Cont. of Annabeth - Alike, Chapter 4

Annabeth — Trust

Annabeth (7) - Travis (7) - Connor (6)

Travis Stoll is a pain.

Seriously.

A pain.

Annabeth could feel the dread growing as she rifles through the paper. Yeah, they're definitely not twins.

May 21st. Connor Stoll.

June 20th. Travis Stoll.

She raises her head dejectedly. Connor is smirking at her, waiting for her to say something. Anything.

She only looks back down to rifle around some more.

Maybe she misread.

But nope. The dates are definitely different. They are definitely not twins.

"So?" Connor says with a smug smile.

Travis stares at his bowl of cereal. Luke downs his glass of orange juice. Chris toys with his shirt.

Annabeth sighs, putting the paper down. "You're not twins."

The smug smile grows smuggler. "And?"

Annabeth grits her teeth. "I'm sorry."

"And?"

Travis drops his spoon and shakes his brother by the shoulder. "Hey! Let's drop it okay?" But Connor only rolls his shoulder and shake the hand off.

"No, we made a deal. You're wrong, so tell me your biggest fear."

"Why?"

"Just tell me."

"Spiders. I don't like spiders."

And Connor wrinkles his nose in disgust but it is quickly followed by a grin. "Thanks."

Annabeth expected something.

She knew something was going to happen.

She just kinda expected some kind of teensy-weensy spider somewhere in her belongings. In her bed. In her food. In the bathroom. She was absolutely ready.

But a tarantula?

Connor was lucky Luke was with him after she killed the spider. She would have killed him next.

Luke says they're here to stay for the long run, that she should try to make friends with them. And even though Annabeth nods and says she'll try, she won't.

Maybe that's why the Fates decided to have the ceiling cave in that day in the inventory. She had heard horrendous creaking and it was her quick thinking alone that she manages to pull both of her companions back by the back of their shirt before one of the ceiling's supporting rod comes crashing down.

Dust and dirt flew into the air and Annabeth coughs, waving her hand to clear the debris.

Her heart falls when she can see. The fallen pillar blocks the exit, their only exit. There's no windows. No ducts to get out with. They're trapped in here.

The pillar was huge, but that didn't stop Connor from trying to lift it. It didn't budge at all. It's useless. They only thing he's going to succeed in is getting splinters.

She is going to say something and she was about to until Travis pulls on her shirt. "Connor just wants something to do," he says, sitting down on the ground caked with cockroach poops.

Annabeth wrinkles her nose and crouches, but not sitting, beside him.

"Hey, Annabeth," Travis started, head tilting to the side, "What does undetermined mean again?"

Annabeth grits her teeth. She hates this topic. Everybody in the Hermes cabin hates this question. She means, it should be obvious from the name alone. 'Undetermined.' Not determined. Seriously, what's so confusing about it? But she sucks it up and answers anyway. "When you're undetermined, your parent hasn't claimed you."

"Are you undetermined?"

"No, I'm claimed. I just don't like sleeping by myself in my cabin sometimes." She rests her chin on her cheeks. Before summer ended, Luke had told her about all the undetermined in his cabin. He said some have been there for years and hate being reminded they're not claimed yet. Annabeth frowns. "You shouldn't ask people if they're claimed or not. It's not nice."

"Huh." Travis leans his head back with a face like he couldn't understand why. "How long does it take—"

"It depends," she interrupts, "Some people get claimed fast like you and your brother. Others, not for years." And some, never as she thinks about to that summer when she saw one left from Hermes cabin in the middle of summer, unclaimed. The necklace she left behind on her bed had 10 beads.

She hopes her tone tells him she doesn't want to talk about this topic. And Travis remains silent. Thankfully. Until he's tapping his heel on the floorboard, drumming his fingers on the wood, and predictably, he turns to her again with a new topic. (She should have known. He can't keep quiet.)

"Are you still mad Connor left a spider in your bed?"

"Yes. Very," she seethes.

"Sorry."

You and your brother aren't the same person, she wants to say but she bit her tongue. If Annabeth is being honest with herself, Travis is the nicer of the two. Does she really want to make the both of them hate her gut? But supposedly that's her fault for starting the fight. Which she could understand. But a tarantula? How did Connor even get his hands on one?

She's going to get even.

She will get even.

She'll even the score and inflict the same amount of fear and terror that she felt right onto the playing board, gonna launch a rocket onto the mountain and make it a plain. Connor's gonna regret messing with her.

A hand on her sleeve pulls her from her thought. Travis looks at her with that tilt. He has another question. "Why are you a yearrounder?"

She's quickly learning to associate that tilt with undesirable questions.

"It's personal," she answers harshly, maybe too harshly because Travis winces and twiddles his thumbs.

"Okay."

Connor is still trying, and still failing to find a way out. He gives up trying to move the fallen pillar, instead is now screaming for help in a very loud, very irritating way.

It's useless. Everyone is in the middle of Greek Language right now. They won't be done until half an hour from now.

Connor let out another ear-piercing scream for help that almost burst her eardrums. Annabeth couldn't help thinking Lee would love him. Lately, he's been looking for someone to sing songs with. She moves to stand, to go somewhere where Connor can't burse her eardrums, but a hand latches onto her shirt again. "Can I ask another question?"

Annabeth shakes her head, tugging her shirt free and taking a few steps forward. "No, I'm getting out of—"

But Travis asks it anyway. "Do you hate us?"

She didn't say anything. Hate is a strong word. Dislike would be more suitable.

Travis kept talking. "Connor think everybody hates us. Even Luke and dad. He thinks nobody likes us and that we're bothering everyone."

Annabeth clenches her fists. Bother...everyone. Why does it hit a chord in her?

"I don't really remember much about our dad. All I know was he left us at an orphanage. And they didn't like us at the orphanage."

"Why?" she asks, but it strikes her a second later: the reason why she left home, the reason for the fights and worry between her family. It's because of —

"The monsters but the others see them as just creepy boys and girl. We would see them everywhere too: in the orphanage, outside on the yard, and in the hallways. I tried telling them they were monsters with this big eye in the middle or monsters with black, wrinkly skin but none of them listen. The other kids used to say how we're Satan or the devils since the monsters start showing up when we came. Then one of the kids disappeared. Mrs. Aggy talked about moving us away to a smaller home because we're hurting everyone else. Nobody wanted us there."

Hurting everyone…wanted… She closes her eyes. It didn't take much to remember her own home and the problems, about her dad. How he asked for Athena to take her back. How he has to be lectured why he's supposed to care for her. How he took her stepmom's side over hers. Over everything. And how they fight, how her mom wanted her sent. How they look at her and relented her existence. How nobody wanted her there.

Connor's still screaming, oblivious to their conversation. Or maybe he does know and doesn't want to talk about it. She opens her eyes and looks back to Travis who stares at her with wide, blue eyes that seen the same things she did, faced the same problems she did.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because Luke said how you and Connor are alike. Connor was the one who said we should run away. So we did. You ran away too, didn't you? Luke said you did." Travis said with his head high. Annabeth grits her teeth. Once she gets out of here, Luke is getting a lesson on confidentiality.

"And also," Annabeth raise her head to see Travis blank-faced. "Luke said birds of a feather flock together and that we should talk to each other so we can become friends."

Annabeth sits down on the floor next to him. "Did he really said that or are you making stuff up?"

"I'm telling the truth!" Travis says, hurt in his eyes and mouth in a pout. "Luke told me I should tell you our past so you'll be more easier to make friends with. He said you're too full of pride and that it really stinks like — eek!"

Annabeth's glare cuts his sentence short and for a moment, Connor stops screaming to look back. But Travis waves his hands and even though Connor frowns a little, narrows his eyes a little, even takes a tiny step towards them, he still turns back to screaming for help. But it's a quieter, not as focused as it could be, and it's so easy to tell with how he stands what he's doing.

Travis sighs and scratches the back of his head. "I guess we're done talking."

He stands to move away, but she snags the ends of his shirt and tugs once. And when he turns that questioning set of eyes to her, she lowers her head. Birds of a feather flock together. "Before Luke, were you lonely?"

Travis cocks an eyebrow. "Lonely? I had Connor."

"But nobody else?"

And Travis seems to understand. He shrugs his shoulders. "Nobody is worth believing in. They all just fail us."

And she remembers Luke's words, from all those months ago, but unbelievably clear in her memories. His promise. Her relief. Their kindness.

[You're part of our family now. And I promise I'm not going to fail you like our families did.]

She fists his shirt in her hands and stares up at him, eyes set and determined. "I'll be someone you— both of you— can trust. For forever"

And she knows Travis understands without having to say it outright. He smiles brightly, warmly, sincerely, and a little inkling of that happiness seeps into her as she smiles back.

I'll be your friend.

For forever.

Author notes:

Writing is hard. Life is hard. But sleep. Sleep is easy and a wonderful blessing to this dreary period in my life. I'm reminded of my shortcomings whenever I open my Google doc. It just makes me want to keep it all in my head and keep fantasizing rather than making it a reality. I know you shouldn't compare yourself to other writers, but it's hard not too. Maybe Tumblr's negativity is getting to me. Tumblr does have a way of dragging everyone down into a spiral of negativity. Good thing I got myself into a new anime called Haikyuu and Oikawa Tooru is the light of my life. (Also the Johzenji's Volleyclub Club. What a fun bunch.)

I relate with Oikawa so much. Just replace volleyball with writing and that's basically me.