Annabeth's pov:
Striking electric blue eyes, spiky black hair and black punk clothes. Thalia grace. Percy's cousin and my second best friend. Just by looking at her you know she is not one to be messed with. She is not one be taken lightly and definitely not one you would want to piss off. But she's been with me through thick and thin, since I was seven. She may seem like someone who doesn't give a damn about anyone, but she loves and cares about us a lot. She's waiting by my locker along with her brother Jason and his girlfriend Piper. Jason has got the same eyes as her-bright electric blue, but short blonde hair. He's the responsible one in our group although he's younger than Thalia. He tries to keep us away from trouble- mainly Thalia and Percy-as much as possible because they both have a knack for irritating and angering Thalia's father-Zeus, the millionaire owner of Olympian airline. His girlfriend Piper is a beautiful girl, without an ounce of makeup. She doesn't even try to look beautiful but with her brown choppy hair, multicoloured eyes, dark complexion and a great figure she is easily the most beautiful girl in Goode High. But do not let her looks fool you because she can be as dangerous as Thalia when need be. Jason has his arm around her waist when we reach our locker.
"Hey man" Jason greets Percy and gives me a nod of acknowledgement when we arrive. I give him a sincere smile and turn to give Piper a hug.
"Annie guess what" Thalia says to me. I glare at her for calling me Annie, but my curiosity gets the better of me so I raise an eyebrow urging her to continue.
"we're going on a vacation to Greece- all 5 of us- after this shit of a school year ends cause you know it'll be our last year together in this school and who knows whether you guys will remember me or not" she says ending on a dramatic note. My eyes widen once I register what she said. A vacation to Greece. It's like a dream come true for me. I have done a lot of research on Greek and Roman architecture. Greek architects provided some of the finest and most distinctive buildings in the entire Ancient World and some of their structures, such as temples, theatres, and stadia, have become staple features of towns and cities. I have always wanted to become an architect and now I have the chance to see and study Greek architecture myself.
I realize Percy must have known about it because he has a house in Greece! I turn around to find him talking to Jason about swim practice today as he's on the team too. Piper often waits with me on the bleachers, and Thalia not wanting to be left alone joins us. We then head to Central park together.
I pat him on the shoulder and ask him in a stern voice, narrowing my eyes "you knew about this trip to Greece?" he seems surprised and slightly guilty by my question.
"Yeah! It was his idea in fact!" Thalia pipes up from behind me, smirking.
Percy sheepishly smiles, rubbing the back of his neck- a nervous habit of his.
"I wanted all of us to spend some together before separating and going off to universities in god knows which part of the world and since you've always wanted to go to Greece, not to mention the fact that I have house there- so no problem of lodging- I thought why not Greece? And I didn't tell you because I wanted this to be surprise for you, but someone just couldn't keep her mouth shut" he says glaring pointedly at Thalia and continues "but I'm sorry you had to find out this way, I was going to tell you sooner or late-" he would have kept on rambling if I hadn't cut him off with a peck on the cheek and flung myself at him, my arms wounding around his neck and his instantly coming around my waist. I bury my face into his shoulder muttering 'thank you' and 'I love you' repeatedly. He releases a sigh of relief probably because I didn't kill him for hiding this from me. He then chuckles, kisses my hair and says "I love you too and you're welcome wise girl."
I finally disentangle myself from him grinning from ear to ear like a maniac. Percy's expression mirrors mine. Meanwhile Thalia and Jason are smirking and looking at each other probably having one of those telepathic conversations.
The ringing bell snaps me out of my reverie. I grab my books and go on my way to first class yelling a quick goodbye to everyone.
The day passes quickly and smoothly and before I realize it I'm sitting on the bleachers with Thalia and Piper at the end of the day. I couldn't help but think about my trip to Greece the entire day. My biological mother, Athena, was a renowned architect. She born and brought up in Greece, thus often having a touch of Greek architecture in her works. It was her who introduced me to the world of architecture and aroused my interest in Greek and Roman architecture. Now I'm going to have a chance to see it for myself. I already have a list of all the monuments and sites I want to visit ready in my mind- though the list keeps getting longer and longer. Only 6 months left to our graduation. After that Greece with my most favourite people in the world and a good university with architecture courses.
Soon enough we head over to the huge, old pine tree in Central park, after the boys' practice gets over. It's placed in a secluded area of the park because of which we don't get any unwanted visitors. Thalia and me found the tree when we were seven. Since we introduced it to the others ,it has been our favourite meeting spot. There is something special about the tree. Many of our major decisions and confessions have been made under it's shade. Deciding where to eat tonight, confessions of crushes and loves, murder plannings- all have been made here. This tree has seen Percy's bruised knuckles and Jason's black eye. It has seen them have fist fights over trivial matters. It has seen Thalia kick Percy's and Jason's butts and heard her death threats, it has heard Piper's sobs after misunderstandings with Jason, it has seen me completely break down after my mother's death in Percy's arms. It has also seen us make up after petty fights, it has seen Percy and Jason forget their pride and give each other a hug, leaving the fight. It has seen those doofuses apologize for a black eye or a bruised jaw and then go back to teasing each other again. It has seen Piper and Jason kiss and make up after a fight. It has seen me tutoring Percy for math tests and heard me calling him seaweed brain for the first time. Its not just a tree for me, it is the tree whose old age reminds me of the millions of good and bad memories I have made, its cool shade consoles in dire times- reminding me that I am not alone, that I have people who love me and need me. It reminds me of the mistakes I have made, it helps me make important decisions in my life, and most of all- it's capability of still standing upright despite of being years old reminds me that my responsibilities are not yet over, that I have goals to fulfil, work to be completed. It motivates me to keep going on and never look back.
We spread a blanket brought from Jason's car under the tree. A light wind is blowing making a few dry leaves fall from the tree's branches. We take out the burgers, pizzas and fries we bought on our way here. Percy and Jason have their own separate boxes of pizzas as they always do after swim practice. I wonder what their coach might do if he finds them eating junk. They claim 'we are growing teenagers who need to be fed properly'. They can devour the whole pizza alone after swim practice and still have the capacity for more.
Piper sits in between Jason's legs as he leans back towards the tree, the rest of us around in a circle. I see Percy trying to steal my fries along with eating his 4th pizza slice. Yeah, he's fast. I slap his hand away slightly glaring at him. He puts on his baby seal face with those huge adorable eyes, slightly pouting his lips. I merely roll my eyes not falling for the face after having years of experience and practice.
Meanwhile Thalia is picking out all the olives from her pizza, sticking them in Jason's blonde hair without him noticing it. Piper noticing her boyfriend's hair, attempts to stop her giggles by stuffing her face with food. I sigh with satisfaction. This is it. My perfect family with my not so perfect but still amazing people. Percy constantly annoying me, Thalia teasing her brother, Piper and me quietly laughing at the cousins' antics.
I forgot for once though that there is no rose without a thorn. I didn't realise that this was just the calm before the storm. That my life is soon going to take a turn for the better or for the worst.