*ducks as shoe is thrown* Whew, that was close!
I'm sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, soooooooooo sorry. I don't want to go into any of my lame excuses (cough writers block cough).
I just want to give everyone who has supported this story a huge thanks because you guys are THE BEST (and has endless patience;) )
I have tried out a small percabeth make out moment in this one (key word: tried). It's embarrassing but I get all bothered and flustry when I try to put my those thoughts into words.
I am planning on writing more such moments, in the libraries and what not, so I would love it if you guys would give your opinions on that!
Chapter 10
Half-Blood High
~0O0~
Annabeth hurried across the corridor, trying to maneuver around the bustle that was absolutely horrendous during lunch time. The only thing her frayed nerves had allowed her to chock down in the cafeteria, an apple, twisted in anticipation in her stomach. Piper had left for the try outs directly after sixth period, for she had to lend a hand in organizing with Silena, and this meant that Annabeth had spent lunch biting her nails and listening only half heartedly as Leo prattled on about some girl who had given him the finger.
The blonde turned into an empty corridor that was a shortcut to the gym and had barely taken a few steps, before the door of a broom closet creaked open ominously and a hand gripped her elbow and dragged her into the blinding darkness within.
"The fuck?" Annabeth cursed as she groped around in the dark, her body pressed uncomfortably against someone else's, and gathering her wits, she struck her elbow behind her, hoping to catch the assailant's gut, but the block was stopped by a strong grip.
"Calm down, Chase." Jackson hissed, his warm breath fanning her cheeks. A different sort of un- comfortableness took hold of her body and she turned, squinting into the darkness.
"What the hell, Jackson? Is there a light switch in here?"
He didn't bother to reply and after a moment of fumbling, produced a dim streak of light from his phone.
"Students aren't allowed to keep their phones with them" Annabeth quipped sharply, narrowing her eyes to get rid of the black spots that had appeared in her vision due to the sudden brightness. The room they were standing in was small, and apart from a couple of brooms and old battered text books, was mercifully clean. "It ought to be in the office! They do compulsory checking."
"I'm aware" Jackson drawled "And I did hand in a phone. Only I didn't specify how many I had."
"How many do you have?" Annabeth asked, clearly disapprovingly, trying to maintain her balance in the small place.
"Three, but I don't think it's of particular importance right now." He growled, and his lips were on hers again, her hair teased out of its bun by his demanding fingers. She let out a groan and arched into him, her hands going on a chock hold across his neck. She could feel the delicious warmth his boy radiated through the thin fabric of the shirt, but it wasn't enough, not even nearly.
"Take off your shirt!" she panted, as he pulled a strand of her hair back and exposed her bare neck. He started sucking on the sensitive skin of her collar bone while she let her hands roam around his shirt and started pulling the buttons off. He let out a groan as she touched the warm bare skin of his chest, all hard and smooth and lean.
"God dammit , Jackson!" she moaned when he's managed to pull her blouse over her head and roughly palmed one of her breast , his other hand rubbing torturous circles over the thin material of her green silk bra. Her breath hitched when she met his eyes, swirling dark green with lust, as he yanked down her bra and took one of her nipples in his mouth and started sucking it, sending waves of pleasure through her body.
She had to hold onto his neck for support, as he continued his onslaught on her nipples, his hot tongue biting, sucking and licking as though to soothe any pain away. Her nails scratched the skin on his muscled back and he growled darkly, pulling her closer, their body's flushed together, soft and hard, and she felt his fingers at the skin near the waistband of her skirt. Her core burned and thighs clenched and he seemed to notice, as he let his hands trail slowly, torturously slowly, over the flushed skin of her inner thighs and-
They were startled apart by the sound that ensued from the phone, that had been knocked down onto a pile of textbooks.
"Shit, what's the time?" Annabeth shrieked, the soothing oblivion of Jackson's touches fading away into thin air and all the previous anticipation she had locked up emerging onto the surface.
"It's gone one" he informed her, bending down to pick up his phone "Where are you off to in such a hurry anyway? If you say the library, I'm going to be insulted."
"It's none of your business" Annabeth replied shortly, trying to fix her blouse and massaging the skin of her neck that felt extremely sensitive, and she was positive was covered in hickeys "But if you must know, I'm heading to the gym for the try outs."
"Oh yeah" Jackson said absently, slipping his white shirt back on, and it took a few minutes for Annabeth to wrench her eyes from his lean, muscled form "The McLean girl is trying out, isn't she?"
Annabeth, a bit miffed, replied coldly "Yes, but I'm going to be trying out too."
Jackson stared at her in shock, his hands frozen on the third button of his shirt "You're trying out for cheerleading?"
More than a bit insulted, she grabbed her satchel and pursed her lips "Why the tone of surprise? Do I somehow look like the type of person who can't do a few splits?"
Jackson regained his composure quickly and quipped defensively "Well, it isn't exactly your picture is it? If I had to guess, I'd say you were somehow cornered into it. And my money is on McLean."
Annabeth chose to not answer and instead asked "Will you be coming to watch?-Dares on the team, isn't she?"
He shrugged, his eyes studying her thoughtfully "I've got detention with Professor Salt."
"What did you do now?" Annabeth asked curiously, as she bunched her hair into a bun at the nape of her neck.
He gave her a crooked smirk, that had her heart race frantically again and the unquenched burning in her lower abdomen rear its head .He had finally having buttoned up his shirt, much to her disappointment "Wouldn't you like to know?"
Annabeth rolled her eyes, grabbed her satchel and made for the door. The corridor outside was still completely deserted and she took a moment to assess herself in the open space, for any tell tale sign of depravity, before turning off in the direction of the gym.
"Hey, Chase?"
Annabeth turned and raised an eyebrow.
Jackson had a crooked smile on his face, his hands shoved deep into his pant pockets, his white shirt deliciously tight, and winked at her "Greens a very good color on you."
She huffed and turned red, gave him the finger to which he callously laughed, and made her way to the gym, tugging her collar closer.
~0O0~
Annabeth skidded to a halt outside the vast gym doors, controlled her accelerated breathing and gave herself a quick pat down to erase all evidences of her tryst with the green eyed devil. She was already late, so the best option to follow now would be to play it cool and pretend as though this had been her intention all along, instead of fumbling for an excuse and looking not only irresponsible, but also lame.
She pushed open the doors and walked in, doing her best to add a bit of sway to her hips. A few people were sitting on the bleachers and in the middle of the polished floor were figures clad in the blue cheerleading outfits and some in the standard school uniform.
"Look who finally decided to show up" Dare sneered, still clad in her school uniform, which Annabeth found a bit discontenting; Dare did, after all possess a cheerleading dress and wouldn't have passed up the opportunity to flaunt it in front of the new girls, like how her friends were currently doing. "What was it, Chase? Finishing up an essay for next year?"
Annabeth tried to summon her most charming smile "Actually Dare, I was just making out with a really hot guy in a broom cupboard on the third floor."
"Yeah right!" The snort that ensued from Dare was rather insulting, though Annabeth knew it was well deserved "As though anyone in their right mind would touch out with you. You'd probably bore them to tears with some speech on the Great Gatsby or the impo-Silena! Silena! Look who finally decided to show up! Late on the first day of practice, isn't that irresponsible? Perhaps we ought to show Chase the way we deal out punishments for late comers around here, don't you think?"
Dare smiled brightly as Silena Baeugard strolled towards them, a clipboard in her hands "I wouldn't talk much if I were you Rachel. I saw you dashing in not five minutes earlier and if we're going to hand out punishments, you'd have to share them too."
Dare's face twisted into a vicious scowl and she flounced back to her friends, her hips swaying wildly. Annabeth didn't let the grin that was threatening to break out on her face show and instead turned to face Silena solemnly.
"Since it's your first day here Annabeth, I'll let you off with a warning." Silena gave her a tiny smile "But Rachel did have a point; we do take rules seriously around here. Now why don't you go over to the locker room? Piper is there and I expect she's…rather anxious to see you."
Anxious was an understatement, Annabeth thought amusedly, as she was nearly knocked off her feet by a blur of blue and brown the moment she stepped into the locker room.
"Where on earth were you?" Piper screeched the moment she'd pushed away from the blonde "I thought you'd caught cold feet and made a run for it."
Annabeth frowned a bit, offended "I thought I gave you my word, Piper."
Piper waved an impatient hand, pulling the door of her locker open "Yeah, yeah. You and your word, Annie. Honestly, I don't know which era you live in, but words aren't exactly regarded that seriously these days. They're bound to be easily broken."
Annabeth dropped her satchel on the tiled floor, messaging her shoulders. Perhaps she ought to leave a few books behind in the common room. After all, a hunched back wasn't exactly that attractive.
"Here, put these on, quick" Piper shoved a blue shirt and skirt into her hands "They're mine and should fit you. I figured it would be easier to do the routine in these than the uniform."
Annabeth consented and made a move to unbutton her blouse, before freezing. The bruises and hickeys that were splattered across her skin would be a dead give away to her meetings with Jackson and the person who would most likely join the dots and arrive at an almost real picture was standing right before her, tying her shoes. Annabeth twisted the hem of her shirt, contemplating her options but was saved from revealing anything disastrous when Piper was called off by one of the team mates.
The blonde quickly shrugged off her shirt and donned the cheerleading outfit, all the while keeping an eye on the door. She gave her a glance in the mirror. Something about her plain face and the girls standing outside made her palms sweaty. She knew she didn't belong here and so did most of the others. But now that she was here, she was going to make sure she owned the part.
Annabeth slipped on some lip gloss and ran a hand through her messy curls. Damn Jackson and his stupid fingers, though of course she hadn't been complaining at that time. At that time, in fact, she had found she couldn't get enough of his hands.
Annabeth growled, trying to push that green eyed maggot into the back of her mind, so she could focus on what the fuck she was doing and not make a fool of herself out on the floor.
~0O0~
"-and give my regards to your father, Mr. Grace" the professor gave him a superior look and Jason found the answering smile flashing across his face as an almost automatic response, though inside, his intestine had withered into malicious snakes at the very mention of his father.
Jason slipped out of the classroom before anyone could catch for him a quick chat, which mainly consisted of giving them a chance for trying out for the football team or if he was interested in any pleasurable activity in some empty corridor.
He let his legs carry him through the familiar turns of the castle as his mind started to wander yet again. He was barely sleeping these days, his appetite had turned nonexistent and he'd lost control of his temper.
He cringed when he remembered the way he'd snapped at Annabeth and Piper last day at the common room or the way he'd got short while tutoring Leo in math and the way he'd fucking insulted him. Leo eyes, which already carried a bit of hurt these days, had widened in shock, but the curly haired boy had tried to play it off cool, jumping back to his usual sassy self, though he had never approached Jason with doubts again.
And worst of all, Piper. Sweet, beautiful , caring Piper who was always at his side, urging him to eat something, willing to hear out his problems, constantly at the receiving end of his cruel words, yet never once showing any signs of leaving him.
Her eyes haunted him, but how could he possibly tell her, or any of his other friends for that matter, the grenade that his father had dropped on him, when he himself could barely come into terms with it?
His father. Zeus Grace. Multi millionaire and owner of Olympian airlines.
The dysfunctional asshole who'd screwed up his life, who was more like an uncle that visited once in Christmas than an actual father. His brothers were the same way, Jason knew, and this was why he had never been able to fully blame Jackson for the utter wanker he had turned out to be. If it weren't for Piper, he might have went down that same, sodden path.
He'd come to accept it though; to expect nothing but a cheque on his birthday and phone calls once a year and an empty house in the summer.
Then that bastard had given him a call during a school day, casually informed him that his mother was alive and was living in New York, that he had an older sister, that she had been murdered during a gang war and that the funeral was going on at the moment, so perhaps he should say a few words in prayer. She had been, after all, his sister.
His sister. He'd had a sister, someone he could have played with as a child, someone he could have called up in the evenings, someone he could have went home to in the summer. All his life he'd felt alone, but now, the fact that there had always been someone so close to him, who he could have loved and who would have loved him, made it a hundred times worse.
They would have tried to make cookies together and then mess up the kitchen, he would have run out to the store to get her tampons and ice creams, she would have taught him how to drive, he would have threatened her boyfriends, she would have made fun of the way he'd been a total nervous wreck before he first kissed a girl.
He'd never got the chance to meet her. What had she been like? Had she been a spoiled a rich heiress with expensive labeled handbags? Or a shy nerd who'd wore oversized hoodies and thick black glasses?
Did they even look alike?
He had tried to tell Piper several times but every time he thought of her, a painful lump settled in his throat and the words refused to leave the back of his mouth.
His father hadn't revealed any more information on the matter and had hung up before Jason could ask anything. He'd tried calling him up, but as he already knew, the line was always busy.
He could have tried other means of contacting that evasive bastard, but he had been scared. Scared if he could really bare to know more about that amazing person, who had had the same blood as him flowing through her veins. Scared if he could have maintained his temper.
It didn't matter anyway; Zeus Grace had disappeared from the radar.
When his mind suddenly registered his surroundings, he realized he had reached the door of the common room. Inside he could see his friends sprawled over the sofas, Annabeth and Piper, sweaty and excited in cheerleading outfits and Leo cracking his lame jokes and laughing brightly.
He should apologize and explain everything. He should stop carrying this secret around that was slowly eating him up from the inside. He should tell them about her, whose unknown face was slowly tearing his heart into pieces and setting them on fire.
Had she been blonde too? Did she have blue eyes?
He turned on his heels softly and made his way to the library, his throat tight.
~0O0~
And ta-da!
Poor Jason.
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