He's basically a zombie for the rest of the day, floating from class to class and to hockey practice after school. The match against Clearwater is coming up soon and Coach Hedge wants the team to be in tip-top shape since it's a state championship qualifier, but when Percy plays this evening, his heart isn't in it. He misses passes, fails to make a shot on goal, even crashes into the wall at one point.

Coach picks up on Percy's shitty performance and as Percy and his teammates glide off the ice, he yells, "Jackson, see me in my office."

Jason and Frank oooooh dramatically like second graders when a kid gets called down to talk to the principal. Percy flips them off and rolls his eyes at their childishness. He strips off his protective gear and uniform for a shower.

Coach is sitting at his desk when Percy edges into his office. Hockey memorabilia covers the back wall and last year's regional championship cup is displayed among the other trophies in the case. Coach's face is massively unimpressed.

"Sit down," he says, gesturing to one of the plastic chairs in front of him.

Percy sits down and runs a hand through his shower-damp hair. "You wanted to talk with me?"

"Look Jackson, you were completely off your game back there. What the hell happened?"

Percy isn't sure if he should tell the truth (and look ridiculous) or come up with a lie. He ends up sort of scrunching his face and shrugging instead of answering.

"You're one of my best players, kid, but the way you were on the ice tonight was an embarrassment to not only yourself but also the whole team. I don't want to see you like that at Clearwater on Saturday."

"I understand."

"If you need to talk about something, anything, you come to me, alright? If you're having problems, shit at home—"

"My…my girlfriend broke up with me today."

Coach winces. "On Valentines' Day? That's tough, kid."

"I'll get over it by Friday, I swear. I won't let the team down. I'll go home, sleep it off, and by Saturday it'll be like it never happened."

"Ending the relationship is probably for the best," Coach goes on. "That damn Calypso chick was a distraction."

"Excuse me?"

"Anytime she was in the stands, you'd get all cocky and make stupid mistakes. Don't get me started on all the times you showed up late to practice because you were canoodling and god knows what the hell else in the parking lot."

Percy frowns. "Why didn't you give me shit for it?"

"Like I said, you're easily one of our best players. As long as you keep scoring goals and winning championships, what you do outside the rink isn't any of my business."

"Is that all?" Percy asks as stands up.

"No, you're free to go."

Percy walks out to his car, but his thoughts take him to distant places. Coach's talk about Calypso back in the office dredged up so many unwelcome memories of her.

Cal doesn't— didn't —go to his games often, but when she did, he always tried to impress her. Cal hates hockey, says it's an archaic sport consisting of men crashing into each other on the ice while they pass around a hunk of plastic with pieces of wood, so he wanted her to see it the way he did.

After attending several of his matches, she did admit she liked it slightly more, if only because he looked hot in his jersey.

He kneads the steering wheel beneath his hands. It's so… wrong to think that she'll never complain about how boring his hockey games are, that she'll never make out with him in this car again, whisper Just one more kiss? when he really should go inside before Coach beats his ass.

Percy's vision blurs with tears. He pulls over into a vacant gas station parking lot and sits there until he gets a hold on his stupid feelings. (He possibly blasts Adele and cry-sings along, but that's no one's business but his)

He ends up getting a tub of Ben and Jerry's (cookie dough, obviously) from the mini mart to devour at home. Coach probably wouldn't be happy if he knew that Percy intends to eat the entire thing in one sitting while he binges Friday Night Lights and gets way too emotional at the series finale, but screw Coach Hedge. Screw everyone. Percy's sad and it's Valentine's Day and he's fucking alone.

He drives home and the sunset casts gold and orange on the clouds past his windshield. Something about it makes Percy's heart crack. Cal would take a picture of it and post it to her Instagram, probably with a song lyric, an orange heart and the sunset-picture emoji as the caption.

Why is his throat getting tight again? He's more of a blubbery mess than he thought if he's actually getting emotional over Cal and her "aesthetic" Instagram posts.

Rain slowly trickles down from the sky as the sunset sinks down the horizon. By the time Percy parks his car at the end of the street (courtesy of goddamn Annabeth Chase) it's fucking pouring. It's so cliche, so ironic, that he wants to punch something.

He lets himself in the house through the back door. His mom and Paul are sitting in the living room watching one of those HGTV shows Paul likes, while Estelle sleeps away in her bassinet.

"Hi, Perce," Paul says, reaching over to pause the show. "How was practice?"

Percy shrugs. He opens the fridge for a blue Powerade. "It was fine."

Sally glances at the clock above the stove. "Weren't you and Calypso supposed to go out after your practice?"

"We, uh, our plans…changed."

"What happened? Is everything alright with you two?"

"Not really."

He doesn't want to get into it. She'll sympathize with him, sure, but while Sally likes Cal, she's always thought that Percy should be with someone else. Annabeth (seriously, so what if he had a teeny tiny crush on her when they were ten? That's so far in the past it's practically prehistoric and Sally needs to get it into her head that they are not soulmates).

Percy walks upstairs to his room and slams the door. He throws himself onto his bed and plans to lay there forever, maybe even fossilize himself in the mattress, when the annoying sound of music invades his ears.

Fucking Annabeth and that shit she calls music again. The Waitress soundtrack and Annabeth's god-awful accompanying vocals are the last straw.

He throws his window open and bellows, "Turn the music down!"

Annabeth's curtains part. She's wearing an elephant onesie with her hair in a loose bun and no makeup. She honestly looks terrible and her eyes are ringed with pink like she's been sobbing for hours.

He has to admit, it's kind of nice to see her as miserable as he is. "What the hell happened to you?"

Annabeth throws her arms in the air. "I'll turn off the fucking music, alright? I'm sorry if it makes me happy, I'm sorry if I like it—"

Percy's accustomed to Annabeth yelling at him. What he's not accustomed to is her giving in so easily. God, something must be really wrong.

"Chase?" he calls, voice a little softer, "Chase? Annabeth?"

It's the use of her first name that does it. She freezes. "What, Percy?" she asks a moment later, icy and biting.

"Hey. Are you okay?"

Annabeth heaves a great, dramatic sigh, the way she used when they were little kids, right before she'd stage a temper tantrum and blame something on him. "My boyfriend broke up with me!" she cries. "Are you happy now? My two year relationship is over, gone, so give me a fucking break!"

"You're not the only one who got dumped today, so you can stop acting like you're something special!"

"Oh, poor you."

"Poor you, sitting there crying to your lame music!"

"No, poor you, holding that giant tub of sad ice cream in your hands. I bet you have Friday Night Lights queued up on your phone already!"

"Poor you—"

They seem to realize how ridiculous they're being at the same time and share a sigh. Annabeth leans against her window frame.

"I guess we're both sad and miserable?"

"I guess so."

She's silent for a moment until she clears her throat— "If you want, you can, um, come over. Bring that ice cream and we could watch movies or whatever."

He blinks at her, disbelieving. Is she suggesting they spend time together, voluntarily? The very idea is unprecedented, unheard of, absolutely absurd—

"What the hell. Why not?"