The next day is, thankfully, the last day before winter break. It's maybe the only solace she has in all this is that at least she won't have to be at school and around him for the next two weeks.

At least it was a good time to blow it all up, she thinks bitterly as she walks down the halls. There is no sign of Percy all morning, not by her locker or in the halls.

Math class brings trepidation because there's no way they can avoid each other here right? And sure enough, he walks in a few seconds after the bell. She's not supposed to look at him, and definitely not supposed to care, but she can't help but notice the bags under his eyes and just how tired he looks. His shirt is rumpled and he just slumps into his seat without looking at anything else around him.

She turns quickly before he can notice that she was looking, but not looking doesn't stop her mind from racing with thoughts. Why does he look so bad? Clearly this has affected him as much as her right?

It's the first time she's seen him since she told him she doesn't care about him and walked away.

Maybe she actually had hurt him.

He's the first to leave as soon as the bell rings and if there was any doubt left in her mind that everything was entirely messed up, this is proof it really has gone to shit.

She has a feeling he probably won't show up to lunch either but even then she hesitates at the door of the cafeteria. After a whole day and a half of feeling like shit, she's too exhausted to deal with much of anything, including the group.

Deciding to head to the library instead, she's only a few steps in when the call of her name makes her turn around.

"Annabeth!" Connor walks up to her with a smile.

"Hey!" She tries to respond with the same energy and hopefully it works, she can't really tell.

"Party at our place tomorrow night to celebrate the start of winter break, you'll be there right?"

"Um…" The last thing she wants to do is go to a party. Then again, she doesn't really know what she wants to do.

"Oh, come on! Piper is coming, I talked to her earlier."

Well Piper will likely ask her to come with anyway. Maybe getting out of her house would be better than sitting in her room thinking about Percy (which is basically all she'd done last night.)

"Okay," she relents after a second.

"Awesome! See you!"

She nods in response to his smile and looks up to see the librarian glaring at Connor as he walks out.

And though the situation is not the same, she can't think about the first party Percy had goaded her into attending.

Stifling a groan, she dumps her bag on the table. Can this boy leave her mind for a single second? How is it even worse then when they were actually together?

-.-

As she had expected, Piper had been ready to ask her to come to the party when she'd cut off her friends pleading by saying she'd already accepted.

Piper had tried to hide her surprise, pivoting instead to getting her excited about the change of pace. She appreciates her attempts but honestly, she'd really only said yes so she'd be more effectively distracted from thoughts of Percy.

Thalia drives them and naturally the place is already full of people by the time they show up and of course she ends up losing both her friends in the first fifteen minutes.

She makes her way to the kitchen cause Thalia usually ends up there (and also because she could do with some water) and tried very hard to push the memory of the last time she ended up at a kitchen of a party.

Percy will not invade her mind right now, not when she's actively trying to distract herself.

And yet the red solo cup seems to haunt her right now. Checking her phone reveals that Piper is in the basement so she moves away from the kitchen (and the memories) and goes down the hall trying to figure out which door leads there.

As she walk, she notices that one of the other bedroom doors is open and unable to help herself, she peeks in.

There's no way.

No one had told her Percy was going to be here, and she'd come thinking he wasn't. But there is, lying face down on a pillow and a second later, she sees Drew Tanka leaving the room.

No fucking way.

Without thinking, she rushes inside the bedroom, rage starting to boil up. How could he? Drew? Really? All this time she's been feeling hurt and angry but also bad about the way things went down and the stuff she said thinking he actually cared about her only to find out he's been messing around with someone else?

Fury rages through her and she actually shouts.

"Real fucking rich, Percy!" she yells, stepping closer to him, fists balled up tightly. "How fucking dare you—"

She cuts herself off when he twitches.

What?

He thrashes again, this time turning slightly to side revealing enough of his face for her to see that his eyes are closed. He thrashes again, face screwed up in pain as he starts to mumble. "No, no!"

The anger turns to concern as she hurries to his side.

"Percy?" she calls, shaking him. "Percy, wake up!"

"No!" his yells become louder and it's clear he's having a nightmare.

"Percy," she grabs his arm harder. "Wake up! You're dreaming!"

His eyes finally fly open, and for the briefest moment as his eyes are locked on hers, she's drowning in the sea-green.

Adrenaline is coursing through her and every moment feels heavier.

"Annabeth," he whispers, a choked sound coming from his throat.

It lurches at her heart and everything speeds up again. She's not sure who moves first, but a second later, his face is buried into her neck, and she can feel his tears. Automatically, her arms go up around him.

They stay like that for a bit, him crying silently and her own tears falling down her face, the two of them simply holding on to each other.

"I'm sorry," he chokes out finally. "I'm sorry for saying what I did."

"I'm sorry too," she replies, squeezing him tighter. "I didn't mean it."

He pulls back and his face is a mess of tears yet he still looks amazing to her. God and she had said she hadn't cared about him. Every emotion she's been trying to push away for the past three days comes rushing back to her.

"I do care," the words start spilling out. "So much. I wasn't supposed to. I was supposed to play you, give you a taste of your own medicine cause you were so mean to me," she confesses.

"But somewhere along the way I started to like you and I did start to care. It's why I was so hurt with how you treated me with your mom and about your personal life because I cared and it felt like you didn't," she continues, tears still flowing down her eyes.

"But I'm sorry for saying that I didn't care cause that's not true," she finishes.

Percy just stares at her once she stops talking and she wonders if somehow she's messed up again by telling him all this. But things were already bad enough, might as well just tell the truth.

Her worries are calmed when he reaches up to wipe the tears from her face and just his touch alone feels like a comfort.

"It's okay," he says softly. "You were right, you always are, I was closed off. But not because I didn't care."

She stays quiet giving him space to continue.

"My…" he starts slowly. He's swaying a little, probably a mixture from the crying, the nightmare and whatever alcohol he had consumed.

"My mom and I have been through a lot."

She freezes at his words. The last thing she'd expected was Percy revealing his backstory. And though it is what she wanted; she also knows she was wrong to demand it the way she had.

"You don't have to—"

He shakes his head, cutting her off. "No, I think I should've done this a while ago."

She falls silent to let him continue and after taking a breath, he does.

"My dad died when I was twelve and my mom and I struggled a lot after that. We were almost evicted after my mom lost her job. She started dating this guy who had some money and could help us. And he did, at first, but then—" he breaks off, closing his eyes.

She reaches to hold his hand. Something tells her whatever he's about to say is not going to be good.

"You really don't have to tell me if you don't want to," she says. "This is enough." And it truly was, she just wanted to be let into his thoughts and feelings and this was enough. She didn't need to hear the whole story if he wasn't ready.

He shakes his head. "I got to, let me…"

She just nods and squeezes his hand tighter.

"Then he got bad. He yelled at us, at me. He would order my mom around and he…hit me a few times."

Tears well up in her eyes the more he speaks, she had no idea it was this bad.

"Eventually my mom got stable and broke up with him. It's been good for a while now, but I'm still…after everything it's hard to just…"

He's protective. Of course he would be, and of course he'd have trust issues after his mom's bad relationship.

"I understand," she says. "It's hard to trust people, and you've been through a lot."

He nods. "Yeah, but I'm still sorry for taking it out on you. You didn't deserve that."

She just nods because he's right and she didn't but he's already admitted that. He's admitted enough to let her in. Her mind is still reeling from the story and him and the way they're still holding on to each other.

It's a strange mixture of relief, pain, and comfort all together in one.

They sit there in silence for a little while longer before Percy finally speaks up.

"Truce?"

She meets his eyes, the ones she's still drowning in. The emotions are all still there yet there is some emptiness too now that she's gotten some of them out.

What happens now? She wants to ask but maybe it's about time she slows down.

"Truce," she agrees.

He shoots her a small smile that she manages to return.

It's not much, but it's something.

A/N: The confessions, it feels good to write open communication for these two finally so I hope it feels good to read too. We finally get the truth from both of them and the question really is, now that they're on the same page what happens next?

Tune in the week after next to find out! I hope you guys are still liking the story, I was really happy to hear your feedback on the last chapter and to see that many people agreed with me on why it all needed to happen.

Thank you guys so much for the support and I hope you hang along! Please comment! I'd love to hear your thoughts!

And thanks for reading!