Alright everyone no need to worry I'm still here! I wish there was some way I could update on my homepage just to let everyone know that i'm still active! I've been working on this chapter for awhile, I just couldn't get it the way that I wanted. So here goes my excuses: first I thought I could get another chapter in before finals week but alas, I couldn't. Then, we went to Florida for Christmas and school has been hard since we got back. Plus, I'm in Rosie in the Mamma Mia play that my school's doing so I've had that. Whew! There's all my excuses out in the open. But I'm still here don't worry! So here we go! :).

By the way, this chapter takes place right after Chapter 4. See you at the end!

Annabeth's POV

The sun casted shadows of Annabeth and her friends as they walked to Coco's Cafe after school. They were laughing and joking around, taking their time getting to their destination. Annabeth smiled as she watched Leo, Jason, and Piper laughing and teasing each other. She felt incredibly lucky that she found a great group of friends so quickly. For the first time, she didn't miss her old home in San Fransisco.

Annabeth watched as a man with aviator sunglasses walked past them and into a store. It was strange how looking at a simple thing such as sunglasses reminded her of Percy freaking Jackson. It was then that she remembered her situation with him and Mr. Bacchus. Just like that, her good mood was gone.

"Ugh, can anyone tell me why Mr. Bacchus hates me so much? I've been here for a week and he already paired me with the worst person in the school!" Annabeth threw her hands in the air as her friends turned towards her.

They all gave her pitiful looks and Piper responded, "I know. That really sucks I'm sorry. On the bright side, hopefully with these impromptu marriage counseling sessions, you guys might not have to get a divorce!"

Piper started laughing before she could even finish teasing Annabeth, which caused the rest of them to laugh as well.

"Hardy har, har. So funny," Annabeth sighed, "I've only had Bacchus for like a week and he's been a complete jerk to me."

"Ah, you get used to it," Leo waved his hand carelessly in the air. Annabeth noticed that he did that a lot, used his hands to talk. She found it charming how he got so excited when talking about the tiniest things.

She decided to not let Percy Jackson haunt her thoughts when she was trying to have a good time.

"You know," Grover started, "he's been acting strangely nice recently. I mean, I haven't talked to Percy-"

"Can we just pretend that Percy Jackson doesn't exist right now?" Annabeth interrupted.

Grover smiled and nodded as they continued to walk. After about ten more minutes, they arrived at the cafe.

A bell chimed as they opened the door and walked in. The cafe was cozy with all a dark color scheme and booths that lined the walls. There were smaller tables around the rest of the room and a big counter in the middle where there was a door that led to the back.

A few people occupied a couple tables, and there was one booth filled. They all started a line up to the counter and stared at the menu. Annabeth saw Sally and went up to the counter.

"Hi Sally. How have you been?" Annabeth asked politely.

"Oh I'm just fine dear. It's Annabeth, right?" Sally asked.

Annabeth nodded and smiled. She thought Sally had just the kindest blue eyes.

Leo pushed up next to her and leaned against the counter with one arm. He raised his eyebrows and asked, "Ooh what's the 'spicy hot chocolate supreme'?"

Sally opened her mouth to answer when Leo continued, "Oh nevermind that. I'll take three."

Sally laughed, a full laugh that made the corners of Annabeth's mouth twitch up.

After they had all gotten their drinks, and in Hazel's case, a cookie, they all squished into a booth. Annabeth sat with her back to the door and the wall of windows, which she was glad for because it was very bright outside.

Annabeth would have to guess that they had been sitting for 45 seconds, tops, when the bell above the door jingled open.

She watched as Hazel and Piper exchanged a look and then gave that same look to Annabeth. Jason's blue eyes hardened and his face had the softness of a brick.

"Hi honey," she heard Sally exclaim.

Annabeth craned around in her seat and was apalled to see Percy Jackson facing their table with a shocked expression on his face.

Percy's POV

Shit, shit, shit, was all Percy could think as he stood there in the middle of his mom's work staring at the his one weakness.

They were all staring at him, some with confused expressions, some with angry expressions, and some with annoyed expressions, such as Annabeth. It was then that he realized he had been staring at them for far too long. He turned to his mother as she watched him with concern.

"Hey," he gave her a small lopsided smile and tried to face away from his schoolmates. He felt them still staring at him. It was like a laser was being pointed at the back of his skull, and it was slowly burning his scalp.

She moved around the counter and gave Percy a famous Sally Jackson hug, one that just forced you to hug back. He pushed his face into the hair on the top of her head. Her presence alone made him smile.

She pulled away and Percy got a good look at her. She looked exhausted to say the least, and she had her hair back in a low messy bun, which she usually did when she was too tired to make it look 'presentable'.

She reached up and pulled away his sunglasses.

"There. Now I can see you," she smiled and pushed the sunglasses into her apron pocket.

He immediately felt exposed knowing Annabeth and her friends could see his eyes if he turned around. He couldn't let them see how he was with his mother, it would ruin everything he had been trying to create. Everything Gabe had been trying to create.

He turned her shoulders around and marched her to the back.

He smiled gently at her and said softly, "I got this. You get some rest."

He threw on a green apron and tied it around his waist. He busied himself with anything that would keep him from having to look up and in the direction of Annabeth. He could still feel her staring at him, and he couldn't take it anymore. He heard them whispering and assumed that it was about the 'bad boy' acting civlized for once.

It was then that he let himself imagine what his life was supposed to be like, without Gabe. He just knew that he would be friends with the group in the booth. He would laugh with them and make them laugh in turn. He would be sitting there with them in this cafe where his mother didn't work. She would be too busy writing novels to be working in a cafe. They wouldn't need the extra money from her two jobs because Gabe wouldn't be there to waste it.

Percy let himself look up to their booth with these thoughts in his head. As soon as he did, he saw Annabeth's calculating gray eyes meet his, and they hardened. It sent a shiver down Percy's spine and he quickly turned around and began doing something else with his hands.

You're a fool, Percy. You weren't supposed to have that life. This was always the life you were meant to have. This miserable life, he thought.

It took about fifteen more minutes before they gathered their things and walked out the door. As they walked past the slightly tinted windows, he saw Annabeth stare into the building again, this time with curiousity lingering in her eyes.

If he lived that fairytale life, he would linger behind the group with her, just so he could talk to her alone. He would brush the back of his hand against hers and those curious eyes would look into his and she would smile softly at him while she took his hand. They would walk together to wherever they were walking to now, hand in hand.

Mr. Bacchus gave the first partnered history project a few weeks later. They had three weeks to act out an interview with a famous person in history, and create a short film based on their life.

Percy sighed as he realized this would take a lot of work, and almost all of it would deifnitely have to be done with the two of them together.

After he gave the instructions, Bacchus let them discuss with their partners. Percy hated times like these, because he just knew that he would have to bother Annabeth. She always said things to him that he knew if he passed up, he would be getting second glances. He did not need those second glances.

He already was getting looks at today, as Gabe got especially drunk and angry last night. He had a busted lip and bruises on his jaw from the unstoppable punches. Gabe had pushed him at some point during his beating, and his arm and side slammed against the cabinet in the front room. Basically his entire forearm was blue, so he had to make sure he didn't take off his jacket today. He of course had his sunglasses on, to cover his black eye, and the emotion in his eyes. Sometimes, someone would accidentally brush against his arm and his eyes would tear up. That would definitely be a problem if someone saw.

Annabeth turned in her desk to face him and she gave him a blank, 'not today,' look. He forced a smile and tried to turn his body towards her. He gasped as his left side twisted and pulled the already torn skin. He sat forward again and turned his desk so that it faced her.

Annabeth was watching him with annoyance and... slight concern?

"Are you okay?" she asked, crossing her arms.

"I'm just fine, thanks Wise Girl," he replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

She rolled her eyes and got out a notebook.

"So we're going to need to figure out who we want to create a film about, and we need a video camera. Luckily, my dad has one that we can use."

Percy forced a seductive smirk, "Wonderful. I'm sure we'll find plenty of uses for that." He wiggled his eyebrows at her as she stared at him in disgust.

"You're disgusting you know that?" she replied, turning back to her paper and jotting down ideas.

Percy was glad she didn't make a bigger scene out of that. He really hated making those comments, especially in front of everyone. He didn't want to embarass Annabeth when she's just trying to work on this project.

"Let's just do someone easy like George Washington so we can finish it quickly," she said, still writing in her notebook with her black pen.

"I was actually thinking we could do someone interesting like, I don't know, Nikola Tesla?" Percy asked and he immediately regreted it.

Annabeth looked up in surprise and she cocked an eyebrow. Percy's first thought was about how much of a mistake that comment was. It actually made him sound slightly intelligent, which was not good for his ego. His second thought was how cute Annabeth looked at that exact moment.

She shrugged and said, "Okay. If you really want to."

He watched as she jotted down the name onto her paper. He was glad she didn't comment too much on his slip up. He really had to watch himself around her. It seemed that whenever he got near her his mojo was just all off. He couldn't stick to his routine and look in her eyes at the same time.

"Are you still free for tomorrow night?" she asked, looking up and into sunglasses.

"Yeah. Tuesday's and Thursday's at 7 are still fine," he said, watching his fingers tap on the desk.

There was a slight pause, and he looked up to catch her staring at him with scrutinity. She nodded and got out her planner to write it down he presumed. She turned back in her seat until she was sitting upright, signaling the end of their conversation. Percy took the hint and scooted his desk back to its original placement and waited for the bell.

Percy turned his head away from Annabeth as he smiled at the idea that the two of them technically had a date tomorrow.

He didn't come home until around 8 that night, knowing his mother was working late. He was hoping he could sneak up to his room quietly, but of course Gabe was waiting for him.

"Hey look who showed up, just in time," he smiled with his yellow teeth and his eyes squinted drunkinly.

Then, with strength that no drunken man should have, Gabe smashed Percy against the front door. He couldn't quite hold him up above the ground like he used to, but he could still pin him there. It didn't help that Percy didn't have the fight in him anymore. When he was younger, he would kick and bite and scratch, basically do anything to get Gabe's smelly hands off of him. Now, though, Percy knew it would be over with a lot quicker if he just sat limp.

A few punches came. They hit his shoulder, stomach, and jaw. While the pain was there, Percy wasn't. His head went somewhere else during times like these. Sometimes, he would go to Coco's Cafe and he would be sitting with his mom. Other times, he would be on the beach with both of his parents. He would watch his dad smile down at him, his hair blowing with the breeze. Percy missed those days.

"You know why I do this?" Gabe asked, holding Percy by the throat.

Percy was gasping for breath and moaning at this point, his side where Gabe had previously beaten him aching like hell.

"I do it, because somebody has to show you what a no good, worthless little prat you truly are," Gabe spat at him.

"You can't read," Gabe backhanded Percy across the face.

"You can't write." Fronthand.

"Hell, you can't even sit still for thirty minutes." Gabe pulled Percy off the wall a bit before shoving him back with force.

"No one would ever want you, Percy. Your mother only cares because she has to."

"No," Percy muttered, his swollen lip and busted open again, and blood was pouring into his mouth.

"Why do you think your father left, huh? He was the smart one."

"If I wasn't doing this to you, he would be." With that, Gabe threw Percy to the ground and kicked him in the stomach. He sauntered away towards the living room.

"Oh, and before you head upstairs to start crying, grab me a beer."

Percy hauled himself up from the floor and quickly got the beer and went upstairs as fast as he could without looking weak. He went straight to the bathroom to check out the damage. He saw bruises starting to form on his cheeks and neck, all in the hands of fingerprints. He didn't even realize he was in the shower until the water hit his back. He turned around and let the water pour on his head as he watched the bloody water run down his body and into the drain.

He thought about all the things Gabe said. His first thought was that Gabe was wrong, he was always wrong. But then, he thought about how he truly couldn't read or write due to his dyslexia. And he couldn't sit still because of his ADHD. His father had left them. Why did he do that? Was it really because he just couldn't stand to watch his son grow up and be the idiot that he was? That's what Percy was. He was an idiot. He knew it. He knew that Gabe was right, and he knew that he would never be good enough. Not for his mom, not for Annabeth, not for anyone.

He wasn't sure how long he was in the shower, but when he got out his hands and feet were all pruny like a raisin. He bandaged himself and laid in his bed. He stared up at the stars he had put on his ceiling so long ago.

His thoughts had moved on to Annabeth. The perfection that was Annabeth. It pained him to hurt her like he did. Just looking at her hurt his heart. It ached when he would see her, and he could feel it, like a compass in his chest, guiding him to her. He knew he could never have her. She could never be happy with an idiot like him.

He realized that he couldn't go to the library with her tomorrow. He couldn't let her see anymore of his true self. It's not like she would like what she saw anyway. It was better to stomp out the compass in his heart now, before the feelings grew too strong. Uncontrollable.

Ugh my heart. It breaks for Percy. Please review! It helps motivate me and don't you want to see what happens next?

Also, I'm reading Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell right now and it's so good! It's a great read that I highly suggest!