Brett kept an eye out for his opening on Monday morning. He wanted to talk to Annabeth about what had happened on Friday. He thought maybe without the pressure of Percy and her other 'friends' listening in she'd be more open to an honest conversation. She was standing by her locker talking to one of her friends when he saw his chance.
"I don't know why you think it's such a big deal, Mara," Annabeth sighed, exasperated.
"I don't know why you think it's not a big deal!" Mara ran her hand through her long brown hair before readjusting her glasses. She was clearly agitated, but not so much that she wasn't enjoying whatever conversation they were having. "All year you've been clearly apathetic to any boy who looked your way, and now suddenly you've got some hottie picking you up and kissing you in front of the whole school!"
"Because he's my boyfriend, Mara." Annabeth sounded like she had mentioned that point multiple times.
"Exactly!" Mara exclaimed. "Since when do you have a boyfriend?"
Annabeth had her locker open and was switching out her books. "Since I was sixteen."
"So you've been dating the entire time I've known you and you've never once mentioned him?"
"I guess it just didn't come up," Annabeth finished putting away her books and closed her locker. "Listen, Mara, I've got to get to class. Can we talk about this later?"
"Fine," Mara sighed. She waggled a finger in Annabeth's direction. "But don't think you're off the hook just yet. We are talking about your mysterious hottie whether you want to or not."
"If you say so," Annabeth said, rolling her eyes and turning away. "Later," she said and started walking in Brett's direction, and he took his chance.
"Hey! Annabeth!" Brett called out, hoping to stop her before she made it to class.
"Hi, Brett." Her voice held no emotion. He couldn't tell if that was a good or bad thing. On the one hand, she didn't express that she was unhappy to see him, but on the other hand, neither did she seem particularly enthusiastic.
He started simple. "I just wanted to apologize for Friday; I didn't mean to fight with you."
His apology did nothing to soften her apathetic demeanor. "I appreciate it, but just because you apologize doesn't make what you did okay."
"I get that. I just don't get how you can't see that I'm trying to help you."
That managed to break her apathy. Anger flashed in her eyes.
"Brett, you know nothing about me. Why are you so confident that you know what's best for me?"
"I know plenty about you!" Brett protested. "I know you're smart, you're pretty. I know you've got a promising future but you're gonna throw it all away if you stay with a thug like Percy!"
Annabeth just rolled her eyes. "Like I said, you know nothing about me." She walked away before he even had a chance to respond. As Brett watched her disappear around the corner he promised himself that he wouldn't give up.
Annabeth didn't come to school on Tuesday. She was also absent Wednesday and Thursday. Even though she wasn't in any of their shared classes Brett kept his eye out for her all day, searching the hallways between classes. It was strange for Annabeth to miss school like this. She hated getting behind and having to play catch-up.
Just as he was beginning to really worry Brett saw her walk through the doors on Friday morning. She looked exhausted. Her ponytail seemed more unruly than normal, and her clothes were rumpled as if she had worn them for several days. The ever-present dark circles under her eyes were even more noticeable, making her grey eyes even more startling. There was something Brett couldn't identify behind those eyes. The most startling addition was the patchwork of scratches and bruises. There were three deep gashes across her forearm that looked suspiciously like claw marks, and dark blue and purple bruises blossomed on the left side of her face. Annabeth looked like she had gone multiple rounds with a bear, and she carried herself like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders. Something had happened while she was gone. Brett didn't know what, but he was determined to find out. He had the creeping suspicion that Percy was responsible for Annabeth's plethora of injuries. Maybe this time she would finally listen to him.
Brett watched as Annabeth turned the corner into an empty hallway. He followed to try to talk to her, but quickly realized she must have been on a phone call. For a second Brett thought he saw an image floating in the air in front of Annabeth, but when he blinked she was simply holding up a phone, facetiming someone.
"Are you sure you're okay?" the voice on the other side of the phone asked. "I know you got hit pretty hard; we can skip another day if you need to."
"Yeah, Percy, I'm fine. I've got a major test today that'll be a pain to try to make up."
Of course she was talking to Percy. Brett fought down the surge of anger that boiled up inside him. That possessive jerk must have beat Annabeth so badly she had to skip school, and now that she's finally back at school he has to check up on her constantly to make sure she's not doing anything he wouldn't approve of. How deep was Annabeth in to not realize how awful he was? She should know better than to believe him when he apologized for hitting her, or when he promised that it would never happen again.
Annabeth continued, "Demigods die all the time, this is no different. I should be used to it by now…" Her voice was filled with both frustration and a pang of deep sadness that Brett couldn't fathom. He didn't know what a demigod was, but obviously, it was something important to Annabeth. Did someone close to her die? If so Brett thought she should definitely take more than just two days off of school to recover. Though the way she talked this seemed to be a somewhat regular occurrence. Did any of it have to do with her injuries? Just what had Percy gotten her involved in?
"It's always hard when they're so young," Percy sounded genuinely empathetic, something Brett didn't think he was capable of. He must be faking it. "Especially when you were trying to help get them to Camp. But it wasn't your fault Annabeth, no matter what you think. You did everything you could."
Annabeth was silent for a long time, lost in her thoughts. Finally, she said, "I know logically that you're right, there was nothing more I could have done. But I can't help but keep thinking that there must have been something I could do. If I'd just done something differently-"
Percy interrupted her. "You'll drive yourself crazy with what-ifs. The world is unfair and just generally sucks, but it is what it is. There's nothing we can do but accept the past and keep moving forward."
Annabeth sighed, "You're right. I'll try, but you know how hard it is for me to get out of my head sometimes."
"I know," Percy smiled. "And I love you for it. But that's why I'm here, to pull you back when you go too deep." There was a stretch of silence where Annabeth and Percy simply drew comfort from each other, then Percy asked. "Are you sure you'll be alright?"
"I'll be fine," Annabeth promised. "Thanks, Percy."
"If you're sure you'll be okay…" Percy let the rest of his sentence hang in the air. "I'm just worried for you, Wise Girl. I.M. me if you need anything, alright? I'll be there."
"I know," Annabeth assured. "I love you."
She hung up after they said their goodbyes, taking a moment to close her eyes and take a deep, steadying breath before heading off in the direction of her first class.
Mara cornered him after school. Brett was surprised, to say the least. He and Mara had never done more than exchange pleasantries at parties when they ended up standing next to each other. He couldn't even begin to guess why Mara had sought him out. He hadn't gotten a chance to speak to Annabeth yet about her disappearance, so he knew Mara hadn't come bearing a message from her.
"You like Annabeth, right?" she asked very directly, startling Brett.
"W-what?" he stuttered.
"You like her. You want to date her, be her boyfriend and all that. Yes?"
"Yeah," Brett admitted, his cheeks flaming, "I guess."
Mara nodded, seemingly satisfied with his answer. "Good," she said, "I want to help you."