A New Start, and a New Beginning

**A New Start, and a New Beginning** is the seventy-ninth chapter of The Gift of a Best Friend. It was first published on February 28th, 2019.

## Chapter

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**Annabeth's POV**
It has been a month now since I have returned home to my biological family, and it’s been a great month. It doesn’t even feel like it’s been a month.
I’ve decided to move back in more permanently.
After school, Jasmine and I went to her house to pack up my side of our bedroom. I left most of my stuff behind because I wasn’t sure if it was going to work out this time with my family and if it didn’t, it would’ve been a drag to bring all of my stuff back, so I only took what I really needed, which was mostly just clothes. But now I’m ready to move all my stuff there and have my room no longer feel so empty.
We packed a few boxes, then we put them into Jasmine’s parent’s car (which they barely ever use, but have it in case of an emergency), and Zak drove it over to my house. Then we unloaded it and unpacked everything into my room.
The room wasn’t quite as big as mine at Jasmine’s house, but it was big enough for all of my stuff. After we were done decorating it the way it was there, it didn’t feel empty anymore. It felt perfect.
Jasmine stayed for dinner and afterwards we said goodbye at the front door.
She gave me a hug. “I’m really proud of you for making it this time.”
“Please stop saying that,” I grumbled.
“No. I really am, Annabeth. But you have to understand, if you have a fight with any of them, depending on what the fight is about, it’s not a reason to run away. I mean, you and I have had some fights these past four years, but we made up and moved on. You need to do that, too. Arguing is just a fact of life. You can’t expect to always agree on everything. It’s inevitable.”
“I know that, Jasmine.”
“*Now* you do. You didn’t always.”
“No.”
“But if you do run again, you know you can always come back to me.”
“I know. Thanks, Jasmine.”
“And we’ll always be sisters, right?”
“Yes.”
She hugged me again, and we bumped our bracelets together.
“Well, I guess, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Jasmine said. “Or whenever.”
“Ok,” I said. “Bye.”
“Bye.”
I closed the door behind her.

**Jasmine’s POV**
I’m glad Annabeth worked things out and moved back with her family completely for the first time since she was seven.
At least . . . I thought I was glad about it, until I returned to my home and saw the empty side of our bedroom. I know that she hasn’t slept in it for a long time, but with all of her stuff gone now, it really felt empty. And I was feeling really overwhelmed by it now.
I felt the tears coming, so I closed both of the doors so no one could see me. I also closed the curtain between our rooms so that I wouldn’t have to see it, but it didn’t help my aching heart.
I tried listening to music. That didn’t help either. Neither did reading. It’s really hard to read when there’s water in your eyes, blurring your vision.
I gave up trying to make myself feel better and just let the tears fall. I sobbed a little, too. Toothless tried to comfort me all night.
Eventually, I went to bed and cried myself to sleep.

The next morning, I went to my bathroom and noticed how puffy and red my eyes were in the mirror.
I did my best to try and not make it look like I’ve been crying. At breakfast, I think it worked, but I couldn’t keep myself from being unusually quiet.
“Are you ok?” Johnathan asked.
“I’m fine,” I lied and continued eating my cereal.
“Are you sure, Jasmine?” Dad asked. “You went to bed early last night.”
“I’m sure, Dad.”
He and Mom looked at each other, clearly not convinced, but they didn’t question me anymore.
After breakfast, I went back to my room, sat back down on my bed, and cried again.
Then my phone rang. I looked at the Caller ID and saw that it was Will. I had given him a phone just like mine that won’t cause any monster attraction like Annabeth’s doesn’t so that he could call me whenever he wanted to without worry.
I wiped my tears away from my face, got my composer a little under control, and answered the phone.
“Hello?” My voice was a little strained, but not really noticeable.
“Hi, Jasmine,” Will said on the other line. “Are you coming over to my house today? You’re usually already here by now. Is everything ok?”
I forgot that today was Saturday, which I laugh a little bit at every week because it’s also my last name. Thinking about it now made me feel a little better.
“Oh, sorry, Will,” I said. “I forgot. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“Ok,” he said. “I can’t wait to see you.”
“Me too. Bye.”
I hung up the phone and laid it on my nightstand. I took a few deep breaths, then I got off my bed and got dressed.
I told my parents that I was going to be with Will, and was about to teleport myself there until I noticed Annabeth’s empty side of the room again. I felt like I was going to break again.
*Do you want me to go with you?* Toothless asked me.
I shook my head. “No. Just stay here. And please don’t tell anyone that I’m upset or why.”
*I won’t.*
“Thank you, Toothless.”
I took another deep breath and teleported myself to Will’s home.

I appeared on the front door to his apartment a moment later and knocked on the door.
Will opened it and smiled at me. “Hi, Jasmine.”
“Hi,” I said with no real expression.
Will narrowed his eyes, but didn’t say anything. “Come in.”
He moved aside and I walked into his apartment.
The inside was practically the same size as any apartment that you see on TV with their own personal accessories. Will’s mother, Naomi, was sitting in the front room and came over to greet me.
“Hello, Jasmine,” she said. “It’s nice to see you again.”
She’s a nice and beautiful woman with slightly curled blonde hair and blue eyes. She’s actually a singer at a local karaoke bar, so you can imagine we hit it off pretty well.
“Hi,” I said, not even with a polite smile.
Unfortunately, though, she and Will noticed my unusually odd behavior.
“Jasmine,” Will said. “Are you ok?”
“I’m fine,” I replied.
I’m usually a convincing liar and can usually control my tone of voice and expression to seem even more convincing when I want to be, but that has all abandoned me now. I can’t do any of that when I’m under a lot of emotional stress.
Will looked worried. “Mom, Jasmine and I are going to be in my room.”
“Ok,” she replied. “Have fun you two.”
I held my arms together as Will steered me toward his room. He closed the door behind us and stood in front of me.
“Jasmine, what’s wrong?” he asked, putting his hands on both of my shoulders. “You’re acting really strange. Did something happen?”
I wouldn’t look at him. But I decided to give up because the pain was really killing me.
“Yes,” I admitted.
I totally broke down and covered my face with my hands and sobbed into them.
“Hey, hey, hey,” Will said, removing my hands from my face and cupping it with his hands, wiping my tears away with his thumbs. “Look at me.”
I did and I saw the concern in his eyes.
“Tell me what happened.”
I nodded. “Ok.”
He grabbed my hands, led me over to his bed, and we sat together on the side of it.
I took a deep breath. “Annabeth moved out of my house and went back with her family more permanently yesterday.”
“Isn’t that a good thing?” Will asked.
“Yeah. But we had shared our room together for the past four years, and now we’re not anymore. And . . . I don’t know if I can handle it.”
“It’s understandable why you’d feel that way, but shouldn’t she be with her real family?”
“They’re not her real family!” I snapped. “I am! I’ve been there for her every single damn day for the past eight years of her life. They weren’t because they didn’t give a damn about her. It’s not fair that they get to have her back and I lose her.”
“You didn’t lose her, Jasmine,” Will said. “She’s still your best friend, right?”
I calmed down a little. “Yes.”
“And nothing’s going to change that, right?”
“Not if I have anything to say about it.”
“Which you do.”
“Damn right.”
“But, Jasmine, didn’t you want Annabeth to make up with her family?”
“Yes,” I admitted. “But I didn’t think about that it would mean this if she did, and how much pain it would cause me. I want her back. I know it’s selfish, but I don’t care.”
“It’s a little selfish. But you care about her, and there’s nothing selfish about that.”
I wiped my tears away. “I just want to blame someone for all of this.”
“Who?” Will asked.
“Percy,” I said without hesitation. “He suggested that Annabeth write a letter to her dad, and she listened to him. I was proud of her for doing that, but now I wish that Percy minded his own damn business and she wouldn’t be with her family right now. She’d be with me.”
“And you’d be annoying the Hades out of her like you always do.”
“Exactly.”
I started to cry again.
“Jasmine,” Will said. “It breaks my heart to see you this way.”
“I’m very sensitive,” I said. “Just like my grandma. So I cry easily.”
“Why don’t you tell Annabeth how you feel?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because, Will. Thinking selfishly and acting selfishly are two different things. And I’m not going to do that to Annabeth and make her feel guilty for it.”
“But wouldn’t you do that if she told you that?”
“Yes. But she’s not me. She’s her. And even if I know she would do that for me, I still wouldn’t tell her. I’ve just got to deal with this. I’ll eventually get use to it, ok?”
“Get use to your pain?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“Ok,” Will said, but he still sounded concerned for me and I don’t think he believed me.
I don’t think I did either.
“You can’t tell anybody about this,” I said. “Especially not Annabeth.”
“I won’t,” he said. “But I’m worried about you.”
“I know. But I feel a little better telling you about it.”
“I’m glad.”
I wrapped my arms around him, buried my head against his neck, and cried into his shoulder for a long time.

**Aww. Poor Jasmine. This is really going to be a challenge for her. But what do you think Annabeth will have to say about it? When, or even if, she ever finds out?**
**Fun fact: I had written this chapter before The Hidden Oracle came out, and originally, I had made Will's mother name be Eleanora, but she got a canon name, so I changed it. Although I find it ridiculous how Will's mother gets a canon name but Annabeth's step-mother doesn't? Go figure.**
**Please review** here**.**

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## Character Appearances

### Main Characters

* Annabeth Chase
* Jasmine Saturday
* Will Solace

### Minor Characters

* Johnathan Saturday
* Sarah Saturday
* Zak Saturday
* Naomi Solace