We Olympians (A Percy Jackson AU) || BOOK 1

Chapter 27 || Annabeth

Annabeth trudged through the halls of Goode. She was thirty minutes early, as usual, and she was busy spinning through the halls, imagining she was dancing with Percy. The sea breeze, even if it wasn't there, was clear in her nose, the salty tang piercing at her sinuses. However, she didn't mind. It was the feeling of being close to her seaweed brain. When Annabeth finally reached her locker, she opened it to find a book sitting inside.

let go - MaidenDemigod4Life

The book Percy had given her all those years ago. The book that had brought her comfort over the years Percy had gone. The thing she gave back to him when he announced they were done. But now, it was back in her shaking hands. A lingering thought crept into her mind. Were they really done?

I'm sorry, Annabeth. Someday you'll know why I can't be with you. But I love you more than you could ever imagine. And as long as you know that, I'll be okay. I hope I didn't hurt you too bad. I was actually trying to protect you. Again, you don't understand now, but it'll all make sense someday. Until then, enjoy your presents. I just hope you'll forgive me. ~ Percy

Annabeth put the note down, promising herself that she'd laminate it in the library later. She quickly took out the presents, wrapped in the same blue wrapping paper that he used on her twelfth birthday. As she gently tried to pry the tape from the paper, in an effort to save the precious memories, she thought of how stupid she must've looked at that moment.

Inside the present was a crystal cube. And inside the clear crystal cube was a 3D version of them, in color and everything. A picture of them holding hands while their faces were broken out in grins. Of course, Annabeth knew it was fake. They were both sixteen in this picture. But it was almost as if they extracted it from the dream she had every night and day of the beach stroll. Weird.

But there was more. Next to it was a little blue envelope. Tearing it open, Annabeth felt a tear drop from her eye onto the floor. She scanned through the photos. There was one that a teacher took when they were six, grinning. Annabeth smiled when she saw that she had a missing tooth and that Percy was still busy shoving his face with blue cookies.

The other was when they were seven and went to Sea World, Percy screaming about how it was cruel to trap fishes in glass boxes for people to stare at.

"It's vile and it doesn't respect their privacy! Imagine if you were trapped in a box just for people to look at you! How hard it would be to go PEE!"

When Thalia and Nico joined in with the photos, Annabeth knew that they were eight. Thalia was busy tousling Percy's hair, his face scrunched up in discomfort. Nico and Annabeth were sitting on the couch behind them, busy munching on popcorn as a movie was playing. Nine years old and Thalia was still ruffling Percy's messy hair, having him in a headlock. Throughout their youth, Thalia was always an inch taller than him, which really annoyed the little seaweed brain.

Ten years old. The year Bianca died. Annabeth felt her face go into a frown when she saw the picture. Nico wasn't in it. Eleven years old. She could feel the change growing and she felt like she was running out of time. They were all in a photo in front of school, Thalia, again, having Percy in a headlock while tousling his hair, but this time, he was looking at Annabeth while she looked back at him, their faces just an inch apart.

Twelve years old. The year Percy left them. This year, he did look different. Annabeth remembered when the photo was taken. They were on a beach walk after school, Percy chasing her while she laughed, her hair flying in the wind. It had to be the best moment of her life. 

"I love you, too, Seaweed Brain," she whispered, looking at the book in her hands. "And I'll never give up on us. Ever. We're not over. We're just getting started."

The students poured in and she put the book back in her locker, slamming it shut and walking over to Thalia's locker, where she was currently lost in thought.

"Hey, Thals--"

"Annabeth," Nico said. "Percy went to the fight club last night..."

"So he wasn't lying?" Annabeth's eyes practically bulged out of her skull.

"No!" Thalia exclaimed. "God, the little kelp head is literally gonna come in here disabled or something!"

Annabeth debated on whether to tell them all about Percy's note. So she did. She motioned for all of them to come over to her locker and showed them the book, the note written on the paper inside. For some reason, she thought Nico's face went beet red and pale, but the moment she looked over, he had already moved to Thalia's side.

"So... does this mean we're not over?" Thalia's mouth was open in a little grin.

"Seems like it," Annabeth replied.

That's when Percy walked in with his friends looking perfectly fine as if he didn't just go to a fight club the other night. All he had was a small bruise on his jaw. Otherwise, he was laughing, talking, looking like he had just come back from a movie in the theater. Thalia started to march over, but Nico grabbed her arm.

"Thalia, don't!" he hissed.

"Why?" Thalia struggled against Nico's grip.

"Because it's awkward enough with the note and everything. You don't wanna screw up the process of him getting back to us by throwing some hissy fit. Percy's sixteen years old. He can do what he wants." Nico said before looking away from Annabeth, much to her confusion.

Annabeth looked at the note, back to Nico, and back to Percy. Was there something she didn't know about? Nico was staring at Percy before looking away sharply, cursing.

Nico was hiding something. And Annabeth was intent on finding out.