Bonfire

Chapter One

"-and after the funeral, he heard a sound coming closer until he heard...'dad?'....he was found the next morning, dead..".
Frank sat next to Hazel shivering, holding on tightly onto her arm while she giggled. Nico saw the look on everyone's faces after he told his horror story and couldn't help but crack a smile. Percy and Leo both looked so interested and shocked while Reyna and Piper looked bored or just emotionless while throwing sticks into their little campfire they made at the beach. Jason just looked pleased that Nico was a little social now, which annoyed him quite a bit. After an awkward silence, Frank spoke up and said "Um..C-can we tell other stories that aren't so...uh..freaky?"
"Scared, Zhang?" Leo replied.
"Um, no, its just, um, uncomfortable"
"Suuuure"
Piper coughed to break the tension and said "How about the story of how Jason and I met". She gazed at Jason as she said so.
"UUUUUGH!!" everyone replied
"You and your mushy stories" Nico said, with no emotion. It didn't help that Nico, Reyna, and Leo were all single so hearing other stories just kind of made them feel lonely or just...well, annoyed. That's when Hazel's face lit up and said "Speaking of which, we've never heard Percy and Annabeth's story, they've just, always been together when we met them." Nico's face had a weird expression for a second, but quickly turned back to emotionless. A few years ago, when Nico was around 15, and Percy was 18, Nico had a crush on Percy, but he never knew how to handle his feelings, bottled them up, along with the other feelings he had. His childhood was awful, his Mother and his Sister were killed when Nico was only 14, and his Father abandoned him. So when he discovered he also had a crush on Percy, and knew he had no chance with this straight boy, he had major depression. He has gotten a lot better with socializing since then. He admitted his crush to Percy, and is starting to not let himself run away from everything so much, but it still felt awkward hearing about Percy and Annabeth's relationship, considering he knew them before they got together. He does not exactly "like" Percy anymore and is very happy for the two, but that doesn't mean he doesn't feel a bit lonely. "I wanna know how this happened" Jason replied. Percy and Annabeth both looked at each other and then smiled. "Um, its kind of a long story, if you really wanna know...heh". Everyone besides Nico looked interested so they took it as a yes. "Well, alright then." Percy said, and started the story. "We met when we we're 12 years old...."

Percy's POV

"We have new neighbors moving in next door, hon. There's a girl your age coming too!" My mother said.
"Really!? FINALLY! People my age!" I replied. Living in an apartment instead of a house was kind of tough when there was rarely any kids your age around...or at least any kids that WANTED to get along with a kid like me. My mother and I live in an apartment in New York, my father left when I was very young so I never met him which is sad, but my mother knows how to make the day brighter.
"When do we get to meet them?" I said.
"Well, when they are a little more comfortable, I'm sure we could bring a welcoming gift and you could meet their daughter." She replied. I was so excited to meet someone my age who was RIGHT NEXT DOOR! I went to bed excited for the day when we could finally meet them. I never was usually THIS excited to meet someone, but it gets pretty lonely when you can't really have friends over because of people next door and the amount of friends I have at school *cough* none *cough*.
The next few days, I was waiting for the new neighbors to arrive and "get comfortable in their new home", as my mother would say. It was so boring just waiting and waiting, there wasn't much to do, I can't read books due to my dyslexia, the cable bill is super expensive and we could not pay it on time so no tv, and I don't have many friends my age who live in the building that I can play with. Today was the day, I could just feel it. We were going to FINALLY meet the family that moved in next door. My mom made a lasagna and put foil over the top.
"Let's go slow poke, we're gonna go meet the new neighbors!" Man, I was SO hyped! I might actually have a friend! We knocked on their door and waited until we could hear the footsteps from the other side coming closer. A grown man answered the door and said to my mother "Oh, hello"
"Nice to meet you! We live next door! My name is Sally Jackson and this is my son Percy Jackson. We just wanted to welcome you to the building" My mother said with a smile. Suddenly it looks like the whole family came to the door to see who's there, like they were expecting something else.
"Oh, my name is Fredrick Chase, this is my wife, my two sons, Matthew and Bobby, and my daughter Annabeth....would you like to come in?" My mother and I gladly accepted the offer and walked in. My mother handed them the gift and started a conversation with Mr. and Mrs. Chase. I wasn't exactly interested in what they were talking about so I looked around for the girl my age I saw earlier. She was sitting in the corner, sketching out something on a sketchpad, looking really focused. She had pretty blonde, curly hair in a lazy pony tail and stormy grey eyes. I walked over to where she was sitting and stood in front of her.
"Hello! My name is Percy!"

She ignored me and kept drawing.

I coughed to see if that would get her attention. Didn't work so I tried again.
"Um, hello? My name is Percy"
"I heard you" She replied. Wow, rude. Not exactly the reaction I expected, then again, I didn't really expect much more than a "Oh hello, my name is Annabeth." I just kind of expected the friendship would come naturally. Patience Jackson, patience.
"Um, how are you?" I asked. She finally took her eyes off the paper and looked at me with a glare.
"Not great. Now if you could excuse me, I'm busy" she replied and then went back to drawing. I wasn't going to take this. All I said was "hello" and she was already pissed off.
"You don't need to be so bitter, all I said was 'hello'"

She ignored me again. Well, I'm not giving up yet. I sat right next to her to see what she was drawing. She didn't really seem to notice. Her drawing looked amazing! It was a design for a giant building with all this shading and texture. So many details and windows and lights, I couldn't look away!
"Wow! That drawing is amazing!! How did you do that?" I said to her. She seemed surprised and embarrassed, because she seemed startled and then quickly hid her sketchpad.
"Why do you keep trying to talk to me!?" She said.
"I wanted to meet you! I don't really know many people my age so I thought this might be my chance!"
"Chance for what?"
"To have a friend!" I replied. She stared at me a little shocked but still a little angry. There was more tension and awkward silence until she glared again.
"If you keep up your nosy attitude that won't happen" She said. I was starting to get really angry. She really wanted to be left alone. I had enough. So I stood up and walked back towards my mother to see what she was talking about with Mr. and Mrs. Chase. I watched Annabeth draw from afar, and she looked focused again. I was kind of sad she didn't want to even try to be friends, she just told me to go away.
A few weeks after, I still wondered about Annabeth and her drawings. I wish I could start over, because I hate knowing I made someone angry on a first impression. I asked my mother if I could go to the park close by to just shoot some hoops at the basketball court. As I walked through the park to find the basketball court, I saw a group of kids, standing at the corner as if surrounding someone. I was curious so I walked over to get a better look and I couldn't believe what I saw. They were all huddled around Annabeth, trying to rip out all her sketches. I felt angry, but why should I? She was rude to me, so why do I all of a sudden care so much? It didn't matter, it just felt wrong to not do anything about it. But I can't just, fight all of them...I had to scare them. I ran towards the little toy shed they had for younger kids and looked around. I found a bunch of fake beetles in a tub and quickly grabbed them and ran back. Once I ran back I shouted at them.
"HEY! LEAVE HER ALONE!" I shouted "UNLESS YOU WANTED ME TO BRING OUT THESE GUYS!!" I opened my hand that had a bunch of fake bugs that, oddly looked very real. All the girls screamed and ran away as I got closer to them. I even threw some at them for dramatic effect. I felt proud. But then I soon realized that I should probably check to see how Annabeth is feeling. I ran towards her, feeling worried if they hurt her.
"Hey, are you okay?" She looked up at me, her eyes kind of puffy from crying. I noticed her sketchbook fell apart and some pages ripped. Gosh, she looked awful.
"Do I look ok? They just tore up my book! All my designs, ruined." I wanted to help her feel better. My mind was going wild trying to think of ideas. The only thing I could think was to hug her. So I did. She seemed tense at first, but then slowly started to hug back. I felt sort of embarrassed, hugging a girl. But it was to make her feel better, don't think that way Jackson! When we separated, she looked a little better.
"Look, I'm sorry that the first impression of us meeting wasn't the best, and that encounter with those idiots was probably the worst. I want to make it up to you, I think we have some paper in my mom's apartment! Also, I wanna start our introductions over...is that ok?" I sat there, in silence, waiting for her response. After what felt like forever, she said "Yes, lets start over."
"Hello, nice to meet you, My name is Percy." She smiled at me and replied,
"My name is Annabeth, nice to finally meet you."

TO BE CONTINUED