A moment of silence, as we watch the review box. A HUNDRED REVIEWS, WHAT?!

Half-Blood High

Chapter 8

~0O0~

"Hazel!"

Annabeth sucked in another blast of cold air as she raced through the stone hallway, mercifully empty at this time. The couple she was trying to catch was just about to turn the corner when Zhang, bless him, looked back and caught her pathetic form struggling to keep up.

"Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?" the blonde managed to get out in one breath when she reached them, her grey eyes flickering to Zhang uncertainly "Alone?"

"Of course." Zhang replied easily, giving her a small smile. He quickly pecked Hazel on the cheek before walking away towards the library "See you around, Annabeth!"

It wasn't what she had been expecting, him being best friends with Jackson and all, but she was able to will her hand to wave back. Zhang was…nice. She wasn't sure if it was going to make the oncoming conversation any easier.

"So…" Annabeth found herself clearing her throat nervously as she found herself alone with Hazel, all the early fuel leeching out of her like tea in a strainer. "He's… pretty nice."

"He is" Hazel replied, her brilliant gold eyes scrutinizing her friends face, and Annabeth tried to look anywhere but the brunette "But I'm guessing that's not why you're here?"

"Right" Annabeth bobbed her head, hitching the strap of her satchel higher up her shoulder "Let's take a walk, shall we?"

They started down the corridor, neither having a particular idea of where they were heading, each lost in their own thoughts.

"Hazel, I-" Annabeth began.

"I can explain!" the said girl exclaimed at the same moment.

Annabeth frowned "Explain what?"

Hazel took a deep breath, looking out the nearest window "Look, I'm not sure exactly what this is about. But I'm assuming it has something to do with my relationship with Frank?"

Annabeth nodded once uncertainly, chewing her tongue. It did have something to do with him. He was a part of it, however small.

"I know you're history with Jackson isn't very pleasant." Hazel said, wringing her hands nervously "And I can understand if you consider my friendship with Frank as …fraternizing with the enemy, I guess."

Hazel looked at her expectantly, and the blonde felt her herself go numb, the pounding of her heart growing fainter in amplitude, almost as though she was looking at herself from a long tunnel. Fuck, she hadn't even considered the situation from such an angle and the plausibility of it wasn't exactly low and she started to feel bad for Hazel, who had probably been constantly shadowed by the feeling of betraying her friends, however illogical it may be, and had been dreading this exact conversation at a point of time when Annabeth herself didn't even know of its existence.

"He's a good guy Annabeth. I mean, Frank is..."Hazel sighed in frustration, her cinnamon hair in the danger of being permanently tangled in her anxious fingers "I finally feel like I've done something right in my life for once. I don't mean some bullshit about him being my other half or-or how I needed to find the right man to feel like I'm going somewhere in life. I don't. No one does!"

"But it makes me feel proud that I actually gave it a chance, instead of dictating it would never work before it even began. When I first agreed to make it official between us, I was terrified Annabeth. I was scared what people would say about me in the West Tower dating someone from the East, I was afraid of what his friends would make of me, dreading that they would declare me not worthy of him, and I was positively petrified what you guys would think, that I was giving up our friendship for a boy. A boy, who until yesterday, we viewed as someone hostile, all because of his friendship with Jackson."

The silence that followed was strange, not exactly uncomfortable but at the same time one that made Annabeth's toes curl up. "I really-I don't know what to say, Haze."

"Then don't. Just listen." Hazel smiled at her softly "Once I stopped caring about what others thought, I felt strong. I realized that my fear of other's opinions would have been able to deny me the pleasures of the best relation I've had in my life. I think that's one of the main reasons holding people back from what they want, the irrational fear of not being accepted. But true happiness doesn't actually come from what others think of you. It's what you think of yourself and once we understand that, forget the norms of the people around us and focus on us for a moment, we can figure out what we really want. If we truly desire something, however messed up it may seem to others, well- it's none of their business is it?"

"But I do care about my friends' opinions, and I would like to clear the air between us. I've wanted to for a while and I've seen the looks you guys give Frank. But you don't know him the way I do, and I swear he's the sweetest, most caring-"

"Hazel, I understand." Annabeth laughed a little, the sound hollow as it echoed down the stone hallway "I can see that Frank is a good person and it was wrong of us, however subconsciously, to judge him for whom he was friends with. But I want you to know, Hazel, that we've never thought of you as anything less than our friend. I mean, yes, I wasn't exactly thrilled with your relation with Frank, and a small part of it was because of his background."

"Okay. And what's the big part?" Hazel inquired nervously "What's the actual reason you don't like him?"

"It's not that I don't like him. He's not the issue." Annabeth chewed her lips, wreaking her brain to lace some amount of subtlety into her unpolished words and then she decided to just get it over with quick, just peel off the bandage and face whatever shit that was bound to follow "It's you."

"Me?" Hazel looked startled, her eyes wide with shock "What about me? I don't quite follow."

"Not you specifically. It's more about your actions and how they can be hurting some people."

"Hurting…?" Hazel's eyes flashed in anger "And who exactly am I hurting Annabeth?"

"You know who! Don't pretend you don't see it." Annabeth's voice went up in amplitude, her grey eyes stormy "But I'll say it out, if you want me to. Leo! He's fucking miserable and it's because of you!"

Hazel's face went rigid in shock, her silent lips crying out Leo's name. Then she ran her hands through her hair, pulling a few brown strands out "Fuck, this is messed up. He told you?"

"A bit." Annabeth crossed her arms over her chest "You kissed him and then broke his heart by going out with Frank. Why are you doing this, Haze? I thought you were friends."

"I'm doing this? He's the one who won't fucking talk to me!" Hazel exploded "I've been following him around like a puppy this year and he always conveniently has something to do at that very moment. Look, I don't know how much Leo told you, but it's not what you think. Neither of us are at fault or maybe we're both equally to blame. That night, the kiss was out of something emotional…we were talking and then it just…happened. I was shocked Annabeth, Leo was one of my best friends and I didn't want things to be awkward between us, and I though he did too, because he didn't acknowledge it either. So I let the days pass by, and I pretended everything was fine and that that kiss meant nothing. And when I saw Leo revert back to his normal goofy self I finally felt free, no longer suffocated by the unknown because it seemed as though Leo had no desire to talk of what happened between us and I was more than happy to follow his lead."

"And then I met Frank and unknown to me, it was the start of something new and the end of something old. My days with Frank were always happy, kind of high as though I was a balloon that he held securely in his hands. And my friendship with Leo fell apart, little by little, and it felt as though I was that balloon again, but this time there was no one anchoring me to the ground. I could tell he was miserable and I wanted to talk, to explain, or to make him explain why he threw away a chance of us last year if he truly cared so much, but he's too good at slipping away. And then I realized what he needed was space, and his friends, which I knew I no longer was, so I tried to spend little time with you guys so you could concentrate on him, get him to open up which I felt there was a higher chance of in my absence."

"Fuck…"Annabeth ran a hand through her blonde curls, her head slightly throbbing, and slowly joined Hazel by the window, where the sky was streaked with yellow and the setting sun "I had no idea."

Hazel gave a tight smile "I admit, it feels good to get this off my chest. Frank was very supportive but it just wasn't the same."

"You've told Zhang about this?"

"Yeah" Hazel said "He was willing to talk to Leo, to set things right, but I didn't want him to. Leo is my friend and I'll be the one to make sure he is alright."

Once again Annabeth felt her tongue roll up in her mouth, but she turned her eyes towards the skies and forced herself to speak "I'm sorry, Hazel. For being such a bitch, for jumping the gun before I even knew the whole story."

Hazel laughed, and it was the first one of the evening that sounded genuine "I'll live. As I said, it feels marvelous to finally talk to someone about this. And since we're here, do you have some dark secret that you want to get off your chest, Annabeth?"

Hazel's eyes were teasing and suddenly the green parchment in the blonde's trouser felt as though it was burning, searing into her flesh, urging her to spill the mixture of words building up behind her tightly pursed lips.

Instead Annabeth let out a laugh, and she was a little discoereded to find how easily she was able to lie these days "Well, I did once pee in a pool. But don't tell anyone!"

And all was calm. Mostly.

~0O0~

"Honestly Jason, I don't think I can do this…it's too much-"Piper's voice trailed off as Annabeth took a seat on the sofa opposite them. The couple had been absent at dinner and though Annabeth had thought they were holed up in a closet somewhere, right now, she wasn't so sure, judging from the nervous tilt that flowed from Piper's voice and the way Jason's face was set, all hard edges and his hands clenched.

Annabeth paused her greeting, instead she looking cautiously between the two occupants of the couch. Piper gave her a small, strained smile while Jason continued his stony silence, his blue orbs frozen like ice "Is…is everything all right with you two?"

"Everything's fine!" Jason snapped, suddenly on his feet, while the blonde startled in shock at the unexpected fury rolling off of him. He turned, heading for the boy's dormitory, when he paused and slightly turned his head back to the females, one frozen in shock, the other fidgeting uncomfortably.

"I apologize… I just have a lot on my plate right now." He muttered, before striding off.

Annabeth watched wordlessly as his form disappeared up the stairs to the boy's dorm, her mind numb. She turned to Piper for an explanation, but the brunette girl had a faraway look in her eyes.

"Piper, what's going on?" Annabeth ventured, chewing her lips "Are you and Jason fighting?"

Piper gave her a small smile and Annabeth was aghast to see her eyes were getting misty "Fuck, are you crying? What did he do? I'm going to kick his-"

Annabeth leaped to her feet, her stormy eyes scanning the room and landing on the poker in the fireplace, with which she planned to run up the boy's dorm and whack Jason in the head with.

"Annabeth." Piper was suddenly gripping her arm, her voice warning "Sit down. If you injure Jason I'll have to kill you."

Annabeth grumbled but reluctantly sank back down into the soft cushions. Later then, she decided. When Piper wasn't around and she could blame it on someone else. Push him down the stairs. But wasn't that too cliché?

"I wasn't going to do anything" the blonde muttered sulkily as Piper continued to stare at her steely. "Maybe a hit. Or two."

"Annie, Jason didn't do anything." Pipers said, enunciating each word, her grip on the blonde's arm never slacking, and Annabeth absently wondered if she would develop a bruise there "It's just...things are a bit strained right now."

Annabeth watched her friend closely and debated for half a second before asking the question that they both knew was sure to follow "You guys aren't breaking up, are you?"

"No" Piper muttered, shaking her head, her eyes glued onto her fingers that she had laced together so firmly, that the bronzed skin looked stretched and oddly pale. She swallowed hard and spoke as though the words were being wrenched out of her with pliers "But I can't help feeling that I'm not being a very good girlfriend right now. Or maybe a friend. I feel like I'm letting him down or something."

"Piper, I'm sure that's not true! You're amazing! It's-" Annabeth paused helplessly, not sure how to proceed when she didn't even know what had her friend so upset in the first place. "Just what is all of this about, Pipes?"

Piper sighed loudly, her breath rattled and her expression one of extreme annoyance "I wish I could tell you, Annie. I want to, more than anything. But it's not mine to tell. And sometime it's better that some things remain unsaid, especially if they have the power to create unwanted chaos, change the way how a person is viewed."

Annabeth swallowed roughly, her mind at war as she willed herself to not to think of him, and failing miserably "That's quite right."

"Yeah…"Piper bit her lip and it was apparent her attention was already diverted, but there was no one to call it back, as Annabeth was lost in her thoughts too, most of which weren't pleasant.

"I need to go." Piper declared a minute later, standing up and Annabeth was conscious of the fact that she wasn't invited, but it didn't bother her much, as she was busy musing about other matters, and her heart pounded as it tried to not accept the dangerous decision that her mind had settled upon at that very moment.

She could still feel the way his lips felt against hers, so soft yet one that had griped her senses like no other. The way his body had felt against her trembling one, lean and hard that had been able to produce a heat deep down within her that couldn't be doused. The way his strong, hard hands had filtered across her skin, light as a feather, lighting a trail of sensual fire across its wake. He had awoken something beastly within her, a carnage of pure hunger that she had never experienced before, that no one had been able to ignite within her. Why on earth should she then, after finding the most amazing drug on the planet, wander around avoiding it, all in the name of what was right, especially now that it looked like he wanted to continue it as well.

She wanted him, and it scared her just how much.

Live a little, Annie.

You should be more adventurous.

Don't be prude, Chase

If we truly desire something, however messed up it may seem to others, well- it's none of their business is it?"

Annabeth startled as Hazel's voice broke through her thoughts. Then it hit her, was that what she was actually scared about, what people would think if she had something with Jackson, a boy who she openly hated for years? Was she going to give up that feeling of pure pleasure just so the students around her, who she didn't even like very much, wouldn't point at her and laugh? She had one life, was she really going to let others dictate it and give up her desires just because they didn't seem right?

He might have something else in mind a part of her cautioned her He might be trying to blackmail you. This all just a game to him.

Annabeth stopped, considering this possibility, then shrugged. If this was a game, then she could play too.

Whatever it takes, I'll have him.

Annabeth smirked when she considered Jackson's reaction when he realized the tables had turned and that he was no longer in control. How fast would it take for the predator to run when it realized that it was the one being hunted?

The blonde checked her watch and found she had five minutes to reach the corridor to meet him. A small part of her, the frightened, morally right part hoped for someone to stop her from what she was about to do, but the common room remained mockingly empty.

I just have a lot on my plate right now

I want to tell you, Annie. But it's not mine too. Right, not hers to tell. Right. Well then, it was only fair that she had something to bury in the closet too.

It's not right the voice whispered desperately in her mind as Annabeth leapt to her feet and made her way towards the common room door.

But it's not wrong either. Annabeth smirked before slipping into the shadows, feeling braver than she had ever felt before.

So it looks like things have taken a turn. Percy may get a surprise after all. And I'm really sorry, I knew you guys were looking forward to some Percabeth, but there was lot I had to put in this chapter that were integral. But next chap, I swear, you're going to get some Percy-Annie moments.

Edit 18/07/18: Guys do check out friend my JKrypt 's server where you can chat with people and its mostly revolved around fanfics. Really cool! discord .gg /y4SHTeG and discord .gg /Wvv5QB2.

And check out "Percy Jackson and Andromeda's Lament" by Andro-with-an-O. It is a really good story!