Percy and Annabeth-Their future

Sweet Sixteen

"You should totally do it!" Evelyn smiled as she and Lena walked in the front door. It was February now, and the snow hadn't slowed at all. Lena was having Evelyn and Lauren over for a sleepover, which was weird for Rion in more ways than one. 

"I don't know... it seems like a ton of work." Lena set her bag down and took off her coat. "Hey, Mom,"

I smiled, my mouth still warm from my coffee, "Hi girls," They went upstairs to Lena's room talking a million miles a minute. 

Rion walked through the door a moment later, shivering. Snow had piled up on his hat. "It's- so- cold."

I laughed, handing him the rest of my coffee, which he chugged in a few seconds. "Better?" 

"Yeah." Rion said, forcing a smile. His hands were still shaking. "Hey, Mom, are Lena and I having a sweet sixteen?" 

It was a perfectly normal question for a fifteen-year-old boy to ask, but I'd never heard it before. Sophia hadn't had time for a sweet sixteen, and she hadn't wanted one. But Rion and Lena... they weren't like her. They were relatively normal kids.

"Uh, I dunno, honey... I'll have to talk to Dad about it." I said. "Why?"

"Oh, some of the guys were asking. You know, cause some of them are having theirs soon." 

"Does Lena want one?" I asked, dialing Percy's number as Rion headed upstairs. 

"I dunno... I'll ask her."

The phone rang and rang, and I was praying for Percy to pick up, because he always knew how to handle the whole 'normal kid' thing. He'd had time to be a normal kid; I'd always been the demigod kind of girl.

Finally, he picked up. "Hello?"

"Perce? It's me."

"Hey Wise Girl! What's up with-"

"Rion and Lena want a sweet sixteen." I waited, our breathing echoing over the phone. 

"So?"

"SO what do I do?" I don't know why I panicked. It was a weird new habit of mine.

"We throw a sweet sixteen. Since when am I answering your questions?"

"Since never. THanks, Seaweed Brain. Love you." I hung up, more stressed out than before.

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Let's put this the simple way; it took more than a little convincing to get me on board. Was a sweet sixteen really that important? Would we have two separate parties? Was a boy-girl party appropraite?

Of course, when it comes to high school parties, Percy completely changed his mind. "They're almost sixteen; we can throw it at a venue someplace."

"What if there's alcohol? Or drugs?" I questioned. "Or the other thing that I'm not saying out loud?"

Rion chuckled. "Relax, Mom. I still think that girls have cooties." Lena couldn't stifle her laughter.

"You have a girlfriend." I reminded him. "I doubt she's a special exception."

In the end, we decided that a sweet sixteen would be okay, but of course, I became the planner. We needed a caterer, a venue, music, guest list, time, date.... all the stars had to align perfectly. I should've let Kathryn Sorenson handle it.

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