Tuesday, August 1st.
3:00 pm - the local park

"Hey!" Thalia called. "Wait up, your legs are longer than mine!" Annabeth simply chuckled as the black haired girl caught up to her on the path. "You've always been taller than me," Thalia mumbled.

"I know, but it's not my fault. Longer legs, wider strides." Annabeth shrugged. Thalia shook her head and laughed.

Annabeth inhaled deeply. "Don't you just love the fresh, summer air? Ugh, I love summer," She cooed contently. Summer was definitely Annabeth's favorite season, and not just because her birthday was in July, or that school was out. In fact, that was something that Annabeth missed every year; school. She had to admit, a break was nice, but every September she always returned to school with a bright smile, ready for the year ahead. Academics had always been Annabeth's strong point, and she never found anything that she couldn't do. Thalia, on the other hand, hated their high school more than anywhere else, similar to the majority of any group of teenagers.

"Yeah. Summer is great," Thalia agreed. "Everyone our in their swimsuits, specifically girls," She nudged Annabeth making her laugh, "and of course, there's no school." Thalia smiled.

"You want to sit there for lunch?" Annabeth asked as they neared a small picnic table in the grass.

"Sure," Thalia agreed and the two girls made their way to the table, sitting down. Thalia pulled her back pack off and put it on the bench next to her. She pulled out a lunch, handing Annabeth her peanut butter and jelly, same as always. She began to enjoy her sandwich as Thalia gave her a water bottle.

"So, what did you do last night after I left?" Annabeth knew that Thalia was referring to the night prior; Thalia had visited Annabeth at her house. They talked and just hung around, as usual.

"Well, it was a little weird," Annabeth said, recalling the night with furrowed eyebrows.

"Why?" Thalia asked, looking through the bag for her sandwich.

"Well, I finished The Office—"

"For the 50th time," Thalia teased, snickering. Annabeth simply rolled her eyes, continuing on.

"But I was crying, like, a lot." This was only strange because Annabeth wasn't an extremely emotional person, and she rarely cried for a reason other than anger or frustration. Thalia knew this, for she and Annabeth had been friends for almost as long as Annabeth could remember. Her father was good friends with Annabeth's mother, of course, that was before...

"Okay, are you on your period?" Thalia asked.

"No." Annabeth shook her head, pausing a minute to think. "Now that I think about it, it's a little bit late," she pointed out.

"Well, has it ever really been on time?" Thalia countered. "It could just be mood swings," she suggested, shrugging.

"Yeah, that's true," Annabeth agreed, nodding.

"I mean, it's not like you could be pregnant, so," Thalia said, snickering. She knew that Annabeth wanted to wait—and she respected that, but that didn't mean teasing was excluded.

"Yeah, no," Annabeth laughed, but to be honest, she wasn't entirely sure. She still hadn't told Thalia—or anyone for that matter—about what had happened at the party. She wasn't entirely sure how to feel about it or what to think, but she knew that it made her uncomfortable. She didn't really want to talk about it with Luke, and she had kind of been avoiding him recently.

Thalia finally pulled out her lunch, taking a bite.

"Oh, Thalia," Annabeth winced as a wave of nausea hit her, along with the smell of Thalia's sandwich. "What are you eating?"

"What?" She asked. "It's my egg sandwich as usual," she said, confused.

"Oh wow, that just," Annabeth could barely get the words out. She looked away, hoping to fend off the nausea and the smell. She fought down a gag, tasting the peanut butter and jelly that just went down. She shook her head slightly, signaling Thalia.

"It's a fresh sandwich, but, I'll eat it later." Thalia began to wrap the sandwich up, putting it away.

"I'm sorry, Thals," Annabeth apologized. She felt bad for making Thalia put her lunch away, but she nearly vomited. "You want half of my P.B. & J.?" Annabeth offered.

"Nah, it's cool. I brought some chips," Thalia said, pulling out a bag of Lays potato chips.

"Nice." Annabeth smiled. She was still confused, however. Why did she feel sick all of a sudden? There was only one explanation that she could think of, and Annabeth didn't like it. She tried to push the thoughts away, convincing herself it was nothing.

"So," Thalia popped a chip in her mouth, "how's Luke?" She wiggles her eyebrows and smirked.

"Shut up," Annabeth laughed, rolling her eyes and shoving Thalia's arm. Annabeth and Luke had been together for almost two years now, yet Thalia still teased her.

Annabeth assumed Thalia was asking because of what Annabeth told her about a week ago. She felt that Luke had been acting different; darker. He was becoming more bitter, about god only knows what, and taking it out of Annabeth. Not physically, of course, but verbally. She was feeling pretty emotionally beat. Long story short, Annabeth told Luke, and he had been better, but it still wasn't the same. Something was up with him that she just couldn't figure out.

"He's good," She lied. She didn't want to tell Thalia she had been avoiding him because she would then have to tell her why, and that really was not a conversation she wanted to have at the moment.

"He's been treating you good?" She asked.

"Yeah, he's been better recently," Annabeth said, nodding.

"Good," Thalia said. "I know that he's kind of like my brother, but I'll still kick his ass for you, Annie," Thalia said proudly, smirking.

Annabeth laughed. "I know you will, Thals."

Just then, Thalia's phone buzzed. She pulled it from her bag and read the screen. "It's Jason," she said aloud. She mumbled something along the lines of, 'toaster', 'knife', and 'quickly.' Annabeth didn't take this as a good sign. "I gotta go," she quickly stood and grabbed her bag, mumbling something about Jason being an idiot. "I'll see you later, alright?"

"Bye," Annabeth said, waving. She then watched as Thalia jogged down the path, sighing. She decided she'd better start on her walk home.

~*~

Finally, Annabeth reached her driveway, and to her dismay, it was empty. Her father must have been away on business again. He was rarely ever home, but when he was, it was Annabeth's favorite time.

She walked up the path to the door, jamming her key in the lock. She walked inside and slipped off her sneakers, closing the door behind her. She walked over to the bay window at the front of the house, in the living room. She had always loved that window. She sat and stared out at the street, a neighbor here and there, walking the dog or just going for a stroll.

Annabeth and her father lived in a quaint little neighborhood. The people were nice and the street was peaceful. She had always admired the houses on her block—all of them were unique, yet they all fit together so well. Each one had its own potential and character, which Annabeth had a lot of fun with when she was younger. She liked to pretend that every house was a different person, and in her little fantasies, they had tea parties and dinner dates. She smiled, nostalgic for simpler times.

Everything was simple back then. What she would give to get that back. What she would give to get her back.

Suddenly, she felt emotional, and found a tear running down her cheek. She wiped it away and sniffled, deciding to head upstairs for a shower. Getting up the stairs was more difficult than it should have been, but Annabeth blamed it on her walk with Thalia.

Suddenly, Thalia's words rang through her head.

'It's not like you could be pregnant,'

Annabeth's mind was suddenly plagued by dreadful thoughts. She pushed them away. Thalia was right, it wasn't like she could be pregnant. She wasn't even entirely sure of what had happened that night, so it wasn't like she had any proof to rely on.

You know what he did to you,

A voice rang through her head. She tried her best to quiet it. She shook her head, trying to shake out the thoughts.

Once she was in the shower, she had realized how tense she was. Annabeth felt her muscles relax as the hot water rushed over her and the steam filled the air. She had nothing to worry about.

~*~

"Hey, Pumpkin!" Annabeth heard her father call from the front door. "I'm home," he shouted.

"Hi dad," Annabeth called from her room. She had been sick for the last few days, so she decided to stay in and relax, with the AC on.

A few footsteps up the stairs later, her father stood in the doorway. "Hey, how're you feeling, Annie?" He walked up to her bed, placing his hand on her leg. 

"Meh," she shrugged. It was odd; Annabeth was throwing up, but she didn't feel gross like she usually did when she was sick. She just had a few headaches, but that was essentially it. She hadn't really felt anything else, which slightly worried her, oddly enough.

"Well, I got you some tea," her father said, handing her a warm cup of honey tea. The hot cup felt good in her hands. Although it was August, and scorching outside, Annabeth still wanted tea. It was like she would never not be in the mood for tea.

"Thanks," Annabeth said before taking a sip. It felt good as the warmth spread through her throat.

"Alright, text me if you need anything, Pumpkin, I have to go out," her dad said, patting her knee and leaving. Annabeth nodded her thanks, though a bit sad that her father was leaving again.

She was still concerned about her period. By now, it was nearly a week late. She knew that she really should take a test, just to make sure, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She wasn't entirely sure why, either. She most likely wasn't pregnant, but the fact that there was even the slightest chance that she was scared her.

She had heard of teenage girls who got pregnant, and what people say about them. Annabeth always had felt pity towards them, because it was difficult to come back from something like that, to have a good future. Some girls she didn't feel bad for because they were being irresponsible, and the pregnancy was their fault, but there was always one who didn't have a choice, and Annabeth always felt sorry for those girls. Being a more well known face at Goode High School, she always shut down rumors about those girls, because it wasn't always easy for them to do so themselves. She tried to get rid of the thought that she could be one of those girls.

After almost two hours of trying to hush the voice in the back of her head, Annabeth got up and walked to the bathroom, but not just to vomit. Once she had washed her face, she began to dig under the sink. After a few minutes of searching, she found the box. She placed it on the sink counter and closed the cabinet doors. Standing, she took out a test.

Exhaling, she read the box. The directions said that one line means negative, and two lines means positive. She took another deep breath and put the box down. Annabeth walked out into the hallway, pacing back and forth.

"Just do it," she told herself again and again, yet she couldn't bring herself to do it. "Stop stalling!" She finally yelled at herself. Good thing her father wasn't home, or else he'd probably think she'd gone mad.

Annabeth stopped pacing and held her chin up. She walked into the bathroom and took the test. She washed her hands and decided to give it a minute, walking back into her room.

About four minutes later, which felt more like hours to Annabeth, she went to check. She walked into the bathroom, not looking down to where she left the test on the counter. She stared at herself in the mirror, trying not to freak out.

Breathe, Annabeth,

She closed her eyes and recalled her mother's words, following the instruction.

In through your nose, out through your mouth,

After a few very quiet seconds, Annabeth opened her eyes and prepared herself, taking the test in her hands. She looked down, slowly moving her head.

One line.

Annabeth dropped her head back, sighing with relief. She wasn't pregnant. She checked once more, just to make sure. She looked at it more closely, holding it in the light. Then she saw it;

A second line.

She hoped that her eyes were playing tricks on her, but the closer she looked, the more prominent it became. She put the test down and held her head in her hands, leaning on the sink. She felt tears sting her eyes and trail down her cheeks. She looked at it once more, in disbelief.

Two lines.

Two lines.

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