Chapter Text
When Annabeth opened her locker at 8 o’clock in the morning, she never would’ve excepted to see a piece of notebook paper folded and lying on top of some of her books. She picked up the piece of paper before anyone could see it and as she flipped up one half to read it, Silena Beauregard popped up behind her. “Whatcha got there, Annie?” She smiled brilliantly and then her eyes fell to the paper Annabeth had gripped tighter.
“What?” She looked down, “Oh, it’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.” Annabeth waved her off and shoved the piece of paper in her bag hanging off her shoulder. “I should really get to class, Lena," she said smiling softly at her friend.
She nodded, like just Annabeth’s reaction was all the conformation she needed. “Well, when you do read it, be sure to tell me what it says. Or who it’s from.”
Silena walked off toward a girl behind her who was crowding a smaller student and threatening them. She looked very upset with the girl and Annabeth almost had to hide her smile. She heard Silena say to the girl, “Clarisse, I thought you were going to stop doing this. Were you lying to me?” and then Clarisse's voice, "No, no, Lena. I would never. " before she made her way into her first class: English.
She dreaded the subject. Not because the teacher was mean or anything—he was actually pretty nice—but because she was dyslexic and she has always had trouble with the language. A seat in front of a red headed girl was open and she took it without any thought, like it belonged to her.
She smiled at her politely as Annabeth sat down, pulling out her textbook from her bag. “Annabeth,” the girl whispered to her. She immediately turned around and a confused look was on her face, “Yeah?”
“Hi, I don’t know if you remember me or not, 'cause I've been homeschooled the past year but my name’s Rachel and I was wondering if you’ve seen Percy.”
She blinked as her confusion grew. “Why would I know where he is? I’m not his keeper.” She said the last word with a slight chuckle. Rachel nodded, "Oh. Okay, I just thought you’d know. Sorry.”
Annabeth's eyes widened slightly in shock. “Oh my god, I’m sorry if I sounded rude or something. Today’s just been a weird day,” she huffed. “Maybe try Grover— he’s his best friend, surely he’d know.”
“Right,” Rachel nodded, “You do know it’s barely eight, right? How could it be weird already?” Annabeth barely controlled the sound that came out of her, and dug up the piece of paper to show Rachel.“The first thing I opened my locker to was this.”
Rachel looked at her and then back at the paper. “I haven’t read it yet," Annabeth continued, "My friend, Silena, kinda spooked me into not.”
Rachel gave her a slight smile, “Well, I won’t try to spook you so you can read it here.”
She nodded and smiled the same way, actually reading it this time.
i know you won’t see this until tomorrow but i thought you looked really pretty, annabeth.
from, can't tell you it’s a secret
As soon as she read the last line, Rachel smiled wide. “Annabeth, you have a secret admirer! No wonder you haven’t let Silena read it,” she said—practically yelled, really.
Annabeth smiled, despite herself. She folded up the piece of paper and put it back in her bag. “I wonder what they’re gonna say next,” she says, mostly to herself.
The teacher coughed which got the attention of the students, including Annabeth and Rachel who eventually followed behind after a few seconds. He excused himself and instructed them to turn to a page in their English textbooks. “Please read the instructions and the sentences carefully. Do as they say and when you’re finished, bring the paper to me and then you are free to do whatever you wish until time is up.”
Annabeth did as he said, reading it carefully and worked on the sentences. This exercise was to fix the grammatical mistakes in 5 sentences that ranged from misspelled words to capitalization errors.
It took her almost the entire time of class with her dyslexia, but she eventually did it. She was proud of herself for that, at least.
She brought the paper up to his desk and he smiled at her. “Good work, Annabeth. I know you did well. You always do.” She basked in the praise for a second and then went back to her seat.
Not long after, the bell rung and it was time for Math. She liked this subject better, she was always better at it as well. She didn’t have the dyslexia version of math, as far as she knew at least.
Math sped by and then by the time she realized, it was already almost lunchtime. There’s a time slot where she and a lot of her friends—Silena, Will, and Nico—were free before lunch so they had time in the day to catch up or help each other with homework or whatever.
Today, however, would be all about Annabeth’s little note. Silena would make sure of it.
She met with her friends at a picnic table in the courtyard that was in the middle of the school. Will was the first to notice her, “Hey, Annabeth!” He smiled and waved with his one good arm that Nico hadn’t claimed as his just yet. The rest followed him in their own ways with Silena beaming and almost exploding with excitement about her note and Nico who was slumped against Will’s left.
“Hi, guys,” she said as she sat down next to Silena who obviously was waiting for her to say something about the note.
Annabeth sighed and pulled out the paper and handed it to Silena. She read it once and then again and once more for good measure. “Hmm, I don’t recognize this handwriting, I don’t know who wrote it,” she said while shaking her head and looking upset.
She smiled and thought, At least she won't know who it is for a while. "Here, gimme," Will motioned for Silena to give him the paper and then when he read it, a slight smirk appeared on his face. He nudged Nico awake who groggily asked, "What is it? What happened?"
Will whispered to Nico, "Look at what Annabeth found in her locker."
Nico read it from Will's hand and then his face jolted from his to Annabeth's and back to his. "Is that..?"
He smirked again, "Possibly. I'll have to ask. Here you go, Annabeth." He handed back the note and she put it in her bag. "Okay, I'll ignore… whatever just happened over there," she said and motioned to Nico who was back in his position from before and Will who has not stopped smirking.
"Will," Annabeth turned to him fully. "Do you know who wrote me that note?"
He shrugged, "Maybe. But I think it would be more fun if you found out yourself. Let the admirer to come to you." She groaned and ran her hands over her face. "It's not even the end of the day and it's killing me I don't know who's watching me."
"If I get another note tomorrow, and it's some weird stuff about how I looked when I was sleeping, I'm gonna freak out."
Will snorted. "I think you might get another note tomorrow, but I doubt it'll be about your looks tonight. However noteworthy they may be."
"Ha ha, very funny."
The rest of the day went by slower than Annabeth hoped. All she could think about was that stupid note. Whoever it was, she was going to make them pay. Not physical money or labor or something, just… revenge?
But what was there to be revengeful about? All they said was that she was pretty. Surely Annabeth Chase could take a compliment.
She shook her head to get rid of the thoughts that clouded her mind. She needed to go to Thalia's apartment and be in her room to think.
And, right on cue, Thalia's car honked its way through the rest of her thoughts. Annabeth could see a very upset blob of purple and black through the windshield. "Sorry! Got lost in thought!" She made her way to the right side of the car and opened the door. "Hi, Thals. How was your day?" Annabeth smiled and Thalia's shoulders dropped down.
"It was okay. I did some grocery shopping—we were out of strawberries and some other stuff. And then I went to my friends' place to rehearse for our gig Friday."
She nodded in response. Thalia, Zoë Nightshade, and Bianca di Angelo— Nico's sister— were a trio called Artemis; a pop-punk band that was getting ready to perform in front of a huge audience for the first time. "That's good, I'm glad. I'm happy for you, Thalia," she smiled and Thalia's face lit up slightly. "Thank you, Annie."
When Thalia started the car up, Annabeth took that moment of silence between them to think about who could've written that note. Silena had said she didn't recognize the handwriting, meaning it wasn't any of her friends. Not even Grover.
Who would think she was pretty? Especially during school hours. All she remembered wearing yesterday was a special made t-shirt of Artemis and light colored jeans with a matching denim jacket. Then, she wondered who they would look like.
She sighed and it got Thalia's attention by accident. "What's up, Annie? What are you thinkin' about?"
She looked over at Thalia who glanced at her and then turned to her and told her everything, even showing her the evidence. She laughed, but it wasn't a mocking laugh. She would never do that to her. "That's actually kinda sweet. I wonder who it could be."
"Well, it's not any of my friends," she muttered.
"It was never going to be, silly. They never usually are. But I'm sure whoever it is, is nice and friendly. If they're not, I'll make 'em sure they will be."
Annabeth smiled, "I hope you don't mean that physically." Thalia shrugged with her hands still on the steering wheel. "I might."
After a few more minutes of talking and laughing, they arrived at the apartment complex where Thalia lived and Annabeth was staying. (Really, she also lived there but it was easier for her to say she was just staying for now.)
As soon as the door opened, both of them visibly decompressed. Thalia kicked off her boots and shed her leather jacket, hanging it on the coat hanger next to the door. She sat down on the couch and sighed loudly. "I missed this couch. My back has been sore all day."
Annabeth took off her purple windbreaker and hung it next to Thalia's jacket and slid her Converse next to her boots. "I'm sorry, Thals. Maybe later after I work on this thing for a bit, I can try to help you out."
Thalia turned over on her side and smiled at Annabeth who was now in the kitchen, getting out the container of strawberries. "Sure."
She got out a handful of the fruit and washed them with some water, dried them with a paper towel, then placed them on a plate with a small cup to put some chocolate spread in it to dip the strawberries in.
She took the plate and cup to the table in the living space and nudged Thalia's feet to move so she could sit. Without saying a word, Thalia stole a strawberry and dipped it into the chocolate. "Thalia!" Annabeth said with a fake shocked look on her face. "I washed those for me!"
Thalia nudged her shoulder then said with a mouth full, "Yeah, but who gave you a roof over your head?"
"Wow," Annabeth blinked. "That's crazy."
"I know," she replied, sarcastically. "Imagine that, a person that actually cares about you and how you feel in the world."
"Getting a little too real," she whispered.
"Sorry," Thalia said immediately and swallowed. "I won't steal your strawberries," she said with a smile. She finished her one strawberry then picked up her silver guitar and began tuning it.
Annabeth watched her as she tuned her guitar and started playing the first few notes of the starting song for the gig. "I think that sounds right. Right?" She turned to Annabeth who was watching her silently and eating one of her last strawberries. She nodded wordlessly and swallowed. Thalia nodded back once and then started playing the next song. When Annabeth finished her plate of strawberries, Thalia had played the first few notes of every song her band had chosen to play for the gig at the nearby nightclub. There were only six, but Annabeth knew that, to Thalia, she had to make sure they were perfect. That she was perfect.
And she was. Annabeth had never known someone to be so musically inclined like her sister. They weren't truly sisters, not in the biological sense, but in every other sense that actually makes a difference.
"I think you'll do great, Thalia. And Zoë and Bianca," Annabeth smiled at her with her teeth showing and Thalia couldn't help but hug her. "Thank you, Annie," she whispered and let go.
Annabeth went to her room after that and sat down on her bed that was covered in sketchbook paper. Different sketches of the same building in her dream, one less detailed than the other and the other more colorful than the previous. "One day, I will make this— whatever it is— a reality," she muttered to herself. Her phone chimed and when she looked it was a text from Silena.
4:04 PM
SILENA
Hi Annie!! I hope you haven't figured out who your secret admirer is without me!
ANNABETH
it seemed like will already knew who
SILENA
He had a hunch, true, but I haven't heard anything from him since he said he might know. So, maybe he actually doesn't.
ANNABETH
and nico
do you have any clue who it might be
like at all ?
SILENA
Nope. I'm sorry. I wish I did. I know it's killing you don't know.
Annabeth huffed and threw herself down onto the bed, almost crumpling her sketches.
ANNABETH
okay well
just let me know if he finds out
SILENA
I might not. ;)
ANNABETH
please lena
SILENA
Okay, fine. I'll tell you if he finds out.
ANNABETH
thank you <3
She moved to sit up, placed her phone on her nightstand, and then moved her sketches to her desk where they should've been anyway.
She changed into comfier clothes and then went out of her room to the small balcony on the other side of the living space. She looked out at the landscape of New York, and all its shimmering glory.
That's what she would say if she actually liked the place. She did, but it felt weird to be here. Like something had been missing from her and it was here, but she didn't have it. She hated that feeling.
She looked down at the sidewalks for a moment and could've sworn she saw Silena and some blonde guy talking. She almost reached for her phone before Silena's voice got so loud she could hear it from the apartment. "I knew it was you!"
Who was she talking to? Why did she say that? Was she talking about Annabeth's secret admirer? Was she talking to him? She couldn't have raised her voice that loud, Annabeth was making it up. She wasn't down there and she could prove it.
Annabeth reached for her phone and called Silena. She never stopped looking at the girl and the blonde guy. "Pick up," she muttered.
The girl who looked a lot like Silena moved like nobody was calling her. Annabeth exhaled, a hand to her chest. "I knew it. I'm going crazy. That's not Silena."
"What about me?" The real Silena's voice came through her phone and it startled her. "Jesus! Sorry, Silena. I think I might be going crazy."
"Okay…talk me through it. What's up?”
"There's a girl on the sidewalk next to my apartment and she looked a lot like you and she was talking to this blonde guy."
"The only blonde guy I ever remember talking to is Will," Silena said, helpfully. "I'm not there, Annie. Is that other me still talking to him?"
Annabeth nodded and then remembered she can't see her, "Yeah- Yeah, she is."
"Okay then. She's not me. I'm not her," she replied and Annabeth could hear her smile. "Before I let you go," she added, "the girl said 'I knew it was you' like it was you talking to my secret admirer."
"Huh. Maybe I should find this mystery blond guy and see if he is your admirer," she said, her voice changing in a teasing manner. Before Annabeth could speak again, Silena ended the call. "Damn it, Lena."
She put her phone down and laid back on her bed. Annabeth stared at her ceiling, thinking about this mystery admirer. Who could it be?
It was obviously someone she's probably seen at school, considering she's only gone to her ballet practices a couple times this week and it's Friday. She's only really talked to Will, and she knows it's not him. He's been with Nico since last year, and from what she can tell, they're happy together. She went through her bag to search for the paper and she found it at the bottom, stuck under her English textbook.
Annabeth read it again:
i know you won’t see this until tomorrow but i thought you looked really pretty, annabeth.
from, can't tell you it’s a secret
She studied the paper like it was actual piece of evidence. She knew that it wasn't a girl's handwriting and it was written in pen but not smudged on the left so it was a right-handed person. She sighed loudly. There are about a gazillion of people who are right-handed, so her chances of finding the guy are pretty low.
The paper was standard notebook paper, which sucked for Annabeth. The guy could be writing the next one right now. Or, he already has and it could be waiting for her.
The thought of that—the thought that someone other than Thalia cared enough about her to tell her how pretty she looked—warmed something inside her. It filled her with a weird sense of wonder and excitement. She enjoyed that feeling. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if she kept up this game, if she did find out.
She went to sleep with the same thought and she couldn't wait to wake up and see the newest note.