Piper's POV

I wake up with a sore back from sleeping on the couch. Why am I sleeping on the couch? Then it all floods back to me in a sickening wave. Annabeth. Abuse. Here. Sleeping. Percy. I grin at that last part. I'm so happy for her. It's her first ever boyfriend and first ever kiss. I knew a while ago that she had a thing for Jason but I'm glad she's over him. I truth... I like him. I think he may like me. I'm good at reading people, especially when it comes to emotions. But I'm too afraid to try. Thalia is very cautious about who he dates, even if he is older than her. She says she wants a good girl for him, not some slut that'll cheat on him after two weeks. Last time I checked, I'm not Rachel Elizabeth Dare. So, maybe I do have a chance. I hear noise coming from my room, and a tired, messy haired, irritable Annabeth Chase walks out. It's 8:00! Why is she up so early? She only got six hours of sleep.

"Hey Annie? Why are you up so early?"

She grumbles something and grabs a banana from the fruit basket on our table.

" I couldn't sleep in, sleep hasn't been very easy for me lately."

"Oh, well okay."

I look out the window and see my parents pulling into the driveway. Yikes! I start panicking at Annabeth looks at me questioningly.

"What's wrong?"

"Parents. Home." I stutter out.

"So?"

"So, they don't know you're here and they'll kill me when they realize I invited someone inside without asking!"

Her eye widen and she jumps out the the chair. My parents are super strict... Well they were ever since my dad got remarried to this crazy, mellow, yoga teacher. She doesn't want anything inorganic in the house, and will only let me stay up till 9:00. She changed him, and not for the better. Annabeth knows this. One time, she came over with a movie rated PG-13 and my parents flipped out. I had just turned thirteen and Annabeth wanted to officially watch a PG-13 movie with me. We'd lied to my parents before saying we were going to G rated films in the past but she wanted to celebrate officially without having to lie. Heck, my parents have no idea that I watch Doctor Who! It's really annoying sometimes. At Thalia's her mom is almost never home, so we can do pretty much anything. last year, we all drank wine for the first time. It was awful but awesome! I remember Annabeth puking in the bathroom afterwards. If my parents ever found out, they'd disown me. Anyway, after the whole PG-13 movie disaster, my parents grounded me for two months, prohibited me from talking to Annabeth before or after school hours during the time and made me do all the house chores. Annabeth and I rush into my room and she darts into the closet. Classic. I shut it just as my parents open the door.

"Piper! We're home sweetie!" My dad yells.

"I'm in my room, dad!" I yell back.

He walks into my room, smiling. Sometimes, my dad can be his normal self... Sometimes.

"Hey pipes, how was your weekend?"

"Good, nothing much happened." I can practically see Annabeth rolling her eyes in the closet.

"Wait a minute. Shouldn't you be in school young lady?" My step mom says, entering my room. Crap! I forgot all about school when Annabeth came.

"Uhhh, no?"

"Don't lie to us young lady, why shouldn't you be in school?"

"It's national teachers day! Yeah, the teachers get a day to enjoy themselves with other teachers at this resort..." That makes sense... Who am I kidding, I'm dead meat!

"Oh, well okay, we should sent Mr. MacDonald a box of chocolates." My dad says, my step mother slaps his arm.

"Tristan! We do not eat chocolate in this house! It's bad for my zen."

Did I mention she's a crazy yoga freak?

"Oh, yes, how about a card?"

"As long as it's Eco friendly and isn't made in any place where it endangers flamingoes."

What? Sometimes, she makes no sense. And flamingoes are the flashy girly girls of the animal world, and they may or may not frighten me.

"Yes, that would be great. But Mr. Macdonald says he doesn't need gifts."

"Oh nonsense! We're getting him a card Piper, that's final."

Ah, that classic phrase. Whenever they say it, I know not to argue anymore.

"Oh, and can Annabeth stay here for a few nights? Her house is under maintenance."

"You know how we feel about sleepovers... And about Annabeth. That girl is a very bad example for you darling... She watches PG-13 movies!" My step mom says.

"I'm SIXTEEN!"

"Age is just a number, you're still a baby girl."

"Well, can she stay? She has no where else to go."

"Fine, but only for the weekend. Then she leaves."

I smile. This is probably the first argument I've won.

"Thank you! She'll be so grateful. And I promise she'll be a great guest."

"I would think so. She better be if she ever wants to come visit again." My step mom says.

"Come on, Linda, let's go sit down and watch the nature channel." My dad says, ushering my step mom into the living room.

Nature channel? What has become of him?! Back whenever he was single, he watched wrestling matches while eating take out Chinese food. I used to hear him screaming at the television and come down into the living room. And he'd always offer me an egg roll, which I'd take without question. I miss those days. I walk back into my room.

"Clear." I whisper.

Annabeth opens the closet door and stumbles out with a stuffed animal.

"YOU had a cuddle me cutie?" She says, holding back laughter.

"Oh don't lie, every five year old girl had one!"

"I didn't, I read books."

"Well, we're not all brainiacs like you!" I say, grabbing the doll out of her hands.

She holds her hands up in surrender. I'm on a role today for winning arguments! She stuffs her things back into her bag and starts opening the window.

"Where are you going?"

"Well, I can't just say I came in through the window! I'm going to get a coffee than I'll come back. I need some caffeine and I need it now."

"You seem surprisingly normal considering what you told me last night."

"Well, I bounce back fast.. Sort of. But I need to relax for a bit."

And she leaves out the window. My friends are confusing.

Annabeth's POV

I lied... Again. I'm still really frazzled and upset from yesterday but I needed to get away. I can't believe the truth is going to come out so fast. I planned on keeping it secret until I moved out and never telling a soul. But now that I think about it, I probably would've felt guilty about keeping it a secret all my life. I walk down to Starbucks and order an iced coffee. when I was young, I always wanted one, but my mom told me I couldn't. She always told me that the caffeine monsters would attack me if I did. When I was thirteen, Thalia and I went down and both got them together... We were VERY hyper afterwards and we may or may not have broke a lamp. I smile thinking about it, but it's soon replaced with terror. Piper is making me tell them tonight after school... I'm not ready. How will they react? Will they flip out? Thalia I know for a fact with try to call the cops and we'll have to hold her back. It suddenly hits me that I'm skipping school. I've NEVER skipped school before, if you haven't already guessed. It's feels weird... But after last night, I don't think I could've managed going to school. There's a tv in Starbucks with the news channel on. Suddenly I hear my name. My head whips around to watch the tv.

"Sixteen year old Annabeth Chase went missing last night. Her father Robert Chase last checked on her around midnight so we're guessing the mystery started around 2:00 am. The girl has wavy blonde hair, grey eyes and is about 5 feet 9 inches tall. If you see this girl,"

The show a picture of me on the tv.

"Please contact 567-8893 or email us. We spoke to her father a few minutes ago,this is what he had to say,"

"Oh, I should have known this was coming, officers. She was such a brat. We had a big argument last night and she tried to attack me. She wanted my money so she could buy more pills and cigarettes but when I refused... It wasn't pretty."

"So there you have it folks, Please keep a look out for her. This is News Now signing off."

I swear, multiple times. Good thing all my classmates and Percy are in school so they wouldn't have seen it, and Piper's parents are busy watching the nature channel. I just hope no one I know has seen it. I'm not some crazy druggie and people should know that. I grab my coffee, pay the barista and leave as quick as I can. I scurry back to Piper's house and knock on the door. Piper opens it grinning.

"Hey there sista!" She lets me in.

"We have a problem."

She grows serious. "What happened now?"

"I'm on the news." Her eyes widen. "My dad was interviewed and he said I was a crazy druggie who attacked him for pills before leaving. Now the police are looking for me."

"Oh. My. God. This is bad. We need to tell Hazel and Thalia... Now!"

"Now?"

"Yes, it's lunch break right now. Remember every Friday we always go to Freddie's pizza? They'll be there."

My stomach feels instantly queasy. I don't know if I can handle telling another person, let alone two. But it's the right thing to do, they deserve to know. I sigh because I know she's right.

"Ok, let's go." I say and she smiles.

"You can do this Annie! We're your best friends and we'll support you through anything."

I hug her. Piper Maclean is one of the best friends anyone could ask for. Piper tells her parents we're going to the library and we need to borrow the car.

"Linda, please don't worry, not a scratch, I promise!" Piper pleads her step mom.

"Fine, but you know how serious I am about promises. Stay safe honey."

"I will." Her step mom kisses her on the head.

We walk out of the house and Piper says,

"She's crazy but since my mom left my dad when I was two, she's the only mom I've really ever had. She can be a good mother sometimes."

"Yeah, I miss my mom."

"Sorry, I know mothers are a touchy subject for you."

"No, it's okay. I'm starting to get the closure I need by telling people about my situation."

I see Piper's step mom' car in the driveway and my eyes widen. Its a bright green smart car. It's so tiny I don't know how we'll fit inside it.

"This," I motion to the car. "Is our ride?"

"Now you know why I don't drive to school. Linda refuses to get any car that's had for the environment. She almost didn't buy a car at all but biking is to hard in the winter."

We hop into the tiny car and Piper starts the engine. Dolphin noises blast from the radio. I'm so startled I jump. Piper laughs.

"Sorry, Linda likes listening to nature noises." She flips the dial to a normal station and we drive to Freddie's.

Once we get there, Thalia and Hazel are sitting in our usual seat. They notice us and glare. Oh boy. We walk to the booth and sit down.

"Ok, spill the beans, why'd you guys ditch? And most importantly why didn't you tell me? I would've loved to ditch with you."

"Sorry, but Annabeth had a pretty bad night. She ran away from her abusive father and-"

"what?! Abusive father? Ran away from home?" Thalia shoots me a is she serious look. I nod then glare at Piper. She mouths Sorry.

"It's... It's true. Ever since my mom died when I was ten, my dad abused me... And I abused myself."

"What? Annie? Self harming? You didn't tell me that!"

"I'm sorry, but depression and pain drove me to it. I even thought about suicide when I was fourteen."

They all gasp. I feel very guilty.

"And I thought I knew the whole truth. This is even more serious." Piper says.

"Annabeth, we need to tell the police." Hazel says, touching my arm.

"We can't, I was on tv today and my dad told the world I'm a drug obsessed lunatic who's on the loose."

Thalia is extremely quiet. It's making me nervous. Is she mad? Did I wait too long?

"Thals, say something." I plead. She looks at me.

"Annabeth, I'm sorry for you. What's been going on is inexcusable. But why didn't you tell me? Best friends tell each other this stuff! I told you about my alcoholic mother! Do you even trust me at all?"

"Of course I do Thalia! But this kind of stuff is hard to admit." Tears start to form in my eyes.

"Yeah, well, whatever." Thalia grumbles and stands up.

"No Thals please. I'm sorry."

"Ha, sorry? We haven't fought in years but sorry doesn't cut it. How do I know you even mean it? You've lied to my face for six years after all."

And she leaves, not bothering to pay for her pizza. She slams the door and other customers look up, but they realize their food is more interesting. I cry with my head in my hands. Piper puts her arm around me and Hazel says,

"Don't cry Annie, Thalia is very fragile and gets hurt easy. She'll get over it. She's just upset about you lying, she doesn't see the big picture about why you did."

I nod, but tears still fall. My entire life has exploded in one day. My best friend hates my guts and we all know she's the one to hold grudges. It feels like one bad thing after another. What will Percy think? Will he be upset too? Just thinking about it makes me sadder. I don't know if I can tell him after what just happened.

"Come on, let's go get a sundae? Brownie?" Piper coaxes me to look up.

They all know how much I love brownies.

"O-okay." I croak and we stand up. Hazel pays for her own and Thalia's food and we leave.

But not even ice cream, hot fudge and brownies can make Thalia come back. I don't know what will.