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: Nobody by Miski

What Annabeth had expected to be a quick after school hangout with her best friend ended up turning into several hours spent at Piper's house- a gorgeous brownstone on the Upper East Side. Her dad, Tristan McLean, a famous movie star, was off in Los Angeles on business- the place where Piper had grown up before she convinced her dad to let her spend high school on the East Coast.

When Annabeth had first met Piper in freshman year, Tristan McLean would have been the last person she imagined was her dad. Sure, Piper had his good looks- sharp features, tan skin- but she was also completely her own person, intent on keeping any association with her father as low as possible. At freshman orientation, Piper had walked in with a too-big, faded fleece jacket, ripped jeans, and hiking boots- no makeup, no designer clothes, no fancy haircut. But that didn't stop any guys from not catching on to how pretty she was, or how great of a body she had. Until Piper turned them all down.

Annabeth had been a little jealous, before she had gotten to know Piper. Even then she had wished for her body to look just like her's.

Annabeth knew that only she, Leo, and Thalia even knew the truth about Tristan McLean, a secret that Piper was intent on keeping. She didn't want to be friends with megamillionaires- she wanted to be a regular kid. How Piper had convinced her dad to let her attend public school was beyond Annabeth.

The two of them lounged in Piper's front room while Genevieve, the woman who stayed with her when Tristan was gone, cooked dinner. They quickly abandoned the pretense of doing any homework and giggled about Jason for most of the night. Piper couldn't stop blushing, or stop talking about how excited she was.

Annabeth was too. She liked Jason. Their school didn't have a big football or baseball team- it focused on sports like swimming and tennis, paired with stellar academics. Their swim team was top in the state, which was likely the reason Percy had decided to go there. Percy, Jason, and a few other guys were all top athletes on the team.

"I mean, I don't want to say anything too soon," Piper said, rolling over on her favorite turquoise bean bag chair. Tristan had let his daughter do all the interior design for the brownstone, meaning it was full of interesting art pieces, comfy seating, and rugs. Lots and lots of rugs. "But I feel really good about this. He's just so nice! Do you ever get a feeling, like, like something big is going to happen? Like you're going to date someone? Or fall in love?"

"Uh, sure?"

"I mean, maybe it's just me. But at the beginning of every school year I always think to myself: are you going to date someone this year? You know? And finally at the beginning of junior year, I was like yeah! Maybe I am."

"I hope it works out for you guys!"

Piper gave her a big smile. "I missed you so much. It's been so long since we got to hang out."

Annabeth cast her eyes down at the floor so Piper wouldn't have to see how guilty she looked. "I'm sorry- my schedule is just crazy this semester. I'll definitely try though." She couldn't ignore the other reasons she felt guilty right now: skipping her spin class and eating all those chips with Piper after school.

"Nah, you're good. I totally understand. I just never want to stop hanging out with you."

Annabeth smiled. "Me too."

Annabeth didn't get home until nearly nine PM, right when everyone else in her family was getting ready to go to sleep. Matthew and Bobby had left all their legos in the apartment and Helen was chasing them around while her dad chuckled. She paused at the entrance to the living room, wishing she had stayed at Piper's just a few minutes longer, so she didn't have to intrude on their special family moment.

As she tried to quietly slip away to her room, her dad spun around and saw her. "Hey Annabeth! How was Piper's?"

She cursed silently and turned back around, plastering on a smile. "Hey! It was great. How was dinner?"

Her father grinned. "Great! I think I'm going to try out cooking every night from now on." Oh, no. Absolutely not. She couldn't have more meals like the mac and cheese and the food at Piper's tonight (chicken pot pie), which was absolutely delicious, but would only serve to make her fatter than she already was.

"Oh, sounds great Dad."

"And I hope you don't mind, but I told Athena about you being first in the class," her dad said sheepishly, rubbing his neck while his cheeks grew red. "She called to let me know she was coming into the city for a few days, to set up some time to hang out with you, and I just wanted to let her know. She's so proud!"

She could feel Helen freeze when her dad mentioned her mother's name. Helen and Athena had never met, and Helen never complained about her, but Annabeth could tell there was some great unspoken tension between the two of them. If only Helen could understand that the relationship between Athena and her dad was so over… she was honestly surprised they were even talking on the phone.

"Oh, that's great Dad," Annabeth said casually. "I'll, uh, text her?"

He nodded. "Anything else going on at school? Any food you want me to try making?'

Annabeth shook her head instantly. "Not really. I actually have a ton of homework to do, so I'm going to go to my room…"

He nodded. "All good. Night, sweetheart."

"Goodnight Annabeth," said Helen. Matthew and Bobby had finally been corralled into their room and she sat at the kitchen island with her dad.

"Night!"

Annabeth had mounds of homework to do, but it could wait. 45 minute barre? 30 minute tabata? She couldn't do anything that would be too loud, of course. She decided on a compromise (30 minute barre class, and then another 10 minutes of abs after) and quickly got into the YouTube video, staying quiet as to not wake Matthew and Bobby in the room next door.

She had barely finished the warm up when she got a notification on her phone. Confused, she paused the video and opened her phone.

XXX-XXX-XXXX: Hey Annabeth, I'm really sorry but is there any chance that you could help me with some more stuff for math? It's Percy, I got your number from Thalia, btw.

Annabeth quickly glanced at her video before slowly shutting her computer and typing a reply.

Annabeth: Sure? What do you need help with?

XXX-XXX-XXXX: Is it alright if we FaceTime?

Annabeth's heart rate spiked. She was sweaty and in all her workout clothes, her room was a mess… but all of a sudden her phone was buzzing with a FaceTime request from the unknown number she now knew belonged to Percy Jackson. She was not ready to be looked at… yet she slid it open anyway.

It took a moment to connect before she was looking at the face of Percy Jackson- albeit a blurry face of Percy Jackson- before the connection warmed up and the picture became clearer.

"Hey!" they both said at the same time, before landing in a quick awkward silence. Goddamnit, Annabeth thought.

"So, you need some help?" What a lame thing to say.

"Uh, yeah," Percy said, "Thanks so much."

"Sure! What do you need?"

He flipped the camera around to show her his textbook. "It's limits again."

Annabeth studied the problems. "Alright. Do you remember anything we talked about on the subway?"

She swore she could see Percy blush. "Uh… a little."

She bit back a laugh. "Well, do you remember anything about asymptotes?" They got through the problems surprisingly quickly after that, once she had given him a quick refresher. Percy was actually pretty smart, Annabeth thought, he just didn't always show it.

"How's your mom doing?" she asked him, after they had finished all the problems.

Percy broke out into a grin. "She's good. She's getting married in February to Paul Blofis, the 10th grade English teacher."

Annabeth's jaw dropped. "No way! Mr. Blofis? He's the best!"

Percy nodded. "I know, Paul's great. They met at a parent-teacher conference or something. It's kinda weird, seeing him in the halls now. Embarrassing. I don't know," he blushed, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck.

"I think it's great!" Annabeth responded, trying to sound encouraging. "As long as your mom and Paul or happy, that's all you should worry about."

Percy laughed. "You're right."

They kept talking for a while after that, mostly reminiscing about the summer camp they used to spend their summers at. It was so refreshing not to just talk about school or college. It was only when she realized it was nearly 11:30 that Annabeth decided she should probably go to sleep.

"Hey, I'm probably going to go to bed…" she said awkwardly, right after Percy was done telling her about the swim team captain elections.

Percy nodded. "Oh yeah, me too. I didn't realize it was so late."

"Same. If you uh, ever need any more math help, just let me know."

"Sure!"

"Bye!" they said at the same time, giving each other another awkward smile before tapping the end call button.

Annabeth couldn't stop the smile on her face. She had missed talking to Percy more than she had realized. He didn't stress her out like Luke did. But with a sudden jolt, she stopped thinking of Percy and Luke and remembered the exercise that she still hadn't done.

Percy or Luke or anyone ever would never like a fat girl, she thought, biting her lip so that the tears would stop forming. It didn't work, of course, so she laid down, pressed play on the forgotten YouTube video, and began to follow the instructor. In a plie position, she pressed her mouth tightly together, refusing to let the sobs escape.

It's alright Annabeth- this is what you need to be doing. This is what's important. You need to get in shape so that you'll actually be attractive! They don't want a shapeless blob. They want nice boobs and a small waist and a big butt and thin legs and nice calves and skinny arms, and by doing this, you're one step closer to getting there.

Today wasn't great. You didn't burn enough calories, probably, and you definitely shouldn't have eaten anything at Piper's, but you will be better tomorrow.

After Annabeth finished her barre class and her abs, she looked down at her rules:

RULES:

300 calories per meal

1 100 calorie snack for between either breakfast and lunch or lunch and dinner

At least 30 minutes of cardio exercise every day, with additional strength training (time permitting)

Limit added sugar, soda, white flour, candy, peanut butter, dairy!

Eat lots of vegetables! Vegetables don't count for calories!

Drink at least 64 oz of water every day

Stay Consistent

It was a good list, but it wasn't quite complete. She added one more to the bottom of the list:

No off days!

After brushing her teeth and washing her face, Annabeth felt the familiar knot of hunger growing in her stomach. Perfect. Today had been hard, but tomorrow would be better. She'd go to spin class instead of hanging out with Piper. She had to be better, she had to.

Two days later, Annabeth was back in Piper's brownstone, this time talking with her friend all about Piper and Jason's tutoring date- which had really turned into more of a date-date, with Piper's handiwork. They had gotten minimal work done at a coffee shop before Piper asked him to go for a walk, which turned into getting dinner, which turned into ice cream.

Annabeth was pretending to be excited about this new development- which wasn't a lie. She was overjoyed for her friend, and couldn't believe that everything was working out with such a great guy, but mostly she was distracted and thinking about how she had already broken every single promise she had made to herself last night.

On the outside, Annabeth was completely "oh my god that's so great!" but she was freaking out, constantly trying to find an excuse to dip out early. Luckily, she had the perfect thing: "My dad wants me to come home for dinner!" Truthfully, her dad thought she was eating at Piper's. Annabeth was going to the gym.

When she emerged from her hour long climb class, Annabeth was exhausted, and not looking at all forward to the short ride home. She made her customary Trader Joes stop (no free samples, unsurprisingly) before getting home at nearly 9 PM. The boys were in bed and her dad and Helen sat in the living room, listening to jazz.

"Hey honey!" her dad nearly bounced out of his chair. "I made chicken parmesan tonight- you interested? It was awesome. Lots of leftovers. Want me to heat something up for you?"

Annabeth gave him a big smile, her heart racing."I'm okay Dad, but thank you so much. I'm stuffed from Piper's." He couldn't hear her stomach growl, right?

He shrugged. "All good. You should take it for lunch tomorrow."

"For sure! I'm going to go do some homework and go to bed early."

He gave her another huge smile. "Sounds great! See you tomorrow."

Annabeth retreated to her room. She shouldn't have gone to Piper's today- she had broken her promise. At the very least, she wouldn't eat dinner tonight.

She sat down to work on some calculus but was unable to think with her stomach roaring. Annabeth was so exhausted she was nearly about to fall asleep at her desk- so she quicky brushed her teeth and fell into bed.

Just as she was going to sleep, she heard a text come in, but far too tired to check it, she laid her head down on the pillow and closed her eyes.

The first thing Annabeth saw when she got up the next morning and checked her phone was the missed test from last night:

Percy: Hey, are you down to ft? Math ahaha

She wanted to slap herself. She was so dumb! All she needed to do was stay up for another thirty seconds and she could've talked to Percy! Why did she have to be so stupid?

Wait, Annabeth thought to herself. Since when am I so into Percy? I like Luke. I mean, he's Luke. Percy just isn't my type. That's right. He's too unpredictable and he's so popular. I've known Luke longer. Right- that's right. I like Luke.

She typed out a hurried response, now convinced that she didn't like Percy at all.

Annabeth: I'm so so so sorry I was asleep! Can we do it on the subway?

Percy: Sure :)

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)

where-do-i-start-0

Thanks so much for reading! Sorry if the pace seems kind of slow, I'm hoping that everything will pick up more in the next few chapters. First four chapters were really just to establish Annabeth's world and set up some early plot points, but the ball will start rolling soon.

If you would like, please leave a review!

- Emily