p class="MsoNormal"Annabeth's day had been going great until the free period when she found her boyfriend cheating on her in the girls' locker room. Annabeth had walked out of Mr. Brunner's history classroom five minutes after the bell had rung. She had many additional questions about the fall of Rome that Mr. Brunner answered helpfully. Textbooks overflowed her arms from the three periods she had before history, math truly was out to murder young minds and she hadn't had time to place her things in her locker before homeroom, since she had to finish an assignment for reading hastily./p
p class="MsoNormal"Annabeth rearranged the books in her arms as Mr. Brunner rolled out of the history classroom behind her. Annabeth rolled her shoulder trying to push her backpack up onto her shoulder as it slid down her arm, hanging in the cress between her forearm and small bicep. Annabeth stopped in her tracks, in the middle of the busy hallway. She huffed glancing behind her before bending down to set the mess of textbooks on top of her Converse shoes. She felt overwhelmed with her hair, which clung to the back of her neck, and the weightless jacket that was zipped over top of her shirt. The backpack was grasping her forearm. It was all too much./p
p class="MsoNormal"She ripped the jacket off of on top of her throwing it onto her book pile. Covering 'Algebra ninth addition.' She pulled her hair back with a hair clip, huffing. A bead of sweat longed down the back of her neck. She hastily wiped it away, taking a few deep breaths. Annabeth pulled the jacket off of the messy pile of books, wrapping it around the waist, and stacked the books on top of one another. Annabeth pulled the pack up onto both of her shoulders grabbing the stack of books. The hall was now cleared, and classroom doors shut. The lockers that lined the walls were abandoned./p
p class="MsoNormal"Annabeth dropped her books and bag off in her locker down the hall but made sure to keep out the algebra homework Mrs. Dodds assigned. Pasting other students coming to and fro. She passed Mr. Brunner again while he was talking to Jessie Kay, who was on her academic team. She must have caught Jessie's eye,/p
p class="MsoNormal""Oh, hey, Annabeth!" She waved her over. Annabeth strolled over, making sure to plaster a believable smile on her face, and waved back./p
p class="MsoNormal""Hey, Jessie, Mr. Brunner." She acknowledged. Mr. Brunner waved his hand slightly a bright smile on his face. "Annabeth, where are you off to?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Annabeth kept her smile up and gestured toward the hallway she was walking down, "I was just going to find Hazel, possibly Luke, to help with this homework assignment Mrs. Dodds gave us."/p
p class="MsoNormal"He raised his eyebrow, chuckling, "That's all?" Annabeth started to become aware of how red-hot her cheeks had become, and she sharply nodded her head, turning away. She caught a glimpse of Jessie rolling her eyes. She gave her a small slap on the shoulder, "Yeah, yeah."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Annabeth huffed, "I'll see you at the meet next week." Jessie nodded, "Bye."/p
p class="MsoNormal"She walked down the hall and passed a janitor cleaning the windows with Windex. A wave and a presentable smile later Annabeth walked away getting nearer to the art classroom. Her cheeks returned looking their normal light color as she opened the door to the art classroom. She immediately spotted Hazel Levesque sitting in the corner of the almost empty art room. Only a few teens lounged in the room, either drawing on a piece of thick art paper or painting on large canvases at the back of the classroom./p
p class="MsoNormal"Annabeth glanced at Ms. Thomas, the art teacher. She was one of the youngest teachers she was yet to meet- and one of the best. She was relaxed and had the best assignments. Annabeth wished she had more classes in art, really; gym was the worst. Ms. Thomas was seated at her cluttered desk eating a store-bought salad. She motioned for Annabeth to continue coming into the classroom rather than standing in the doorway, her mouth jammed packed with salad mix and ranch dressing./p
p class="MsoNormal"She walked into the room, motioning for Hazel, the younger girl still sitting behind her canvas obvious that Annabeth had walked into the room and continued to paint, the wet art supply covering the white apron that protected her actual clothes. Annabeth noted that the apron did not protect the skin, though, because Hazel's dark arms and face were covered in multiple shades of red, blue, green, and purple./p
p class="MsoNormal"An idea formed in her mind, and she felt a smirk form on her lips, looking over at the zoned-out Hazel, her hair twisted in multiple braids and then pulled back into a bun. She walked over quietly, staying in Hazel's blind spot to possibly jump-scare the girl./p
p class="MsoNormal"Coming up from behind her, Annabeth deflated when Hazel turned her head to look back at her, a wide smile emerged when she realized who it was. Hazel quickly set the tray of paints on a paint-stained wooden table, standing for the high matching barstool. The golden-eyed girl threw the colored apron off and onto the table before taking a breath,/p
p class="MsoNormal""Hey, Annabeth!" She ran up and hugged her, the smile still on her face. How she could have such an amazing life that she was constantly smiling was a mystery. She wished she had even a quarter of what Hazel had, it wasn't fair; Hazel's life was perfect- as far as she knew, Annabeth wanted to push Hazel away for a moment before a frown formed on her face and Annabeth's stomach twisted in guilt as the envy scattered away./p
p class="MsoNormal"Hazel pulled away, detracting Annabeth from her guilty thoughts. The look of worry on Hazel's face made Annabeth's frown deepen, "Are you okay? Annabeth, your pale."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Annabeth shook her head, cursing herself in her mind, and pulled on another decent smile,/p
p class="MsoNormal""Yeah, Haze, I'm fine." She lied. "I actually wanted to know if you need help with math homework?" It was a known fact in their small four-person friend group that Hazel had dyscalculia; it was like dyslexia but for numbers and she hated math more than Mr. Kent (A/N DC fans keep it don't over there) the English teacher who always fussed about Mrs. Dodds and her, 'Horrible, horrible subject! Who would create such a thing? If I could- ohh!' His words, although I agree with them./p
p class="MsoNormal"Hazel's face had a trace of worry and Annabeth was just observing the dark circles under her eyes, but her face was overtaken with another wide smile. Again, Annabeth felt a string of jealousness. "Yeeesss thaaannkkk yooouuuu!" She drew out her words, nodding her head endlessly. Annabeth chuckled, then remembered the one thing she had to ask,/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"You don't mind if Luke joins us right?" Hesitantly, Hazel shook her head no, and Annabeth felt a grin grow on her face, "Good! Let's go."span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Hazel waved goodbye to Ms. Thomas, who waved back before turning to her pre-made salad, and the two walked out of the almost empty classroom. Closing the door behind her Hazel skipped in front of Annabeth, "Do you know where Luke would be?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Annabeth thought for a minute, she surprisingly wasn't sure where her boyfriend was at the moment as he was a senior and she was a sophomore, though, by past experiences, he most likely was in the school's large gym./p
p class="MsoNormal""He could be in the gym," she supplied, stroking her chin, before adding, "I think he said something about an emergency practice."/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Looking over her shoulder, Hazel nodded, leading the way to the large gym. They turned on the corner, passing two more students that were leaning up against the strip of green-painted wall, flirting with one another. Annabeth rolled her eyes, walking faster than before catching up to Hazel, who rolled her eyes slightly, she leaned up next to Annabeth's ear,/p
p class="MsoNormal""They're in my English class and are always flirting with one another." She whispered, "It's annoying."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Annabeth snorted, and they passed the locker rooms, the girls' was on the right side, small dents covering the door here and there, on the left side, the boy's locker room door had one large dent from the star football player last season. Annabeth grimaced at the thought of what happened to the doors. Hazel tugged on her arm, and Annabeth looked down at the freshman, the only reason Hazel and Annabeth had the same math class was that Annabeth was failing the subject drastically, but in her defense algebra was complicated./p
p class="MsoNormal"Pass the trophy case, Annabeth glanced through the glass. Golden, bronze, and silver, most of which are fake of course, trophies were displayed on different panels. Blue, red, and purple awards and badges, held up by thumb tacks, only slightly visible to the human eye. Awards and trophies from academics to basketball championships to art awards sat, not yet collecting dust./p
p class="MsoNormal"She shook her head looking back in front of her. Annabeth only had two awards in the long trophy case with her name on them, she was dedicated to earning more throughout the rest of her time in school. Hazel pushed the double doors that opened to the gym and, surprisingly, only six boys were on the court, free throwing the ball back and forth. None of which were Luke./p
p class="MsoNormal"The cheer team sat on the bleacher- ten girls and nine boys she could tell just by glancing- chatting loudly as they cooled off. She noted that head cheerleader, Drew Tanaka's loud voice couldn't be heard. Hazel tugged on her arm, and quietly whispered, "Do you see 'em?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""No," she whispered back. Hazel nodded, glancing around in disgust, "I hate gym."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Annabeth subconsciously nodded in agreement while stroking her chin. Luke had to be close, but where? And what was he doing? Hazel waved a hand in front of her face and Annabeth jumped back faintly, Hazel's eyes were wide with worry as she hummed softly./p
p class="MsoNormal""I said maybe one of the cheerleaders saw where he went," she felt her mouth fall into an 'oh' face before she agreed. Hopefully, they did. And if they didn't Hazel and I can always do math without him. Annabeth frowned at the thought./p
p class="MsoNormal"As Annabeth trod over to the bleacher the gossip became louder. Hazel trailed behind her quietly. Silena Beauregard spotted them first and she hastily waved them over,/p
p class="MsoNormal""Hey Annabeth!" she said then noticed Hazel shyly standing behind her, "And, um, hi, Hayley?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"She opened her mouth to reply for Hazel when a hand grabbed her shoulder. She glanced over to see Hazel, an annoyed look over her face, she removed her hand from Annabeth's shoulder, crossed her arms, and rolled her eyes slightly, "My name's Hazel." Then under her breath cursed the cheerleader. Annabeth's eyes slightly widened, never having heard Hazel curse before./p
p class="MsoNormal"Selena giggled nervously, the conversation calmed down around her, "Sorry Hazel, anywa- oh Mitchell stop that! As I was saying," she rolled her eyes, "What are you doing in the gym?" She asked, fixing the bow in her hair./p
p class="MsoNormal"Annabeth smiled, ignoring the insults Hazel continued murmuring under her breath, "Yeah, actually, have you seen Luke?" She said. Silena looked over to the rest of the group, who Annabeth was just noticing were all sitting in the top and center rolls of the bleachers; unlike Silena who sat on the bottom roll. The hope that sparked in Annabeth died quickly, she wondered why it hurt so much. Then the boy called Mitchell spoke up, "I think I saw him leave the gym halfway through practice- with Drew."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Dread filled Annabeth deep in her gut, but she couldn't help but ask herself why. She trusted Luke and he wouldn't do anything with some other girl. No matter how popular the girl was, he gave her a promise ring. He wouldn't because he promised sincerely. She hoped./p
p class="MsoNormal"She turned towards Hazel, "Thanks for the help, guys." Grabbing her arm she dragged her across the gym floor, blocking two boys from passing to each other. The two gave noises of protest that Annabeth elected to ignore, pulling Hazel behind her. She rolled her eyes thinking about whether or not finding Luke was that important. Deciding it wasn't as she slammed the gym's double doors open, she sighed./p
p class="MsoNormal""Hazel let's just go do our math." The doors closed with a bang. She dropped Hazels paint covered arm and Hazel walked over to her side, "Hm'kay." They sped walked past the trophy case pasting the janitor, he was cleaning the outside glass, the cart was pushed into the middle of the hall, the two of them walked around the cleaning supplies cart with ease. The quietness was unnerving and was finally broken by Hazel, "Can you believe that Selena girl?" Her face held annoyance, "I mean the 'Oh hi Hayley right' " She mocked then scoffed, rolling her eyes. Annabeth was slightly surprised by Hazel's behavior since she never acted the way she was but shook it off, everyone has off days./p
p class="MsoNormal"Annabeth walked past the locker rooms rearranging the homework under her arm. Hazel cleared her throat behind her, and Annabeth looked over her shoulder, eyebrow raised. Hazel held onto the girls' locker room door, "I'll be right back, I forgot my sandals." She opened the dented door walking inside. Annabeth followed suit, walking into the medium-sized room not thinking she would bump into Hazel. The girl's mouth was gaping, Annabeth turned to look at what surprised her./p
p class="MsoNormal"Her eyes widened and she gasped, losing all feeling throughout her body. She distantly heard her schoolwork fall to the concrete floor underneath her feet. Tears stung her eyes as she bit them back, sitting in front of her, Luke Castellan; her boyfriend, her future sat on one of the metal benches with Drew Tanaka in his lap. The two kissing repeatedly, not noticing Hazel and her in the doorway. Every kiss felt like a slash at her heart; slowly killing her. Her teeth gritted together, and her fists clenched to her sides./p
p class="MsoNormal""Luke Castellan! What the- what do you think you doing you filthy, no good-" She cried out, she stomped her foot. Luke and Drew both jumped back, Drew banged the back of her head against one of the lockers while Luke fell to the floor with a thump. His blurry form quickly stood, when Annabeth blinked, and the tears fell down her cheeks his form cleared. Luke looked startled, he should be, Annabeth thought. She glanced back at Hazel who still stood in the doorway, her mouth agape./p
p class="MsoNormal"Luke raised his hands in surrender, "Annabeth listen- it - it was a onetime thing! Promise!"/p
p class="MsoNormal"His voice held regret and it pulled at Annabeth's heart. "Listen- sh-she is nothing to me."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Nothing- promise- onetime thing only!" Drew gasped out as she hurriedly stood from the metal bench, throwing her messy hair out of her makeup covered face, she threw her hands in surrender. Annabeth gritted her teeth harder, she was sure they would chip. Emotions flooded through Annabeth, anger, spit, pity, annoyance, sadness. She stalked up to the girl without thought, slapping her on her makeup covered face. Drew looked at the concrete floor, surprise and hurt washing over her face, her hands immediately reach up for her cheek./p
p class="MsoNormal"Annabeth turned to Luke, he took a step back, watch Drew with shock, Annabeth smugly crossed her arms, then Luke's face flashed with anger, he swiftly turned to face Annabeth. He stalked over to her, gripping her arm tightly,/p
p class="MsoNormal""Luke your hurting me," she cried. She pulled against his grip furiously, but his grip only tightened. "Annabeth-" he spit, "that was not ok!"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanHer heartbeat sped up as she rapidly looked around Hazel looked scared; in too much shock to move, but it didn't hurt to try, unlike Luke's grip. Her head was jerked towards Luke, "Look at me when I speak to you!"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Then Luke went crashing towards the lockers, Annabeth being released from the grip he had held. She hurriedly grabbed her arm, rubbing it with slow motioned circles. Who saved her shocked her. Drew stood over Luke, "LUKE CASTELLAN! NO NO NO!" She shouted, "DO NOT-" She whipped around to face Annabeth, "Annabeth, I'm so, so sorry, please forgive me."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Annabeth nodded subconsciously, "I- it's ok w-we're gonna g-go." She stuttered glancing at her arm, a red hand mark imprinted itself on her skin. Drew hastily nodded, opened her mouth to say something, but shook her head, turning back to Luke, the boy was laying on the unsanitary floor, cradling the side of his face./p
p class="MsoNormal"Annabeth flashed around Hazel blinked out of her daze, the young girl rushed up to Annabeth, grabbing her shoulder and looking her up and down. Hazel lead her towards the door, "Come on, Annabeth, I'm gonna take you to the nurses office."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Hazel dropped her off at the nurses office as the bell rang for next period, promising to check on her after school. As the nurse asked her all sorts of questions about the now bruise on her arm all Annabeth could do is nod. She was numb./p