AN: I am on a roll this week! Hah, I updated Only Thirty Days, did a good job with my speech for school, and guess what guys? My one shot, Ample in An Era of Affection and Bonds won the contest! I think that's pretty cool, hah. Alright, back to business:

So, I would like to thank: FrenchGirl123, LightningStars77, Mysterious Percabeth Fan, Bikerhead6969, Lory, It's just me, xAKUROKUx, Annabethrules120, Tajee165, anon, flyofan14, Forbidden Daughter of Artemis, Kiransomers, Agent Astro Zombie, AthenaGray15, Dydery-M.C.W - Lulunoel, RavenclowSeeker19 for taking the time to review before.
I won't be replying to reviews this time around, but I will for the rest of the story.

Heyy, so this is the rewriting/restarting of Chase's Pain. A few aspects of it will be the same, like the "plan," but there are going to be some noticeable differences. While the beginning is the same, the rest of the chapter is not the same as the rest of the original first chapter. Sorry for the language; all chapters won't have as much as this. I hope you all enjoy.

xx.

~Jam.


"I remember what you wore on the first day
You came into my life and I thought, hey
You know this could be something" - Two Is Better Than One by Boys Like Girls ft. Taylor Swift

.

Chase's Pain

Chapter 1

Another Year Over

...

There is one thing to be known about Annabeth Chase: she's been hurt. And as much as she loves to be the strongest person out there, the one that never gets hurt, she can't, but no one seems to have noticed. To go through every time Annabeth was broken down, well, that would be another story, but it's best to start out at the beginning; she was first broken down when her mother left. Being that young, she didn't remember much. It was all shaded by the veil of her tears. Her father yelled. Her mother yelled. She cried. As the door slammed shut, Annabeth knew she would never see her mother again, but it didn't mean she couldn't hope.

Every mother's day, she sat there at the dining room table with an apple; she remembered her mother's favorite fruit as being an apple, and next to her apple was a stuff owl, the one her mother gave her saying that knowledge of all things would never fail her. She later learned it to be true. As each year passed, Annabeth sat there and not even her father could make her budge that entire day. It wasn't until she was 8 that she left that chair, that place; her father got married to a woman. A woman who was not her mother.

Although at 8, Annabeth knew at that moment she herself had lost her father. The very man that she thought she would never lose. He was smart, intelligent, even; a genius in Annabeth's mind but that was his failing moment. Six years after her first Mother's Day alone, Annabeth dropped flower petals down the spotless aisle as her father gave his undying love to another. "You may kiss the bride" sounded all around and everyone stood to clap and applause while tears gently fell down their cheeks. Everyone oohed and awed and gently smiled when they saw the tears silently falling down Annabeth's cheeks. They all commented on how mature she was that she could cry for such a happy moment; they spoke of how she would get a new mother, how she would have that place filled again for her mother, but no one saw the true sadness behind those gray orbs, how they no longer seemed to have that spark. Except for the one boy sitting on the hard, wooden bench, with the keen, sea green eyes. Those sea green eyes were the only ones that still saw the spark.

...

Annabeth's POV

5 minutes left. As much as I love learning, I can honestly say that I'm happy to get to leave this place in a few minutes. After more than a hundred days of being with all the people in high school, I'm pretty happy just to get away from it all. Sure, I have my friends who are the reason that I make it through each day of high school, but I know that summer will only have the best for us. Or, so I can hope.

"You ready, Wise Girl?" Percy. My best friend for, well I can't even count for how long, whispers into my ear. I shiver slightly as his hot breath tickled my neck, "Because, I sure am." The air that hit against my neck came out in puffs; I could only guess that he was chuckling at his own response.

As much as I love Percy, as a best friend, might I add, he doesn't have the best reputation. Well, he doesn't have a good reputation at all, if I'm completely honest. With the messy black hair that covers his piercing sea green eyes, almost no girls can resist him; I can resist him, though. For that reason, it's been years that Percy's had a new girlfriend every week to two weeks. I don't even think the longest in the past years has lasted two weeks, more like twelve days. My friends and I have a joke about the 'Percy Countdown;' sometimes, they make a bet as to when he breaks up with the girl this time, after however many days. Since I think it's cruel, I don't participate in it.

I feel his fingers drumming on the back of my shoulders, in time with the seconds ticking down. 3 minutes left. For a second when I blink, I can see the smirk that's probably played out on his face as he knows how much I absolutely hate when anyone does that. Sighing, I let my hand land into the curls of my hair, wondering if he really plans to go on for the entire time. The right corner of his lips is probably lifting slightly but only so much that it looks like a mischievous smirk, not a happy one. More than likely, he's attempting to flip the messy hair out of his eyes, always shaking his head to the left: never the right. I know for a fact that he's using his index and middle fingers to tap my shoulders; he always uses two fingers. Okay, when you've been friends with the Seaweed Brain for so long, you can't help noticing the small things like that about him. There's nothing more to it, so don't even think about it like that. Plus, it's hard not to pick up on those things when you're getting annoyed with what he's doing.

He went on using me as a human drum for the rest of the time. 15 seconds left. Now, there's freedom within my grips, almost palpable. His chin rests on my shoulder, 10 seconds left. "Ah yes, say goodbye to our junior year, Annie."

"Shut it," I bite down on my lips, avoiding yelling at him that I hate being called Annie. Of course, that would simply make him laugh and only then make me smile; he would feel like he won because I smiled.

"Never," his head rubs against the side of my face, "you know I only do it to make you smile."

I know he does, but that doesn't mean I have to love it. "Doesn't mean I like it," I grit out, glancing at the clock.

"5 seconds, Wise Girl, and it's just you and me, again." His chin lifts off my shoulder, and for some reason, the spot feels cold as if he took all warmth with him. I shake it off. It must just be that they turned the A.C. up. "4." His voice is further away. "3." Although farther away, his voice gets louder. "2," he's practically yelling now. "1," the rest of the class joins in.

Smiling, I decide to join in as well, "0."

"Oh yeah, I am free from this hell hole," I can hear Percy bellow from behind me, as high fives are being passed around. Even though I wouldn't be that blunt, I feel the same way that he does. I'm finally free, away from all the people that I couldn't stand being another day around.

While I grab my books, I see Percy tumble out the door with the football team. Sighing, I remember how during the summer, starting now, I will have Percy to myself without his entire reputation. It'd be nice to see that Percy during school, but I know that I'll never see that one. Standing up, I bump into one of the hockey players, mumbling a "sorry," as I keep my head down.

"Watch it, Prostichase," he sneers before pushing past me out the classroom. He's the last person to leave, and now, I'm alone.

But really, I've been alone since Percy left the room. I can be in a crowd of people, all my peers, yet feel like I'm sitting in an empty room. When Percy's there, it could be just the two of us, and I'll never feel that loneliness and emptiness that I'm feeling now. Plus, it doesn't help when my last name has been mashed together with the word prostitute. I can assure you that I'm not a prostitute, not that it matters to any of them. To them, I'm simply a girl who supposedly pays guys to date her; I know, it's not what a prostitute does, but the brilliant kids of Goode High think that it is. Another reason as to why I'm happy to be gone for a few months.

The real reason I'm so happy to be out of the summer is, well, Percy. Not the arrogant Percy but the Seaweed Brain Percy. My Seaweed Brain Percy.

...

Percy's POV

Being pulled out of the classroom, I didn't even get sight of Annabeth before I left. Sure, these guys are my friends, but they're not Annabeth, my best friend. "So Perce," we stand against the side of the school, the wall, watching all the freshmen basically throw their papers in the air, "who's next?" The guy that asks chugs down a monster, throwing the can at one of the guys who ducks away from it. It lands in the ground; they don't care, of course.

They're talking about what girl I'll date next. The last one was Rachel, a girl with red, frizzy hair, kind of like she had rubbed a balloon on it before going to school. I wouldn't describe her as pretty, but she's been fawning over me for the past year so I gave her a chance; we lasted eight days before I had to drop her. She basically begged me to change my mind and take her back. Over and over, she kept saying how she would do anything that I wanted; I get tired of girls throwing themselves at me like that. "Dunno," I frown at every girl that passes, "I'm thinkin' I'll ride solo over the summer."

They all laugh, slapping me on the shoulder or upside the head, "Has the Percy Jackson finally fallen in love with one of his victims?" Mitch, a larger guy that plays wide receiver, taunts me. "Or, is it one of those people?" He cocks his head towards Thalia and Juniper, along with Piper and Annabeth. I know they don't see me, or at least they act like they don't see me. None of their eyes even glance in my direction, not even the grey ones. I'm happy for that, somewhat; I know how much it hurts Annabeth to see me around these guys, acting like this, yet I would have liked to at least send a silent apology to her.

"I bet it's Prostichase," one of them throws in.

"Oh yeah, she'll probably pay, ya' man, just to get in your pants," they all snicker, fist bumping each other. I don't really care when they talk about other girls like that; I don't love it, but it's different when it's Annabeth. They know better than to mess with her.

"Hey, leave her outta it, alright?" I kick the back of my heel against the brick wall, knocking the mud off my Pumas. I'm mainly doing it to get my anger out without punching one of the guys. They're not worth a suspension the next year or being arrested for assault.

They don't take me seriously which only makes me madder. "Alright, alright, we know you wouldn't even let her take your shirt off, man." Mark pushes me to the side. The rest of the guys throw out 'ooh's' and 'oh yeah, man,' as Mark pretends to bow to them. He thinks he's a class act, when he's pretty much a class ass. I don't know why I even hang out with these guys; I didn't start until eighth grade when some stuff happened and I first played football. Football wasn't my thing, but for some reason, the 'friends' I made still stuck. I'll be the first to say they're dumbasses.

I know I should say something to protect Annabeth; Annabeth is my best friend, no matter what. But it's more than a 'should,' I want to say something to stand up for her. I just have to. "I'd be lucky if she let me," I grunt out, before stalking off from them. They probably heard cause they're dead silent, not even walking with me. It's true though: Annabeth would never do any of the things that half the rumors say about her. It's all cause of her ass of an ex-boyfriend that started it all.

"Aw, man, little Percy is gettin' protective over the prostitute," Mark yells after me, daring me to turn around. I can feel his eyes boring into the back of my head. "I never knew he had a thing for prosti-nerds." The rest of the guys laugh. I seriously don't remember why I hang out with them, especially when they do this stuff about Annabeth.

Turning around, I meet Mark's amused stare. "Yeah, what about Drew who's been offering to dump you for me?" I know it's uncalled for, but it pisses me off when they say things about Annabeth. Plus, Mark doesn't even realize how many times Drew has told me she would dump him to date me. For one, I'm not attracted to her so I said no, and two, I considered Mark a friend until this point. Right now, I'm pretty close to beating the living daylights out of him.

"Hey, stay away from her," he steps towards me, "and chill out man, stop makin' up lies. It's just Prostichase." He shrugs, not even realizing that I'm not lying about Drew.

"Annabeth, her name's Annabeth," I state icily, "and I'll leave Drew out of it when you leave Annabeth out of it."

"Prostichase, Annabeth Chase, same thing," he says, smirking back at the guys behind him.

"Grow up, Mark. She's not a prostitute," I step towards him, now in an arm's length, "and you're still the idiot." Pushing him back, I walk off to my Jeep, remembering how I had plans to hang out with Annabeth and the rest of our friends. Our friends don't include Mark and his gang. Walking to the lot, I expect Mark to make another jab or call me something, but instead, he shuts up, finally, not even following me.

There's one thing that I'll never allow: no one will mess with Annabeth Chase as long as I'm around.

...

Annabeth's POV

I play with the edge of the cover up as the rest of the gang splashes in the water. Percy had driven us here in his Jeep while my other friend, Silena, a senior, brought the rest of the gang minus the Stolls who brought themselves. In total, we make up 12 people: Charlie Beckondorf, Silena Beuragard, Piper Mclean, Jason Grace, Thalia Grace, Leo Valdez, Grover Underwood, Travis and Connor Stoll, Nico DeAngelo, Percy, and me. It's normal for us to hang out at the beach, and no one questions me anymore as to why I never actually swim. I know that Percy's worried about me whenever we go swimming since he's always reluctant to get into the water without me. Since he loves the water though, it doesn't take that long to convince him to get in, yet he always seems to only be distracted.

I don't mind not swimming, really. It's a pretty good time for me to sketch out some blueprints for the internship that I have at my mother's old business. It's basically a group of architects that get hired by a large number of people: from celebrities to simply rich businessmen that want their house designed well; as much as I love architecture, I didn't want to go there. It was my dad's idea, and I couldn't say no when he finally seemed to care about me again. Sighing, I let the graphite make a precise line to be the side of my imaginary building. As of late, I haven't been getting any real jobs to do there since they all can see how much it bothers me to simply be where my mom used to go.

Although my mom was one of the best architects, no one expects me to be as great as her. I'm always working to create something that I know will wow them: something that my mother couldn't even create. Pushing the hair out of my face, I continue to craft an imaginary building that I know will never be built. It's a dome shape; it's actually an aquarium since I seem to be more and more interested in their architecture. I blame it on Percy; he's practically obsessed with marine life and drags me along with him to every aquarium in the state of New York. Literally, we've been to every single one, and his face still lights up like a little kid in a candy story. Not that I would ever admit it to him, it's cute. Plus, he's my best friend so I can't think of him as being cute.

"How's it goin'?" Nico, one of my closer friends, plops down next to me in the sand. Most people think him to be 'emo' or 'goth,' nonetheless he's actually one of the happiest people I know; he just doesn't show it especially after his sister died. As odd as it might sound, we bonded over the loss of loved ones, making us the friends we are now.

"As good as it will ever go," I mutter, not even looking up at the dark haired boy.

Chuckling, he tosses me my kneaded eraser, "I think it doesn't look too shabby."

"There's only a line, Nico," I can feel a smile crack onto my face. Being Percy's cousin, Nico reminds me of Percy a lot of the time. That's probably another reason as to why we're so close.

"One hell of a line," he drops his wet towel on my head before lying out in the sand. "Oh, sorry," he pretends to have just notice that he dropped the towel on me when I fling it in his face. He deserved that.

I know that his point in dropping the towel on my head was to make me actually chill out. It was the first day of summer vacation, anyways, and I'm here working on, well, work. Sighing, I put away the blueprints, leaning against the umbrella, "What?"

"Nothin'," Nico breaks his gaze away from me. Scratching his head, he shakes the water out being sure to spray me with some of it, "Like a quick dip in the ocean for ya'." Pausing, he sits up next to me as I pull my legs into my chest, "How're you and Perce?"

"Fine," I mumble. It's fairly obvious that we're not now. After Percy left the classroom earlier in the day, I haven't talked to him, and he hasn't made the effort to talk to me. In fact, when he picked me up to come here, it was deathly silent between the two of us. I don't know what happened between then and now, but it had to be something.

Shaking his head, Nico's gaze drifts off to the rest of the gang in the water, "I'm not blind. Anyone can see that somethin's goin' on with you two. Practically another person hanging out with us now: there's so much tension." He smirks at me, challenging me to make a comment that would outsmart what he said.

I have nothing.

"Hey Nico, why don't you get back in the water or something?" A deep voice resonates from the shadow that's being cast over me. Giving me one last look, Nico makes his way back to the water with the rest of the gang. Well, everyone except for me and the shadow. Nico shouldn't have to be down because of me; it's probably a good thing that he can get away from me. The shadow lies next to me, turning its head towards me "So, I can't convince you to jump in the water?"

"No," I state simply. I can't say that I'm mad at him, but I'm definitely not happy.

His green eyes tried to meet my gaze, but I turned my head further away, "You never told me why you don't swim." I knew he wasn't asking me to tell him; he never does. He never forces me to do anything that I don't want to do. It's something that I will probably always like about him, as a friend I mean. But even if he were my enemy, I would always like at least that one trait about him.

Sighing, I mutter, "It doesn't matter." I'm just not ready to tell anyone why I don't swim anymore. They'll never understand it, and I don't need it getting around, starting more rumors about me.

"C'mon, Wise Girl," I let my eyes flicker to his, seeing the softness in them that I've never seen in them around anyone else except for his mom, "you know it does matter."

"It doesn't," I say. Out of all the people, I know that Percy might be the only person that would understand, yet I just can't bring myself to tell him. I let my eyes move away from his face before he can sucker me into telling him. There's always been something about his knowing eyes that pulls me in and removes my inhibitions.

"Sure it does," I'm about to argue it, but he continues. "What kind of best friend would I be if it didn't matter to me?"

There he goes again, making an offhand comment that I'm not at all expecting. It's always something sweet or kind that reminds me why he's my best friend. Around me, I never see the cocky Percy that I've heard so much about; at least, when he is cocky, he's just joking around with me. It's completely different than Percy, himself, being cocky. "A great one right now."

His laughs come out in small spurts until we're both full on laughing. We both know how preposterous my idea is, and Percy laughing always brings me to laugh. Slowly, the laughter dies down leaving us in silence. I cringe, wondering if this will be the awkward silence that we almost never experience. Normally, we can both say nothing yet know what the other one is thinking. Right now, I'm not too sure if that ESP is working; I can't tell what he's thinking. I tense, feeling his head rest against my leg, "If you don't like being here, at the beach, then why do you go?"

I'm afraid to look into his eyes. I'm afraid that he'll see the hurt and pain that flashes behind them; I've never been able to keep my emotions out of my eyes. Well, I can, but Percy can always see it pass across them. Pausing, I consider how exactly to word what I want to say. I'm never at a loss for words except for when I don't want to mention something in the first place. That happens to be the case this time.

He can probably sense it because he chuckles, "Remember when you used to tease me?"

"Oh, you mean like earlier today?" I smirk, slapping his hand away that he lifts to drum on me with. For a while, we get into a mini 'fight' where I'm slapping his hand away, and he's attempting a surprise attack. This is normally where Thalia says something about how Percy makes me unbelievably immature, and I always scoff at that. Sure, we both act like five year olds sometimes, but there's something so nice about not needing to be serious; it's one of the few times where I don't need to be the 'mature' girl that everyone applauds me for being.

When he finally gives up, I slide down to lay next to him. "What's wrong?" I see the frown that's on his face from the corner of my eye. "…Between us," he adds in quietly.

There's no way I can lie without him being able to tell. I've never been able to do that with him around, especially not when he can see my facial expression. And if I'm completely honest, a part of me wants to tell him so that he puts his arm around my shoulder and tells me how I'm his best friend; how I'll always be his best friend, and no matter what nothing will get in the way of that. "Mark," I whisper, gazing up at the orange shades that mix into the sky.

"Oh," he pauses. More than likely, he's thinking how to work out whatever he wants to say in his head. I let my eyes close and can see the few wrinkles that are appearing between his brows right now. His top teeth capture his bottom lip rolling his top lip over his teeth and bottom lip, and his eyes become unfocussed. Classic Percy, I inwardly smile when I open my eyes to see that exact expression on his face. "I know you hate them." His eyes focus on me, reflecting the gold hue off of the sky.

"I have good reason," I sigh, seeing my breath blow a few strands of his messy hair off his brow. Turning completely on my side, I prop my head up on my hand.

"You do," he frowns blinking a few times, "and I know it hurts you when I hang out with them." He's right; they're some of the biggest… jerks to me in the entire school, yet he still goes and hangs out with them instead of me sometimes. "I don't know why I hang out with them, Annabeth." His eyes roam over my face before locking with mine again, "I know I'm different during school. It's just…It's just that…"

"You don't want them to see this Percy," I smile slightly, pushing the messy hair from in front of his eyes. I hate talking to him when I can't see the sea green due to his curtain of hair. Quickly, I see something I can't place pass over his eyes when I reach out to move the hair, but it's gone as fast as it was there. "You don't want them to know you care."

"Yeah," his eyes look over my shoulder, "but when it comes to you, I think they know I care." His voice softens, before sitting up. I'm close to questioning what he means. He cares? Well, we're best friends and all, but how would they know anything about how he cares for me? I mean, Percy's never been the one to express his emotions so I doubt he went around saying how I'm his best friend. Opening my mouth, he beats me to talking, "Look, if they bug you again, tell me, alright?" He starts to stand, casting his shadow over me again.

"I don't –"

"Need a protector. Yeah. Yeah," a small smile forms across his lips, and I can't help noticing he licks his bottom lip in doing so. I've known these lips for years, and I often wonder how they can be the same lips of the boy that's unbelievably arrogant at school. "Just sometimes, let me be there for you, alright? You don't have to fight every battle on your own, Wise Girl. Even Hercules needed some help sometimes," his hand extends towards me as he cocks his head towards the water. "If you're not gonna get in the water, you can at least walk by it." I frown at his hand, "C'mon, Annabeth, just let me help you in some way. No one's gonna think you're weak just because you let me help you get up."

I smile.

I gently smile and accept his hand, but I know I've just agreed to more than that.

...


AN: Whoo, the first chapter's done, hah. I know that Nico came off a bit nicer in this one than the previous version, but I can promise that the joking Nico will come out too. Ah, I like this friendship that's between Annabeth and Percy right now. 'Course, what Percabeth story would it be if that didn't become something more.

I'd love to know what you guys think of the new version; I'm sorry to those that didn't want me to rewrite the story. I hope you're okay with this version, too. Maybe sometime, I'll go back and write a story with the idea of the previous version but change it up a bit?

Review? They really make my day.

~ Jam.

{edited May 5th}