Annabeth's PoV

Prom was coming up, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited. Because this was my first year of public school, I haven't been to any school dances, and, despite the rumors, I do occasionally like to get dressed up. I get to go dress shopping with the girls and get away from the guys for awhile (don't get me wrong, they're great, but I definitely need a break from their antics), so that's exactly what I was doing. Nicole, Skylar, and Alexis met Piper, Hazel, Katie, Reyna, Juniper, Rachel, Holly, Holly's friend Zoe, and me at a small coffee shop before we all walked to the mall together. I explained that Holly refused to stay home alone with the boys, so we'd offered to let her come along with us and Zoe would keep her from driving us up the walls. Zoe was a quiet girl with the prettiest eyes I'd ever seen. They were purple with gold flecks in them. She was even shorter than Holly, had black hair, and she was very pale. She was one of the unclaimed Demigods at camp, but she should be claimed soon. Luckily, no one had any complaints about them coming along. Most of the girls were chatting excitedly about their dates, so I slowed down my pace to walk next to Reyna.

"How're you doing?" I asked.

She gave me a smile, "I'm good, how are you?"

"I'm great..." I trailed off before shaking my head. "Seriously though, how are you? Everyone else are excited about their dates, don't get me wrong, I can respect not going crazy about this stuff, but I-"

"I don't have a date-"

"I know that, that's why I was checking-"

"You knew?"

"Well, yeah. You haven't said anything about it to anyone- to me or Piper. Seriously how are you?"

"I'm fine I don't need- don't want- a date. There's no one I want to go with." I raised an eyebrow and she rolled her eyes. "I'm not attracted to anybody. Getting away from New Rome for awhile helped me realize I was always looking for someone to share power with me, and I confused that as a crush. I think that's what Venus meant when she said no one could cure my broken heart. She knew I'd never find a romantic love and thought that meant I was broken." She took another sip of her coffee before continuing, "I know now that's crap. I have friends- no a family- who loves me, and I've never been happier."

"Am I right to assume I'm part of this so called family?"

"Yeah, you're the weird aunt." I gasped in mock hurt before bumping into her causing her to chuckle. "You and Piper are the closest I've had to sisters since Hylla left again. I know I can count on her, but she's not always there, and with good reason too." I gave her a hug and she hugged back. We then threw away our now empty cups and walked in to try on dresses.

"Come on, Alexis, you can't just try on one dress and call it good," Katie groaned as she tried to pull Alexis off of her chair.

"I can and did. I like the color, and it fit me, what more do I need?"

"What if there's a better one?" Skylar asked her.

"Then I don't care. I like this one," Alexis held up a knee length red dress that had one of those fluffy bottoms. The strops had jem looking things on them.

Piper looked up from where she was helping Nicole, "I like it."

"Thank you Piper," Alexis said as she sat down. "Now I can help everyone else choose." Katie and Skylar rolled their eyes, but went to look.

After a few minutes Piper walked out of a dressing room wearing a white dress with a lace back that ended just above her knees. "Good?"

All of us looked at her and smiled, "Perfect."

"Great!" Piper changed out of the dress before walking up to Reyna and me. "Need help?"

"Yes," Reyna and I said in unison.

"Okay..." Piper got busy helping us.

"What about these?" We looked up to see Nicole and Hazel standing infront of the dressing rooms. Hazel's dress flowed out from her waist and ended in between her ankles and knees. It had long sleeves and was a bright shade of yellow. Nicole's was a black full length that stuck out from her waist. It also had long sleeves, but the back had a low scoop.

"They look great!" Piper exclaimed and the rest of us gave our compliments.

"Thanks," Nicole said with a small blush. "I'm going to go cha-"

"Wait!" Skylar burst out of her dressing room in a light blue dress. It was fitted and ended right above her knees, but it had a sheer full length skirt over it too. It was sleeveless and had a jeweled belt. "I want to see" She looked at Hazel and Nicole before smiling. "You two look great."

"Thank you," Hazel said with a smile. "You look very pretty too."

"Thanks!" Skylar said happily before leaving to change.

A few minutes late Katie and Juniper watked out. Juniper was wearing one of those mermaid fit dresses. The straps were lace and covered her shoulders. The dress faded from a light blue to a light purple as the dress went down. Katie's was a strapless dress that was a blue green color and flowed down to her knees. After being assured they went to change and Rachel walked out in a full length green dress. It was strapples and had gold cross straps on her waist.

"This is the on, and no one's going to change my mind," Rachel said spinning in a small circle.

"Okay," Piper said. "You're lucky it looks good."

After more sifting through dresses and trying on multiple fails, Piper shoved a dress in my arms before pushing me into a dressing room. I put on the dark blue dress that flowed down to the floor. The sheer straps covered my shoulders and gave the illusion of crossing behind my back, crossing in the front, and meeting again it the back. I walked out of the dressing room, and all the girls smiled.

"That's the one," they agreed. I smiled, happy to be done, and changed back into my clothes. When I walked out Reyna was in a dress. It was made of multiple full length flowy pieces that created a split when she walked. It was a dark shade af purple and was held on by one strap that, when it crossed her chest, wrapped around the fabric.

"Think you could beat someone up in that?" Alexis asked.

Reyna gave a slightly confused smile, "Yeah...why?"

"Because there's no way you're not wearing that one, and now you don't have an excuse not to," Alexis explained with a smile.

"Great! Let's pay and get out of here," Reyna said as she went to change.

Holly quickly jumped up from her corner she'd been watching from and exclaimed, "Food!"

"Accesories and shoes first," Skylar said causing both Holly and Alexis to sigh. We paid, left, and walked down to our next store. We quickly found shoes to match our dresses and Piper and Nicole managed to match ties to our dresses. We were looking for dresses when every hair on my neck stood on end. I reached for my knife that I had hidden in the waist band of my jeans, but, when I turned around, I saw it wold be useless. Miria, Vivian, and Tracy had just walked in along with another girl I'd neve met before. She was tan with black hair and light blue eyes. I could tell Miria saw me because she smirked and walked over to me.

"Annabeth, I'm shocked to see you here! I didn't know you'd be going to prom!"

"I don't get why I wouldn't. I do have a very sweet boyfriend who wants to take me."

"I don't get why he's going with you. You know, he went with me last year."

"Really? I'm pretty sure I remember calling him last year and he told me about how excited everone was for this prom, but he didn't go."

"He must have been sparing your feelings."

"She went with Ben Kanker last year," Rachel said without looking up from the jewelry she was looking at.

Miria only stopped talking for a second before starting again, "This is Marissa," she said gesturing to the new girl, "her mom models with mine." I gave a nod and rolled my eyes; I couldn't exactly pull the my-mom-is-a-goddess card. I was saved from further torture when Holly dragged Zoe over to me.

"Food."

"Okay, let me check out, then I'll take you to the food court." Holly dragged me off, and I checked out. On my way out of the store I heard Miria call after me.

"See you at prom! Just hope you don't fall!"

I smiled at Percy as I walked down the stairs; he looked great. He was wearing a black button up, a blue tye, and a black vest. He took my hand and Sally almost started crying.

"I have the camera," Paul said as he came into the room.

"Mom-"

"Hold still and let me take your picture," Sally said. After getting her picture she waved her hands. "Everyone get together." All of us, including our new friends and a the dates of everyone who didn't frequent the house, gathered into a large group before a few more pictres were taken. Sally then pulled Will and his girlfriend, Bri, to the side to get a picture. Bri had fair skin, light blonde hair with purple streaks, and purple eyes. I assumed she wore contacts, but with the world I live in, I wouldn't b suprised if they weren't. Her hair was pinned up similar to mine and szhe wore a sleeveless dress that matched the streaks in her hair. I smiled at Will before walking up to the familiar blond. I squeezed the son of Apollo from behind, causing him to jump.

"First Nico, now you? Are you people trying to give me a heart attack?!"

"It's good to see you too, Will," having two Wills could get confusing...I ignored the thought for the time being. "How's school?"

"Boring." Percy ruffeled his hair before we left to talk to the others gathered here.

"Hey Connor, who's this?" Percy asked as he shook the short girl's hand. She wore a dark brown dress that complimented her cocoa brown skin and black hair. Her dark grey eyes stuck out against her skin, and I smiled when I noticed her shoes. She was wearing brown Converse High Tops.

"Percy, Annabeth, this is Alaysha Pierce. Laysha, this is Percy and Annabeth." I shook her hand, and she gave us a crooked smile.

"Hiya."

"Hey," Percy returned. We talked for a few minutes before walking over to the twins.

Alexis immediatly began introductions, "We have to leave soon, so this is my date, Jay Jefferson, and Alex's date Sophie Rose." Jay's hair hair was brown, but there was a tint of faded blue in it too. He had dark brown eyes and fairly tan skin. Sophie was fair skinned with blonde hair and greyish blue eyes. Her dress was TARDIS blue, and I got the feeling that wasn't a coicidence. Right after being introduced, we were ushered out the door and sent to prom.

The dance was going great. Maria had stopped bothering us after half an hour of Percy ignoring her. We'd had a few hours of fun, and they were finally going to announce the king and queen. Miria shot me a dirty look, but I pretended not to see her. Tonight was my night with Percy.

"This year's Goode Highschool Prom King is..." we all sat in suspense for the announcement, and it took everything in me not to laugh. "Grover Underwood!" As we cheered I hugged Grover, and Percy gave him a slap on the back. 

"Congrats man!"

Grover looked terrified as he walked up the steps to the stage. When he got up he stared at the crowd before giving a small, awkward wave. Everyone chuckled at him good naturedly. 

"Finally, the moment you've all been waiting for: This year's Goode Highschool Prom Queen is....Juniper Dryad!" I hugged Juniper before she walked up the steps and grabbed a now smiling Grover's hand.

The two crowned each other and, after a lot of cheering, shared a small kiss. They began the slow dance, and adfter a little while, Percy grabbed my hand and led me out to the dance floor.

"I think I still owe you that dance," he whispered as he turned to face me.

I laughed, "I'm pretty sure you've already made up for that."

"Oh well," he muttered. He began to hum along to the song causing me to chuckle.

"You know this song?"

"Sorta."

I smiled before kissisng him in the middle of the dance floor, and I didn't care who saw because we'd waited so long to have a normal moment like this.

Another day without you with me
is like a blade that cuts right through me.
I can wait.
I can wait forever.

A/N: ....................hi? So this is the second to last chapter of this book. I was just going to drop it, but then I saw how many people read this, and I remembered all the dedicated readers who have been with me since the begining. I guess this is my way of saying thank you. I'll get the next chapter up ASAP (possiply within the next few hours). Thank you all so much for taking time out of your lives to read my story, it means a lot to me.