A/N: SO YOU GUYS GUESSED A LOT OF THINGS THAT I WAS GOING TO PUT IN THE NEXT CHAPTER. THEREFORE, I COMPLETELY CHANGED MY IDEA. I KNOW, PLOT TWIST.

ALSO, IT'S HARD TO REMEMBER ALL THE IDEAS FROM THE REVIEWS SO PLEASE PM THEM.

I THINK THAT'S IT. THANKS AGAIN FOR THE REVIEWS. I LOVE YOU GUYS.

DISCLAIMER: I WISH, I WISH WITH ALL MY HEART THAT I OWNED PJO. BUT I DON'T.

"I'm tired of dancing!" Annabeth whined. She'd been sort of miserable all night, but not so miserable that we weren't having a good time.

In the background I could vaguely hear Percy and Lesley laughing, and I was pretty sure Annabeth was hearing them too. She claimed she was tired of dancing, but we'd only danced, like, two songs.

She wore a grey dress, of course. The top was bordered with sequins and hugged her abdomen, and the rest of the dress flowed down and reached her mid-thigh. She said Silena had picked it out for her, and she hated it, but I think she secretly loved the dress. Her hair was in a ponytail, but still tumbled a little off her shoulders.

I sighed at her pouting face. I honestly do not know how Percy ever won a fight with her.

"Fine. Let's go sit at that table then?"

"Yes, please." She sounded exasperated.

She grabbed my hand, to my delight, and swerved through dancing people to get to our table. We both threw ourselves down onto the seats. I looked around the place. It was crowded. All eight of us had come together, but we split up one way or the other. I saw Lesley and James dancing the night away, laughing at something James had said. I saw Roger and Sara standing in a corner awkwardly, but still talking. Then, when I looked more to the right, I saw Percy and Lesley doing what I think was a dance.

Lesley wore a black high-waisted skirt and a tucked in white blouse with sleeves that reached her mid-shoulder. She looked good, but, you know, not Annabeth-good. Annabeth was right, Percy really was horrible at dancing, but he seemed to be enjoying himself just the same.

"I'm sorry you're not having a good time," I told Annabeth who slouched in her chair twirling the hem of her dress.

She looked up at me with sympathetic eyes. "No, Ben. I am. Well. Um. I'm sorry for ruining your night. I just really, really hate dances."

I knitted my eyebrows when her eyes flashed over to Lesley. "But this is the first school dance you've come to. What other dance have you gone to?"

"Oh, uh, it wasn't for this school. It was over the winter. Percy, Thalia, Nico and our other friend Grover went."

"Oh. I thought you hated dances."

"It's sort of the reason I do."

"…"

She sighed, "I'm being awful, aren't I?"

"No, it's fine."

"I'm sorry. I just have really horrible memories there."

I tried desperately to change the subject. "So how did you predict Percy was such a horrible dancer?

She smiled faintly as if remembering what had happened. "I had to dance with him."

I clench my jaw tight to stop myself from screaming. Percy was my good friend, but I still had a spark of jealousy there.

"Oh. Had to?"

"He was the only person I knew. Thalia was dancing with Grover."

"What about Nico?"

"I hadn't met him yet. Actually, it was there that we met him."

"Sounds like you guys do everything together."

"We used to. Then Thalia and Grover and…I'd rather not talk about it, please."

"No problem."

We sat there in an awkward silence for a while, Annabeth still pouting as if she wasn't having a food time. I don't doubt she wasn't. Then I noticed Percy jab at Lesley and point over to where I'm sitting. He smiles and half-waves. I wave back. He motions for Lesley to follow him and makes his way over to our table. I noticed Annabeth tense when she saw him.

"'Sup, guys?" he greeted.

"Hey, Perce," I said. "Hey, Les," I shoved her lightly and she shot me a playful glare.

Percy slid into the seat next to Annabeth and Lesley next to me.

"So, how's your night really going?" she whispered to me.

I shrugged. "It's okay."

She smiled at me sympathetically as if she knew something I didn't. I was a little worried by that. We turned our attention to Percy and Annabeth who weren't having an all-that-great conversation (which was actually pretty normal).

Percy poked her. "Come on, Annie."

"Don't call me that, Percy!"

"Annie, Annie, Annie," he sang, oblivious to the fact that he was mad.

"For all the gods' sake, Percy!" Annabeth screamed jumping up from her chair. I wondered what she meant by 'All the gods'. But the music was so loud, I think the only people who noticed were Sara and Roger who pointed at us, but made no attempt to come forward. I saw Claire grab James' hand and point to us. She started to walk towards us, but James pulled her hand back and shook his head.

I looked at Lesley, and I think both of us wished we could trade places with them instead of being in the middle of it all.

Percy flinched and started to regret teasing her.

"Why can't you just," she continued, "Listen to me for once and leave me alone!"

Percy's expression changed from guilt to anger. "Will you stop screaming at me?" he screamed. "That's all you ever do! You criticize me for every little thing! Don't you think it gets a little annoying for me?" She tried to speak, but Percy beat her to it. "Oh, and I'll bet you'd just love for me to leave you alone, huh? I bet that's all you've ever wanted. Your life would have been so much better without me!"

"Oh my gods, Percy! You know that's not true. Are you just saying that because you want me to say it? Do you want me to say where I'd be if I haven't met you? And, I always have a reason to get mad at you! Do you think I do it for fun?"

"Well, for one, you'd be with Luke!" There was that Luke person again. I wondered what he had to do with all of this. "I bet you think that if I hadn't gone to Camp, he'd still be butterflies and sunshine. Well, sorry I showed up," he spat.

"That's not—"

"Don't say it's not true!" He practically screamed. By now, he was getting a few glares from a couple other students. "I saw your wish! Your 'greatest aspiration'. Your mom, dad, Luke, Thalia. That's what you really want! You didn't see mine, but I can assure you that if you did, you would have seen yourself there!"

"Percy, I was thirteen! It had only been one year! "

"Yeah, well now, you're fourteen and it's been two years."

"Exactly! Who says my 'greatest aspiration' hasn't changed?"

"Don't tell me it did, because I know it didn't. I know if he comes here right now surrendering and saying sorry, you'd forgive him. You'd just love to have things back to the way it was before I came. Because that's what it was! Your 'greatest aspiration' was to have things back to the way it was before I came."

"Not after what happened last winter, Percy. I would never trust him again!"

To my surprise, Percy laughed. "I would have thought after what he did to me, to us when we were twelve, you wouldn't trust him again. Yet, he was your 'greatest aspiration'. I would have thought after he used us to find you-know-what, you wouldn't trust him again. Yet, you took the weight from him. What's next? Can't you see he doesn't care about you?"

"Well, he used to, Percy! That makes all the difference. Can't you stop hating him for one minute to imagine what it's like for me? He promised me. I was seven."

"Don't try and make me feel bad for you, because I will never see him as good. I'm sorry you met me, Annabeth. Honestly. Because, maybe, this is all my fault. If I had never showed up, you'd still have him, maybe even Thalia. But you know what? Until now, I had never once had second thoughts about meeting you!"

Annabeth opened her mouth to respond, but snapped it back shut. Her gaze dropped to the floor. Normally, when they fight and one of them does this, the other backs down and they say sorry and laugh about something else. But this time, Percy's eyes still blazed with fury and something else I didn't recognize.

"You say you always have a reason to get mad at me," Percy said through gritted teeth as though trying to keep his anger in check. "So what's your reason now?"

Annabeth's eyes filled with tears. She looked up at Percy and whispered something I didn't hear. She stormed off, leaving Percy even angrier than he was before. The last time I saw her, she was slamming the door shut, her grey dress swaying behind her.

Percy kicked the chair so hard I would have broken my foot. Me and Lesley exchanged looks with each other. This wasn't how one of their fights were supposed to end. The other four came up to us and asked a question with their eyes. What just happened? I wish I knew the answer.

"Percy," James tried.

Percy held up his hand and shook his head. I noticed his eyes were red, too. He walked away from the table leaving the six of us alone.

"Someone has to follow them before they commit murder," Claire said.

"I have Percy," I surprised myself by saying.

"I should follow Annabeth," Lesley said quietly.

I got up and raced in the direction Percy went. I found him walking outside, but it wasn't towards Annabeth's. I was going to call out to him when I saw him take a turn down a dark alley. I approached cautiously, and saw him stand over a figure that was on the ground, hugging her knees and crying. He looked at Annabeth as if not knowing what to do with her.

Lesley ran up beside me and breathed, "She came this way."

I held up my hand to quiet her and pointed. She squinted her eyes to make out what I was seeing. Percy moved to sit beside her. He leaned his head back against the wall and sighed. To my surprise, he wiped a tear away from his cheek.

He put a hand on Annabeth's shoulder and whispered something, but I was too far away to hear.

"Do you not get that I do need you?" Annabeth questioned him.

"I-I don't know. I'm so sorry, Wise Girl. I don't know where all of that came from. I'm stupid. I know how touchy this topic is, but I still bring it up."

Annabeth didn't answer. she just put her head on his shoulder.

"Thank you for saving me," she said finally.

"Thank you for saving me."

"It's my job."

"And I wouldn't have anyone else doing it."

"Neither would I."