Money Isn't Everything

Telling the Story

Hello people, this is chapter five. Thanks for being awesome readers. Now you can read.

"You okay?" Percy asks. We're sitting in the main room with our legs dangling off the edge of the building.

"Yeah, just had a run in with someone today." I tell him. I'm not exactly sure when it happened but at some point Percy and I stopped lying and started to trust each other. No, I don't like him like that we just understand and know what it's like for the other.

"Who?" he asks, curiously.

"Annabeth Chase." I muttered, looking down at the street below us.

"How do you know her?" he prompts.

I guess it's story time then, "Before this, when I lived with my dad we went to school together. She was my best friend, so to speak. She was cool, funny and smart even though we where only ten and together, along with Luke, we were a group of sorts but they never understood. Not really. Not like you guys. Luke was bitter and Annabeth was perfect. I could never talk to them about what life had been like with my mom and how worried I was about Jason because they were ten and they didn't understand. They never would.

"Luke had bad past sure but he was two years older than us and it was okay for a twelve year old to be like that but a ten year old. That just didn't happen. Eventually we started drifting apart and then it happened. We had had a fight the day before, Annabeth and Luke had accused me of not trusting them. It was already a bad day so when I saw the cops outside the house I just grabbed Jason and ran. I didn't want us to be dumped on any other relative who didn't want us so I just ran. That was the last I saw of them until today."

"So it's been four years since you've seen them." he mused.

"Yeah, I guess it has. I haven't really thought about it." I say.

"Mm." he contemplates.

"So, are you going to tell me a story now?" I ask because that's how this thing works with us. I tell him something he tells me something.

"Um, sure. I ran away when I was eight but you know that, what you don't know is why. Come to think of it I didn't know why you ran away either until just now." he takes a deep breath, "It was the last day of term and I was happy because no school for two weeks but I was also scared because that meant I had to be at home with Gabe for two weeks. I hated school but I hated Gabe more. We I got home it was silent, which was the first sign something was wrong.

"I pushed open the door expecting to find Gabe playing poker with his friends or something but there was nothing. The flat was empty. Devoid of anything. No people. No furniture. Nothing. I ran to my room but it was empty too. I checked everywhere but everything was gone. I tried turning on the taps but there was no water. I tried turning on the lights but there was no electricity. All I had was my school bag. I stayed there for a week before as man came to collet the rent. He threw me out saying I couldn't stay in his flat unless I could pay for it so I ran. I didn't stop running until I was far away."

"Have you stopped running now?" I ask.

"Honestly Thals, I think I have." Percy smiles slightly.

"Me to, Perce, me to." I say, leaning on him. We would have fallen asleep like that but Hazel ran in.

"Here's my painting." she shoved it at us. It was beautiful like every other painting she did. Sometimes I wonder how she does it.

"Come on, time for bed." Percy gets up and picks Hazel up, making her squeal.

I laugh and get up myself. Time to sleep.

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