Annabeth:

I smiled to myself as I watched Luke try to teach Sophie how to read, which wasn't going well but it was adorable.

I quickly shifted my attention to finishing an email to my mother-in-law.

Everything's fine. Just have fun with Paul, you deserve some time alone. Cally's good. Percy's great, too. You should see it right now. Luka is trying to teach Sophie how to read.

-Annabeth

I pressed send on my new blackberry, and I was about to look back to Luke when the door swung open.

I turned to look through the archway and saw Cally, my sister-in-law who happened to be thirteen. When Percy was about eighteen, his parents adopted little Cally. And, because I hated the fact that Paul had named her Calypso, I was the one who created the nickname of Cally. Little Cally had stolen a lot of date nights from me and Percy, but I had never cared.

When Paul and Sally went on a huge work trip last week, it was simple that Cally come here and stay in the attic room that we fixed up because my parents kept flying in from California to see Sophie and Luke.

Calli didn't say anything about Luke being adorable, which sort of surprised me, and she slammed the door. She ran up the stairs in record time and the attic door squeaked open around the time that I would have been just up the stairs.

Luke looked back at me, and I smiled weakly.

"Watch Sophie for a minute, Luke. I'll be back soon. Just have to go check on Cally."

Luke looked back to Sophie and, more likely, the Bubble Guppies episode I had on for him.

One day I am going to have to kill the creators of that show…

I put my blackberry down, realizing that I probably just jinxed it, and I slid off my heels. I quickly went up the stairs to the second floor and looked up at the Attic door that Cally had closed behind her.

"Cally?"

One.

Two.

Three.

And no response, which meant that Cally wasn't going to ever respond.

I reached up on my tippy toes, wishing Percy was here to open the attic, and pulled the door down, bringing the stairs with it.

I didn't hear any objections from Cally, so I climbed up and looked at the thirteen year old.

Though she looked nothing like her family, she was beautiful in her own way. Her eyes were a chocolate brown, and she had the long brown hair that I had wanted when I was her age because I hated the "Dumb Blonde" thing. And she was a sweet girl, who maybe cared a little too much about Luke and Sophie, but I just found that adorable.

Cally had her face buried in a purple pillow, crying I think.

I was about to ask what happened when I noticed the picture of a boy Cally had told me about, Robby I think, had been ripped in half.

Now I get it.

I bent down to get the picture and came to sit on the bed.

"I'm guessing this has something to do with this guy?" I smiled weakly as I held up the photo, and Cally looked up from the bedspread.

"Robby," Cally nodded as she wiped away a tear.

"First boyfriend?"

"I guess," Cally shrugs, "But he was just trying to get with this girl named Ramona who hates me and is a known boyfriend-stealer. And it worked."

I nodded and put the photo back down on the bedspread.

"I know what you're going to say, Annabeth," Cally started, "That I'm too young for stuff like that and that I should just be having fun. I know."

I paused for a moment.

"I'm not going to say that," I shook my head.

"Then what are you going to say?" Calli propped herself up on her elbows and looked at me with curiosity.

"I would have loved to have had a boyfriend when I was thirteen. But I didn't," I shrugged, "I was always moving around, and I was kind of 'One of the Guys', instead of one of the girls that the guys wanted to date."

Cally sat straight up at me, her brown eyes wide with shock.

"I can't believe you admitted that," Cally smiled, almost laughing, "My mom just gave me the 'Life' speech."

"The life speech?"

"You know. If you start dating early, you'll do…other things early. And, if you do early things early, it's more likely you'll get pregnant young. And, if you get pregnant young, you'll have to grow up young. And basically it can ruin your life."

I stared at her for a minute.

"Wow, Sally does not hold back," I laughed to myself.

"She doesn't want me to have to go through everything she did," Cally shrugged with a blush.

"She did go through a lot, I guess," I nodded.

"Any life lesson you want to give me?"

I hesitated.

"If you have a crush on your best friend, don't push him away like I did. It usually makes him hang around other girls, and that'll drive you insane, I promise."

Cally smiled, having heard the stories from her older brother, and she looked back down at the photo of Robby.

"Do you have any advice about being dumped?" Cally asked hopefully.

"Three things. A. Throw away all of his stuff. B. Eat Ice Cream all night. C. Get even in the morning."

She smiled and wrapped her arms around my neck.

"I love you, Annabeth."

"I love you, too, Cally."