Now Rachel is introduced... What does that mean for the processing Percabeth? What will Annabeth's reaction to Percy's injury be? When will Nancy and Luke come in? Will I ever stop fangirling over Percy? So many questions! But, an answer to the last one, that would be a no, I would never. Soon, all the answers will be revealed if you just keep reading...

Percy's POV

Usually, Annabeth wasn't one to try to make a scene, but in a room filled with almost fifteen teenagers, this time it was different.

When she had finally looked over at me after hugging the girl who's name was Rachel, (which, I soon realized was the girl Annabeth was telling me about earlier,) she looked furious, almost as if it was my fault I broke my ankle.

Usually when a girl has that look on her face with her hips crossed while she's slowly backing you into a corner, then yeah, that is an excellent sign to back the fuck up.

"Perseus, Jackson!" She growled loudly. How did she know my full name? Everybody was looking at me. I looked around the room, and whaddya know, no adult supervision. Honestly.

Some kids snickered, some others looked genuinely scared for my life. Annabeth was a girl you do NOT want to mess with.

"Uh... I told you to call me Percy, Annabeth," I said through gritted teeth. I was preparing myself for a slap across the face at any moment. I never came, which I found a little unnerving.

"Wha-what happened to you now?" She asked, her voice softer. Once you go beneath the mask of anger, I think I could see quite a bit of worry in her eyes.

"I'll tell you later," I said, gesturing to the staring eyes.

Annabeth pouted, giving me another one of her famous death glares, but she didn't say anything. Instead, she just turned her attention back to Rachel.

"I didn't know you were coming! When did you get here?" Annabeth asked, now excited. We started walking towards our seats.

"Rachel, you can take my spot if you want. I can just sit in the back," I offered. "I'll let you two catch up."

"Are you sure?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah, it's fine. You deserve it for carrying my books anyway," I smiled.

"Oh, it was no problem really. I'll just set then down," she walked to the back of the room, and landed at an empty desk. She slip all of my books off of her books, and onto the desk.

"Thanks," she whispered.

"Mmhmm," I hummed. She walked back up the aisle and sat down across from Annabeth, chatting for the next couple of minutes until the teacher came in. She was a little surprised to find Rachel back in class, but she soon got over her surprise and started the lesson.

All throughout class, I could feel several pairs of eyes watching me, burning into my back. I just kept my head down, and tried to focus on my work, which I've never said before. After a while, I couldn't stand the feeling of eyes poring on me, so I casually looked around the room, turning my head, and rubbing my neck as if I had an itch. I looked to one side: Nothing. I looked to the other: I wish I could say nothing. Two words: Nancy, Bobofit. She was staring at me intently, batting her eyelashes, with a slight smile of her freckled face. I could tell she wanted something. I mentally scoreless and looked away.

The rest of class went by super slow. All we did was take a few notes, having a debate about it something, (I don't know, I want paying attention,) then we all read silently out of a textbook. We were supposed to read chapters 1 and 2, but I just had trouble with chapter 1... Darn dyslexia!

We ended the class reading. When the teacher dismissed us, I gathered all of my things, picked up my crutches from the floor, and managed to stand up.

"Need some more help?" Annabeth asked, coming over with Rachel by her side as everyone filed out of the classroom.

"Uh, please," I said, an apologetic smile playing on my face. Annabeth picked up the books, along with her own, and we walked out of the room, me slower than I would've liked. As we were walking along outside of the classroom and into the hallways, Annabeth narrowed her eyes, bent her eyebrows up a little bit, and chewed on her bottom lip like she always does when she's thinking hard about something.

"Whatre you thinking about?" I asked, loudly limping along on my crutches. When I spoke, this seemed to snap Annabeth out of her trance.

"Um... it's nothing. But, now that I remember, tell me how that happened," she said, nodding toward my ankle.

"Percy told me already. He said that he was running and he tripped and fell on his ankle," Rachel answered lightly, as if she didn't have a care in the world. For once, I was thankful for her tendency to talk. I nodded, faking a grin as well so it was more believable.

Annabeth looked down, her eyebrows tilting up again. I gazed at her storm Gray eyes. It looked like a hurricane was rolling in them. I saw tears glazing her eyes. She was frowning. It was by far, the worst thing I've seen Annabeth do since I've met her. She just looked so sad, as if she was watching a puppy die right in front of her. She looked worried, sad, infuriated, all at once. It made me sad to look at her expression. Even though we were passing through noisy hallways filled with bustling teenagers, it felt like time slowed down, and it was just me and Annabeth, together, all alone in a dark room. It felt like I could feel her thought, her emotions. This instantly worried me. Why did she react like this? I thought it over. Suddenly, a realization dawned on me: maybe she had somehow found out my secret. Panic surged through me. What would she do if she knew the truth?...

"You okay Annabeth?" I asked tentatively. She slowly looked up, and realized my worried expression. She managed a small smile.

"Yeah... Yeah. I'm fine. Just... thinkin,' about something," she said. I didn't believe her.

Annabeth's POV

I had had it after Percy, well, technically Rachel, had told me about his injury. Percy decided not to tell me the truth, fine. I was going to confront him one way or another. I was going to help him, one way or another.

It made me sad, seeing Percy hobbling around on crutches, probably in pain both mentally and physically.

The visions that haunted me all this weekend about Percy yelping in pain with every punch and kick that man laid on him came into mind. He must've given Percy that ankle then, either that or somewhere else during the weekend. All I know, is that Percy did not substation that injury from tripping. He was lying again, straight to my face.

It made me almost want to cry at the realization that this was his life. It has been for a long time, probably. But yet, he still came to school everyday with that big goofy grin of his that I love so much. He was pretending his life wasn't complete hell, he was acting strong. For me. For him. For his friends. For everybody who loves him, which wasn't a lot. Of course, I loved him, Frank, Hazel, Piper, Jason, Leo, Nico, Grover, Reyna, everybody that I introduced him to: they all love him and care about him, even though they haven't even known for an entire week yet! Percy was just a loveable person, and knowing that there's that horrid man who treats him like absolute trash every single day... it makes me furious.

All these thoughts and emotions swirling around inside my body made me zone out for a minute.

"You okay Annabeth?" Percy asked, worry and concern on his face. I snapped right out of it.

"Yeah... Yeah. I'm fine. Just... thinkin,' about something," I convinced. Percy looked at me suspiciously, but didn't say anything more.

We made it to our lockers. We had to depart with Rachel, sadly, because her lockers were on the other side of the room. Plus, she didn't have the next couple classes with Percy and I. We said our goodbyes, she left, and I helped Percy shove his things in his locker. He looked like he was struggling with his crutches a little bit. I felt guilty for thinking it looked kinda cute. The way he would look down in concentration, and stick his bad leg behind him, (not to mention that all his toes were sticking out of his 'cast,') in order to walk. How he tried carrying all his books with him, even though he got all flustered with the multitasking. Then, there was that adorable thing where Percy would insist that he didn't need help carrying anything, but you could see the silent look in his eyes like he was trying to give you a sign that said, HELP ME HERE! But, it was cute how he didn't say anything and tried to do everything himself.

I felt bad for thinking watching Percy suffer was cute. All seriousness in mind now, I began to ask him something.

"Listen, Percy. There's something that I need to ask you-" I was cut off.

"Hey Percy," said an all too familiar voice. Percy's locker door was covering her face, but I didn't need to see her to know who she was. It was to my utter dismay that Nancy Bobofit had come over to pester us. Percy looked at her for a second, groaned, then slammed his door. I had all of his books in my hand, and with our heads held high, we walled off, trying our best to ignore Nancy... it didn't work.

She followed us. "Hey Percy," she repeated again.

Percy rolled his eyes. "Hello, Nancy," he said with fake enthusiasm.

"Anniebell," she growled, not even so much as glancing in my direction as she said this.

"Annabeth," I corrected. "What do you want now, Nancy?"

"What? Am I not allowed to check up on my poor Percy like this? What happened, honey?" She asked, giving Percy her puppy dog eyes and a fake high pitched, luring voice.

"Nothing that concerns you," Percy answered coolly. I liked this kids guts.

"Oh, come on! You can tell me! We're friends, right? Unless... You know, you wanna be more than friends, because I would be totally cool with that," she said, raising her eyebrows and nudging him slightly on the arm. That only made him move his arm away, along with his crutches. He sighed.

"No, Nancy. How many times do I have to tell you: I'm not interested!" Percy said firmly. This seemed have a slight effect on Nancy. She looked a bit stunned for a tiny second, but then went back to flashing that fake smile of hers.

She put on a defiant face, with a slight hint of anger and annoyance. "Why don't you like me Percy? It is because of Anniebell, over here? She gets in the way of everything! I'm tellin' you, this girl is a nuisance! Don't let her change your mind. You choose what you feel is best, and honestly, if I were you, I think dumping that chick would be he best option," she sneered.

How rude! Who dies this bitch think she is?! She can't just march in here, pretend to worry about Percy one second, then the next, say I'm no good for him and that I'm a double-crossover! I was about to bitch slap her in the jaw with Percy's hardcover books if Percy hadn't stepped in first.

Percy turned to face Nancy, and kept walking until she was almost up against the wall. A few people stopped to stare, others paid no mind. The look on Percy's face was even scarier than mine, almost like he was trying to burn you with laser-eyes, or something.

"Okay, first off, I'm not you, you're not me, and there is a VERY, big difference between the two. Second, what makes you think I would actually like someone like you? You're selfish, mean, self-conceded, and you don't care about what you say as long as it makes other people feel bad about themselves. Sure, you're pretty and everything, but that's pretty much all you have besides popularity. And the only reason people like you, is because they're too afraid of what you'll say behind their backs to do anything about your prissy, fucked up attitude. So I would check yourself, and the things you say, before you actually say it. I don't like you, and I will never like you. I like Annabeth way more than I would ever like you in a million years, oh, and by the way, it's Annabeth, not Anniebell. Get it right!"

Percy hardly took any breaths as he said it, it just flowed oout of him naturally. And the way he was saying it, through gritted teeth and a low voice: it made him sound scary. He'd turned into the Percy I'd never seen before, and honestly, I kinda liked it!

I was shocked about the things he said. She was too. She was just staring at him, wide-eyed, backed into the corner, opening and closing her mouth like a fish. She looked scared, but I was loving it! I smirked behind Percy's back.

Nancy finally managed to gain control of herself and blinked a couple times, although, she still didn't say anything. He just backed up, and we continued on our way, leaving Nancy leaning up against the wall speechless.

I waited until we were farther away and looked at Percy. "That was awesome!" I exclaimed. Percy looked down sheepishly, but I could tell he thought so too. "You think so, huh?" He asked, cocking his head to look at me, smiling that big amazing grin.

"Totally! You told her off like... the Kardashians or something! And the way you said it! Oh man... I was almost getting scared myself! That. Was. Incredible!" I laughed. He chuckled. We walked a bit further, just before reaching our classroom door.

"Hey," I said seriously. He stopped limping. "Thanks for sticking up for me back there," I said gratefully.

Percy shrugged. "Well, it was easy. I meant everyday word I said," he smiled.

I may or may not have done a 360 in my stomach when he said that. He had said that he liked me! He actually, for real, said that he liked me! Oh my gosh! I can't believe it, I can't- I stopped smiling. The realization hit me: Percy got hurt way worse that I thought he would have. I thought he would just get a couple more bruises and we would get more time before calling the police, or telling Percy we know about him. But not that one of his libs was possibly broken... we needed to call the police. Percy would hate me. And after he just told me he like me...

Before he could realize that I had stopped celebrating Percy's clever wordplay, I put on a fake smile to replace the one that had just fallen off my face.

I cleared my throat awkwardly, unsure of what to say next. I lowered my head. "Uh... should we, uh... go inside?" I asked, pointing to the door sheepishly.

A slight twinge of disappointment struck Percy's face, but as soon as it came, it left and was replaced with his signature grin. "Yeah," he said.

I opened the door for him, and together, we walked to our seats, still giggling about how Percy had totally dominated over Nancy.

(I had slight writers block for that one, so let me know if the chapter was any good. Thanks!)