Beyond All Expectation (Percabeth)

Chapter 16: A Date With Rachel

Annabeth POV:

"Hey hun, please give me a call when you hear this message. I haven't heard from you in a while, I'm starting to get worried. I'll be by Bethesda Terrace tonight if you wanna come? I miss you! Okay, so, hope to see you-"

I hung up. 

It had been Thalia. She had been texting me non-stop for the last couple of weeks now and I had refused to reply. I refused to even acknowledge her. She had lied to me, she had hurt me... so why should I give her the time of day? Why would I meet up with her, knowing that she'd probably lie about some person's couch she's sleeping on at the moment. I could imagine her now, sitting in her four-poster bed in a bedroom bigger than my entire apartment, thinking about the next lie to tell me. 

I hated her. 

So I lay alone in my bedroom, scrolling through my phone aimlessly, feeling angry and confused. Friday evening and I was spending it home alone. Even my Stepmom and Dad had better plans than me. How cool was I?

Luke was out with his friends and he hadn't texted in a while. As I looked through my contacts my thumb lingered over Percy's name. Should I text him? No, don't be ridiculous. What would I even say? He doesn't want to hear from me, he wants to hear from Rachel. I mean nothing to him. 

So I lay there alone in the silence, taking pity in myself. 

Percy POV:

"You look so cute," Rachel grinned at me for the seventh time. 

"You've said," I forced a smile onto my face. "I like your... dress."

"Oh, thanks, I made it myself," she replied. 

"Oh, that's cool, how'd you-"

"-But enough about me, let's talk about you," She interrupted. "How's the swim team going?"

I groaned. "We don't have to talk ab-"

"-I hear you've got another tournament coming up?"

"Yeah it's this Mond-"

"-I can't wait to watch! A few of the girls said they went to watch your practice today. I wanted to go but decided against it because I didn't want to seem too eager, you know? But they all said how good you were at swimming. Like, you outswam the rest of the team."

I nervously rubbed the back of my neck. "Oh, I'm not that good. Charles is a great swimm-"

"-Gwen said you lapped Charles, like, twenty times, and that when you were racing you beat everyone by at least ten seconds."

"I think that's a bit of an exagger-"

"-I just think you're so impressive. And dedicated, too! Like, you train for hours every single day."

"That's only because Coach Hedge makes me. If anything, he takes the fun out of swimming. I used to love the water-"

"-Oh my Gods, me too! My parents have a few houses in the Maldives and the Caribbean and we try to go there every year. They're right on the beach front and you can see everything because the water's so clear. I love it."

"Wow, that sounds amazing," I nodded, distractedly playing with my fork. We sat in Carmine's Italian, which was Rachel's favourite place to eat when the two of us used to date. It was a little pricey for my liking, but I had promised to clean Paul's car in exchange for a little extra cash. "I've never been anywhere like that-"

"-But you've been to a beach, right?"

"Yeah, of course. M-My dad used to take me when I was-"

"-Mr Blofis?"