The morning sun blinked in through the shutters pulled tight over the window. The dappled sunlight formed patterns on the ivory walls, casting light even into the deepest corners of the room. It played across the ceiling and the floor, alternating between shadow and light, shadow and light, and it took Annabeth a moment to remember where she was. Her hand was clasped tight in someone else's. She was lying on a soft, plush sofa, her shoulder pressed against the backrest. The person across from her stirred, blankets falling onto the floor. Oh yeah- Percy's apartment. The thought made her smile. Sure she had a stiff neck and a sore back from squeezing into the sofa, but the memory of the previous afternoon made her grin madly.
A chime made twist around, and she spotted her phone, discarded on the carpet beneath her. As the screen lit up with yet another message, she spluttered, shocked. Twenty two messages? For a girl who had no friends who owned a phone, that was unbelievable, impossible. But then, the memory of her stepmother's last message before she fell asleep flashed through her mind, and suddenly, twenty-something angry messages seemed perfectly plausible. With her free arm- the other was wrapped around Percy's- she fumbled around on the floor, before finally, in her early morning state, picking up the device and squinting at it with clouded eyes. She groaned. Messages from each and every other member who lived under her same roof. About ten from her dad, the same from his wife, and one each from her brothers.
Her dad's and her stepmother's were each extremely similar.
What are you doing? Get home this instant!
Listen to your father, get your sorry arse home.
Annabeth Chase I want to see your face at my door in ten minutes.
Eh. Annabethcouldn't honestly say she gave a crap anymore. Let them rage at her when she got home. Let them scream all they want, let them ground her. She could always run away, back to camp. Bring Percy with her. Them Frederick Chase would be left once again drowning in his own guilt, plagued by if only and why didn't I? sort of thoughts. She would be okay with that. Glancing back at her screen, she read the kind, comforting words left by her brothers.
I get your laptop when you're kicked out, yeah? :)- B
Mommy and daddy gonna kill ya- M
Annabeth grimaced- if she got kicked out- regardless of likelihood- her laptop was coming with her, please and thank you. She dropped the phone back to the carpet. She didn't need those kind of messages ruining this perfect moment. Here she was, Percy beside her. She had had no nightmares. Her dad and his family were nowhere near her, and she would spend the rest of the day with her Seaweed Brain, even if they would be battling maths problems and english essays, rather than monsters and Titans. Not that she minded. The problem of her bloody murder that would no doubt ensue as soon as she made it home, that was a problem for later- for when she made it home.
Percy sat up and rubbed his eyes, blinking a few times. He groaned, and seemed about to collapse back under the warmth of the blanket, when he spotted Annabeth and smiled a large smile. "Hey Wise Girl," He croaked.
"Hey Seaweed Brain," She replied, returning the smile and leaping up off the sofa. She scooped up her phone and plonked herself at the end of the couch that had served as Percy's bed for the night. She drew her legs up under her chin and surveyed him, her eyes twinkling and her lips tweaked up in a smile. "Sleep well, Perce?" Percy yawned, then gazed at her.
"Slept better than ever." Annabeth patted is head.
"Too right you did Seaweed Brain."
At that moment, Sally bustled into the room, an immense breakfast of blue pancakes and glasses of orange juice balanced in her hands. She set them down on the coffee table and turned to face them. "Sleep well?" She asked, wiping her batter-covered hands on a dishcloth. Annabeth grinned, now fully aware of how rested and rejuvenated she felt.
"Slept great!" Annabeth told her, heaving herself to her feet. "Anything we can do to help?" Sally just shook her head and pointed to the plates of food, then turned and went off down the hall, maybe to go wake up her sleepy husband. Annabeth stared down at the breakfast. Gods of Olympus, she was in Elysium.
As they wolfed down the food, they exchanged conversation. Just trivial things- school timetables, fellow students, plans to visit camp. They avoided discussing their form teacher, who had turned out to be Annabeth's sister. Sally had contacted her last night- turned out she called herself Ms Rey, and had specifically asked to tutor Annabeth's form group in order to supervise the two oh-so-super-important demigods who were entering her class. Annabeth hadn't felt important before the wars- she didn't feel important now.
Once they had cleared their plates so thoroughly that they shined, once they had drained their cups down to the last drop of juice, Percy and Annabeth decided the time was ripe to accept the bleak prospect of school, and begin to prepare for the long day of tedious sessions waiting for them just past the nine o'clock mark. For Annabeth, it was easy. All she had to do was locate her bag, chuck in the few things she had taken out over the night and find a suitable outfit for the day. Obviously, she didn't exactly have the full dream wardrobe in her bag, but she did have the spare change of clothes she tended to carry with her on most days- you never knew when a Hydra could take you by surprise and destroy your outfit.
Percy took a bit more time. First, he had to find adequate attire for the day- for all the garments strewn over his room, you would think at least one shirt would be clean. Apparently not. Then lay before them the impossible challenge of finding various school books and writing utensils- some of these were hiding in such impossible places, Annabeth couldn't even begin to speculate as to how they had ended up there. Finally was the task of finding an actual bag for the bits and pieces that they had found to go into it- it took a while for Annabeth to finally remember the corner it had landed in when Percy had let it fly through his room yesterday afternoon. However, despite the chaos before leaving the apartment, they still made it out of the house in good time to catch the earlier bus.
As Percy and Annabeth sat side-by-side at the back of the bus, Annabeth scrolled through her text messages, showing them all to Percy. Whilst initially pulling on a sympathetic facade, it was clear that he found the whole situation humorous. Finally having established, however, that Annabeth didn't give damn about the texts, he fully gave way to amusement, and roared with laughter as he read each one. Annabeth laughed too, taking delight both in the true, genuine laugh that came from Percy, one she had barely heard since the summer, and also since the actual laughable nature of the the messages. They seemed ridiculous, especially now that she was sharing them with Percy.
They laughed the whole way to school, drawing comfort from the joy that radiated from each other. This happened sometimes, when they could almost forget that nothing of their lives mattered or existed. No problematic Olympian gods, calling on their children for help. No Titans and Giants bent on power and revenge. Most of all, no infernal abyss churning beneath them, hungry for its next victim. They could be average kids for once, a young couple, heading back to school after a well-deserved summer break, laughing at childish things, worrying about childish woes.