Hey guys! Here is Chapter 10, as promised!

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Chapter 10

As much as I wanted to believe that I was ready to talk to Percy about what I had heard, by the time I was heading to the karate dojo on Monday to help Chiron with his weekly class I was all but shaking in my gi.

As I entered the dojo, I strode over to Chiron's office to bid him hello, and he smiled anxiously at me.

"Are you alright, Annabeth?" he asked, and I could tell that the smile on my face was less than convincing.

"Truthfully, Chiron, I haven't had the most pleasant of weeks," I said bitterly, remembering the events from the week before. After my sleepover with Thalia and Rachel, I had spent the rest of my weekend reading my book on architecture and ignoring Percy's text messages. I eventually deleted them without reading them – I didn't want to read his jokes or see the smiley faces that came along with them. Even my stepmother and stepbrothers had learned to avoid me, as I'm pretty sure a dark thundercloud actually hovered over me, warning anyone that they would get struck by lightning if they even looked at me the wrong way.

Chiron furrowed his brow, his kind eyes clouded with concern. "If you need to talk about anything, don't hesitate to come find me."

Thanking him, I set my bag down in the office and headed out onto the floor to start some stretches. Travis wandered over to me as the little kids started coming in the door.

"Yo, Annie, what's with the hands? Get into a fist fight or something?" Travis nodded at my bruised and scabby knuckles. They were still extremely sore from last Friday, when I had beaten the punching bag to a pulp.

"No," I mumbled defensively, straightening as I tried to discreetly look for Tyson. He didn't seem to have arrived yet, so I sidestepped Travis and called for all the kids to line up on the mat.

It was then that he walked in.

Tyson scurried to line up as I was momentarily caught in Percy's gaze. His beautiful sea green eyes seemed to twinkle at me from across the room, and the smile he gave me made my knees go weak. He had on a black t-shirt that showed off his broad shoulders and muscley arms, and it seemed to match his own jet black hair, which flopped adorably over one eye.

As soon as the moment had begun, it was over, as I jerked myself back to the present. Percy was dreamy, sure, but that didn't excuse anything he had done to me. I turned away from him, pointedly avoiding his gaze as I took role and started the kids on their warm-ups. I massaged my hands absentmindedly as Travis went around the room, teasing the kids that weren't stretching enough, threatening to sit on them if need be. I had hoped that Percy had only come to drop Tyson off, but it seemed that he was there to watch the class. I cursed inwardly at my bad luck, before resolving to focus solely on the class, and would leave as soon as it was over.

Halfway into the class I could still feel Percy's gaze on me, and when I looked up at him after helping a little girl with her punching technique, I could see that he was not only looking at me, but was frowning at my hands. Before I could look away he glanced up at me, his eyes clouded with an emotion I could not identify. He mouthed "What happened?" as his gaze met mine, but I turned away abruptly, determined not to look at him again. In doing so, I missed the look of hurt that flickered for a moment across his features.

As class ended, I bid the students farewell and went to go grab my bag from the office. Before I could make it back to the door, however, I was confronted by Percy, whose smile seemed fake and forced.

"Hey, Wise Girl – what's wrong?" He asked, studying me. "What happened to your hands?" He reached for them as I pulled away from him.

"None of your business - now get out of my way." My tone of voice was a winter storm, and Percy seemed to shrink from it. He steeled himself, stepping closer to me.

Until then, I had been staring at the floor, determined not to show any emotion other than brusque annoyance. As I looked up at him, however, he seemed to see something in my eyes that gave away what I was feeling, because he flinched slightly at whatever he had seen. "Annabeth," he started, but I brushed him off.

"I have better things to do than stand here, Jackson, so if you'd please move –" I tried to step around him, but he matched my movements easily.

"Annabeth, please talk to me," he pleaded, his eyes filled with concern and another emotion – the same emotion I couldn't quite identify before.

"Leave me alone."

My tone of voice was measured and cutting, and Percy stepped away from what he heard there. With those final words and Percy's eyes on my back, I ran for the door, bolting into the oppressive summer heat.

On Wednesday, I considered leaving Percy to flounder by refusing to tutor him, but decided against it. It was already almost August, and I'd be rid of him soon enough after that. I also knew the struggle of learning with dyslexia, and knew that I was too kindhearted to leave him to continue to struggle on by himself.

So, on Wednesday evening at 7 PM sharp, I rang the apartment bell and Tyson answered the door.

"Annabeth!" Tyson shrieked and hugged my waist, his head pressing against my stomach. I smiled in spite of myself, hugging the small boy and ruffling his already messy hair. Looking up, I noticed Percy hovering in the background, his green eyes troubled as they met mine. Sally appeared in the background as well, and her kind smile eased the emotional storm that had been raging inside of me for a week.

"It's so nice to see you again Annabeth," Sally said, prying Tyson off of me and hugging me as if she had known me for much longer than a week. I hugged her back, knowing that I would miss her immensely once I was done tutoring Percy.

It was only when she stepped back that I noticed she was dressed to go out, and my stomach churned. "Going somewhere?" I squeaked nervously.

Sally laughed. "Yes – Tyson and I are meeting Paul for dinner and then heading to a movie. I thought it would be nice to get out of the house and do something, for a change." She smiled at Percy and I as Tyson excitedly tied his shoes. "Try not to throw any massive parties while we're gone, okay?" With a last laugh, she ushered Tyson out the door and closed it behind them with a resounding click.