𝐍𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒 | 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐀𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐇

chapter 23

a few sentences in this chapter were copied from The Mark of Athena.

"I decoded your message."

Annabeth would probably never talk to him again after he'd sent her that text. Heck, she probably already blocked his number.

He just couldn't bring himself to understand why she thought it was better to ignore him. He'd be fine with waiting to be her boyfriend, but she won't even settle for him to simply be her friend.

"I think not acknowledging you is for the best." That line hit him hard, but at least he knew that she liked - no, loved - him.

DING!

He begged for it not to be Annabeth. Please don't be Annabeth. Anyone but Annabeth.

It was Annabeth. His heart thumped, hoping that she wouldn't murder him through the screen.

A: How? Leo isn't here. I was expecting you to come to me and ask what it meant.

P: leo asked his gf; calypso, out with morse code, so she obviously knows how to translate it.

A: Looks like there is a brain in that head of yours, after all.

Percy smiled to himself and let out a little chuckle. He looked through the window of his room, and into Annabeth's. Her curtains were no longer blocking Percy's view of her room. She was looking at him and smiling through the window. She waved at him to get closer.

Annabeth opened her window, and he did the same. Now, there was a meter in between both windows, but what did it matter?  Annabeth probably just wanted to talk. It wasn't like they'd lean over.

"Hey," she said, almost timidly, sitting on the ledge of her window.

"Hey." Percy didn't know what else to say. He'd never really been good at starting conversations. Percy got comfortable on his window ledge, you know, just in case they'd be here for a long time.

They stayed quiet for what felt like too long. The silence was unbearable.

"So, you're not mad at me?" Annabeth asked shyly once again.

"Why would I be?" Percy questioned in confusion.

"Well, I've been ignoring you all this time for absolutely no reason, thinking it was for the best. I'm really sorry, Percy. And I meant everything I wrote on that note. You have to know that."

Percy smiled and nodded. She smiled in return, receiving his message.

"So what happens now?" he asked, quite unsure of the situation.

"I don't know," Annabeth began. "Whatever we decide."

She leaned forward, and Percy thought, This is it. I'm finally gonna kiss her!

Right before their lips could touch, Annabeth fell. She fell in the meter right between their houses.

She would have fallen right through if Percy hadn't caught her. They were three stories high, so there was a slight chance of her dying if any of them fell to the bottom.

"I got you, I got you," Percy said, but at that moment, Annabeth slipped off the edge, and he fell too, one arm holding onto the edge of the windowsill, and the other, holding onto to Annabeth.

"No," Percy muttered, light dawning in his eyes. "My phone..."

But he couldn't reach his phone to call for help without letting go of Annabeth's arm, and Annabeth's strength was gone.

"Percy, let me go," she croaked. "You can't pull me up."

"Never," he said.

"We're staying together," he promised. "You're not getting away from me. Never again."

Only then did she seem to understand what would happen. A one-way trip. A very hard fall.

Then Percy let go of his tiny ledge, and together, holding hands, he and Annabeth fell to the ground, and everything went black.

hi, ok bye