THE NEW KID

t w e l v e

The next morning, Annabeth woke up on the couch. Then she remembered what happened and her heart sank. She had been hoping that it was all a dream.

She checked her phone. 7:48. Nobody would have been awake. She stretched and grabbed her crutches, heading to the kitchen. She grabbed the pancake mix and shook out some powder. She wasn't as good as Percy, but she was okay.

Percy.

Annabeth missed him. It had only been a day but she felt like it was forever, especially since they had ended on bad terms. How did the party end? What did they do when she left? Were they mad at her? They hated her didn't they??

She missed his ocean smell and his chocolatey breath. She missed his funny jokes and his arm around her protectively. She missed the feeling of his rough but smooth hand in hers.

That's when she realized.

She loved him.

She didn't care about Luke anymore. Percy was the one who made her smile, joked with her, laughed with her, supported her. She loved helping him too. She loved the soaring feeling of her stomach and the butterflies when she was nervous. Most of all, she had loved that kiss. It had made her feel amazing.

It made her feel proud.

When Annabeth finished making pancakes, Helen had showed up, along with her dad and her brothers in tow. "Wow, Annabeth! Chocolate chip pancakes!" Helen said. "This is amazing! Thank you Annabeth," her dad added. Everyone gorged on the pancakes and Annabeth made some for herself too, joining them at the table. "Thanks, it reminds me of someone," she said, smiling sadly.

After breakfast, Helen turned to Annabeth as her dad went to do the dishes. "Annabeth, we need to start planning out your sweet sixteen on Tuesday. It's your birthday and it's going to turn out awesome, I just know it!"

"Okay," Annabeth smiled. She was ready. Even if she couldn't fix things with Percy, she could at least feel good and plan out her birthday!

~~~time skip to the end of the day~~~

Annabeth finished her final blueprint draft of the hall. She wanted her sweet 16 to be quiet and peaceful, with only a few people invited. Thankfully invitations were passed out last week, before the thing with Percy, without awkward interactions. Speaking of which, Percy and her friends had continued texting her, but Annabeth ignored it. She didn't want to make things worse or answer questions right now. She just wanted to chill with her family.

Suddenly Bobby ran into the room. "Guys! I just found out all schools in our district are going closed for this week, in honor of the girl who survived the fire!" Annabeth gasped. "Wait, seriously?" Matthew, who had quickly followed, nodded. "Isn't this awesome? Now we can play video games all week!" Helen sighed. "Okay, boys. That's awesome, but we need to plan this out. And that's good for you Annabeth, it's your birthday week!" Annabeth grinned. Maybe things were looking up after all.

That night after putting up the last few decorations on her blueprint,Annabeth finally checked her texts. Not the ones from Percy since she wasn't ready, but the ones from her friends. They were all texts of the update and how she was doing. No questions about the incident. Annabeth grinned. Best friends ever.

She quickly typed out a message. Hey guys. It's Annabeth. I'm okay, and I heard the news and I'm super excited. But I think I owe you guys an explanation over what happened. So you wanna meet for lunch, just us three, at McDonalds? Just to talk. Not fancy, but my cousin Nico loves it.

After a few replying text messages saying okay, Annabeth grinned, excited to talk to her friends again as she closed her eyes and went to sleep.

~~~the next morning~~~

Annabeth woke up, excited for her birthday in 2 days. She quickly showered and got dressed into a random t-shirt, cuffed jeans and a hoodie, pulling on her converse. She brushed her hair and then headed downstairs.

She didn't know what to do after eating her yogurt, so she went to say good morning to her dad, who was drinking coffee out on the porch, check on her brothers and her stepmom who was getting ready, and then headed back upstairs.

In three hours she would be meeting Thalia and Piper at McDonalds. She was so nervous to tell them how she felt, but then realized that if she couldn't tell them, who could she tell?

Until then, she finished the rest of the homework she was assigned for the week, completed a building design she was working on, and then read until she was going. "HELEN, DAD, IM GOING OUT! BE BACK SOON!" She yelled. "SEE YA!" Her dad yelled back.

She crutched to McDonalds, trying to calm down her angsty nerves. She arrived and saw a random girl with short, curly red hair in front of the computer. "Hi, welcome to McDonalds, how may I help you?" She asked. Annabeth read her name tag. MB. Hmm, she recognized her from her school. "Hey, could I get a McDonalds happy meal?" She nodded and gave her the price. Then Annabeth got her food a few minutes later and then went to the tables to find Thalia and Piper calling her. "Annabeth!!!"

Annabeth slowly walked over to them and sat down. "Hey guys." Thalia studied her. "Hey..Are you okay?" Annabeth nodded. "Yeah, I've been feeling a lot better. But the only thing is, I don't know what to do about Percy. Do you think he still likes me?"

Piper sighed. "Come on, Annabeth. He said he liked someone, and I know what that means. He does definitely not like Thalia or Jason, and he and I are friends. It has to be you. And we see him making googly heart eyes at you. Staring at you. When you got dressed up for the party I think he was dying. Why else do you think he said to dress casual? He didn't want to pass out in front of you!"

Annabeth contemplated this. So Percy could like her, the way she liked him. Maybe it was more than that too. All she knew is that if she had to choose someone to spend the rest of her life with, it would be Percy.

But she couldn't tell him that. She just couldn't.

She squared her shoulders. "I'm not going to talk to him. I'm sorry. I can't. I'm not ready."

Thalia nodded. "It's fine, Annabeth. We understand. It's hard, I know. We'll get you through this." Piper nodded in agreement.

"Thanks guys." Annabeth said, once again grateful for her amazing incredible friends.

For the rest of the time, they talked about random best friends stuff, until Annabeth finally headed home. There was a light drizzle starting up, so she tried to stumble quicker. When she got home she went upstairs. The time was around two, so she FaceTimed her cousin Nico.

"Hey Annabeth!!" He said, eating French fries.
"Nico? Why are you so happy?" Annabeth said, surprised. Then she saw a blonde mop of hair behind him, and then she smirked. "Never mind, I got it."

"Shut up, Chase." Nico said. They talked for hours about how things were going, updates since they last chatted, and introductions to Nico's boyfriend, Will, who was the most opposite thing from Nico you could get.

After some time, Annabeth said her good byes and read some more. Then she headed downstairs to grab a snack.