(Friday afternoonish)

After my painful encounter with Percy, I returned back to the bookstore. Setting shop up as fast as I could. I missed Percy. I wanted to hug him and tell him that Helen had sold my mother's wedding ring. I wanted to explain why I felt the way I did. As much as I wanted to, a part of me wondered if I should. It seemed like he had made every conscious effort to avoid me this past week. And it hurt like a spider bite.

But recently Percy had been acting as if my touch burnt him. And had been ignoring me. You know, trying to avoid striking a conversation with me, ignoring me when I was speaking or just....being distant.

Seeing him today.... and being in that room with him, the look of concern in his eyes. It was all too much for me.

"I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry" I shouted out, trying to balance a stack of books and a plate of food at the same time.

I was running incredibly behind schedule. Touring the school today with Jason was fun....like a magical dream. But, this bustling store right here? That was my reality.

I dropped off the plate of snacks at the Argo table. That's what we called ourselves. Argo.
I don't know how that name came to be, but Leo came up with it.

"What's wrong?" Reyna inquired, reaching over to take a cup of hot chocolate, "you look like your favourite series just ended"

I gave her my best ' nothings wrong the world is beautiful and I see rainbows everywhere smile.

"No" I shook my head, "everything's fine. Just have a couple of shipments to unload, have to file some stuff, clean the store again. Oh! And I had to make a ledger for-"

"It'll just be a minute. Sit down" Piper commanded. She held her head in her hands in a dramatic display, "just hearing you say that is giving me a headache"

I relented. There were no customers right now. I would sit down just for a second.

"So what are your thoughts on college, Annabeth?" Jason asked.

"Oh, I loved it! Going there with all of you is a dream!" I exclaimed.

Piper and Leo whooped, "you can do our homework," they said in unison.

"It'll be fun having you around" Reyna grinned, she pointed to a bickering Leo and Piper, "Now I don't need to deal with these idiots alone"

I gave them a sad smile and set my books down. "Guys...I'm not coming"

Leo and Piper stopped fighting. Everyone looked at me.

"What do you mean?" Reyna asked.

"It's not like I can just leave this" I waved my hand around, " I have too much work to do. I can't balance it all"

"Maybe you could hire someone ?" Piper suggested.

I sighed, "I wish. But I don't have enough money to do that. I'm on a very tight ship. Besides, there's no one I trust enough to take the reigns"

"But Annabeth! You have to" Piper protested.

"You have to" Leo agreed.

"Okay you don't have to, but why wouldn't you want to?" Reyna asked.

"It'll be wonderful to have you" Jason added.

The protests began. I couldn't even get a word in. My head began to ache.

I cupped my forehead. This was all moving too fast for me.

First, the prospect of going to college, which I never in my wildest dreams thought was possible.

Second, giving up the bookstore.

Third, Percy ignoring me all week, which hurt me more than the other two combined. Was it something I did?

Speaking of which, where was Percy? I hadn't seen him since our encounter and no one had seen him since then.

I needed a second to process it all. It felt like from the second I brought this up, everyone was making my choices for me.
Great Aunt Aphrodite decided I had to go to college. Helen decided I had to stay with Great Aunt Aphrodite. My friend's decided I had to hire someone.

I felt like I was being handed so many options. And as someone who was never allowed to have a choice, it was overwhelming.

I got up and went out to the front of the store, "Hey everyone! I'm closing early! If you all could leave now that would be great" I announced. What on Earth was I doing?. I wanted to kick myself. Closing early was not good for business.

No, a new voice in the back of my head whispered, but it's good for me...

Have you ever had one of those purely horrible days where you just wanted to cry?

Just wanted to forget about the world?

Not because of someone or something....but more because you've been pushing these feelings down for so long that they suddenly drown you in moments you least expected.

In case you didn't notice, I was going through one of those days.

Everyone left. They may have said or asked me something but I wasn't paying attention. I just wanted to curl up into a ball and cry.

Once I was alone, I went to my secret room, and that's exactly what I did.

I didn't feel better. But I didn't feel worse either. Just the feeling of a weight lifting from my chest, which was immediately replaced by a dread that I had to deal with these emotions.

I realised that I really wanted to go to college with my friends. But I couldn't afford to have anyone help me run the place. And there was no one I trusted enough.

It seemed like hours passed by. I just lay on the floor, thinking of everything and nothing at all. It felt good having some free time.

I heard the main door creak open and sat up immediately. My heart hammered loudly, I forgot to lock the door. Shit Shit Shit.

I grabbed a lamp and held it tight. I tiptoed to the door of my secret room, maybe if I could take a peek, I would know who was outside. And then call the police.

As I crept towards the door, it was knocked. My heart stopped. No one knew of my secret place. I grabbed my phone and tried to dial 911. But...just my luck, no charge.

"We know you're in there" a voice called the insistent knocking at the door continued.

Okay...think Annabeth. If I opened the door and swung the lamp as quickly as possible, it should knock at least one person out. And they said 'we' so I need to fight the second or the rest of them.

I exhaled, with a battle cry, I threw the door open and swung. It missed.

"Annie!" Luke screamed, standing outside the door with a shit-eating grin. Thalia, behind him, was laughing her ass off.

"Luke! Thals!" I screamed, hugging Luke tightly. I heard him laugh. Thalia joined in our hug, enveloping us both in her arms. The lamp clattered to the floor.

"You're choking me" Luke croaked. I didn't know who he was talking to, but I let go anyway.

"You guys scared the shit out of me!" I accused, poking Luke in the chest.

He feigned mock shock, "Our Annie? Please-"

"We taught you to kick ass" Thalia finished, ruffling my hair.

I hugged her, sniffling. "I missed you guys so much"

"Hey hey hey," Luke said, placing his hand on my shoulder, "are those puffy eyes I see?"

"Who do I need to beat up?" Thalia inquired, bringing her fists together.

I laughed, shaking my head. "When did you guys get here? Why didn't you tell me you were coming?" I asked. They looked at each other.

"Annie, we wrote to you a week ago. We're done with undergrad" Luke grinned.

"Yeah, we even invited you up to our place so you could come to the grad party, but you never responded," Thals said.

"oh''. That was something Helen didn't mention.

"And Jason told me you closed early. The Annie I know would never do that" she looked at me with concern, "what's wrong ?''

I broke down in Thalia's arms. I told them everything. From moving to Great Aunt Aphrodites to taking Drew's secret abuse almost every day. And everything in between.

They listened patiently. Well... Luke made me pause in between to go get us some ice cream. But apart from that, they listened patiently.

"Well, I may have a solution," Thalia said, hugging me. We were sitting in my secret room

They were the only two people who knew about it cause they helped me put it together.

I looked at her, waiting for her to continue.

"This was going to be a surprise, but... I bought the floor above your bookstore" Thals smirked.

"But Luke told me that they killed someone there and that it's haunted" I protested. Thalia smacked Luke.

"That's not true," she said, hitting him again, 'Anyway. Remember I told you I always wanted to start a women's self-defence class?"

I nodded, "And a gym"

She nodded, smiling, "Yeah. I got a contract for the floor upstairs"

"Thals !! That's awesome" I said, hugging her.

She grinned, "And since I now have that to keep me busy...."

"I'll have more free time on my hands", Luke smirked."And I happen to like bookstores"

"Thals, Luke...I-" I didn't know what to say. I was touched. That was the kindest thing anyone ever did for me. Or even offered.  "I can't ask that of you. It's not fair. I can't force this onto you. I don't have money to pay you and-"

"Annie, I didn't get a business degree for nothing" Luke waggled his finger. " And you're not asking this of us. I want to. We're family" he grinned.

"Besides" Thalia stroked my hair, "This was our plan. We were going to make enough money to put you through college. But seems like someone already had that idea"

"We are not taking no for an answer" Luke declared, " you've worked hard enough. Time for you to be a normal teenager"

"But-"

Thalia looked me straight in the eyes, "Do you want this, Annie?" she asked

The answer came to me in an instant as I nodded. Yes,"I don't know how to thank you guys"

"Well....say yes. Luke needs something to do besides annoy me" Thalia laughed.

Luke rolled his eyes.

"Yes!" I grinned, "I love you guys"

They both smiled, "And one more thing" they said in unison.

I cocked my head to the side.

"we're engaged" they yelled, showing me their engagement rings, which they wore around their necks.

"YES YES YES YES YES" I I yelled, jumping up and down. That made me so happy!

I thought this was a shitty day.

But it turned out to be one of the best days of my life. My family was back together. I realised I had a choice. And, Luke and Thals were engaged.

Thank the fates of Greece

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Enjoy! I know this isn't the most Percabethy chapter ever, but it's important to the story. Plus...I had a shitty day. And since I'm evil, I wanted Annie to have one too.

Also, this chapter is for @Med729   (Told ya I would update soon)

Stay tuned!!

------- S