Caleb Pierson's POV:
I pulled the keys out of my car, shoving them into my pocket and wincing as I heard them jingle against the screen of my phone. I held onto them in my pocket as I hopped out of the car, clicking one of the buttons and waiting to hear the locking beep before heading into the restaurant.
I glanced around the chairs, noticing a few scattered people sitting around. A small family sat closest to the door, their attention turned toward the waitress as she wrote down drink orders. A head of blonde curls drew my attention to the opposite table, but it only took a quick glance to realize that it definitely wasn't Annabeth. Finally, a rapidly waving hand beckoned me over to the back of the restaurant. Jordan sat at our usual booth, her beaming white smile in complete contrast with her dark skin.
I walked over to the booth, sliding into the seat next to Andrew and sending a quick smile to everyone. "Hey, guys! Been a while..."
Jordan smirked at me. "For you, maybe. We've been hanging out all summer, but Mr. Perfect has to stay on top of Greek and swim."
I rolled my eyes, laughing with her. Sure, I'd been busy with both of those things, but I'd been a little distracted from the whole friend group by the one member we were missing. We didn't really need to talk about that now, though...
"So summer's already over, huh?" Emma asked rhetorically. "It flew by."
Andrew sighed, spinning the salt shaker back and forth between his fingers, letting it rattle against the hard table. "Yeah, but it was pretty uneventful, so I'm not surprised it went by quickly."
Jordan couldn't help but scoff. "Of course it was uneventful, Annabeth has been gone the entire time. There's always crazy stuff going on when she's around."
"Oh my God, you're right," I said, smiling at the moment that came to mind. "Remember last year in chemistry when that giant bird flew in through the window and destroyed Annabeth's experiment?"
Everyone at the table chuckled at the memory, aside from Jordan, who grumbled quietly, "Of course I remember, that explosion burned the ends of my hair..."
Emma pouted jokingly, rubbing Jordan's back. "Awh, Jordan, it wasn't as bad as you thought it was!"
Andrew, not quite as focused on sparing Jordan's feelings, shook his head. "Jordan, your hair was totally wrecked."
Jordan threw her hands into the air in exasperation. "You guys are so mean to me!"
We laughed a little longer, consoling Jordan for a bit before calming down. Andrew jabbed me in the side, gesturing at the waitress coming our way. We all quieted down, smiling at the waitress as she took our drink orders.
After the waitress came back with our drinks, we sat in silence for a bit, just taking the occasional sip and enjoying the last bits of summer break. Eventually, Emma leaned back against the hard wood of the booth and sighed, pulling everyone back into the conversation. "It feels so quiet without them here..."
"Them?" Andrew emphasized, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, Annabeth and Percy."
I could see Jordan cringe out of the corner of my eye, her eyes widening for a split second as she looked back down at her drink. It was as if she could sense that I wasn't happy with that statement.
"Hell no," I interjected immediately, shaking my head. "We are not ruining the little bit of summer we have left by talking about Percy Jackson."
"Why not? He's our friend too..." Emma said quietly.
"Hey, you can talk to whoever you want, that's your business, but that psycho is not my friend." I protested.
Emma sucked in her cheeks, frowning at me. "I thought we decided he didn't attack you?"
"Well, technically we're still not positive either way..." Andrew butted in, rubbing the back of his neck. Thanks, buddy. It'd be nice if you could take the side of your friend since forever, but whatever.
"It's not even just that anymore," I started, "even though I'm still convinced it was him."
"Anymore?" Jordan asked. "What does that mean?"
I hesitated for a bit. I still wasn't sure about this whole crazy cult theory, but maybe it's the final push to really get my friends on my side. "I was just reading up some things, you know, about some stuff Percy and Annabeth were talking about..."
I elected to ignore the little eye roll from Emma.
"Anyway, Annabeth was saying this weird stuff about being a 'daughter of Athena.'"
"Athena, like, the Greek goddess, Athena?" Andrew wondered aloud.
I nodded. "The one and only. The only information I could find was this junk about an ancient Greek cult..."
Jordan did a double take, which I can't really blame her for. I still don't even know if I believe myself, so I can't expect them to either at first. "I'm sorry, a what?"
"Yeah, I found all this weird stuff, and I don't want to believe it either, but it makes a little too much sense. They do these crazy things where they take on a certain Greek god or goddess as their 'godly parent,' and they even do things like physical harm as an offering to the gods!"
Emma raised a challenging eyebrow. "I don't really see how that relates to Annabeth and Percy."
"Think about it!" I pressed. "They're both always bruised for no reason, and Percy's even got a tattoo! What's that about?"
Andrew shook his head, staring down at his empty plate. "That's...insane, there's no way."
I nod, crossing my arms. "I know it sounds ridiculous, but that's why I need Annabeth to come home! I have to talk to her about it!"
Andrew looked at me with a little concern. "If you suspected something like this, then why didn't you try to stop her from leaving for the summer?"
I squirmed in my seat, recalling the unpleasantness of being thrown over Annabeth's shoulder. "I tried. She kind of...judo-flipped me in the parking lot on the last day of school."
Jordan frowned at me. "How did she even manage to get you over her shoulder?"
I shrugged. "Hey, we've seen her do it before."
Jordan nodded in response. "Yeah, I guess you're right..."
I glanced over at Emma, whose eyes were glued to her lap. If you looked closely enough, you could see her subtly shaking her head in disbelief. Now, was it disbelief in my theory, or the fact that Annabeth went so far as to judo-flip me? I'm not really sure. After a moment, she looked directly at me.
"You realize we're talking about a teenage boy, right? Just a regular old teenage boy..." She started.
I scoffed, but stayed silent as she stared at me, eyes blazing as if asking for me to challenge her.
"Anyway," she began, "I think accusing him of being in a cult is a step too far, even for you, Caleb. I'm starting to get genuinely concerned..." She muttered, trailing off.
I couldn't help but roll my eyes at that. "Oh, yeah, excuse me. A regular old teenage boy with scars, a tattoo, and, oh yeah! Can't forget that he JUMPED out of the giant hole he somehow managed to BURN in the GATEWAY ARCH."
Emma opened her mouth to retort before closing it again, slumping in her seat and glancing out the window. "I don't know, Caleb, I'm just...confused..."
"Yeah," Andrew agreed, "I think we all are, Em. This is a weird situation."
"You could say that again," Jordan joked, taking another sip of her soda.
We all sat in an agreed silence, mulling over the conversation in our heads. I guess we'll just have to figure everything out once school starts again...
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55k reads???!!!!!! this is a HUGE milestone for me ty all so much!!! <3
alrighty, update on the lemon question! as i was reading the responses on the last chapter, it occurred to me just how young some of my readers were. i was exposed to adult stuff at an age before i was ready, and i don't want to be the cause of that for anyone reading this story. therefore, i won't be adding a lemon, HOWEVER, a lot of you asked for a more vanilla one, and possibly having caleb walking in, which i think would be very entertaining, so stay tuned :*
5/31/20