Scars - A PJO/HOO Soulmates AU

11.

Piper grabbed Annabeth's arm that was holding the food and held it away from Annabeth's mouth.

"Hey, hey, hey, Annabeth! Take it "eesh"! There's plenty of food to go around." Piper said, frowning.

Annabeth took a glance around the table and saw looks of concern on Thalia, Reyna and Leo's face. She swallowed hard and considered telling them everything. Would they understand? That her "family" treated her like a slave and threw her around like a rag doll?

She looked down at her food and forced a blush to her cheeks, trying to look embarrassed. No, Annabeth couldn't tell them, they would look at her with pity or god-forbid, call the police. She'd be sent to a foster home for sure.

"Sorry, I'm fine. I was volunteering for a long time yesterday", Annabeth said, lying through her teeth, "I guess I came home too late, never got to eat."

She forced a chuckle out of her and looked up to meet the eyes of her friends. Reyna and Thalia looked satisfied with her answer. Piper and Leo still looked concerned, and a bit suspicious.

"Whatever you say Annabeth", Piper said, turning back to her food reluctantly.

"Soo, Piper" Thalia said, changing the subject, "You got anything you want to tell us? A crush or attraction of any sort?"

Piper instantly blushed and hid her face in her hands. Annabeth, Reyna and Leo just stared at her blankly while Thalia sat their evilly with a shit-eating smirk on her face.

Reyna was the first person to speak, "What?"

"Oh, I just wanted to tell you about a wittle itty-bitty conversation that happened between me and Piper this morning," Thalia said, still smirking.

"Wittle isn't a word" Annabeth said absently.

"So, little miss Pipes was asking me how I was this morning, and I told her that I had a brother-"

"You have a brother?!?!", Leo, Reyna, and Annabeth exclaimed, shocked.

"Ugh, yes, Jason Grace," Thalia said, rolling her eyes, "Back to the actual topi-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Your brother is Jason? Jason Grace? The blondie with glasses?" Leo asked.

"Yes, it is," Thalia said, looking close to murdering some poor plant.

"I cannot believe I didn't connect your last names!" Annabeth said, wondering if she should rethink her life.

"Wow, this is backfiring." Thalia muttered.

"That is crazy", Reyna whispered, shaking her head, "There is no way Jason is your brother."

"ANYWAY!" Thalia yelled, getting everyone's attention again, "Piper had the same reaction, and asked for a picture."

The grin was back.

"And Jason was watching our conversation when she said, wait for it... she said he looked cute."

The rest of their faces, discluding Pipers, morphed creepily into the same smirk Thalia had on her face.

"No way, Piper, I can't belie-" Leo started.

"Shut it Valdez."

"But-"

"No."
"Pipe-"

"I said NO!" Piper shouted, covering her ears.

The others saw that she was upset, so they left her be and changed the topic again. Annabeth swore that their topics changed faster than Drew Tanaka's boyfriend.

"I can't believe you little midgets are going to be in your junior year already!" Reyna said, shoving a piece of omelette into her mouth.

Leo grinned, "Yeah, and you guys are going to be seniors."
That made the table go quiet as they all realized that this would be last year that they would all be together. After that, Reyna and Thalia would be flocking their sturdily built nest, leaving Annabeth, Piper, and Leo alone. Even after that, there was almost a 0.01% probability that they would all be accepted into the same college.

It was a sad reality, nothing like the beautiful paradise that fiction books present.

Leo cleared his throat, "So, uh, are we just going to sit here and feel sorry for ourselves, or actually our time wisely."

Thalia smacked the back of his head and he winced and pouted, "Oh man, Thals, you're such a violent person."

Piper shoved his shoulder, "We were all having a moment, Leo!"

Leo just shrugged apologetically, giving a grin that he insisted all the ladies loved, "I'm sorry, it's just you guys are all acting like someone died. It's not like we'll never see each other after this year. Live in the moment, my friends!"

With a start, everyone at the table realized that Leo was right. They stared at him in shock and Reyna snorted.

"Since when were you interested in all that philosophical stuff?" she asked.

Leo zipped his lips, "A magician never reveals his secrets."

Thalia choked on her toast and glared at Leo, who immediately knew he did something wrong.

"Magicians are not only men, Leonidas, women are fully capable of being good at magic." Thalia stated, glaring.

"Sorry, ma'm- I mean, Thalia." Leo gulped.

"Better."

After a long discussion about feminism, and Leo cracking jokes at a completely inappropriate time, Thalia phone buzzed with a phone call.

She picked it up and addressed the caller, putting it up to her ear.

"Hello? Oh, hey Jason. What's up?"

Everyone subconsciously glanced at Piper, but looked away just as quick, listening in to the call again.

"And? So what if someone is there?" Thalia's expression became annoyed, "Will you just stop crying your stupid tears of joy and talk to me clearly!"

After a couple more seconds, Thalia's eyes widened, and she quickly told Jason that she'd be there soon, and goodbye. The second the phone was put down, she was bombarded with questions.

"Do you need to leave now?"

"Why was your brother crying?"

"What happened?"
"Does your brother think Piper is hot?"
Thalia ignored Leo's question and stood up, "I need to leave guys, I'm sorry. Apparently our cousin who we haven't seen for 5 years is back. Gods, I'm gonna murder Percy when I see him."
"Percy?" Annabeth blurted out, "As in Percy Jackson?"

Thalia was surprised, "Yeah, do you know him?"

Annabeth blinked, "No, I don't actually..."

She was sure she did not know who Percy was, but how would she have known his last name? Annabeth must have heard Thalia say his name before.

Thalia was too excited to care if Annabeth knew her cousin, telling them all goodbye and rushing off as quick as she could.

"Well", Leo said into the silence, "That was eventful."

WHOOOO, I CAN'T TALK I'M KINDA IN TROUBLE, NO TRIVIA, HOPE YOU LIKE IT BYE!!!!

-OneAppleBlossom ;)

Btw, who ships Veronica and JD. I DO!