Falling for You (A Percabeth AU)

Chapter Nine

Annabeth's POV

I get off the subway as soon as I can.  I walk towards Goode High as fast as I can without making it obvious, trying to hide my embarassment.  I may not care what Percy thinks about me too much, but seeing any classmate outside of school can be awkward as hell.  As I make my way down one block, then two, then turn the corner onto campus, I try to get the encounter out of my head, but the thought just won't go away.  A couple more seconds and I enter Goode High for the second time.  I jog up the stairs, down the upper hallway and to my locker.  Piper stands there, waiting.

"Hey, Annie!" she says, a little too peppy.

"Don't call me that," I reply, but I'm grinning.

"Whatever.  Aaaaanyway, there's gonna be a party at Jason's place Friday night.  I thought it'd be a good way for you to, you know, branch out a bit.  You down?" she asks, raising an eyebrow.

I really don't want to go.  But I suppose it's better than another night at "home".  

"Sure, I'm in.  What time?"

Piper cracks a smile.  "Seven.  I'll text you the adress."

And with that, she's gone, a long brown braid swishing behind her.  

I open my locker and shove my books inside as the warning bell rings.  I snatch my english textbook and practically sprint to class, rushing inside just as the final bell echoes through the building to signal the start of the second day of the school year.

English is mediocre at best.  The rest of my morning classes are fine, too, I guess.  Nothing to write home about, if you know what I mean.  It seems as if everyone's already pretty much accepted their fate: yet another school year.  Finally, lunch comes, and I thank god I have somebody to sit with.  It's just Piper and I this time, she says the rest of her friends are working on some big group project or something.  But she assures me I'll get to meet them at Jason's party.  

Lunch passes faster than I would've liked, but I guess it is what it is.  I make my way to my final few classes of the day and am actually slightly relieved when the last bell sounds to mark the end of another day at Goode High.

No surprise visits at my locker from Piper this afternoon, which dampens my mood a little.  It's not like they're a normal part of my routine yet, but I was sort of hoping they would be.  Anything to keep me from home is welcomed.  I shrug on my backpack and close my locker door.  No homework again, thank the gods.  I walk down the hallway and descend the stairs slowly, wasting as much time as possible before I go home.  As I step out of the school, I take a breath of fresh air.  Well, as fresh as it gets in New York, anyway.  I take my same route through Central Park, not hesitating to stop whenever I can.  I cross fifth avenue into my neighborhood, and eventually make it to my apartment building.  I push the elevator button and sigh as the doors close.  I have no doubt that an angry stepmother awaits me inside my apartment.

The elevator door open and I cross the hallway, still stalling in these final moments of peace.  Hesitantly, I grab my key and open the door.

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" 

As expected, Helen greets me upon my arrival.  "I was just walking home from school, Helen," I reply.  She 

"I've told you not to call me Helen, you little brat.  What took you so damn long?  The boys have been home for almost ten minutes already!" she snaps.

"Sorry, I came as fast as I could," I say.  We both know that that's not true, but she has no proof otherwise, and she realizes it.  She turns away from me in a huff.

With a quick "Fix the boys a snack," she's stalked away to her room upstairs.

"Alright.  Bobby, Matthew, do you want a snack?" I ask.  I think we all know the answer to that one.

"Yeah!  Yeah!" they cheer, rushing the table.  "Hurry up!"

I pour them some of the pretzel sticks they had yesterday, and luckily they don't refuse.  Once they seem satisfied enough, I head back up to my room to get some writing done on my laptop.  I've been working really hard an a couple stories recently, but gotten some pretty bad writers block on all of them, so I took a break.  Fortunately, being at a new school has given me a lot of fresh new ideas.  After a couple productive hours on my laptop, Helen calls (more like screams) for dinner.  That seems to be the one thing in the kitchen she can do for herself.

"Coming," I say hastily, still in no rush to reunite with my stepmother again.  I come down the stairs and enter the kitchen, sitting in between Bobby and Helen.  It was a fairly average dinner in the Chase household- Helen and I arguing, Bobby and Matthew chucking food at each other, the usual.  

I duck out of dinner early and lock myself in my room for the night.  I walk around neatening up this and that, just for something to do.  About a half hour after leaving the kitchen, I hear my dad come home.  That means there'll be a fair amount of peace between Helen and I for the rest of the evening, but it's not like dad cares enough to check on me.  Plus, he's leaving for a weeklong work trip starting tomorrow, so I won't be seeing much of him anyways.  At least that'll leave the door open for me to go to Piper's party.

The party is on Saturday, so I only have to make it through one more day.  I can do that.  School started on a Wednesday this year, don't ask me why.  But it means less school to attend early on, so I'm good with it. 

Since it's already pretty late, I decide to go to bed.  By that I mean scrolling through my phone for a couple hours, but I still get to sleep at a decent time, hoping for a half-decent day tomorrow.

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Thanks for reading!

I'm trying to set everything up, looks like the big chapter's going to be around chapter 11 so prepare yoselves.  As always, thanks for any reads, votes and comments.  Love you the most (James Charles I'm coming for your brand).  

See you in the next one, 

L (Author)

Disclaimer: all mentioned characters belong to Rick Riordan and I do not make any ownership claims over them.