WHITE BOYS OF THE MONTH

If you need help, please contact the following:

National Eating Disorders Association Helpline: 1-800-931-2237

(Monday-Thursday 9am-9pm, Friday 9am-5pm. All EST time)

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Song of the Chapter: Dreams by the Cranberries

For breakfast today, Annabeth thought, I ate two pieces of toast (200 calories), two tablespoons of peanut butter powder mixed with water (50 calories), a banana (~100 calories) and a drizzle of honey (~50 calories). She boarded the subway and took a seat next to the door, resting her hands comfortably in the pockets of her favorite blue fleece. And lunch… lunch will be good.

She stared out the window at the dark walls of the subway. Not many people were on the subway- at least not this part- this early in the morning, but she enjoyed getting up early and getting to school. It was just like every other morning- get up at 5:30, immediately eat breakfast, pack a lunch, grab her backpack and homework, and jet out the door before anyone else was awake.

As the subway rumbled through Brooklyn and into Manhattan, Annabeth's thoughts wandered to the rest of the day. Did she promise Piper to do homework after school? Hmm… maybe not.

When the rail slowed to a comfortable stop, Annabeth saw a familiar figure board in the same car, at the other door down. Annabeth tried to sink into her seat, hoping they wouldn't see her but- they scanned the car, and gave her a little wave, and started walking towards her.

"Hey Annabeth," Percy Jackson gave her a tight smile, then slid into the seat across from her. "How's it going?"

"I'm good…" Annabeth replied slowly, giving him a once-over. His messy black hair was sticking out everywhere, and his eyes were dark with exhaustion. His black skinny jeans were sprawled across his seat and the ones on the other side of him. "I didn't know you took the subway."

Percy shrugged. "I do, just never this early."

She nodded. "I guess you do live nearby."

He gave her another little smile. "Yeah, you haven't been over to my house in a while, have you?"

Annabeth's face grew a little warm. "Yeah. God, it has been a while. When was the last time- middle school?"

Percy nodded. "Sounds about right."

They sat in silence for a moment before Percy reached inside his backpack and pulled out a folded paper towel. He unwrapped it, revealing three blue chocolate chip cookies, and he immediately began to bite into one. "Cookie?" he gestured to her, still chewing.

Annabeth resisted the urge to giggle, while her heart rate jumped a little bit. That had to be… two hundred or three hundred? Maybe if she didn't eat lunch. "No, I'm okay. But thanks."

Percy frowned at her. "Are you sure? It's been a while since you had one of my mom's cookies."

Annabeth smiled. "Yeah I'm good." She glanced away from Percy's slowly retreating hand. "A cookie? This early?"

"Nothing like a healthy breakfast to get the day started."

They gave each other yet another small smile. Annabeth could almost see middle school Percy right now- troublemaker features, skinny, sharp sea green eyes. And the eyes had stayed, but even Annabeth had to admit that Percy wasn't that gangly little kid anymore. Now he was tall, and his once unruly black hair now swept nicely across his forehead. If he was wearing a t-shirt, you could see his toned biceps (from constant swim practices). Even though he was wearing a hoodie, Annabeth glanced at his shoulders, thinking (for just a moment) about how nice his arms were.

"You excited for second semester?" she asked.

Percy shrugged. "I mean, we're not seniors yet, so there's not really much to look forward to."

Annabeth nodded, feeling the conversation dying. This was the same, basic question she asked everyone she went to school with if she wasn't friends with them. She could feel it- she and Percy would soon get off at their stop and walk the half block to Good High School, then retreat to their separate groups of friends. "Well, if you look on the bright side, there's the SAT," she said sarcastically, giving him a slightly raised eyebrow.

Percy's mouth dropped open. "Oh, of course Chase. How could I forget? Even better than prom."

Annabeth smiled, sinking back into her seat. "You're right. So much better than prom." She was half expecting him to say something like but you'll get a 1600 no question or but you don't even need to study, but he didn't, thank God.

And then the conversation was over. Percy put his headphones in and closed his eyes while Annabeth stared out the window, watching as passengers got on and off. When they finally reached their stop, she shook Percy awake. "Thank God for you Chase. What on Earth would I do if I missed first period algebra 2-"

"Oh, you know you're excited for Mrs. Dodds."

Percy groaned.

Just as Annabeth expected, the moment they arrived at school their brief moment of friendship was over and they retreated to their own little spheres of the school. Percy waved goodbye as he went over to talk to Will Solace, the Stoll brothers, Jason Grace, and a few more members of the swim team. Annabeth wandered off to find her friend Thalia before their first period AP Physics class together (a low chance because Thalia never came to school early) and nearly ran into Luke Castellan as she turned a corner.

"Hey, Annie!" Luke's face lit up in a grin as he saw her. "How are you doing?" He pulled her into a hug and Annabeth's heart beat a little faster.

"I'm good!" She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and hoped the heat in her cheeks wasn't a blush. "How- how are you? Did you finish up all your college applications over break?"

Luke was a year above Annabeth, and perfect at nearly everything he did. He was first in the class, Student Council Treasurer and President of National Honors Society, nationally ranked in policy debate, and almost certainly headed to the Ivy League school of his choice come August. It didn't hurt that he was cute, too.

Luke nodded. "Yeah. I sent them off to Yale and Stanford and all the others, but you know everywhere I applied." Annabeth nodded. She could list them off, if he asked. "But fingers crossed!"

"Of course!" Annabeth smiled. "I can't believe you're going to be gone so soon. I'm going to miss you."

Luke gave her a friendly smile. "I'm going to miss you too, Beth. You gotta take care of student council for me when you're elected President for next year."

Annabeth blushed even harder. "I don't think so."

Luke furrowed his eyebrows. "Are you kidding? You're a shoe-in."

She gave him a smile. "Thanks Luke." The blood pounded in Annabeth's head. He really thought!

"I better get going Annabeth- gotta meet with Reyna about something. Talk soon!"

"Sounds great. Bye Luke!"

He took off down the hallway, and Annabeth glanced after him. He was tall and graceful, dressed in a navy sweater. Annabeth even liked the back of his head.

"Morning."

Annabeth nearly jumped out of her skin. She turned around to see none other than Thalia grinning at her. "Did I scare you?" she asked.

Annabeth gave her a little glare. "No."

Thalia raised her eyebrows. "Whatever you say. Talking to Luke?"

"Yeah. Just for a second."

"Was he bragging about all his acceptance letters?"
"No," Annabeth gave Thalia a little glare. "There's more to him than that, and you would know if you guys ever talked anymore."

Thalia shrugged. "But what if I don't want to talk to him?"

Annabeth let the subject drop, knowing she wouldn't get anywhere with Thalia. Besides, she was happy that Thalia was here with her, instead of with her other friends. It wasn't that Annabeth didn't like Zoë, Phoebe, and Bianca, but she was nothing like them. At all.

The two slid into the third floor science classroom, which was unlocked. Their teacher, however, an oddball named Mr. Perris, was nowhere to be found.

"So, how was your weekend?" Annabeth asked Thalia as they took their seats in the back of the class.

Thalia shrugged. "Alright. Went to some pretty good shows with Zoë on Saturday, but then it was family day on Sunday." Thalia didn't need to say anything more to make Annabeth cringe. Family day for Thalia sounded like complete hell. Her weird businessman dad, her jock little brother, and Thalia- together, for three court-mandated hours.

Annabeth offered her a weak smile. "At least you get to graduate in six months."

Thalia shrugged. "How about you?"

Annabeth shrugged. "Didn't do too much."

"Are you still going to SoulCycle?"

Annabeth shook her head. "No, I didn't want to keep paying the membership, but the classes at the rec center close to my house are still pretty good."

Thalia leaned back against the wall and put on her headphones. "Maybe I'll come with you some time."

No, you won't, Annabeth thought as Mr. Perris finally came into the classroom.

By the time the bell for lunch rang, Annabeth had already finished her food. She ate her carrot sticks, hummus, and PB+J tortilla in AP Physics, because, well- she got hungry. By lunch her stomach was growling, but she didn't have any money to buy anything from somewhere around campus.

She trekked across the street with Piper and Leo to Whole Foods to look at the free samples. Annabeth had met Piper in freshman year English and instantly liked her. Leo was kind of an addition- at first, she hadn't been sure about him, but had come to really enjoy his company.

The three of them sat in the upstairs seating while Piper ate a piece of pizza and Leo complained about the disaster that the robotics team was becoming.

"The freaking President can't just decide to go to Mexico for a week when we're coming up on the biggest competition of the year-"

"No, absolutely not Valdez. Please continue telling me about this world-threatening matter," Piper nodded earnestly.

Leo huffed. "Shush, Beauty Queen."

Piper gave him a glare, which didn't really work at all, because like Leo said- Piper was a beauty queen, whether or not she wanted to admit it.

"Are you going to get anything, Annabeth?" Piper asked.

Annabeth shook her head. "I already ate."

"Are you guys on to work on the APUSH chapter after school?" Leo asked. "I won't do it if you aren't there."

"You're just going to distract us, Leo," Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Besides, I don't think I can."

Piper frowned. "Why not?"

A bubble of guilt formed in Annabeth's throat, but the lie slipped out smoothly. "I have to babysit my little brothers. Helen asked me this morning."

Piper frowned. "That sucks. I feel like she makes you do that all the time."

Annabeth nodded. "Sucks ass. But, Piper, how's it going with Jason?"

Piper immediately perked up. "Well, he talked to me today during passing!"

Leo groaned. "I can't believe I have to listen to this. Just talk to him."

Piper poked him. "Actually, since you're friends with him, you should ask him if he likes me."

Leo gave her a sly grin. "No."

Piper frowned. "Pleeeease. I'll buy you lunch for a week."

"Tempting. But I choose to protect Jason's honor instead. Sorry Piper."

"Well then. Can you tell me if he still likes Reyna?"

"No."

"How far did he and Reyna get?"

"Yeah," Annabeth said, egging Piper on. "Which base?"

"Yes, important question."

Leo rolled his eyes. "Why don't you ask Thalia? That's her younger brother."

Piper shook her head. "Absolutely not. Thalia would do that for Annabeth, but not for me."

Annabeth glanced at Piper. "I don't think so. Why don't you ask her?"

Piper furrowed her brows like she wasn't sure. "Well, I just want Leo to do it. Leo, please ask him if he likes girls who wear really tight stuff or not."

"Jesus, just talk to him and I'll tell you anything you want!"

Piper grinned. "Deal."

Leo groaned.

Unluckily, Piper and Leo then turned their binoculars of romantic scrutiny towards Annabeth. "So, Annie-"

"Leo, for the last time-"

"Fine, Your Majesty Ms. Annabeth Chase- does that work?"

Annabeth laughed. "Much better."

"Any crushes? Any potential prom dates?"

"Because prom is five months away, so I already need to know who I'm taking."

"Stop avoiding the question," Piper gave her a knowing look.

Annabeth sighed. "Well, there's nothing new besides Luke." Piper and Leo gave each other a quick glance. Annabeth gave them both a look. "What was that look?"

Piper gave Annabeth a look. "Well, I'm sure you know that we're not exactly his biggest fans."

"Same as Thalia. Seriously, I know you think he's arrogant, but why do you guys hate him so much? He's not that bad."

Leo furrowed his brows. "How do you not see it? He's entitled. He walks around like he owns the place and he's kind of a dick. He's constantly asking people where they want to go to college just so he can tell them that he's applying to 6/8 of the Ivies because Harvard just isn't for me and Columbia is a little too close to home or whatever-"

"Sounds like you've been paying quite a bit of attention to Luke Castellan," said Piper, raising her eyebrows suggestively. "Are you sure you don't have a crush like Bethie here?"

"At least I'm not crushing on White Boy of the Month from January 2016, Jason Grace," Annabeth joined in.

"Sorry to break it you, Annabeth, but Luke never even got to be white boy of the month. He's that annoying," responded Leo.

If you need help, please contact the following:

National Eating Disorders Association Helpline: 1-800-931-2237

(Monday-Thursday 9am-9pm, Friday 9am-5pm. All EST time)

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