(A Month Later)
Annabeth
"Percy!" I yell, needing his help desperately. He pops his head around the door and his eyes widen when he realises I'm only wearing a shirt and knickers.
"What's up?" he asks, coming out of what I think might have been a daydream.
"I need your help," I moan, feeling really down. For some reason I feel like bursting into tears today. Gods, I hate hormones!
"What with?" he asks, coming into his bedroom and closing the door behind him.
"Putting my jeans on," I reply and he furrows his brow. I ignore the gesture and pick my jeans up from the floor. I slip one leg in and then the other. I pull them up and breath in so they go around me.
"You look fine to me," Percy says and I roll my eyes.
"The zip, you Seaweed Brain!" I yell, frustrated tears filling my eyes.
"Okay. I'm sorry. Calm down," Percy whispers, soothingly and kneels in front of me. He grabs the zip part of my jeans and tries pulling it up while I hold the two parts together so they'll go up easier. The zip won't budge. Percy tries again.
"Can you breathe in?" Percy asks and I gasp.
"I am in breathing in!"
"Wow, you're bigger than I thought," he mutters and I slap the top of his head.
"Not the right thing to say to a pregnant teenager that's wants to curl up in a ball and cry!" I snap.
"I didn't mean it that way," Percy insists and I take a deep breath.
"You were saying that I am fat!"
"No. God no! You're tiny! You barely have a bump!" he objects.
"My jeans tell me differently," I sigh.
"I promise you that you're not fat. My mom probably just shrank the jeans in the wash," he says.
"Your right," I reply and smile for the first time this morning… and then I frown. "What am I going to wear to school?"
"My mom's jeans?" he suggests and my eyes widen.
"I can't wear your mom's jeans. That's so embarrassing!" I yell.
"Why is it?" he asks, stupidly.
"Because there your mom's clothes!"
"She'll let you wear them, I know she will!" Percy insists and runs out of the room calling his mom's name before I can object. I fall onto Percy's bed, giving up and close my eyes. I hear Percy come back about two minutes later.
"Quickly put them on or we'll be late for school," he says and I huff, standing up and snatching the jeans off him.
"Where's Paul?" I ask, sliding the jeans on and grinning like I won a million dollars when I don't have to breathe in when I zip them up.
"He had to go to the school early so we'll have to walk," he replies and I nod, not minding some fresh air before school.
I finish getting ready and grab an apple before we both leave after saying goodbye to his mom. "Have you got a shift at the library today?" Percy asks me as we walk past a few shops.
"Yeah but I'm only working for four hours so I'll be home around half past seven," I reply. "Are you going to stop someone from drowning at the local swimming pool today?"
"I hope I don't have to save anyone because they'll have to drown for me to save them," he says and I roll my eyes. "Tomorrow's a Saturday. Do you have plans?"
"Not really. I was thinking about spending some of my savings on some maternity clothes," I reply, "You want to come?"
"Yeah, sure." We walk the rest of the way in a comfortable silence, our hands brushing several times. I like him and I want him to ask me out but at the same time I don't because I don't want him to like me because I'm carrying his child. I want him to like me for real and come on, what does one night at a smelly bar say about how much he likes me? Nothing because we were both drunk and stupid.
We arrive at the school right on time and we head to Homeroom. The school day goes as it usually does; lessons, a fight, lessons, some gossip about this girl and that boy, more lessons and then there's lunch. My new favourite part of the day. I walk to the back of the line in the lunch queue, Thalia coming with me. "What are you getting today?" she asks and I glance at the counter where all the food is sitting.
"The chicken and BBQ wrap looks nice," I comment and decide that I have to get my hands on it. From here it looks like heaven. Stupid baby making me feel hungry all the time! The line goes down quite fast and thankfully I get the last wrap in the tray.
"Thanks," I grin and walk towards my usual table with Thalia.
I take a seat next to Percy on one side of me and Silena on the other. Thalia sits down next to Nico and opposite me. "How are you feeling today?" Silena asks me.
"Sil, you don't have to ask her how she feels everyday," Beckendorf says and Silena frowns at him.
"I'm just being nice, Charlie. There's a big difference between me and my sister want to know what it is?" she doesn't wait for a reply. "My sister is a bitch!"
She says that just as Drew comes behind her and a look of guilt and shame spreads across Drew's surprisingly make-up free face. "Silena!" I scold and she flashes me a confused look.
"No, don't worry. She's right," Drew whispers and Silena spins around in her seat, realising her sister is right behind her. Drew spins around after dumping her tray on the table next to us and runs out of the cafeteria with tears in her eyes. I sigh and slouch in my seat. Which to pick; Drew or my wrap? I look from the door to the wrap several times before standing up and heading to the girl's bathroom. I can't think of anywhere else she'd be.
I push the door open and the loud sobs coming from a locked toilet tells me that my suspicions were right. "Drew?" I call out, just in case it's someone else. The sobbing stops for a second, letting me know that it is in fact her before it starts all over again. "Open the door," I order.
"I-I'm okay," she cries. And I thought Percy was a bad liar…
"Oh, come on. Every sister says that about their sibling."
"Not every sister means it," she replies, opening the door. I look her up and down. There are wet patches on her sleeves and her eyes are red. I've never seen someone look so upset.
"Hey," I whisper, surprising both her and myself when I wrap my arms around her. She hesitates before crying on my shoulder.
"I'm sorry," she sobs.
"What for?" I ask.
"For being such a bitch. I was just so jealous of you."
"Jealous of me?" I ask, my eyes widening.
"You don't know how lucky you are."
"Are you serious? I'm seventeen and pregnant!" I say, pulling away.
"Exactly, you get to keep your baby," she whispers and I frown. What is she trying to say? She see's the question in my gray orbs and slides to the floor, leaning against the wall. I sit down next to her and take her hand.
"It was last year," she whispers, staring as the wall opposite us, lost in her memories. "Luke and I had been dating for two months and we did it. I didn't expect to get pregnant the first time I had sex." My eyes widen. She was pregnant! My eyes shrink back to normal when I realise that she hasn't got a kid which means…
"D-did you lose it?" I ask, softly.
"A miscarriage? No. I told Luke, thinking he'd stick by me. I thought he was that kind of guy- like Percy. He didn't. He went crazy, told me it was my fault and that I shouldn't have seduced him. He told me if I didn't abort it then-" A loud sob cuts her off but she carries on a while later. "… Then he'd make my life miserable. He even hit me when I said that I wouldn't kill it. I got so scared. So, I had an abortion."
She comes out of her memory and stares at me red-eyed, sadly. "I've hated myself ever since. I shouldn't have listened to him. If I'd done what I wanted then I'd have a baby right now. My baby. When my mom came home from hospital a couple of months ago and told me that she saw you I… I hated you. I was jealous and thought that it should be me with the baby, not you. Look after it and love it. I'd do anything to be in your place." By the time she's finished her speech I'm crying a river.
"I'm sorry," I whisper, really and truly meaning it. Ever since I found out I was pregnant I thought of only regrets. I thought of how unlucky I was and stupid. But now, I think differently about the situation. No not the situation- the baby.
She nods unable to speak and cries into my shoulder. "I hate him for making me do it," she sobs and I rub her back. She looks up when I freeze and notices my wide-eyes. "What?" I look at my belly and back up at her. I feel it again and the warmth and love that spreads through me brings a smile to my face. I grab Drew's hand and press it to my stomach. Ours never break contact, as we wait… nothing. I sigh. She's about to pull it away when she grins.
She felt it and I felt it. My baby just kicked.