"I know that feeling" I told her. "Often, I had to be strong for other people. There was a certain time-" Annabeth nodded, so she knew what I was talking about "When I was really just holding on to a thread, but I kept myself going, just because I knew Annabeth would feel the same and needed someone who stayed strong" "I probably felt the same way about you. Whoa, feels like this conversation triggered someone. I mean, it's probably Chris, but he's still someone, so yes. Well, I'm a bit tired anyways because establishing and destroying a healthy sleep schedule every time you come and go is very draining, so I'll just let him take over" Annabeth sat down on her bed and began to dissociate. "This is actually her first switch of the day" Piper told me. "Well, the first since getting up at least. I'm assuming she already told you about last night?" "She did"
Eventually, Annabeth looked up again. "Hey, how's it going? What day is it" "Wednesday" Piper answered. "Three days since the last time you came out I think" "Okay. So, I heard you were talking about my trauma" "Yeah, we were talking about having to stay strong for each other" "We really had to do that" "And you did a great job at looking confident. Also at being the most beautiful person within hundreds of kilometers" "That bar is very low" "You still looked pretty" "You looked like schist. Sorry, but it's the truth. Your clothes were dirty and filthy and on fire" "Yeah that's fair" "Actually, that's not at all what this conversation is about. It is about me masking my need for a hug" "Right, sorry. Though that is also a topic that was relevant to me up until recently" Annabeth responded. "So, as I was saying, I'd gotten so good at pretending that I was okay that I forgot I was pretending. I just lived my life, uncomforted. Maybe that's why my relationships never worked out" "What do you mean?" "Before Jason, I have been on quite a few dates, and a couple of times you could even say I was in a relationship. I'm just now realizing that I was pursuing these boys-this was before I knew I was bi- was because I was looking for the love and validation I lacked before. The problem was that the boys that I attracted weren't in it for the opportunity to give me just that. They all just thought I was hot and didn't bother to expand the relationship beyond acting upon that physical attraction. I mean, I found some of them hot as well, but the priorities were still too different for it to work out. By the time I met Jason… I guess I had internalized my lack of affection so much that I wouldn't even demand it anymore, so I stayed extremely hug deficient. I didn't really break out of that until two days ago. So, thank you Annabeth for that random gesture of affection" "I don't think Annabeth heard that, but I'll try to pass it on. You're welcome I guess. You know, I actually relate to the first part you talked about (with what little I have in terms of memories from that time), the less than ideal relationship with my dad, but I of course didn't try to get guys to give me what he couldn't, until Percy showed up. By the way, he didn't hug us until two years after we met" "That's because Annabeth was so reserved that it took two years before I ended up in a situation where I didn't feel like I was overstepping her boundaries" "Stop putting the blame away from where it never was. It's not your fault that Annabeth didn't ask for hugs" "But it's not hers either. It's the fault of her environment that made her mask her needs" "Probably. Not getting the attention we needed really messed us up, though I'm not really affected by it. I guess in terms of how much our needs were cared for, Tar- that place was the best time of our life. Unfortunately, it was ruined by… some other factors. You know the whole… I better shut up before I trigger you or myself. We wouldn't want that" "Absolutely not. I haven't had a flashback today and I'd like to keep it that way"
"So, anything else to tell us?" Piper asked. "Nope, what about you?" "I got nothing" "Then I'll see you tomorrow. Well, I'll probably see Annabeth tomorrow, but you know what I mean. See you then" "See you then Percy" Chris reached for the prism and the call ended.
I didn't have anything to do, so I just walked around the school grounds until I came around to the former garden again. I called for Julia but got no response, so she was probably somewhere else. Eventually, it was time for dinner, where I did meet her.
"Hi, what you been up to?" "Not much, other than clearing the garden, you?" "Discussing the consequences of unhealthy father-daughter-relationships with my girlfriend and her girlfriend. I mean her friend, but to be honest I have no idea what's going on with those two. All I know is that if they didn't both have boyfriends, they'd 100% be dating" "And he's talking about relationships again" "Sorry. So, I was talking to them about family relationships" "Unlike the rest of my life, mine was actually pretty okay. My dad did kind of abandon my mom after finding out I existed, but he came back after like a year, so I never knew life without him" "I have a similarly story, except my dad didn't come back, he was replaced by someone slightly less nice"
"Well, my dad started off being not so nice but once he saw me he apparently improved a lot and the three of us still live happily together. My mom always says he only stayed because of me, even when it became apparent what I was like" "What do you mean?" "Well, it takes a lot of messing up before they send you here, though my primary crime was defending myself against bullies. The school sent them a letter and my dad told me how proud he was" "You stood up to the bullies at your old school, what happened to that now?" "The bullies here are worse, and they found an emotional weak spot with my orientation. That made them much worse than just your average bully. By the way, I've heard that they're throwing a party tomorrow. Are you coming?" "I'm assuming people will get around the drinking laws" "Don't worry, they'll find a way" "Then I better stay in my room" "Why, do you not like alcohol?" "You could say that" "Let me guess, your replacement dad was a heavy drinker so he's either ruined the idea of alcohol for you or he got so aggressive that alcohol is a trigger for you" "Whoa, you're good. It's the latter" "That sounds horrible" "He's dead now. You could say he became a stoner" "Oh. So, OD?" "Kind of. I don't really like talking about it" "I get it. We all got our fair share of trauma, don't we" "Oh, definitely. I could write a book about all the stuff that happened to me" "I'd read that. So, after your stepdad died, did your mom raise you alone?" "He died four years ago and my mom remarried two years ago, but for that time she raised me alone. We got quite a lot of money from, uh, life insurance and my real dad also started showing up again around that time and helped us out, so it wasn't like I grew up poor" "Good for you. By the way, I cleaned up the drain like you told me to. I'm hoping it'll actually help" "My girlfriend likes to make fun of my intelect, but when it comes to water, I'm definitely the guy to ask" "Wasn't doubting that for a second" We finished dinner and went our separate ways again. I didn't have anything to do, so I figured I might actually try to get eight hours of sleep for once and go to sleep right away. My ADHD disagreed.
Eventually , I did fall asleep. I had a nightmare that involved smelly Gabe making Molotovs out of beer and cigarettes. I'd have to ask Annabeth whether that would actually work the next time I saw her. I woke up when a dream bottle hit me right in the face. A look to the clock revealed it was two am. I noticed my heart was beating way too fast and so was my breathing. I really didn't want to get a panic attack now, so I quickly got my PPP to calm down again. He doesn't get the recognition he deserves. I mean, he's not as calming as Annabeth, but when she wasn't there, I had to make do with what I could get. I held the pillow pet in my arms as I slowly drifted back to sleep.
The next time I woke up, it was from my alarm, so I got up and went to have breakfast. On my way to my table, I saw Amy smiling at me. The way that the rising sun reflected off of her ring made it look like the sword was covered in blood. I didn't see Julia in her usual place, but I was earlier than normal. The first few lessons were survivable, but then it was time for math. At least I had done my homework this time and also had some idea what I had written down. For a change, I spent the break without having to stop any bullies. Maybe I was actually securing my leader position here. I asked some classmates about it and they confirmed that bullying rates had decreased since the start of the school year.
After the break I forced myself through another math lesson, then school was finally over. I only got a small homework that I wouldn't even need Annabeth's help for, which wasn't necessarily a good thing because the price I had to pay was something I had also enjoyed, though probably not as much as Annabeth since she wasn't just in love with me but also had HDAD. I wondered how far Annabeth would go to get a hug, especially during that time when I was gone and couldn't even fulfill her daily needs. I'd have to ask her or Piper the next time I saw them, which would probably be on the weekend. On my way back to my room, I decided to take a different route since I hadn't actually explored every part of the school in the two weeks I'd been here. I saw Julia leaving the classroom right after me. "Hey, you've been here for a few years, right?" "Yeah, this is my third" "Do you know if there's any interesting places here that I haven't seen yet?" "Nothing that is entirely legal to access" "I was once a criminal that was looked for nationwide" "Uh, okay, you've done enough good for that to not put me off. Well, there's one place I discovered that not many people know about. Want to see it?" "Sure" She led me through the school to an inconspicuous closet standing in one of the hallways. "The school used to have a basement, but they closed it off at some point because of some maintenance stuff. The only access was through a door in this wall, but they apparently couldn't just lock it, they put this closet in front of it and filled it with cleaning supplies. Now, I'm not at all good at chemistry, but even I can tell you that if a substance can get rid of all kinds of dirt in seconds, it can seriously damage AHS-quality plywood walls over a few years. Add a few vandalizing students and you get this" She opened the closet door, revealing a large hole in the back wall, large enough to crawl through. Behind it was a door. I instantly knew why they hadn't just locked it; chewing gum in the keyhole.
"The principal either doesn't know about this or, and this is far more likely, he doesn't care. Come on" She opened the door, then crawled through the hole. I followed after her and almost fell down the stairs leading into the basement.
There wasn't much to see, just a few old classrooms, a bunch of storage closest and a locker room that still smelled just as bad as it probably did when it had still been in use, except the smell of sweat was now mixed with weed and beer, which luckily didn't trigger me all that much. A cold wind blew through the corridor, which was weird considering that we were inside, but maybe there was a broken window somewhere letting the air in. We continued exploring the basement together. It was a lot larger than I had expected, and at one point it had a small corridor branching off, probably leading to a different school building. I went through the door first, when Julia followed, she jumped up to slap the doorframe. It wasn't exactly the type of behavior I had expected from her, but maybe she was just, what had Annabeth called it again, unmasking because she felt more comfortable with me. Whatever the case, the door did not like being slapped.
When I heard a crackling sound, I jumped forward and was just barely missed by an avalanche of debris falling from the ceiling. "Julia, are you okay?" I asked. "Yeah, I'm pretty resilient. Nice side effect of years of bullying: I have a really high pain tolerance. Are you okay?" "Yeah, I jumped away quickly enough, so I'm not hurt. I'll try to find a different exit, there's no way a complex of this size doesn't have more than one" "Yeah, good luck finding your way out of here" It didn't sound like an encouragement. It sounded sarcastic. "Did you lock me in here on purpose?" "Oh Perseus Jackson, you are so easy to trick" "I thought I could trust you" I said, but then remembered something. A cold breeze had appeared right before she had locked me in. I had felt that before. "I know. You're an Eidolon. But, Piper made you swear on the Styx to never-" "To never again possess one of the seven. She didn't say anything about the people in your vicinity. Now, have fun while I deal with a few more demigods" As she walked away, I decided to still follow my plan and try to find an exit. After turning around three corners and still not seeing anything helpful, I suddenly remember something else. Something I had seen on the door. A delta.
Wow, look, something is actually happening after like 20 chapters