Not Quite Mortal • HoO

IV Savannah Bell

IV. Savannah Bell

On our way out of school, Annabeth stepped to the side for a few minutes to talk to someone on the phone. She came back to me looking kind of irritated.

"My plane ride to New York got canceled. Do you think your family has room for me?"

"Um, yeah, probably," I told her. "But wouldn't they just put you on another flight? Not just cancel the flight completely? I mean, you did pay, right?"

"No, my friend's dad has a private jet I was going to borrow, but it turns out he'll need it for a few weeks," muttered Annabeth.

"Your friend has a private jet?"

"Yes," Annabeth said, matter of factly.

"I need to meet your friend," I murmured. Annabeth heard the whisper, and laughed.

"You probably can meet her. Chances are, she'll come visit me in New York. You'll like Piper, I'm sure."

At that moment, Annabeth and I heard the sounds of people tripping over each other, and grumpily telling someone to look where they're going. We both turned around to look, and saw Rian Mathers heading full speed towards us. I groaned.

"Do you think he'll stop trying if we just keep walking?" I ask Annabeth.

"Unfortunately, I think not. It's probably best to just wait and get it over with."

Rian finally caught up to us. Before speaking, he ran his fingers through his golden curls, a move that supposedly caught girls everywhere.

"Hey, Annabeth," he started.

"Hi, Rian," she replied, her feet already starting to inch towards the exit.

"Some friends and I are going to the movies this weekend, would you want to come with me? I mean, us?"

"Sorry Rian, I'm not interested. And I have a boyfriend. And I'm moving out of state this weekend, so I won't be here anyway," she said. She was also texting someone on her phone while talking to him, showing how uninterested she was. She slipped the phone back into her pocket, and added, "Thanks for the offer though," and walked on.

"Wait, did I hear you correctly? You're not really moving, are you?" he asked frantically.

"Yep, I am," Annabeth carelessly threw the words at him.

"Where to?" was all he asked. Like it would matter. He probably wouldn't be able to follow her to any state at all, especially not all the way across the country.

"New York," Annabeth said, as we stepped into the parking lot. We left Rian mournfully watching us from the doorstep, and hopped into my sister's car, where my sister was waiting for us.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Saturday afternoon, my family was all packed up, and ready to leave. The moving vans had already left, and we had some of our things in our car and minivan. All we had to do was pick up Annabeth, who had promised us that she didn't have much to take, even though she wasn't coming back any time soon.

I rode with my older sister Lara (short for Larissa) in the car, and my parents drove the minivan with my younger siblings Molly and Christian. Lara and I are only two years apart, me at sixteen, and she's eighteen. Molly and Christian are twins, and they're only nine.

When we stopped at Annabeth's house, she was sitting on the porch sipping lemonade from a straw. She carried only one duffle bag. That's it.

"Where's the rest of your stuff Anna?" My sister asked. Lara is probably the only person that I have ever seen get away with calling Annabeth nicknames. Probably because she makes up for it by being almost as interested in architecture as Annabeth is. Lara and Annabeth get along better than I get along with either of them. Sometimes I wonder if Annabeth is friends with me just to talk to my sister. It would make more sense than her actually liking me

"Oh, this is all of it. I already have some clothes there, and I like to travel light."

Lara shrugged, and unlocked the backseat so Annabeth could get in.

"So what's your plan for living in Manhattan? You got family there or something?" Lara asked, as she drove. Did I forget to mention how cool Lara is? She's always been popular, even though she's kind of a nerd. In everything she does, she just oozes confidence, even just driving down the road in her toyota with her sunglasses on, she looks like she could be in a movie.

"No, I'm going to live with my boyfriend's family. I already stay there sometimes, so I have my own room, and that's where those other clothes I was talking about are."

"You're staying with your boyfriend's family? That's cool. My parents would never have let me do that."

Annabeth only smiled sadly in response. Not that Lara could see Annabeth smiling sadly, she was busy casting insults at the guy who had cut across the lane in front of her.

"Do they like you?" Larissa asked. "Your boyfriend's family, I mean. And, does he have a name so I can stop just referring to him as 'Anna's boyfriend?'"

"Yeah, his name's Percy. He lives with his mom and stepdad, who are both pretty great. I've known Percy and his mom since I was twelve, and they're both great. His stepdad is nice, but I don't know him that well yet to be honest."

"Wow, you've known him that long? That's impressive."

After that, the conversation turned to school, and which college to go to (Lara was taking a gap year, so she wasn't in college yet) and most importantly, architecture. I could only vaguely hear their indistinct voices saying 'Savannah? Vannah? I think she's asleep, talk more softly! Sorry...' before I drifted off to sleep.