"Don't take this the wrong way," Annabeth began as she stepped into the living room. Her gym bag hung from her shoulder, and she was running a little late. Her brain was swimming from the day before. Not from what happened between Reyna and Thalia; instead, it was from all the videos she watched of Arachne.
Maybe Annabeth should have been more worried about her friend, but her focus was on her upcoming fight. And, she was still trying to process her conversation with Nico. Annabeth blinked back to reality and focused on the two people in her living room. Jason and Thalia were curled up on opposite sides of the couch. Both held steaming cups of coffee.
"But, you need to warn me when people come over this early," Annabeth finished. "I almost walked down here without a shirt on."
"Nothing I haven't seen from your fights," Jason said in a joking tone. Annabeth glared at him.
"We made you coffee," Thalia offered. Her voice was shaky, and her eyes were red like she had been crying. Jason had a neutral expression on his face, but the knuckles on his fist were white from how hard he was gripping the couch.
"Thanks," Annabeth said. She placed her gym bag down and walked into the kitchen. Her smoothie was already made, along with a plate of breakfast. Next to that was the mug of coffee. Annabeth picked up the cup and the plate. She made her way back into the living room.
"This is a little more than just coffee," Annabeth commented. She sat down on the free space on the couch. "Thank you."
"Anything for my best friend," Thalia replied. She sniffled and rubbed her eyes.
"I actually made it," Jason chimed in. Thalia rolled her eyes and focused on her coffee.
"Were you two talking about what happened?" Annabeth assumed as she ate from her plate. Jason's lip twitched in anger, and Thalia scowled. "I'll take that as a yes."
"I want to kick Reyna's ass," Jason grumbled.
"She would knock you flat on your back," Thalia shot down. It sounded like she was trying to make a joke, but her tone didn't match her intent. "I appreciate it, though."
Annabeth watched the two quietly. She wasn't happy that Reyna said those things to Thalia, but it wasn't like Thalia was completely innocent in this scenario.
"Only dated you to get back at me," Jason grumbled. The rest of his words were under his breath and hard to hear, but Annabeth could hear the curse words that followed. "Who the hell does she think she is? Who the hell does that?"
"She was so upset that I slept with her after Thanksgiving and didn't want anything else. What a hypocritical bitch," Thalia ranted. Annabeth stabbed her forks into her eggs with more aggression than she meant to.
"And calling you a whore," Jason added. He rested his head back and started to grind his teeth together. Annabeth looked down. With Thalia being her friend for so long, she knew that she should be taking Thalia's side and joining them in ranting about how terrible Reyna was.
But, Annabeth couldn't.
There was no denying that Reyna had been petty and vindictive when she decided to date Thalia just to get back at Jason. But, Reyna had been in her senior year of high school when that happened, which meant she was a teenager. Not an adult, like now.
Teenagers were idiots. They were immature and selfish, and it made sense that Reyna would want to hurt Jason that way. Not to mention Reyna's lack of a parental figure left her with no one to model herself after or to teach her emotional maturity.
Now, Reyna is an adult. There was no doubt she had matured at least a little, especially since she tried to open herself up to Thalia. And according to Thalia, it was better than how it had been before. Yet, Thalia threw all that away when she cheated on her girlfriend.
What bothered Annabeth the most was what Thalia did. Thalia did not have the right to slap Reyna. It didn't matter if it was a slap, punch, or something else; Thalia should not have put her hands on Reyna. If the situation had been reversed, Annabeth would have already decked Reyna.
"You okay, Annabeth?" Thalia questioned. "I swear that lasers are about to come out of your eyes."
"I'm just thinking about what happened between you and Reyna," Annabeth replied, but she didn't elaborate. Annabeth tried to conceal the building anger from her face. Cheating on Reyna meant that Thalia wasn't committed to the relationship, and if she wasn't committed, she shouldn't have done it in the first place.
And slapping Reyna. Annabeth just couldn't get over that. Thalia had been in an abusive relationship before. It was what inspired her to go out and help men and women in a similar situation. Yet, she hit her girlfriend.
"I should get going to the gym," Annabeth announced as she put her half-eaten food down. "I'll catch you two later."
"I'll probably be with Jason for all of today," Thalia began.
"Just text me if you need anything," Annabeth said. She dumped her leftovers and poured her coffee into her thermos. Her gaze kept moving to Thalia. Why did she feel so bad for Reyna and not one of her best friends?
Upon pulling into the parking lot, Annabeth found she was one of the first ones there. It looked like Mellie was there as well, but she was in her car talking on the phone. Annabeth slowly got out of her car and walked towards the door. Hopefully, Mellie had unlocked it.
Annabeth carefully pulled on the door, and it opened. She stepped inside the lobby and then made her way further into the gym. Her gym bag seemed to weigh her down, and she was just frustrated. The entire situation between Reyna and Thalia felt like it could have been avoided completely.
Thalia should have been upfront to Reyna about not wanting to date her. She didn't have to cheat on Reyna. Or not even tell her for weeks.
Why couldn't Annabeth find fault in what Reyna had done?
She knew Reyna was not innocent in this. Reyna should have been more mature. She didn't need to resort to name calling and insults. Most of all, she shouldn't have dated Thalia in an attempt to get back at Jason.
But, Annabeth kept thinking of explanations, excuses, for what Reyna did. She wasn't doing the same for Thalia, and she didn't have a reason on why. It frustrated her. Thalia was one of her best friends. They had been through so much together, so Annabeth should just instantly take her side. Yet, she wasn't.
Annabeth sighed to herself as she stepped into the locker room. The lights were already on, and it didn't register with her why that was odd until she turned the corner. Annabeth stopped walking. The lockers they had been given were large enough for them to step inside and be comfortable, so there were only four lockers per row.
And the person who shared the same row with Annabeth? Reyna. At the moment, the woman was digging through her locker. She grabbed a small bag and tried to open it with her one hand but looked like she was having issues.
"Need help?" Annabeth offered. Reyna jumped and almost dropped her bag. Annabeth studied Reyna; the woman had bags under her eyes, and there was a red tint to them like she had been crying.
"I'm fine," Reyna shot down as she gripped the bag. She brought her injured wrist to the zipper and tried to grab it. Her fingers barely twitched, and a look of anger mixed with concentration appeared on Reyna's face. After a few moments, she sighed.
"Can you open this?" Reyna muttered. She held the bag out but didn't meet Annabeth's eyes. Annabeth gently took the bag and opened it. "Thanks."
"No problem," Annabeth said softly. Reyna glanced at her and grabbed a tampon out of the bag. Her face turned a slight shade of red, and she tried to close the bag up. Annabeth helped her again. Reyna silently put it into her locker.
There was a silence between the two. Annabeth silently changed into her gym gear, and Reyna respectfully averted her gaze and turned her back. For some reason, she had yet to leave the locker room. She didn't need help with the tampon, did she?
Annabeth finished changing and closed her locker. Reyna slowly turned back towards her and spoke, "I guess you heard what happened."
"I did," Annabeth confirmed as she grabbed her mouthguard. Her gaze moved to Reyna.
"I know you're Thalia's best friend, and I know I said a lot of hurtful things. I just want us to keep it professional here," Reyna began. "Hazel and Frank don't deserve the awkwardness of the two of us going at each other's throats.
"Keeping it professional sounds like a good idea," Annabeth said. Reyna nodded and turned away. "Hey, Reyna."
"Yeah?" Reyna asked as she turned around. It visibly looked like it hurt her to swallow.
"Are you okay?" Annabeth uttered, concern laced her tone. Reyna stared at her and remained silent. It looked like the gears were turning in her head.
"You don't have to be professional when we're alone," Reyna said softly. "You don't have to pretend. I know you hate me."
"I don't hate you," Annabeth corrected. "I'm mad at you and Thalia equally. I'm also worried about both of you for different reasons. I heard some of the arguments you two had. And that Thalia slapped you. I just want to check on you."
"I'm fine," Reyna claimed as she looked away and walked towards the door.
"I hate that Thalia put her hands on you. I hate that she cheated on you, and I am so sorry I didn't tell you earlier," Annabeth began. Reyna had her hand on the door and was in the middle of opening it, but she stopped. "I wasn't sure how to tell you, and I thought I would make things worse."
"It hurts, Annabeth. Really bad this time," Reyna whispered. Her breath shuddered, and she swallowed painfully. "It di...didn't hurt this much before, but I tried so hard this time."
Annabeth slowly walked towards Reyna. She gently placed a hand on her shoulder, "I'm sorry."
"I know it hurts, but it's going to get better," Annabeth promised. "And, we are friends, Reyna. Even if you and Thalia broke up."
"I...thanks," Reyna finally said. She slowly turned to look back at Annabeth. Tears dotted her eyes, but she quickly blinked them away. Annabeth gently squeezed her shoulder. "I thought you would hate me."
"I'm not happy with you," Annabeth admitted. "Either of you. You and Thalia both acted like immature children."
Reyna pulled away suddenly. Annabeth continued, "Just listen to me, Reyna. Don't storm away."
"Everyone thinks I'm an immature child," Reyna muttered. "You, Nico, and Lupa. It doesn't matter what I do. I'll just be a child to all of you. I opened up to Thalia more and allowed her to get close. She broke my heart. Lupa reprimanded me and lectured me when I was just trying to protect her."
"Reyna…"
"What the fuck am I supposed to do?!" Reyna yelled as she slammed the door shut. She looked at Annabeth, and tears flooded back into her eyes. Annabeth remained silent. "It doesn't matter what I do! It just blows up in my face! Nothing I do is going to change anyone's perspective of me!"
"If you could just control your anger," Annabeth suggested.
"I don't have anger problems!" Reyna argued venomously. "Everyone says that I keep it pent up inside, but what the fuck else am I supposed to do?! My parents weren't around. I thought Lupa could be a parental figure, but she showed me what she thought of me by taking that junkie's side!"
"Reyna, stop. That's enough," Annabeth interrupted. She grabbed Reyna's shoulder again and gripped it tightly. Her fellow fighter glared at her and looked ready to continue yelling. "This is what everyone is talking about. You may not think you have anger issues, but you do have some emotional ones.
"And guess what? I have that too," Annabeth confided. Reyna looked away and took labored breaths. "For the longest time, I wanted my dad to love me. I craved it. With no real mom around and a stepmother who wanted nothing to do with me, I just wanted my father to pay attention to me. To love me for who I am."
"Bobby and Matthew were young, so of course, they got more attention. My father's job took the rest of his time, leaving me with a step mom who didn't know how to handle three kids. I closed myself off from them, and from others. For years I poured myself into schools; into my studies."
"Just so my father would be proud of me. When Bobby started flunking math, my father studied with him every night. It made me so jealous, and I started not turning in assignments. Getting tests wrong. I just wanted my dad to give me the same time."
"Instead, they got me a tutor. I hated it so much that I went out of my way to get in trouble at school. I hung out with the older kids who were smoking or skipping classes. I got into trouble a lot, and I got grounded a lot. My father still didn't pay as much attention to me as I wanted."
"I didn't know it at the time, but they were spread thin. My father's job at his university required him to work ten if not twelve hours almost every day. Then, he would have to come home and deal with two wild boys and his daughter that kept stressing him out."
Annabeth stopped talking and realized she had been rambling on. She took a deep breath and continued, "I kept myself closed off. I didn't let people get close, and that anger burned inside me for a long time. I would lash out at my family, yelling at them and stomping off when the smallest thing went wrong. I would cry when I was overwhelmed. I couldn't control my emotions."
"Then, those bad kids I hung out with called me out on it. Thalia and Luke," Annabeth whispered. She swallowed painfully. "Luke told me that I had to find a way to let my emotions out. I couldn't just let it stew inside like a pressure cooker, or I would explode."
"On top of that, he told me that I needed someone who I could trust. Someone I could tell them anything, and they would have my back. The kind of person that would help me bury the body of someone I killed. He was that person for Thalia. Until he..."
Terrible memories flashed through Annabeth's head, and she closed her eyes tightly. A choked cry left her, and she swallowed painfully. A hand gently grabbed her shoulder and squeezed. Then, the palm of the hand slowly moved to her back and rubbed it.
Annabeth took a few deep breaths and forced her eyes open, "Percy became the person that I could tell anything to. He helped me work out that my father didn't hate me or want to neglect me. He was just overwhelmed and doing the best he could. At the same time, my father didn't deserve to be on the pedestal I put him on."
"Reyna, have you ever told anyone about how much it hurts about your mother leaving? About how much you wish you would open your eyes one day and just have her appear there? How every time your phone rings, you think maybe, just maybe, this will be her finally giving you a call," Annabeth explained. She fixed Reyna with a knowing look. "About how you will never be good enough for another person because you weren't good enough for your mother."
"I told myself that all the time," Annabeth whispered. "It took Percy, Piper, Thalia, Jason, Sally, and all my friends to show me that I was better than what I thought I was. Better than the child that my mother left behind. And the one who lost out is my mother, because she will never get to know how great I am going to be. And, I do that in spite of her. Not to honor her."
"Thalia told me not to care about what my mother thought about me. She is the one who left after all. Sally told me that I don't know why my mother left. There could be circumstances that I don't know about. That maybe my father or even my mother was protecting me from," Annabeth rambled.
Reyna was staring intently into her eyes. Her breathing had calmed down, but she wasn't letting go of Annabeth's shoulder. Annabeth continued, "Trying to talk about my problems seemed impossible. I couldn't explain why I was happy or why I was mad."
"Luke helped me begin to realize what the problem was. I didn't know why I was angry. I didn't know why I was sad. I let so many things build up inside me that it piled on top of the root cause. Every blow up, every time I yelled or screamed or cried only took a bit off that pile. And, I would just dump more on top of it."
"The problem is that you lump all of your emotions inside and funnel them out into anger. You're angry right now. At me for this lecture. At Lupa for what happened. At Thalia for cheating on you. But, you are just going to be angry. You're not going to acknowledge the sadness at your breakup, the disappointment in yourself for being yelled at by Lupa, or the hurt of her yelling at you. Maybe even the shame of it."
Reyna stared at her. There was a myriad of emotions in her eyes. Annabeth forged ahead, "I started talking about my father before I moved on to Luke. It makes it easier to open up, to get comfortable with the person I'm talking to. If I just started with mentioning Luke, I couldn't keep going."
"If you could just sit down and talk to me, or anyone, about what Thalia said to you or about what she did, you'll find yourself getting angry or upset, but if you push past those emotions and keep going, you can start to get to the root of the problem," Annabeth explained.
"I buried my problems for years. I was maybe eighteen or seventeen when I got to the root of my issues, and that was after months of trying to figure it out. And guess what? I found myself piling my troubles up again when I didn't want to confront the idea of my bisexuality."
"I'm still trying to make my way to the bottom of that pile," Annabeth whispered. She took a deep breath. "It's a constant struggle, Reyna, but you have to find a start somewhere. It's not healthy to keep all that inside you for so long."
As Annabeth finished her sermon, she watched Reyna, unsure if her words got to her or not. Reyna looked down at the ground, and silence passed between the two. Annabeth spoke again, "Find someone that you can trust, enough to help you kill someone, even bury the body. Just talk to them, and sooner or later, you'll start clearing away that emotional pile inside of you."
The door started to open, and Annabeth quickly closed it. She looked at Reyna. It took Reyna a moment to look up, "You closed the door on Hazel."
"I'm sorry," Annabeth excused as her eyes widened. She opened the door and looked at the surprised face of Hazel. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to. I was just-"
"Having a Dr. Phil moment," Piper chimed in from behind Hazel. Annabeth glared at her other best friend. "Remember when you did that with Percy and I? Poor Jason tried to walk in, and you closed the door in his face just like that."
"It's okay," Hazel promised as she stepped into the locker room. She looked at Reyna and wordlessly gave her a hug. Reyna stared slack for a moment before slowly hugging her back. Hazel pulled away. "Can you help me make a plan for my next fight? We were having some issues yesterday with making a strategy."
"Yeah," Reyna accepted after she cleared her throat. Annabeth knew better than to comment that they hadn't actually made a plan the day before, as Hazel and Frank wanted to wait for Reyna. "I just need to run to the restroom real quick."
Hazel nodded and walked towards her locker. Reyna looked at Annabeth, and her shoulders drooped, "Thank you, Annabeth."
"Dr. Phil moment," Piper repeated with a nod. Annabeth smacked her arm hard. "Ow!"
"Don't you have a job to get to?" Annabeth returned. Piper laughed and leaned on her. Reyna slipped past the two and walked away. Annabeth watched her leave, and she just hoped that her words had gotten through to Reyna. Otherwise, Annabeth knew from experience that Reyna was heading towards a blow up that she would really regret.