Troubled

60

chapter sixty
annabeth

The second the door opened, I was pulled into a hug.

I was shocked as Thalia hugged me tighter. Thalia was not the touchy-feely type, so a hug from her left me dumbstruck.

She sighed as we pulled apart. "God, Annabeth, I've missed you! I can't believe you!"

I frowned as I led Thalia inside the apartment, which she ogled at. "It's not like I wanted everything to happen like this!"

"Clearly! I've been so worried about you, how come you haven't emailed me earlier? Even a text would've been good!" Thalia said.

"I can't, my phone got taken away and my mother reads all of my emails before I send them," I replied.

"Your mom?" she asked, clearly confused. Even though Thalia was my closest friend, she'd never met my mother before. At least not recently. "Is she here? Is this her apartment?"

I nodded as I led Thalia to my bedroom. "Yes, after my father found me at Percy's he shipped me off to my mother's place, which is here."

Thalia nodded as she peered around the generic room. "How long have you been here? This room is so....not you."

"I know," I agreed as I sunk down on the bed, Thalia sitting next to me. "I've been here for, what, four or five months now? When was the last time I texted you?"

"Five months," Thalia said firmly. "I was so worried about you, Annabeth. I texted you daily, no replies. I even called your house."

My eyes widened. "You called my house?!"

Thalia nodded as she awkwardly crossed her arms. "Helen picked up. She assured me you were in a better place. I thought you'd died! Then, after calling a dozen more times, I got your dad, who just told me you were alive, safe, but in trouble and to not call the number again. So I didn't."

"I'm so sorry," I told her. "I fought with my mother to be able to email you. She's finally allowed me to go to college, even if I'm still living at home."

Thalia frowned. "Wait, you weren't going to college earlier?"

I shook my head, which caused Thalia to furrow her eyebrows in anger. "I was in too much trouble. I've been back for nearly two months now, though, so that's good."

"That's just messed up," Thalia yelled, her fists balled in anger. "You're the only person my age I know who likes learning and all that crap!"

I couldn't help but laugh, which caused Thalia to calm down a bit and release her shoulders. "Hey, what are you doing in New York?"

Thalia wasn't going to college, at least she'd made that clear to me when we'd been roommates. With her family money to live off of she didn't need to, but that still didn't explain what she was doing in New York.

"What do you mean?" she asked, her voice trailing off as she avoided my eye contact.

I frowned as a slight blush appeared on Thalia's pale skin. "Thals, why didn't you go home to California? You can tell me, we're friends."

She shrugged as she rubbed her temple. "I did. For....a while, I guess. About a month and then my mom drove me absolutely insane. And without being able to talk to you, I snapped. I packed all my bags, emptied my trust fund, and came here."

My eyes widened. "Your mom let you? And where have you been staying?"

"My mom didn't know for around a month. I had to contact my dad to get the money, which wasn't fun, but he doesn't talk to her. At least not about me," Thalia said. "And I've been living in an apartment in the city. I even debated driving out to your house if I remembered the stupid address."

A smile crept on my face. "That's all? You're just living in New York alone, all by yourself?"

"It's not like that," she assured me. "I was living with Reyna, but she moved out when school started. She's going to school in California, where she's from."

I nodded. Thalia didn't talk about Reyna with me often, probably because she'd think that I would get jealous. But I wasn't jealous of Reyna, because I was pretty sure they weren't best friends, just something else.

"Maybe I can convince my mom to let me live with you," I assured her, although even I knew she'd never go for that idea. "And if not at least I know you're here now, so I can see you more. I'm sure my mom won't be too hard to persuade to allow me to do that. After all, she let you come over today."

Thalia shrugged, still avoiding my gaze. Then she did something that surprised me. "You miss him, huh?"

My face turned red as I peered at Thalia, a slight grin appearing on her face. "Wha-what? Who?"

Thalia rolled her eyes as she slumped backwards on my bed. "Oh, don't be stupid. You know who I'm talking about."

I groaned as Thalia pulled me down with her. "I....yeah. I do, Thals. I miss him a lot."

"I knew it," she said with a sigh. "Even though I don't approve of my best friend falling for a dude like that, I guess you could pick worst. It could still be Luke."

I shivered. "God, no. Never again."

"Have you emailed Percy?" Thalia asked. "I mean, seeing as email is your main form of contact now."

"Shut up!" I said with a laugh. "And no, I haven't. As I told you earlier, my mom monitors everything."

"Jesus, I never imagined Athena as a helicopter parent. So you haven't talked to him since, what, July?" interrogated Thalia.

I shook my head. "No, he wrote me a letter."

Thalia laughed. "Wow, you two are meant to be. Emailing and writing letters go hand in hand. They're both so old!"

"Be quiet, it was sweet!" I yelled. "And I couldn't write him back, my mom forbade me from doing so."

Thalia rolled her eyes. "Oh no not the forbading! What ever happened to the Annabeth Chase I know?! You're not gonna do something because your mommy says so?"

"It's not like that," I shot back. "I tried to write him back and she physically didn't allow me. Anyways, I wish I could send him a letter. I think she's in kahoots with the mailman, because whenever I sent the letters out, no matter if she's at work or not, they always end up on my desk."

Thalia sighed. "Yeah, that's tough. But you have his address, right? Why don't you just go there?"

"I dunno, I'm pretty sure my mom would notice if I'm missing," I replied.

"Not if she's on a trip," Thalia said. "Does she go on business trips often?"

I shrugged. "No, at least not now. She cancelled a few because I'm here. But next time she mentions one that she's cancelling, I'll try and reassure her that she can go."

Thalia smiled. "There's the Annabeth I know."