Wait For Me

three

"Annabeth! If you don't hurry up I'll leave!"

Annabeth heard Andrea chide her father from upstairs. "Don't say that, Frederick."

"Awe, she knows I'm joking." Frederick complained.

Annabeth hurried out of her room, grabbing her phone on the way out. She stopped at the door, shouldering her backpack as she glanced back at her room. It would be the last time she would see it in months. She took one last look in the cracked mirror lying against her wall. Her expression startled her, it was too sad, too broken.

She tried for a smile, it made her look a bit insane.

Annabeth glanced at the corner of her room. Tucked underneath a stack of books, the edge of her leather bound notebook stuck out.

Annabeth hesitated. She had considered leaving the notebook behind, since she was hoping to get rid of most of her past with this trip. But she was starting to rethink her decision. She couldn't just leave it.

It had all of her best ideas in it, all of them. She had had it since she was little.

Annabeth grabbed it and stuffed it deep into her backpack.

"I won't open it, I'll just have it with me to be safe," she thought to herself.

"Annabeth, seriously!" Frederick yelled from below.

"Coming!" She shouted back.

And with that, she closed her bedroom door, walked away down the hall, and didn't look back once.

~~~

"I still don't see why we didn't fly," Annabeth yawned. "Woulda been way faster."

Annabeth and her father had just crossed over the Canadian Border, and continued heading north.

"We're only a few hours away now. Besides you slept the whole time." Frederick reminded her.

Annabeth shrugged, giving a lazy smirk as she lay her head against the back of the chair. "Thanks for taking me, Dad. I know it was last minute."

Her father gave a chuckle, he clasped Annabeth's shoulder affectionately and gave her a a lopsided smile. "As long as you're happy, you know that's all that matters to me, right?"

Annabeth gave a small laugh under her breath, but was surprised to find she didn't mean it in a sarcastic way. "Right."

There was a second of silence before Frederick's hands tightened on the wheel.   "Beth, I know something happened with Piper."

She tensed. "What do you mean?"

He started at her knowingly. "I heard you guys on the phone the other day."

"So you were eavesdropping?" Annabeth accused.

Her dad gave her a look. "We could hear you yelling from the kitchen. Besides, we couldn't really make out anything."

Annabeth slouched. "Fine. We had a fight. A big one."

"Have you talked to her since?" Frederick asked, merging onto the highway.

Annabeth frowned. "Dad, she hates me. She wouldn't even answer me if I called her. And it's not exactly like I want to hear from her either."

He sighed. "Annabeth, friends fight. It's inevitable. But the real ones will always make it through."

"Yeah, I'm not too sure if the term friends applies to us anymore." She crossed her arms and stared out the window of the car.

Her dad laughed, actually laughed. "So suddenly the pair that's been inseparable since they were three years old isn't sure if their friends anymore?"