Everything was going great until her father called her.

The rain pattered against the Chase residence's window, contrasting with the bright blue curtains placed on each side of the railing. Annabeth must've gone insane to be watching rain and finding it as a sort of entertainment. She'd been cooped up in their spacious living room for more than half an hour, the empty space causing her to shiver although the heater was on full blast. Apparently, Frederick Chase was organising a surprise, a surprise for the whole family and Annabeth rolled her eyes in annoyance. They weren't going on a field trip, that's for sure; last time had ended with Bobby being chased by a skunk and having to bathe in putrid tomato juice just to let the stink away.

Annabeth ears perked up at the sound of the door being unlocked, breaking her from the trance of watching the weather. The creamy coloured sofa -Helen insisted, it looked like barf- sagged under Annabeth's weight as she plopped down, waiting for her father to come out with at least a smile.

Instead, with the laptop held firmly (or at least as firmly as it could go) in one of his hands, Annabeth's father came in with a wavering smile, holding the laptop far from his daughter's reach. The stubble on his beard had started to grow, his constant eyebags following the stubble in unison and Annabeth worried for him. There was only so much work a man could do without breaking down permanently.

"What's wrong?" She furrowed her eyebrows and bit her lip, a trait she had gotten from her mother apparently. "Where's Helen?"

He didn't answer, instead placing the laptop on the coffee table and jerking his head to it. Annabeth swore she saw him cross his fingers but left it as a second thought, instead turning the laptop to face her.

She gasped.

"Isn't that -"

"San Francisco S.T.E.M constitution," her father finished for her. He was grinning now, and Annabeth replicated his actions. She almost wanted to hug him now.

That feeling dissipated as a sudden familiar feel of doom engulfed her. Annabeth had had so much experience with this, she couldn't ever be caught up by one of his pleas again. "What's the catch?" She crossed her arms instead. There always was a catch with her father, never a fair deal between him and his daughter. 'We're getting a dog! . . . Actually, Helen's allergic to them.' 'I'll be coming back for a few days . . . Only to forget you in that short amount of time.'

"We got you an admission letter and everything. In fact," he crossed his hands. "My boss was so happy we'd be moving closer he let us in with half the fees a normal student would have to pay. We could use that for your card, you know."

"What's the catch?" Annabeth repeated.

"There's no catch -"

"Don't lie to me." She knew she had pushed the line but her father had snapped the line in half when he had refused to acknowledge her at all. A little rule-breaking seemed fair.

"Well we'd have to move there." Straight to the point, huh.

She took a step back, holding on to the edge of the seat of the sofa. That was, well that was too far, that's for sure. She shook her head, it was S.T.E.M constitution, one of the best schools for the gifted in America, maybe even the world even. Helen was going to kill her from how hard the marks on the chair were, her nails digging into the surface for support. Or maybe anger.

"No," Annabeth almost slapped herself from the guilt. What about all her friends here, Luke, Thalia, Percy. It's quality over quantity, Annabeth. She needed them all and honestly? The thought of leaving them behind made her want to throw the laptop at the ground, destroying the HD image of the school, its glory shattered into millions of shards. OK maybe not that, that laptop cost a fortune and she wasn't wasting money that quick.

One devilishly sly thought crept into her mind as Annabeth began brainstorming. The thought had been stored for what felt so long, and finally it was of some good use. She paused for a second, almost getting up from the sofa and to her room till she realised a contradiction. What if, what if they didn't need her? Bless Thalia, she was quite an extrovert, the one who showed up at a social party without getting invited yet having everyone know her name by the time it had ended. Next came Luke, a handsome boy with a handful of senior friends that could easily replace Annabeth as his number one best friend. Was she his number one best friend? Probably childish to think that, though Annabeth smiled a little. She hoped she had won that rank. In fact, the girlish thought of being his number one had remarkably sent Annabeth to her room with a slight skip in her beat, humming a random tune she had heard someone say before. Annabeth was sure it was Percy -

Well what about Percy? She'd been best friends with him for over four years now, and still it felt like she was going nowhere. If not, then Annabeth was indeed decelerating. She figured that maybe if she did take up that offer to San Francisco, Percy would miss her only half as much as she would like him to. That sent her hum and the skip to end, trudging the rest of her journey with the corner of her lips doing the extra effort to scowl.

The next hour was spent with Annabeth lavishing out all the words that she hadn't said, but needed to say to her father. She even had the time to spot the not-so-decent profanities, crossing them out and deciding on acting all civilised. Her room scattered with clothes, breakfast bar wrappers and notes about who-knows-what, Annabeth was surprised she had managed to actually get some work done. In fact, she even had enough time to clean the mess she called her room.

When was the last time she had actually picked something from her room and put it in its original place? Annabeth didn't think she would or even could remember, memories of the last hour had caused her brain to go into overdrive. And how did she fix that?

Studying, studying so much Annabeth would receive a headache. A headache strong enough to drown out the previous occurrences.

. . .

It was precisely two am when Annabeth's phone rang, a simple tune she couldn't bother to change though she really ought to. The ringtone blared for five minutes straight, till Annabeth woke with a startle, her head slamming the side or her bed. It soon stopped after Annabeth pressed the dreaded button and let out a dreary, "hello?"

"Hey, Annabeth it's me."

Annabeth scoffed. Yeah, because saying me suddenly makes me remember you. Lack of sleep made her cranky.

"Who?" She asked, irritation laced through her words.

"It's Silena, and it's precisely two am." Annabeth crossed her eyebrows. "Just like how you told me."

She muttered a few curses, slipped out of bed and changed out of her comfy onesie, and into more fitting clothes for the outdoors. Within twenty minutes since the phone call, Annabeth knocked firmly on Silena's door, the wood echoing as her knuckles met it.

They had agreed to commit the deed, though Hazel wasn't taking any part of it. Now, with just Annabeth and Silena, Annabeth wondered how she could do it. It was Drew though, and that was all she needed for persuasion, the damned girl needed a piece of mind and an old kick to the hag wouldn't do anything but aggravate her.

The old wooden door opened with a creak, Silena's light blue eyes appearing through the small crack and her eyes narrowed at Annabeth's smile. The door, however, swung open, Silena shutting the door with a boom and her eyes widened.

"I didn't think you'd actually do it," she muttered to herself.

"Let's not forget you were the one who called me," Annabeth pointed out, grudgingly admiring the petite yet mesmerising house Silena lived in. With her father working late hours as a successful chocolate maker, and her mother a renowned model working for the likes of Rassibome, Silena was fortunate enough to be living on the wealthy side.

The creamy white sofa in the middle of the lounge enticed Annabeth, an odd step in between her and the furniture (Thalia always said they did that just to look nice), the high windows from ceiling to floor and a modernesque kitchen, Annabeth didn't seem to fit in here. Not to mention the mini bar assorted with various types of wine, it probably cost more than her whole house.

"Come on then," Silena ushered Annabeth up to her room, climbing up the spiral staircase two at a time and presenting her with a pink and white, yet again modern bedroom. "I've got a laptop for you to work on in the meantime and -"

"What are you going to use then?"

Silena gave her a weird look. "My other laptop, obviously." Right, Annabeth thought. The rich weren't accustomed to decent spending. She could just imagine an elderly woman walking in and taunting her from the ridiculously cheap clothes she was wearing:

"You dare bring in clothes from the middle class?

"Silena get that filthy commoner out of here."

"Are you always this clueless in the night?"
Silena laughed, she was sitting on a baby pink beanbag.

"Sorry?" Annabeth mumbled, wiping her eyes and awkwardly sitting on the bed. She didn't know how to position herself, scared she would accidently stain an area by her grubby clothes and having to pay thousands of dollars for the mark she'd made. Yep, Annabeth was skeptical for sure.

Opening her bag, Annabeth started to take out every single item she had packed the day before. Notebooks, newspapers, assorted pens, you name it. She was practically a portable stationary store.

"Any insight on Drew?" Silena asked, popping a bon-bon in her mouth. Annabeth stared at the box hungrily, averting her eyes when Silena raised her eyebrows.

"You could just ask, you know." Silena gave her a couple of the delights, a light laugh making Annabeth smile. "I don't bite."

Wow. Those were good. "Well, I went to the local library and -

"You're serious? You actually go to the library?" Silena's mouth agape as if Annabeth had broken a sacred oath.

"It's a calm place, you should go there sometime."

"Not a chance. The librarian's will kill me, let alone the musty smell the books are always wafting." Annabeth tilted her head to the side, she quite liked that smell, the fact that she knew it was only native in bookstores and familiar libraries. Even on particularly cold days, the smell always seemed to make her feel warm. Like home, really.

Annabeth raised her eyebrows. "I'll have you know I'm friends with the librarian." She smiled mischievously. "In fact, I could introduce you to her sometime."

Silena gasped. "You wouldn't."

"They're nice people." Annabeth argued.

"But old."

"Not all of them."

"Name me one librarian that isn't over the age of forty."

"Like you'd even know who she is," Annabeth scoffed.

Silena laughed, her long dark hair bouncing. "Touché."

"We really need to start doing what we're meant to be doing," Annabeth hurried, grabbing the laptop Silena had so graciously given her and pressing the on button firmly.

With a calm silence finally arising, Annabeth and Silena got to work, the satisfying sound of typing and hushed whispers filling Silena's room.

"I heard she's allergic to certain types of perfumes." Silena suggested.

Annabeth shook the idea quickly, "and what? Give her a perfume she's allergic to and practically poisoning her?"

"I mean . . ." Silena smiled teasingly. "No one would know it was us."

Annabeth rolled her eyes however, grabbing a fluffy light pink pillow on the side of Silena's king-sized bed and throwing it at her. She ducked though the pillow still managed to hit her square in the back. "Grow up."

An hour later of muffled yawns and slow blinking, Annabeth gasped and held her hand to her mouth. Silena stopped writing down notes on her laptop, giving Annabeth a look of concern.

"What?" She asked slowly, checking behind her to see if anything was wrong. "What happened? Annabeth? Annabeth you -". The bed sprang as Annabeth got up, hastily making her way over to Silena.

"Mr. Tanaka, a wealthy businessman booming in the streets of Manhattan, his daughter Drew Tanaka not doing as well as he had decided." Annabeth crossed her eyebrows. "Her grades not decreasing rapidly and a slight thirst for boys, Mr. Tanaka fears she might not be up for the job."

"Silena . . ." Annabeth tapped the floor with her feet, her arms crossed, the wood echoing as she continued on impatiently. "I think Drew's doing it on purpose."

"Doing what?" Silena already knew the answer.

"Drew, a girl who loves fashion and makeup. Her father, a businessman who spends his days working with stocks and shares."

"Drew, a girly girl. Her father, a businessman. Girly girl, businessman." Annabeth repeated, eyes widening and pointing at the sheet of notes and the laptop frequently. "You get what I'm saying?"

"Holy crap . . ." Silena muttered instead, she changed position on the beanbag, scooting over so Annabeth could sit down.

"But why would her father send her to here of all places? I'm pretty sure he could pay for a rich kid private school -"

"I could too, you know." Silent argued. She probably didn't mean it that way, but Annabeth's jaw hardened as she forced herself to gulp down a particularly witty comment clawing its way out of her mouth.

"But Drew hates us, why would she want to stay?"

"Her father gave it to her as punishment. She'd be leaving after senior year and -"

"That's when they all leave," Annabeth snapped.
She muttered an apology after seeing Silena's shocked face.

"Like I said, it's punishment."

"So what we're saying is all we have to do is make her smart and she'll leave?"

"We're going to need a miracle." Silena huffed, and Annabeth agreed, leaning down on the beanbag and blowing a loose strand from her face. She wondered why she picked such an odd time to commence plan-making.

"A big fat one too."

. . .

Exactly two days: 5 hours later.

Drew Tanaka felt rich, baby!

"Ciara if you don't tell Raza you're single now, he's not going to take a hint." Drew let out an eye roll as she ended the call, not wanting to listen to Ciara's hopeless pleas any longer.

Drew lay down on her dark red specially designed chair, did you know it was made by Varl Sabpuse himself? He even offered to design the whole room after which they had to decline of course. Drew wanted her room to be fashioned like a runway, not something you'd see in an art exhibition.

Her room literally said I'm Richer Than You, what with the tons of Gucci handbags -she never used them, only for show and tell, not to mention her assorted and colour coded clothes. Of course they're designer, what did you expect?

"Ms.Tanaka, your lunch has been served. Please come down to ensure you eat it at its finest!" Rana, the head maid of the Tanaka family called from the living room. Drew had the urge to just roll her eyes, Rana could be real annoying when she wanted to be. Couldn't she see she was busy?

"I'm going shopping with my friends, you should have known that Labib!" Drew shouted back, her tone malicious as she elongated her surname. She would never call Rana Labib by her first name, showing the clear barrier between the two.

Rana's hurried footsteps increased as Drew smeared her bubbly pink J'adore lip gloss on her lips, the more the merrier. The ends of Rana's loose headscarf flew lightly as she made it to Drew's room. She could never keep up with the stairs.

"Would you want me to save it or throw the food in the trash?" Labib asked, her arms folded in a polite manner.

Drew shrugged. "You're hungry right? Eat it yourself, Lord knows you don't get paid enough."

Rana raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Really?"

"No," Drew snapped. "Throw it in the trash and make sure dinner is served when I come back." Drew paused, looking at the maid and giving her a once over. "And please, lift a weight or two? Your baggage is starting to show."

Rana lowered her head in response, nodding tightly to the request and opened the door for Drew. Drew rolled her eyes at the gesture, shooing the maid off and letting out a squeal as she saw the pink convertible waiting for her outside. There was only one girl present there though, though Drew hid the annoyance with a tight smile.

"Kelsey!" She cried as she saw the blonde- obviously dyed, have you seen the roots?- teenager, giving her an awkward hug over the car door. Truth be told, Drew couldn't stand her. A pink ruffle skirt with a dark shirt? Ugh, cue vomit. Kelsey just had to go, she'd probably be demoted from the group in a day's time.

"Where's the rest of them?" Drew asked lightly as she swung the door open, sitting down carefully on the plush seats.

"They said they couldn't come, had to do some homework." Kelsey nodded frantically, her hands moving fast as she spoke. When would she shut up?

"Well then drive, come on!" Drew ushered, pointing at the steering wheel of the car. Kelsey muttered an 'oops', hitting on the gas and driving.

"Could you turn the radio on please?" Kelsey smiled as she drove carefully. The wind blew in their hair and Drew rolled her eyes. She'd pampered her hair for nothing!

"No," Drew snapped.

______________________________________

I know I know, I said I was going to do a special 10,000 word chapter but I couldn't wait alright? I did exactly 3000 on the dot if that's all you wish!

This chapter is not-gonna-lie not my best work, but it's all I could do in the moment with all the bloody revision I've had to do.

And I loved writing the Drew part of the story!

See ya next time,

JustWannaEatWaffles