Chapter 19

Annabeth woke up in her bed at Thalia's place. Sharp pains shot through her head.

Ugh, hangover, she thought as she got out of bed and went to the bathroom.

Her hair was a mess and she was still wearing the clothes from yesterday.

She groaned as she took a quick shower before changing into some comfortable, but cute running shorts and a long sleeved shirt.

"Thalia!" she called as she came downstairs to find that there was a person standing there, but it wasn't Thalia.

It was Luke.

And he didn't look happy.

"Luke. You came back already?" she asked with a smile as she went over and gave him a hug.

"Yeah, the business trip went quicker than I thought." he said flatly—his face hard and serious.

"What's wrong?" she asked stepping back from him a bit.

"Well, I came back to surprise you, when I saw Percy Jackson carrying a drunk you all the way up to your bedroom. Care to explain?" he said looking fiercely into her eyes.

"Oh um. I had a drink with him at the bar yesterday— no big deal."

"No big deal? You think I wouldn't be angry when you were with another guy alone at night?"

"Luke. Chill. He's like my brother and he always will be."

"Well he doesn't seem to think that, especially from the way I saw him look at you."

Annabeth looked exasperated and looked up at Luke, "And exactly how was he looking at me?" she asked with her arms crossed over her chest.

Luke looked down from her eyes and pursed his lips, "Like he was in love."

Rachel told her that Percy was in love with her.

Thalia mentioned that as well.

And now her boyfriend.

Great.

She thanked the gods for making her life so much easier.

~o00o~

Percy's phone rang and saw that it was from his dad.

"Hello?" he said picking up the call.

"Percy. Hi."

"Just get to the point, dad. I'm busy."

Percy heard him sigh at the other end, "I've been thinking about what you said and you're right. I can't be passive about this anymore. Your mother wouldn't have let Crystal's actions pass by, so I'm not going to either."

"Dad, Annabeth rejected the inheritance."

It was silent between them for a second, "She's as strong willed as she was before." he heard his dad say, chuckling.

"Alright," his dad continued, "I guess that's for the best."

"She's thinking about working here anyways. So don't worry so much about her leaving, Dad."

He laughed, "Speak for yourself."

Percy smiled even though he couldn't see it, "And dad, about the picture—"

"It's fine, Percy. I believe you."

"... Thanks, I appreciate that."

"No problem. But, you know, Percy."

"What?"

"Annabeth is family, but that doesn't change the fact that she's not by blood."

Percy knew right away what he was implying.

He laughed at him, "Dad, come on, I don't think of her like tha—"

"Percy." Poseidon said, cutting him off, "Just don't."

Percy stayed silent, stunned

"...I'll leave you to your work now." his dad said before hanging up.

Percy could picture his dad smiling knowingly at him.

He put his phone down and sank back in his chair.

Sometimes his dad was just weird.

Either that or he just knew about everything.

~o00o~

After their little fight, Luke had calmed down and forgiven Annabeth. He said he needed to go unpack so he left her at Thalia's apartment.

Apparently, Thalia was out with Nico. And apparently Annabeth and Piper's prank had worked and now the two were inseparable now.

Maybe Annabeth should quit her job and work as a matchmaker.

As for the prank. It was actually something worth telling.

This is basically how it went…

Piper had gone over to Nico who was alone at the bar, when Thalia had gone to her room to take a shower.

"So, Nico, what do you think of Thalia?"

she asked with a smile.

"She's alright, I guess."

"Oh come on. I know you like her."

Nico sighed, "Fine. I do, but she doesn't seem to like me. She always seems to want to punch the living shit out of me all the time."

Piper raised her brows.

It had been a lot easier to get a confession out of him. And it probably had to do with the alcohol he was drinking.

Piper's eyes went to Annabeth who was behind him. Her grey eyes sparkled in evil excitement as she nodded in confirmation and hit him unconscious with a frying pan they found in the kitchen.

They giggled as they slid his body behind the bar.

As he lay with his tongue out and drool sliding down his mouth, they tried not to laugh.

"Gods, he doesn't look so good." Annabeth said.

"That's because you hit him too hard, crazy."

"Oh, he'll be fine." Annabeth said chucking amusedly at his unconscious face.

They stripped him to his boxers.

"Now it seems like we're going to rape him or something."

They both laughed, "In the pranking world, this would be considered okay." Piper said.

Annabeth shrugged, "You're right."

Putting him on a rolling chair, they tied his hands behind him and tied his whole body to the chair with unused rope that they had fortunately found in the storage room closet.

Annabeth's eyes widened, "Oh! I know exactly what to do."

She took out her red lipstick and started writing something on his chest.

When Annabeth stepped back to admire her work, Piper simply covered her mouth, trying not to laugh out loud.

"Perfect." Piper said, smiling slyly.

They then rolled him over in front of Thalia's room and knocked on her door, before running away down the hall and around the corner to watch.

"Coming" they heard Thalia say.

She opened the door and gasped loudly. There was Nico stripped bare to his underwear and tied to a chair with the red words, "Special Delivery" marked with lipstick on his chest. Annabeth had even gone out of her way to draw a heart right next to the message.

Annabeth and Piper tried very hard to keep the laughs inside as they saw Thalia's horrified face.

Thalia looked down the hallways to see who had done it, but saw no one.

She then stood there staring hard at Nico until eventually he woke up.

He was—to say the least— very surprised to be tied to the chair half naked and in the presence of Thalia's boring electric blue eyes.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him roughly

"I have no idea." Nico said nervously, "I was.. Where was I?"

he asked himself curiously.

"Oh whatever, just— here." Thalia said as she went over and untied Nico.

He got out of his restraints and stood taller than Thalia now, his shirtless body close to hers.

They were silent, just staring at each other.

Piper whispered over to Annabeth.

"Maybe we should have brought some popcorn."

Annabeth laughed while covering her mouth.

When they looked back Thalia and Nico were nowhere to be seen and the door to her room was closed shut.

"Mission accomplished." Annabeth said as she high-fived Piper.

"Oh Gods, that was too hilarious. We should totally do that again."

Annabeth laughed at the memory.

Now that she thought about it, one of their old friends, Juniper, was having trouble asking a guy named Grover out.

She smiled slyly.

Another prank was just what she needed to get her mind off of her complicated life right now.

Time to call Piper, she thought, still with a smile on her lips.

Author's Note:

A reviewer told me to write the prank out, so here it is! You're welcome :P

Boy, was that fun to write.

Thanks for reading, guys! Updates are coming soon.