Chapter 4

Saturday rolled along and Annabeth begrudgingly slipped into her dress for the charity ball. The first thing that Lacey had said when she walked into her cubicle was, "You look like a deranged cat."

Annabeth replied, "Well thanks Lacey."

"No problem," Lacey replied, happily typing away. Annabeth growled. She needed these quotes pretty badly. Most of the bigwigs that meant something to the downfall and the rise to the economy were there. Big shares. Big money. She really needed the interviews. As much was Annabeth hated shoving her microphone in front of some Armani-suited, unsuspecting rich guy, she had to do it.

No shame Annabeth, you are apart of the paps.

Hopefully, she'd get a quick ticket in. If she has to go through the back door, she will. If there's no backdoor... the kitchen would work fine too. She glanced at her destroyed cuticles and her less-than-pretty nails.

Hours came and passed until it was half past six.

"Gotta go Lace."

"Have fun!" Lacey yelled back.

Annabeth called a cab and told the driver to bring her to the Dare Hotel. The car was filled with cigarette smoke, and she rolled down the window to breathe in the heady city air. They stopped a block away, and the driver said, "This is as far as I can go. Thirty-five, seventy five." Annabeth counted and handed her money before slamming the door. The car took off, leaving a lasting smell of smoke and leftover coffee.

She walked to the lit up entrance of the hotel, admiring the beautiful flowers that neatly lined the glass doors. As expected, the immediately bumped into a crowd of rowdy paps, snapping their cameras, the obtrusive flashes pierced the dark, serene night, The cameramen turned around to look at Annabeth, and realized that she wasn't anyone before turning around.

Annabeth made her way to the side entrance, hoping that her pass as a writer from The Half-Blood Tribune would her her somewhere. As she waited in line amongst the other annoyed writers, she looked at the line of people walking down the red carpet.

"Miss. Miss. Miss!" Someone yelled next to her ear. Annabeth turned around, to see a big security guard.

"Name?" He asked.

"Annabeth Chase."

"Be aware that we are to only allow a limited amount of people in. Where are you from?"

"San Francisco."

He blinked at her, "I've never heard a newspaper or magazine that's named-"

"Wait!" Annabeth blushed, "I meant the Half-Blood Tribune."

"Sorry, your not allowed in," He said.

"What?" Annabeth said, "I'm from-"

"I know which company you work for. Look, I can only allow a certain number of people in okay? We only have about five slots left, and look behind you. There's still about eighty people waiting to get in. You guys are all paps. Get your quotes from somewhere else." The man said angrily. Annabeth pursed her lips and looked at the large metal door behind him. She needed to get in.

"I'm not going to steal quotes from some other magazine! There's copyright and I need to make deals and it wouldn't be proper!" Annabeth said. Her cheeks flushed and she jabbed her finger angrily in his chest.

"I don't care, go somewhere else."

Annabeth looked at the paper he was holding. It was a list of people and magazines. Her eyes quickly scanned the list and muttered profanities.

"The Youngsters Gossip is in there! Their work isn't even up to par to The Ongoing Pen! You should know that they have horrible quality." Annabeth protested.

"First come first serve. The Demigod Times are already in. They brought about ten people." He said. The security guard roughly pushed her to the side and Annabeth sighed. She hated this. The kitchen it is.

Annabeth never really liked going through the kitchen, because it meant several different things:

She had to locate the kitchen door

She had to go through a mix of splashing water

And if someone pulled her over to check if she was actually invited, she would get kicked out (at best) or reported to the police (at worst).

Finding the kitchen door was relatively easy. In most buildings, they were located in the back, where the employee parking lot was. Though at the Dare Hotel, the employee parking lot was surrounded by a six feet tall green fence. The kitchen door stood inside the enclosed parking lot and the only way in was through the officer that controlled cars that whet in or out or the locked door. Annabeth brushed her hand along the fence, trying to make sure that her heels didn't click too loudly on the sidewalk. How to do this... how to do this...

She reached the locked door and gently shook it.

"Hello?" Someone yelled. She froze, and slowly turned around. The officer was looking straight at her. She hoped that he couldn't see her and slowly backed away from the street light, hiding behind the building. Faintly, she heard the clicks of the officer's shoes and she tried to control the breathing. There was a twist, a click and the locked door opened.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" The officer asked. Annabeth breathed heavily and peered around the brick. She leaned into the wall and hoped that it could swallow her whole. The officer's face was illuminated by the lights and when he turned around, Annabeth inhaled sharply and ducked back behind the building. She heard the officer walk away and re-lock the door.

Annabeth sighed, and made sure that she heard nothing before walking back towards the door. She patted her hair to find a bobby pin, but found none. Climbing it is.

She scurried to a place that was dark and placed her heel in one of the ridges in the fence. With one deep breath, she lifted herself up, and stood there, her fingers tightly gripping the cold wire. She slowly moved up, little by little, making sure that she didn't shift her weight too much. When she finally reached the top, she was hyperventilating and sweaty. She turned around and made her way back down the other side of the fence. She landed down with a big sigh and heard her heels click loudly.

"Hello?"

Ohshitohshitohshit. She quickly dashed behind one of the cars and sat there, trying not to make her breathing too obvious. Annabeth heard the officer coming close to her and she slowly inched herself across the pavement, wincing as the loose gravel dug into her thighs. The more space I make between us, the better I would be. Squatting, she walked over to the other car, making her way towards the kitchen door. She went by several trucks and compact cars before facing her next dilemma. All of the cars provided her sufficient space to hide, but it was almost impossible to hide behind a motorcycle. Plus, she heard the officer's footsteps getting closer and closer. After that, all of the parking slots were empty leading up to the kitchen door. Who parks farther from the kitchen door? Don't you want the closest spot? She cursed and sat there, thinking of plans. Okay, on a count of three, I'm going to run all the way to the door.

One.

Two.

Th-

Her thoughts were broken into pieces when she heard a trilling ring tone of a phone. Her phone.

"Three," She muttered, turning off her phone and dashing to the door.

"Hey! Wait! Stop!" The officer yelled, but she had already made it into the kitchen. She slammed the dirty white door behind her and locked it.

"Raf, do you have the ol-" A man turned and stared at her.

"Your not Raf," He said.

"Of course I'm not," Annabeth replied back smoothly. She smiled warmly at the man and said, "Everything smells delicious. Just don't mind me." She calmly walked through the kitchen, giving out compliments, still trying to calm down her beating heart.

"I just got lost, sorry!" Annabeth apologized. When she walked past the swinging doors, she found herself in the cashier side of a bar. She slid through the door (ignoring the 'Employees Only' sign) and walked into the party.

Don't get noticed Annabeth. Your just here to interrogate and write your copy. Don't be obvious, because your not supposed to be here.

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