"Annabeth!!! Annabeth!!" I shouted, chasing after the pouting princess.

She turned around as I neared her, causing me to almost crash into her. She'd changed into an orange CHB shirt, since Miss Mellie had ordered us both to be taken to the infirmary just as a precaution.
We were matching. Hahahahaha.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't think we would do something to stupid!" I apologized. She crossed her arms, cocking an eyebrow.

"How about this, come over, and I'll have mom make us a batch of Blue Cookies. That always cheered you up! We could work on our project too if you like," I begged, folding my arms.

"Nope. Not going to work," she said, as stoically as possible.

It wasn't until I heard her stomach rumble that managed to convince her. And now, she and I were walking back to my house. Annabeth did not look happy about it one bit.

"I'm just coming over so we can work on the project," she mumbled, stuffing her hands in the pockets of her jeans. She kicked a rock off the pavement, watching it skitter away.

I fought to keep a smile from my face.She hasn't complained or threatened to murder me. So so far so good I guess.

We arrived at my place, and being a gentleboy, I swung open the door.

"Moooooommmmm, I'm homeeeeee," I called out as we entered the living room. I heard the pounding on the steps and braced for impact as Tyson came running down, holding a jar of penut butter.

He launched himself at my feet, holding them with a giggle. He peeped from behind my legs and noticed Annabeth.

He let go, shyly walking towards her. "You're pretty," he said, offering her the jar of peanut butter.

With a shy smile on her face, she bent down, ruffling his hair. "Well hello. Who are you, handsome?" she asked, her voice soft.

I watched as Tyson slowly grinned, puffing his chest up to look as brave as he could.

An involuntary smile tugged at my lips as I watched them interact. Annabeth had always been good with kids. She could either terrify them or get them to love her within 20 minutes. And looking at Tyson's blushing face as she complimented his Handy Manny shirt, it was the latter.

"There you are. Can you take out the trash please," mom called, wobbling down the stairs. Her eyes fell on Annabeth, and she smiled so wide I was worried she was going to break her cheeks somehow.

"Annabeth!" she gasped, walking faster to greet her favorite person. Annabeth had a matching grin on her face.

The two hugged. And I felt something pop in my heart.

"How have you been? You've grown so beautiful! You look like a princess, darling," she said, examining Annabeth at arms length.

"You're glowing, Sally," she compliment back, eyeing mom's growing belly.

"Come come! WE MUST catch up! It's been so boring have three boys for company," she said, sticking her tongue out in a mocking manner.

"Hey!" I complained as Annabeth laughed. Her laugh was beautiful. It was a sound that I could hear everywhere. One that was so engraved into my memory that I got lost in it often.

Tyson patted my back, and I held him in my arms as I watched Annabeth and mom exchange compliments, gossip, secrets and life secrets in a record of 10 minutes.

"Pretty girl is ignoring you," he commented, taking in the situation.

I nodded, "Pretty girl is ignoring me."

Mom made us sit down. Insisting that she and Annabeth had a lot to talk about. And they did. They talked for a solid hour about what they've been upto. A. Solid. Hour.
They hadn't even taken a second to breathe or drink water. Both of them had me make, and fetch them some snacks.

"I'm so happy you and Percy are friends again," mom remarked, eating her icerrceam with glee. "Honestly Annabeth, there is no one I trust more to look after him than you."

Annabeth's shoulders stiffened. I watched as she nodded her head in a robotic manner, stabbing her spoon into the ice cream.

"Heyyy," I interjected, "Come on, we gotta do our project."

"Id rather talk to Sally," Annabeth replied, stuffing a spoon of vanilla goodness into her mouth.

"No no. It's alright it's alright," Mom, the ever kind lady said, patting her stomach. "I need to put Tyson down for a nap and then take one myself." she said.
With that, she dragged the Tv watching toddler to his room. And that's the last I saw of her.

"Come on," I said, gently taking Annabeth's forearm and leading her upto my room.

"This is it," I said, waving around my room. It wasn't much. Just a standard room with a cupboard, king sized bed and a couple other things.

Annabeth entered the room cautiously, her hand dragging itself over the turquoise walls that we painted together as children. Her lips perked slightly until they landed on me.

"So here's an idea," she said, plopping down at the desk, "How about the Trojan war? That's easy enough."

"Anything," I said, sitting down on the bed. I threw her the notepad she requested and she expertly caught it. Scribbling some notes into the margins.

"Just to confirm. That's the one with the horse...right? And Helen?" I asked.

Annabeth turned to me, her face face splitting into an amused grin as she turned to me. For a heartbeat I thought that smile was directed towards me.

Until she giggled, "I never realised that it's Helen." And went back to her work.

I groaned, lying down on the bed, "Why do you hate me?" I asked her.

I stared at the celing. And I swear the temperature in the room dropped ay least two degrees.

"Is that even a question?" she asked, her voice low.

I sat up straight and nodded, "Yeah."

"Percy you left me. No warning. No nothing. One morning...the morning I needed you the most....you just left," she replied, not looking me In the eye.

She tapped her pencil idly against the desk, "And you come back, act like nothings wrong. Act like we're going to be friends again but no! Something did happen!" her voice turned higher, sharper.

I looked at her. Like actually looked at her.

She was so good at pretending....Even I didn't notice the broken girl beneath the surface.

Okay.....that's on me. I can't just brush away lost time like it's nothing. I could've been wayyy more considerate about what she went through. She's still my best friend....even after all this time.

"I'm sorry," I told her honestly. From the bottom of my heart I was.

Don't get me wrong, I was still going to annoy the living daylight out of her. But....I'll try and be more considerate. I'm not her knight in shining armour after all. She took care of herself for all these years, and she was more than capable of doing it forever.

I just hope she knows that she doesn't have to anymore.

"I really really am," I whispered, turning to her. She closed her eyes, her head tilted up to the ceiling as she seemed deep in thought.

After a few moments, she looked at me, "Tell me you had a good reason to leave," she asked.

I nodded," I did."

With a sigh that could be content or resentment, she nodded. Just like that, she shrugged it off and turned back to the desk," The Trojan war is said to have taken place in the 12th or 11th century BC."

I grinned, despite myself. I had a wicked smart teammate.

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This is random, but Wattpad is confuddled 😂

Like: D and I wrote that 😂😂😂
What do you mean by "remember these?" 😂

Anyways! Enjoy the week it'll take for the next chapter to come out :)
(Changing-the-World )

—-S