Chapter 8

Annabeth POV

I push past the hoards of sweaty teens, my head down and my arms covering the top of my head, as I rapidly make my way towards the back of the room, heading straight for the women's restroom. As I pass person after person, all of them decked out in their fancy attire and glow in the dark accessories, I try to press down the pang of panic I feel rising in my chest. Why had he lied to me?

When Piper, Hazel, and I had first arrived at the dance, the first thing Piper did was call her boyfriend Jason, who is also Thalia's brother, to see where they were so that we could meet up with them. However, when neither of them replied, we decided to head over to the bar to grab some drinks. And as we waited in line to place our orders, that's when I had seen him.

Out on the dance floor, I had caught a fleeting glimpse of tousled, jet black hair bouncing up and down as Percy jumped to the music with the rest of the crowd. At first, I thought I wasn't seeing it right. Certainly it wasn't Percy, I thought to myself. Hadn't he told me just last night that he had plans and would be busy tonight? But sure enough, when I stepped closer and got a second glance at him, there was no mistaking it. That was definitely Percy Jackson.

"Um, guys, I'm going to go to the restroom," I had said over my shoulder to Hazel and Piper.

Hazel turned towards me. "Do you want us to go with you?"

"No that's alright," I had said. "Thank you though." And before I knew it, I ended up here, ducking and dodging the flailing limbs of dancer after dancer as I make my way across the dance floor, heading straight to the restroom.

As soon as I reach the edge of the dance floor, I push open the door to the empty women's restroom and brace myself against the sink.

Why would Percy have lied to me? My reflection looks flushed and crazed in the mirror, almost as if someone had knocked the air from my lungs. At first, I try to rationalize in Percy's favor. Maybe his plans got canceled and he had decided to come to the dance at the last minute? But the more I think about it, the more I can't seem to get over the idea that by basically asking him out the same day I met him, I must've freaked Percy out enough to make him lie straight to my face about having plans, as an excuse to turn me down.

So stupid! I chide myself. I am leaning over the sink, my head in my hands, when all of a sudden, I hear the door to the restroom open, and I immediately snap back up, turning the faucet on and pretending to be washing my hands.

Through the reflection in the mirror, I look over my shoulder and am surprised to see that one of the two girls who walked through the door is none other than Drew Tanaka, the girl (or more accurately, the satan incarnate) who I had run into in the library yesterday morning. She wears a short yellow romper and has her long, shiny black ringlet curls swept over her shoulder.

"Honestly Lacy, I don't understand how some of these people can even afford to be staying here. Like, by the look of some of those dresses alone, I can already tell that the resort must be going downhill if those people are able to purchase a timeshare," Drew says, stepping up to the mirror and lifting her hand to reapply her lip gloss.

"Oh totally," the other girl, a petite blond in a pink slip dress who I assume is Lacy, says as she reaches up to reapply her own makeup as well.

I clench my fists under the running water before reaching up to turn off the faucet and dry my hands. But before I can even grab a towel, I feel a hand on my shoulder, turning me around.

"Hey, it's Anabell right?" Drew says as she puts her lip gloss back in her purse, not once breaking her piercing eye contact.

"Annabeth, actually," I say, shooting daggers right back at her. Someone must still be mad from when I told her off yesterday.

Drew glances down at my dress, a look of disgust on her face. "See, this is exactly what I mean Lacy, if the resort keeps letting in strays, it's reputation will be diminished in a matter of months."

I pull my shoulder out of her grip and, because my hands are still wet and I can practically feel my anger boiling over and out of me, I take a step towards Drew, smile, and dry the water from my dripping hands off on her romper. Lacy gasps from behind her, and the look of outrage and astonishment that takes over Drew's face is to die for.

"Have a nice night Drew," I say, and flip her off as I push my way out of the bathroom and back out onto the dance floor, a grin growing on my face. That felt good.

I hear Drew shout something from the bathroom, but am unable to make out what she says from behind the closed door. I let out a laugh, and can't stop giggling as I begin to make my way across the room, a bubble of pride swelling in my chest.

I push past the hoards of dancers, trying to head back to where I had left Piper and Hazel, but the room is so big that I honestly can't even remember where the bar was. I begin trailing the wall, knowing that this way I'll find the bar eventually. My cheeks are beginning to burn from the intensity of my smile, when all of a sudden, I hear a voice come up from beside me.

"What could possibly be making you smile like that?"

I look to the left, only to be met by a pair of familiar sea green eyes. I immediately feel the same uncontrollable pull in my chest that I seem to only feel whenever I'm around Percy. However, that feeling only twists into something uncomfortable and sickening when I remember that Percy blew me off and lied to me about having plans for tonight.

"Nothing," I quickly say, turning away from him to continue walking against the wall. From behind, I feel Percy rush to keep up with me.

"Annabeth," he says, lightly placing a hand on my shoulder to turn me around. As soon as I do turn, I see the look of hurt that flashes across his face as a result of my dismissiveness, and I immediately feel bad.

I give him a slight smile and succumb. "I may or may not have wiped my hands off on Drew Tanaka's four-hundred dollar romper."

Percy's eyes widen. "No way," he says, looking in the direction of the restroom. I follow his gaze, and we both start to laugh when we see Drew emerge from the bathroom, frantically attempting to dry the newly formed water stains off of her romper as Lacy trails behind her, whispering reassurances and carrying both of their purses in her arms.

"You better be careful," Percy says, turning back to me, a grin on his face. "It's only your second day here and you're already making powerful enemies. I'd hate to see what kind of havok you'll reek by the end of the week."

I laugh. "Oh, you have no idea." Percy chuckles, and I take a moment to admire just how gorgeous he looks all dressed up in his suit, the darkness of it combined with the darkness of his hair making his eyes pop even more than usual.

"How's your foot doing?" Percy asks me, motioning down to my converse. It takes me a moment to remember what he's talking about.

"Oh, much better," I tell him. "Honestly, it feels like nothing ever happened." It's only sort of a lie. The cut is healing well but still hurts like a mother fucker.

Percy smiles and reaches up to tighten his tie. "That's great!"

I look up at him, a grin on my face, and begin to blush furiously when I notice that the blue of his tie is the exact same shade of blue as my dress. It's so uncanny that it almost looks like we had coordinated it to be that way.

An awkward moment of silence passes between us in which Percy stares at me for a really long time, making me blush even harder than I was before, if that's even possible.

"You look really nice," he says to me, nervously toying with the hair at the nape of his neck. He looks really cute when he does that, and I find that I have to practically clasp my hands behind my back to keep myself from reaching out and trying it myself.

Man I am such a creep. I better chill out or Percy's gonna be taking out a restraining order on me.

"You do too," I tell him, biting my bottom lip to keep from smiling. A perfect moment passes in which both of us just stand there, admiring each other, and I feel as though I'm in an unreal state of bliss. That is, until the poisonous memory of how I must've scared him into blowing me off last night rises to the surface of my memory, and I quickly break away from his stare, not being able to control the words that come out of my mouth next.

"Why did you tell me that you were busy tonight?" I ask Percy, now looking down at my feet instead of at his eyes.

"What?" He asks dumbly, a look of confusion painted over his face. I force myself to look back up at him for a moment.

"Yesterday in the car," I start, blushing at the memory of our drive back to my room. "I asked you if you had plans tonight, and you said that you were busy."

A look of realization passes over Percy's face as he realizes what I'm talking about, and I see his expression change as he rushes to formulate a response in his head.

"Man, I am such an idiot," he says. "I didn't realize-" Percy begins worrying at his bottom lip. "When I said that I had plans, I wasn't trying to blow you off Annabeth. I would never do that. I was just genuinly being dumb and when you asked me what I would be doing tonight. I said that I was gonna be busy because I was planning on coming to the dance. Trust me that it wasn't because I was trying to be dismissive." I feel the tension in my face release.

"So you weren't just creeped out by the fact that I was being so forward?" I ask him, the sick feeling I had been harboring in my stomach slowly unclenching.

Percy's eyes widen. "Oh gods no," he says, panic in his voice. "Trust me, that was the last thing that would've gone through my mind."

A sudden surge of heat rises to my cheeks and I quickly feel the need to collect myself; anything to rid my body of the sick feeling I had been carrying around for the past fifteen minutes. Ugh, I hate self-doubt and uncertainty.

"Wanna dance?" I ask him, reaching out my hand. I am a little surprised by my sudden confidence, especially in light of everything that has happened. My heart just about leaps out of my chest when Percy replies.

"Absolutely." He says the word with such conviction that it makes me feel like there is nothing else in the entire world that he would rather do than dance with me.

Percy smirks as he takes my outstretched hand, and begins leading us out into the middle of the dance floor, the electric glow of his white shirt and my blond hair growing stronger and stronger in the blacklight as we make our way further into the darkness of the crowded dance floor. The colored stage lights that line the wall are shining down in such a way that the air itself appears to be blue, reminding me of how it looks underwater when sun rays shine through the ocean.

Percy leads us to a section of the dance floor (away from the mosh pit) in which couples are dancing, goofily twirling each other around to the music. I let out a startled laugh as Percy suddenly pulls me close and takes my hands in his hands and we begin to sway to the music.

It's too loud to talk down here, but I honestly don't mind at all. I am enjoying myself immensely in this moment just the way it is. We smile and laugh with each other for what feels like hours, dancing crazily to the more upbeat songs, and more sweetly to the calmer songs. No one these days is a spectacular dancer, especially people our age, but I have to admit that Percy and I are certainly holding our own out here. There's no awkwardness in the way he holds me, and I honestly feel that this is the most at ease I have felt with a guy in a really long time. There is a part of me that just wants this moment to last forever. And in a way, it kind of does.

Percy pulls me closer and closer as the minutes go by. And I let him, by body yearning to be closer to his as if I have lost control of it completely. And when the music changes, slowing down to some beautiful song I have never heard before, I let myself give into the urge, leaning in closer to him.

Our faces are mere inches apart, when, out of nowhere, the DJ completely changes the song and an upbeat hip hop song begins basting through the amps. It's as though we had both been together in a secluded bubble, but it has just popped, exposing us to the real world and bringing our awareness to the fact that we are in the middle of a dance floor, surrounded by tons of other people. Percy and I pull away from each other slightly, embarrassed by the closeness we had just had between us moments before.

I smile awkwardly at him and pull my hair up into a messy low bun, suddenly feeling very hot. Sweat runs down the base of my spine under my dress and I immediately become embarrassed when I think of how badly smudged my makeup must be at this point. Percy doesn't seem to notice, though. He just stands across from me, running a hand through his hair and breathing heavily, a slight smile on his face.

"Why don't I go get us something to drink?" Percy asks as he starts to fan himself off with his suit jacket.

I smile. "That would be nice."

Percy grins and begins walking off in what I assume is the direction of the bar. I watch he goes, and blushing, I can't help but grin myself as I make my way over to a nearby table to sit down and check my phone. When I look at the screen, I'm not at all surprised to find some classic Thalia texts.

Annabeth! brooo! you've been in the bathroom for like 45 minutes - where you at man?

I laugh and type my response.

I've been hanging with mystery guy ;) Come meet me at the tables by the dancefloor - I have a funny story to tell you about Drew!

Thalia's reply comes in almost immediately.

As much as I am dying to hear this "funny story" about the she-devil, you know I'd much rather hear about your mystery guy. I'll be there in two seconds!

I laugh, shaking my head as I turn off my phone and attempt to discreetly slide it back into the pocket of my spanx. Looking around, everyone here appears to be having such a great time, and I am overcome with a sudden, unexpected feeling of admiration for my mother. For all of her faults, I do have to say that she has a real talent, being able to imagine a place as brilliant as this. I only hope that someday, I might be able to do something half as good during my career.

I am still sitting at the table when I see Thalia run up. She looks amazing in her black slip, and her dark eyeliner makes her electric blue eyes pop more than ever.

"You look great Thals," I say, standing up to give Thalia a hug.

"Says you!" She exclaims, leaning into our embrace. "You look like a million bucks. No wonder mystery guy decided to show up!" We both begin to sit down. "See, didn't I tell you not to lose hope about it?"

"You were right," I say in defeat. "Probably for the first time ever," I add with a laugh. "But still right nonetheless."

Thalia jokingly smacks my arm. "Speaking of the devil, where is mystery man?" She asks me. "I'm dying to meet this guy."

I smirk. "He's just getting us drinks right now. He should probably be back in a couple of minutes. The line is pretty long now."

Thalia's face visibly falls. "Ugh, you've gotta be kidding me. Ran over here for nothing."

"What, I'm not enough for you?" I ask her jokingly.

Thalia laughs. "Nope not at all." Grinning, I decide to change the subject.

"Enough talk about me," I interject. "It's Thalia time." I lean in closer to her. "Did you see your ex?" Thalia starts blushing redder than Piper's dress.

"Yes," she starts, hesitantly. "He's here, for sure. Our reuniting moment was painfully awkward. I mean, I haven't seen him in months. But... I definitely still have feelings for him." Thalia looks up at me, biting at her bottom lip to keep her grin in check. "He asked me to go out for coffee with him tomorrow."

"Thalia!" I exclaim. "That's great!"

She laughs. "I know, I know. I'm nervous as fuck, but I really think this is a good thing, you know? We only broke it off in the first place because he's going to college this year and we didn't want things to be complicated with me still in highschool and all. So obviously, I still feel like there's all of this unfinished business between us. But I really feel like the fact that it has been so long and we still feel the same way about each other is a sign that we're like, supposed to be together or something."

I smile at Thalia and grab her hands. "That's great, Thals. Where is he now?"

"He rushed off about forty minutes ago," she says. "I think he saw someone he knew and wanted to say hi." Thalia gives my hands a squeeze and shakes her head quickly. "Ugh, I hate emotions. They're so confusing!"

I laugh. "Tell me about it."

Thalia grins and begins to stand. "Okay, Annabeth, I love you, but I am dying of heat over here. I need something to drink. I'm gonna run to the bar and grab something and I'll be back in a couple of minutes. Do you want anything?"

"Thanks, but I'm good," I say. "Mystery guy is getting something for me, remember?" Thalia laughs. "I have to use the restroom anyway," I say. "Why don't you just go and I'll meet both you and mystery guy over there when I'm done."

Thalia raises her eyebrows. "Do you want me to come with you?" She asks.

"Nah, it's alright girlie," I tell her. "Go get your drink and I'll meet you there."

"K chica," Thalia says, and gives me a little wave as she heads off in the same direction Percy had wandered just minutes ago. Why is it that everyone else seems to have gotten their bearings already but me?

I shake my head and begin to head back in the direction of the restroom I had been in earlier, and am thankful to find it Drew-free when I open the door. I give a silent thanks, because gods know I wouldn't be able to handle another Tanaka encounter tonight. When I'm done, I wash my hands and head back out towards the dance floor. I walk in the same direction that I had seen Percy and Thalia go, praying that somehow, I eventually find my way to the bar and that I'm not just hopelessly wandering around for the next couple hours.

As I walk, my heartbeat flutters in my chest as I can't help but play the memory of my time with Percy tonight over and over in my head like a video on repeat. I can still feel the brush of Percy's hands on my hips and the memory of his arms twirling me around to the music makes me blush. I can still feel the warmth of his breath on my face as we had leaned in closer and closer to each other, just before that stupid DJ had changed the song. Ugh, it's like the fates are trying to mess up my life.

The music grows fainter and fainter as I continue walking, and pretty soon, I can see the gleam of the bar over in the corner near the large front doors. There are people all around, laughing and talking happily in their fancy suits and dresses. I smile and begin walking in that direction when, all of a sudden, I see something that stops me dead in my tracks. It feels like someone has taken the ground from beneath my feet, and now I am just floating out into oblivion, trying to grasp onto any type of assurance my mind can muster.

It can't be.

I step forward to get a closer look, and when I do, I know that there is no mistaking it. Off to the left of the bar, slightly hidden behind the long line of people who are all waiting to get their drinks, is Percy. He stands, his arms wrapped tightly around Thalia's waist as she rests her head in the crook of his neck. Percy runs his hand through her hair in such a casual, caring way, that I can immediately tell that they have known each other for years. That they have loved each other for years.

Percy is Thalia's ex.

The realization hits me like a freight train, and I feel the familiar pressure of tears forming behind my eyes. For a moment, I find it hard to catch my breath.

Pull it together Annabeth, I chide myself. You will not react like this. Don't be weak.

But in that moment, I can't seem to figure out a way to get a grasp on my emotions. They're arising much too fast for me to handle, and I begin heading straight for the doors. I need some air.

The moment I step outside and begin making my way up the stairs, the rush of the breeze against my burning skin feels as though someone has just thrown me into the deep end of a pool when I was least expecting it.

Annabeth Chase, I tell myself, you have just been thrown into the deep end indeed.

I begin walking further and further away from the blackbox room and scale the hall of the Colosseum all the way to the lobby. It is terribly dark out now and I can see stars through the open windows.

I walk through the front doors and down the stairs, and as soon as I know I have gone far enough that nobody will see me, I drop down to the grass. I hold my head in my hands and push my palms against my eyes to keep my tears from falling.

You're being ridiculous Annabeth, I tell myself. You barely know the guy, and already you have somehow let him have enough power over you to make you feel like this. Weak.

I take a deep breath and try to calm myself down, but even as my temperature cools down and the pressure behind my eyes begins to fade, the pang of hurt in my chest doesn't go away.

I can't believe that I was stupid and naive enough to think that my feelings were reciprocated. I can't believe that, again, I made up everything in my head.

Percy never liked you like that, I tell myself, trying to make myself come to terms with what I had just seen. He likes Thalia like that.

I release a sigh and run my hands through my hair. Taking a deep breath, I pull out my phone and begin writing a text to my group chat with Thalia, Piper, and Hazel.

Hey guys - so sorry, but I wasn't feeling well and left the dance early. Thanks so much for taking me out tonight, though!

After I send the text, I put my phone away and begin to stand up. The best thing I can do now is get as far away from the Colosseum as I can. My room is about a twenty minute walk from here, but I don't mind. I need time to think.

If Percy is Thalia's ex, then that means Percy is the one Thalia is in love with. The one who she dated for months and who she is going to go get coffee with tomorrow.

I need to stay away from Percy. For both Thalia's sake and my own. Thalia is an amazing person and she deserves the world. She obviously loves Percy, that much is clear. I need to set my own feelings aside and be happy for my friend.

But despite knowing this, I can't help but feel really hurt by the whole thing. I mean, I know that I've never been in a real relationship before, and that my knowledge of the whole ordeal is vastly limited, but I could've sworn that what Percy and I had shared tonight, that feeling of closeness and happiness all in one, was real. Because to me, it felt realer and more intense than anything I've felt in a long time.

I guess I was wrong.

Apparently I'm just desperate enough for a relationship that I'll believe that the first good-looking guy who gives me even a little bit of attention must really be interested in me. Gods I am so naive.

When I finally get back to my room, I fall right into bed, too tired to even wash off my makeup or take off my dress. I'll deal with everything tomorrow. For tonight, I just need to escape into whatever calm and peace sleep can bring me.