A/N: Here we are again, my attempt to correct Chapter 8 From the last time lol. Howdy y'all! We're gonna hop right back in because I suck at talking.
TRIGGER WARNING: MENTIONS R*PE, MENTIONS ABUSE
PERCY
Annabeth and I walked into the cafeteria, or at least my body did. I didn't sleep well last night, so I was on auto pilot. Classes trudged by and I almost got maimed by Annabeth in sword fighting class because of how sluggish I felt. She, however, was not willing to let her opportunity of beating me slip by though. The score is now 23-20, with Annabeth leading. I swore tomorrow I'd take the lead back, but she only smirked at me.
We got to the group table first, so I put my head in my arms and proceeded to take a nap, food could wait for me to finish my quick power nap.
ANNABETH
And like that, he was out. Luke walked and looked at Percy confused, as the once hyper boy was sleeping during his favorite time of the day, lunch.
"He okay?" Luke asked, taking a bite of his burger.
"He's been tired all day," I say, rubbing his back as he sleeps, "Nearly killed him in sword fighting."
"Wonder what's keeping him up," Luke said slyly, winking at me. At that, I immediately felt myself flush red. I picked up my apple and threw it right at his forehead, hitting him directly, knocking the blonde over. Thalia chose this moment to walk up, Nico and Will in tow.
"Woah, woah," she said, picking the apple up, polishing it on her shirt and taking a bite, "Blonde on blonde crime is strictly prohibited." I huffed and crossed my arms.
"Not my fault he's a perv."
"I am not!" said perv exclaimed, "I just heavily implied something pervy about your relationship." Thalia face palmed at this. Will chuckled, then looked behind me, but I wasn't sure as to what yet.
"So," I heard from a sickly sweet voice behind me, "I see that you two are dating now?" I guess that's what Will was looking at. I turn to see Rachel staring me down, not so much a glare, more of a grin with a hidden message behind it.
"Yea, you know how it goes," I say, trying to keep calm, "Somethings just happen and fall into place."
"I'm sure they do," she said, in the same sweet voice, dripping with venom, "just like my little project from before is going to, right?" I hadn't forgotten, but I had hoped she had. Mental note: tell Percy everything, so Rachel doesn't have any dirt on me.
"Eh, slightly different," I say with a bit sass, "Percy likes me, where you hate your project." Rachel's happy attitude was slowly fading.
"I see. Well, I'll talk to you guys later, just thought I'd drop in. I have a few things to do during lunch. Ciao!"
And with that, she left the table, leaving a very confused group. I mentally sighed and tried to carry on like normal. I'd have to talk to Percy about my past and that's something I really didn't want to do yet.
PERCY
I got home at around 5:30 after swimming practice and felt even heavier than I did earlier. As I walked in the front door, Nico comes out from the kitchen and starts heading upstairs.
"Sup, Water-boy?" he quips, playing a game on his phone, not even making eye contact.
"Meh," I force out, walking behind him up the stairs. Talking is hard, driving while tired is hard, I just want sleep.
"Someone's sleepy," Thalia says from her room, door open, "You alright there chief?"
"Me, bed, now."
"We'll wake you up for dinner… If we remember." At this point, I don't care, my bed is calling my name, and it's calling me now.
When I walk through my door, I toss my shoes next to my desk, let my backpack drop out of my hands, and flop on my bed, finally letting myself succumb to the sweet release of sle-
*PING*
… Fates, why do you hate me so? I tiredly look at my phone and see it's a text from Annabeth. Somewhat more awake now seeing who the text is from, I sit up to read it.
WG: Hey… Can we talk?
This was a scary text to see for multiple reasons. One, we've been together for maybe 5 days, I have no idea what it is I could have done to mess that up, two, 'can we talk' is such a scary preface, I'd rather sword fight with a god.
SWB: yea wats up
'Ever so eloquently put, Percy' I think to myself before actually face palming.
WG: Not over text, could you pick me up?
SWB: …
WG: Please, it's important to me.
SWB: ill be over in 5
SWB: u owe me a nap
WG: Thank you.
Great, now sleep depravation will have its way with me, and I might be single after tonight, so whoop-de-doo.
I grabbed my car keys and slipped my shoes back on.
"Where are you off to?" Nico called, looking at me curiously over his phone.
"Annie needs to talk."
"Do you want a ride? For once you look more dead that Nico does."
"Hey!"
"Sorry Skeletor," Thalia joked, "but Percy looks absolutely dead."
"I'll be fine, thanks though." And with that, I was off. Please let us be okay.
I pulled up to Annabeth's house and she was waiting out front with a backpack hanging off of one shoulder. She walked to the car and had a baseball cap on with the NY Yankees logo on it.
That's odd, she never wears hats. I thought to myself.
"Hey Wise Girl," I say with a small grin, "Everything okay?"
"Y-yea," she stuttered out, "Do you mind if we go somewhere private, I don't want to do this in front of my house."
"Do you want to go back to mine? We can go in the studio, I'm the only one who actively goes in there and it's soundproof."
"Sure…" she said with a less that confident smile, albeit small.
I closed the door behind us in the studio, and flicked the switch that turned a light outside on, my sign to Thalia and Nico to back off.
"Welcome to my studio, where most of my music is created."
"It's really nice in here," Annabeth said, looking around. The room was covered with sound foam and sound proof panels. The floor was a light toned wood. I pulled two chairs up for us to talk with each other on the desk I had in there.
"Soooo," I start, unsure as to where to go with this, "What did you want to talk about?"
"Right…" she started, any sense of comfortability out the window, "Uhh… Okay."
She stopped and took a deep breath, exhaling to try and center herself.
"Do you remember 3 years ago when that girl was kidnapped by her crazy Uncle?"
"Yea, vaguely, he had kidnapped her and it took them 3 months to find her. Why?"
"The girl that was kidnapped was raped and beaten by her uncle. Every single night, he would… abuse her, against her will. He called her stupid and broke her down. She would go to bed hating her life, wanting to die, wondering why it had to have been her."
"That's horrible," I said in shock, "Sorry for being blunt, but what does that have to do with us?"
"Because Percy," she said with a shaky breath, pulling out papers, news articles and police reports, "that girl was me."
"But," I interrupt, standing up at this point, "wait, they found the girl because she called the police and when they got there, she was covered in blood and her uncle was dead. That means…" I looked at Annabeth who was in tears, looking down, as if she was reliving every single moment that she was with her uncle. "Annabeth," I say, using her real name, "did… did you…?"
"I did… I did what I had to do."
"Oh my god," I say putting my hands on my head. I couldn't believe it. Everything I thought I knew about Annabeth shattered, every single picture I had of her was TORN.
Annabeth wasn't innocent, she wasn't the perfect girl she portrayed herself as. She was more than a smart girl, who liked hanging out with her friends. She was a girl who's damaged, who has dealt with more than most adults.
At the same time everything I thought of her was erased, it all made sense now. The way she fought in sword fighting as if she was desperate to survive, like she would cut anyone in her way down, the way that she dealt with criticism.
"Annabeth," I started, turning back around to look at her, "I can't-"
I looked to where she was sitting, and she was gone.
"No no no no no," I start saying worriedly. I run out of the room and start looking around for her. I run into the kitchen where Nico and Thalia are sitting.
"Hey, you okay?" Thalia asked, seeing the panic on my face.
"Annabeth, where?"
"She ran out moments before you got out here, what happened?" I spared no time before running out my front door looking for her.
"Percy!" I heard Thalia calling behind me, but I couldn't stop, I had to find her…
Annabeth
I am damaged goods. I am torn, I am broken, I am shattered, I am bruised and battered. Every piece of me has been TORN to shreds.
I couldn't. I couldn't hear what he was going to say. Anyone else who knew what I did hated me for it, they feared me. I ran out of the house without knowing where I was going or where I was. I ran for what felt like hours before I found myself somewhere familiar. I walked up to the library and sat on the stairs, crying.
I felt lost, with no map, and no compass, the only thing I had was my past weighing me down like a blanket of fear and anguish. It felt like anvils tied to my ankles, dragging me down into the depths of Lake Depression, and I couldn't cut them from myself. I could see happiness like the surface of water, but it was just out of arms reach.
"Annabeth!" I hear, but there's no way it could be Percy, he wouldn't chase after me after hearing what I did, and even if he did, I would just drag him down with me, not even my Seaweed Brain could save me.
"Annabeth!" I hear again. I pick my head up and see Percy running up to me, with a passion mind you. Percy is spring full force at me, and I stand up, turning to run, but before I could, he grabbed me. Except, he wasn't just grabbing me, he was… hugging me?
"W-what are you doing?"
"Don't ever run like that again," I hear him say, face buried in my neck, holding on for dear life, "I couldn't begin to understand what you went through, or how you felt. I have no idea what struggles you face, but if you would let me, I'll be here to help where I can."
"B-but," I start, breaking down into sobs again, "we won't share the same firsts, and I've killed someone, how can you let that go? How are you not afraid of me?"
"I don't care about firsts, or if you had to defend yourself," he said, pulling away to look at me, hands on my shoulders, "I care about you as a person. You are bright, kind, loving, and you wouldn't hurt someone if you could help it."
"Y-you still want to be with me?"
"Forever."
With that, I sob, and pull Percy into an even deeper hug than before.
I am damaged goods. I am torn, I am broken, I am shattered, I am bruised and battered. Every piece of me has been TORN to shreds… But maybe, just maybe, if I have him, I'll be okay.
PERCY
That night, Annabeth spent the night. She told her dad that she was staying with Thalia like she did over the weekend, as he has yet to know we were dating. When we got to my house again, she wanted to lay down, so I took her upstairs to my bed, tucked her in, and watched her pass out. I sighed with a small grin on my face. Luke said she didn't need someone to mend her scars, just someone to walk with her. I'd be the best god damn walking buddy if it killed me.
I went down to the living room, where Thalia and Nico were. They greeted me with worried looks as I plopped next to them on the couch.
"Care to explain what happened?"
"Annabeth has a tragic backstory and she wanted me to know before we continued this relationship is what I've gathered."
"Tragic as in?"
"She should be wearing a black cape with bat ears."
"Her parent's are dead?"
"Not exactly, but probably worse. Not my story to tell though."
"Holy shit," Thalia said, as if she had an epiphany, "I feel stupid, She mentioned that Rachel was holding something over her head to not date you, Percy, but I completely forgot!"
"Wait, what?"
"Rachel was going to use this to scare you into not dating her," Thalia said, looking at me wide eyed, "That's why she told you, she wanted you to know the truth from her."
"I see," I say, dragging my hand down my face, feeling myself fill with anger. Who did Rachel think she was? How could she do something so evil to Annabeth. Hasn't she gone through enough? "So then we have to deal with Rachel still."
"Hmm," Nico said, putting his hand on his chin, "Let me see if I can do something about that, you go get some sleep, you're running on fumes."
"I'll be fine," I said, yawning, still angry, "I need to do something about R.E.D."
"Percy?" we all heard come from my room. Annabeth had obviously woken up and wanted to know where I was.
I look at Nico and Thalia who both told me to go sleep, and that they'd deal with it. I thanked them and said my good nights. I walked up to my room to see Annabeth looking at me with soft eyes. I gave her a soft smile, and climbed into bed with her, finally, finally, feeling the sweet release of sleep. And let me just say, I've never slept so good in my life as I did that night.
THALIA
"So, what are we going to do about R.E.D.?" I asked Nico. He simply gave me a small smirk.
"Leo's been telling us he got into the school servers," he said confidently, laying back in the couch, "That means he can shut everything down with the press of a button."
"So?"
"So," he said, eyes closed contently, "He controls the cameras. Rachel's an artist, she'll try and make a big spectacle over Annabeth's past. We have Leo put the idea of him turning the school off in her head and when she thinks the cameras are down, we record her putting up slanderous information about dear old Annie. We let her destroy herself." Holy shit, he was right. I don't know what was scarier, how quickly he thought of this idea, or how simple he made it sound.
"Nico," I say with a grin, "You are an evil genius."
"It pays to be the quiet kid sometimes," he started, "no one questions your motives or your existence. I can fly under the radar."
"Well, let's text Leo to talk tomorrow and get this started." And with that, we got to work, planning the downfall of everyone's least favorite redhead.
A/N: And that's the chapter! This was the original idea for chapter 8, but apparently, I didn't know how to write it back then. I hope you guys enjoy, I am excited to be back and can't wait to keep this story going. Every chapter from now on will have a Trigger warning at the start if there's anything too brutal in it.
Peace out,
Rocke