After her mother, Athena passed away,
Annabeth had to run her mother's bookstore all by herself. But with no support from her family, can she manage to do it on her own? What happens when she meets Percy, her childhood best friend?
Will they turn th...
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(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"
