Annabeth's hands shook as she stared at the two letters she held in her hands. Two letters. Two lives. One impossible decision.
In her left hand, the letter that had accepted her application to Harvard University. The hardest college to get into, the college she'd been expected to go to her entire life. The college her father insisted on her attending. Harvard, the college where she would be among peers. Harvard, all the way in Massachusetts.
In her right hand, the letter that had accepted her into college in New Rome. Where she'd be safe, protected. She wouldn't have to worry about fighting all the time. College with Percy. College that he studied constantly for weeks just to make the entrance exam, just for her. The only college that Percy could afford. New Rome, all the way in California.
She'd snatched the letters from the mailbox before anyone could ask about them, running up to her room locking the door. She had torn them apart immediately, eyes skimming both of them quickly, confirming her fears. She'd been accepted into both. It would've been so much easier if one of them rejected her, but they didn't.
Her brain argued that Harvard was the obvious choice. That Harvard would further her more than any other college would, helping her to fulfill her hopes for the future. Her father already expected her to go, anyways. She could make him proud, finally. New Rome couldn't give her the same.
But her heart was there, in New Rome. That was where Percy was, and she wanted to be wherever he was. In New Rome, she wouldn't have to constantly look over her shoulder, worry about what monster might pop out of the shadows next. In New Rome, she could live with Percy without fear, and they could be happy together. Finally.
Annabeth thought she'd decided, and then another argument would present itself. She couldn't make the decision herself, but she knew better than to go ask her father first. He'd force her to accept Harvard, probably go so far as to email them himself. If he knew she had been accepted, the decision was no longer hers. In his mind, there was no plausible argument that she could present that could persuade him to think differently.
So she set the letters down on her desk and set up her prism, turning on her fountain in the corner of her room, completely terrified as she iris-called the person that she trusted the most.
"Oh Fleecy, do me a solid. Show me Percy at Camp Half Blood," she said, her voice shaking as she threw a drachma through the mist from her fountain. The rainbow and water in the air shimmered, and he appeared.
Her heart skipped a beat, like it always did. Percy hadn't noticed that she had called him yet, his back was to her. Shirtless. She stayed silent, biting back a smile as she watched him take a familiar orange t-shirt out of one of his drawers, shrugging it on.
Then he turned around, saw her, and he yelped in fright, jumping back.
Annabeth cracked up, laughing so hard that tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. The earlier stress had caught up with her, and any outburst of emotion was going to be on the extreme side.
"Gods, Annabeth. You scared the crap out of me," he grumbled, and she wiped her eyes.
"That was funny," she admitted.
"It was not. You're creepy."
"Am not! I'm totally allowed to see you shirtless."
Percy turned red, sending her into another laughing fit.
"You're such an asshole," he told her, leaning back on his cot, his face still red.
"I know," Annabeth admitted, smiling. Even a moment with him could make everything better.
