Troubled

8

chapter eight
annabeth

The sun was quickly setting as I drove back to school.

Ever since mid October, the sun set way earlier, leaving me out of whack, especially when driving home at only seven o'clock.

I was halfway back to school when the sky was completely black and when my phone started ringing.

"Yeah?" I asked as I awkwardly placed the phone on the dashboard of the car, not even seeing who was calling.

"How are you doing? You haven't answered any of my texts, I was afraid they'd murdered you by now," Thalia said with a laugh.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, yeah. I'm just great. I'm on my way to school."

Thalia took in a sharp breath of air. "That bad? Wow, Chase, I think this is a record. At least I won't be so lonely here now. So, what happened?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, I'll explain when I get there. I'm, like, half an hour away. How's the game going?"

"Like I said, I didn't go," Thalia retorted. "Probably bad, though, knowing our team. I was thinking of heading out there. By the sound of screaming I think this is an interesting one."

I laughed. "Alright, I'll let you go now."

After saying our goodbyes I turned on the radio, which was already blaring some Christmas song about snow and being happy.

About ten million mind numbing Christmas songs later, I arrived at the unfortunately familiar sight of my school, parking the car in the student parking lot.

By the sound of people chatting and the sight of them rushing back to the dorms, I could tell that the game was long over.

I slipped into my dorm's building and headed down the hallway. My room was deserted, apparently Thalia was still at the game.

I shrugged as I started unpacking my barely full backpack into the room.

"Grover, you've gotta hear this, oh—!"

I turned and saw an unfamiliar boy standing in my room, his hand on the door knob.

He was a few inches taller than me with messy, black hair and sea green eyes. He wore an awkward grimace on his face along with all practically all black clothing.

"You're not Grover."

"And you're not Thalia."

The boy rubbed his temple. "This isn't the boy's dorms? I'm lost, aren't I?"

I nodded. "It appears that way. You wanna leave my room now, uh, who are you?"

"Percy," he said. "Percy Jackson. And you?"

"Annabeth Chase, are you new?" I asked, not recognizing his name. Thalia did mention a new kid earlier....

"Oh, yeah," he said. "Unfortunately I just transferred here. I should, uh, probably get going before you turn me in, huh?"

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not a snitch, but yes, leaving would probably be good. My roommate, she's really protective of me. She'd probably kill you on sight."

Percy grinned mischievously, but I noticed he seemed less confident now. "Yeah, well, I'd hate for that to happen. I'll see you around?"

"What are you doing with my girlfriend?"