After I check the time, four-thirty, I tighten my tie and stuff my phone into my pants pocket. I walk out of my bedroom, seeing my mom lounging on the couch, reading the newspaper. "Mom, I'm leaving."
She looks up at me, over her reading glasses. "Okay honey, have fun and stay safe!"
I smile and give her a kiss on the cheek before I leave. "Love you!" I shout as I slam the door. I know I hear a faint "Love you too." from behind the closed door.
I feel a rush of cold air when I step through the threshold. I tighten my coat around my body before heading down the busy streets of New York City.
Within twenty minutes I am at Annabeth's apartment building. I remember Apartment 3C to be hers. At exactly four-fifty eight, I knock on her door. Faint shuffling is heard behind the door, before Annabeth steps out looking stunning as ever.
She is in a sea blue dress that fell to her knees. The dress is strapless and tighter around her top, while bottom half of the dress 'poofs' out and is sparkly. Her hair is in tight curls with a small, blue, flower barrette that matches her dress. Seeing her so beautiful made me go weak in the knees. "Percy! You look great. Come on in." She smiled.
I smile back. "So do you."
She smiles and rolls her eyes. "I look like a Barbie doll. Didn't want to wear it, but step-mom forced me. At least she isn't making me wear makeup." I laugh, I would never see Annabeth wearing something like this on her own will.
I step into her apartment, looking around quickly. Her apartment is set up a lot like mine. But her furniture is modernized and there are many pictures on the walls of her family. Most had all five of them, but there was one to the right of the door that had only three people in it. Annabeth, her dad, and a women sat on a couch. The women had curly blond hair, a lot like Annabeth's, and Annabeth's grey eyes. She is beautiful. I look back at Annabeth, gesturing to the picture. Annabeth smiles at the picture, her eyes getting a far away look. "My mom."
I reveal a small smile, "She's beautiful." Annabeth gives me a look, saying 'Thank you.' The two of us stand in silence for what felt like hours, but most likely was a minute or two.
Annabeth snaps out of her daze, and pulls an escaped blond lock back behind her ear. Her feet shuffle backwards, "I have to grab my shoes. You can make yourself at home." I can hear her feet run down the hall towards what I suppose was her bedroom.
I sit down on a yellow couch with white and pale blue stripped throw pillows. I pull out my phone and continue to play Flappy Bird. My high score is fourteen. Annabeth makes fun of me for it. Hers is over two-hundred. I continue to play the game, losing before I reach ten.
The sound of heels clicking with the floor echo the apartment. Annabeth steps from around the corner in white heels. She looks up at me, "I am going to break my ankle." I laugh and give her my arm to walk with.
"I'll try to get it on camera." She laughs and smacks my head with her bag. Just as she is about to respond two short boys run past our legs, screaming about something I cannot understand.
Annabeth rolls her eyes. "Those are my step-brothers. Little brats." I chuckle and walk back to the kitchen where Mr. and Mrs. Chase was standing next to the two boys.
I walk up to Mr. Chase and hold out my hand. I hope he doesn't remember the other night. "Hello sir. I'm Percy Jackson."
He nods, giving me a small smile. He takes my hand and gave me a firm shake. "Yes. I believe we have met." Damn. "This is my wife." He says gesturing over to Mrs. Chase. I shake her hand as well, only giving her a smile.
Mr. Chase looks around at all of us and claps his hands together. "Okay. Seems we are all ready. Time to go." Mrs. Chase grabs her purse and follows Mr. Chase out the door. Annabeth gives me a 'kill-me-now' look before stepping out the door. I chuckle lightly, as I walk behind her.
~
The drive is about twenty minutes. In the first ten minutes, everyone is completely silent. I look over at Annabeth, questioning what was going on. She leans over and whispers, "It's always like this. You get used to it." I nod and turn my head to stare out the window.
Mr. Chase looks at me through the rear-view mirror. "So, Percy, you go to Goode High School?"
My heart starting beating faster. I knew he was going to ask me the typical boyfriend questions, when this is not a date. "Yes, sir. I started at the school a little bit over a month ago." It is early October now.
There is surprise in his voice. "Really? Where were you before?"
Oh I just got expelled. No biggie. No. I haven't even talked about that stuff with Annabeth. I am not about to tell her dad. Lie. Lie. Need a good lie. "My other school had problems and it closed." Please believe that.
"What sort of problems?" Annabeth was now looking at me, giving me the 'sorry-about-my-dad' look.
Lie again. "Uh. I don't know. They didn't really tell us anything." I chuckle, to make it seem more realistic.
Mr. Chase laughs as well. "I get it. So, what do your parents do?"
"Um. My mom works at a store in the city and my step-dad, uh," Annabeth looks over at me with a questioning look. I never tell her anything about Gabe. "He's an accountant." Good one, Percy.
Mr. Chase nods his head. "I hope to meet them." Not likely. Mr. Chase does not say anything after that, leaving the car silent again.
~
"This place is huge." I exclaim, looking over at Annabeth. We are in a room where the ceilings reach over forty feet in the air and look nearly as wide as a football field. The room is larger than my apartment, maybe two times it.
Annabeth laughs, nodding. "Indeed it is." People fill the halls, all mainly thirty-five and older. Most are sitting at the round tables all around the room. More people keep stepping in, making me question the capacity of this room. Too many people already seem to be here. Music is playing but not much is heard from everyone talking. The smell of perfume in the room is making my eyes water. This is not a place I would go willingly.
I look over at Annabeth and say sarcastically, "Well this is nice."
She laughs and grabs my hand. "Come on. Let's sit down." She drags me over to a table her father and step-mother are already at. A few other strangers are sitting there and talking with Annabeth's parents. Annabeth and I both sit down to the right of Annabeth's brothers, who are both playing games on iPods.
As soon as others see us, they immediately launch into conversation with the two of us, mostly me since they have never meet me. Everyone went back to their tables when dinner was served. I seriously can not tell what I am eating but it tastes good. Once everyone finishes eating a man walks up onto a small stage with a microphone. He looks about fifty to me, I am guessing he is the organizer of this event. He has a ten minute speech on what a joy working with the company for so long and his amazing coworkers. It is very boring, I zone out many times, as did Annabeth. When what seems to be the end, after many speeches and awards were given out, the people grabbed their coats and left.
I look over at Annabeth, nudging her to get her attention, "Well that was a blast."
She laughs, throwing her head down. "I'm sorry I put you threw that Percy. It...well it sucked."
I nod, agreeing. The six of us load in the Chase's car, enjoying once again, a silent ride. Mr. Chase stops at my house. I wave goodbye to Annabeth and thank Mr. and Mrs. Chase before walking inside. It was nearly eleven o'clock at night and I am not expecting my mom to be awake. She knows I was going to be out late, and she is fine with in. I shut the door quietly, trying not to wake my mom, she needs her sleep from working so hard every day.
As I turn the light on, I did not expect Gabe to be sitting on the couch staring at me. He takes a swig of his beer, while getting up to walk towards me. "Where have you been?"
My hands are shaking. "I was out with a friend. Mom knew I would be, she said it was fine"
That statement seem: to anger Gabe more. "That's not fine with me. I am the head of this house! And I say you should be punished for staying out this late, almost two hours after curfew."
I do not want to get beaten again. I try to bargain with Gabe. "I will double my chores. Triple them even."
He shakes his head, "No. What you need is a good beating to teach you your lesson." Gabe walks towards me, backing me into the couch. Before I can react, his fist collides with my stomach, sending me tumbling over. While I am trying to regain my footing, he kicks me down again, before sending another kick to my stomach repeatedly. I try to stand, but Gabe shoves my face back down, slamming my nose into the ground. My nose feels as if it is on fire, as I feel blood trickle out. My arms are clutched around my stomach, keeping him from hitting me there again. He takes a long drink from his bottle. He walks away, towards his room. "That's enough for tonight." I do not have the energy to get up. I simply just let myself lie there until the next morning, trying to forget about the pain.
~
[EDITED]
Oh gosh this sucked. Sorry. It was mainly just a filler. I'll go through and edit this later. Make it less sucky.
only thing i gotta ask is, How do you like the new cover
I wanted to try something new, so I made that. If you dont like it I can change it back.