A shout jolts her awake, her heart racing as she sits up way too fast making her head spin. Where is she? What is she doing? The blankets and room are unfamiliar to her in this disoriented state.

Light is coming through the window though the sun hasn't completely risen, illuminating the bundle on the floor next to the bed.

Right. Jason's party, the spiked punch, Percy leading her to bed—

Another shout rings the room, and she realizes it's Percy. He's thrashing a little, clearly having a nightmare of some kind.

Sliding off the bed, she kneels beside him. His face is contorted, and she feels her own eyebrows scrunch at seeing his face like that. She reaches forward, trying to shake him awake.

"Percy!" she says in a hushed tone. "Percy, wake up."

Before she can shake him again, he jolts up, his hand grabbing her arm that was on his shoulder. She catches a glimpse of his wide panicked eyes before she is yanked down beside him, face inches away from his.

Percy's eyes are closed again, his face still scrunched up, and he's still gripping her arm. It doesn't hurt but she's a little scared at the reaction.

"Percy," she tries again, trying to wiggle out of his grasp. He pulls her closer and now their bodies are touching, something she tries and fails to ignore.

In response, he thrashes more, bringing her half on-top of him. She lets out a muffled squeal at the action, her face undoubtedly turning red.

"Percy, wake up," she says a little more forcefully. Her other hand is a little freer in her new position and she finds herself touching his face. "Hey, Percy, you gotta wake up."

The touch makes him shiver and she knows because she feels it. He's so close, his face still only inches away when his eyes finally open and he blinks slowly, coming to.

For a second all she can see are the sea-green of his eyes before he finally rasps out, "Annabeth?"

"Hey," she replies, not knowing what else to say. Her own head feels pulled in ten different directions.

He immediately lets go of her arms and she quickly backs away a little, relieved that he's awake.

"What…"

"You had a nightmare," she starts to explain, somehow feeling like she needs to justify why they were so close and how she ended up half on-top of him.

He nods, clearly still processing and she quickly stands up to face the window. (And control her breathing because she has never been that close to Percy Jackson of all people).

"What time is it?" she asks, trying to talk about anything other than what just happened.

"Almost five in the morning." His voice is still raspy. She turns back to see him standing up fully.

"Damn, we still have school."

Percy lets out a small groan at her words as he stretches. (She doesn't watch his back muscles).

"Fuck."

For once in her life, she fully agrees with Percy Jackson's sentiment.

-.-

It's a miracle she makes it to school on time. By the time she woke Thalia up, she barely had time to grab a slice of toast before they both drove to Piper's so Annabeth could at least change into the clothes she'd brought and grab her backpack. The three had made it to school just before the first bell.

Already the noise of the crowded hallway is making her headache worse. She's still waiting on the Advil to kick in and wondering why she thought drinking for the first time was a good idea on a Tuesday night.

Percy's voice from last night flashes through her mind I asked if you wanted some, I didn't tell you to drink. That's your choice.

A bad choice, apparently—well, at least until the Advil kicks in.

Speaking of, she hasn't seen Percy since she left Thalia's, but given that she barely made it in time she doesn't doubt he's probably running late.

Not that she cares.

Actually, it's probably good that she doesn't see him because her already bad start gets worse after first period when her science teacher decides to do a pop-quiz.

So by the time she makes it to math class, she's exhausted, in need of a shower and starving from the lack of a decent breakfast. And then she sees Percy.

Since the assigned seating betrayed her at the start of the semester, they sit next to each other, which usually means Percy finds some way to annoy her before class starts. But when he walks in today, he beelines for his seat and slumps down, not even sparing her a glance.

She can't help but look at him, though, since he looks worse than she probably does. Dark circles under his eyes, his hair even messier than usual, still in the same clothes from yesterday, the scowl on his face makes sense.

It's weird that she's the one who knows that.

"What the fuck are you looking at?" He growls at her, apparently noticing her stare.

It's so unnecessarily aggressive, especially after everything last night and this morning, that it surprises her.

He takes her moment of silence as a sign to continue though.

"Speak up, princess, or are you back to being quiet after one night of social interaction? Was the party on a Tuesday too much for you?"

He pouts mockingly and she feels both her headache and anger flare up.

"Says the one looking like shit. At least I got into new clothes," she hisses back, glaring at him.

"But not a new attitude, can't do anything about your—"

He's cut off by the bell and thank god because she's seconds away from strangling him.

What the hell?

One night he's nice to her, makes sure she gets the bed and the next he's insulting her? And it's actually mean.

She takes some deep breaths as she tries to focus on what the teacher is saying but there are too many emotions to sort through.

Maybe it was too much to expect something after she helped him wake up from his nightmare. Not that she thought he'd say thanks or anything, but maybe he'd be at least a little nicer to her. They'd slept in the same room last night for gods sake, and somehow any semblance of comradery from that has completely disappeared.

Instead, it's like he's even more vicious.

They don't speak to each other the rest of the period, but she shoots him a few glares and he returns the favor.

The day continues to test her patience after gym. She'd been forced to run a mile which used energy she did not have, and maybe that's why she tripped and fell and now has a scrape on her knee that smarts every now and then as she walks.

Gym is also one of those passing periods that she ends up seeing Percy since he has it right after her. The boys' locker room is past the girls', so she always runs into him on her way out and today is no different.

"Oh look, it's the princess who thinks she's better than everyone else," Percy says, loudly, as he walks up to her. She notices two people turning to look at her, which of course makes it even more embarrassing.

"I don't think that!" She replies just as loudly and twice as angrily, hoping that the others hear her over him.

As if he hadn't tormented her enough, now he needs to humiliate her in front of other people?

"No? But you look soo much better than everyone, especially me since, apparently, I look like shit." He scowls at her, stopping a few feet away.

Oh my god. She is not in the mood to deal with this. Not today.

"No, just you actually," she sneers, walking away before he can say anything else to prolong the conversation.

Her knee twinges in pain at her fast pace but she doesn't stop until she's sitting in her next class with a dull ache in her knee.

-.-

They're supposed to work on the script after school but after the shitty day she's had there's no way she's going to see more of Percy. Not that he deserves it, but she decides to be nice and email him that she's not going to work on the script today.

She's at her locker putting away her things when Percy walks up to it, looking down at his phone.

"Isn't it ironic how someone with no friends plans out one of the biggest social events at the school? Maybe that's why it's never that great," he says casually, barely glancing up at her, as if he can't even be bothered to insult her right.

She feels her throat close up at his words and she can't respond even if she wanted to.

Quickly turning away before he can read her face, she books it down the hall.

She's not going to let Percy Jackson see the tears in her eyes. She's not going to let him know that he affects her in any way. Especially not now, when she feels a dam inside her break.

How many more times does she have to hear how much of a loser he thinks she is? Why is he the one who manages to get her like this, every time she cares about something why does he have to be there to bring it down?

How much more of this can she take?

The tears start to roll down her cheeks. It's exhausting to put up with, exhausting to have to try and come up with a witty remark instead of actually processing how hurtful it actually was.

The library is aways her escape, but she doesn't even make it to the door before a hand is pulling her back.

"Oh come—" Percy's words stop in their track as he looks at her face.

Even now, a traitorous tear slides down her cheek and he pulls away as if she just burned his hand.

Well, he knows now.

"What?" she spits back, anger filling up alongside the hurt. "What more do you want, Percy?"

"I…I didn't…"

It's the first time she's seen him stumble over words.

"You didn't what?" She's mad enough to fight back. "Speak up, Percy," she adds mockingly.

When he doesn't say anything, she continues in the same tone. "Look, you got what you wanted, now leave me alone."

She pushes past him, but his response makes her stop.

"I didn't mean to make you cry."

She turns around, ready to call him out because there is no way he means that. But his face is scrunched up like it had been during his nightmare and he actually looks stricken with guilt.

Good.

"Right, and that's why you insulted me and everything I care about."

Then she walks away. He doesn't stop her this time.

A/N: And the angst builds…or something like that. Sorry to leave this chapter off on this but I promise the next one will make it better, hopefully lol

New chapters come out every two weeks by the way (it gives me time to keep up with my other series too) so you don't have to wait that long.

Please Review! I'd love to hear your thoughts!

And as always, thanks for reading!