Missing Him
Ever since he left, she's been falling apart. There hasn't been a day where she hasn't thought about him. There hasn't been a moment where she hadn't thought about how she treated him. She tried blaming all she's done on her mom. Maybe it's the absence of her mother that made her like this. Maybe it's because she doesn't have someone to go to talk about her problems. She tried blaming it on her mother, but she knows the guilt eating her up is because of her actions towards him.
The sudden change in Annabeth's behavior was noticed easily by others. Instead of being excited for school (summer school), she became like any other normal student in school. Instead of participating in class discussions, she sat quietly in the back of the class. She didn't drop out or anything – she was getting good grades – but good wasn't good enough for the real Annabeth. She strived for an A+ but not like before, when she strived to answer her questions like a college student.
Annabeth barely even hung out with Luke or Thalia anymore. Her daily routine was getting up, go school, go home, do homework, sleep, and so on. Her isolation to everything started to get everyone worried. Fredrick tried asking Annabeth what's wrong but she would always reply with a "nothing" or "let it go". It hurt a little to see his daughter this way and not know why.
It got to the point where Thalia couldn't take it anymore. It was a few weeks after Percy left and Annabeth was still trying to go through it herself. After school, she started walking home when she got pulled into an alley.
Annabeth took a swing with her fist, hopefully hitting the offender.
"Whoa! Annie! It's me!" the attacker yelled. Thalia let go of Annabeth's shoulders and rested her back on the wall of the alley.
"Thalia?" Annabeth blinked. "Gods, don't scare me like that!"
"Sorry. I just needed to talk to you," Thalia said, still keeping her distance from Annabeth.
Annabeth scoffed. "Well, normal people would approach the person. Not attack them!"
"You're over-exaggerating this whole situation, Annabeth."
"Whatever," Annabeth said, "What did you need to talk to me about?"
Thalia swung her arm around Annabeth's shoulders and started walking gods-know-where. Annabeth can tell by the look on Thalia's face that this talk wasn't going to be pleasant.
"What's wrong?" Thalia asked.
Annabeth opened up her mouth to say 'nothing' but Thalia shot her a warning glare. She sighed and looked down to the ground. Thalia store at her best friend in sorrow. It's hurting for her to see her practical sister be all depressed.
"It's that Jackson kid isn't it?" Thalia asked with concern.
Annabeth felt that pang in her heart. The mention of Percy made her want to break down and vent all her feelings to Thalia. How she felt so guilty for ditching Percy last year and didn't even show up to the airport to say bye. Those emotions of guilt and hurt overwhelmed her so much that she sometimes broke down at night. But she can't let herself go in front of Thalia, that's just too embarrassing for Annabeth.
Thalia could tell that Annabeth was holding a million things inside her – just by the way her eyes were clouded and it looked like she was solving a thousand math equations. Thalia knew that Annabeth was debating with her mind. She has seen Annabeth cry before but it was because of her mother issues and Thalia knew how to comfort her on that. But now, it was different. It looked like Annabeth was fighting the urge to cry.
It took two simple words to drive Annabeth over the edge.
"Tell me."
Annabeth hugged Thalia with such force, she had hard time breathing. Thalia embraced her best friend, trying to hush her from her sobbing.
"I don't know where it went all wrong!" Annabeth exclaimed, her voice muffled in Thalia's shoulder. "I-I feel that all this guilt in me is all m-my fault."
"Well, it kind of is. You practically threw yourself all over Luke when Percy was around," Thalia chuckled, trying to calm to situation.
Annabeth took her head out of Thalia's shoulder and looked at her with red, puffy, and shocked eyes. "Why do I come to you, of all people, to vent?" she said, still a bit hurt from Thalia's words – not knowing if that was the truth.
Thalia laughed. "I was kidding. And you come to me because I tell the best advice," she smiled. Then her smile faded when she saw the tears roll down Annabeth's cheeks. "Hey, Annabeth, what had happened between you and Percy, it's all in the past. If there's one thing I know about you two, it's that you guys always make up through the stupidest things. Give it some time. That Kelp Head will come to his senses and realize how stupid he was for leaving you like that."
Annabeth knew she made the right choice when it came to telling someone about what's going on. She smiled and hugged Thalia.
"I miss him so much," Annabeth mumbled in Thalia's shoulder.
The next day at summer school, Annabeth walked around the school a bit better. Thalia's words really helped her. She had a feeling that Percy would call her and talk about what happened. It was a feeling that Annabeth was sure about.
After school, Annabeth was walking home and passing the park. She held her phone in her hand, just in case. There, she spotted Luke playing basketball with a few friends on the court. She tried hiding her face using her binder and speed-walking across the park. After all this time avoiding Luke, she didn't feel like speaking to him right now. Especially since Percy left, she feels that her guilt was because of Luke too.
"Hey, Annabeth!" Luke shouted out.
Damn it, Annabeth thought. Luke ran up to her and stood in front of her. A smile was spread across his face, stretching the long, white scar going across his face. The scar only brought back memories that Annabeth didn't want to remember.
"Hi Luke," Annabeth greeted, forcing a smile on her face. "How are you?"
"I'm good," Luke replied, "although, I think the real question is 'how are you'? You've been avoiding me."
Annabeth blinked and tried coming up with an excuse. "N-no! Of course I wasn't. Things are stirring up at home with step-mom and all that, it's kind of affecting me." Luke knew she was lying but he didn't care about it to ask more.
"All right then," Luke said.
Annabeth pursed her lips and gave a slight nod. She resumed walking home again until Luke called out again.
"Hey, so school's starting in a few weeks. And I was wondering if maybe we could . . . you know . . ." he trailed off.
"I know what?" Annabeth asked, clearly confused.
"I was wondering if you, well, want to go out?"
Annabeth eyes widen in shock – like Luke just asked her to jump off a bridge with him. The guy of her dreams was actually asking her out. Annabeth hasn't really gotten her feelings for Luke straightened out yet, but she did like him – that's for sure. But she didn't know if it was a crush-like or a brotherly-like. She was going it again – debating with her mind whether or not she liked Luke like that.
Soon, she found Luke leaning in to steal a kiss. Annabeth was too caught up in the moment to notice that her phone made a little click sound. Luke planted his lips on Annabeth's. It wasn't soon until Annabeth was actually kissing him back. She enjoyed it – yes – but something about the kiss didn't seem right.
After a few seconds, Annabeth felt the sensation of being watched. She broke the kiss to look around.
"Is something wrong?" Luke asked while trying to lean in for another round.
Annabeth immediately pulled back. "I – uh – have to go. I'm probably late already." Annabeth ran home, leaving Luke confused yet satisfied.
Later that same night, Annabeth laid in her bed – thinking. She thought about her kiss with Luke and how it felt so wrong. It felt almost like she was kissing a relative – which isn't pleasant. Then she looked down at her phone, expecting something. After a whole half an hour of staring at the blank screen of her iPhone, Annabeth sighed. Maybe Percy wouldn't call after all – shucks - she was so sure about it too.
The next few days of school were spent trying to avoid Luke. The last thing she needed was to face Luke after the incident. She didn't need any more confusion about her own feelings towards him. Luke didn't care though. He got what he wanted for Annabeth, and he knew she would be crawling back for more – so he enjoyed playing her little hard-to-get game.
"What's going on between you and Luke?" Thalia asked during lunch when she noticed Annabeth taking nervous glances at Luke, who was sitting by the "Aphrodite" girls - or in other words, the prettiest girls in the school.
Annabeth looked up, faking a confused expression. "W-what are you talking about? Nothing's going on . . ." she said, stuffing her mouth with a bunch of lettuce.
Thalia eyed Annabeth suspiciously. Then a smirk appeared on her face. "Uh-huh. So you wouldn't mind if I call Luke over, would you?" Thalia started waving her hand in the air like a lunatic. "Hey, Luke! Come over – "
"Will you shut up!" Annabeth said, trying to pull Thalia's hand down.
"Tell me what's going on then," Thalia smirked.
Annabeth grunted. "Luke kissed me," she said, trying to make it hardly audible.
Thalia's eyebrows scrunched up. "He kissed you?"
"Gods, Thalia! Could you be any louder?" Annabeth said, punching her friend on the arm.
Thalia took the punch. "So . . . I don't see the problem here. Is he that bad of a kisser or – "
Annabeth almost choked on her food. "Oh, gods. No, he's fine but when I kissed him, it felt weird. Like I was kissing my brother."
"So . . . you didn't like it?" Thalia asked, still curious about the kiss itself.
"I guess I don't like him that way," Annabeth said, completely ignoring the question. "I mean, I thought I liked him, but after that kiss, I really don't think I do."
A sign of relief showed on Thalia's face but Annabeth didn't notice. A silence washed a over the two friends until Thalia let out a laugh. Annabeth looked at Thalia with confused expression.
"Jeez, Luke must be that bad of a kisser." Thalia joked. A piece of lettuce met her forehead right after.
August 18th, Percy's thirteenth birthday. Annabeth picked up her iPhone and thought about Iris-Messaging him. Then she thought about Percy hasn't even called her yet. Sure, this was a special day for Percy – especially when only two people know his birthday – but maybe it was too soon for them to talk. Next year will probably be better.
August 18th, Percy's fourteenth birthday. Still no contact with Percy. Annabeth picked up her phone again, thinking about calling Percy to wish him a 'Happy Birthday'. Maybe it's a good time to tell Percy how things are going in New York and how both Nico and Grover can't stop complaining everyday in school about Percy not being there. Then Annabeth thought, maybe he's still having troubles in school over in Hawaii. Maybe it's not a good time to remind him of leaving Nico and Grover. Next year hopefully.
August 18th, Percy's fifteenth birthday. Not talking to Percy for the past three years has been wearing out Annabeth's self-conscious. She picked up her phone, wanting to talk to Percy about what's been going on lately. She wanted to tell Percy how Juniper and Grover are finally together and they look so happy. She wanted to tell him that she got an academic award signed by Barack Obama. She wanted to see him. She wanted to see his sea-green eyes again. It was until she was about to press the Iris app icon, she thought about how he hasn't even bothered to call either. Maybe his life up there was going great and the last thing he needed was bad memories messing it all up. Annabeth set down the iPhone – maybe next year.
August 18th, Percy's sixteenth birthday. It's been four years since they haven't talked – four years. The guilt and pain of it has been chewing up on Annabeth for four years. It was so bad that on the final exam for math, Annabeth scored a 99/100. 99 out of 100 answers right. One wrong. This wasn't like her. She has never gotten a not perfect score. All Annabeth has ever wanted was to see Percy again. She wanted his stupid – yet helpful – advice. She wanted to tell him how she confessed to Luke that she only liked him as a brother. She wanted to tell him that she was sorry for how she treated him in middle school. She wanted to tell him how much she missed him and couldn't wait for him to come back. Annabeth started imaging Percy's appearance. His messy black hair and sea-green eyes. She imagined him the same as middle school, just a bit taller. Annabeth was too anxious now. She needed to see that Seaweed Brain.
"O, Iris, Goddess of Rainbows, show me Percy Jackson."
Click. Annabeth gulped as the saw a blurry image show up on her iPhone screen. Annabeth felt her fingers tremble around her iPhone as the image started to focus. She couldn't wait to see him again. It's been four years, four very, very long years. Annabeth's excitement went high as she saw a figure of someone in front of the screen. But then she noticed that the figure wasn't Percy.
Instead of Percy, there was a girl. She looked 16 and had almond straight hair with amazing eyes that matched it. Her skin was tanned to perfection and lips popped with a light pink shade. It was easy to tell that this girl wore no make-up and yet was so beautiful.
"Who are you and why do you have Percy's phone?" Annabeth asked the girl.
The girl store back with the same expression Annabeth was giving. "Uh, the question is 'who are you and why are you video-calling Percy?'" The girl asked. Her voice was gentle and calm.
"I'm Annabeth – Percy's friend." Annabeth replied.
"He hasn't told me about you."
Annabeth felt her heart drop at those words. Whoever this girl was, she obviously knew Percy very well. And for Percy not to tell this girl about Annabeth hurt. Annabeth couldn't handle this conversation but she had to let Percy know that she was still here.
"Oh. Well, when you see him, tell him I said 'Happy Birthday.'" Annabeth said, fighting the cracking in her voice. A confused expression spread all over the girl's face but before she could say anything, Annabeth closed the call.
If there was one word to explain how Annabeth felt right now, it would be pain. The fact that Percy hasn't mentioned Annabeth to any of his friends in Hawaii hurt her. Did she treat him that bad? All these years, Annabeth's been afraid of calling him and confessing how much she missed him when he didn't even think about her one moment. Annabeth started to consider herself pathetic for actually thinking that Percy would actually think about her. Then there's that girl who answered Percy's phone. She was pretty – beautiful even. To think that Percy hung out with girls like that made Annabeth mad. No wait – that's not the word.
It made Annabeth jealous.
Today's the day. Today's the day that Percy returns to New York. After four long years, he's finally coming back. Nico and Grover are planning some surprise 'Welcome Back' party for Percy when he comes back to school. Annabeth has never really seen Nico so engaged into something like this. He even convinced Thalia to come to it. It was going to be held in Goode High's gym. Word got around that there's going to be some inappropriate teenage beverages there, so the whole school was attending. Even Luke and his passé decided to come, but only to crash it.
Even through all the things that Annabeth has experienced with Percy, she decided to come. But it took a few lectures to finally convince her to come. But the only reason why she agreed to come was because she couldn't wait to see him. All the self-pity that Annabeth was feeling eventually turned into anger. She needed to give Percy a piece of her mind. How he has made Annabeth feel so confused for the past four years. And Annabeth hates being confused. She hates not knowing answers and she definitely hates not getting perfect scores on her tests.
Perseus Jackson will pay, Annabeth thought as she got ready for the surprise party.
PJO Characters belong to Rick Riordan
HA. You guys probably thought this was the chapter you all was anxious for. Well, sorry, I decided to be a troll and make a little teaser chapter. TEASER CHAPTERS FTW. Don't you hate when authors do that (*Ahem, Rick Riordan)? Lol, jk, I love him - well his books anyways.
So yes, the kiss was real. Woohooo. ~.~
Hopefully this answered most of your questions on why Annabeth was being such a gerk (girl jerk) towards Percy.
Review if you can't wait till the next chapter! :D Review your ideas/suggestions. You guys have been giving me good ideas so far but most of them are way too predictable and used in a lot of stories particular to this one. Be SPONTANEOUS. I'm starting to use that word a lot. Vocabulary improvement ftw. So yes, REVIEW, subscribe, favorite, or whatever tickles your pickle.
- Breana
