Percy's POV

I opened my eyes, and was immediately overwhelmed with the most intense throbbing racking my skull. I winced, rubbing my temples.

Once I had gotten over the initial pain of my headache, I checked my surroundings, quickly realizing that it was not my own bed that I was currently laying in, though it still felt familiar. Firstly, I checked that I was fully clothed. I wasn't completely dressed—in my boxers and socks. I freaked out for a minute as I looked around. I looked around and decided that I was in Annabeth's room, sighing in relief—if it was Annabeth, there was no chance that we had had sex. Yes, that stung a little, considering I'm a hormonal teenage boy with a crush on Annabeth, but what was I gonna do? Tell her I liked her?

No way in fucking hell.

I fully sat up, rubbing my temples.

"You're up." Annabeth appeared in the doorway of her bathroom, giving me a heart attack. Her hair was in a huge messy bun on the top of her head. Her face looked clean and natural—no makeup to ruin her perfect complexion. She was wearing short black spandex shorts, a completely sheer, oversized blue shirt that saw right through to her black bra. She looked hot. Apparently, I didn't do a very good job of hiding my thoughts. "God, keep your hormones in check, Asshole." She smirked.

"Uh, I wasn't—" I began to protest, but was stopped when a wave of pain radiated through my head. I winced and leaned forward.

"Here." She walked over to her nightstand, sitting down next to me on the bed. "Advil for your headache," she put the pill in my hand, along with a glass of water. "And then this," she picked up a glass with some sort of green concoction.

I swallowed the pill. "What is that?" My face scrunched up in disgust.

"Poison. What do you think, dumbass?" She narrowed her eyes at me. "This is your hangover remedy." She smiled largely at me.

"Yeah but what's in it?" I asked, still not wanting to drink it.

"That's not important." She dismissed the question, taking the water form me. "Drink up." She pushed the glass to my lips.

"I don't wa—" I was interrupted my the liquid flowing into my mouth and down my throat. I pushed the glass away after I swallowed, and I gagged. "That is disgu—"

"Nope, you have to drink the whole thing. Down the hatch." She forced me to drink the rest of it.

"I don't wanna!" I whined like a five year old.

"Just do it!" She forced it back to my mouth. I finished it, still gagging.

"Water." I croaked.

Annabeth quickly handed me the glass of water. "See? That wasn't so bad."

"Easy for you to say," I finished chugging the entire glass of water. "You're not the one who had to drink it."

"But I have before." I gave her a look. "What, you think I've never had a bad hangover?" She raised an eyebrow. "You're not going to believe this but, back in San Francisco I was the person that everyone wanted at their party." I did believe it—Annabeth was probably one of the most incredible people I've ever met. Did I voice this? Of course not. I let Annabeth finish her story. "That being so, I partied a lot, and drank a lot. I could hold my alcohol, but every once in a while..."

"Speaking of partying, how bad was I?" I asked.

"Eh, not too bad. You were mostly hanging out with me, and Leo and Calypso. Eventually, Calypso drove Leo home, 'cause he was drunk off his ass. Then you were pretty drunk too, so I drove your car back here. I'd have to say the worst part was when you threw up on yourself. I had to take your clothes off of you so I could wash them, which was not an easy task, let me tell you. And then, I was finally able to get you in my bed. Then I took a shower and you stumbled into the bathroom, and I had to then convince you to go lay back down, which you did. And finally, I went downstairs to sleep on the couch." She finished.

"I am so so so sorry." I apologized, rubbing my eyes. "Did I... say anything?" I asked. I was terrified of the possibility that I mentioned my crush on Annabeth. That would be really bad.

"Well, during the car ride you were muttering something about pizza, and then you were telling me what an amazing friend I am only to be interrupted by vomiting all over yourself." She explained.

"Oh god..." I gave her an apologetic look.

"Eh, don't sweat it. I've had to drag Piper home drunk before, and she's ten times worse." She reasoned.

"Yikes. That must be rough." I leaned back on my hands.

"Yeah, but of course I'd do it for a friend." She looked at me with a small smile and a shrug. I smiled back. She really was a good friend.

"Thank you." I said with a grateful smile.

"Of course." She said.

"No. Not just last night, but every night. Every night that you let me crash here. For putting up with all of my shit, and not saying a word to anyone. You really are an incredible friend, and I wanted to tell you; thank you. For everything." I finished.

Annabeth swallowed. "No problem, Asshole." She smiled at me, her eyes shining.

Seeing that happy expression on her face made me smile.

"Alright. Shall we attempt to make pancakes without getting the batter on us?" She asked, standing up from the bed.

"We shall." I said, standing up as well. "Oh uh..."

"Yeah. Here." She grabbed the pair of sweatpants that I always wore when I was here, tossing them at me. I quickly pulled them on, feeling a little embarrassed at the fact that Annabeth was seeing me in my boxers. She didn't seem to mind, or even notice really. I, on the other hand, was flushed bright red.

Annabeth started quietly laughing at the situation, causing me to chuckle as well. Once I had the sweatpants on—still no shirt, though—we headed down stairs.

"You know, it still surprises me that you have abs." Annabeth said. It kind of caught me off guard, though it wasn't like she hadn't been this blunt before. Annabeth was a very forward person. She was painfully honest sometimes. But the fact that she noticed my body released butterflies in my stomach, giving me a tingling feeling from my toes to my finger tips. I pushed it down, realizing she was awaiting a response.

"Well, swimming does that to you." I said, pressing play on my Spotify playlist.

All my life been hustling
And tonight is my appraisal
'Cause I'm a hooker selling songs
And my pimp's a record label

"I guess." She shrugged, grabbing the ingredients for pancakes.

"I mean, you should know, considering you surf." I grabbed the bowl that she handed me, putting it on the island.

"Yeah, that's true." She mumbled a little absentmindedly.

"You okay? You seem... lost." I asked, looking in her grey eyes as she turned to face me.

"Yeah," she shook her head. "I'm fine. Just... thinking."

All of a sudden, I heard a car pull up in the drive way, the door shutting.

Annabeth's face fell. "Shit." She cursed, pausing the music. "Come here." She grabbed my hand and dragged me to the coat closet.

"What ar—" I started to ask.

"Just don't make any noise or do anything until I come and get you. Got it?" She said, shoving me into the closet. All I could do was nod before she shut the door.

A second later, I heard voices. They were slightly muffled through the door, but I could still understand them.

"Hey dad! What are you doing here?" Annabeth asked, completely keeping her cool. She was so good at lying, it was a little alarming—but I could tell when she was lying.

"Oh, well I have to head back out in a bit, but I thought I'd stop by, check in on you. How's it going? You okay on your own?" Her dad's voice came through the door.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Annabeth responded. She could have said something about how great it was that Helen wasn't home, like she did to me, but she didn't.

"Alright. How's your friend?" He asked.

"Who?"

"Percy, was it? You talk to him at all?" He asked. Why did he ask about me? Did Annabeth say anything to her dad? Oh god, please tell me she didn't.

"Oh, yeah. He's fine."

He's also right in this closet. I thought.

"Well, I'd love to meet him soon, considering how much you care about him."

Wait, Annabeth cares about me? And her dad wants to meet me?

Holy shit.

"What?" Annabeth asked. "I don't care about him that much." She insisted.

"You do. I know my daughter, and I can tell that you do, Pumpkin." He explained.

"Dad, I'm not five. Don't call me 'Pumpkin.'" She complained, but I could hear the smile in her voice. I, however, thought that was adorable. Annabeth has such a great relationship with her father, I was a little jealous. But I was happy that she didn't go through the same shit that I did.

"Alright. Well, I'm going to use the bathroom, and then I'll head out." Her father's voice was followed by footsteps.

Suddenly, the door swung open, and I fell forward, having been leaning on the door. Annabeth caught me, pushing me back up.

"You good?" She asked quickly.

"Yeah." I paused. "Why did he ask about me? Did you tell him?" I asked worriedly.

"No. I'll explain later." She said. "Hold on." She closed the door, and once again I was in darkness.

Annabeth's dad finally left after a few goodbyes.

"Alright." Annabeth announced, opening the door. "He's gone." She exhaled.

"Ugh, that closet was a bit cramped." I complained, stretching my arms.

"Hey, it's better than my dad finding out that you're here, especially in that. Or should I say, especially not in that." She teased.

"Hey, you're the one who didn't give me a shirt so..." I held my hands up.

"Alright. Let's go make those pancakes."

With that, Annabeth dragged me back into the kitchen.

><•><

"That's too much syrup! You're drowning them!" Annabeth scolded.

"Hey, I don't drown, and neither do my pancakes." I said, continuing to pour the syrup on my blue pancakes. "And you shouldn't be one to talk, Wiseass." I retorted, nodding at her pancakes which were also covered in syrup.

"Mine aren't nearly as smothered as yours." She took a bite of her pancake.

"But still—"

"Oh shut up! I love this song!" Annabeth exclaimed, turning the volume on my phone all the way up.

Fuck a silver lining,
Fuck a silver lining.
'Cause only gold is hot enough, hot enough

She sang along at the top of her lungs, mouth full of pancakes.
"Its just cherries, cherries,
Everything is cherries on top!" She sang.

I started to laugh, singing—or yelling, really—along.

"Fuck a silver lining
Fuck a silver lining
'Cause only gold is hot enough, hot enough!" We yelled together, laughing afterwards.

And that little moment, you might think it was extremely insignificant. But to me, just having a good time with Annabeth, meant more to me than I could explain.

I wondered if she felt the same way.

Probably not.

><•><

I'm taking back the crown
I'm all dressed up and naked
I see what's mine and take it

"Hey Annabeth?" I swirled around in her desk chair to face her.

"Yeah?" She caught the hacki-sack she had thrown and sat up, looking at me.

"Why did your dad ask about me before?" I asked. "You didn't tell him did you?" It was hours later, but it had been in the back of my mind all day.

"No, of course not." She assured me. "You just came up when I was talking with my dad about school. He was asking about how things were, if I had made any friends—you know, the usual parenting shit." She shrugged. "So you don't have to worry. I only said that things were a little rough at home. He doesn't know anything, though." She promised.

"Okay." I was still a little worried, but was relieved that was all she told him. "He wants to meet me?" I asked, partially to myself.

"Yeah." She laughed. "He's funny." A few moments of silence passed. "Do you want to meet him?" She looked me in the eyes.

"Uh, I don't know." I shrugged. "If he wants to meet me, than I'm okay with it."

"Really?" She asked. "You're not gonna be... nervous, or anything?" She furrowed her eyebrows.

"Oh no, I'll be fucking terrified, but if he really wants to." I shrugged.

Annabeth laughed. "Wow, you really are just a little goodie-two-shoes, aren't you?" She smirked.

"No I'm not!" I protested. "My mother always taught me to respect people. Especially friends' parents. You never want them to be your enemy, because that can fuck up your entire friendship with said friend." I explained.

"Oh. Your mom, she seems really cool." Annabeth said a bit sadly. I new that her relationship with her mother was complicated, but I didn't want to ask because you don't poke at someone's past. And I especially would never do that to Annabeth. Because not only do I have feelings for her and would never want to see her upset or sad, she would probably beat my ass.

"Yeah. She is." I sighed. "I wish I got to see her more." I stopped, realizing what I had just said. "I'm sorry, it just slipped ou—"

"Don't apologize." Annabeth cut me off. "It's fine." Annabeth's mood had gone from happy and relaxed to enclosed and sad.

"I should've dropped the subject. I know it's hard..." I was losing words to say.

"No." She shook her head, swallowing. "I think it's time. You've told me about your life, completely trusting me. It's time for me to trust you. You deserve to know. Besides, I need to open up about this.

"It's time to tell you, the story of my mother."

•••

Authors note

Ooooohh cliffieeeeeee.

Here's an update for youuuu. I'm really tired bro. Anyways, thanks for all the reads! Don't forget to vote, comment etc. thanks and love you guys!
-bella💕