Chapter Nineteen

"What the hell is this?" Percy looked up to see a very, very angry Nico standing over him as he lay on his bed, his eyes fixed on the ceiling.

"That is the New York Times I believe," Percy said casually as he rolled over onto his side, not in the mood to argue with Nico, not in the least bit. He just wanted to continue his pity party with himself over the events of the last day.

And plus his head hurt like the dickens.

And she would not pick up her damn cell.

"Oh shut up Percy, what the heck happened last night? Why are you plastered all over the front page of the New York Times with a blonde chick and the world now asking who she is?" Nico asked, throwing the paper onto the bed with an emphasized sound.

"I don't know, maybe if people minded their own business," Percy said, putting his hands to his temples, gods he should have known better than to drink that much last night after he had gotten home. "Then this wouldn't have happened."

"Damn it Percy! I knew this was a bad idea! When are you going to stop being a child! Why couldn't you just write your damn songs and call it good? Why did you insist on having to find her? Now look at the mess we're in."

Percy heard his phone buzz and he quickly snatched it off of his nightstand and turned it on. The bright flashing lights hurt his head but he was waiting for a text from Annabeth.

Instead it was a text from his redheaded nightmare asking what had happened last night. Great, just great. He let out a loud moan and buried his head in his pillow. "Why won't she text me back!" He complained, sounding like a teenager.

He didn't care. He was so pissed off at what happened last night. In fact… he didn't quite know what happened last night.

"Honestly Percy that's what you care about? Do you not realize that you have only three more days until those songs are due and you still have at least seven more to write? Do you have any idea what the hell you're going to have to do?" Nico asked.

"I can't believe I just ruined it like that," Percy said, still not caring about what Nico was talking about. "I should have told her."

Nico groaned and finally leaned close to Percy but then he instantly recoiled. "Gods Percy are you drunk?"

"No, I was last night," Percy said somewhat casually as his face was buried into the pillow. "Surprised you didn't see the mess in my studio."

Nico flinched upon hearing that. He was not in the mood to have to clean up. Imagine his surprise when he had gotten off his plane to see a newspaper and magazine stand plastered with pictures of Percy and a blonde chick whom Nico guessed was the writer of the Letter Writer. He had hurried home as fast as he could.

"Percy get up, you have to get to work," Nico said, nudging Percy but he refused to move. Nico groaned again, when Percy became stubborn there was no moving him until he got what he wanted.

"Listen Percy, if you start working on those songs, I'll try and get the girl… what's her name again?"

"Annabeth, Annabeth Chase," Percy said, all of a sudden sitting up straight.

"I'll try and get Annabeth Chase over here to talk to you okay?"

"How could you forget to mention the small detail that oh I don't know… your cousin is fricken Percy Jackson!" Annabeth yelled at Thalia as they sat in Thalia's living room. Jason had disappeared on a date with Piper once he saw Annabeth enter the room which was probably the wisest thing for his health.

"Must have slipped my mind," Thalia shrugged. "Minor detail."

"Minor detail! What the heck Thalia? You think it's a minor detail that your cousin is one of the most famous singers on the planet?" Annabeth shrieked.

Thalia flipped on the TV. "I don't know, when your dad is Zeus and your uncle is Poseidon, things like that kinda slip your mind."

Annabeth groaned. "I wish that you didn't have such a famous family. Maybe then I wouldn't look like a complete and total idiot when I was with him."

"Don't blame me," Thalia said, holding her hands up in surrender mode. "He was the one who also forgot to mention that he was an international pop star."

Annabeth's eyes blazed. "I know, don't think that he's off the hook too. That's just not something that you forget to mention to a girl when you go out with her… not that we were on a date or anything… it was more like a mutual get together… or more like just a … you know what why am I telling you this?" Annabeth asked.

Thalia shrugged. "I don't know, maybe because I'm your best friend and you have a tendency to spill your guts to me whenever you're mad. Honestly, it's the only time I can figure anything out about you."

Annabeth folded her arms. "Gods it was embarrassing, all of those cameras flashing everywhere and the people asking all those questions. Like 'Mr. Jackson when did you start sleeping with her?'" Annabeth mimicked in a high pitched voice which was supposed to be like the girl who had asked the question.

"Annabeth, never quit your day job to become an impressionist," Thalia said, flipping through the channels.

Annabeth gave her the evil eye of death.

"I should have known when he always showed up with a baseball cap or sunglasses but I just thought, 'hey maybe he has a think for baseball caps and sunglasses.' Gods I'm an idiot at sometimes," Annabeth said, burying her head into the couch's pillows.

"An idiot who also managed to make all of the breaking news stories on the TV," Thalia said, her voice in awe. Annabeth shot up from where she was sitting.

"What?" She demanded.

"Look," Thalia said pointing towards the screen.

Sure enough there was a picture of Percy last night at Ceres' looking completely and utterly annoyed. "You know it's a brilliant picture of the back of your head Annie, the photographer really did your curls justice."

"Shut up," Annabeth mumbled as she listened to the news reporter, a thin woman who had too much makeup plastered on her face and a smile that ranged somewhere between Swiss and mozzarella cheese on the cheesy scale.

"That's right ladies and gentlemen, a new girl. International singing sensation Percy Jackson was seen last night at the famous restaurant Ceres, which his aunt Ceres owns, with a girl. A girl who was definitely not Rachel Elizabeth Dare who was last said to be Mr. Jackson's current girlfriend. So who is mystery girl? That is the question. No one knows for sure and ET is asking for any information leading towards mystery girl as well as a large sum of money for anymore pictures of the couple."

"Great, just great," Annabeth muttered. "Now I'm going to be a laughing stalk of the world."

"Maybe not the world… just in England, most of continental Europe, China, Japan, some parts of Africa, Brazil, oh who am I kidding probably the whole world. You know what I could use some cash… maybe I should give ET that picture I took of you when you were laughing so hard that..."

Even though no one was in the room Annabeth screeched and leaned over to cover her mouth with the palm of her hand. "Don't you dare," she said, giving her another glare. Thalia raised her hands, her electric blue eyes sparkling with mirth.

"Okay, okay," Thalia said.

Annabeth leaned back in her seat, satisfied. Her phone buzzed in her pocket. Thalia looked at her to answer it but Annabeth just shrugged. "I'm not in the mood to talk to him," she said. "And he's been texting me since last night every ten minutes, it's getting annoying." She turned her phone on and then off to stop the annoying buzzing and set it down next to her.

"That's what happens when you give your number to a boy," Thalia said.

"You act as if you have experience," Annabeth said sarcastically.

"Ha ha ha," Thalia said. "It is to laugh. So what are you going to do about your Percy problem?"

Annabeth shrugged. "Ignore him I guess, I act like it didn't happen. It wasn't like we really knew each other or anything."

"You just went on a date, that's all."

"It wasn't a date!" Annabeth said indignantly. "And I'm sorry but you just don't forget to tell the girl that you're hanging out with that you're actually a famous singer and a billionaire. I mean even if he just mentioned it quickly like, 'hey I'm actually the Percy Jackson,' that would have helped."

"I love how we put the 'the' in front of the Percy as if there's more than one Percy Jackson," Thalia mused.

"Not helping Thals," Annabeth said, rolling her eyes. But she was used to it, Thalia never had been the best in situations with boys, she usually thought boys were nothing but trouble and whenever Annabeth was dumped by a boy (which only happened twice in her life and once was when she was in second grade) Thalia's solution was to go and murder the boy, or in Thalia's words 'to make him turn into an armadillo.'

Annabeth buried her head in her hands. "I'm so embarrassed and I'm such a moron to not notice it!" She said. "I mean there were so many damn signs!"

"Don't beat yourself up Annie, it's not like you were thinking that he could even be Percy Jackson, I don't think that it usually crosses your mind that the person you're dating is an international sensation."

"It wasn't a date," Annabeth grumbled. Annabeth looked at her phone to see another text from Percy. She rolled her eyes. "I've got to get home, I have to post a new thing on Writer's Corner which I promised I'd do yesterday but I got a bit… preoccupied."

"Oh speaking of Writer's Corner, I read your story," Thalia said.

"And, what did you think?"

"That if you send this into that publisher again and she says that it's total trash, than its official. She's blind. It's the most amazing story ever."

Excerpt from The Letter Writer by WiseGirl36

Hannah was leaning against the window, tired and weak but trying to show that she was strong, stronger than what everyone else thought she was. She pressed her forehead against the glass, the coolness gratifying. Dr Tanner had gone to get Birch from the waiting room. Hannah was wracking her brain for why Birch Waters, the boy who was considered "bad" by everyone at school, the boy who had tattoos all over his body, who smoked and drank. Why did he want to see her? It wasn't as if he could have known that she had cancer.

And then, even if he did, why would he care?

They weren't friends or anything, there was that run-in they had in the library a few weeks ago but Hannah remembered being incredibly rude to him (of course she had a reason, she had been in a lot of discomfort from her new treatment). Then again he hadn't been the nicest of people either.

The door open but Hannah didn't turn away from the window, knowing very well that it would make Birch stand there uncomfortable. "Hey," he said awkwardly .

"Hey," she said, not even bothering to turn and look at him like she knew she should.

"I… I'm sorry," he said slowly as if trying to determine what he was going to say, as if he didn't know what to say.

"Sorry about what? It's not your fault that I have cancer is it?" Hannah said coldly.

"It's more like a sympathy Hannah," Birch said calmly.

"Why are you even here? It's not like you know anything about me," Hannah said, looking at the grey skies that covered everything. It seemed like her mood, grey and boring, dull and tired.

"Really? I know that you like pomegranate seeds and mango sorbet. I know you like snow and don't like hot summer days." Hannah looked up at this. Very few people knew that she actually despised summer, sure she liked getting out of school but she hated the heat, it was just an odd quirk about her. "Your favorite color is silver and you hate cats. You have a fear of heights and of failure." Hannah turned around and looked at Birch, staring at his dark eyes.

"And what else do you know?" She asked.

"I know you have thyroid cancer which has spread to your lungs and you yourself don't think you'll live much longer. But you want to be an architect and travel Europe looking at the ancient architecture. You are rebellious even though you don't appear to be. But most of all, you didn't tell anyone about your cancer because you don't want to be pitied."

Hannah felt misty eyed for a moment and she cursed herself for feeling so emotional. "Damn it, I didn't want to cry," she said out loud and then sat down on her bed and touched the tubes which were inserted into her nose to help her breathe. Dr. Tanner said that when her lungs got stronger she could take them out but for now they felt so weird as they were attached to a tank of oxygen. She felt like one of the girls that her friends used to laugh at… ha, if only they could see her now.

"So you found my letters?" Hannah asked, looking down at her hands.

Birch sat in the chair across from her and studied her face. "Yeah, it was an accident really but once I started it was hard to stop."

"Good to know that at least someone enjoyed them," Hannah said. "At least someone knows who I really am. Now you know everything." She spread her arms out as if demonstrating.

"And you know what I think?" Birch said. Hannah shrugged, signaling for him to go on. "I think you're scared Hannah Aspen."

"Scared?" Hannah asked. "Me? Never." Birch nodded.

"I think that you're scared to die."

Hannah snorted. "Honestly? That's what you got out of my letters? You know just a few hours ago I thought that I was going to die and you know what I thought? I thought, I'm ready to go. I'm sick and tired of this life."

"That's not what I mean, I mean that you're afraid of dying without doing something. Afraid of not leaving some sort of mark on the world."

Hannah stared at him in shock and then cleared her throat. "No one's ever told me that," she said slowly.

Birch nodded. "I think that you don't want to die without being you and so that was why you were writing those letters, because when you wrote them, you were yourself. You're not rebelling Hannah, you're just being yourself."

"And what is myself?" Hannah asked, lacing her fingers together like a steeple and leaning forward. "Who is Hannah Aspen?"

"That is an excellent question and one I'm still trying to figure out. But do you want to hear my theory?" Birch said, smiling.

"Love to," Hannah said.

"I think that Hannah Aspen is a fighter. I think that it's written in her DNA that she will never stop fighting. I think that Hannah Aspen is a believer. A believer in the things unseen and the things that we'll never truly understand. I believe that Hannah Aspen is constantly looking for the life after this. I think that Hannah Aspen has tasted a bit of Heaven from her experience with cancer."

"What do you mean by that?" Hannah asked, her brow furrowing. Never had someone spoken to her like this, it was different and yet at the same time it was… good.

"I think that through your cancer you've become stronger than most of the other people. And through the struggles you've seen the Light. You've tasted the hope. And I think that even though you're telling yourself that you're giving up, you can't. You won't go down without a fight. And yet at the same time, you're ready. Does that make sense?" Birch asked, looking into Hannah's violet eyes. He had wanted to speak these words ever since he had begun to read those letters. "You're not afraid to die and yet you are. You don't want to be forgotten."

"I hate oxymoron's," Hannah muttered. She clutched her hands into fists. "You know that other than Dr. Tanner you're the only other person to come and visit me?" She said, her eyes growing cold and hard. "My own parents haven't come and seen me. They probably think that I'm dead or something. They're probably already planning my funeral.

But I'm not dead am I?" Hannah said.

"Not in the least bit."

"I wrote the letters because I thought maybe… maybe someone would notice when I'm gone. Do you know how it feels to not have your own parents caring? Sure they might cry but I know deep down, my parents aren't going to always be sad. They've never been sad before."

"I think that you're not giving them enough credit," Birch said.

"You don't know my parents."

"No, I don't. But I read your letters and I know you. And obviously they must have done something good to the world by bringing you here."

"For all we know they didn't bring any good by giving birth to me," Hannah laughed bitterly.

"Obviously you're not done yet with your purpose for the world or else you'd be dead. If whoever is up there in the sky didn't let you die, then there's something else you're going to do."

"You believe in God?" Hannah asked.

"I believe in hope and I believe in a greater calling up above and if that's God, then yes I guess I do. But no matter who's up there, even if there's nothing, I know one thing about you Hannah Aspen."

"And what's that?"

"I know that you've changed at least one person's life."

"Oh yeah? And whose life is that?" Hannah asked and for a moment, staring at Birch Waters with his black clothes, with his smoking smelling breath and his tattoos, she felt her heart leap a bit.

"Mine."

End Excerpt from the Letter Writer by WiseGirl36

Annabeth was officially annoyed now.

She had gotten twenty new texts in the past hour. It was getting a little ridiculous. But this time it was different.

It was a call.

And it wasn't Percy's number.

So she deemed it safe to pick up.

"Hello?" She asked, yawning. It was getting late and she had to get up early tomorrow to get to work.

"Hello, is this Annabeth Chase?" A smooth voice said over the speaker.

"Yeah, and who is this?" She asked.

"This is Nico di'Angelo. I'm Percy Jackson's manager and right now the only guy that's keeping him from going insane." Annabeth snorted.

"So now he's gotten you to call me? Well you can tell him that I'm not in the mood to talk to him right now."

"No I'm actually doing it because while he's not going insane, I am. Listen, he refuses to work on his song lyrics which are supposed to be done in a few days. And the only way he'll work on them if he can talk to you and apologize. If he doesn't get it done then he's toast. Mr. D, that's the guy at Olympian Records, he's not a very patient man." Annabeth felt bad for the guy on the other end of the phone, he sounded like he was about to faint from exhaustion. Poor guy.

"I'm sorry but I'm not exactly ready to talk to him," Annabeth said. "I'd like to help but not right now."

"Listen, I know that Percy can be a world class pain in the butt but please, I don't know what else to do. I'm a terrible writer. Give me some math problems or the graphs of the statistics of something and hell I'll know what to do but when it comes to words I have no clue."

Annabeth sighed. Damn her good conscience.

"Okay… I'll come. Where does he live?"

Annabeth had never been to an apartment where the elevator opened up into it. Then again she'd never been to a penthouse. Even Thalia's place wasn't as nice as this place. She stepped in awkwardly, looking around at the large living room which it opened into. All of her furniture added together wouldn't equal the couch that was sitting in front of the TV.

"Um… hello?" Annabeth called into the empty air awkwardly. This was by far the most awkward moment in her life. She clutched the cardboard box she was carrying as if it was security blanket.

"Hey there," a man with unruly black hair and ghost white skin, with black eyes said as he walked into the living room from a large arch that led farther into the apartment. "You must be Annabeth, I'm Nico," he said. He held his hand out for her to shake it but when he saw the box he dropped it.

"Nice to meet you Nico," Annabeth said, smiling. "Where's Seaweed Brain?" She asked.

"Follow me, he's been in his studio trying to come up with some coherent idea but he's not doing too well at that." Nico led Annabeth back to a large kitchen with a den off to the right of it. Nico knocked on the door and then pushed it open.

Inside Percy was sitting on the floor surrounded by piles of paper and scores of music, his guitar on his lap as he was mindlessly strumming on it, his brow furrowed in concentration. He looked up when the door opened and then instantly set his guitar down and jumped up, straightening his jacket.

"I'll be in my room," Nico said, "I'll leave you two to this." And then he disappeared.

Annabeth set the box down as well as the drink carrier and then shoved her hands into her pockets awkwardly. "Hey," Percy said softly.

"Hey," she said back.

"Listen Annabeth…"

"I'm not in the mood to talk about it right now Percy, I came only because your friend Nico seemed like he was ready to pass out because of you," Annabeth said coldly. She wasn't ready to forgive him. Call it one of her fatal flaws but she was incredibly prideful."So let's just get this thing done. I have work in the morning."

Percy nodded. "What's in the box?" He asked, nodding to the box Annabeth had brought in.

"Pizza, deep dish," she said casually. Percy raised an eyebrow.

"From Riki's ?" He asked.

"Would it be from anywhere else?" she asked. "Oh and I brought you a milkshake since you said that you usually drink one when you're working and I guess this is considered work for you."

"You didn't have to do that," Percy said.

"I know." Annabeth handed him the milkshake. "But I'm a nice person so I did."

Percy looked at it and smiled. "It's even blue. You remembered."

Annabeth felt her face turning red. "So what are you working on?" She asked coming to sit down near Percy's stuff.

"Trying to write seven songs in three nights," Percy said with a heavy sigh.

"Percy! You're such a Seaweed Brain! You can't write seven songs in three nights! How the heck did you even get in this situation?" Annabeth sighed exasperated.

"You underestimate my ability of procrastination," Percy said with a grin.

"And that ability makes you very, very stupid," she said with a sigh. "Why did you need me?" she asked.

"Because you're good with words. I have some songs done but I have no idea to heck what on earth to do with them. They just don't make any damn sense!" He said, exasperated.

"You're the one who wrote them and you can't make sense of them, that's bad Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said, picking up a song entitled: Kiss Me Slowly. She read out the lyrics:

Stay with me, baby stay with me,

Tonight don't leave me alone

Walk with me, come and walk with me,

To the edge of all we've ever known

I can see you there with the city lights

Fourteenth floor, pale blue eyes

I can breathe you in.

Two shadows standing by the bedroom door,

No I could not want you more than I did right then

As our heads lean in.

Well I'm not sure what this is gonna be

But with my eyes closed all I see

Is the sky line through the window

The moon above me and the streets below

"What do you think?" Percy asked, looking at it critically. "I can't figure out a single chorus though and it's driving me nuts."

"It's good," Annabeth said. "Amazing that you create these lyrics the night before… and on nothing but blue milkshakes. Then again sometimes it's quite obvious also at times."

"Haha," Percy said, looking at another piece of paper and making a note with a pencil.

"Okay… let's do this," Annabeth sighed, picking up another pencil and writing a line underneath the song. It was like poetry, you wrote your heart. It was like her letters. That's all these song lyrics were, her letters set to music:

Hold my breath as your moving in

Taste your lips and feel your skin

When the time comes, baby don't run

Just kiss me slowly.

The song on here, Kiss Me Slowly is by Parachute.