Greatest Love Story- A Percabeth AU [On Hold]

Chapter 7

Percy's POV

I stared at Annabeth, trying to figure out whether I actually said the words I think just came out of my mouth. The shocked look on Annabeth's face told me that yes, unfortunately, I did just tell her I loved her. Even better, it happened right after we were told we weren't allowed to love each other.

"I mean... Well, you know... I don't mean that I love you love you... Y'know?" I tried, and completely failed, to backpedal.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," she said, after a moment of awkward silence. I couldn't help but notice the disappointment in her voice or the tears gathering at the corners of her eyes.

After another awkward silence, she finally said "well, we really should get going. We're already late enough. Come on." Before she even finished speaking, she was walking almost faster than I could keep up with out of the school.

When we got to her car, she looked at me and said "hey, by the way, I wanted to apologize for what I said during gym on the first day. But I guess it doesn't really matter, since you don't like me like that," she paused here, before hesitantly adding "either."

Right before she started the car, she handed me her cell phone, unlocked, and told me to add my number into it. I did as I was told, and also found her number so I could add her as a contact in my own phone. Right before I turned it off, her phone dinged loudly.

"You just got a text from 'Pipes'."

"Oh, that's Piper. What did she say?"

"Um," I hesitated. "You trust me to read you your texts?"

"Yeah, whatever." She shrugged. "What's the worst thing that could happen? She sends me something embarrassing and you see it? That couldn't be worse than telling you I love you before failing miserably to take it back."

"That's harsh!" I exclaimed in an exaggerated offended voice, before switching back to my normal voice to read the text. "She asked 'Was I right? Was it him?'"

Annabeth sighed. "Tell her 'yes. It was him."

I typed out and sent the message at the same time as we pulled into the parking lot of my brother's school. We both hopped out of the car, and hurried together into the school. "Thanks again for driving me here. You really are a life saver," I told her. In my mind, I couldn't help but add "And I really do love you."

Before she could respond, however, we both walked into the same kindergarten classroom. "Seriously, our brothers are even in the same class?" Annabeth asked, sounding almost annoyed.

"Looks like it." I laughed wryly. "We really can't avoid each other, can we?"  She frowned at that, but didn't say anything.

Just then, Tyson saw that I was there, and ran up to me. "Percy!" he shrieked with joy, wrapping his tiny arms around my knees. The two boys Tyson had been playing with-- Annabeth's brothers, I assumed-- continued playing, even after she called their names and told them it was time to go. They didn't even acknowledge that she was talking to them. Annabeth was clearly getting frustrated with them at this point, and I couldn't just leave her to deal with it on her own.

"Hey, buddy," I said to Tyson. "Will you go tell your friends it's time to go? Their big sister is here to pick them up too."

"Okay, Percy!" He yelled, and skipped over to where the twins were playing. With only a few words, he was able to convince both of Annabeth's brothers to come to her car with us.

As we walked back to the car, the three kindergarteners chattered and ran ahead of us. Annabeth glared at me and snapped "I didn't need your help back there! I can handle my brothers on my own!"

"Hey, I'm sorry, but I was just trying to help. I won't do it again, if that makes you feel better."

She glared at me again, but we had reached the car. I picked Tyson up and said "say goodbye to your friends, buddy. Let's walk home."

Annabeth's glare softened, and almost seemed to turn concerned, rather than angry. "You don't have to walk. I can drive you home. Your dad lives right next-door to my mom, right?"

"Well, yeah, but-" I tried to protest, but Annabeth interrupted again, clearly carefully planning how this might work.

"There's another booster seat in the back, so Tyson would be safe. We'd just have to either bring Bobby and Mathew with us or find something to do for-" she checked her phone "half an hour until Helen gets off of work."

"Um. I guess if you want to find a park or something for that half-hour, I can text my step-mother what's going on and we can make that work. The boys can play, and we can figure out how this whole tutoring thing is going to work."

"Yeah, but let's just go back to my dad's house. Then we can just leave straight from there once Helen gets home." Annabeth walked to the back of the car to get out the extra booster seat and put it into the back seat.

I got Tyson buckled into it, while Annabeth made sure both of her brothers were buckled.

It wasn't until Annabeth started the car and backed it out of the parking space that I realized I'm about to see where Annabeth-- the girl I've been in love with for 6 years-- lives.

Hey! I hope you liked it! I've noticed that, at least for me, it shows the introduction twice. I'm not sure if that is the case for you guys or not, but if it is, please let me know so I can figure out how to fix it. It might be a couple days before the next update, since I can't work on this as often during the week (at least for another month, I have school, so I can't stay up as late, and can't work all day either), but I will still keep updating as much as possible. I won't disappear again like I did before. Let me know what you think, and, of course, suggestions are always welcome.

Thanks for reading!

💖💖💖Cam