A/N: This chapter is all over the place. Bear with me.
Mr. Alexander started class by further explaining the rubric of their project and answering any questions that the students had.
Annabeth rose her hand, and he called on her.
"When we prove that a god or goddess is our parent, can we use physical features?" she questioned.
"Do whatever it takes," he replied. "I want you all to use whatever resource you can find. Remember to cite your sources!"
With that, the class was given the rest of the time to work.
Annabeth pulled out her laptop and tried to work, but she kept stealing glances at Percy, who seemed to be focused on something that he was writing.
"You aren't being secretive there, Wise Girl," he joked while she turned red after realizing that she got caught.
"How do you stop yourself from worrying?" she asked.
"The same way I calm you down. I remind myself that we are alive, and at the moment, there isn't anything trying to kill us," he explained.
"But I still care way too much about your well-being to stop worrying."
"Annabeth, I am perfectly fine now. I can bounce back to normal from those flashbacks just as quickly as you can. It really only bothered me for about an hour after it happened."
Annabeth sighed to herself and turned back to her work.
"I love you, Seaweed Brain," she said absently.
"I love you, too," Percy replied.
Everyone else was talking as well, so as far as Annabeth could tell, nobody was listening to them. However, after what she learned from Jess, she couldn't be too sure.
After doing a quick scan of the room, Annabeth noticed one of Daniela's followers paying more attention to the two of them than her own work.
Great, Annabeth thought sarcastically then gave the girl a glare that could kill before turning back around.
"You okay?" Percy asked.
"Fine," Annabeth smiled then shot him a smile.
Annabeth knew that he wasn't convinced, but there was nothing that she could do about it in that moment.
Class ended, and Annabeth kissed her boyfriend goodbye before going to look for Jess.
Instead of finding her friend, however, Annabeth found Daniela.
"Oh, Annabeth, I'm so glad I found you," she said in the fakest voice Annabeth had ever heard. "Is Percy okay? Mr. Blofis wouldn't let me talk to him."
"Percy's fine," Annabeth replied then tried to escape by walking away.
Nothing wanted to work for Annabeth, though.
"What exactly is wrong with him?" Daniela asked, stepping closer to Annabeth.
Annabeth could tell where this was going from a mile away. Today only added to the mystery that is Percy Jackson, Annabeth concluded.
"That is none of your business, Daniela. I know you put up this act that you care so much about him, but you know nothing about Percy. That's the only reason why you want him to be 'popular,'" she said.
Daniela only gave her a stony cold glare. "Remember that choice I offered you yesterday?" she asked instead of saying anything about Annabeth's comment.
Annabeth nodded and tried to look at Daniela in a way that conveyed all of the annoyance that she was feeling inside.
"Well, it's off the table now. You two will split up, and Percy will be popular. He'll leave you behind like you're nothing. I'll make sure of it," she said menacingly before turning on her heel and walking away.
Had she been talking to anyone besides Annabeth, she might have seemed intimidating. However, Annabeth could only think about how annoying dealing with Daniela was going to be.
Jess showed up after Daniela left, and asked, "Ready to go?"
"Can't. I have to go to Mr. Alexander's room to catch up on work," Annabeth explained.
"Oh, yeah. Well, have fun with that," Jess said. "See you later!"
"Bye, Jess!" Annabeth called as her friend walked away. She then sighed while she turned around to head back to Mr. Alexander's room.
"So, Annabeth, who is your godly parent?" Mr. Alexander asked when she reentered the classroom.
She froze and looked at him in shock.
"You know, for the project?" he prodded further.
She mentally face-palmed.
"Athena," Annabeth answered as she sat in her usual seat in the front.
"Good choice. Fitting, too. Did you already write your informational paragraph about her?"
"Right here." Annabeth fished it out of her bag and held it up for him to see. It filled about half of the page, single spaced.
Mr. Alexander walked over and took it from her. He skimmed it before walking back to his desk.
"Impressive," he noted, "could be a perfect paper."
"So what is it that you want me to do while I'm here?"
"Not much really. Up until now, we've just been studying one god or goddess per day. The test I made you take was more of a Greek mythology overview. You can just write a paragraph for each Olympian. Judging by what you did with this one, you'll be fine," he explained.
"So I'll be here for twelve days," Annabeth joked.
"Maybe less, if you work fast," Mr. Alexander laughed.
"Who should I start with?"
"Start with Aphrodite. There's always a lot of interesting things to write about her."
You're telling me, Annabeth thought sarcastically.
She quickly got to work, and by the time she was done, Mr. Alexander was packing up all of his things.
"You done?" he asked, and Annabeth nodded.
She had hand-written this one, so she was able to hand it in immediately.
"Did you do the whole thing without any resources in front of you?" Mr. Alexander questioned once he noticed that all Annabeth had out was a pen.
"Yeah," she answered.
"I think I may have underestimated you, Miss Chase. You're free to go. Have a nice evening."
"You too, Mr. Alexander."
Annabeth didn't really want to go home, but she also didn't know where she wanted to go. So she decided to just wander.
There wasn't anyone left in the school, so she made it out pretty quickly. No crowds of obnoxious teenagers to push through.
Annabeth walked in the opposite direction of her and Malcolm's apartment, and she didn't even allow herself to think. It was rare that she got to take a break from her own mind. Especially because lately she didn't even feel like she had control of her mind anymore.
Sighing, Annabeth tried to take in her surroundings. She had been walking for quite some time, and she couldn't really tell where she was. Annabeth did see what seemed to be an elementary school playground.
A bunch of children ran outside, and Annabeth smiled when she realized that she was correct. Her smile faded when she saw a little girl who looked much younger than the rest of the children sitting by herself.
Annabeth walked closer to the girl, and she asked, "Why are you all by yourself, sweetie?"
The girl quickly looked up, startled. Her blonde pigtails bounced with the movement of her head.
"My daddy says not to talk to strangers," the little girl said, her eyes narrowing.
"It's okay to talk to me. I'm just a kid, like you, except I'm just a big kid in high school," explained while sitting down by the girl.
"Oh, okay. My name is Sophia. What's your name?" Sophia asked.
"Annabeth. Now will you tell me why you aren't playing with the other kids?"
"They are all bigger than me, and I don't know any of them. My daddy told me that because I'm really smart, I get to skip third and fourth grade. They made me take a lot of tests, and now I'm all alone because I did good on them."
Annabeth felt a lot of empathy for the girl. Before she met Thalia and Luke, alone was something that she felt all of the time.
"I understand how you feel, but I think you should give playing with the other kids a shot. You never know who'll end up being your best friend," Annabeth advised.
Sophia looked up at her with hopeful eyes. "Really?" she asked.
"Really," Annabeth confirmed.
"Okay," Sophia hesitantly stood up from the bench and began walking away. She turned back to Annabeth and smiled. "Thank you."
Annabeth smiled back, and her eyes widened when she saw something that was most definitely not mortal on the other side of the playground.
What do you think? Sorry for being everywhere. QOTD: Who would your godly parent be?
I think I'm a tie between Apollo and Athena because I sing and play instruments, but I'm also really smart. (Not trying to toot my own horn here, but it's true) Also, I have blue eyes that either look very blue or gray depending on the environmental factors around me. Gray eyes woot woot.
Until next time!