A/N: DRAMA.

And sorry it took so long, guys! ASDFKLJ. 320 reviews. =] =] =] =]

I love you.

That is all.

..:..:..

"I'm not lying." Callie crossed her arms and glared at me. "There will be so much more at risk if we lie and get caught rather than just telling the truth."

"What about the chance where we lie and don't get caught? That sounds good to me." I retorted.

"I won't do it!" Callie shrieked at me. I jumped back, surprised. Most adults in the room turned to stare at us suspiciously.

"Shut up." I whispered furiously.

"You shut up! So much for I-Think-So-Rationally-All-The-Freaking-Time-Annabeth. More like I-Want-To-Go-To-J-"

I clapped a hand over her mouth, grabbed Juniper's hand and dragged them outside the room, away from prying eyes and ears.

"Okay, okay, OKAY!" Pain pulsed at my temples. I pressed my fingers there to try and stem it. "Okay. Callie, you're right. I'm sorry. I'm totally freaked out right now." Tears burned behind my closed lids. "I just want all this to have never happened." Dancing, Luke, Tall Evil Guy, all of it.

"I couldn't agree more." Juniper said softly, sniffling.

"Annabeth, this is serious. We can't take the risk. We just can't." Callie put a soft hand on my shoulder. "Now c'mon. Let's get you back to bed."

"It's going to be an interrogation room." I rubbed my eyes until they hurt.

"Time for the truth." Callie led me inside.

Oh, I am so totally grounded. I thought as I trudged through the door.

..:..:..

I was so totally grounded. No texting except to family members, no internet, and come home the moment the bell rings.

We told them everything. My stepmom cried, my dad pretended like he was going to not cry, and I just bawled. I was taken home and sent to bed. I thought I overheard them talking about switching schools.

I tried to not cry myself to sleep, but failed. I snuck the main phone into my room and tried to call Percy's house. No one answered. That just made me cry harder. I just wanted to hear his voice and have him cradle me in his arms. But when I thought of his voice, I just remembered him calling out to me in the alley, my name the last thing that left his lips.

I tried to close my eyes, but whenever I did, scenes from earlier flashed across my eyelids. I sucked in a sharp breath and stared at my ceiling. I made my own constellations out of the raised bumps. Eventually I fell asleep.

..:..:..

I wanted to go to school. My stepmom advised against it, but my dad allowed for me to go. He drove me and dropped me off at the front. I jumped out and waved without looking back. I scoured the crowd so intensely for a familiar face that I started to get a headache.

"ANNABETH!" someone shouted. I whirled around and was tackled by a blur. I stumbled back.

Bianca pulled away, her eyes tearing up. "Ohmigod, you're alright. I c-can't believe that that ha-happened!"

"Is Nico okay?" I answered weakly.

"He's, um, dealing with it. He was hit on the head pretty hard." Bianca bit her trembling lip.

"Bianca, I'm so sorry." I pulled her back into the hug. She sniffled and I felt her shaking.

Why, oh, why did this happen? I cringed and forced myself to take a deep breath.

"Okay, Bianca, let's get to class." I turned her in the direction of her class. I had Math first. I closed my eyes and prayed that Percy would be there. She went off on her way, telling me she'd see me in Science. I nodded and practically ran to my Math class.

As I came inside, every student in there turned and stared at me. I felt my face redden from the sudden attention. I ducked my head and went to my seat. Once I sat down, I scanned the other side of the room for my boyfriend.

Empty. His seat was empty.

My heart fell and I blinked fast to stop the tears from escaping my eyes.

"Hey, Annabeth." I looked to my right. Tyler Stevens smiled toothily at me from his desk that was unfortunately by mine.

"Uh, hi." I muttered before bending down and retrieving my notebook from my bag.

"So. How was your weekend?" he asked, leaning casually against the wall.

Normally, I wouldn't have been bothered by his question, but it was his tone. He tried to sound non-chalant but he was practically screaming TELL ME HOW YOU GOT JUMPED IN AN ALLEY.

"Go to hell, Tyler." I snapped angrily, slamming my heavy math book on the desk. It connected with a loud slap and those students who had stopped looking at me turned and stared again.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" he put his hands up in mock surprise. "What's your problem?" he said innocently.

"You know exactly what my problem is. It's you." I hissed. "So you can take that question and shove it RIGHT up your assh-"

"Ms. Chase." Mr. Miller was standing in front of me, arms crossed across his chest. "I would advise that you watch what you say, or at least how you say it. Is there something wrong?" he raised an eyebrow.

I was fuming inside. I wanted to slap Tyler. He knew exactly how my weekend went. The whole school does.

"No." It came out as a low growl.

"Good. May I begin my lesson, then?"

"Please do." I replied, gripping my pen.

"Perfect." He turned and went to the front of the class. From then on, he went on talking about exponential functions and the half-life and blah blah blah.

Tyler leaned over and whispered, "Is it true that you guys got jumped?"

I closed my eyes and marvelled at the balls that the boy had on him. Not that he would have them for very much longer if he said anything else.

"Wow. And you actually screwed two of the guys while all of your other friends were getting beaten up?"

It happened pretty fast. I would normally say that I don't remember because it just happened that fast, but I'd be lying. I remember everything.

Time seemed to slow as I turned towards him. My fist connected swiftly and smoothly with his face. With the adrenaline pumping through my veins, I didn't feel the pain. It made a satisfying sound and I watched his head snap to the side. Then the blood started flowing from his nose.

A few girls screamed, guys shouted praise and Mr. Miller started bellowing at me. Tyler yelled and brought his hands to his face. I grabbed the collar of his shirt and stood up, heaving him with me. I slammed him back against the wall and snarled, "The fact that you just said that is disgusting, you vile, worthless piece of shit. That is NOT true," When I said 'not', I slammed him against the wall again. "And you can tell that to everyone else who seems to think the same thing!"

"ANNABETH CHASE, GO TO THE PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE RIGHT NOW!" Mr. Miller roared at me. I let him go. He slid down into his seat, his eyes wide with shock. His fingers were red with blood. I turned, got my things and walked calmly up my aisle. Students pulled their legs in and stared at me in fear.

I wouldn't be surprised if they started calling me Psycho Girl. If so, then bring it on, bitches.

..:..:..

Suspended for a week.

Grounded for life.

How can my life get any better?

..:..:..

Three Days Later

..:..:..

"I have become very bitter." I said to myself as I lounged lazily on my couch in sweats and a t-shirt. My family were at work/school, so I had the house to myself. Just as I will for the next four days, not including the weekend. The TV blared noisily and I just sat there blankly.

I hadn't spoken to anyone since my suspension. I'd gotten a few texts (meaning 19) from Bianca, Callie and Luke, but I didn't respond to any of them.

I felt bad about the punching incident. His head really just shouldn't have been so hard. Now I had to keep ice on my hand for a few days. I mean, the only thing I regret is how I reacted. I should have thought it through better than that. But I've noticed recently that I haven't been thinking very well at all lately. And that's troubling in and of itself.

Ding dong!

"Qu'est-ce que c'est?" I asked as I stood up. I turned off the TV. I slid my feet into my fuzzy blue slippers and padded to my door. I check the clock as I passed it. 11:39am. I unlocked it and pulled the door open.

"Oh." I said blankly.

"Hi to you too. Can I come in?" Luke asked. He had his hands shoved in his jeans and he had just his gray shirt.

"Okay." I stepped back and he came inside. He stared at me and I just stood there awkwardly. "Um. Wanna sit?" I offered the couch which had a crumpled up blanket on it.

"Sure."

We sat.

"Why are you here?" I asked frankly.

"Alrightie then." Luke's eyebrows went up in surprise. "I guess coming by to see a friend is looked down upon now?"

"No." I said uncertainly. "I just wasn't expecting anyone."

"I texted you." He smirked.

"My phone's upstairs."

"That's not my problem, is it?" he smiled at me.

"Why aren't you at school?" I deflected.

"There's this thing that students there do sometimes-it's called skipping. You heard of it?"

"Shut up." I rolled my eyes.

He just stared at me.

"What?" I remarked.

"Are you okay?" he asked this quietly, his eyes boring into mine. I looked away and picked at the blanket, remaining silent.

"Annabeth?" he scooted closer to me, leaning forward. "Are you alright?" he repeated.

"I'm fine." I whispered, blinking back tears. "I'm fine."

"Could've fooled me." He responded softly.

"I don't want to talk about this."

"Percy's worried about you." His tone changed when he told me this. Hearing his name set my heart racing.

"If he's so worried, why hasn't he tried to call?" I retorted, fiddling more with the blanket. Luke's hand pulled mine away and he said, "He has. His mom's confiscated his cell and wants him to stay home for a bit. He's not allowed to talk to anyone right now."

"How do you know this then?"

"His mom likes me a lot."

I grumbled lightly under my breath, but felt a weight lift from my shoulders. He didn't hate me or anything.

"So you punched Tyler Stevens in the face, huh?"

"Yeah." I scoffed with a laugh.

"Look at you go. I'm proud." He joked.

"Yeah, well "

"Everyone's talking about it." He said seriously.

"I'm not surprised." I replied evenly.

"So when are you coming back?" he asked.

"Next Wednesday."

"Wow. I think they should've given you an award and let him bleed to death." He patted my hand.

I laughed. I was still laughing when he kissed me. He took my face in his hands but I didn't respond. I didn't want to. He noticed that I hadn't and slowly pulled away, his eyes searching mine.

"I don't want to." I said, tears filling my eyes. "Please."

He stayed there and after a minute, he nodded slightly. "You're right. I shouldn't have done it in the first place."

"I'm sorry."

"No reason to be." He pressed his forehead to mine and smiled at me. "I should be sorry. I did it first at Eros and now here. I'm hurting you and I'm hurting Callie, and I'm hurting Percy." He sighed and let me go, leaning back. "I'm hurting everyone. So I'm sorry."

"Thank you." I said softly.

"I should go. Percy's back tomorrow. I'll let him know when you're coming back." Luke stood up and stuck his hands in his back pocket.

"Thanks." I said again, standing up too.

"Okay. Take care of yourself, Annabeth." He smiled at me as he opened the door. "See you next Wednesday."

"See you." I replied. He left.

I locked the door and returned to my seat on the couch.

"He doesn't hate me." I smiled to myself as I turned the TV back on. Music started playing and I let my head fall back onto the back of the couch. "Percy doesn't hate me."