The Library Book

4. The Graduation

[ 7 years after chapter 50 ]

"I don't get why you're so eager to whisk me away," Annabeth laughed as Percy led her down the street outside the university.

"You'll see," Percy insisted, grinning. "Come on! You're so slow!"

"I'm in heels, Percy!" Annabeth reminded him. "I can easily break your toes."

It was the day of her graduation. Seven exhausting years of studying had culminated in this final day where she got her diploma and got to proudly say that she was officially a lawyer. She'd worked so incredibly hard for the position of junior associate at Georges & Buza, a firm of criminal attorneys in Manhattan, and had received the email confirming her place there a few days ago.

Annabeth was decked out in her graduation robes and cap, which according to Percy made her look "like a sexy graduate", to which Annabeth replied "that's what I am" and then they'd laughed during the opening ceremony and received ugly looks from surrounding guests.

Annabeth's parents had been at the graduation, as well as her other, as Percy called them, "lawyer friends", and she'd had a few hours to speak to them after the ceremony, but then Percy had made her promise to follow him, no questions asked, at 7 o'clock.

Percy came to a screeching halt beside Paul's, a bar down the road from the college. He turned around to face her, cheeks red from running and looking like he was seconds away from bursting from excitement.

"This is my grand surprise?" Annabeth demanded. "Paul's? A bar I come to every single time I have a bad exam?"

Percy rolled his eyes impatiently. "Come on." He pushed the glass doors open, dragging her inside behind him.

Annabeth stumbled to stop inside, basking in the warmth as she scanned the bar. She froze when she spotted five familiar faces in a booth to the right of the room.

It was—

It was them. All of them.

Hazel's curls reached her waist, and a pair of glasses perched on Jason's nose, and Frank's eyes were more brown than black, and Leo's mess of hair was cropped close to his head, and Piper's eyes had crinkles at the ends — but it was still them.

"No way," she murmured, shooting Percy an astonished look. He grinned, gesturing her forward.

Annabeth released his hand and surged forward. Jason was the first to spot her, his expression brightening instantly as he leaped to his feet and caught her in a staggering hug.

"What are you guys doing here?" she almost shrieked, looking around at them. Annabeth had to go over their faces a few times before she could believe that she wasn't dreaming.

"It's your graduation!" Piper said exasperatedly. "How could we miss this?"

Frank leaned back against the wall. "Because apparently our wedding just wasn't important enough." But he was smiling too.

Annabeth wanted to snap a picture of this. Hell, she wanted a portrait painted and to frame it up on her wall. She hadn't seen all seven of them together in seven years — not since the morning she'd got in Helen's car and left for Yale. Annabeth had spent a few days scattered throughout each year with a few of them, but never all in one place and at one time.