I'M BACK.

WITH A NEW CHAPTER.

Please don't kill me. I'm so sorry to all of those who actually tried to keep up with the story. This may seem like a pretty useless chapter, but I think it's pretty significant.

Anyways, this chapter's song is Pull Me Down by Mikky Ekko. Not necessarily a truly relevant song, but the title fits and I'm introducing y'all to new music.

Enjoy!

-M


The surface of the water shone, a palette of blue and green and silver strips spiraling in and out of each other in an attempt to recreate a Van Gogh painting.

Watching the events unfold above him, Percy Jackson floated aimlessly beneath the surface, his palms up in hopes of grasping the rays of sunlight dripping through the waves. He'd been there for what seemed like hours, although it could have easily been just a few minutes.

He took a deep breath in hopes of breaking the dream with the science of reality, but when he felt air seep into his lungs, everything went black.

That's when the cacophony began.

Banging, crashing, screaming and screeching, he blinked back tears, trying to get rid of the explosion of reds and golds in his peripheral vision. There wasn't much to see in all of the darkness, but whatever he did see appeared in doubles. He tried to curl his fingers into a fist, but instead felt them tighten around something round and leather.

A steering wheel?

He could feel his body swinging from left to right whenever he'd try to move his hands. For some reason he couldn't let go. Panic began to settle in; for the first time that night, it wasn't the fermented grains talking. His mouth opened in a silent scream before hearing the clash of metal on metal.

The last thing he remembered before waking up, drenched in sweat, at four in the morning, was a flash of cold grey.

He sighed, whole body trembling as he placed his head into his hands.

He didn't know how long he'd be able to last like this.


Annabeth Chase was never a morning person. She liked to associate herself with owls, the beautiful, intelligent creatures of the nigh.

So when she was awoken by a knock on her bedroom door at eighteen past five, she was ready to attack whichever ass-hole that decided to do so. Of course when she found out that the ass-hole was actually a certain green eyed boy with furrowed brows and a lip between his teeth, she only gaped.

"Good morning, Annabeth," he said, attempting to sound cheery. She narrowed her eyes.

"What are you doing here?"

"I brought waffles -"

"What are you doing here?"

He sucked in a sharp breath and chewed on his lip before meekly responding with "I couldn't sleep."

She just continued to look at him incredulously.

"So you came to my house at five o'clock in the fucking morning."

"Well I assumed that since you always get to school so early, you'd be awake-"

"How did you even get in?"

"Your, uh, butler let me in?"

She groaned, but immediately succumbed to guilt when she noticed him looking at his feet, his ears beetroot red. With a small smile, she pulled him into a hug.

"Sorry. Don't like waking up early," she whispered as he adjusted his head so that his lips were pressed to he neck.

"'S fine," he mumbled into her skin. "I'm sorry for waking you up."

"Mhm."

"And you're still in your jammies."

"I just got out of bed, you dweeb."

"Sorry."

"Shut up. Now get off of me so that I can take a shower and change."

Percy visibly cringed, but followed her instruction anyway. "I'll be in the, uh, kitchen. Preparing the waffles."

"Okay."

"As in warming them and putting them on plates and stuff."

"Right."

"I'll make you a cup of coffee."

"Thanks. And remember -"

"No sugar, no milk, South African roast. See, I remembered it," he grinned, wiggling his eyebrows. She tried her best to look unimpressed, but she could feel a smile trying to break out.

"Italian. It was Italian roast."

"Oh. Right."

She snickered before turning on her heel and leaving him on his own at her house.


An hour and twenty three minutes later, Annabeth was seated next to him in his car, tucking a lock of flaxen hair behind her ear before shoving the seat belt buckle into its rightful place. Upon giving her a once over, he decided that he still couldn't understand why someone like her would ever like someone like him. With her monochrome printed dress, knee high grey socks and combat boots, she looked as close to perfect as anyone ever could. He chastised himself for not being able to appreciate her beauty at an earlier stage in his life.

Breakfast was pretty uneventful - they spent majority of their time getting to know Meredith, a plump and cheery maid who helped him not mess up their breakfast by teaching him how to use their fancy microwave and coffee machine. But now, they were in the car. And it's only a twenty minute drive to school. And panic was settling in his veins.

"Percy -"

"School."

"Yeah, and if we want to get there by my preferred time, which is to say, seven o'clock, we'd better get moving."

Biting his lip, Percy moved the car out of the drive-way and onto the road. As he drove, his fingered tapped against the steering wheel nervously. He tried to push back thoughts of the dream. Oh dear ADHD, just this once, please let me concentrate on just one thing?

"Annabeth, we need to talk."

Out of the corner of her eye, he could see her stiffen. She cleared her throat. "About?"

He swallowed hard. "Us."

She licked her lips. "What about us?"

He decided to stop beating around the bush. "What are we going to do at school? As in, how are we supposed to act around each other?"

"Well for one, I'm already going to be arriving in your car. Drew will notice that I didn't come in my car, and since I didn't go to school with her, she'll probably start questioning me about it anyway."

"Your parents could have dropped you off."

"My dad's- They're in New York."

"Okay, but you could tell her that you came in a taxi."

"She'd ask me why I didn't call her."

"You could say that you thought she was coming with Luke-"

"Do you not want people to know about us?"

Percy frowned. He assumed that she did have the right to ask that, since he's been trying to come up with different excuses as to how she got to school which didn't include him. He sighed.

"Look, Annabeth, it's not that I don't want people to know. Of course I want people to know - I want to be able to hug you, or at least freaking talk to you in public, but I want you to remember who we are at this school. And as much as I don't believe in this whole social hierarchy thing, I know how hard you've worked on getting to where you are, and how much it would effect you if you had to just drop all of it."

Annabeth stayed silent for a while after that comment. He contemplated putting on the radio, but he figured that it would only make him more nervous and fidgety. To be honest, he was worried that she'd just say that this whole relationship was a practical joke and that she would simply return to Luke and her position as queen.

"-one."

Percy's brows furrowed.

"Sorry, what?"

"I'm done, Percy. I'm done with this whole hierarchy bullshit. You're right, I did spend my whole life trying to come out on top, and I'm one of the few who can say that they really did it. But do you know why I did it?"

Percy sucked in a breath, eyes on the road. "Respect?"

"Exactly. And in my mind, that respect means that I should be able to do what I want, whenever I want, simply because I'm me."

Percy smirked. "Well-"

"Shut up, I know that sounded arrogant. What I mean is that I've worked really hard to be who I am. I can't be perfect, and I know I'm not, but I've done everything necessary to make society think I'm perfect. For everything that I've done, don't I deserve a break? Don't I deserve to be happy, even if that happiness can only be achieved by bending the rules?"

He snorted. "Am I a broken rule?"

"Well, you're unpopular, intelligent but not, uhm, physically talented, and you're net exactly what society considers good looking. You break society's standards of a person who should' be with me."

He winced. "Ouch. My own girlfriend."

"Shut the fuck up, Jackson. For the record, I think you're plenty good looking and talented, and society would too, if it just got its head out of its ass."

"...I, uh, well, thanks. But I don't think it's society that's the problem."

She nodded. "True. You're also too naïve for the modern world."

"As in?"

"You're honest and open-minded and hopeful. You're happy with yourself as you are and you don't try to become somebody else just to fit in. You're the kind of person who doesn't pretend to be interested in a topic that you know barely anything about just to impress somebody."

He was dumbfounded. He opened and closed his mouth several times before letting silence wash over them.

"...You know nothing about me."

"Maybe so. But I like what I know, and I'd like to learn more."

He might have smiled, even if his gut was ripping itself apart inside. "So, what's the verdict?"

"We're telling them."

"...Are you sure?"

She punched him in the shoulder, laughing at his insecurity, and practically shouted "YES JACKSON, I'M DAMN SURE."


She knew she wouldn't regret her decision.


He knew she would.


Just in case you guys didn't notice, every line break signifies a change in perspective. It won't always be clear who's perspective it'll be.

Once again, I apologize for not writing in such a long time, and for the quality of the chapter. I didn't get to review it...

I'll try to update a little more regularly, as in, at least every month, but I can't promise anything...

I've been told that my title and my description aren't very eye-catching, and although I can't change the title (it's very relevant to the whole story, since it's literally about how people talk; how they talk behind your back, how their words have double meanings, how everybody has a distinct way of expressing themselves and whatnot) I can try to improve the description. Any ideas? Send me a PM.

This kind of story is very difficult to write because it requires a lot of self-reflection on my part.

Thank you for reading! Don't forget to tell me what you think :)