a/n: I do not own any of the wonderful character thought up by Rick Riordan. It's my first fanfiction and I would love not to get sued.
Anyway, hope you enjoy!
Annabeth tugged on her, highly unflattering, khaki knee length shorts and quickly whipped her curly blonde hair into a ponytail. She checked her phone again, 9:45 am. She sighed, relieved she still had 5 minutes. She went to her 'kitchen' (it was really just a sink, a bowl of fruit, and a fridge) and grabbed a banana. She was seconds from walking out the door when she caught a good look at herself in the mirror.
Annabeth made an unintelligible noise of panic, similar to something a cow might make, and ran back to the bathroom. She stuffed the rest of the banana into her mouth and haphazardly dropped her black iPhone down onto the counter with a loud thud. She preceded to hastily wet a towel and rub her eyes, attempting to clean the black stains that lined her eyes.
After pulling out a dozen or so eyelashes, the makeup was off and Annabeth shook her head. She needed to remember Piper's cardinal rule of make up: always wash your face before going to bed. But what if Annabeth couldn't help it? She had almost collapsed in the kitchen, barely reaching her bed, when she came home from running the snacks cart on the scorching golf court all day. She had returned to the room utterly exhausted and crashed.
Annabeth picked her phone up off the counter and ran back into their tiny kitchen. She grabbed the bag she'd left on top of the refrigerator the night before, slipped on her white sandals and ran out the door. She kept a casual pace during her walk to the towel shack and was a little irked that her calculations had somehow had her arrive a minute or two late to her destination.
She checked her phone one last time, 10:02, before, after glancing around to make sure her task supervisor was no where in sight, jumped over the counter and scrambled around looking for her name tag. She finally found it.
Annabeth Chase
Jr. Employee
Annabeth straightened up quickly, hitting her head hard on a shelf. She rubbed her head for a second then tried not to prick herself as she briskly attached her name tag to her pink and yellow Hawaiian shirt. Once it was securely attached she texted Piper.
Where are you?!
She was about to send the message when she was interrupted by her supervisor, Ariel Lee.
"Good morning. I'm glad you're here on time today," the skinny Asian woman towering over her greeted in a nasally voice Annabeth would never get used to hearing. Ariel directed her puckered bright red lips at Annabeth, expecting a response.
"Morning." Annabeth smile brightly but the expression didn't reach her eyes. "Where is Piper?"
"She had to run to the ladies room but she'll be back soon." Ariel reached into one of the many folders she was holding in the crook of her left arm and pulled out two sheets of paper. "Here is your schedule for the next two weeks," she informed, handing the first page to Annabeth. "And this," she motioned to the second sheet and laid it on the table facing down, "is Piper's schedule for the next two weeks. it's private. So that means...?" She leaned forward and peered into Annabeth's gray eyes, waiting for her finish the sentence.
"That I shouldn't look at it." Annabeth guessed, trying to hide a slight smile at the redundancy. She was asked to finish the statement almost every week and almost every week neither she, nor Piper, followed the rule.
"No," her supervisor rolled her eyes, "that you won't."
"Of course." Annabeth offered an apologetic grin.
"Don't clock out early," Ariel instructed as she slid the papers towards Annabeth. She checked the immaculate watch wrapped around her left wrist and briefly looked back up at Annabeth. "Have a nice day."
Annabeth gave her a labored smile as Ariel spun around swiftly and walked away. Annabeth kept smiling until she could no longer see her short black hair or hear her heels clicking on the cement. When all trace of Ariel had finally disappeared Annabeth relaxed her face, frowning slightly at the soreness in her cheeks.
She tipped her head back and examined the dozens of turquoise towels that surrounded her. She took a deep breath and leaned back, letting herself be consumed by the forest of sea green. With the schedules still held tight to her chest, Annabeth closed her eyes and left the cool summer breeze wash across her features, eddying away some of the lines stress ingrained into her face.
Annabeth, even from inside the towel shack, swore she could smell the ocean and feel it's humidity. It felt closer than usual. Her eyes fluttered open, allowing her analytical gray eyes to watch over slow moving clouds in the sky. She blinked slowly and tried to imagine she were there right now, wading through the refreshing water.
"Hey weirdo." Piper's voice broke Annabeth out of her trance.
"Hey." Annabeth shifted her gaze down to face the pretty brunette.
"I think you're scaring people, you kinda look dead." Piper leaned over the white counter. Annabeth eyes scanned her friend's appearance noted how much lighter her brown hair was.
Probably from the sun, she theorized.
Annabeth chuckled lightly at the jest and handed over Piper's schedule. "Your updated schedule." She took Piper's silence to look down at her own schedule, surprised she'd held it for so long.
Annabeth Chase - Jr. Employee #0041539
6/6 Sunday: 10:00am-1:30am Towel Shack (East pool) 3:00pm-8:00pm Jake's Seafood Grill
7/6 Monday: 7:00am-12:00am Emporium 1:30pm-7:00pm Lux Lounge
8/6 Tuesday: 9:00am-1:30am Emporium 3:00pm-8:00pm Jake's Seafood Grill
9/6 Wednesday: 7:00am-12:00am Emporium 1:30pm-7:00pm Lux Lounge
10/6 Thursday: Free day
11/6 Friday: 7:00am-7:00am-12:00am Emporium 1:30pm-7:00pm Lux Lounge
12/6 Saturday: 9:00am-1:30am Emporium 3:00pm-8:00pm Jake's Seafood Grill
13/6 Sunday: 7:00am-12:00am Emporium 1:30pm-7:00pm Lux Lounge
14/6 Monday: 9:00am-1:30am Emporium 3:00pm-8:00pm Jake's Seafood Grill
15/6 Tuesday: 7:00am-12:00am Emporium 1:30pm-7:00pm Lux Lounge
16/6 Wednesday: 9:00am-1:30am Emporium 3:00pm-8:00pm Jake's Seafood Grill
17/6 Thursday: Free day
18/6 Friday: 9:00am-1:30am Emporium 3:00pm-8:00pm Jake's Seafood Grill
19/6 Saturday:7:00am-12:00am Emporium 1:30pm-7:00pm Lux Lounge
20/6 Sunday: 9:00am-1:30am Emporium 3:00pm-8:00pm Jake's Seafood Grill
"When's your free day?" Annabeth asked Piper while reading over what activities her life would consist of for the next two weeks.
"Thursday. Yours?" Piper questioned, the furrow of her brow showing her displeasure with her given tasks.
"Me too!," Annabeth exclaimed excitedly. It was the first time they'd had their off day together since they'd started the summer job.
"Really?" Piper picked up her head, her kaleidoscope eyes shining. "Wait, let me see your schedule." Annabeth handed Piper her schedule and picked up Piper's.
"Ooh, you got showers." Annabeth looked over at Piper who caught her apologetic gaze and nodded. "I'm so sorry." Annabeth tried not to laugh but she couldn't help it when imagining Piper cleaning dirty pool showers.
"I have emporium from 7:00 to 12:00. So that overlaps but other than that," Piper checked Annabeth's schedule again, just to be sure, "nothing." The brunette gave her friend an exaggerated pout. "We don't have any other jobs together."
"Cheer up!" Annabeth was beginning to feel guilty for talking Piper into this 2-month job, especially when she was miraculously getting the okay jobs and her roommate was stuck with the abysmal ones. "At least we have Thursday to spend time together."
"Yeah," Piper smiled showing her pearly white teeth. "Anyway, are you excited?!" Her eyes widened as if, she also, were remembering the source of her amusement.
"Excuse me!" Piped a little voice from next to Piper. They looked over and saw an 11-year-old girl in a pink one piece.
"Yes, can we help you?" Piper inquired charmingly.
"Can I get a towel, please?" The little girl pointed to the shelves behind Annabeth.
"Sure. Can I get your room number?" Annabeth replied reaching under the counter for the clipboard.
"Uh.." The little girl looked down at her feet then back up at Annabeth, "I don't remember."
"I'm sorry, I can't give you a towel then," Annabeth replied as nicely as she could.
"Oh." The little girl looked disappointed. She shuffled her feet and glanced at Piper. Annabeth sat back, waiting for the awkward silence to end, not noting the way her friend nervously chewed on her bottom lip.
"You can still have one. It'll be our little secret." Piper reached behind Annabeth and pulled a towel off the shelf. "Just make sure you bring it back afterwards, okay?" She handed the towel to the little girl.
"Okay!" The little girl said and ran off, blonde pigtails swinging wildly behind her.
"No running-" Annabeth started but Piper cut her off.
"Would you calm down? It's fine." Piper looked at Annabeth's face and cringed realizing she had begun an argument.
"Piper, you shouldn't have done that. Now I'm gonna get in trouble if she doesn't bring the towel back." Annabeth scolded her.
"Gods, have a little faith in people. She'll bring it back. She knows it's the right thing to do" Piper exhaled in a manner that indicated exasperation.
"Piper! She's in like fifth grade. What does she know about morality? About right and wrong?" Annabeth retorted.
"It doesn't matter anymore, okay? There's no argument to win here," Piper stated picking her schedule up off the counter again.
"Yeah, because I'd win." Annabeth muttered.
"You can't win if you don't honor other people when they beat you." Piper reprimanded, folding her schedule and putting it in the back pocket of her khakis. They were identical to Annabeth's but Piper had spilled wine on them a week early and it had left a faint red stain on the left leg. "I'm gonna go back to the room to shower. I'll call my Dad so he doesn't go crazy and then maybe take a nap. I'll meet you back here around 1:30 so we can go to lunch."
"Okay, but don't be late because we only have an hour to eat if we want to make it to Jake's on time." Annabeth reminded her and Piper leaned over the counter grabbing the blue bag she'd brought with her. She waved goodbye and starting walking in the direction of their room.
Annabeth took in her surroundings for a second time, this time however looking for the stool. She finally found it under a bundle of disorganized towels that Piper had no doubt knocked down during the previous shift. She pulled it up the counter and sat down. Annabeth checked the time on her phone. 10:23am. She put her phone back in her pocket and sighed. It would be a long morning.
~edited 3/21/17~