Annabeth

chapter two

It's the third week of school and all everyone is talking about is the Halloween dance. We are juniors in our small town school of Blackwood High and our group wants to be asked out by some cute seniors.

I walk to my first class of the day; english.

I take a seat in my usual seat and take out my phone.

"Excuse me?"

I look up to see a pretty brunette staring at me with wide, innocent eyes.

"Hi, are you new?" I smile.

She nods. Her small, timid act is a new change.

"Here sit next to me. I'm Dayana."

"That's a pretty name, I'm Annabeth."

Before I could answer I get cut of by the bell and the loud teacher's voice after.

English goes by boring as ever and once the bell rings I gather up my stuff and wait for Annabeth. "Do you want to hangout with my friends and I for lunch?"

She nods gratefully, "Thank you so much."

I lead her to my locker where I find Lori and Amanda already waiting for me. They give me questioning looks.

"Guys this is Annabeth. She's new and I thought she can sit with us for lunch. Annabeth this is Amanda and Lori."

"Hi," she waves shyly.

"Hi! Wow, your hair is so soft. How do you get it like that. You're so pretty and nice. I think we're gonna get along just nicely." Lori blabbers as she was the talkative one.

Annabeth laughs, a nice soothing laugh, like a wind chime slowly swaying in the breeze.

"Nice to meet you Annabeth," Amanda says cooly, unlike Lori.

"Yay, We haven't had a new friend in our circle in a long time." Lori chirps.

Annabeth smiles. She's stunning, with her long brown hair and bangs, wide innocent eyes, and tall lean figure. Yup, she'll fit in our friend group easily.

I put my books away and walk with the girls to the cafeteria. We sit at our usual table at the side where the sun hits us  perfectly. Amanda, Lori, Annabeth, and I sit down. We were all talking fine when we heard Val come strutting in her high heels. Annabeth looks up, has her eyes widen, as she takes up all the glamorous coming from Val. Today, she is wearing a playful floral dress and loose cardigan, light make-up that compliments her light auburn hair. "Hey girls. Who is this?" She asks looking at Annabeth.

"This is Annabeth, she is new and thought she could sit with us."

"Cool. I love your shoes by the way Annabeth." She says calmly.

Whoa.

"Thanks..." She trails off not know what to call her.

"Oh! Sorry, my name is Valerie but you can call me Val."

Annabeth smiles, "Cool."

Val sits down and starts talking about her costume for the Halloween dance. "I'm going to go as Tinker Bell, I already have the adorable strapless dress that she wears and I'm ordering the wings."

"Oooh, that sounds so cute!" Lori squealed.

"Who are you going with?"Amanda asked.

"Luke asked me out the other day." She explains, "What are you being for Halloween, Day?"

I blink in surprise of the sudden attention. Everyone turned to stare at me. "Oh, I was thinking of being a Gothic princess."

"Ooh, that's interesting," Annabeth complimented.

I smile.

Amanda was going be an Enchantress and Lori is going to be an a renaissance princess, the opposite of me. Annabeth was thinking in more of a retro style. I couldn't wait to get a peek at their costumes, especially on what Annabeth is thinking.

I give Annabeth my number and we coordinate so she can come over later in the afternoon to put our costumes together. Val said she couldn't come, so naturally Lori and Amanda said they couldn't come either.

Their loss.

I love them and everything, but they let Val control them too often, and Val, oblivious to it, controls them with no guilt. I was like that, until I started seeing clear. Until I started being more confused. The day my parents thought I had schizophrenia.

~*~

I sling my backpack over onto the kitchen table. "You can put yours over there." I point near the stairwell.

Annabeth nods.

We walk up to my room and I urge her to sit. I go in my walk in closet and find my work-in-progress costume.

"Wow that looks really good!"

"Thanks, I still need to get some of the dark makeup and the headpiece that goes in my hair."

"I need to put my costume together, could we go to the mall?"

"sure, let's just finish our homework otherwise my mom won't let us go."

She nods.

~*~

"Thanks Mom, we'll call you when we're ready to go back." I call out.

My mom didn't want me to drive alone with a friend, so she said she can drop and pick us up. "where do you want to go to first?" I ask Annabeth.

"I don't know. I want an old fashioned ball room dress so maybe we start at a dressy store?"

I nod. We entered a store and looked for something Annabeth would like. So far, all the dresses have been modern. I shake my head and we decide to leave. Next, I go to a plain Halloween store to get the hair piece I wanted. I purchase that quickly and go to the makeup store to get some dark eye shadow and all of that. I don't own any of that since I'm not a huge fan of makeup, but even if I do wear it, I always wear light colors.

After that, we go back on the hunt for a dress for Annabeth. Eventually we get tired and we hug goodbye as my mom stops the car in front of her huge house.