Hi guys! Sorry to have not updated this chapter.. But I was really busy.. Thank you for all your awesome comments/reviews! Really loved them! Soo anyways .. Here is the next chapter.. Hope you like it.. Happy Reading!

Annabeth splashed water on her face. She stared at her face in the mirror. She felt.. well, weird. She wanted to laugh and cry, both at the same time, all at once.

Aarrgh, she thought. What is wrong with me? But she knew quite well what the matter was. She just didn't want to admit it. She patted her face dry and went to lie down on her bed, thinking about her day. She thought of many things. She thought of Percy and how he had helped her. And her thoughts trailed back to the afternoon fight of her step mom and dad.

- FLASHBACK -

Annabeth reached home and made her way slowly towards the door. She turned the keys in the lock. On entering the house, she removed her shoes and gingerly walked to her room. On the way, she heard a talk, or rather a shouting match, going on between her parents, Frederick and Helen Chase. She sighed, as it was all usual, and was about to move on when heard the words 'We have to do something about Annabeth! She CANNOT stay in this house!'

Annabeth gasped. She leaned towards the door so as to hear her father reply. 'Helen, we have talked about this enough times. I'm not going to hear all this nonsense anymore!' 'But, Frederick-' Helen had started protesting.

'ENOUGH!' Yelled her Dad with such ferocity that Annabeth, standing outside, was stunned. As she heard the sound of footsteps approaching, Annabeth ran to her room, ignoring the coursing pain in her ankle, and closed the door behind her.

- END FLASHBACK -

She sighed and went to her drawer. She removed some pictures; Pictures of her real Mom, her mom who had cared about her, Athena Chase. In the picture, standing on the sandy, soft ground, were two figures, a seven year old Annabeth and her Mom. Both of them were smiling as though they didn't have a care in the world. Standing behind and holding them in his strong arms was her Father.

Annabeth smiled at the memory. It had been the best day ever. But that day was also the day of disaster. A tear streaked down Annabeth's face before dropping down on her shirt. She wiped it off, but soon another came to replace it. She couldn't stop crying. Why in the world did all the things happen to her?

When she was just seven, her mom had the most shocking news any person could probably have. Athena had been diagnosed with cancer. Her dad had done whatever he could to save her, but it was all in vain. Annabeth, just being seven years old, couldn't understand anything. She couldn't understand why her Mom was leaving her. She couldn't understand why God couldn't leave her Mom on Earth.

She had cried her eyes out at the last day; the last day of her Mom. Her last words had been so touching. Even after so many years, Annabeth had it engraved in her memory. Her mom, lying on her death bed had said to her beloved daughter "Annabeth... Sweetie, don't be sad. You know what? We will meet .. again. I'll be waiting for you in heaven. Live and en.. enjoy your life to the fullest. I'll be waiting for our reunion in .. heaven. And remember.. I'll be watching you from.. above all the time. So don't be naughty. Remember, Mama.. loves you. I love you, Annabeth."

Saying that, her Mom had just .. left them. She had taken her flight to heaven leaving Annabeth inconsolable at her loss. She hadn't smiled for weeks, probably even months. But then as every person recovers from their loss, Annabeth had recovered too.

Her Dad, meanwhile, had found Helen and had married her. Then had come her half brothers, Matthew and Bobby. The trio had made her life more miserable than she could imagine. But Annabeth had tried; she was not one to give up. But all her tries had no use. No matter how she tried, Helen never seemed proud of her. No matter how she tried, the brothers would never talk or play with her. Not that she wanted to, though. The two were spoilt brats and always played nasty tricks on her.

The only one who seemed to care about her a little was her father. But, he too, seemed lost in his own world and never really noticed Annabeth, despite her winning so many prices and trophies.

Annabeth shook her head. No, she thought. You can't let these things throw you about. She wiped of the rest of her tears and picked up her phone. She dialled a number. Thalia, she thought. She can cheer me up.. possibly.

The ring went on two times after which Thalia picked up her phone."Hey, Annabeth!"

Annabeth smiled faintly. Even Thalia's voice made her cheerful. "Hi, Thals!"

Before she could say anything else, Thalia interrupted her and said, or rather squealed, in an excited voice. "I am joining your extra classes! So now, we can sit together, and do everything together, and have ever so much fun."

"Yea, yea. That's great!" replied Annabeth, in a voice as enthusiastic as she could muster.

"Hey what's wrong? Are you okay?"Thalia's voice expressed her worry.

"No, no. Everything's fine. Keep going. So, when are you joining?"

"Don't change the topic. Tell me what happened. You sound as if you've been crying."

Tears welled up in Annabeth's eyes again as she recalled the happenings. She blinked them took a deep breath and told Thalia everything she had heard.

Thalia remained silent as she mused over the situation, thinking as hard as she could to find a positive side to this. At last she said, "Well, they must be talking about in a way that doesn't concern you. I mean, it does, but not in a bad way about YOU. Get what I mean?"

"Uh.. Not exactly."

"See.. If we take an example. If there's a problem in the house, say there's going to be painting or something. Maybe you're allergic to paints, so they want you out of the way. Or maybe one of you brothers caught a disease." This idea sounded so absurd that Annabeth burst out laughing in spite of herself.

"What?! It can be true!" Thalia's voice over the phone sounded a little indignant.

"Thals. There are three contradictory points to this. One,"Annabeth started counting on her fingers."One, Ia m NOT allergic to paints. Two, if they were talking about those things, they wouldn't have been shouting so. Three, Dad said they had talked about it enough times. Now, tell me, that wouldn't have happened would it?"

"Hmm.. Yea whatever. But don't take all of this seriously. They could have been talking of something or someone else." Thalia forced every bit of positivity in her to emphasize on this point.

"You may be right, Thals. I only hope you are." Annabeth said half-heartedly. Then, she broke into a smile."Now, tell me when and how you're joining."

"Oh, yeah. I totally forgot about that. Well, my mom was telling me that I should join some classes and then I asked which one. She mentioned several ones and I recognized yours and agreed to join the class. I meant to surprise you today, but I was feeling off so I skipped this one."

Annabeth smiled. Only Thalia could do such a thing. She explained all the things she had done that day, carefully removing all the parts relating to Percy. Thalia listened with a grin on her face to all the adventures of the 'Fantastic Four'.

"When you come, our 'Fantastic Four' can turn into a 'Famous Five' group!" Annabeth exclaimed with delight and both girls laughed at the silly joke.

Then Thalia asked."Hey, did you see any of my cousins, Nico, Percy or Jason?"

Annabeth received a shock as Thalia said Percy's name. "P-Percy's your... cousin? How come you never told me?" Her shock soon turned into a slight indignation, which subsided as Thalia explained.

"Well, I never got the chance to. We were separated when we were small and we didn't keep in touch after that due to some fight between our uncles. We've been living quite apart. This is the time for reunion!"

"Yea, well." For once, Annabeth was at a loss for words.

"So, do you like them? If I know you, you must have liked Nico the most."

"Umm.. No, I actually like Percy the most." Annabeth blurted out before she could stop herself. Shit, she thought. Dam it. I'm gone now. Thalia won't stop teasing me for eternity.

"Oh.. I was wrong. I do NOT know you. How.. sad. And by the way, he's a nice guy so if maybe, you want to, you know, date him or something, that's okay. "

"Thalia!" Annabeth protested.

"Sorry, but I was serious." Thalia grinned, at the other end of the phone.

"I like Percy the friend way. Nothing else. Please stop."

"Okay, fine. Accepted. 'Kay, Annabeth. I gotta go. Mom's calling." Thalia said apologetically.

"It's okay. Bye, Thals!" Annabeth hung up and sighed.

She just wanted to have a normal life like anybody. Is it too much to expect? But she couldn't. She could hear her step mother calling her to dinner. She got up with a determined look on her face. This is my life. And I won't let anybody ruin it, she thought. Nobody can ruin it.

And with that thought she limped slowly towards the door and leaving all her miseries in her room, she closed the door behind her.

So that was the seventh chapter! Hope you liked it... Please leave your comments/reviews.. Thank you for all your support!