Chapter One
Annabeth
Waking up was harder when you didn't really sleep in the first place. Dreamless nights tended to make for rough mornings, but Annabeth was used to that much. She couldn't remember having a single dream since she was about ten years old, and that was for the better. They tended to be nightmares anyways, so blocking them out was for the best.
The blonde rolled over, looking at her nightstand to check the digital clock that sat there. Six am.
She still had about thirty minutes before she needed to actually be up and getting around from school. Even with the extra time she had, Annabeth couldn't manage to force herself to close her eyes again, or get out of bed. She was warm and rather comfortable, though even without looking, she could feel that Marie was in bed with her.
Seventeen years old, and her cousin still couldn't sleep alone after a nightmare. Most people would probably be annoyed by now, but Annabeth still thought it was just another cute thing about Marie, and it made her ego swell a bit to think that Marie felt that safe with her. That was probably just another thing that made Annabeth so weird. But, she had been protecting Marie for years now, so this kind of thing just felt...Normal to her.
For a while, Annabeth just laid in bed, watching the clock. Time inched by slowly, seeming to crawl purposely because Annabeth was watching. At about six twenty, the female finally gave up on waiting for her alarm, carefully slipping out of the covers. As suspected, Marie was curled up in a ball next to wall, sleeping peacefully. Once Annabeth was out, Marie rolled over, stretching herself out and taking up the entire bed, her black ponytail flopping over her face as she moved.
Holding back a laugh, Annabeth reached forward, carefully moving the hair away, before she began to creep out of the room, heading downstairs as silently as she could. On her way out, she grabbed her jacket, planning to go in the backyard for a while to watch the sunrise. As she moved outside, she was greeted with a cool, August morning. The rain from the previous night was still around, and Annabeth knew it was probably going to be a humid, miserable day.
Perfect day to start school.
With a slight huff, Annabeth used her jacket to wipe the water from the lawn chairs, before she took a seat, tipping it back. The sky was beginning to turn colors slowly, though the sun was still a little while from rising. Still, it was a pretty sight, and it made Annabeth wish she had more talent with painting. Marie would probably be able to capture the moment perfectly, while Annabeth...Well, you'd at least be able to tell what it was, but it definitely wouldn't make it in a museum.
The city was almost silent in the background. All Annabeth could hear were the birds and crickets, with the occasional car passing by. It was nice to be alone like this, though Annabeth could never stay in a peaceful state of mind for long. If she got to thinking, her mood was always ruined. She often wondered if it was like that for everyone, of if most people were generally positive thinkers. Marie was definitely on the positive side, Annabeth hasn't seen her get really down since they were kids. Sure, Marie got scared, sad, angry...She was a human, so naturally she felt those emotions. But the tan girl had not seemed truly depressed in years.
Just another difference between the cousins. They both lost their parents early on, but Marie handled the loss very differently.
The sound of the sliding door opening got Annabeth's attention, though she didn't look over, already knowing who it was. Aunt Katrina wasn't home, so it could only be Marie.
Annabeth felt the girl sit next to her, the dipping of the seat and the sudden warmth leaning on her side being the indicators. The blonde laughed softly, looking over at her cousin with a warm smile, one she didn't often show to others. "Isn't it a bit early for you to be up and out here?"
Marie shook her head, her forest hazel eyes trained on the sun that was slowly inching it's way into the sky. "You're out here, aren't you?" She replied, leaning back a bit. "Besides, your alarm went off, so of course I would be awake."
"So it's already time to get around for school, huh?" Annabeth sighed softly, shaking her head. "You think I should just skip? Or maybe drop out?" Her words earned her a light, but still stinging, hit to her relatively flat chest, causing a wince. "Tit shots are cheap as fuck Marie."
"You'd have to have tits to take a shot at." Marie yawned, running her hand through her hair as she took out her ponytail, "And you're going. Aunt Kat made it very clear she doesn't want you skipping this year, remember?"
"Aunt Kat makes it clear every year, and yet I still do it...And I do have tits, I'm a B..." Annabeth grumbled, "Fucking..." The female sighed, unable to insult Marie, standing instead. If it was anyone else, Annabeth would have called them cow tits or something, but she couldn't insult Marie. "Let's just get dressed and leave. If we're gonna stop at our usual place, we need to haul ass."
"I should be the one telling that to you." Marie shook her head, standing as well. "You're normally the reason why we're late."
"Details, details." Annabeth smirked, beginning to head inside, leaving the door open for Marie. Without waiting for a reply, Annabeth made her way quickly up the stairs, back into her room where she flicked on her light, being greeted with the bright colors she made sure surrounded her.
The colored bottles she had hanging up caught the light, reflecting the rainbow of colors onto her wall that was covered with random paint splatters and random posters that she didn't really remember getting, but put them up anyways.
It was funny that someone who was so innerly gothic would have a room like that, but Annabeth loved irony.
Getting dressed was a quick task for her, as Annabeth didn't really care what she threw on. She wasn't trying to impress any of the idiots at school, so there was no reason to care. A purple, short sleeved turtleneck worked well enough, with a pair of black jeans.
At least today she somewhat matched.
Even though she was the one who had said they needed to hurry, Annabeth took her time to find her bag and other school supplies that she'd left scattered around her room, though she didn't take the time to make sure she had them all. Once she felt like she had enough of them shoved lazily into her bag, Annabeth sat down on her bed, peeking out of her lilac and baby blue curtains.
The sun was up now, though not fully and Annabeth could spot a few more cars than before that likely belonged to parents and kids heading to school. If she had to guess, she probably knew a few of the kids, though since they seemed to be heading over early, they probably weren't any of her friends.
If she had to guess, her usual crowd wasn't even going to show up today. They might not even show up until the truancy officer decided to get involved.
Lucky them.
After a moment of sitting there, Annabeth finally got up and walked over to the door, throwing it open just before Marie could pound on it. Without saying a word, Annabeth grabbed her bag and walked out, stretching as she made her way to the stairs. It wasn't easy to miss Marie's deep sigh, but the girl followed silently anyways.
It wasn't until they were about to walk out the door that Marie finally spoke up. "Hey, Anna? Do you feel like something is off today?"
Annabeth glanced back at Marie, shrugging. "No really. It's probably just being up this early after sleeping in all summer." She replied, throwing the door open, "Give it a few days and it'll feel normal again." Marie tended to feel like something bad was happening a lot, so the question wasn't anything new to Annabeth, and her answer was normally the most logical reason for her cousin's feelings. "Besides, they're starting school on a fucking Wednesday, it'd be weird if that felt at all normal to anybody."
Marie smiled a bit, nodding. "Yeah...I wish they started on Friday so we'd only be in one day before we went into the weekend." She followed Annabeth out, sticking pretty close like always. Annabeth waited a moment, just long enough for Marie to lock up, before she started walking.
"I feel like that would just piss me off." Annabeth sighed, stretching out a bit as she looked at the orange sky, which was slowly turning bluer. "I mean, then Monday would feel even worse. Wednesday is just stupid though. It's like...Second Monday."
"Don't most people call it hump day?" Marie asked, laughing softly as she moved to walk beside Annabeth instead of behind her, the two heading to their usual breakfast stop. The cafe was close to the school, and relatively cheap compared to most of the places in the area, with food they could definitely charge a lot more for.
"That just sounds sexual to me." Annabeth shook her head, smirking softly. "I mean...Hump day. Sounds like some kinky holiday, doesn't it?"
"Bagels seem dirty to you." Marie sighed, looking straight ahead.
"Blame the movie. That scene made pretty much every food dirty." Was Annabeth's simple reply, before she adjusted her bag, pausing her steps and looking at her cousin, "Wanna race?"
Annabeth knew Marie's answer was going to be no, obviously. It wasn't like Marie was unathletic, on the contrary she loved sports and being active, however she just couldn't run fast enough to keep up with anybody else athletic, and she'd given up on trying.
But, Annabeth hadn't given up on Marie getting faster.
And Annabeth didn't wait for the no either, simply taking off in a dead sprint, knowing Marie would follow. Marie had followed her like a puppy since the day they met, and that didn't seem to be changing any time soon.
"Anna! Wait!" Marie attempted to yell in protest, but Annabeth pretended not to hear, simply continuing to run. Within a few seconds, she could hear Marie trying to run behind her to catch up. Annabeth was going pretty slowly, compared to how fast she could get, but Marie still seemed to be having trouble keeping up.
Of course, Annabeth didn't slow down anymore than she already had, simply continuing her sprint ahead. If she slowed down to match Marie's pace any better, then Marie would never get any faster.
Moving like that, Annabeth reached the cafe after a few minutes, and Marie came panting and limping along after her.
The glare Marie gave Annabeth would get anyone else punched in the face, but Annabeth simply smiled at her. "Nice run, I think this is a new record for you."
"As a pancake you wouldn't know this, but running with tits without a sports bra is hard." Marie huffed between breaths, straightening herself out, "And now my leg is going to be sore all day."
"Just rest it while we eat." Annabeth replied, opening the door for Marie and ignoring the pancake comment. "Which we should be doing now."
Marie didn't give a reply, simply entering the cafe. As she walked by Annabeth, she moved her head, hitting Annabeth in the face with one of her two, long braids.
Annabeth simply laughed, following Marie in.
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