Hey! So this takes place during Valentines Days when Percy isn't here. :( Poor Annabeth I take Annabeth as one to not have had a break down until now. I think the first time she told Sally she cried but the other times she held herself strong and that this would be her next breaking point.

Got this prompt name from Enx2103!

Check out my other stories please!

please Review I love to hear what you have to say!

10. Holidays

She couldn't understand why so many of the girls were wearing pink that day.

That is until she wrote the date on her paper. 2/14/13. She hadn't been paying attention to the calendar. Not really. And the date shouldn't have come to her as such a shock.

But it did.

She was in her AP World History class and she froze. The teacher looked at her oddly, asking her if she was okay. Annabeth only nodded and continued to copy down the notes from the projector. But she didn't know what they said. She was still in this sort of daze she couldn't snap herself out of.

She was like that the rest of the day. Nobody seemed to notice her odd behavior because she wasn't close to anyone. Anyone that is except Marti; but, they had no classes together that semester.

'Come on. Get yourself together, Chase.' Annabeth coached herself walking back to the dorm. 'You are a daughter of Athena. A measly date does not have a significant impact on your love life. It's only Aphrodite messing with you.' She tried to convince herself, but was doing an extremely poor job of it.

She was able to get her facial features back to normal as she walked through the propped open door. "Hey." She was surprised at how normal her voice sounded.

"Hey." Marti waved from her bed as she watched an episode of Doctor Who on Netflix.

"Really?" Annabeth asked setting her bag down. She had never taken an interest in the television show. She was always reading, working on projects or watching specials on Nat Geo. But today she needed a distraction.

"Yeah." Marti blushed, "I'm watching the top ten Romantic episodes – well from my preference. This episode is called 'The Girl in The Fireplace'. The gist of it is that the Doctor finds his soul mate and they see the other for who they really are. Except in the end they're tragically torn apart."

'Okay, maybe not watching TV would be better.' Annabeth decided as the word 'tragic' popped in her head sounding awfully like Aphrodite's voice. "Sounds good." She told Marti.

"Yeah. Do you want to watch it with me? I mean, we're both not going to be going out since Percy's away and all."

Annabeth sighed, plopping down into her desk chair. She had told Marti and Percy's school friends that he had gone away to Greece on a foreign exchange program for his second semester. It was the best explanation she could come up with for him being gone for so long and not telling the truth.

"No, that's okay. I'm just going to do some extra studying." Annabeth opened Daedalus' laptop and opened some English notes. English would take her mind off things; it was a subject that she actually had to focus on.

It was about an hour later as Annabeth continued on making notes when a knock came from their opened door. Annabeth looked up to see, Valerie – or as Marti referred to her as 'Queen Bitch'.

"Oh, well I don't even know why I came to this room to see who was going to the couples dance. It's not like you have boyfriends to attend in the first place."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. 'Just ignore her. She's a stupid mortal not worth your time.'

"Annabeth has a boyfriend. He's just out of the country." She heard Marti say.

Annabeth felt her chest tighten. 'There goes that plan.' Annabeth looked up as Valerie leaned against the door frame.

Queen Bitch snorted, "You mean that dark haired boy? He looked like a cute skater guy you hired off the streets to make yourself look better."

"Excuse me?" She did not just say that. Annabeth didn't need a man to make herself look or feel better about herself. "For your information he is my boyfriend. He's away in Greece as a foreign exchange student." She could hear the hostile edge leak out. She wasn't mad at this girl. Definitely not. Her anger for Hera was rearing its ugly head.

"Honestly?" Valerie eyed her. "Because I'm pretty positive you're lying." Well she was half lying.

"That's funny. Because I'm not." Annabeth stood from her seat folding her arms over her chest. The ache was back and her anger was rising.

They stared the other down until Valerie's face lightened as if she had gotten a new idea. AN evil smirk replaced the smile on her lips. "Unless, you really were dating and he actually broke up with you."

"What?" Annabeth was shocked. That wasn't something she had been thinking about. Actually, she had been thinking of strangling Hera and Aphrodite. "No. I mean we're still together." Annabeth insisted stepping closer to the popular girl.

"Okay, If you are then pull him up on Skype."

"I don't have one."

"Exactly my…"

"Even if I did, it would be midnight over there and he would be asleep." Annabeth interrupted.

Valerie snorted again, "Like I said. You're not dating anyone right now. Plus," She sneered giving Annabeth a once over. "Who would want to go out with you? You're a boring bookworm that doesn't do anything, your hair is a rats nest and you don't even dress well. Your personality is garbage and you only have one friend. What kind of guy would want a person like you?"

Annabeth's anger went through the roof. "I think you've outstayed your welcome." She took the three steps to the door, kicking the case of water out of the way and slammed the door in Valerie's surprised face.

She stood facing the door, both hands on it. She could feel her shoulders beginning to shake and a few tears began to trickle down her cheeks. She couldn't be crying now! She'd held herself together this far. She was so proud of herself for focusing solely on finding him and not crying. And now because some stupid mortal girl reminded her that he wasn't here on this stupid mortal holiday to remind people that they did or didn't have a significant other; she was crying.

And she couldn't get the tears or shaking to stop. Everything she had pushed back was coming forward. She wiped her eyes and nose with the sleeve of her jacket and tried to take a calming breath before turning around. She could still feel the few tears that leaked out, splay across her cheeks and she hated letting someone see her like this.

"Annabeth." Marti said, sadness clear as day in her voice as well. "It's okay to cry."

Annabeth wiped at her face again. Marti walked over wrapping her in a hug. Annabeth shuddered again and a few fresh tears leaked through.

They would have been celebrating their six month anniversary in a few days. And now he wasn't here. He probably would have forgotten all about Valentine's Day because he would have been so focused on remembering their anniversary date. And when he would take her out to dinner, maybe a day at the park and a picnic – he liked to do those and she never complained because she loved them just as much. She would kiss him for being himself and they'd laugh and chat about recent events and Annabeth would discuss her plans and would put him to sleep and she would laugh to herself running her hand though his hair. Everything would be perfect until a monster attacked them. Like always.

But it wouldn't happen. Hera kidnapped him and he was over with the Roman demigods with his memory wiped clean! He didn't remember her or the camp or his mom and he could be changed into a different person; a Roman. Or the Romans might recognize him to be Greek and torture him for information. All because Hera thought this was the best plan of action! They were all being put into another prophecy and to be honest Annabeth was done with prophecies.

She hiccupped and a few more tears rolled down her face. She missed him. She missed her best friend. She missed her boyfriend. She wanted him back. They were going to make something permanent.

"You know," Marti whispered, rubbing Annabeth's back, "You don't always have to be strong. It's okay."

She knew that Marti wouldn't understand why she was crying so much, but she was being a good friend. So Annabeth hugged her back and she cried.

She cried.