νεκρός || Annabeth Chase x Fem!OC

Vol. 1.5-1: MY PRECIOUS

ANNABETH

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Thalia and I had gotten out of school for the weekend. It was Saturday, the weekend after Halloween. A nice November breeze blew past as we went to Thalia's favorite CD store.

I'd seen Tempest about three times since the summer session ended, which is not as much as I would've liked to. My school schedule had been really busy, and several times when I was free, Tempest had been off somewhere else. She sent me a postcard from Peru one time, clipped with a picture of her standing in front of Machu Picchu with some random Peruvian guy about a foot shorter than her.

Alejandro also wanted a picture to send to his daughters in the United States. I suggested we take one together. Alejandro then made me ceviche. Have fun at school. -T

I kept the picture in my dorm. It was on my nightstand, and I liked to look at it from time to time.

Thalia picked out some CDs and popped them up on the counter, pulling out a wad of cash to pay for it. I swayed around, not really caring for the place. I was mostly excited to go to the book store a couple of blocks over.

Plus, Tempest was supposed to visit us tomorrow. She said she would meet us at a coffee house in Harlem, so I was really looking forward to that. I hadn't seen her in a little while.

In truth, I realized Tempest was a lot better than she came off. I mean, sure she was still kind of mean at times, and rude, and didn't really like most people, and enjoyed irritating them. Okay, I just listed a bunch of bad things, but it's not like it sounds. She was nice to me at least. She listened when I talked about architecture, even chiming in with her own little comments. She said her one of her favorite things was to pass through some of the wealthier neighborhoods in New Orleans and look at all of the old-style colonial houses down there.

And plus, she was nicer than she came off. We kept playing Any Question, and even when I had to admit some embarrassing stuff, she never teased me or brought it up afterwards, even if we had arguments. It was like she kind of understood when to simmer down. And when she told me some stuff, I didn't do anything bad to her. It was nice like that. I felt a lot more comfortable talking to her about the past than anyone else, even Thalia.

I also kind of admired her. She didn't just sit by when someone was being bullied or something, even if it was someone she didn't like. Like, she and my brother, Malcolm, do not get along. Not in the slightest. Malcolm, like me, is really easy to rile up, and he thinks highly of himself, which is basically the main criteria for Tempest to be Tempest. She's also a little worse about it because he's a boy. I still don't understand her thing about men. Not fully, at least. It's bad enough that they've gotten into fights on a few occasions and the tension is maddeningly thick when they're in close-quarters, like when lightning is about to crack down. But one time, some unclaimed camper was picking on him when I wasn't around, and Tempest didn't hesitate to come out swinging. Malcolm still wouldn't tell me what it was about, and Tempest wouldn't either, just that she was mad.

"Annabeth?"

I blinked. Thalia was looking at me, holding her new CDs. "What? Did you say something?"

Thalia frowned, her blue eyes concentrating on me. It was so weird to think that she used to be five years older than me. Now, it was like she'd slowed down on aging. I felt like we were practically the same age now. "I asked if you still wanted to have lunch at... Annabeth, are you alright? You seem distracted today."