Secrets | Percabeth AU

43- Future

Annabeth's POV

My Stanford acceptance and scholarship letter were laid out on my desk. I've been staring at it for a while from a distance, like a hunter on its potential dinner.

That is my future, I thought, my whole life has been built for that.

It's true. I've been taught to design buildings, to learn to give orders, to understand the cost of materials...and to create something permanent. My life's work has been waiting for that one piece of paper to show up in the mail. That one piece of paper is my future. My future of officially doing what I've been doing since I was young.

My mind used to be stuck between music and architecture. Music just wasn't in me when I was young, but architecture was.

My thoughts were interrupted by a knock on my door.

Mom poked her head in. "You ready to go?"

I nodded and tucked the letters into the drawer. Ever since Percy gave me the hickey, I've been very careful. That's why I've left my hair down. I even tried covering it with make-up, but a small hint of red remained. I got up and went out of the penthouse. Mom persuaded me into going with her to one of her meetings. She said it would bring good experience and exposure. That's where we were headed to: her architectural firm.

We got into a white car. Juniper was there, sitting on the passenger seat. The driver slowly hauled us into the noisy and crowded roads of New York City.

"Hi, Juniper," I greeted. She looked back at me and smiled. "I forgot to ask you. How are you and Grover?"

She glanced at Mom, who was busy looking at her phone. She probably was cautious of Mom. Not that Mom would disapprove of Juniper answering the question, but it's not an information that an employee would tell in front of her boss. "We're doing amazing, actually."

I raised my brows at this. "Really?"

She nodded. "We've been on four dates."

"Four?" I said in shock. Well, if they do end up getting married- which I won't be surprised if they do- Percy and I can boast about how we sort of set them up.

Except for the traffic, the rest of the ride was uneventful. Juniper kept giving status updates about different clients. When we arrived at the firm, a white limousine was parked in front of the building. At the side of the limo, there were letters written in gold: DC.
We got out of the car and head straight for the elevator. A dark-haired girl came up to Mom. "They just arrived and are waiting in the 1st conference room."

"Thank you, Leslie. Bring them to the main conference room, please," Mom said. Then, we made our way to the main conference room. With Mom at the head of the table and Juniper and I sitting across from each other, we waited. Other board members started filing in. Some faces I recognized from my visits.

Leslie came in. "Mr. Collins is here."
Mr. Collins... And Mark came through the door.

Of course, I thought, DC stands for David Collins, Mark's dad.

Mark and his dad looked similar. Almost similar. The same face structure. They have the same dirty blonde hair, but Mark has hazel eyes while his dad had blue. Mark's hair was gelled up, and he wore dress pants and white dress shirt. His dad wore a full tux with a red tie.

"Welcome, Mr. Collins," Mom said. "Please join us."

Mark sat down next to me, while his dad sat across from him.

"Thank you for having us," David Collins said with the same accented voice Mark has. "This is my son, Mark."
Mark gave a slight nod and looked at every single person in the eye. His demeanor changed from quiet to a person with power. Different than what he shows in school.

"This is my daughter, Annabeth," Mom said. I did the same thing as Mark had done. After the greetings, everyone started conversing about a collaboration between the Athena and DC firm. Mark seemed engrossed into the conversation, but he never talked. Neither did I.

"You didn't tell me this would happen," I whispered to Mark. In the corner of my eye, his lips twitched as if he wanted to smile.

"I didn't know. Dad just said that he had a huge collaboration with another firm, but I never knew it was your Mom's firm," he said. I glanced at him, but went back to listening to their conversation.

"My son will hopefully take over the DC firm, when I cannot continue," Mr. Collins said, "Mark will be going to Stanford."

My head snapped to Mark. He only gave a smile- that didn't look very genuine- to everyone.

"The same goes for my daughter," Mom said, rather enthusiastically. "Both our children are going to Stanford. How tremendous!"

At that point, Mark and I were looking at each other in shock, while the rest were conversing about another topic.

"You never told me," we both whispered. Mark gave in a smile.

"Never came up," he said. "You?"

"Never came up too," I said. He just nodded. He came closer to my ear.

"Between you and me, I can't sit and listen through meetings. I zone out and pretend I'm listening," he whispered. I gave a small chuckle, causing my hair to move from where I wanted it to be. He looked at a small part of my neck, and I could've sworn his eyes grew wide. I quickly placed my hair back against my neck.

"Me too," I said, but Mark was back to "listening" to the meeting.

Percy's POV

Grover, my team, and I are at the recording studio going over the final plans for the tour. For the past hour, I've been on my social medias, answering to fan questions and things like those. Last week, Grover, my team, label, and I have revealed the tour informations, making everyone go nuts.

A chorus of omgs and other excited comments rang through my phone. A couple of questions about Annabeth came too. Some were asking if Annabeth was coming with me or where is Annabeth going to go when she does not come with me. Those are the questions I've chosen not to answer.

I took out the pendant in my pocket. A red coral pendant. Mom said that Dad had taken it when he went to the seas. He came back with the coral and had someone to make it into a pendant. Then, he gave it to Mom.

This morning, Mom came in the door and told me to give it to someone special. No doubt she meant Annabeth. I have no doubts either.

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Happy Thanksgiving! (If you live in the US) I'm not having turkey, though. I'm not complaining as long as I get food. Lol.

Since it is Thanksgiving, I just want to thank all of you who read, vote, comment, or share. I can't believe that a year ago I had started writing this book, and this was the result. I've seen so many familiar names, and that tells me how you guys (you know who you are) have been part of the journey. Even the newcomers, thank you for giving this book a chance. The support and love for this book is beyond amazhang.
I hope all of you stay till the very end ;)

I do not own any of the characters except for Mark and David Collins.

Vote and comment, please 💙

-Brainy_dolphin <3