A/N: Hey guys! THis is going to be my first FanFic that i don't plan on deleting right after i post it sooooooo . . . Wish me luck! (Dont worry I'm not planning on taking this one down). I don't have an updating schedule yet so i will just post whenever which will probably be a lot in the next week or so. Bye and Enjoy the story! :)

September of Junior Year

"Chase?" The nurse called. Annabeth snapped her head up and saw a blonde nurse holding a clipboard. She grabbed Matthew's and Bobby's hands and walked towards the door. "Great! Follow me."

The nurse walked through the white and sterile hallways of the hospital to the room Annabeth was quite familiar with.

"Alright, you can take a seat and the doctor will be here in a moment." She left and shut the door, leaving them in one of the many rooms of the children's section. This was the room that the Chase family discovered that Matthew had cancer.

Brain cancer, to be exact.

It usually took a while for the doctor to come in, so Annabeth took out her chemistry homework to start balancing equations. Being with Bobby and Matthew at their every waking moment means little time for homework. The twins just played on their phones. About twenty minutes later, the doctor walks in. Annabeth stands up when she hears the door open, when suddenly the doctor says, "You might want to sit down for this."

. . .

A year. Matthew has a year left.

Annabeth doesn't say anything on the car ride home, although she knows she should in order to calm the twins. She just lets the music play. Both of the twins are looking out the windows of the car, both sitting in the back seat. She drives to the house and opens the front door, then locks it again behind Matthew and Bobby. Helen, Annabeth's step mother and the twins real mother, lays passed out on the couch, a broken wine glass on the floor. Annabeth goes to the kitchen and starts making Mac and Cheese for the twins.

If she doesn't do it, who will?

Her stepmom is passed out most of the time and when she's awake, she is not sober. Her dad is constantly working and he claims it's to pay for the medical bills. The thing is, they're not exactly a poor family with living in the house that they do live in. She suspects it is to avoid them completely, a painful reminder of his first wife and the twin who had a life threatening disease. He leaves before Annabeth wakes up and gets home after she goes to bed. She strained the mac and cheese and hears her stepmom move in her sleep.

"Matthew and Bobby, could you please set the table?" She asks nicely. Even though all they need is plates, spoons, and glasses for water, she still tries to keep dinner fairly normal. Annabeth can't cook, so she is currently trying to learn on her free time, even if that time is very limited. She finishes and spoons it on to each plate, and they eat in silence.

Matthew is only in seventh grade, he doesn't deserve this. Even with a supportive family, it would be tough. Not to mention parents that ignored you once you were diagnosed. Annabeth has taken care of Matthew and Bobby for two years, ever since the boys were in the fifth grade. It was hard when Annabeth didn't have a car and couldn't get groceries or take them to Matthew's doctor appointments. But now it's easier. Now, it's a routine for their parents to not pay attention.

By now, they've gotten used to it.

While the twins finish eating, Annabeth grabs the broom to sweep up the glass shards in the living room. She then proceeded to wipe the red wine off the floor, but she knew it would still leave a red tinge in the wooden boards. After they finish eating, she washes the dishes and cleans the kitchen, since her parents don't.

"So do you guys want to play a board game or something?" Annabeth asks when they enter the twin's room, plastering a fake smile on her face. She spends every moment she can with them, trying to keep them in a positive mood. "The movie Onward just came out, do you want to watch that? I can make popcorn," she adds, trying to sway them into saying yes.

"Sure," Bobby says, looking up from the floor.

"Why not?" Matthew replies, shifting from side to side on the floor.

"Ok, great. We can get our pajamas on and I will start making popcorn."

One more year, you gotta make the most of it, Annabeth.

. . .

She walked downstairs to make herself some tea. She had been studying late and was hoping the warm drink would help her concentrate. The teen tiptoed down the stairs, trying to not wake her stepmother who was sleeping on the arm chair at the window. When the tea was done and heated to a boil, she took it off the stove to put in her favorite cup. She turned to see her step mother glaring at her, eye to eye. At the age of fifteen, she was already the same height as Helen.

"What do you think you're doing?" She snarled. "You don't deserve this food. You don't deserve this house. You don't even deserve this family." Helen took another sip of her wine glass, completely emptying it of the red liquid. She then turned around, looking for the rest of the bottle. She found it, then turned around to face her step daughter.

"Really? Because this family is made up of an alcoholic mother and a father that is a ghost because we never see him. And we never see you sober." Clearly that was not the right thing to say, because her step mother slapped her across the face, hard. Her steaming tea splashed across her thin night shirt, scorching the skin underneath. Her mug crashed to the floor, ruining the mosaic design of the colors that have always soothed her. She gapes in shock, mouth wide. She tries blinking back the tears, holding them in didn't work, no matter how hard she tries. She could feel the skin on her cheek starting to swell, it hurt to just blink. The tears running down her face, stinging the irritated skin, brought her back to reality.

"I was a good mother to Matthew and Bobby. They never deserved what they got, and it wasn't my fault Matt got sick. So who's was it then?" Helen asks, then takes another chug straight from the expensive wine bottle. "It was yours."

. . .

Annabeth woke up fully clothed, head down at her desk. Her hair was plastered to her face with sweat, and she was hyperventilating. Her alarm was still ringing and she turned to the side to shut it off. She walked down the hall to wake up the twins. She took a shower, washing the nightmares of the night away. That one took place when the twins were only ten. That was the first time Helen had hit her. Since then, she only goes downstairs for meals and to get to the front door. Annabeth still covers up the occasional bruise and has to clean a cut every so often. The shower was cold when she finally got out and dried herself with a towel. Annabeth hoped that Matthew and Bobby would never have to experience that, so she never told them. She kept them as far away from the truth as possible.

She then got ready, made breakfast for the three of them and then made all of their lunches. The twins came down soon, still rubbing their eyes. Annabeth's high school was farther away, so she had to drop the boys off pretty early if she wanted to make it on time. She didn't trust her stepmother to drive them anymore.

"Alright, get in the car, we're leaving for school!" Annabeth calls, swinging her back pack on. Today she was wearing dark blue jeans with a white sweater and brown- lace up boots. Her frizzy hair was in a pony, and she grabbed her hat as she walked out the door.

. . .

Annabeth opened her locker and grabbed the books she needed from her classes after dropping the twins off at school. It was now lunch, and she was making a locker stop again. The blonde closed her locker to see Piper, a beautiful Cherokee girl, with a bright smile on her face. Annabeth sat with her and her friends at lunch and had a couple classes with her. They were just barely friends from Annabeth's perspective. From Piper's, they've known each other for years.

"Hey Annabeth! We're having a girls night this Saturday. Do you want to come?" Piper pleaded, hope in her eyes. She looked gorgeous as always, with her unevenly chopped hair and her eyes that could never settle on one color.

"I'm sorry, I can't. Maybe another time?" Annabeth says. She hates leaving the boys at home alone. She knows they are old enough and responsible, she just doesn't trust Helen. Even when she very rarely leaves, she asks her neighbor Hazel to check up on them every so often.

"Please please please Please? Thalia- Jason's older sister-, Calypso, Reyna, and I will all be there. It would be so much fun if you could come, too!" The two teenagers walk to their usual table, right in the middle of the room. Annabeth takes her normal spot at the end, with Piper across from her. Calypso sits to her left, and then Reyna on the other side of Calypso. Across from Calypso is where Leo sits, and to the right side of him sits Jason- well when he gets there that is. It was the first day of junior year, but they've been sitting in these seats since forever.

"Hey, what's up Piper?" Leo asks as Annabeth and Piper sit down. He was a small latino boy, with curly hair. Other people were always laughing with all the jokes he made.

"I was just trying to convince Annie here to come to girls night with us."

Leo then turns to look at Annabeth and says, "Are you sure you don't want to go? Because some crazy shit goes down-."

"Shh, Leo! We don't want to scare her!" Calypso yells, covering his mouth. Calypso has big brown doe eyes, with long light brown hair that trails down her back. Piper laughs, throwing her head back.

"All I'm saying is that if I was invited to girls night, I'm definitely going." Leo says, making Piper laugh even more.

When she finally stops laughing, Piper says, "Leo, for what it is worth, you would make a lovely girl."

This makes Calypso giggle, and Annabeth just smiles, refocusing on her food.

"Hey guys, what's happenening?" Jason questions finally arriving at their table. Jason has blonde hair, a little longer than most boys, and a strong jaw with a small scar on his upper lip. Even he doesn't remember what he did to get that. An unfamiliar boy with dark hair follows him. He looks up, and Annabeth sees that he has the most stunning sea-green eyes. He's tall and muscular, at least that's what it looks like from the fitted shirt he's wearing.

Piper blushed, stating, "We were just talking about how Leo would make a wonderful girl." Anyone could tell she had a gigantic crush on a particular blonde, well, except Jason.

"Well this is Percy, he just transferred here. We are in the same Biology class and I told him he could sit with us at lunch. So Leo- no frightening him away."

Leo holds his hands up in the air and states, "I make no promises." Percy smiles, one side a little higher- a crooked smile. His eyes are alive and very deep, full of empathy. She can already tell that he will be a major target for a lot of girls.

"So this is Leo, as you can tell, and that's Piper, Annabeth, and Calypso," Jason explains, pointing to each one of them as he says their name. There is a chorus of "Hello"s and "Nice to meet you"s from around the table, but Annabeth just silently waves and then the teenage boys sit down. As lunch continues, she observes Percy and how all the others react around him. She was great at reading people. She knew right away that Helen wasn't going to be the mother that Annabeth wanted. She learns he is the captain of the swim team- as a junior- and that his favorite color is blue. That is all she can pick up, as he doesn't talk about himself almost at all.

"So what's better, summer or winter?" Leo prompts the group of friends.

"Definitely summer," Percy responds and everyone else nods, agreeing with him. In summer, Annabeth doesn't have school to worry about along with the twins, although it also means that she spends more time at home with her step mom. "In the winter, you can't go in the ocean- which I love the beach by the way- , you'd freeze your ass off." Percy continues, receiving a laugh from all the others.

"True, but I personally like winter. It's the time of year where I can randomly shove snow down Superman's- oh that's Jason by the way- back and hear him scream like a five year old girl." Leo contradicts, earning a glare from Jason.

Jason grumbles, "Well I'm glad to see I'm a source of entertainment."

"Damn right you are," Piper says, looking down so no one can see the red on her cheeks. Then the bell rings, dismissing them from lunch, and Annabeth jumps from her seat to rush to her next class, which is history.

A/N: I promise that Frank and Hazel will be a ship, i just get so sad when they're not. It's not one of my favorites, but I'm disappointed when they are not even in some FanFics. They will become important later- at least i plan to make them important. So anyways, please review if you have any suggestions! I don't exactly know where this story is going yet, so if you have any ideas let me Know!

Thanks for reading!- G