Hi guys. I'm back. I know I took a while but, you know, finals are killer. But I'm done with them now, so let's hope I can get back to my writing schedule. I meant to write an AN a few weeks ago, but I was halfway done by that point so I thought I'd have it done that night. That didn't happen. Obviously. Sorry. Ok, so I have no idea how to react to Obsessivebookdiva's reviews. This last one was even vaguer than the first. Was it a reaction to the shout out? Was it an exclamation of surprise at the ending? Was it a screech in horrible writing induced hysteria? At any point, thank you for the review, Obsessivebookdiva. (And if anyone is wondering why Obsessivebookdiva is getting shout outs, it's because PM is disabled for her profile, so I can't reply personally.) Ok, let's get that story rolling now. I don't own PJO or any of the characters.

Broken

Chapter 8: A Day in the Sun

Percy

What was she doing here? I hadn't seen Calypso in four years. Well, she visited Yancy once. But still, what was she doing here? She moved to Ogygia, Indiana, a.k.a. nowhere-vile USA. Seriously, you can't even find that place with a map. And I'm pretty sure that she was the only resident. But now she was here, in Manhattan, attending Meriwether.

And why was she so pissed at me? She was happy to see me when she visited Yancy, so she wasn't angry about her sister. Unless she just found out about what happened. No, she knew what I did. She helped me through it. So what was she angry about?

"Well, I can't do anything about it now. Why don't you two get to class?" said Calypso. She turned dramatically, whipping her ponytail in slow motion. Or maybe that was just my perception. Ok, so I'll admit that I had a small crush on her. Nothing like Annabeth, but still. She made me a little happier when I was with her.

"Hey!" I called to her.

"What do you want?" She said, doing another dramatic turn.

"Thanks." I said. "For before, with Clarisse."

"No problem." She smiled and walked away.

"Do you know her?" Annabeth asked. I kept staring in Calypso's direction. "Hey!" Annabeth said, punching my arm.

"What?" I said, snapping out of the little trance.

Annabeth groaned. "Do you know her?"

"She- Yeah." I said. I looked down.

"Who is she?" she huffed. Was that jealousy?

"Annabeth," I said, placing my hand on her shoulder, "You have nothing to worry about."

"What are you talking about?" She yanked her shoulder out of my grip.

"She was just an old friend."

"I've never met her." She said. "You've never mentioned her."

"I don't exactly like to talk about her." I said, for some reason. "Some stuff happened-"

"What kind of stuff?" She was a bright red.

"Oh! Nothing like that!" Why did I have to say something so stupid? I'm an idiot. "It was her sister. I really don't want to get into the details, but some bad stuff happened. Look, can we talk about this another time?"

"Fine!" She said, storming off. God Damnit I thought. I thought about running after her, but there was only a few minutes left until class started. Guess I'll see her during the day.

I had to look at my schedule to remember what classes to go to. Luckily, I remembered where the classes were. It was just what the order was that was the problem. I had first period with Clarisse. Joy. She shot me a few menacing glares. When I shot one back, the teacher, Mr. D (who happened to be the "president" of the school, whatever that meant), decided to give me a little lecture. "Mr. Johnson, maybe you could focus a little less on Ms. La Rue and a little more on those polynomial expressions."

"Sir," I said, "It's Jackson, not Johnson." It might have been a little condescending.

"I don't care." He said. "Back to work." He was a real charmer.

On my way to second period, I saw Leo talking with Calypso. They seemed really friendly, which was odd. I waited for them to separate before I pulled him aside with a little "Hey Leo, let's have a little talk."

I practically dragged him by the ear to a relatively empty hallway.

"What'd you wanna talk about that couldn't wait until lunch?"

"Well two things." I said. "First, I distinctly remember you telling me that no one was going to bring up the whole Gabe thing."

"Who-" he started, but then he realized. "It was Clarisse, wasn't it?"

I nodded with a "mmhmm"

"That's just Clarisse. She doesn't count." Leo said. "She's just bringing it up to spite you."

"Alright, but secondly, why were you talking to Calypso?"

"You know her?"

"Yeah," I said, "She was an old friend. We met through her sister. But how'd you meet her?"

"She was visiting her sister at the hospital, actually." He said. I had forgotten that her sister was there. "I ran into her yesterday."

"Ok, so why is she here?"

He looked like he didn't entirely know either. "She said something about hating O-jee-jee-a or something and decided to come back to New York."

I ran my hands through my hair and stepped back away from Leo. "Oh this could be bad." I muttered.

"Look, I don't know why you're so interested, but it's almost third period so I gotta go." He said.

"Yeah," I said, "Sorry. Go ahead."

"Are you ok?" He asked

"Yeah, I'm fine." I lied. My breathing started to get heavier. Not right now. Please, not right now.

"Dude, are you sure?" He asked, clearly worried. "You don't look ok."

"I'm fine, Leo." I said, trying, unsuccessfully, to steady my voice. My heartbeat was rattling through my body. My vision started shifting. It was happening.

"Joder!" He sputtered. His voice echoed in the background of my mind. He placed his hand on my shoulder. "Hey man. Can you hear me?" My legs felt like jelly. I was blinking fast in a desperate attempt to stop the swirling in front of me. I could feel the sweat collecting on my forehead.

Then, for a second, everything went black. I think I heard Leo saying my name, but everything was so cloudy. I honestly had forgotten about him by this point. When I came back to, Leo was holding me up and calling my name. There was this ringing in my ear that I couldn't get to go away. My body was trembling. "Somebody help me!" Leo yelled. His voice seemed so far away, like we were at two ends of a tunnel. "Pease! I need to get him to the nurse's office."

"Percy!" This voice seemed even farther away, but I'd know it anywhere.

"Annabeth?" I mumbled. At least, that's what I tried to mumble. It probably came out as "Ahhhhh?" Two pairs of hands helped me to stand and led me through the hallways. The journey seemed to take forever, but in reality, it was probably a minute or two. I can't remember any details after Annabeth ad Leo started carrying me. I remember being on a bed once I got to the nurse's office. I think I was curled into a ball. That's the normal routine, at least.

I was lying on my side when I came to. The pillow was damp. The clock said that it was the middle of fourth period. I missed three classes because of this. Delightful. Well, at least I was calmed down. Sure, it took like three hours, but that's better than it has been. I've had attacks that lasted three hours by themselves. And then trying to get myself calmed down after took at least two. So, in all, it wasn't too bad.

God, that probably sounds so pathetic.

The nurse was just outside of the room that I woke up in. She signed a slip that let me go back to class. "But you could go home if you want."

"I'd rather just go back to class." I told her. "But thank you."

"You don't even want to call your mother?" She asked. "Don't you think she should know?"

"Eh," I said. "I'll tell her later." Well, that wasn't exactly true. I didn't actually tell her. Whatever.

Fourth period was Latin. Yeah, I know, it sounds like it's too advanced for someone like me. Honestly though, it wasn't that hard. At least for me it isn't. I don't know. It wasn't any harder than English. And it is kind of the same thing. I struggle reading and writing both. Chiron, or Mr. Brunner as he likes us calling him in school, is the resident Latin teacher at Merriweather, along with being principle and a damn good therapist. How he has any free time, I'll never know.

I got to class with about fifteen minutes left. I could have gotten there faster, but I had to stop in the bathroom. Mr. Brunner was going on about grammar when I came in. He gave me a concerned look but didn't bring it up. He knew I didn't want to concern others in these kinds of things. Not that they didn't already know.

The lesson was simple enough. I picked up on it quickly, and what I didn't get I asked about it after class. After he explained it to me, and everyone had left the class, he put his hand on my shoulder. "We'll talk about it on Monday."

Lunch was fifth period. I was really glad that I didn't miss that, even if it was only because it was late in the day. The group all had the same lunch period, so they all were there. Well, except Nico and Luke, obviously, but you know. Annabeth just about tackled me when I came in. Leo laughed, but shot me a look like Are you sure you're ok? I shook my head. I'm good.

As it turned out, Calypso had our lunch period too. So that was awkward. She and Leo were a little too close for comfort, especially sense they just met. But hey, I guess it gets her off my back so I can't complain. And, come to think of it, I guess Annabeth and I could be the same way, but still. At least we know each other.

Lunch and its many monotonies ended eventually and we went to our next class. It was English for me. Now, I said that Latin was easy earlier. That's not exactly true (as I had said.) It isn't any harder than English. Now, of course, being dyslexic, English is a bit of a struggle. I guess the reason I think of Latin as easy is because of Chiron. Even though I only had him for a week, he made an impact. And, I was about to meet another teacher that impacted, in a different way. A much different way.

"Hello class!" The middle aged man with salt-and-pepper hair said with a smile. "Ms. Delphi is on her honeymoon and won't be back for a few weeks. I'll be your teacher for a while." With that he pointed to the chalkboard to a name that I had ignored. A name that would be a very big part of my life for a very long time. "I'm Mr. Paul Blofis. I'm very pleased to meet you all." Looking back, I'm pleased to have met him too.

To be continued…

Gods, that chapter took forever. I even delayed some plot in the lunch scene for later. Don't worry, it's not important. Yet. And I will talk about it later. I just really wanted to get this out to you guys. And I think enough plot is here. I really hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. And again, I am so sorry for the wait. Seriously, two months is kinda unacceptable. Please forgive me. (Cue puppy dog face.) So yeah, if you liked it, write a little review. It means more than you can imagine. I love you guys. So, until next time. Make good decisions. Peace!