Chapter 7

A/N: This story updates every Monday so long as I have completed chapters. As of this time, I have up to chapter 17 completed.

-Annabeth-

When they get to school, there's still a little bit of time left before they have to go to homeroom so they sit at a table together. Their friends see them come in and gather around them.

"Hey Annabeth!" Piper says cheerily.

"Hey Piper!"

"No greeting for me?" Percy complains.

Piper glances at Percy. "Sorry, hi Percy. What's in the bag?"

"It's a secret," he says.

Piper turns to Annabeth. "Do you know?"

Annabeth smiles. "Yes I do, but it really is a secret. It's nothing to worry about, I promise."

"So are you and Percy a thing now, or...?" Rachel asks.

Annabeth and Percy blush.

"No we're not a thing!"

"We're just friends!"

They say at the same time.

Piper grins. "I don't believe it for a second!"

"Well you better believe it," Annabeth retorts. "Because we're just friends."

For now...

"Whatever you say," Piper says, but her eyes and smile scream we're not done talking about it.

Jason and the other guys all walk up then and Piper blushes when her eyes meet Jason's.

"Hey Perce! You brought your things?" Jason asks.

"I figured after school we'd go straight there," he replies. "So, yeah." The guys, and Annabeth, know where he's talking about. But to the rest of the girls, they don't have a clue.

"Where are you guys going after school?" Piper asks, tilting her head to the right with curiosity.

"It's for our project for Mr. Brunner," Jason says simply, refusing to go into detail.

Annabeth decides not to say anything and play ignorant to their activities.

"You guys are weirdos," Rachel says. Annabeth easily picks up a subtle change in her tone when she says that, almost as if she meant it.

"Maybe," Percy says, his expression darkening. "But at least I don't stab my friends in the back. At least I try to be honest."

Rachel glares at him. "What's that supposed to mean, Jackson?"

Annabeth looks between Percy and Rachel, a bit confused. They're glaring daggers at each other, but there's something different in Percy's eyes compared to Rachel's. His eyes are more set in anger while Rachel's seem to be wavering a bit.

"Umm... Everything okay, Rachel?" Piper asks.

She doesn't reply. Instead she and Percy continue their tense staring contest. Annabeth can see that even though her expression isn't changing, there's a rising fear in her eyes.

"Guess she never told you guys," Percy mumbles bitterly.

Annabeth frowns. "What are you talking about? Where is this coming from?"

Percy shakes his head. "Forget I said anything. Let's go guys."

He gets up and grabs his bag, walking in the direction of Mr. Brunner's classroom. Jason and the other guys follow him, all of them looking like they know something.

"Well... Remind me not to get on his bad side ever again," Piper says after a minute of silence.

Reyna nods in agreement. "Yeah. I mean, he can take a joke like a champ, but I've never seen him stare like that before."

"He must be having a rough morning," Rachel suggests, trying to keep the attention off of her.

Annabeth shakes her head. "No because he started today with me. I would've known if something was bothering him."

"Started the day with you?" Piper asks with a less than innocent tone.

"I texted him around 7 this morning. He lives just a block away from me so I figured we'd walk here together. He just woke up when I texted."

Piper grins mischievously at Annabeth. "You have his number?"

Annabeth rolls her eyes. "Piper, let's not get into it right now, please."

Piper raises her hands in surrender. "Alright, fine but we will talk about it."

"It seemed like he wasn't happy with Rachel," Reyna says, her gaze drifting over to her friend.

"I don't want to talk about it," Rachel grumbles.

"Okay, but that was a very drastic shift in attitude," Piper says. "Even for Percy."

Annabeth looks over her shoulder to where Percy walked off to. She can't help it, but she feels concerned. He seemed so happy and at ease just a moment ago, then all of a sudden he's pissed off.

She frowns and pushes herself off the table, getting to her feet.

"Hey, where are you going?" Piper asks.

"I'm going to check on him."

"Are you sure? He seems like he needs to be alone," Reyna says.

"He's got Jason, Grover, and Leo with him," Annabeth recalls. "If he wanted to be alone he would've told them off as well. And apparently he isn't interested in seeing Rachel-"

"Don't go dragging me into this," she mutters grumpily.

"I'm not," Annabeth says firmly. "Piper, you've known him longer than I have."

"Yeah," she says.

"Has he ever snapped like that before?"

"Well, no. I haven't seen this from him. Usually a reaction like that is directed towards Luke," she says. "But even then, it was never that intense."

"Me neither," Reyna says. "I know he has a bone to pick with me because I prefer Roman history over Greek, but that's a more friendly type of picking."

Piper laughs.

"What?" Annabeth asks.

"Jason's the same way," she replies. "That's probably one reason why they are so aggressive towards each other. Jason told me once that he and Percy got in a huge argument over strengths and weaknesses of the ancient Romans and Greeks."

"Yup," Rachel grumbles. "Sounds like Percy and Jason."

"So Jason has a thing for the Romans? Like how Percy is for the Greeks?" Annabeth asks.

"Yeah, why?" Rachel asks.

"And you tell me to avoid Percy because of that? Because he's seemingly obsessed with Greek mythology?"

"Hey that's not the only thing-" Rachel tries to explain.

Annabeth's mind is spinning a little. Too much just changed too fast. A good start to her day and now they're arguing over something ridiculous as mythology. No, it's not about myths. It's about Percy. Something clearly happened between Rachel and Percy at some point in their past. Awkwardness and near obsession with history isn't reason enough to not like somebody. And Percy's random change in attitude still needs an explanation and he's the only one Annabeth can think of other than Rachel to explain it to her, though Rachel isn't interested in talking about it.

"Should we just avoid Jason, too then?" Annabeth argues. "Since he's similar to Percy?"

"Jason has his family name. Percy doesn't have anything," Rachel growls. "Yeah, he's a good guy. I know he is. But it's just..."

"Just, what?" Annabeth asks loudly, her voice takes a dangerous tone. A very defensive tone for Percy. It didn't seem fair to her that Percy gets singled out and made fun of, yet Jason gets better attention just because of his family name, even though he and Percy have similar interests. The more she thinks about it, the more Jason seems to remind her of Percy.

Piper and Reyna are sitting, uncomfortable at the argument occurring before them. They trade nervous glances to each other, but dare not say anything.

"I was a bad friend to Percy!" Rachel admits, a little louder than intended. A few other students around them stop talking and look their direction.

"What do you mean?" Annabeth asks, her voice softer.

Rachel takes a deep breath, trying to calm down. "I was a bad friend to him... We used to be close growing up. I thought we had something together and I even had something for him, but it didn't work out. It really isn't his obsession with Greek mythology that makes him weird."

"Kinda does, though," Piper adds in quickly. "But I mean it in a good way."

"I guess I was just... jealous of him," Rachel continues. "I wanted to be with him, but it also just didn't feel right so... I started being mean to him, I guess. Started saying things behind his back."

Annabeth is stunned. Thalia told her the other day that Percy values loyalty and honesty. Two traits that are rare in today's society. And here, Rachel is admitting to, in a sense, betraying Percy.

"He trusted me with certain secrets and I... broke his trust," she said.

"So what did he mean when he said he was at least honest?" Annabeth asks.

Rachel takes another deep and shaky breath. Clearly this wasn't supposed to happen. Nobody saw this coming.

"When he found out that his secrets were out, he turned to the only other person who knew about it. Me. And I denied saying everything even though it was obviously me who leaked it," she explains. "And ever since then, I've just been telling people to be careful with Percy because he's the weirdo who's obsessed with Greek mythology and won't talk about anything else.

"He quickly became more reclusive after that. Minding his own business if he can help it. Every time I see him, I just feel guilty about it, though. I've tried making it up to him, but he doesn't give me a chance. Not that I deserve one, anyway."

"Hey," Annabeth says. "It was a mistake. A very serious one at that, but he shouldn't be keeping you out, either. I'm sure someday you and him can be friends again."

"We'll never have the same bond as before, but that's what happens when you betray someone close to you," Rachel says miserably.

Annabeth can relate personally to that. She's been betrayed so many times in her life. She was originally from San Francisco. She went to a nice school, had good friends, even almost dated a guy. But all that changed when her parents decided to move to New York for a few months. Even before that, they said they were fine with whoever she befriended, only for those "friends" to suddenly turn their backs on her. There was never a doubt that her mother had something to do with it and she'll never forgive her for basically ruining her life. The guy she nearly dated turned out to be a cheater. Another guy first showed promise, but turned out to be a real creep. All those moments she felt like there was something special, turned out to be a lie.

"Wait, hold on," Piper starts. "How long ago did this happen?"

Rachel shrugs. "A few years ago, I think? I don't remember the exact year."

A few years ago, Annabeth thinks. Thalia also mentioned he just stopped talking a few years ago. Maybe this was why. He started distancing himself from his friends because of what Rachel did.

The bell rings for homeroom and Annabeth goes looking for Percy, first looking in Mr. Brunner's classroom. Sure enough, he's leaving that room as she's about to enter and he still looks upset.

"Percy..." she sighs.

"Hey," he says. "I'm sorry about earlier..."

Annabeth cuts him off by throwing her arms tight around his waist, pulling him close in a comforting hug. At first, he's stunned and doesn't do anything, but he quickly recovers and wraps his arms around her as well and leans his head on her shoulder. She rubs his back a little bit in an attempt to further comfort him.

"What's going on?" he asks her quietly.

"Rachel told us... I don't know if it was everything but... she told us what she did to you."

Percy tenses a little, but the circles she's drawing on his back with her fingers calms him again.

"She didn't tell you what she said, did she?" he asks then.

"You mean your secrets?"

Percy pulls away and they lock eyes, there's fear and anger in them. His usually bright, sea green eyes seem darker and there's the shine of a layer of fresh tears forming, threatening to fall.

"She didn't say what they were," she assures him, her hands are resting on his arms, holding him so he doesn't try to hide from her. "But if you need somebody to talk to, for any reason at all, you have my number. Don't hesitate to call, okay?"

"Annabeth..."

She smiles and lifts her right hand, bringing it up to his cheek. A single tear falls from his eyes and she wipes it off with her thumb.

Percy gives her a sad, yet also grateful smile. "Thank you," he whispers.

"Of course," she replies. "Now, let's get you to homeroom. We don't want another strike on your apparently bad attendance record."

Percy laughs a little bit, which fills Annabeth with a warm, fuzzy feeling. Butterflies flutter in her stomach as she memorizes his happier expression. His lopsided smile reforming and his hair messy as always. She wants to mess his hair up even more, but she manages to restrain herself.

...

-Percy-

He doesn't know how she does it. He was happy at the start of his day, but then Rachel had to show up and insult him. Usually, he doesn't care outwardly, but deep down he's filled with pain and anger. He's had that feeling for a long time and blocked out so many of his friends for a while. Grover was the only friend there for him after those days. Leo figured him out soon afterwards and they grew closer than before. They're like brothers to Percy. Then they get to high school and he meets Jason. He didn't know anything about what had happened and he was reluctant to say anything about it. It was Leo who accidentally mentioned one night while they lounged at Grover's house what happened to Percy. He couldn't blame him this time, though, because Jason must've sensed something wasn't right with Percy.

"What's up with Percy?" Jason had asked. "It's like he's completely shut off from reality."

He meant it as a friendly tease and Percy was able to recognize that. But he couldn't help but feel a hint of betrayal from Leo, but that feeling faded after Leo apologized relentlessly and even offered to give up so many things to 'prove himself worthy to the great Percy Jackson'! Yeah right... as if there was really anything great about himself.

Things went back to normal with them, but outside that friend group, Percy remained closed off. Most people couldn't read him anymore, even though he used to be outgoing and talkative. Friendly. That went on for another two years, until Annabeth arrived. He immediately reacted naturally as any guy would, gazing up to a beautiful girl. But a nagging voice he had in the back of his head for almost 4 years reminded him that she'll probably just be another student, tricked into believing he was something that in reality wasn't so bad. All that changed when he ran into her at lunch that day, though. When his mind shut down and he could barely form words, his walls just about collapsed. She was being kind to him, instead of yelling at him for running into her, or telling him to get lost. She talked to him. Not ridiculed.

He started to wonder if maybe they could be friends, though deep down he wants more than that. That late afternoon when he was walking home and he passed her, she called out to him. She gave him a chance. He really wants to talk to her about things that bother him, and even things just to strike a conversation. He's been ignoring everything that voice was warning him about because he truly believes she's different. Even if she is part of the Chase family; a family generally known to look down on people because of lower status.

Now in the hallway at school, when her arms were wrapped around him, and she was holding him close, he felt safe. He felt like he could just tell her everything. Like if there wasn't anybody else he could trust, he could trust her.

He likes her a lot.

...

"Annabeth...?"

"Yes, Percy?" she replies softly.

They're sitting in homeroom now, Grover and Jason elsewhere in the room, giving them a moment to talk.

"Are you still going shopping after school today?" he asks her nervously.

"I don't know," she sighs. "That's something I'll have to figure out today."

"I'm just asking because I've been thinking about our plans for tomorrow."

She looks at him and raises her eyebrow. "Yeah?"

Percy nods. "I don't want to wait until then just to talk."

Annabeth smiles and reaches out to him, her fingers brushing his. "It's okay. I told you, if you want to talk to me, you can call me."

Percy smiles and his phone dings with a text message. He pulls it out of his pocket and looks at it.

[8:01a] Jason: are you sure you two aren't secretly dating?

Percy whips his head around and finds Jason and Grover watching them from halfway across the room. Jason has his stupid grin on his face. Percy replies to the text with a simple 'No. Fuck you, Grace.' Jason laughs upon reading Percy's reply.

"What was that?" she asks him.

"Jason's being an asshole," Percy replies, but he can't help but smile, heat rising in his face.

"And is that unusual?" she asks him.

"Not at all," Percy says, chuckling.

"So... is there anything you want to talk about?" she asks him then. Her tone is soft and calming, but serious. Percy knows what she means.

"Not here," he says. "Not right now. I'll call you later about it. That way tomorrow morning we won't be dealing with all the negativity."

"Okay," she says smiling. "Sounds good."

Her smile lightens up Percy's day. Even during the day, with Luke trying to bully him, and the occasional stare of judgment from other popular kids, he thought of Annabeth and her smile. Her hand on his, her arms around him when he needed it. He always had his friends and his mom, but Annabeth is different. It's as if she's pulling him up from a darkness he didn't realize he was in. Everything looks brighter.

There's a shove against his shoulder and he's held against a locker. Luke stands before him, his eyes angry.

"Hey! Jackson! I'm talking to you!"

"And I'm ignoring you," Percy growls.

Luke's face contorts angrily. "You're not going to run away from our arrangement, are you? I'd hate to beat you without an audience," he sneers.

Percy's eyes darken and he glares as he shrugs off Luke's hand.

"Ooh, somebody's getting mad," Luke mocks. "Are you going to throw another one of your pathetic punches? Who know? Maybe you'll even get kicked out of the school."

Percy lifts his chin confidently, silently telling Luke that he doesn't scare him. Nor has he ever been scared of him.

"Come on, answer me, you punk!" Luke tries to shove Percy into the lockers again, but Percy raises his arm and knocks Luke's hand out of the way. Luke's momentum drove his hand into the lockers, sounding a loud Bang as it connected.

Luke yelps and pulls his hand back, gently massaging it with his other hand.

"I hear you're good with a sword," Percy growls quietly, a threatening tone in his voice, deep and gravelly. "We'll be ready and waiting for you."

Luke snarls and Charles Beckendorf, the only member of the football team who's actually nice to Percy, pulls him back.

"Man, let's just go, alright?" he tells Luke.

Luke doesn't say anything. He just walks off. The football player turns to Percy and smiles softly.

"You good?" He asks him.

"Yeah, never better," Percy replies.

"Cool. Hey, I'm looking forward to..." he looks around and sees most of the students are already in their classes. "To the mock battle," he whispers.

Percy grins. "Like I told Luke, we'll be ready and waiting. I don't suppose you could give me some info on what you guys are using? Just to keep things fair."

"Not really supposed to," he says. "Sorry man."

"It's cool," Percy says. "Hey, see you around."

"Take it easy, Perce!" Charles says as he rushes off to his class.

Percy walks off in the opposite direction. To Mr. Brunner's classroom.