Disclaimer: I don't own anything!

California, for me, never really changed.

The palm trees were still there. The humidity was still high. And the beach was still packed with people. I know that the only reason why we were here was because of me and Thalia and Jason. We wanted to remember how our childhood was, our stolen childhood. And I held Thalia's hand when we passed by the park bench where she, Luke, and I met for the very first time. The memory was too painful for me and for her. We were so happy then. And he was so kind to us.

But maybe that was how it was supposed to be. Luke had to change so that I could be with someone who would suit me better, who would take care of me better. Maybe that was the case. If he never betrayed me, I would be too blind to see the absolute perfection that is Percy Jackson. I would daydream of being with him instead and never be fully satisfied, have a relationship that was heavily one-sided.

Once we reached a huge mansion on the suburbs, Percy pulled over and headed for the gate. I was actually thinking of the worst. Maybe he would break through them using the RV and just hold someone captive. Or just for the sake of fun. But he didn't. Instead, he spoke through the intercom and asked for Hazel Levesque, a name that sounded strangely familiar to me. Who was this Hazel?

Until, after a few moments of quiet contemplation, I finally realized that we were in actually at her house. I haven't seen her since that Christmas we spent together and I never actually thought that I would see her any sooner than that. Nico, too, seemed overjoyed which confused Thalia mostly. Did something happen between him and Hazel without us knowing it? And why was Jason so happy? I mean, of course, we should be excited but not too excited.

The said girl smiled as she stood outside the giant double doors, waiting for us to arrive. Beside her stood the same Chinese-Canadian baby faced man only known as Frank Zhang. Percy might have told them that we were going ahead of time and she told her boyfriend so that he would see us again while we were here. But that still didn't explain the fact that the boys were jumping up and down in excitement. Pure excitement. And what surprised me was that Hazel just laughed and stepped to the side, allowing them to run directly past her and up the stairs with Percy on the lead.

"What was that about?" I asked her, very suspicious. If this involved strippers or anything with a random naked woman in front of them, I'd probably just hit my friend square in the face even if she and I shared so much memories.

Without another word, they led us to the place where our boyfriends currently were. And, seeing that they left the door slightly open, I tried to take a peek and probably prepare myself for whatever this is.

And what I saw wasn't what I expected at all.

They were crowded around a moving figure, cooing and muttering words that I could barely understand. Thalia, being Thalia, broke the silence quite violently. She just happened to grab a dictionary and threw it across the room, not even bothering if it was a prized possession or something. The book hit the wall with a loud bang as it dropped dead on the floor. Only Percy looked up to see us standing by the door, quite pissed.

He scrunched up his eyebrows in confusion, practically asking us why we were just standing there. I rolled my eyes, "What is that?"

Suddenly, as if those three words were a sort of signal, the boys perked up and surrounded the moving object. The action prevented us from seeing anything but a blur of colors. I had a very, very bad feeling about this. And the other girls felt it too. We all crossed our arms simultaneously- as if we rehearsed it or something- and glared at them.

Frank just sighed and headed to the back of the circle and entered it easily. And we heard his usual "aww"'s and "that's so cool"'s. From beside me, Hazel cracked a smile. "Tell me the truth, Levesque" Clarisse fumed, her eyes locked on the other girl's golden ones. "What the hell is that?"

"You won't understand. It's only for guys." She said briefly, flashing a reassuring smile to those who already looked sorely defeated. I mean, somehow, us women dominate our relationships with them. They can never win against us. It is a lesson they learned the hard way when we were still children.

Out of nowhere, Nico- who was at the back of the circle, much too far away from us- came to hug Hazel tightly. I saw Thalia's eyes flash in jealousy. "This is honestly the coolest thing you have ever made in your entire life. I mean, seriously."

That was when I just practically lost my calm and grabbed my boyfriend by the collar of his shirt, pulling his face close to mine just so that he sees that I was dead serious and about to blow up like a volcano. But he didn't react like he usually does. This time, he just smirked at me, as if to challenge me. I don't know if I liked this side of him or just plain hate it.

"Why don't we just tell them?" Leo asked, giving up. "They'll get the truth out of us eventually."

His fellow men glared at him and told him to shut up. The Latino Santa elf said something about crazy friends under his breath. "Percy, this is breaking the promise you made me. You said we'll tell each other everything."

There was hesitation in his eyes and then he called the guys to huddle, weighing out the possibilities and thinking of everything before it even happens, something he learned from me I guess. Every once in a while, there would be an argument that's going to happen but is quickly solved when one reminds them of the problem at hand and how fighting won't solve anything. And, in the end, they finally gave in and looked at us.

"You can't touch it." Beckendorf warned, "At all. If you do, something bad will happen and we don't want that." He looked directly to Thalia who just shrugged and agreed.

The protective wall crumbled before us, revealing the most disappointing thing that I have ever seen in my life. It was a mere glass ball sitting proudly on a stand. We all shared looks and finally came up with one conclusion. The boys were going crazy. What's so cool about a glass ball? I've seen plenty of those in my lifetime and I really don't see anything special.

"Nothing's happening." Katie whispered to me, causing me to just nod.

"Is this it?" Thalia raised an eyebrow at it, which made the others just gasp and take a step backwards as if it was the most horrible thing they have ever heard in their lives.

"You can't see it?" Jason asked in disbelief, "Nothing?"

We shook our heads and Hazel laughed quietly, joining her boyfriend in the opposite group. "I told you only the guys can understand. If I didn't make it, then I wouldn't see either."

"What's it supposed to do, exactly? I mean, what are we supposed to see?" Piper questioned, rather impatient.

Nico, Percy, and Jason positioned themselves so that they were forming the three corners of a triangle. "This." Grover mused, closing his eyes briefly before staring at the ground.

Seeing that it was best to follow his example, we quickly blinked and looked at the floor, searching for a sign. It wasn't until the three guys extended their arms to the orb, holding what seemed to be different colored gems. Even from the distance, I could tell that they were real.

And that was when I saw it. I gasped, my jaw falling to the floor and my eyes opened wide. It was honestly the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life. It was so beautiful that it was so hard to describe it in words. The only thing I could say is that the colors just bounced off the ball and directly to the floor, creating very complicated shapes and patterns, some so much harder to do than the others. The three of them didn't even have to move to create the image. They just held the pieces of jewelry and carefully step forward at the same time, closing in on the glass until they placed what they were holding at their designated areas.

"I thought you said you can't touch it?" I accused, noticing that Seaweed Brain's hand grazed the smooth surface just slightly.

Beck just laughed, "I said you can't touch it. We just know where we can and where we can't."

Clarisse tapped her feet impatiently, "I still don't see anything."

Her boyfriend approached her and placed two hands on her shoulders, relaxing her completely for the first time in her entire life. It was when she reacted the same way that I did that I realized how much she actually appreciates it.

"Hazel, how did you make this and how come only the guys could see it at first?"

The dark skinned girl flashed a bright smile, "Well, only they can truly appreciate it, really, because they have an open mind and a good sense of imagination. Not all people have this and it's very hard to find test subjects these days. As for how I made it, that's for me to know and you to find out."

No one complained after that.

After I finally convinced my friends to leave the glass ball, we headed to our own bedrooms and start unpacking for our usual three day stay. Since Hazel's dad wasn't really against us in the first place, it was easy to convince him of our stay.

I couldn't help but think of the light show that I received a few hours prior. Because of modern day technology and some other things, maybe she just finally found a way to do this herself. I mean, Hazel is a smart person. It was possible that she just pieced together a puzzle of some sorts and gave us that as an outcome.

And then, everything became a blur when those familiar arms wrapped themselves around me from behind. "I should thank you. I never would have seen what I saw if it wasn't for you."

"Hazel told me about it when we were still at Damon's. She figured that people like me and the other guys would see it so easily."

This was the truth. Percy's imagination could be so much better than a child's, if it were possible. When we were kids, he would tell me about what he did yesterday that mostly involved battling the Minotaur or seeing Olympus. It hasn't changed much over the years but he rarely shares to me about those instances because he feels that I would find it too "childish" and "immature".

Anyways, before my mind begins to wander again, my boyfriend made sure that he was going to get what he wants first. I do tend to forget the reality when I'm deep in thought. I turned my head a little so that my eyes could meet with his beautiful sea green ones, letting those soft lips of his kiss my cheekbones until they travelled down to meet my waiting mouth. And I just moaned as I faced him, my hands buried in his hair and tugging those black locks at the roots- an action that didn't hurt him at all, by the way.

He smiled when we pulled away, giving both of our lungs the sufficient amount of oxygen. "God, Annabeth. It has been too long."

I agreed. I barely kissed him when we were stranded in the desert and the trip took so long with him behind the wheel. It hasn't really crossed my mind until now and I regretted not even giving him just a small peck. My lips tugged up to one of the side. "I guess we have a lot of catching up to do."

We spent the rest of the afternoon locked up in our bedroom, making-out and just being together. And no, we didn't let it go farther this time because I don't know if Hazel has a key to every room and, knowing my friends, they would do everything to see what we're doing. I mean, it did happen before when we were still at Percy's house and we were in a passionate make-out session and the Grace siblings barged in the room as if it were their own. Thankfully, we were still fully clothed but it was still quite embarrassing to see your best friend gaping at me and my position (straddling my boyfriend).

There I go again, totally distracted.

It was when Percy turned very hungry that we decided to finally go out of our room and show ourselves to the public. Of course, we were prepared for the teasing comments and kissy faces and probably some wolf whistling from our friends but what surprised us was that they were completely silent, as if they didn't even see us coming.

I looked at Seaweed Brain questioningly and he flashed me the same emotion, heading over towards the living room to see what they were doing. And what we saw practically explained everything.

Apparently, they were having an exciting game of Truth or Dare and all of them were victims of another person's assault. The worst of them all just had to be poor Grover who was covered in whipped cream and sprinkles and chocolate syrup. I had a very bad feeling that the Stolls have something to do with this.

"I don't know if I should be happy or disappointed that they completely ignored us." Percy whispered to my ear as he directed me to the kitchen.

A small laugh escaped my lips. I mean, of course we didn't want them to know anything about what we just did earlier but the silence was deafening and it made me a little uncomfortable. I was used to being fussed over. Were my friends finally growing up and acting their own age? I never thought it would ever happen and here they were trying to prove me wrong. But, the silly game they were currently playing was the only reassurance I have that they haven't changed completely. I still find it childish.

Anyways, I forced Percy to sit down on one of the stools and said that I was going to make him the sandwich of his choice. Since Hazel and her father granted us total access to the kitchen and any other recreational room in this house, we had to take advantage of things.

It was almost funny how I watched him stuff himself when I finished. Gosh, he's so adorable.

The other boys just happened to smell the food and paused the game just so that they could see what I was making, eventually asking their girlfriends- and in Connor's case, his brother's girlfriend- to make them something exactly like that. *Sigh*. Maybe I was wrong to say that they have grown up. It is too soon to tell.

"Wow, thanks so much, Annabeth." Clarisse groaned as she pulled out the ingredients. Honestly, she was very good in the kitchen. She just didn't want to show it to anyone because she was afraid that they might find that as a weakness. "You have now made my life so much harder."

I smirked and patted her on the shoulder, causing her to just glare at me. "Oh please, Clarisse, you have done so much worse than making a sandwich. Plus, think of Chris."

She just rolled her eyes but didn't say another word. Thankfully, the kitchen was big enough to handle all seven of them, counting Hazel, and they had enough space to work. As for me, I was already watching as the love of my life ate what I have given him.

Eventually, they managed to satisfy all of their cravings (food related) and decided to return to the living room, with my boyfriend and me in tow. After all, we had nothing better to do.

"Why don't we continue our game?" Connor suggested, "But this time, Percy and Annabeth should join us."

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