•Chapter 12•

Hi!

So sorry that it's been a month since I uploaded :( I did an exam a while back, one that I worked really hard for, and if I passed, it could change the art part of my life drastically. (I sing, play the piano and clarinet, and do theatre acting, so yeah.) But I didn't make it, and it was a pretty major setback. I literally failed it. I knew some parts still needed improvement, so I knew I wouldn't get as high as I normally did, but I didn't expect to freaking fail. I was really upset, and I couldn't write for quite a while. Hope you guys understand. I'm trying to be okay with it, but it's hard. :( Please don't be mad at me for being this late, but I definitely understand if you do.

Thanks for all the favourites/follows/reviews!

Happy reading!

2010

The email exchanges between Annabeth and me became more and more frequent. Thanks to both of us having Gmail accounts (and for Gmail to include chats), Annabeth and I were able to have an actual conversation when we were both on without needing to wait for their reply. (Not that I hated emailing or anything.) We still emailed; but chatted more frequently.

I learned more about her than I'd ever had, and she learned more about me than she'd ever had.

Though I was hoping that our friendship would extend beyond emailing (and, at first, penpal letters), I didn't dare hope.

That is, until she asked me over email one day if I had Skype, since she wanted to meet me … in person. Well, as in person as she could. And not to mention see the blindingly handsome face that belonged to yours truly. (Okay, maybe I made that up. But still, she, Miss Annabeth Chase, wanted to meet me!)

Actually, all she said was that she wanted to talk to me, face to face, and she was curious as to what my voice sounded like.

Obviously, I told her I did. As nonchalantly as I could, might I add.

From: Percy Jackson percylovesbluecoke

To: Annabeth Chase annabeth_chase at gmail . com

Date: 26 July 2010 at 13:06 at gmail . com

Subject: [no subject]

Sure. Yeah, I have Skype. I don't use it much and I'll have to download it on my phone though. It's P_J_818. I think.

Her reply came a little over two hours later.

From: Annabeth Chase annabeth_chase at gmail . com

To: Percy Jackson percylovesbluecoke at gmail . com

Date: 26 July 2010 at 15:33

Subject: Re:

Cool! I'll add you; I'm AnnabethChase92. If you don't see my request by tomorrow, send me one, okay? I might forget.

I snorted at that. Annabeth? Forget? If that was the case, then I'd be the freaking President of the United States. I told her so.

From: Percy Jackson percylovesbluecoke at gmail . com

To: Annabeth Chase annabeth_chase at gmail . com

Date: 26 July 2010 at 15:50

Subject: [no subject]

Wow. "AnnabethChase92." People totally won't be able to guess your first name, last name, and birth year!

HA. "I might forget." You're being ridiculous. I mean, come on! Everyone knows you have the memory of an elephant. If you forget, I'm the President of the United States. But sure, okay. I'll send you one.

Needless to say, my blonde-haired friend wasn't too pleased about my reply. But the upside was, Annabeth typed an emoticon.

From: Annabeth Chase annabeth_chase at gmail . com

To: Percy Jackson percylovesbluecoke at gmail . com

Date: 26 July 2010 at 15:51

Subject: Re:

-_- Thanks a lot, Percy.

I smirked when I read that. "And you're very welcome," I said, kicking back into my seat and folded my hands behind my head.

"C'mon!"

Leo and Reyna stood on the WELCOME HOME mat outside my front door. "You're going to be late, Perce!" Leo shouted.

"And don't forget your sunscreen and towel," added Reyna. "That's the most important thing."

I dashed around the apartment, grabbing things and throwing them into my backpack. Mentally, I ran through the checklist in my head. Swimsuit, towel, sunscreen, sunglasses, flip-flops, cash, soda …

"All check," I announced proudly. Then it came to me. Soda. "SODA!" I cursed out loud. "I forgot to bring soda! I don't have any here!" I cursed again. "Ugh!" I pulled my hair, pacing around. "I'm so stupid!"

"Calm down!" Reyna poked her head inside. "We brought some already. If you're all set, let's go!"

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Alright, alright, I'm coming." I appeared in the front hall and closed the door behind me. "Just give me one minute." Pulling out my keys and dangling them in their faces, I told them, "Gotta lock the door, you know."

I turned back around after the key slid out, and Leo shouted, "FINALLY! Time to hit the water, baby!"

Rolling her eyes, Reyna hauled Leo and me into the elevator. "Let's go."

Thanks to Rachel and her incredibly smart brain (no offense to Jason) and foresight, we had enough soda to last through ten rounds of Never Have I Ever. Incredibly corny and cliché game, but whatever. It wasn't my idea, anyway.

The beach was pretty packed that day, but we managed to find a spot less crowded.

Things took off quite interestingly from the start.

It was Jason's turn. "Okay," Jason said, rolling his can of soda between his hands thoughtfully. "My turn. Never have I ever … accidentally stolen something from a store."

No one took a sip. We all looked around, waiting for someone to raise their can. Then, finally, finally, one person did.

Me.

"You?!" Nico exclaimed. "Seriously?!"

"Really, if anything, I thought it would've been Leo. Or Piper."

Rachel nodded enthusiastically, agreeing to Frank's words.

Then the questions came flooding in.

"What did you steal?"

"It was an accident, right?"

"When was that?"

"Was it a dare?"

I held up my hands. "Woah, hang on," I protested. "Jason said accidentally. It was completely an accident. I think."

"You think?!" Jason burst out. "Perce, you either do or you don't."

This brought in another flood of questions, until Rachel yelled, "Perseus Jackson, how did that even happen?!"

Everyone stopped and stared at her. Including passers-by and maybe a few seagulls. (Yes, that's how loud she was. I could swear one dog who was peacefully crapping spewed its crap all over its owner's face at the sound of Red's voice.) Then they looked at me.

I threw my hands up. "It just happened, okay?" I took a deep breath and started explaining. "I was, like, seven or so, and it was hot, so I wanted a Slurpee from 7-Eleven. My mom was there with me. I went in, got a cherry flavour, and then my mom somehow forgot to pay, and walked out of the store. No one stopped us. I don't think anyone even saw us."

"That's it?" Frank asked me. He sounded a bit disappointed.

I tapped my chin, thinking. "Oh, wait!" I sat up straighter. "I remember something else. I sort of tripped on the sidewalk when I was leaving and promptly dumped my red Slurpee on this little girl's head. She looked around my age, and her hair was a really light colour or something. I can't remember, 'cause I couldn't get a second look—I mean, there already was red Slurpee dripping down her head at that point. Then she gave me a really scary—to me, at least—glare and I felt bad and scared and started crying.

"The end," I finished.

Piper, who was beside me, burst out laughing. "That's absolutely hilarious." She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

I faked a sob, placing a hand on my heart. "I'm so hurt, Piper dear. The first thing you do after hearing my tragic past is laugh?!" Then, to my cousin, who was on his girlfriend's other side, I said, "Please tell your girlfriend to apologize."

He did as I asked. "Piper, apologize," he told her, his tone in mock seriousness.

Rolling her eyes, Piper relented. "Fine, fine. Sorry." Then, she whispered, so quickly I almost didn't catch it, "How's that girlfriend of yours doing?"

What? I stared at her, mouth open. "I don't have one," I returned, just as quickly and quietly.

She raised her eyebrow, skeptical. "Sure you don't. Remember Annabeth Chase?"

I shook my head, telling her, "Not my girlfriend. Don't even like her that way."

"Sure." She winked at me. "Whatever you want to say."

I rolled my eyes, trying to hide my smile.

It was days like this that I loved—and missed—the most.

2015

"She's not waking up!" I yell at my door. "Don't you understand? Annabeth's probably never going to wake up!"

"Percy …" Piper says tiredly on the other side. "Just please, let me in."

I heave a sigh and reluctantly agree. "There," I say after I open the door. "I opened the door. You can come in. Happy?"

She doesn't answer and just barreled through the doorway. "Oh, Percy." She comes over and holds her arms out, inviting me to a hug. "Come here, you," says my cousin-in-law.

Yes, cousin-in-law. She and Jason had gotten married last week. They were reluctant to do so, Jason told me, but they didn't really want to postpone the wedding, because changing the dates would greatly affect the guest list and catering company. They said I could come if I wanted to.

I didn't, so I declined. (They understood.)

However, as a compensation, they had their wedding banquet around Annabeth's room, with only Piper and Jason's—now Mr. and Mrs. Grace—few close friends attending.

I accept now, and rush into her open arms.

"There, there," she says softly, stroking my hair. Ordinarily, I would've found it funny how someone younger than me was acting older than me—like a parent or aunt. But now, I'm too devastated to care.

I open my mouth to speak. "Anna—"

"—beth is going to be alright," finishes Piper. "Really, Perce, you ought to have more faith in your fiancée."

Chastened by her reprimanding, I close my mouth and force back a reply, only nodding slowly.

"Jason's out for the day with Thalia, and Leo's coming soon. You know, back from the three-month convention in Calgary, Canada. Hazel's gone to visit her father and Frank's gone back home for a bit. Rachel, too. So it's just you and me, kid."

Fifteen minutes later, I find myself in my kitchen wearing an apron and cracking some eggs into a bowl. Piper's beside me, measuring the flour and looking for cookie cutters.

Piper looks over my shoulder, watching my progress. "Perseus Jackson, your mother is a baker and you're telling me you don't know how to crack eggs properly?!"

I glance at her meekly. "Um ... no?"

Piper stares at the ceiling. "Mrs. Jackson, why?!" she yells. "You run a well-known bakery shop and your oldest son does not know how to crack eggs properly?!"

"Sorry?" I offer.

She looks at the bowl again. "Yeah, whatever. You're almost done, anyways." She leaves my side and starts rummaging through the cabinet. "Percy," she calls, her voice muffled, "where does your mother put her mixer?"

I rack my brain for an answer. "Dunno," I call back. "Try the one on—"

"Never mind, found it!" She appears a moment later, mixer in hand. "C'mon, let's do this."

My Cherokee friend pulls the tray from the oven, where two dozen chocolate chip cookies sit. "Mm, fresh cookies. Delicious and piping hot." Piper sets the tray down, and waits a minute. Then two. Impatiently, she mumbles, "Screw it," and puts one in her mouth. "Ow!" she yelps, snatching it out. "It's hot!"

"Piper, that is gross. And duh, it just came out of the oven. Of course it's hot. Even I don't do that and you know I make incredibly dumb mistakes at times."

She snorts. "Yeah, like 'The Incident.'"

Ugh. Don't remind me. As I voice my thoughts out loud, I remember the time, in fifth grade, when I'd gotten in trouble with one of my teachers. She'd advanced on me, perhaps to hand me my detention slip, when I'd panicked and, grabbing a nearby baton from our Christmas play, whacked her in the face with it. It was made from those toilet-paper rolls, so it didn't hurt much, but still. I'd hit a teacher. In the face. With a stick.

Probably one of the best decisions I'd ever made in my twenty-two-year life.

(I got suspended for two weeks.)

"Percy," Piper says now. "Percy." She snaps my fingers in her face. "Hello. Hello. Earth to Percy."

I look up. "Huh?"

She huffed. "I was asking you a question."

I cock a head at her. "Oh, yeah? What is it?"

"Probably a bad idea to ask you this, but …" Her voice gentles. "Did this help?"

I look around, trying to avoid her question. "Yeah," I reply finally. "Yeah, it did. For now, at least. Not forever, of course."

She doesn't say anything, just smiles a sympathetic smile and gives me a one-armed hug.

I sit by her bed again, watching helplessly, as, for the second time this year, she fights for her life. Finally, after a while, I decide to speak. "Forever, Annabeth. We promised each other that we'd be together for forever. I never knew that you'd be the one to break that promise. I always thought it was going to be me—since I'm the one who gets the worst ideas and is too impulsive sometimes and all …" I trail off. "Why are you the one who might lose their life? Why, Annabeth? Why?!" Unable to hold it in any longer, I feel the tears drip down my face, and don't bother wiping it away. Screw anyone who thinks I'm not a man because I'm crying. My fiancée might die and I can't do anything about it to help her.

Gentle warm hands grab me from behind, pulling me around and drawing me into an embrace. I don't bother looking up to see whose hands they belong to. I've known them all my life, from when I fell down in the playground back home and skinned my knee, to when my favourite horse, Amphie, from the stable died from old age, to when I had been told by my first girlfriend that she was dumping me. Those arms, those achingly familiar arms, are, to me, home.

My mother has finally arrived.

The Slurpee story is real; it happened to my friend, Chandler Skywalker. You might remember him from my one-shot For Percy, as I credited him for being my beta. He got his Slurpee and proceeded to dump it on some poor, unsuspecting little girl's head.

I haven't written in quite a bit, so it might be a little bit rusty. I tried my best to write this chapter—I really did.

Reviews:

Guest: Here's the update :) Thanks!

Angelthegenderconfusedcat: SQUEAK! :P Thanks!

Liz (Guest): Thanks! Yeah, I know … it'll get better soon :) Hoped this was sorta entertaining :D

Average Canadian: TO BE OR NOT TO BE? THAT IS THE QUESTION. :P Thanks!

Toby4138: New reviewer! Don't know why, but when I saw your penname, I immediately thought of a cat :P Aw, yeah, I do too :( Thanks!

AcerVentua672: New reviewer! Thank you! I love your interpretation. I never thought about it that way, and it sounds to fancy and poetic. Thanks!

WhyNotWriteFanfiction: Thanks! Sorry for the confusion.

Mr. Invincible: New reviewer! Thanks!

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Thanks for reading!

-K