Little Miss Popular

Chapter 18

            "Wow," I whispered. "I've never seen this many books in a room outside the library." I heard Annabeth let out a quiet laugh behind me. I turned to face her, and could see the joy in her expression. Her eyes seemed lighter, happier, than I've ever seen them, and the small smile was still on her face. 

            "Pretty amazing, isn't it?" She asked. 

            "How do you have so many books?" I asked. "Some of the are my stepmoms, and my dads. But a lot of them are mine, from school, Barnes & Nobles, or from random little thrift stores." I stared at her silently for a moment, our eyes never leaving each others. She broke eye contact first. Looking down she said, "Let me show you the backyard." She turned and I followed her back into the hallway and into the kitchen, where a set of frosted glass doors led to the backyard.

           Her backyard was even more amazing than the house, if just for the fact that it had a full sized basketball court. A scoreboard stood proudly to the side, the name 'Chase Stadium' painted in gold on the grey background. A set of benches sat on either side, which is where Annabeth and I put our bags. She grabbed a ball from a shed and dribbled out to the free throw line of one of the hoops. Turning to me, the ball placed on her hip, she asked if I want to play a game of PIG. I agreed, and the game ensued. It lasted about 5 minutes, before Annabeth lost, having gotten PIG before I got a letter. The frustration was evident on her face, obviously expecting herself to do better, and hating losing. She demanded we play again, and after losing again, she went and sat down on the bench, downing her water. I continued shooting for a while. I could feel her eyes watching me as I moved around the basket, making me feel somewhat nervous. After a while I decided to join her on the bench. I sat a fair distance away from her and grabbed my water bottle, chugging half of it, before wiping my face with my shirt. I turned towards her and found her watching me. Pink tinted her cheeks and she smiled shyly, looking away quickly. 

            "So," I said, not knowing what else to say. 

            "So," she repeated back. After a few moments in silence, she stood abruptly. "Do you wanna go inside and watch a movie?" she asked. I smiled, and nodded, standing up after her and grabbing my stuff before heading inside. 

*Annabeth's POV*

            Percy followed me inside and into the theater room. We sat towards the back of the room, and I grabbed the remote turning on Netflix. 

            "What do you feel like watching?" I asked Percy. He shrugged his shoulders, motioning for me to pick. I scrolled through Netflix a while before deciding on a random movie. The movie started and I went to the popcorn machine in the kitchen to make us popcorn. I could feel Percy's stare the entire time, and 5 minutes later walked back to him with two bags of popcorn. I sat quietly and we watched the movie in silence. About half way through I could feel Percy getting restless. Truth be told, I didn't blame him. This wasn't exactly the greatest movie ever made. 

            Suddenly I felt something lightly hit my cheek and fall into my lap. I looked down and saw a piece of popcorn. I look up to Percy incredulously, only to be hit square in the nose with another piece. I gasped loudly and Percy started laughing hysterically. My smile grew watching him laugh. He looked up at me with tears in his eyes, only to be surprised by a handful of popcorn hitting him in the face. This time it was his turn to gasp, and my turn to start laughing hysterically.