Soulmates

Chapter 22

Annabeth tapped her pencil on her geometry notebook as she typed in the answer.

She was correct.

Word problems were not her strong suit. Hell, she can't even fucking read like a normal fucking person.

Thankfully, she had extra time. She was grateful for that. She managed to get her grades up from a C to an A because she used that time.

Yet, some part of her told her to stop.

So, she set a goal for herself. Only ten minutes per word problem.

Was it unrealistic? Yes, it absolutely was, but she needed to know if she could improve.

So far, the answer is no.

Just one more.

Her phone generated a new paragraph for her to decipher. She skimmed it first; maybe she didn't need to read it in detail. Just find the numbers and go.

Her phone did not seem to agree.

It took her too long to read it all but no time at all to write and solve the equation.

She never understood it. The only reason she failed so many classes was purely out of pride. If she took the time to read and use her resources, she'd pass with flying colors.

She was good at so many things. She can remember any fucking formula you give her, understand the physics of acceleration, design buildings, and monuments, teach her younger siblings math and science and history, but Annabeth couldn't fucking read.

When she was younger, she didn't know why her dad hated her so much for it or why some people said it was weird. Her teachers understood and gave her the help she needed.

Her dad just got pissed.

Annabeth never liked to see her dad disappointed in her, even at seven and eight. So she put so much of herself into her work.

Dad wasn't mad when she got into gifted.

The problem was that Annabeth could either get the extra help she needed or continue to grow into the girl her dad longed to have.

She chose the latter.

Every Wednesday, the gifted students would be taken away from class to learn new approaches and receive new assignments. They were given a week's worth of worksheets to turn in by their next meeting, along with the work from regular classes.

It was piles and piles of work, but Annabeth did it all. She did it all, and her father was so proud.

Then, middle school happened.

There wasn't a gifted program at middle school. Just brilliant students, average students, and dumb students. The kids in the dumb student's class were people like Annabeth.

She refused to acknowledge that.

Middle school teachers were much worse than the teachers Annabeth was used to. They gave her less work but a lot of tests, and they wouldn't help her read anything unless there was a written note from her parents.

Annabeth was going to ask. She wanted to ask. She longed to ask.

But, she kept remembering back to the time when she never asked for his help and simply worked and worked. That was the only time she felt loved by her dad.

She remembered when she asked her father to read a passage out of her homework and saw the disappointment flash in his eyes.

She remembered when Helen was like that too.