This one is really good compared to all of the other ones...sorry. I really like this chapter. I hope you do too!
"Percy!" A voice called from across the cafeteria.
I instantly knew who it was, and I wasn't happy about it. Clarisse's face fell. Everyone's faces fell. Peter was smiling, and I think it had something to do with me. He still wanted me. He wanted me more than I cared to admit. That's when I heard a more manly voice call my name. It wasn't Percy's. I was pissed. Two at one time? Apparently, somebody didn't like me today.
"What are you two doing here?" I growled.
"I just came to see my new girlfriend," Zach sighed as he rested his hand on my shoulder.
Sierra sat besides Percy and started to feel his hair, "Don't you want to see us?"
"Actually, no. We don't! I'm not your girlfriend, Zach!" I shouted at him. He didn't even flinch, but I swiped his arm off of me.
"Sierra, leave us alone." Percy called out.
"We meet again," Clarisse sighed. She pushed Sierra, gently. It was a little too gentle for Clarisse. She would normally get madder if someone like Sierra was flirting with one of her friends.
"Ugh, it's the meatloaf. Why are you even here?" Sierra complained.
I stood up, "We invited them. Get your hands off my boyfriend!" I shoved Zach's hand-which had somehow made their way back to me- off of my shoulders. I walked over to Sierra and Percy.
"What if I don't want to? And stop saying he's your boyfriend! He's obviously mine!" Sierra countered as she stood up to meet me.
"Sierra, I'm not your boyfriend," Percy added.
"Look, Annabeth, I know you are jealous of me. It's understandable. I am popular and super gorgeous!" Sierra tried.
Clarisse, Chris, and I laughed. Well, everyone else did, too, but it they were really small laughs.
Clarisse came besides me as Sierra stood up, "Percy is not your boyfriend! As much as I hate to admit it, and trust me, I do, they belong together! They both are equally annoying and love to bother me. I mean, I love to bother them, too, don't get me wrong! Both of them belong together. Stop bugging them, will ya?"
"Um, thanks Clarisse? I think?" Percy questioned.
"Dude, that's a compliment," Chris assured him.
"Can you just stay away from us?" I asked. No, I pleaded.
"But Annie, baby, you love me!" Zach placed his arms around my shoulders, slowly inching their way down to pull my bra straps off.
I shoved him off of me, "No, I don't, Creep!"
Percy got up and punched Zach square in the jaw. I heard it crack. "Stay away from my girlfriend! Don't call her Annie!"
"Why are you protecting her, Percy?" Sierra pouted.
"Oh, grow up, Sierra! He doesn't like you!" I reminded her.
"Don't say that, Annie!" Sierra shouted in my face.
Percy stepped between us, "Sierra, she's right. I don't like you. In fact, I hate you. And nobody calls her Annie! She despises that!"
Why would he tell them that? I mean, I do despise it when people call me Annie. It's an advantage if they knew. You never tell your enemy anything like that. Luke taught me that a long time ago. Ugh, now Luke was on my mind.
Sierra put her arms on Percy's shoulders, "Don't say that, baby. You can drop the act. It's okay! All of your loser friends were sure to find out eventually!"
Before I could even react, Clarisse came in between them. She lifted up her fist and it flew towards Sierra's nose. Blood started to gush out of it. She fell to the floor with Clarisse on top of her. She was wildly hitting Sierra's face. Everyone just starred at her in awe. I was really enjoying it. In fact, I was practically laughing as my grin got wider.
"Clarisse! What are you doing?" A familiar voice yelled.
I noticed it was Paul. He trotted over to us and grabbed Clarisse's hand. Luckily, it was the one in the air. Clarisse couldn't hit anyone anymore. She would never hurt Paul, or any adult, for that matter. We headed out after them. Clarisse didn't look upset or even mad. She seemed relieved. We all did. Well, Chris didn't. He just seemed fazed, it was all fun and games to us.
"What happened?" Paul asked us.
Without even knowing it, I told him the entire story. I blame my ADHD. I could have given him the shorter version, like everybody else would have, but my mind was just blurting the whole scenario out. I knew he was probably talking more towards Percy when he asked what had happened. I just had to say it. Everyone just stared at me as I talked. Well, I would say that Paul stared; everyone else gawked with their eyes wide.
"Well, seeing as though you aren't a student here, Clarisse, I can't punish you. All I can say is that you can't come back here." Paul told her.
"Gladly," Clarisse muttered. Her arms crossed her chest.
"Are you going to punish us?" Percy asked.
Paul's face turned upset, "Percy, seeing as though you punched Zach in the face, I think I'm going to have to."
"Paul, you can't! He was just protecting me! He didn't do anything wrong!" I shouted a little too loudly. Really, I didn't mean to shout. "Punish me, if you have to."
"Annabeth, you know that I have to punish him for what he did. I can't let it slide. Plus, you didn't do anything wrong. At school, I'm not your stepbrother, Percy. I'm a teacher." Paul reminded us.
"Really, Mr. Blofis, he did it to protect Annabeth!" Chris added.
"I understand that! I still have to punish you. It's just detention after school today. You won't even have to stay the whole time. You can leave at four."
"But Paul! I didn't do anything wrong! I'm pretty sure that a boyfriend is supposed to protect their girlfriend! It's in the job description!" Percy complained.
"Percy, I'm sorry. Now, I have to go back to my class. I hope that you won't get into anymore trouble." And with that, Paul left us in the hallway.
Percy was mad. No, he was pissed. Clarisse and Chris said bye and headed home. I sat down on the stairs while Percy paced the hall. His face was extremely red.
"I'm supposed to protect you, and I get punished for it?" Percy muttered.
"I know. It's unfair. Percy, it's okay. It's not like you can get out of it. Thank you for doing that. Punching Zach, I mean."
He sat next to me, "Hey, that creep was putting his hands where they didn't belong. Even if I wasn't your boyfriend, I would've done that."
I leaned my head on his chest as his arm wrapped around me.
~o~
Percy's fingers ran up and down my sides. They were tickling me. I hated it when Percy tickled me. He did it just to torture me. Most of the time, it was during homework or whenever Percy didn't want to do something. This time he didn't want to do his essay on a Roman god. Percy already picked Neptune, but he wasn't Poseidon. Percy really didn't want to do this essay. It was only a page, and I had already finished mine on Minerva.
"Percy, stop!" I yelled at him as I flipped over on the bed.
"Not unless you don't make me do the essay!" Percy commanded as I laughed even harder.
"You have to do your homework! You have to do it!" I tried to get out in between laughs.
Percy didn't stop, "Then I won't stop tickling you! It's that simple!"
"Percy! Please, stop! We can make-out all you want. Please stop tickling me!" I begged.
"I don't wanna make out- I mean, I do, but that's not the point!"
"Fine, Percy, you don't have to do it!" I sighed in defeat.
He finally stopped, "Good. Now, are we going to make out?"
I laughed, "Nope. We are going to do your homework. Before you tickle me again, I'm going to help you. So don't tickle me!"
We got to work on his Neptune essay. It was really easy. We wrote what changed when Poseidon changed to Neptune. That was easy and took up a page. I did the same thing with my essay earlier, so I knew how to do it. It passed by really quickly.
After that, we got down to the kissing part. We made out on his bed. Percy was on top this time. Luckily, we remembered to lock the door. It seemed as if every time we made out, somebody would stroll, interrupting us. It was super annoying. I was happy that no one could come in and yell at us for making-out.
"Percy," Sally called from the other side of the door, "Percy, open up."
"Seaweed brain, your mom's at the door." I told him.
Percy groaned and got the door. I realized that somewhere during out make-out session, Percy's shirt ended up on the other side of the room. Sally noticed this, too.
"What were you two doing?" Sally asked as she waltzed in, looking around the room for anything suspicious.
Percy found his shirt and put it on, "Homework."
"Homework?"
"Yeah, I had this essay on Neptune that I had to do," Percy replied.
I laughed, "Is there something that you needed, Sally?"
"Actually, I was wondering what you two were doing in here. I was going to make some cookies. I wanted to know if you wanted to help or not." She replied.
"Oh," Percy whispered.
"It seems as though I interrupted something. Percy, can I just talk to you for a minute?"
Sally led Percy out into the hallway. She closed the door behind them. I lied down on the bed and twirled my hair in between my fingers. I wondered about what they were talking about. They were really good at whispering. I couldn't hear a word of what they were saying.
When Percy finally came back in, I questioned him, "What did she want?"
"Oh, you know," Percy told me as he pulled me on top of his lap, "the What were you two doing in there? Were you about to have sex? Talk. It was really awkward."
I laughed, "I bet. What did you tell her?" I looked into his deep, sea green eyes.
"Just that you weren't ready and neither was I. We were just making-out."
"Well, I'm glad that it was your mom. If it was Clarisse or Chris, we would be dead by now."
"Yeah, they would call Conner and Travis. Then, we'd never be able to live it down. It reminds me about what pictures Clarisse has of us."
I face-palmed, "I hated that day! How did she even get those pictures? I thought your blinds were closed."
"I guess she found a way to get them. She probably bribed someone to hide in my cabin and take them."
"Sounds like her." I murmured.
"Now, where were we?" He asked as he leaned in.
"Math. You have math homework, too." I added before he could kiss me.
He slammed his back on the bed, "Seriously? Don't you have it?"
"No, I finished it in class. You know, when you were playing with my hair and pretending to take notes."
"I remember that. Wait, he assigned homework?"
"Yes, he did. Now, you better get started. I want to get to bed soon. By the time I get out of the shower, you should have at least seven problems finished."
I kissed him as I went to the shower.
While I was in there, I got to think. I mean, actually think about everything. Okay, so maybe I only thought of Percy. What can I say? He's amazing, hot, sweet, caring, sexy, kind, gentle, funny… I could go on for hours. I really could. One thought kept popping into my mind: what Sierra was saying at lunch. Why was she so convinced that they had a thing going on? It was obvious that they didn't. What happened before I got to Goode? Was there something going on? It didn't seem like it. I really hoped that I was right, and that there wasn't anything going on. I knew that I had to ask Percy about it.
Suddenly, the shower turned freezing. Only one person would and could do this.
"Percy!" I yelled.
"Yes, my love?" Percy called out from behind the door.
"Turn the water back!"
"I thought I was supposed to be doing my homework."
"Yeah, but you were the one who started-AH" I screamed at the top of my lungs.
I was frozen in fear. There –right in front of me- was a huge spider. By huge, I mean gigantic! I had seen spiders like this before in books. Never had I thought that one would sneak into my shower. Arachne probably made a special delivery. I couldn't think about anything except to get this spider away from me and out of my shower!
"Annabeth, are you alright?" Percy asked.
I could hear the worry in his voice, but all I could say was, "Percy!"
"I'm coming in, okay?"
I couldn't even respond. I was literally frozen. Percy, before opening up the shower curtain, handed me a towel. I wanted to take it, but I couldn't move my arms. When he realized this, he opened up the curtain and wrapped it around me. He carried me into his room- soap still on my body. I started to feel better when he came back out with a smile. The spider was dead.
He hugged me and tried to warm me up. Instantly, the water and soap left my body. I felt a little bit better.
"It's okay, Annabeth. It's gone now."
I snuggled my head up to him. Tears started to fall from my eyes. I never-EVER-cry. Okay, so I do cry from time to time, but not a lot. Percy had rarely ever seen me cry. He seemed shocked at first, but then squeezed me tighter.
"Thank you, Percy." I whispered.
"Hey, it was a pretty scary spider. I mean, any child of Athena would be terrified." He joked.
I laughed, barely, "Thanks, none of them would freeze like I did, though. You know, I had a plan for when I see spiders. Guess it didn't work."
Percy laughed, "I'll always be there to kill them. Trust me."
He kissed my head one last time before I realized that I was naked. To add to that, I was on Percy's bed, while Percy was hugging me. My face got scarlet form embarrassment. I stood up and went to get dressed in the bathroom. I put on one of Percy's CHB t-shirts. It was long enough (to my knees) that I didn't need shorts on. I did put on underwear. I wouldn't sleep in only a shirt without them. I braided my hair down my back.
When I waltzed out of the bathroom, Percy's mouth was gaped open. He had never seen me in just a t-shirt before. I mean, he's seen me like that when we were going swimming, but not to just go to bed. I realized that I was still in shock about the whole spider thing. Instead of making a witty comment about his glare, I decided to just lie in Percy's arms.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
I shook my head in response. I didn't want to talk. That's when I noticed that I was crying. Silent tears were falling from my eyes. Percy must've noticed this before he asked me.
"It's okay, Annabeth. It was only a spider. It's dead now." He whispered into my hair.
"I-I know. That's not what's wrong," I muttered.
Percy took my face in his hands, "What's wrong then?"
I wasn't scared about the spider. That had nothing to do with it. I realized that it was something that was totally irrelevant to tonight's theatrics. It was what happened at school.
"Sierra. What was she talking about today? She-she sounded like you two had something going on before I came here." I mumbled to him.
"Annabeth, I love you. Trust me, nothing was going on. I promise you that. Do you really want to know?"
This scared me. What was he going to tell me? Why would he have to ask if I really wanted to know? He already told me that nothing was going on. I did the only thing I could do. I nodded as I placed my head back on his chest.
He sighed, "Okay, so before you came here, a lot of girls really wanted to go out with me. They wouldn't stop bugging me about it. I never said yes, of course. I always told them that I had an amazing goddess of a girlfriend in San Francisco. None of them believed me. Heck, even my best friends didn't believe me. I mean, you saw their reactions when they met you."
"Percy, get on with the story," I commanded.
"So, one day, I was at the movies with my friends. I didn't know that they decided to invite Sierra. She showed up and was apparently my date for the night. I couldn't get out of it, either. I was dared to do it. Austin pretty much dragged me there. Of course, at this time he had a girlfriend, Teri."
"Austin went out with Teri?" I asked in disbelief.
"Yeah," He laughed, "so, I had to stay. Little did I know that we were going to see, what they call, a horror movie. To me, it was nothing. Sierra practically jumped into my lap and begged me to hold her. I did, but I regretted it right when it happened. She held my hand afterwards, and she wouldn't let me get away from her. When we ended up at her apartment, she kissed my cheek goodnight. I went home that night, and called you. I was going to tell you all about it, but you were having some problems with your step-mom. I decided to let you talk. I couldn't work up the nerve any other time to tell you. That's why she's so clingy."
I took it all in. That was a pretty long story. I didn't cry at all. I felt bad; scratch that, I felt horrible. It wasn't because my boyfriend held another girl at a movie; it was because I pretty much did the same thing. I started to sob.
"Percy, I need to tell you something, too."
He kissed my temple, "Go ahead."
I took in a deep breath, and started, "I told you that I didn't have any real friends. Well, there were these people that I hung out with. I mean, we weren't very close, but I would call them friends. Anyways, my friends set me up on a date, too. It was like yours. We were out with the whole group, which had about seven people in it. They wouldn't let me leave, even though I told them all about you. They even saw pictures and listened to our phone calls. They just didn't believe me. During the movie, it was really bad. A horror, just like yours. I wanted to laugh at how not scary it was. The guy, Evan, put his arm around me, tight. I couldn't get out of his grasp. He kissed me when they all walked me back to my house. I hated it, Percy. I tried to call you, but you weren't there. I could never work up the courage to tell you, either. Every day after that, Evan wouldn't leave me alone. I'm so sorry, Percy."
I started to sob, again. This time, I'm pretty sure that everyone in the house could hear it. Percy tried to calm me down.
"Hey, it's okay."
"No, it's not, Percy. I let him kiss me. I felt terrible! I still do!"
"Would you feel better if I beat him up?"
I laughed a little bit, "Percy, I'm so sorry. I tried to tell him that I have a boyfriend, but he didn't accept it."
He could sense that something else was bothering me, "Annabeth, is there something that you're not telling me?"
I nodded. How did he know that I was holding something back? I started to cry harder. By this time, Percy's shirt was probably ruined because of my tears. I had to tell him, though. He needed to know.
"Percy, h-he, well, he kind of forced himself on m-me."
"Wait, what did he do to you?" Concern was filling his voice. I thought there would be anger, but he only felt like he needed to protect me.
"I-it was two weeks before I asked to come here. I w-was walking home one day from my friend Penelope's house. He ran up to me and shoved me into his car. Percy, he was about to take off my shirt. A-a hellhound came out of nowhere and I had to go fight it. I was so glad that happened. After that, I sprinted home. I already told you about Tanner. He was just so mean. He helped Evan get me into his car. I'm so sorry, Percy! I'm so sorry!"
"Hey, it's okay, Annabeth. You didn't do anything wrong. Don't blame yourself. If anyone, blame him."
"Wait, you don't sound angry."
"Do you want me to be? I mean, I'm pissed at him, but right now, all I care about it you. I'm putting my anger aside to help you."
"Thank you. I just feel so bad for not telling you. Percy, you don't understand. I couldn't get out of his grasp. I was trapped. My training didn't help at all!"
Just then, Clarisse and Chris barged in the room. "Hey, what's going on in here?"
They saw me crying and tried to comfort me. Percy shooed them away. I didn't want anybody but Percy.
"Annabeth, it's okay. I don't care that you didn't tell me. I mean, I would have wanted you to, but I get why you didn't. It must have been terrifying. I'm just glad that you're alright."
"I expected you to be mad at me. I expected you to leave me or something." I whispered.
"Why would I ever leave you? I would die if I was stupid enough to do something like that. Annabeth, sometimes your training won't help you. You couldn't have done anything to stop it."
"I was scared that if I told you, that you'd do something to me. I didn't want to get hurt."
"Annabeth, the only reason I want you to tell me is because I want to protect you. I never want to hurt you. I should've been there to help you. Instead, I left you alone. I'm the one that should be sorry."
"Percy, don't say that! You already do so much for me. It's not your fault!"
"Is Evan the reason that you nearly shudder when Zach comes around?"
"You've noticed?"
He laughed a little bit, "It's kind of hard not to. Besides, I know when you get scared. I've known you since we were twelve."
I sighed, "The second week of school, Zach slipped me a note when you weren't looking. Out of curiosity, I read it. It said that he thought I was really hot a-and that his cousin is Evan. I kept reading, though. He told me that Evan was still waiting for me, and that they would share me. I was terrified!"
He hugged me tighter, "Annabeth, you should've told me. I would have ripped his head off of his body! You're not just something they can claim. You're a person. They won't touch you anymore. I'll stay by your side and protect you."
"I-I was just too scared to tell anybody. I wrote about it in my diary, just to get it out. Clarisse didn't get there, though. I was relieved when I figured out how far she actually read into it. I was too afraid to tell you, Percy."
"You shouldn't be afraid to tell me anything. I will love you no matter what! Please, tell me if something like this happens again."
"I will, Percy, I promise."