A/N: Well, here it is. I said that I would probably get it done today. Though, I will probably post this in a day or so. Not that this affects you because you're already reading this so it's already posted. Enjoy chapter 5!
The next morning, Annabeth got up and got ready. She was pleasantly surprised by her boyfriend showing up to walk her to school.
"You didn't have to do this," Annabeth pointed out while they left the apartment.
"I just wanted to make sure you were okay, and I didn't want to wait until you got to school to see you," Percy explained.
"Well, that was very thoughtful of you," Annabeth said and nudged him with her shoulder.
When they got to school, Percy walked Annabeth to her homeroom, and they parted, knowing that they wouldn't see each other until lunchtime.
Homeroom went by fast, and Annabeth quickly went to her first period class once the bell rang.
Annabeth sat down in her seat and saw Romeo and Juliet sitting on her desk. She inwardly groaned, and Jess seemed to notice her displeasure.
"Not a fan of Shakespeare?" Jess jokingly asked.
"Oh, it's not that. Shakespeare is amazing. However, my dyslexia plus his inverted syntax equals headache," Annabeth explained.
"Aw, I'm sorry. If you want, I can help you out with it," Jess offered.
"Okay," Annabeth agreed happily.
"What are you doing after school today? I bet we could knock out at least the first three reading assignments."
"I don't have much planned at all. My brother and I tend to just do work for the entire evening anyway."
They made a plan for Jess to come over after school and they would work on reading act 1. Annabeth was gracious for her help.
Soon, class started and the teacher began explaining the different parts of Romeo and Juliet and how reading Shakespeare's writing could be difficult.
Understatement, Annabeth thought and she and Jess shared a knowing look.
The rest of the class time was spent with the class reading the first scene out loud. Or attempting to. Annabeth wasn't going to be the only one who struggled.
Jess, however, had a natural knack for reading and understanding Shakespeare perfectly it seemed. She read her section flawlessly and was not unsure about one word of it.
Annabeth was kind of jealous, but she knew she couldn't help that her brain was hard-wired for Ancient Greek.
Soon enough, class was over, and Annabeth was ready for Calculus which went fast because math was always easy and reliable for Annabeth.
Finally, it was time for Gym. She had this class with Jess, Gabby, and Kimberlee. It was an all girls class as well, and Annabeth had to prepare herself for the lack of participation from 75% of the class.
"Okay, ladies," said their teacher, "divide yourselves into 4 teams of 6. We're playing volleyball."
Annabeth felt herself getting excited. Her cabin loved to play volleyball at camp. They would divide in half and play sometimes for hours if they could.
The four girls grouped together, and two girls who couldn't be on a team with their friends joined them.
To win a game, a team had to either reach ten or be two points ahead after reaching ten. Annabeth's team won three games in a row by the time they had to go back to the locker room and change.
They were talking about how awesome the volleyball games were when Kimberlee pointed it out.
"What's that on your arm, Annabeth?" she asked.
Jess and Gabby both looked to what Kimberlee was talking about, and then they looked back to Annabeth in confusion.
Annabeth didn't realize what Kimberlee was talking about until she looked herself. It was a scar from the second Titan War. When she protected Percy from the poisoned knife with her own body. It felt like lifetimes ago, but it must have been more prominent than her other scars.
"Oh, that, um, I," Annabeth tried to think of a clever lie, but suddenly she was thinking about things that hadn't crossed her mind for a long time. Death, fighting, Kronos, Luke, and her mind settled on the moment on the bridge when she could just feel that something bad was going to happen to Percy.
It was all a blur after that. She could hear a distant scream, but couldn't tell if it was hers or someone else's. Annabeth felt something cold against her back and quickly came back to reality.
She was crouched down with her back against one of the lockers and with her head in her hands. She was trembling beyond belief.
Her friends, along with every girl in the locker room, had been standing around her with panic written all over their faces.
"Annabeth, what just happened?" Jess asked after a moment of silence.
"Nothing," Annabeth brushed her off and quickly stood up to finish changing.
"It didn't seem like nothing. You were screaming, almost like you were in pain. I'm not a dumb girl, Annabeth," Jess pressed.
By then, mostly everyone else in the locker room had gone back to what they were doing before. There was ten minutes until the bell to end the period was going to ring.
"That almost seemed like what my brother goes through," Kimberlee said. "He fought in Iraq and has PTSD."
"Do you have PTSD, Annabeth?" Gabby asked.
"No," Annabeth denied. She did, but explaining why would be very difficult.
"It's okay, Annabeth. We're your friends. I know you've only just met us, but you can trust us," Kimberlee said.
Annabeth did want to trust these girls, but there were very few people in her life that she actually trusted. And even fewer were mortals.
"It's not that easy," Annabeth sighed.
The girls kept trying to ask Annabeth questions, but when they realized that she wouldn't answer any of them, she stopped.
Annabeth felt Jess try to soothingly rub her back, but she shrugged her off. They all sat in silence until the bell rang.
French crawled by slowly, but soon it was time for lunch.
She sat down with her friends and scanned the area for Percy. She hadn't fully recovered from the locker room and needed him.
When she finally found him, they locked eyes and he quickly made his way over.
"What happened?" he asked as he sat down next to Annabeth.
"Flashback," she said quietly, hoping that her friends weren't listening.
"What of?"
"Poison knife," she said with a shiver, and she could tell by the look in his eyes that he automatically understood.
"It's okay. We're alive. We survived. You saved me, and then I did my best to try and save you," he murmured while pulling her close and lightly touching the scar on her arm.
"I hadn't thought about that in so long," she said.
"We had a lot of things on our plate since then, and we suffered through a lot worse," he replied, rubbing her back.
"No matter what the situation is, the possibility of losing you is the worst," she mumbled and felt him kiss the top of her head.
"Do you want me to stay here?" he asked.
"No, I'll be fine. See you later," she said and looked up at him. Annabeth felt the pressure of his lips on hers, and then he was gone.
"How was he able to make you feel better so fast?" Jess asked after he had gone.
"We understand each other. Had it been the other way around, I'm sure I would have been able to make him feel better just as quickly," Annabeth answered.
"Is that something that happens often with you two?" she asked again.
"You'd be surprised," Annabeth sighed. She noticed her friends exchanging concerned glances.
"Um, Annabeth, the girls and I noticed something else when you had your little, uh, episode earlier," Jess said after a moment.
"What was that?" Annabeth asked, feeling nervous. Had she said something about the Gods or Kronos?
"Well, you kept saying Percy's name, and we don't know what to think of that. I know you two seem perfectly okay now, but has he done anything to you in the past that could cause you to be the way that you are?" Kimberlee asked, taking over for Jess.
Annabeth almost laughed. As if Percy could lay a finger on her, even if he tried.
"Well, you tell me something," Annabeth said. "You all know Percy slightly more than being acquainted with each other. Does he seem in any way abusive?"
"But that scar on your arm," Gabby started, and Annabeth cut her off.
"Is none of your business, but I got that scar protecting Percy. He is the last person that would ever give me it." Annabeth mentally swore to herself. She didn't mean to say that much. Now, they were going to ask questions.
Before they could say anything, she got up and walked over to where Percy and his friends were sitting. At least she could just pass it off that she was mad at them rather than herself.
Percy and his friends were laughing about something when she sat down.
"What happened?" Percy asked automatically once he sensed her presence.
"They thought that you might be abusive," Annabeth managed to laugh.
"Why's that"
"Because they thought that my scar plus me saying your name during my flashback equals abusive boyfriend, but anyone who knows you knows that hurting people for no good is not your forte."
Percy laughed. "You would kick my butt before I even thought about hurting you."
Annabeth finally noticed the three others sitting at the table were looking at them with confusion, and she gave a sheepish wave.
"Hi, I'm Annabeth," she greeted.
"We figured," said the boy sitting straight across from her. "I'm Liam, and this is Shayne and Max."
"They're all on the swim team. They want me to try out, but I don't know," Percy explained.
"Please tell him that he has to. He's an amazing swimmer. Plus, we need another 'uncool' guy on the team. Right now, it's just us, and we need to expand," begged Shayne dramatically.
"I think you should do it. Just go easy on them," Annabeth said, saying the second part quietly.
"Fine. I'll do it," Percy relented.
The three boys cheered and Shayne yelled out, "Annabeth, you are a saint! You need to make him listen to us more often!"
Annabeth laughed. She was feeling better already.
Did you like it? I know I liked this chapter a lot. now onto the qotd...
What's your biggest pet peeves?
I hate it when people drag their feet. If you are in high school, pick up your dang feet. It's not hard.
see you guys next time!