Author's Note: Sorry if Percy seems a bit OOC. I'm just horrible at writing these kinds of scenes, like holy shit you don't even know how much I hate this chapter.

Note: Thank you, Shinigami89, for editing and beta reading my chapters and all of that. I really appreciate it!

Warning: Bullying, violence, language (I'll add more along the way)

Disclaimer: Pshh, you think I'm Rick Riordan? Please. Also, "Yancy" for the school name is from the first book The Lightning Thief. The actual school name is "Yancy Academy".

Depression

Author: Loving Healer

Chapter Twenty

It took me such a long time to register into my mind that I didn't even think what she was saying was the truth. Was I imagining things? Hearing things? What was this, a dream or an illusion or something?

"Wh-What?" I finally managed through my shocked state.

She smiled sadly at me. "I love Piper McLean, Percy."

I blinked at her momentarily. The information just wouldn't sink in. Was she serious? Was it April 1 today or something? What else was I supposed to say? I mean, what would you do if you found out that your girlfriend was actually lesbian?

"You..." I trailed off, still completely stunned at this new fact. Well, I guess you really do learn something new every day.

"I'm sorry, Percy," she said. "But I... I can't do this anymore. It's like the more I hang out with Piper, the closer I've gotten with her. And I guess I ended up becoming too close."

I took in a sharp breath. "How long?" I demanded. I was surprised with how urgent my voice sounded.

"A month," Annabeth answered quietly. "It just... Never made such a huge impact on me until a week ago."

"Was that what you were talking to Piper about before I found you guys?" I surmised, and she nodded in response.

Annabeth rubbed her forearm nervously. "I'm... I'm sorry."

"A month, huh?" I repeated to mostly myself. "A month, and you didn't even bother telling me until now?" My voice was suddenly becoming louder from rage, and the few people who were behind the library building that weren't paying any attention to us were now staring at us as if we were some kind of drama shown on TV.

"Look, Percy," Annabeth began to say, but she paused because for the first time in probably her whole lifetime, she didn't have a clue as to what to say.

"You've been keeping this to yourself for a month?!" I yelled at her. "What happened to that 'no secrets between us' promise? Huh?!"

"Percy, please, listen to me!" Annabeth pleaded as her eyes turned glossy.

My teeth were clenched so tightly together it felt like they could break at any second. My knuckles were white, and I could barely control the rage radiating off of me. Of all the people... I didn't think Annabeth of all people would break a promise.

"Then talk," I whispered on a dangerously calm tone. I laughed bitterly all of a sudden, cutting Annabeth off before she could start her explanation. "You know, I wouldn't be so angry if you told me, oh I don't know, a month ago!"

"Percy!" Annabeth cried frantically. "Listen to me! Please!"

"Go ahead!" I screamed, my vision becoming blurred with red. "Go on and talk all you want, but will it really make up for how long you hid this from me?!"

A tear streamed down her cheek, and it made me regret how furious I had become. Why wasn't I rational and calm like Annabeth? Why did I let my feelings take over?

I watched the tear roll down her cheek and drip off of her chin as if it were playing in slow motion. I saw when Annabeth and I met in Intermediate School. I saw the time when I finally had the balls to ask her out after months of crushing secretly on her and Grover calling me a "pussy." I even saw the time when we asked Nico himself if he's ever heard of a guy named Nico di Angelo, and Annabeth already had suspicions about Nico before we even knew it was him.

I saw it all in a blink of an eye.

More welled up on the corner of her eyes, and I wanted to wipe them away so badly, but my locked, pale knuckles wouldn't budge an inch at all.

"Annabeth..." I trailed off, clueless as to what to say to her next.

Annabeth shut her eyes as she took deep breaths to calm herself down. Hiccups soon emerged when her tears finally came to a stop. Her lips were still quivering, and her eyes were now a bit puffy and rimmed with red.

"I'm sorry," I apologized. It didn't even feel like the right time to say the apology, but I didn't know what to say to make Annabeth know that I wasn't overflowing with enormous amounts of rage anymore.

She nodded, swiping the back of her hand across her eyes. "Am I able to explain now?"

"Y-Yeah," I stuttered, staring off to the side in guilt.

"Percy, I still love you," Annabeth started her explanation. "I just... We've been dating for a year or two and I... I want to find out what my sexuality is. I mean, I've always thought I was straight, but then my relationship with Piper grew to a point where I just don't know anymore."

She sighed heavily. "With having a hypothesis comes experimentation, isn't that right? I know we'll have to... Break it off, and I'm very, very sorry for that." Annabeth noticed the sorrowful look on my face, and she offered me an empathetic smile. "You know, I'm not some kind of emotionless being or something. I'm sad about this too, but my gut feeling tells me that this is the path that I should take. You'll find someone Percy. Honestly, you will."

I gulped, and my eyes met Annabeth's gray orbs.

"I just feel... Lost, I guess," I muttered as my gaze fell down to the floor.

Annabeth clasped a hand onto my shoulder, but I didn't feel like making eye contact with her. It hurt to break up with someone that you had loved for a long amount of time, but I can't force her to stay in a relationship with me if she didn't want to.

"I know, Percy. I know," she stated. "It'll get better soon. I know it will. But can you promise me something? I absolutely swear I won't break this promise."

I glanced up at her and met her serious gaze that was set on my own face. "What is it?"

She removed her small hand that I used to hold off my shoulder. "I don't want the type of relationships where the two people never see each other again. It's just... Horrible. So, I was wondering if—"

"You want to stay friend with me," I finished for her with a small smile that actually managed to form on my lips.

Annabeth nodded. "Right. If you don't want to, then—"

I shook my head from side to side, cutting her off. "No, actually, it'd be great if we stayed friends. It would actually be more complicated if we stopped talking to each other completely, you know."

Annabeth chuckled quietly. "I guess that's true, isn't it? You're getting smarter by the minute."

I managed a smile, but it still had traces of my depressed mood. "Thanks. I try, for everyone's sake."

Annabeth's gray eyes twinkles with amusement. "Of course, Percy."

We stood there in a momentary silence. The trees shook from the slight breeze that danced around us. The people that were watching us as if we were some kind of TV drama series were now turned around, and they have become absorbed in their own little quiet conversation.

"Shouldn't you be apologizing to Piper now?" I broke the momentary silence between us. "Lunch could end any minute."

Annabeth stared up at me in surprise—probably because her ex-boyfriend suggested that she should start dating Piper McLean.

She softly smiled. "I should, huh?" Annabeth nodded to herself. "I guess I'll see you later then."

"Yeah. See you later."

"Don't mourn over our breakup so much, okay?" Annabeth advised me with furrowed eyebrows as she examined me. "Move on. It'll eventually fade away until they're just distant memories. Don't make the memories fade completely though; forgetting the past can be a very dangerous thing. Get better soon, alright?" She stood on her toes and pecked one last, light kiss upon my cheeks before we bid our farewells again.

Annabeth stopped before she turned a nearby corner. She glanced at me from behind her shoulder and called, "Good luck on getting Nico!"

And she bolted away, leaving me completely puzzled and depressed by myself.