I wanted to tell him that we could work something out, I wanted to say that it would be fine, but I couldn't do that, because I would be lying. He walked off again, and my heart said to go after the love of my life, but my head decided that there wasn't a reason to. I did feel much better after talking to him though. Because I knew that he still cared, he was still there. It seemed like stupid teenage drama, but it wasn't, this could be our last year, and I wanted to live it, with him. Maybe I'd tell him that...someday.

With my new found fake joy, I decided to step outside my cabin for a change. Soon I was at the Athena table, about to eat. The first thing I did when I reached the dining pavilion was look for Percy. Thinking Chiron might know where he was, I went to him first. Walking up to the table I confronted him,

"Hi Chiron, do you-"

"Annabeth! So nice to see you out of your cabin, we were worried about you!" he said.

"Oh, thanks, but I'm here about-"

"And you will need to make up all your missed training, you know."

"Yeah, I figured that, but I really need to-"

"Well then I hope you have a great supper time my dear camper, go enjoy some food, you'll need it for capture the flag tomorrow!"

I obeyed him and headed back to my table. But I knew something was up, Chiron wasn't telling me something, and I had a feeling he knew exactly why I was talking to him, but still refused to give me any answers.

After barely touching my food, I went to bed, still thinking about Percy and missing him. The next day I tried my best to find him then stuck to my routine of gorging myself with crappy food, and doing nothing. At lunch time, after finishing off a bag of cool ranch doritos, I headed down to talk to Chiron, and maybe get some real information this time.

"Chiron, I want the truth." He pretended like he didn't hear me, "CHIRON! Don't pretend you can't hear me!" I screamed at him.

"Oh, hello!" He said it as if everything was fine.

"Not, Oh hello! I need answers, Chiron, WHERE'S PERCY?"

I said, telling myself not to cry.

"I'm afraid that I need to talk to you...alone Annabeth. Let's proceed to the Big House, shall we?"

I followed him into the Big House, and sat down, bracing myself for the worst.

"Our dear Percy" That brought back memories, my dear Percy, "has fled camp."

"Like on a quest?"

"No, not this time."

My pulse quickened and I could feel sweat dripping down my forehead.

"Well then who's looking for him?" I basically screamed at Chiron.

"You can't stop him. He's gone, we will have to hope that he will return to camp!"

"We'll have to hope! Are you kidding? I need to go get him, it's my fault he's gone!"

"There now Annabeth, we are all sad that he's no longer here, but-"

"You talk about Percy like he's dead, Chiron! He is NOT dead!"

"My dear, it may be better to plan for the worst."

"And if he dies it would be no big deal to you! He's JUST the child of the prophecy! He's JUST PERFECT! You can't pretend he's nothing out of the ordinary, you need him! He needs us! I need him! This is where he belongs, you can't pretend like he was never here. He's out there and I'm going to find him."

"Now, you are just a young demigod, let's not be too hasty about this."

"I can do this! I'm going, I can't give him up, he's my everything, I'm going!" I said rather firmly, then stomped off towards my cabin, there I grabbed my invisibility cap and headed out.

The first place I checked for Percy was in his apartment, but said that for all she knew, Percy was with me at camp, and since I didn't want to worry her, I told her that's where he was too. Next, I scoped out New York entirely, but there was still no sign of him. I almost wanted to see if he was with Rachel, but if he was, I didn't know what I would do. Finally, I decided to Iris-Message him. I hadn't wanted to do this since that would mean I basically failed, I had to have him help me, and me with my hubris, I didn't want to have any help whatsoever. After getting the image started, I chanted, "Show me Perseus Jackson!" I really did the Perseus Jackson part to make myself laugh, but either way I saw his face.

"Percy!" I yelled.

"Oh, hi Wise-Girl." He said in the same tone as his goodbye, totally disappointed and wanting nothing to do with me.

"Listen, I am so sorry, I, I-" I had no clue what to say, what was I supposed to do, just be like, I was being super stupid and the entire time you were away I have been thinking of how incredibly amazing you are and how I could never live without you? I don't think so.

"Why are you sorry? We can't be together, I thought that's what you wanted."

"Oh, oh Percy, no! I didn't want this, I was just-"

"Being Wise-Girl?" he said, while rolling his eyes.

"Look, I don't expect you to instantly forgive me after all that. I don't want you to apologize, because I know that I am at fault here.I just, I was just worried about you. I know that you probably hate me right now, and you never want to see me again, I understand that, I would be the same way if I were you. I would think that I was being so stupid, and so, awful about everything, because I have been. But, but, I just want you to know that I love you, Percy. I know that I say your brain's full of kelp, but that's just one of the things I like about you. I've been completely hooked on you since the first time I saw you, and I hope you feel the same way. And I know that this is really bad timing, and that you probably want to be with Rachel right now, and that I am such an idiot for even Iris-Messaging you, but I love you. You can hate me for all eternity, but I will always be in love with you, Percy." I expected it to be fine after that, for him to tell me that he loves me too, but he didn't. It was definitely not a fairy-tale moment.

"Well I'm glad you're okay with me hating you, because I do." He said coldly, then slashed through the image, and I was left alone on the sidewalk. For what seemed like the hundredth time, I collapsed and tears streamed down my face, I had been so stupid! Why did I ever have to meet him, why did I ever have to come looking? Because believe me, it would've been much more comfortable in my bunk at camp, if I knew this would happen. Percy hated me, he hated me now.