I'm back! Sorry for not updating for a week or so, but I had my little sister's birthday a few days before Christmas and then my brother's birthday a few days after Christmas. Mine is in February. But anyways, yeah. I was busy buying presents for them, helping organize their parties...etc. etc. So sorry for not updating, but here you go now. Percy, disclaimer.

Percy: Sophie doesn't own PJO. Now please don't torture me!

Me: *evil grin* Okay, okay, I won't. This'll be a nicer one about Percy and a certain someone bonding.

Percy POV

I stepped confidently into the McLean's kitchen, fully dressed and everything. I was wearing my usual: black T-shirt, leather jacket, ripped jeans, and occasionally sunglasses. Cool ones. But since I was all out of cool sunglasses, I had to settle for an iPod and earbuds instead.

Oh well. Small losses.

I cast a quick glance around. It was eight in the morning again, and that blonde girl...Annabeth, I think. Yeah. Annabeth was sitting at the table with Thalia. They were eating their way through a box of donuts. Jason, Leo, and Piper were sitting st the other end of the table, fiddling with some sort of small box thingy.

Nico was in the living room, lounging on the sofa, feet propped on the dainty glass coffee table. He also had an iPod and earbuds and I could almost hear his music through my own.

I deemed him worthy of my awesomeness and pure baconness and plopped down on the sofa next to him. With a gap of about five feet in between us. I don't have the best friend-making skills. Stop judging me. I see you judging me! I see you!

Nico didn't acknowledge me for a while and I was pretty grateful and slightly surprised. Honestly, the dude seemed like me: not really the 'popular dude who loves making friends', and more of the 'weird rebel guy who has a motorcycle and who every girl wants to date'. Okay, maybe not the dating part, but you get my point.

After a while, and three different songs that all featured profanity, and bad profanity, Nico pulled one of his earbuds out and tapped me on the shoulder. "Hello? You alive in there?"

I scowled, but pulled an earbud out, pausing the song that was playing (Deadpool's theme song) and said roughly, "What do you want?"

"Just wondering what you were listening to," Nico said casually, and not fake casually either. More of 'I-was-bored-of-my-song-so-I-decided-to-talk-to-you' casual. Like, normal casual. Huh. I over analyze a lot, don't I? Well, don't judge me!

"Why does that matter?" I asked coldly. Dang it. My previous assumption of Nico beingokay to be friends with wasn't exactly correct, was it? I was probably getting kicked out soon. Better to not have connections to say good-bye to.

"Well, if it makes you feel better about telling me the oh-so-important song you're listening to, I'm listening to 'Not ready to die'." Nico said sarcastically. I smirked. Someone who finally understood the language of sarcasm and spoke it! Yes!

"Not ready to die?" I asked, some of my eagerness spilling out into my emotionless voice. Damn you, eagerness! "I like that song, so I will tell you the oh-so-important song I'm listening to. It's that Deadpool song."

Nico cocked an eyebrow. "The 'X Gon Give It To Ya' or that other one?"

"X Gon Give It To Ya," I blurted out. I then immediately cursed myself for opening up, even slightly. "Um. The one that says the f-word a lot." Hey, I might not be the perfect kid, but I don't say the f-bomb unless I have a good reason.

"Yeah. Mom won't let me watch Deadpool unless someone else agrees to come with me, and no one has. They're all chickens," Nico grumbled, sliding down on the couch. "They all think it's too 'violent' and says the f-word too much."

"I'd go," I blurted, nearly slapping my hand over my mouth. Damn you, Percy! Damn you!

"Really?" Nico's whole face lit up. "Really? Annabeth says that she would rather study, and Thalia would, but her schedule's too full, and Leo and Piper think it's way too profane, and Jason says he would but he also has a full schedule, and that's it. Dad's too busy, too. And Mom would never go."

"Um, you didn't need to list why your family wouldn't go," I felt a little pang when I said family. I hadn't felt like I had one since my real mom had dodged. "But my answer still stands. I'll go."

Annabeth POV

Nico squealed, "Really?" from the living room, and Thalia and I turned around to see who he was talking to. To everyone's surprise, it was Mr. Expressionless Brick Wall, Percy Jackson himself. Percy looked uncomfortable but still comfortable...that made no sense, did it? Percy looked sort of uncomfortable, but he was still holding out.

"Annabeth says that she would rather study, and Thalia would, but her schedule's too full -" I stopped listening there. Nico was obviously talking about that movie Deadpool that he wanted to see.

Wait...something about this was off. Why was Nico telling Percy all this? Unless...unless...Percy had agreed to go with Nico?

No. Way. Mom had made all of us promise not to go watch Deadpool with Nico, because she said it was 'too violent' and 'had too much cursing'. But here Percy was, bashing through all her precautions to make sure that Nico would never see Deadpool.

Oh. No.

"Uh, Nico?" I blurted, rushing towards them with a chocolate-sprinkled donut in my hand. "Um, Mom said that she wanted all of us to agree to not watch Deadpool with you, and she said she would never pay for the movie tickets, and, um..."

Nico shrugged. "I know. What, you think I'm stupid? I overheard Mom asking Thalia. I just didn't want to get all mad and stuff. I've got better things to do."

Percy gave me a quick evil eye. I pretended not to notice, but it was seriously evil. Like, the Evil Queen from Snow White plus, like, I dunno, Voldemort and then plus Hitler evil. And here I thought my evil eye was threatening.

"That's kind of annoying," Percy said after a pause. "I mean, Deadpool can't be that bad. I saw the trailer a few times. Deadpool said the f word twice and the s word one and I think he said a lot more. I just don't remember."

"Really?" Nico asked, his face lighting up. "I have to see that!" Nico punched Percy's arm playfully. "I am so gonna get Mom to let me go somehow. I will pay her two hundred bucks if I have to. There is no way I will be able to live without watching that."

Percy POV

I jerked away from Nico as soon as I felt his fist make contact with my arm. It didn't hurt, but then again, almost nothing hurt anymore. He could've sucker punched me for all I knew.

I could already feel myself starting to hyperventilate. I'm not normally this vulnerable to panic attacks, but actually saying more than twenty words did things like that to me. My vision began fading to black around the edges. Crap.

"I gotta go," I mumbled to no one in particular, standing up and strolling out of the living room. As soon as I was sure I was out of their sight, I bolted into 'my' room and closed the door quietly, leaning against the wall and slowly sliding down until I was sitting with my head in my hands.

I was trembling now, and I could already feel my breathing begin to come in short, quick bursts. I squeezed my eyes closed, trying desperately to get my breathing and the shaking under control, but I was already headed for a long, long panic attack.

See, the normal length for a panic attack is about thirty minutes. For me, it can last up to two hours. Most of the time, I can get it under control quickly and it never happens, but when I lose control...well, let's just say I've missed both lunch and dinner holed up in my room before.

I could nearly feel my memories trying to take control. In fact, the world was starting to fade into the memory. I narrowed my eyes and pushed the memories back, digging my fingernails into my palms.

That helped for a minute, but right after I unclenched my palms, the smooth wall behind me was already beginning to feel like the rough cement one back with Gabe. I stood up, ignoring the throbbing pain in my temples, and unzipped my small duffel bag, sifting through the clothes until I felt the smooth metal of my one prized possession: my knife. See how messed up I am?

I pulled my sleeves up, exposing my scarred forearm, and sliced into it, letting my shoulders relax while the small sting of pain from the cut jolted me back to reality. No creepy flashbacks for today, thank you very much.

And then, because nothign in my life could ever be easy, because that would mess with the rules of the universe, the bedroom door cracked open just the tiniest bit and that gray-eyed girl peeked inside.

Yeah, sorry for being so...unactive? Inactive? Not active? I actually don't know. Okay, so back to what I was saying. This chapter might be kinda short compared to my others, but sorry. I just haven't had a lot of time, in between the spelling bee I'm preparing for and the piano auditions. I'm playing the Chopin etude called 'Black Keys' and a Beethoven sonata. It's hard. And I'm about to fail ninth grade Chinese, and there's just a whole lot of stuff going on. Oh, and my friend and I are screwed. We're partners for a science fair and it's due in a week or so and we've barely even started.

Percy: And I'm supposed to be in the middle of some giant war with that Nero dude.

Annabeth: Me too.

See? Everyone's busy nowadays.