Annabeth's POV
It's been 7 months since that Luke and Thalia's first date and I've gotta say, a lot has changed. I've gotten a lot closer with Nico and Austin and Thalia and Luke's relationship has progressed quite nicely, I think. I haven't really hung out with them the past month. Luke has been acting weird... Different. He stopped giving Thalia random gifts and flowers, he's been acting a lot more paranoid and frankly a little more like the jerky Luke from 7 months ago. Of course Thalia is absolutely blinded by love to see all of these things. In fact, now that I think about it, Thalia has been acting weird too. I don't know when, but she's started tagging along with Luke whenever he's going to hang out with his 'friends'. She seemed to have also picked up drinking, which is very odd and out of character for her. I hope she's okay.

I'm going to confess something, I've been ignoring her. I'll admit it, I'm jealous of her. But I'm sick of her blowing me off and only hanging out with me when Luke's not there. Even before when we were little kids, guys would just flock around her and I'd be left out. She has this tendency to just throw herself in a relationship, I've learned. I get that Luke is her first boyfriend ever, but it kinda hurts that she's been ignoring me, for Luke and Austin! Whatever, I've gotten in this exchange program in San Francisco. It's until the end of the school year, because I just really need to be away from my parents for a while. I hope that nothing will change while I'm gone.

Thalia's POV
So, I've decided to give Luke's new friends a chance, since I want to show him that I'm a supportive girlfriend. Our relationship has been... less than stellar you could say. So one day I decided that I wanted to sort of, not save it, but preserve it. This is how it went down:

"Hey babe, where you going? It's movie marathon night, remember? Tonight'S special: Superhero movies!" I told Luke.

"Oh, yeah... About that. I can't tonight babe, I told Ethan I was gonna meet up with him later." Luke said.

"What! But... but, this is our tradition. I blew off Annabeth for this!" I exclaimed, a little hurt.

"Well... If you want you can call Annabeth and have this movie marathon with her." He retorted.

"What are you and Ethan gonna do anyway that's so important, huh?" I asked him angrily.

"We were just gonna go to this new club. I heard it was off the chains!" He said, kind of reminding me of some douchey frat guy.

"I'm coming with." I announced.

"Are you sure? It's awfully loud there, and frankly, I don't that that's your kind of scene. How about you have a quiet night at home, mmkay?" He said

I just gave him a cold stare and said "Luke I'm coming with you."

He turned around and sighed, but I swore I saw a triumphant smirk on his face when he said "Fine. If you insist, you can come with. We're leaving in thirty."

After that night that's I've become a lot more confident. Let's just say we had a veery special night that night. I'd tell you all about it but... A lady doesn't kiss and tell. Ever since I've been going to more parties and learned that I liked drinking after Luke convinced me to and I think I'm hooked. All my life I've been sheltered from this and now I'm glad Luke's showing me how to live. I've let loose and decided to live a little, like Luke told me to. It seems to make him happy, and I really like seeing him happy.

I will admit though, I do find myself missing how our relationship used to be. Luke randomly showing up at my door step to take me out on a surprise date. The random little gifts he'd give me, to show me that he's thinking of me. I especially miss the good morning and good night texts. But I suppose as we mature, the relationship matures with us. Now instead of going out to get ice cream in the middle of the night, we're in a club dancing until 2 in the morning. Don't get me wrong, I like that, but sometimes I do wish he'd show me he loved me more you know? I kinda miss the 'immature' Luke who laughs at my jokes, even if they're weird. Now all we seem to do is party, drink and dance.

Nico's POV
"Hey man, haven't seen a lot of you lately. How're you and Thalia doing?" I asked Luke.

"Hm? Oh, pretty good, pretty good. Did you know that underneath that 'girl-next-door' facade there's this wild bad chick, just waiting to be let loose?" He said.

"Umm, no, no I did not. I didn't really expect that. Are you sure?" I asked him uncertainly.

"Ohh, yes my friend. After her first club experience, she has changed. She's been tagging along with me and Ethan and the gang. You really should join us one day, the boys wouldn't mind you know. I could hook you up."

"Thanks, but I think I'll pass. I'm not really into the whole 'club scene'"

"Come on Nico. We haven't hung out in ages. We're best buds remember? Please?"

"Fine." I relented. I mean, I just want to make sure he's okay.

"YES! This is great, finally you and me, painting the town red. I'll pick you up at your place, aight?"

Oh gods, what did I get myself into?

-Line Break-

So, I'm in a club. I gotta say Ethan? Yeah...He's fucking scary. What's with his eye patch? And that weird creepy smirk. And that douchey haircut? I definitely can not stand how he looks down on me. As if I should be happy that he tolerates my mere presence and I should just kiss the ground he walks upon. What a jerk.

The music sucks, Luke seems to be goading Thalia into drinking more and random people seem to be grabbing... Body parts on the dance floor. Yeah... I'm out. I'd rather be in a mosh pit than this dump.

I've been looking for Luke for the past hour, can't find him. I decided to go outside, to grab some fresh air you know. There I found Luke, smoking. Nothing new really, he's been smoking on and off ever since he first started hanging out with the Titans. Thalia seemed uncomfortable do with what Luke was telling her, so I decided to sneak closer to eaves drop. What? I'm a curious and nosy kid, sue me.

"Come on Thals, just give it a try. Come on" Luke said, while holding the cigarette out.

"Ohh, umm. I don't think it's safe Luke." Thalia answered, sounding a little bit uncomfortable.

"Please, just once. To prove that you love me." He said with puppy dog eyes, putting the cigaret in her hand.

She seemed to hesitate for a moment, probably trying to think straight.

Seeing this, Luke gave her a charming a smile and said "I love you, you know that."

And she seemed to have lost herself after that. Blinded and confused by love, she did what he said. She brought the cigaret to her mouth and breathed in the smoke for the first time and coughed so hard it seemed like her lungs were gonna fall out.

Luke gave her another one of his charming smile and said "Good girl." He then took the cigaret from her took a drag and then kissed her, purposely getting smoke in her innocent lungs again. She once again coughed violently, but still managed to smile.

Me? I felt absolutely sick after witnessing this. I mean what the fuck is wrong with Luke? Getting her hooked on this stuff? He already got me, now he had to get her too? He knew how unhealthy this was, he knew that she didn't want to and he manipulated her into doing it anyway? This is just sick and wrong. I decided to confront him, right now. I grabbed him by the arm and dragged him to secluded spot and said angrily

"What the fuck man? Why'd you force her to smoke?"

He just looked at me as if I was crazy for getting mad in the first place and said "Whaat? I didn't force her. She was the one to bring the cigaret to her mouth and she was the one to take a drag. Surely you saw this?"

"Why? Why would you do this? Why would you get her hooked on drinking, smoking and partying?" I asked him disbelievingly.

"I just want to show her a good time Nico, there's nothing wrong with that." He answered back nonchalantly.

"Yes, yes there is. You're corrupting her and ruining her life. What's next, huh? Drugs? You gonna 'convince' her to start smoking weed? How about crack? You gonna get her hooked on crack too?"

Luke started to get angry and retorted "Why you being like that man? I was nice enough to get you on the list of this club and paid for drinks. Why are you busting my balls? She's my girlfriend and I'll do whatever the fuck I want with her. You don't like it? Well tough luck, you're not involved in this situation. Just mind your own goddamn business."

I just shook my head and said "Look, I can forgive you for killing my goldfish in the 5th grade. I can forgive you for asking out Shelly Woods to the dance even though you KNEW I liked her. I can even forgive you for corrupting me and introducing me to this unhealthy lifestyle. But. I can not, will not, stand by and let you ruin Thalia's life. She's a good girl, a great girl even. Way too good for you. I don't know why you relapsed and turned into a jerk again and frankly I don't care anymore. I'm not gonna tell you how to live your life, but I'll warn Thalia. I'm not gonna let you ruin her life."

He just laughed and said "Yeah, good luck with that pal. She's in love with me. Whatever you tell her about me will just go into one ear and leave the other. Why do you care so much anyway? Huh? What, do you like her? Is that it? Does witle Nico have a crush on my girl? You think you're some hero saving her from the big bad wolf?"

"What?! Of course not. No! We're just friends. And I can't just stand by as you manipulate her into doing things she clearly doesn't want to do. As a good friend I wanna be there for her and protect her."

He looked at me disbelievingly and said "Really? Reallyy? Then where were you when I needed you Nico? Where were you when my dad was beating me? Where were you when I started drinking and smoking and doing drugs?"

I stayed silent, because... I wasn't there for him. When all of this happened I found out I had a long lost sister in New Orleans and so I was spending all of my time on catching up with her.

"Yeah, that's right. You were off in your perfect little world with your sisters and parents. You had time for Austin, but not for me. So don't preach about being a good friend or some other shit. You wanna know, why I hang out with Ethan? With the Titans? It's because they were there for me when no one else was. When every one was off in their perfect little world with a home and a family. I was all alone, with no one else but my thoughts. Ethan was there for me. The Titans were there for me, when you weren't." He spat at me.

I was shocked and felt ashamed. I looked down and apologized. "Listen, Luke I'm really sorry that I wasn't always the best friend I claim to be. I'm sorry that I was a shitty friend, I really am. But that doesn't mean you have to drag Thalia down with..."

"With what? With me? If down is far away from you, then I don't mind. Consider this the end of our friendship." And then he left me, standing all alone in a dark alley, far away from home.

And that's a wrap. Whew, this was a long one. Was working on this one 'til late into the night. I'm gonna have to take it easy on the writing for now though. Next chapter will probably come out in the weekend, because 3 back-to-back chapters on a school week is a little bit stressing. Hope you guys understand.

Btw, what did you think go the chapter? Love it? Hate it? Didn'T really care for it? It's my longest one, so far. I predict that this background story still has a chapter or two, three max to go before we're back in the present. Please tell me what you guys liked and what you guys didn't like so I can improve as a writer. Oh and don't forget to vote on the poll so I know which direction you want me to go. Thanks for the reviews, they make my day, and I hope you guys enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.