Hey amazing readers! I'm seriously going to be updating this story like a crazy lady! We are literally 7 chapters (not including this one) away from finishing the story and I am SO excited to the write the ending, and I hope you guys are excited to read the ending!

IMPORTANT QUESTION: would you guys read a story that I would write about Pretty Little Liars? After I finish this story, I wanna start a PLL story (since I'm obsessed with it) and also when I'm finished with New Kid at Goode High School, I'm starting another PJO story.

The story would be Spencer-centric and really mysterious and suspenseful.

Anyway, the question is would you guys read my PLL story?

Anybody that does answer in a review will get a preview of the next chapter!

So answer the question. Please :)

Previously on NKGHS

Percy sighed, "I never wanted to hurt you."

"I don't care, because you did. You know, Jason and Luke and Thalia and Malcolm and all my other friends were right. I am better than you."

"Annabeth!"

"Percy, don't you get?!" Annabeth stared into Percy's bruiting and beautiful sea green eyes, which were swimming with tears. "We're over. End of discussion.

Chapter 25

Annabeth stormed out of the cafe, fuming with anger. Did Percy really think that Annabeth would just forgive him after what he did to her? Did he expect that everything would be fine and dandy after an apology?! She figured that that's why she called him Seaweed Brain. Always looking for the easier way out, always assuming that after a little hard everything would be okay. That was the naive way of thinking, the 'television' way of thinking as Annabeth liked to call it.

But reality bites...hard. And Percy just got the front row ticket to reality, and it wasn't fun for him.

Annabeth still felt bad for saying all those things to Percy. She still felt guilty for being so mad at him and for crushing him into pieces, but she felt as if it was necessary. She knew that she had to stop Percy from toying with her emotions, even though it clearly didn't really work to her advantage. Annabeth was hoping to let it off easy, let him know that he has to stop bothering her so that she can move on. Instead, Annabeth practically yelled at Percy, which must have destroyed him.

Either way, Annabeth got what she wanted.

Luke seemed to appear out of thin air next to air. Annabeth jumped a little, surprised by his sudden appearance, but she knew that he must have went to her while she was busy thinking about Percy. "Are you okay?" He asked.

Annabeth shrugged. "Define: okay."

Luke sighed, "You wanna go home?"

Annabeth nodded. "Yeah. But what about Thalia?"

Luke shrugged, opening the door for her, "She said Katie and the Stolls would give her a ride. She's only about a block away from their house. They didn't mind." Luke helped Annabeth inside and buckled her up.

"I do know how to do that Luke," Annabeth said, smiling.

Luke rolled his eyes, suppressing a grin and went to the driver's seat. He started the car, the engine a slow purr and pulled out. They sat in silence, the radio off, the air conditioning blasting a soft hum of air. Annabeth looked up at Luke's eyes and she could see how sad he was. She could tell that he didn't want to be here, and that he would rather have Thalia in his arms.

"I'm sorry," Annabeth whispered. She felt as if she had an obligation to apologize to Luke, although he looked a little upset that she thought it was necessary.

Luke shrugged. "Don't worry about it. It's not big deal."

"I shouldn't have torn you away from Thalia."

"Hey, I thought I told you not to worry about it," Luke rested his hand on Annabeth's. "Beside it was Thalia's idea for me to drive you home, and I would have done it anyway. Look, I care about you Annabeth so don't think you have to apologize for that."

"Well, thanks for being there."

Luke shrugged as if it was no big deal. "Hey, if I was going through what you were going through, I know you would be there for me, too."

Annabeth smiled, "I'm glad there's at least one guy in this world that I can count on."

Luke sighed, "Look, Annabeth, you know that's not true. So what if this thing with Percy didn't work out? There's someone else out there that's going to be better than him and not make the stupid mistake that Percy made. Someone out there is going to appreciate you for who you are and they're not going to leave you for someone else. I promise."

"And what if there isn't?"

Luke squeezed her hand. "There is Annabeth. Besides, someone as awesome as you could never be single. You're probably going to find a boyfriend by the end of this week!"

Annabeth grinned, chuckling. "I don't know about that. I think all the nice ones are taken."

"I don't know about that Annie. I'm sure that Leo would be happy to go out with an upperclassmen, especially one that's as beautiful and bright like you. I bet I can talk to Jason and Piper and they can hook you two up."

Annabeth rolled her eyes, "I think I'm done with blind dates."

"Technically it's not a blind date if you know who it's going to be with. Just look at that date with Travis. Thalia and I technically said that you would be having dinner with him."

Annabeth scoffed, "And Connor. And Nico and everyone else. But it turns out that it was just Travis and I."

Luke shrugged, "It's a minor detail that was simply 'overlooked.' Besides, I will fully inform you that it will be Leo. Or maybe Connor. Oh, how about Nico?"

"How about you shut it?"

"I'm just trying to help, Annie."

"You're so helpful," she retorted, earning an eye rolling from Luke. "Besides, I just don't think I'm ready for it, you know. I'm not ready to get back out there and to meet new people. I can't even get over Percy and Rachel getting together. I can't forget about that day when I saw them. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything. Maybe I should waited and let the chips fall were they may."

The two seemed to arrive at Annabeth's house. Luke parked the car and turned to look at his best friend. "Look, Annabeth, don't say that. You did what was right, and that was making sure that Percy knows that he can't get away from things like that."

"But I loved him Luke! I should have just ignored it."

"No you shouldn't have, okay!" Luke urged. "You put Percy in his place."

"Which happened to be in Rachel's arms."

"Annabeth, you are better than Rachel and Percy. You know that! So stop thinking about it and let it go!"

"Luke, I can't just let something like that go!" Annabeth shouted.

"I understand that but-."

"You understand nothing, Luke!" Annabeth argued, completely and utterly outraged. "You don't know what it's like to lose someone you love like this! You don't know what it's like to feel betrayed and alone! You think you understand what I'm-."

"I do understand!" Luke spat, and Annabeth was stunned to silence. She had never seen Luke this angry at her, "Just because I didn't lose a girlfriend like that doesn't mean I don't know what it's like to feel betrayed and alone. Just look at my family, Annabeth! My mother is an asylum halfway across the country and my father doesn't care about it, or me! Just because you're hurting right now doesn't mean that you have a monopoly on pain!"

Time seemed to freeze the two of them. Luke was fuming in anger and pain, and Annabeth was too busy gawking at him to come up with anything brilliant to stop the arguing. She was just too shocked. She's known Luke for nearly ten years and he's only brought up his mother once.

May Castellan.

She was Luke's elusive mother, who was only a vague memory of Luke's. He was only six when she had her first...psychotic attack. Luke doesn't know most of the story since his dad didn't want to tell him when he was so young and when Luke was older he never asked but from what Hermes did tell Luke, apparently May had had a 'vision.' Apparently she had seen Luke in utter pain, completely alone with no one there to love him. Afterwards, May seemed to have lost it. Eventually, she was enlisted in a mental health institute and Luke never heard from her again.

"You should go," Luke whispered, breaking the miserable silence between the two.

Annabeth's heart broke as she heard the pain in Luke's voice. "Luke, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have-."

"Annabeth," Luke said, cutting her off. "Just go! Don't make this any harder than it is."

Annabeth sighed, fighting back tears as she stepped out of Luke's car. She wanted so desperately to say something so that he could forgive her. She had already lost Percy, who was one of the most important people to her in the world, and now she was losing Luke.

"Call me?" Annabeth whispered. Luke shrugged, shutting the door behind her and before Annabeth could say anything to stop him, Luke was speeding away.

Annabeth stared at his car for a while, watching as it disappeared in the sea of traffic. She tried to laugh, hoping that it might suppress her tears but she could feel them coming and she ran up to her apartment. She unlocked with a quick, fluid motion and slammed the door behind her. At first, she took deep breaths, attempting to calm herself.

You really screwed it up this time, didn't you, Annie? She thought to herself. First you had to embarrass Rachel, then you had to yell at Percy and then you had to argue with Luke, who was one of the only people that was always there for her. And in a second, Annabeth was crumbled against her wall, sobbing.

Heartbroken, horrible sobs.

She seemed to wait for her knight in shining armor to appear, to pick up her crumbled body and broken pieces and mend.

But she knew she would be waiting for too long, because all the people that she could rely on, like Percy or Luke, she pushed away.

And so Annabeth laid, crying, brokenhearted all night.

"I really screwed up, didn't I?" Percy asked as he picked at the taco that Nico and Grover had gotten him in hopes of comforting their best friend. "She really hates me now, doesn't she?"

Nico shrugged. "Nah. I'm pretty sure she hates Rachel, but not you!"

Grover, who had just finished adding nearly every topping on his enchilada, walked over to Nico and Percy. "Oh yeah, she does! Come on, Nico, don't lie to the kid!" Grover sat down, stuffing his face with a ginormous bite of food. "Rut ron ra 'ight side, Rannaneth rates Rachel more."

Nico groaned, "Grover, we came here to make Percy feel better. Not get on his food all over him. What did you even say?"

Grover shrugged, "I said, 'on the bright side, Annabeth hates Rachel more.'"

"Wow, Grover," Percy said, miserably, "You're so helpful."

"Look, Perce, I love you man but you have to admit that what you did to Annie was pretty cruel," Grover pointed out.

"Grover!" Nico swatted at his friend.

Percy sighed, "No, Grover is right. What I did to Annabeth as pretty awful. And don't get me wrong, I loved her and I still do, but sometimes Annabeth was just so stubborn and refuses to see it any other way but her own. If she just step into my shoes and try to understand what was happening."

"Perce," Grover set his hand on Percy's back, "I'm going to be brutally honest with you, and I mean brutally honest with you. Man, you have no excuse for what you did to her. That was cold, even for Rachel, alright and it's not going to be easy for Annabeth to just fogive her. I'm still on your side and I still think that Annabeth should hear you out, but you can't keep coming up with excuses like, 'she needs to understand the moment' or whatever, because really, you have no excuse for what you did."

"And what are you suggesting I do? Get on my knees and beg for forgiveness?"

"If that's what it takes. Look, I've known Annabeth my entire life. I can tell when she's in love with someone and when she's in heartbroken pain. And right now she's feeling both. Annabeth loves you, Percy and this is just as hard for her as it is for you. So, instead of saying that Annabeth should step into your shoes, perhaps you start with stepping into hers."

(PAGE BREAK)

The next day, Annabeth woke up to find herself on her bed. She didn't remember getting up from the kitchen floor and walking herself into her room. All she could remember the was blinding pain that she was feeling. She ran her fingers through her hair several times before stepping out of her bed, noticing that she was still wearing the same clothes that she was from yesterday.

Annabeth was glad that today was a Saturday and that she didn't have to go and face Percy, Rachel and Luke. To be honest, Annabeth wouldn't mind getting into a little cage match with Dare, but as for Percy and Luke...well, she was just too emotionally drained to fight with either of them. Her argument with Luke was knawing at her heart, twisting it and breaking it over and over again.

She was sitting at the kitchen tale, milking a bowl of cereal, eyeing her cell phone occasionally. She wanted to call Luke and apologize and try to work through this, but a part of her knew that Luke would need a little bit more than just a day to work past his anger. She and Luke hardly ever fight and when they do it hits both of them pretty hard.

At that moment, the door to the guest bedroom opened up Malcolm stepped out, his pajamas on, his hair ruffled and messy. "Oh, you're awake."

Annabeth shrugged. "Been up for a little while."

"Did you just pour that?" Malcolm asked, gesturing toward the bowl of mushy cereal.

"No...it's been sitting here mocking my stomach for thirty minutes."

Malcolm sighed, "You wanna tell me what happened last night?"

"What do you mean?"

"Come on, Annie! Look, I opened the door and almost gave you a concussion! You were curled on the kitchen floor, your eyes bright red and sniffling, whispering, 'what have I done? What have I done?'"

Annabeth blushed. "And what did you do?"

"I took you to your room, and you didn't answer my question."

Annabeth shrugged. "I got in a fight with Percy and Luke, and I guess I just couldn't handle."

"I'm sorry, you fought with Luke? Luke, Luke? The Luke? The one you never fight with?"

She nodded. "Yeah. I don't know what happened. One second we were getting along great and the next he was just so angry and emotional and then before I knew I was here. Last night was just one big blur of pain. And it was all my fault."

"No it wasn't Annabeth. If anyone is to blame, it's Rachel and Percy for doing that to you. It's not your fault that you're hurting."

"Yeah, but the things that I said to Luke was-."

"Was your way of trying to understand and deal with your emotions. Look, you and Luke are inseparable and I'm sure that this will just blow over in the long run. Look, Luke cares about you and he'll forgive you."

"And if he doesn't? I can't lose him, too."

"Annabeth, you're not going to lose him!" Malcolm rested his hand on his younger sister's. "I promise."

Annabeth smiled, but she was still doubtful. She sighed, standing up and clearing her bowl of uneaten cereal, "I'm gonna go get some fresh air."

"Do you want me to come with you?"

"Nah. I'm just going for a walk. Maybe down to the market. I think we're out of milk."

Annabeth was eager to get out of the house and to get away from her prying brother. She knew that he was only looking out for her, but she couldn't help but get annoyed by him. All she wanted was a little time, some privacy even and Malcolm could hardly give that to her. Of course Annabeth knew that Malcolm had good intentinos, but she did want some space.

"Annabeth?" Someone called out.

Annabeth froze and she turned, hoping it was Luke but a very pessimistic part of her knew that it wasn't. She would have recognized his voice, and this was unfamiliar.

Annabeth gasped as she stared at the last person that she ever expected to see. "Mark?" She asked. Mark, Rachel's ex-boyfriend, was staring at her. He looked different than the last that she had seen him. Usually Mark was always wearing some bad buy outfit to go with Rachel's sluttiness, but today Mark seemed to look normal. He was wearing jeans, a white and then a brown jacket over it. "What are you doing here?"

"Just walking around."

"No, I mean, why are you talking to me?"

Mark sighed, although he didn't look hurt or offended by Annabeth's very straight forward question. "I heard about what happened at the cafe, and I just wanted to make sure that you were okay."

Annabeth couldn't help but hide her shock. She was confused by Mark's sudden smypathy and kindness toward her. Usually, he just followed Rachel's lead and would only degrade Annabeth even further than what Rachel has done and mark her feel worse. "What?"

"I wanted to make sure that you were okay," Mark reiterated. "If anyone knows how cruel and malicious Rachel can be, it's me. She can really tear a person down if she wants to."

Annabeth sighed, "I'm fine I guess."

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

Annabeth shrugged, but she couldn't help blurted out what she was thinking. "God, how could I be so stupid? Thinking that Rachel would care about me after everything we've been there. Aren't I supposed to be the smart one?! Shouldn't I have seen this coming? And look at me now! I lost the person I love and just humiliated myself in front of the entire junior class! I'm so stupid!"

"No you're not," Mark disagreed, "Trusting someone isn't stupid. The stupid person is Rachel. If I were her, I would have never walked away from you."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Weren't you Rachel little puppy dog? Didn't you do everything that she told you to and believed everything that she said?"

Mark shrugged. "I thought what Rachel and I had was real. I thought she truly loved me and wasn't just playing me for the fun of it and then dump when a better offer comes along! After hearing how hurt she was because of you, I figured that you were enemy and suddenly everything that I focused on was making sure that you were away from Rachel and getting back at you for hurting her. I never realized that the mean girl was really Rachel. And I'm sorry."

"That explains a lot," Annabeth mumbled.

"It does?"

"I could say the same thing about Percy. He seemed to think that befriending and forgiving Rachel was a good idea, even though a part of me just knew that it would end it would so badly but I ignored that feeling because of him."

"Love makes you do crazy things."

Annabeth sighed, "Too bad our love wasn't real. And now their together."

Mark shrugged. He looked into Annabeth's eyes and smiled. "I'm sure there are better offers out there."

Annabeth scoffed. "Like who?"

"You...," Mark mumbled.

"W-what...," Annabeth trailed off. She was surprised by Mark's sudden openness and suddenly, it was like the beginning of the year when she had that weird urge to kiss Percy. She had that seem feeling. She was having that weird urge to kiss Mark.

And suddenly, all common sense she was strictly being motivated by disappointment and crazy, stupid love. Before Annabeth could even think of the consequences, she leaned in and before she knew it, she and Mark were kissing.

Whoa. Holy damn. Cliffie, much?

Mark and Annabeth?! Who saw that coming?

Haha, what'd you think of my little 'crazy, stupid love' title thing in there?! Pretty clever, huh XD

But seriously, please answer my question! I would love you guys forever!

I'm almost finished with Speak Now and the oneshot so I'll be posting those hopefully pretty sure. Goode High School for Insane Youths is still working progress but I'll update it quickly.

And seriously if you review quickly

READ AND REVIEW PLEASE!