Disclaimer: Rick Riordan owns all PJO characters. Also, I don't own The Melting Pot.

Be warned, this chapter was hastily written and unedited.

Chapter Eighteen

Percy

The best feeling in the world is knowing that she could be with any other guy in the world, but she chooses to be with you.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

I'm not dumb.

I know that Annabeth knows Luke and that Luke knows her. It's not that hard to figure out, the way they looked at each other when I introduced them. I'm also not naïve. I know that they had dated. Luke looked at Annabeth like she was an angel in a room full of demons. He looked at Annabeth like I look at Annabeth. That's not what unnerved me, though. What made me uneasy was the way Annabeth looked at him.

No, I'm not jealous. She didn't look at him with want and joy. She looked like she was seeing a ghost. A ghost she wished she had been able to never see again. A ghost she was disgusted with. I wonder what he had done to her to make her look at him like that. If he had done anything to her, I'm not sure I could hold back the urge to kill him. It was hard to keep my calm today in English, when his eyes were trained on only Annabeth all through our presentation. Like he was a predator and she was his prey.

"Hey," I say, nudging her. I'm thankful for the loud buzz of the cafeteria. No one will be able to hear us if I manage to get her to tell me what's up with her and Luke. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she answers. "I'm fine."

I don't miss the way her fingers tighten on her fork.

I lean down and kiss her cheek. Then I whisper in her ear, "If you want to talk about anything, I'm here for you."

Annabeth's lips turn up and she looks at me. "Thanks."

Her hand slips into mine under the table. I smile.

"So I was thinking," I say in a normal tone, "maybe after school, we could head over to Anna's, grab some food, and then go for a walk at Central Park. Just the two of us. How does that sound?"

Luke, who's sitting on the other side of me at the cafeteria table, tenses. Some sick part of me gets a certain satisfaction out of this. He deserves this for whatever he did to Annabeth. A part of me hardens though when I notice her not-so-subtle glance in his direction before she answers, "I'm sorry, Perce, but I can't. I promised Silena, Reyna, and Rachel that we would go shopping for prom dresses after school today." She shoots me a grin, a sharp, wicked gleam in her eyes. "Unless you want me to go in my birthday suit..."

And right then, I know that this whole Luke thing hasn't completely affected her. There's still some of my Wise Girl in there.

I smile and wrap an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into my side. She, in turn, wraps her arm around my waist. "If you did that, your mom would kill me, like I'm in charge of your choices."

"True," Annabeth said, laughing. I kiss the top of her head and somewhere at the table, I hear a small sigh.

"Who are you going to prom with, Annabeth?" Luke asks, leaning forward to see Annabeth past my body.

"Who do you think, Luke?" she shoots back. Murder is clear in her eyes. I feel a sudden stab of pride.

"She's my date," I chime in helpfully.

"Cool," he says. "I'm wondering if it's too late to ask anyone to prom. Does everyone at this school have dates?"

"Yes," Annabeth answers sharply. "Everyone has dates."

An awkward silence fills the air after that. I look down at my food.

Something happened between Luke and Annabeth. And I am determined to get to the bottom of it.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

I ended up going over to Jason and Thalia's house after school.

I might have mentioned this before, but their dad is rich. And by "rich", I mean he probably has enough money to buy the United States and a vast portion of Canada. And then he'd still have a couple thousand left to go buy both Thalia and Jason new wardrobes. Yeah. That kind of rich.

Piper is here, of course. I swear, she lives at that house. There's a reason she's always there, besides the fact that she's dating Jason. Something about her dad, who's Tristan McLean, a huge American actor, and how he's never home so her house is always empty and she tries to spend as much time away from it as possible. Actually, I think that's the exact reason.

"We could go to The Melting Pot," Piper suggests. We're discussing places to go eat dinner before prom. "That fondue place downtown? It's amazing and totally romantic."

"Yeah, but it's expensive," Jason counters. "Everything downtown is expensive."

"We could be cheap and go to McDonald's," I say. "Since we're talking about expenses and all."

Piper sticks her tongue out at me. "Don't be an idiot, Percy. We're not going to McDonald's."

"You're right. Prom is definitely more of a Burger King event."

"Oh, shut up, Percy."

Thalia looks up from her trig homework which she had been so diligently not doing. "I'm with Percy on this one," she says. "McDonald's and Burger King both have good, quality food and if I have to go dance all night afterwards, I want to do it with my wallet not yet drained of cash. Sorry, Piper."

Piper let out a dramatic groan. "You guys are hopeless," she says with her face on Jason's shoulder. Jason laughs and kisses her forehead.

"We'll figure something out, Pipes," he says supportively. I laugh inwardly. His and Piper's relationship is movie-perfect. Mine and Annabeth's? Well, let's just say it's ninety-five percent taunting and five percent actual dating.

"So what's up with Luke?" Thalia's question catches me off guard.

"What about him?" I ask.

"Oh, come on, Perce." Thalia rolls her eyes. "Please don't tell me that you didn't notice the way he looked at Annabeth."

"Or the way she looked at him," Jason added in unhelpfully.

Oh yeah, I noticed alright.

"No, not really," I answered. "Why? What did you see?"

Jason shrugged. "I don't know. A hungry glint sorta filled his eyes everytime he looked at her."

My hands tighten into iron fists. "And how does she look at him?"

"Kind of like a hot celebrity that does drugs and has been in rehab several times but she's still in love with anyways," Thalia supplies. I go tense all over. I realize now that maybe I am jealous, just a little bit. But really, who wouldn't be jealous when his girlfriend is apparently looking at some ex-boyfriend of hers like he's a celebrity? That's a good enough reason to be jealous as any, right?

I let out a frustrated groan. "Okay, so yeah. I have noticed. But what am I supposed to do about it? I asked Annabeth, but she totally closed me off. And I'm pretty sure Luke won't supply me any answers."

Piper gives me a sympathetic look. "It's okay, Percy. It'll all be fine soon. Just relax."

It sounds like she's giving me advice on how to find my inner self, but I smile anyway.

"And besides, Annabeth isn't going to leave you anytime soon," Thalia reassures me. "She's like, completely in love with you."

Her words make my cheeks color. I try to cover up my embarrassment by saying, "I'm not worried about her leaving me. I'm worried about the way she acts around him. It's like they had a really bad breakup and now she's terrified that he's going to do something awful to her."

"Oh, it's obvious that he was cheating on her," Jason says. The three of us stare at him. Jason and I were in the same boat; we both had girlfriends, yet we were completely clueless when it came to relaionships. Annabeth and Piper usually took the lead on things like that. We just let them drag us wherever and kiss them whenever. To hear something relating to a relationship come out of his mouth is shocking.

Jason shifts uncomfortably. "Well, it is obvious. Luke looks guilty and Annabeth looks hurt. Something must have happened. I just assumed some two-timing was going on."

Luke had cheated on Annabeth? The thought plays around in my mind before I quickly push it out. No. Annabeth would have told me. I know she would have. We argue a lot, true, but we're also best friends. I tell her everything and she tells me everything. It's the circle of friendship.

Everyone is giving me sympathetic looks. It's really annoying. I'm not some abused puppy. "Guys, I don't believe that. Annabeth would have told me. Plus, I'm really sick of talking about this. Can we change the subject, please?"

Thalia shrugged and we went back to arguing about where to go eat for prom.

But I couldn't shake Jason's comment off. It made a twisted sort of sense. I did sense some serious tension between them. And if Luke had come to get Annabeth back, just to find out she had a boyfriend, to what lengths is he willing to go? I trusted Annabeth, but I know how weak love can make you. I've seen it.

I push the thought away and try to focus on the conversation. But even as I argue the pros of going to a fast food restaurant on prom night, the thought of Luke and Annabeth's past prowls around in the back of my mind, like a lion stalking it's prey, waiting for the perfect moment to come out and strike.

Wow. Sorry about the wait. Again. I'll try and update sooner. I really want to finish this story so I can focus on my other story, which still has twenty-one chapters left. This one has, like, four.

Sorry about the length of this chapter. Kind of a filler, kind of not. It was basically an insight into what Percy thinks about Luke's arrival. Also, I don't know if The Melting Pot is an international chain or not, or if it's just where I live, but it's basically a fancy fondue place that's incredible. Just so ya know.

"Now this is what the Lord says to the family of Israel: 'Come back to me and live!'" Amos 5:4