed. It was my turn to have my face change to a deep red color. I cleared my throat and kept on.
"When you're done here wanna go to the Food Court? I want Chinese." I decided. Annabeth loved Chinese food, and I really did too, so that's how I knew I could drag her in. She considered me for a moment before grabbing her items and walking up to the counter, paying for her stuff. She walked past me and to the right, disappearing around the corner. I hurriedly followed, trying to keep up with her fast pace. "How do you walk so fast in those things?" I pointed to her heels.
"Practice," she laughed. "Lots and lots of practice.. and Piper."
"Have you been here before?" I asked, looking at all of the different shops, people, rides, and so much more. This place was amazing.
"Yeah a few times." She shrugged. "We never really stay for the park or anything. Just shop, pay, and get out before anything bad happens." Her face turned dark, like she was recalling a bad memory.
"Did- Did anything bad happen before?" I asked cautiously.
"Hey, we're here." She pointed quickly.
We found a seat on the edge of the food court, her sitting down and me going to order food. When I got back, Annabeth was having a conversation with a blonde dude. He stood up upon noticing me, handed her a piece of paper, and waved goodbye, Annabeth doing the same. She took a Yankees baseball hat out of her bag and put it on before taking the food from me.
"What's that about?" I asked.
"The hat? I told you Perce I can't be seen with you." She took a bite and then handed me a hat too. "Put that on." she demanded.
"I wasn't talking about the hat, but okay." I replied. She gave me a 'seriously' look and then shook her head.
"You're jealous," she decided with a giggle.
"I am not!" I fired back. "You had a normal conversation with a person and they didn't even ask for an autograph." I lied. I was totally jealous, and she knew it.
"That's because Malcolm is my cousin." she peered over her sunglasses. "I said hello and that even though it was nice to see him again, he couldn't stay long because of who I am, and that I'm 'undercover' at this moment. He understood and gave me his number to call later. End of story Mister Jealousy." She stabbed her noodles.
"I'm not jealous," I grumbled.
"Mmhm," she took another bite. We ate in awkward silence until she spoke again. "You ready to go?" She looked at her phone. "We only have two hours left to shop and I have to hit seven more stores." She looked at me and I nodded. We threw away our trash and exited the food court. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and she glanced up at me. I gave her a smirk, her nudging me off of her shoulders and shaking her head.
"Ooh, come in here," She grabbed my hand and dragged me into some store, snatching some dresses, shirts, and pants off of the racks. She makes me sit down on some bench across from the dressing rooms and disappears behind the door. Five minutes later she came out in some mint high waisted shorts and an over the shoulder black top. She spun around and stopped to face me.
"Well?" she asked. When I gave no answer, she huffed. "You're no help." She pointed laughing. I raised my hands in surrender, laughing along with her. She came out in every outfit, and I learned to make little comments, judging what I liked or what she looked good in. Finally it was a long sleeved maroon shirt, paired with a grey skater skirt and a white scarf. She had let her hair down for this one, and I couldn't help but to be speechless.
"How about this one?" she smiled and looked in the mirror.
"T-That's gr-great," I scratched the back of my neck. She took notice immediately, smirking at me and going back behind the door. She came out with an armful of clothes, walking to the counter. Swiping her card, she handed me the bags. I rolled my eyes and took the thousand bags she's gotten so far.
"We are going to Barnes and Noble." She smiled. "It's a little bit of a walk, but we go past it to get back to the limo anyways." She explained. We walked and walked until we were passing Nordstrom. She turned and smirked, grabbing my arm and dragging me in. "Clothes for Percy!" She cheered excitedly. I groaned. I didn't mind shopping, but for myself, it was like 'kill me now'.
"Annabeth I don't want to-"
"Quiet." She shushed me. Murmuring to herself throughout the store, she was grabbing armloads of jeans, polo shirts, and… a sweater?
"Nope. That's where I draw the line." I stood there with my arms crossed, maneuvering around the bags that I had to carry.
"Why not? It's cute." She smiled. "I'm getting it." She slung the thing over her arm.
"Who said you were paying?" I asked her.
"If I left it up to you, you wouldn't buy it. So I'm getting it." She smirked defiantly.
"No." I pushed back.
"Fine then you can pay for it, but you're buying everything I have in my arms right now. And I know that they're your size so don't even start." She pointed, stopping my next argument in its tracks. "Good. Let's go." She placed all of the items on the counter, waving to the sales clerk as she went.
"Shopping huh?" The man whispered to me as I was swiping my card. "Never shop with the girlfriend." He shook his head laughing.
"She's not my girlfriend." I replied casually. He looked at me for a moment before shaking his head again and returning to the computer.
"Well then I'd get moving before someone else makes that choice." He told me. I was about to reply but Annabeth came over again.
"All set?" Annabeth asked as we grabbed the bags. I nodded, leaving the store as quickly as I possibly could. We trekked back to the entrance we came in, eventually making it to Barnes and Noble. Annabeth went in and got a few books before coming out and meeting me on the bench.
As we were headed back to the plane, we ran into Jason and Piper. They came around the corner and stopped dead in their tracks when they saw us.
"You-!" Both the girls started.
"No don't even-" Piper said.
"Don't you dare-" Annabeth glared.
"I can't believe-" Piper replied throwing her hands up.
"Look at you!" Annabeth retorted. Me and Jason were following the conversation with wide eyes. Well, as much as you could follow all this crazy girl talk. They weren't even using complete sentences. We then looked at each other and shrugged. Frank and Hazel took that as their moment to come around the corner, Hazel squeaking when she saw us.
"I can explain!" she squealed when the girls glared at her. They all went into a heated argument in the middle of the mall. And isn't it our luck that Thalia and Nico popped out of the store right next to where the girls were. Us guys hurriedly started waving our hands in front of our throats, telling them to cut it and leave while they could.
"See! There proves my point!" Piper yelled pointing at Nico and Thalia.
"Oh like you're any better!" Thalia scoffed.
"Am I the only one that's confused?" I whispered to Jason.
"No," Frank muttered.
"Fine!" They all yelled and stalked off to the car waiting for us. I followed quickly trying to catch up to Annabeth. I did have most of her shopping bags anyway.
When we got back to the plane, the girls scattered in every direction. I followed Annabeth, placing all of her bags onto the table she sat at with her arms crossed.
"You wanna talk about it?" I asked.
"No." she muttered. "Piper just can't get over herself!" She yelled so everyone heard her.
"And Annabeth is too much of a wimp to tell people what she really thinks!" Hazel shot at Annabeth.
"Well Hazel is too blind to see what's right in front of her innocent little face!" Thalia yelled from the bedroom.
"Thalia is too scared to tell the truth about how she really feels!" Piper shrieked.
"Okay that's enough!" Jason yelled. "Everyone in the living room now. Or whatever this is called," he said. The girls came out from different areas and sat down on the couch.
"What is that all about?" Nico asked. The girls scoffed and all replied at once.
"None of your damn business," They all muttered. I was personally shocked. For one, at their coordination, and two, that's a lot of sass being thrown at Nico. I almost gave him an ice pack.
"Okayyy," Frank said. "It is our business if you guys are fighting because when we land you guys have a day to get ready and perform in New York. It seems like a lot of time but it's really not. And you can't do that if you're all arguing." He crossed his arms. Good going, I mentally commented.
"We can't tell you." Annabeth muttered. "It'd ruin everything." She added.
"It can't be that bad," I replied trying to get her attention.
"You'd think so Fish Face." Piper laughed.
"It would ruin everything, and it's exactly the same reason why we left." Hazel rolled her eyes. And then like someone pressed a button, her eyes widened and she looked at all of us with fear splashed across her face. "You didn't get that. Please, tell me you didn't understand that." She started fanning her face. "Oh my Gods. Oh my Gods this is bad. Really, really bad."
"Hazel you shut up right now." Thalia whispered in a deadly voice.
"I don't get it." I answered Hazel.
"That's a good thing Seaweed Brain," Annabeth laughed. "We just need to get off of this plane and land in New York so our issue doesn't evolve more than it already has." She huffed.
"I think it's a little late for you," Piper giggled.
"I wouldn't be talking there Beauty Queen," Hazel sang.
"Hazel you're no better," Thalia scoffed.
"And you have room to talk?" Annabeth glanced at Thalia. They all merged into a giant stare down, angrily waving their hands every now and then like they were speaking. I was not going to make it to New York at this point.
Yayyyy I'm so happy :)))))))
