HOLY MOTHER OF MEW. I FINALLY POSTED A CHAPTER AFTER MORE THAN A YEAR. /dances joyfully But really. This is something worth celebrating, okay. After a year of procrastinating and such, I finally finished this one! And it's 4600+ words! Yay!

Anyway, thanks to the people who added this/me to their follows/favorites, and to the reviewers, too. (To anyone who reviewed, I'm sorry if I didn't reply to you! I was very busy, so...)

Also, sorry for any mistakes/inconsistencies I might've not noticed/corrected. Please do point out any you see, though. As for Annabeth's character change (if you can call it as such), it's intentional. Really. :)

And, oh. Source to Annabeth's (censored to avoid spoilers) is on my profile!

WARNING: minor cursing appears because, let's face it, today's thirteen-year-olds are already cursing. At least the curses I put here are mild, not like the ones some of them use.

DISCLAIMER: No. Just no.

The Friday before our HS Night (and a day after my, ahem, walk with Jackson), our batch didn't have any classes. During homeroom period, Mrs. Heathers had announced that the admin did that to "help us prepare for one of the biggest events of our adolescence," to which Thalia commented, "Well, if they aren't going to give the girls dresses, and the boys tuxedos, I'm not calling it 'helping us to prepare'!" Everyone in class, even me, agreed to her logic, simply because it made sense. Mrs. Heathers didn't even bother retorting. (To be fair, no one ever tried backsassing Thalia Grace while at school. Except for me, because, you know, perks of being her best friend. And sometimes her cousins, Nico and Percy, too.)

Anyway, after that announcement, Mrs. H allowed us to leave the campus for the rest of the day. And there I was, with Thalia, at the mall closest to the school, doing dress-shopping.

"Tell me again, Annie," Thalia muttered under her breath annoyingly, "why I'm here with you. I'm pretty sure I've told you that I hated malls. I told you that I hate dress-shopping even more."

I sighed, letting all my patience run through me. This girl better be grateful that she has me as her best friend. "Thalia, for the nth time, you're here with me because I need a dress and you also need one, too. And yes, you've told me those facts. I've known them for as long as I've known you. I'm also pretty sure I've told you about my own hatred for shopping and dresses," I told her while walking, eyes darting around, looking for a decent dress shop.

It was her turn to sigh. "…Fine, Annie. Fine. Okay, I get it. But," she still argued, "what I don't get is why we are still loitering around this cursed mall at three in the afternoon. We've been going round and round for almost four hours! By this time, we'd already have our—yuck, ew, yuck—dresses." Thalia uttered the word 'dresses' like it was a curse or something. To her, it probably was. "Why don't you just ask help from your mom or something? And, by the way, do you even have money to spend?"

"It's because there isn't one proper dress store here. I only see food shops, and toy stores," I explained. "And Mom's still at work, won't be out 'til five. About the money, there's this thing called savings, you know. You should try it sometimes."

She simply groaned. "Whatever. What about your dad?"

"Nope. Still at work, too," I answered as I continued scanning the mall for any dress store. Unfortunately, there still weren't any. I sighed and Thalia groaned again.

Oh, Thals, I told (or, at least, tried to tell) her mentally, I feel your pain, I really do. I know this sucks so much.

When we passed by what seemed like the twentieth food shop in the freaking mall, my phone vibrated in my pocket, signaling a new text message. I fished out my phone from my jean pocket and opened the text message from an unknown number.

An unknown number? I thought of all the possible people who'd text me. Certainly not my family (I had their numbers saved). Maybe it's someone from school? That's the only very obvious conclusion I could come up on the spot.

Opening the message, I was both relieved and surprised: 'hey annie! dont worry abt ur dress anymore. alrdy sent it to ur house, and dont forget 2 tell thals tht uncle sent hers to her apartment. –percy :)'

I cringed at the misspellings and such. I was about to text him back, just to tell him to stop calling me "Annie". Then I asked myself, how the hell did he get my number, and my address? And I thought I was the one in charge for my own dress?

Another message arrived, answering my questions. 'i asked thalia for ur # and i remembered ur address so dont freak out. also, mom insisted that i send u a dress. apparently she likes u v much! and oh ur welcome, annie! :)'

I didn't know what to do. I really wanted to freak out—I didn't care about what he said in his message—because the guy I hated the most knew my number and actually remembered my house, but I also felt relieved because my dress problem was solved. I had to thank Sal—um, Mrs. Jackson for that one. Then, I saw Thalia walking away in front of me, and a seemingly evil thought entered my mind. I knew what exactly I was going to do.

"Thals!" I called her over, and pointed to a nearby (and conveniently placed) bench. She got the message and all but ran to where I sat. She plopped down next to me and let out a sigh of obvious relief.

"Oh, my god, Annie. Don't you know how long I've waited for this moment? It's like drinking ice cold water after a long hike in the mountains! Oh, yeah, why did you decide to sit down, anyway?" she said.

"Nothing, really. Just wanted to relax." I told her something vague on purpose, so she wouldn't know what I had in store for her. Heh.

I let her feel relieved as she sat on the bench with me. That relief would disappear once I put my plan into action…now.

"Thals," I started.

She glanced at me. "Yeah?"

"Let's say, the person I despise knew my number. Who do you think would've given him my number?" I asked, feigning innocence.

She looked at me with widened eyes. "Whoa, Annie, I did not give Percy your number, okay? He, um, he asked my father about it! Yes, that sounds right," she all but shouted.

"Hm? But I didn't mention any names, much less yours and Percy's," I said. "Why'd you assume that I was referring to the two of you?" Oh, man, she'd kill me after the execution of my plan, but it's all worth it! The expressions she wore were priceless! Too bad I couldn't send Luke any pictures of her.

Thalia's surprised look almost made me burst out laughing. Almost being the keyword, because I still had a plan to accomplish. Showing emotions would ruin my perfect punishme—I mean, plan. Yes, a plan.

"O-oh. Right. You didn't. Hehehe," she chuckled awkwardly and nervously. "I, ah, I thought you did. I mean, you did say 'the person you despise,' right? And you said 'him,' so I instantly thought it was Percy."

"Okay, you have a point there, since I do despise him," I said with a nod. "But you didn't tell me why you assumed I was talking about you."

Another surprised look was on her face. By that time, I was really trying my best not to take a picture of her, and not to laugh at her. I mean, it took a lot for me just to keep a straight face!

She started stuttering and lightly blushing. "W-well, um, y-you see… Ah! Um, is that all, Annabeth? I mean, isn't there anything else Percy told you? Ah, um, assuming that he texted you." Smooth, Thalia. Real smooth. I decided not to take notice of her changing the topic, all for the sake of my plan.

"Well, he just told me that he sent the two of us dresses, mine's at my house and yours was sent to your apartment by your dad. And," I continued, just to tease her more, "he told me that he asked a certain someone for my number, and that someone gave it to him without my permission."

"O-Oh, is that a-all?" Thalia stuttered. She looked funny, with her stuttering and all. She then sighed in relief. "That's great; I don't have to stay in this place any longer." Thalia stood to head towards the entrance. Oh, no, you won't, I thought. Time to execute my 'plan'. I grabbed her wrist to stop her in her tracks.

I shook my head in disagreement. "You're not going anywhere, Grace. We're going to roam this mall, whether you like it or not." Then, I stood up, too, and pulled her with me to the-gods-know-where.

Thalia tried her best to free herself from my grasp. "Wait—why?! What did I do?"

I chuckled evilly. "You just—oh, I don't know—gave my number to my most-hated person! And this, my dear Thals, is your punishment for that," I said without looking back at her. Despite this, I'm pretty sure she could sense the evil-best-friend-attitude I was sporting.

"I'm sorry, Annie! I'm really sorry! I promise to never do that ever again, just don't make me stay in this wretched place anymore! Please, Annabeth!" she begged.

"Nope," I chirped. "C'mon, it'll be so fun! And if you keep begging me, I swear, I will take a video of you and send it to Luke."

Thalia stopped talking, but kept on (trying to, but unsuccessfully did so) pulling her hand out of my grip.

"That won't do either. You'll go with me whether you like it or not," I told her with a smile that probably seemed creepy. Eh, whatever.

I could slightly hear her say "holy flipping shit my best friend turned evil oh my god help me" over and over again. I smirked slightly, then whispered to her, "No one's going to save you, Grace. No one."

"NOOOOOOO!" she dramatically screamed as I pulled her into her personal hell with a chuckle. People started to look at us weirdly. Eh, whatever. They just didn't know this was all for a good cause. Probably.

After the short—ahem—walk around the mall, we stopped by Tom's ice cream shop to buy some—what else—ice cream, before heading towards my house. We arrived at about five PM (I 'walked' with Thalia for two hours), so it meant that my parents and brothers were already there.

They were already used to having Thalia over, so we—Thals and I—merely greeted them, then started to walk towards my room, where we planned to stay for the rest of the afternoon.

"Annie!" Mom called out. I gestured to Thalia to go ahead and gave my ice cream tub and spoon to her.

"Yeah, Mom?" I replied while going to her place in the living room.

She looked up from her documents. "There was a box delivered here, I saw it in front of the door when I came. I put it on your bed, since it's addressed to you. It was from…Percy?" She sounded really confused when she mentioned him. Well, it was expected, I did tell her about my issue with him before.

"Oh, him. Yeah, we're kind of on speaking terms right now, but it's…kind of complicated?" I ended with an awkward chuckle. "Eh, but never mind him, Mom. We're only talking to each other because we're…um…working on a project! Yep, a project that, um, involves large boxes. And stuff."

Mom looked at me, as if she was saying 'really, Annabeth. Really.' Ignoring the expression on her face, I asked, "So, need anything else?"

"I wanted to ask you something, but I forgot what it was…" She thought for a short while. "Ah, I remember! Do you need help for tomorrow? It's your High School Night, right?"

"Oh. That. Yep, it is. I might need some help with accessories and such. Dress is okay—Thalia and I bought ours this afternoon—and the make-up, too, so no worries," I told her, removing her worries about the Night. Honestly, though, I wasn't sure about the make-up (I didn't trust Percy's word on the matter), but maybe I'll ask help from another good friend of mine. And the dress—I lied about it being okay, I mean, I hadn't even seen it yet, so I didn't know if it was okay. Also, obviously, I wasn't holding on to a paper bag or something that proved our trip to a dress shop, so I was pretty much screwed.

My mother in front of me didn't seem to believe me. (In my defense, I didn't believe me, either.) "Are you sure?"

I nodded. She stared at me for a while before saying, "Okay. Just asking. That's all, Annie."

Yes! I survived! I did a victory dance in my mind, and I fist-pumped almost unnoticeably.

"Okay, Mom," I said, kissing her cheek. "I'm going to go upstairs now, okay?"

She nodded. "Will Thalia stay for dinner? Oh, wait, never mind that question. She always does. Okay, now, shoo. I'm just finishing up here; I'll call you two when dinner's ready."

I laughed while going up the stairs. "Sure, sure."

Finally, I reached my room; I opened the door only to find my mall-hating best friend laying on my bed while eating her ice cream and watching TV. The box was not on my bed, but on the floor next to my bed.

Thalia seemed to feel my presence by the doorway, so she said without taking her eyes of the show, "Hey, Annie. I put the box there because I wanted to lie on the bed. And, oh, your ice cream's on the desk. C'mon, this anime I'm watching's pretty good."

I rolled my eyes, and closed the door. Passing by my desk to grab my ice cream tub and spoon, I told Thalia to move, so I'd be able to sit on my bed. After I made myself comfortable, I then watched the anime Thalia was watching. A red-capped boy with a yellow mouse on his shoulder was walking around in some kind of forest.

Wait. I knew this one…

"Oh, my god, Thalia, you're watching the Pokémon anime? The one with Ash Ketchum?" I asked her, surprised. "Seriously?"

She looked at me weirdly. "Yeah, why? Is it bad?"

"Yes!" I exclaimed. "I mean, Pokémonitself isn't, but the anime adaptation is just… It's just weird, okay, and it's not even anime. It's more of a cartoon, actually. If you really want to watch Pokémon, you should watch Origins. It's better than that piece of crap, and Red's more kick-ass than Ash, and I'd prefer Green Oak over Gary Oak any day—though Gary Oak's pretty awesome, too. Sometimes. But, you know what, just read Pokémon Special, instead. It's more awesome and the characters are—"

"ANNIE!" Thalia shouted in my ear.

I slapped her shoulder. "Why the hell did you do that?"

"You were ranting about Pokémon. Rant, as in a full-on rant."

Blinking a few times, I said, "Oh. Sorry 'bout that. I just—I have a lot of feels about it, okay? Sorry."

She laughed at me, almost mockingly. The nerve of this girl. As if she didn't rant about bands and TV shows.

I ignored her laughs and turned my attention to my ice cream instead. At least my ice cream doesn't laugh at me when I rant about things I love, I thought as I ate a spoonful of the heaven that was salted caramel ice cream.

My "best friend" (considering today's events, I refused, albeit temporarily, to call her such) finally stopped laughing and continued eating instead. She didn't watch the show anymore (I liked to think she was affected by what I said about it).

"Eh, anyway," Thals said after swallowing a spoonful of her chocolate-flavored ice cream, "when are you going to open that box up?" She tilted her head towards the large box, which contained the dress, on the floor.

"I don't know. Maybe tomorrow, before the Night. I don't really care," I muttered.

She turned towards me with a face that said, 'are you freaking serious?' I also faced her and said, "What?"

"Really, Chase? Really?" Thalia still had that expression on her face. It started to creep me out, actually.

I reached for the television remote and pressed the 'mute' button. "What do you mean by that?"

She rolled her eyes at me while helping herself with another spoonful of ice cream. "And here I thought you were supposed to be the smart one in this relationship."

"I am. You're just being vague and, I don't know, senseless. I really just don't get what you're saying right now," I commented.

"Annie," she whined. God, she almost sounded like her cousin. Really, I didn't want another Percy anywhere near me; one's enough, thank you very much. "It's from Percy! Don't you want to check if it's only a prank or something? What if there's no dress inside? Come on, let's go check it out!" She was practically bouncing on my bed as she talked.

I groaned and rolled my eyes. "Thals, just stop bouncing, then we'll check the box, okay? Jeez, you're like a kid on sugar rush."

Thalia then chanted 'yay, yay, yay!' in a very annoying manner. "And, oh," I added, "try shutting the hell up." She did a zipping motion on her lips and sat straightly on the bed, her ice cream tub set aside on the floor.

Why did I choose a girl with the mentality of a six-year-old as my best friend? Seriously, I was starting to question my life choices. And I hadn't even turned eighteen.

I put my own ice cream tub on its previous place on my desk, then sat on the floor, in front of the questionable box. "So. Let's open it, I guess." I shrugged. I reached for the box, but Thalia slapped my hands away from it. "Okay, what the hell's your problem now, Grace?"

"I'll do it for you!" she sang. Cheerfully. Thalia didn't do cheerful. Ever.

It was then that I realized that there was something behind her cheerful acts. Like, there's something Thalia and Percy talked about, without me knowing it. But, oh, I would get to the bottom of this, even if it's the last thing I'd do. (Whoops, too dramatic and cliché. But whatever, I was serious about that.)

I merely watched Thalia as she plopped down beside me, reached for the box and opened it.

Well, there was no turning back. Though, if this turned out to be a prank, I'd happily turn Percy and Thalia's heads backwards.

Although, it wasn't a prank after all. Fortunately for the cousins (and unfortunately for me), their heads would stay as they were. Too bad, I'd actually be happy if they both shut the hell up for eternity.

Okay, that was too sadistic and morbid. Never mind that.

Anyway, the box Thalia opened contained a very blue—like, sapphire-ish—silky dress. From what I could see, it had flower-like ruffles on one of its straps, and it was sleeveless. Its bodice was ruched, and although I usually disliked that kind of design, I couldn't help but like it. It was done quite beautifully, after all.

Then I took the dress out of its containment, and laid it flat beside the box. The first thing I noticed—besides from its strap and bodice I described earlier—was the skirt. It was pleated. Very pleated.

"The hell is this?" I asked no one in particular, but Thalia oh-so-helpfully answered anyway, "It's a dress, Annie."

I glared at her. "I know it's a freaking dress, Thals. I was referring to the cursed skirt pleats. I hate pleats on my skirt or dress or whatever."

"Too bad for you, girlie," she snickered. "The whole skirt's pleated and you're gonna have to wear it for seven hours."

"Wait—what? I thought the Night's only going to last for six hours? And can't I, like, go home when you guys start dancing?" Now, I rarely complained about anything the school makes us do or go to, but this…this was just something worth complaining about, okay?

"They extended the program, added some more 'twists,' they said." I groaned in annoyance. She only shrugged. "And nobody's allowed to go home any time, only after the awarding and last dances, I guess. At least, that's what my father told me. But, hey! Look on the brighter side, Annabeth. You might, I don't know, start a real relationship with a certain someone during the Night," she teased.

I was genuinely grossed out at that thought. Really, I was, because there was no way in hell I'd start a real relationship with that jerk. "Ew, dude. No. Just no. And the only one who's going to start a relationship is you. With Luke," I teased her back.

Surprisingly, she didn't answer back. More surprisingly, she was blushing and looking down on her fumbling fingers.

I gasped. "Oh, my god, Thals. Don't tell me you and Luke are—"

Thalia covered my mouth—which effectively cut off what I was about to say—and made a 'shh' sound. "Shut up, Chase! Just shut up!" she whispered. "Okay, yes! Yes, we are! Now, will you shut the hell up?"

I had no choice but to nod, though when she removed her hand from my mouth, I immediately let out a squeal of delight. She only groaned and face-palmed.

"When did that happen? Yesterday? The other day? Last year?! When?!" I questioned while shaking her shoulders.

She muttered something incoherent, so I kept on shaking her. "If you don't speak properly, I won't stop shaking you!" I chirped happily, though I was sort of threatening her with my words.

"Oh, god, Annie! Alright, alright! I'll talk, just stop shaking me, damn it!" I did as she told me to, so she started speaking—well, it was more like shouting, really. "When you were with Jackson yesterday afternoon! When I left you at school to go with him! He brought me to the ice cream shop, then asked me there! You happy now?!"

I nodded and smiled in satisfaction. "Yep! I actually am! Though, I'd be happier if you didn't shout those out loud," I remarked. "Ah, I'm so happy for you two! Really! Just don't leave me alone ever again for him, okay? Or, if you will, tell me ahead of time, yeah?"

She chuckled. "Okay, okay. That is, if you tell me when you and Percy'll go on a date, mm'kay?" she teased with a mischievous smirk.

"Shut up." I mockingly glared at her. She playfully rolled her eyes, and muttered, "Whatever, Mrs. Jackson."

"What did you say, Mrs. Castellan?" I retorted.

"I said—" Thalia was cut off by Mom's shout of "girls, dinner's ready!"

Setting my gaze on Thals, I said, "Heh. One point for Annabeth Chase!" I quickly escaped my room, my ice cream tub in my hand, and ran towards the dining room, Thalia behind me screaming, "I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS, CHASE!"

"Not if I can help it!" I hollered back from my hiding place behind Dad.

Dad laughed, "What did you do this time, Annie?"

"Nothing, really!" I answered at the same time Thalia entered the dining room and said, "She freaking called me 'Mrs. Castellan'!"

"There's nothing wrong with that, Thals…or is there?" Dad teased her. I gave him a high-five as I laughed out loud.

The subject of our teasing remarks groaned and grumbled, "Not you, too, Mr. C!"

Mom was smiling amusedly at us when she came to the room with my brothers, who instantly hugged Thalia and greeted her excitedly.

"Hey, kiddos!" She ruffled their hairs and pinched their cheeks. They, in turn, grumbled at how she was "treating them like small kids" and that they "were almost ten years old so she didn't need to treat them as kids anymore."

"Alright, that's enough, kids. Let's eat, dinner's getting colder by the minute," Mom told us.

And we did eat. Who were we to waste such great food, anyway?

After dinner, Thalia prepared to go home, since it was getting late already. Before she left, she gave her thanks to Mom for the food, and said goodbye to Matt and Bobby.

To me and Dad, however… She only turned to us with a glare and said, "I'm gonna take revenge on you two, someday. Just you wait. Especially you, Annabeth."

"Oh, we will, Thals! Text me when you get home later!" I replied innocently with a wave. Dad only smiled.

"Sure! Bye, Chase family! Annie, see you tomorrow!" she finally said before she went off to her apartment.

When she was out of sight, I told Dad, "You know she's very serious about the revenge thing, right?"

"Of course," he answered quite confidently. "She said that a lot of times to us before, and her revenge plans aren't very…revenge-ish. They're more like pranks than vengeful acts."

I smiled. "True, true. Oh, well, I'll head back to my room, Dad. G'night." I hugged him before doing the same with Mom and my siblings.

As I returned to my room, I saw the (cursed pleated) dress, as well as its box and Thalia's empty tub, still on the floor. I picked the pleated nightmare up with a sigh and hung it up in my cabinet, and threw the trash in the bin. (Fortunately, the box fitted well in the bin—I thought it won't, at first. But it did! And I didn't have to fold it or whatever!)

With all those done, I lied on my bed and pondered on whether I'll thank Percy for the dress or not. Actually, it's his mother I should be thanking, not him, but I didn't have her number or something, so I settled with asking him to thank her for me.

I grabbed my phone and started typing up a message for him to tell his mother.

'Hey, Jackson. Could you stop being a jerk for a moment and tell your mother I said thanks? For the dress, I mean. (I'm serious about this, Jackson. And, by the way, it's your mom I'm thanking, not you. Understood?)'

I pressed 'send' and turned my phone's screen off. Placing it on my bedside table, I stood and went to the bathroom to get ready for sleep.

After a quick shower and a change of clothes, I clicked my light switch off and settled in my bed comfortably. As I was drifting off to dreamland, my phone 'pinged,' notifying me about a message that arrived.

Maybe it's Thalia, I told myself as I reached for the gadget and opened the message.

Only, it wasn't from Thalia. It was from her cousin.

Oh, joy.

'hey annie! :) mom says ur welcome, and that she's happy to do it 4 u! she does like u after all. anyway gd nght annie! sweet dreams! :D p.s. who told u im a jerk?'

I snorted. Sweet dreams? More like awful nightmares. I replied, '…Should I be thanking you for telling her my thanks? I guess I should. But only this once. Thanks, Percy. P.S. No one told me you are one; YOU showed me that you are one.'

Another message arrived after I'd sent my reply, but this time, it was from Thalia. It was just her telling me that she arrived to her apartment safely. She also said good night, and I told her the same in my reply.

Five or so minutes had passed, and neither of them replied back, so I just returned my phone back to where it was before, and dozed off.

It was beyond my knowledge, though, that, as I slept peacefully, a certain green-eyed boy's finger was hovering over his phone's 'send' button, as if he was hesitating whether he'd send the message or not. He decided not to, however, and erased the message instead.

The message that said, 'I'm so sorry, Annabeth. For everything I did. I know you won't forgive me now—or maybe ever—but I'm determined to do anything and everything, no matter what it takes me, just to make you forgive me.'