Disclaimer: I do NOT own Percy Jackson.

Percy's P.O.V:

Percy hissed through clenched teeth as the razor dug into his skin, and watched the blood seep out of the cut he had created. Just one cut, which was at least three inches, and Percy already felt as though he was hooked again.

Strangely, the feeling was comforting in a way. The blood that was seeping slowly through the cut. He felt as though the blood was the tension on his shoulders, the pain, and it was slowly fading out.

Without even thinking, Percy lowered the razor to his wrist, again, feeling dark. He sliced it, once again through his skin, enough force to make blood come out rapidly. He took a deep breath, and cut again, this time on his lower wrist. The pain wasn't there anymore, and Percy simply felt numb.

Thinking about his mom, and how his dad left, he cut again, ignoring the blood coming out of the other cuts. No wonder your dad left. Your mom died, and it was your fault, you stupid bastard.

Again, and again, the cuts grew in size and force until Percy's whole wrist was bloody and scarred.

Percy felt completely calm as he looked at the cuts. He felt absolutely nothing as the sight of his bloody wrist, now decorated with fresh cuts. Sighing, he leaned his head back against the door, and shut his eyes, his wet blood dripping onto his arm.

Maybe I'm just not good enough.

Maybe I don't have a future, after all.

Maybe people are better off without me.

Maybe I'm just a burden.

Maybe life isn't for me.

Agian, Gabe's words echoed in his ears, and Percy wished he could go deaf, somehow, to stop the words.

Useless. Loser. Liar. Pathetic. Ungrateful. Crazy. Idiotic. Trash. Dumb. Retard. Naive. Freak. Annoying. Worthless.

The words ringed in his ears, and Percy banged his head back, wanting to feel the pain, which came in waves.

For a dizzying moment, Percy saw black, before his eyes came back in focus, and enraged at Gabe, at everything, he sliced another cut, feeling the sting of the pain, like a dozen needles piercing his skin.

Learn to love pain like you love happiness. You know what happy is, bastard? It's learning to get used to pain. That's what life is. Pain.

Percy exhaled deeply, and shut his eyes so tight, momentarily, he saw white stars. His head felt like exploding, the pain overwhelming him. Percy tried to see the good in pain, after all, it was just a feeling.

When Percy opened his eyes, the fluorescent lights blinded him for a second, resulting in him blinking rapidly, trying to focus again.

He glanced at his wrist, which was of course, bloody, some blood already having dried up. He counted exactly 26 cuts. Somehow, Percy knew it wasn't a good thing, but he felt calm, and all the pain he had felt before cutting was gone, as if it had left his body just as the blood did.

Slowly, Percy got up, staggering. He leaned his hand on the door of his room for support, his legs suddenly feeling weak. Percy could hear the booming laughter of Gabe and his buddies, as they yelled drunkenly, incomprehensible words.

Percy winced as he moved his legs, and didn't understand why he suddenly felt so light-headed and weak. Pain exploded in his brain, again, and Percy almost fell onto the floor as he tried to move his legs in hopes of opening the door.

It suddenly hit him that the bathroom, where he would wash his cuts out, was all the way near the kitchen, and if Percy attempted to go, Gabe would no doubt see him.

Percy knew from experience not to show himself up to Gabe while his friends where over, or he would get beat, by not only Gabe, but with Gabe's so called "buddy", Kronos.

Kronos had been friends with Gabe for as long as Percy could remember, coming over every weekend to drink with Gabe, completely ignoring Percy. Percy didn't know much about Kronos, only that he was Gabe's best friend and had been since they were kids, if Gabe was ever even a kid.

He scratched that idea off the list.

Even though the blood had stopped by now, Percy needed someway to clean the cuts and dried blood out. He looked around his room, and his eyes landed on his water bottle.

Getting up, Percy sighed as he picked his water bottle up, his legs still cramping terribly, and he walked over to the small window in his room, barely able for him to fit his head through.

Opening the window with his not bloody hand, Percy stuck his hand out, the warm sun hitting his arm, making Percy want to faint.

Slowly, with his free hand, Percy lowered the water onto his bloody wrist, hissing as the ice cold water hit his wrist. He shut his eyes, the sting more prominent. \

A sound of ringing caused Percy to open his eyes, and he looked behind him, craning his neck to see who was calling on his phone, which was on the bed.

Squinting, Percy could making out the word, "Rachel" and when it hit him, Percy felt like passing out and just sleeping.

It was the Fourth of July. He promised Rachel he would be there to spend time with her and watch the fireworks with her, and looking at the clock, Percy saw it was already seven. He'd promised Rachel he would be there by six.

Cursing, Percy threw the water bottle down from the window, and pulled his arm, which was now numb, out from the window. He picked his phone up, and brought it to his ear.

"Hello?"

Rachel's voice came from the other side, both angry and worried, "You said you'd be here, an hour ago."

Percy sighed, "Rachel, I'm sorry-"

"You know," Rachel interrupted Percy, her voice steady, "If you didn't want to come, you should have said so."

Percy looked down, hatred of himself overcoming him. "I'm sorry, Rachel. Things just happened-"

Again, he was cut off. "What? What happened, Percy? Other than the fact that you promised me you'd be here with me, and I told all my cousins my boyfriend would come because he actually cares. You knew how much this meant to me."

Exhaling, Percy replied, "Am I still allowed to come? I swear I'll explain everything there, I promise."

A moment of silence. Then, "Fine."

Percy let out a sigh of relief, "Thank you. I'll be there in ten."

When she spoke, Rachel's voice was quieter. "Okay."

Before Percy could hang up, Rachel spoke again.

"Oh, hey, Percy?" She asked, her voice back to her normal tone.

"Yeah?"

"We're watching the fireworks together."

Percy almost smiled. "Of course, Rachel."

Percy took a deep breath before knocking on Rachel's door. He had sneaked out, not having a choice. Rachel didn't, and wouldn't know about Gabe, and Percy never intended to tell her. He didn't another one of his friends telling him he was "overreacting" and "dramatic" or "not normal".

When the door opened, it was by Rachel, who was wearing a green dress, with her frizzy hair open. Percy thought she looked beautiful, and not having changed out from his polo and jeans, and having thrown on a hoodie to cover the cuts, he felt undressed.

She looked at him with a strange look, as if she was hurt, but smiled. "Come on in."

Percy gave her a small smile as he stepped inside.

Rachel's house wasn't big, but it wasn't necessarily small, either. With two stories, Percy thought it was larger than his, her dad being rich. Her mother, who was had passed away, had been alive, Percy remembered, when they had gotten the house.

Rachel grabbed his hand, sighing, and led him to a room, which was hers. She made a "one minute" gesture to her dad, who was staring at Percy and Rachel, intently, and shut the door.

Rachel's room was what you would call a blast of colors and shades. The walls were different colors, varying from red, to blue, to green. The smell of paint and crayons lingered in the air, and Rachel's artwork was hung up on the walls, and on her floor, as well.

"So," Rachel said, sitting on her bed, "Care to explain why you didn't come?"

"I'm sorry." Percy stated, not sure what to tell her, having completely forgotten.

Rachel raised an eyebrow, "There's something you aren't telling me."

Percy shrugged, and mentally took a deep breath. Her emerald green eyes looked Percy directly in the eye, making Percy nervous.

Rachel sighed. When she spoke, her voice was quieter. "Percy, I can tell something's bothering you, and I want to know what it is so I can help you."

Percy felt guilty from lying, but he knew he couldn't tell Rachel. "I just fell asleep, I really am sorry, Rachel."

Rachel looked at him, exasperated. "So I take it as you won't tell me?"

"I did tell you," Percy said, not wanting to deal with anything and regretting coming over, "I fell asleep."

Rachel muttered something under her breath, that sounded strangely like, "Sure."

Percy mentally slapped himself for lying.

Such a great boyfriend you are.

"Well, anyways," Rachel said, getting up from the bed and fixing her dress, "It's nearly seven thirty. You ready to see the fireworks?"

Annabeth's P.O.V:

Annabeth sighed as she ran a comb through her messy blonde hair.

Her so called father, Frederick, had forced her to get ready for a "family dinner" due to it being the Fourth of July.

She'd lazily thrown on a plain blue t-shirt with jeans, not bothering to look good. Knowing her family, "family dinners" always turned out to be Frederick insulting Annabeth, resulting in Athena and Fredrick arguing constantly in the restaurant.

Giving up on the mess of blonde curls, Annabeth threw her hair brush to the side and quickly made a ponytail with her hair, and looking at herself in the mirror one more time, Annabeth left her room.

When she got to the living room, Frederick was sitting carelessly on the sofa. Glancing at him, Annabeth had the sudden urge to throw up on his face, and possibly hit him with bricks repeatedly on the face. Athena was sitting not far, but still a distance away from Frederick, with her legs crossed.

When she saw Annabeth, Athena smiled and stood up. "Ready?"

Annabeth nodded. She felt terrible when she saw Athena smile at her, like Annabeth deserved Athena to care so much about her.

Frederick, himself, got up and walked over to the front door, shoving it open. Not bothering to wait for Annabeth nor Athena, he shut the door behind him as he left, and Annabeth heard Athena sigh before she went and opened it herself, cursing at her husband under her breath.

A/N: I hope you guys liked this chapter. Sorry if it's short, honestly. But before anything, let's go onto the reviews! :)

HispanicThug: Haha, of course Gabe's getting what he deserves!

GoldenShadow401: It's a terrible feeling, isn't it? It sucks. But thank you, I'm glad you like it!

pjojellybeans: You don't understand how much I grinned at your review. I literally stared at it for like 20 minutes like, "..Woah." Thank you so much!

theartnerd333: Stop being so nice to me, dear gods of Olympus, Christine. This was so nice, and made my absolute day. Thank you!

808fangirl: I know, right? He does. But sadly that's up to me, isn't it? ;) Thank you so much! I appreciate it. I hope you liked this chapter? :)

logwet: Yeah..I noticed, too. Oops. Let's stick with the accident at ten, alright? Sorry about that :)

greekgeekgirlbro : Okay, so this is just. So nice, I can't tell you. You know, it makes me seriously happy that this story actually affected your feelings instead of when Frederick was suffocating Annabeth you'd be like, "..And?" Cool. Thank you! And yeah, I wasn't feeling too good, I'm sorry, I accidently wrote Gabe..sorry :)

jessica jasso: I hope you like this chapter, love :) Thank you!

I'mAProfessionalFangirl: I guess because I made him like that. Thank you, I hope so, too! :)

Shattered Owl: It's about time, that kinda guy. Haha, finally, huh? Thanks!

That's it of the reviews. But hey, you guys, I'm sorry this was short. What do you guys prefer, long chapters and longer time to update or shorter chapters and less wait? Let me know.

Anyways, thanks for reading, and I hope you guys like this chapter! Keep smiling, xxx.