Chapter 8: Board Games and Besties

It was amazing how much downtown Oregon on a Saturday night felt like home. Traffic on every street, people on every inch the sidewalk, car horns going off, music blaring out of every building, and the sour smell of exhaust following you everywhere. The overstimulating lights, sounds, and odors made me miss my little apartment and my mom's cooking. Don't get me wrong, NRU was a beautiful landscape with amazing trees, grass, and mountains, but it just wasn't New York.

"Jackson!" I turned to see a waving Rachel standing just outside of a bar who appeared to be having a techno-night if the lights had anything to say. She and the swaying Piper next to her were all dressed up in what I was coming to find was the regular going out wear of college girls. Rachel was in a green cami and jean shorts, which felt unusual compared to her normal oversized clothing. It wasn't until I looked at Piper that it made sense. She dawned what looked like a smock, but was really an oversized white dress shirt that I assume Rachel gave to her once they left the bar. I waved back at her and ran my way over.

"Percy!" Piper put on a big stupid smile and practically tackled me for a hug. I caught her and looked over at Rachel, whose eyes rolled in a very 'I've been dealing with this for the last hour' fashion.

"I already called an uber and it should be here any minute now, thanks for coming to help." Just then a black GMC pulled up and we all piled inside. Rachel slid into the back seat and we worked together to slide Piper into the middle and buckle her in. The drive was only a short 5 minutes back to the dorm rooms, but Piper didn't waste any time threatening me.

"Percy Jackson, let me get one thing very clear." Her speech was slurred and her accusative finger was pointed more at the window than me, but I couldn't help but smile at her attempt to be intimidating. "If you so much as got a D on that math test, I am going to personally punch you in the mouth for wasting my time." Her hand balled into a fist and she tapped my chin for effect.

"I'll keep that in mind, but for now we need to get you to bed, slugger." The SUV pulled up just outside of central campus and I saw Jason making his way across the green to meet us.

"Thanks Percy, when Rachel called I started to close the place down, but it takes a while to get people out and clean up." He gave me a warm smile as Piper stepped out onto the sidewalk.

"Well, if it isn't my knight in shining armor. Carry me home coffee boy!" Piper threw her hands up in the air earning a laugh from all of us. Jason walked over and picked her up bridal style.

"Goodnight guys." He turned to leave as Piper continued to yell how her night went loud enough for the whole campus to hear.

"Care for company on your way home?" I reached out my arm for Rachel to take.

"Wow, such a gentleman." She grabbed my arm and we started the short walk to her building. The dimly lit campus really was pretty, and the school buildings looked a lot more interesting when I wasn't dreading going to class.

"So, how was your big fancy party?" Rachel, made sure to use her classic demeaning inflection when asking.

"If you must know, I was having a really good time, for the little I was there. It would have been longer if I didn't have to leave and pick somebody up."

"Oooh, did Jackson have a date?" Rachel let go of my arm and started to skip like a little kid excited for candy.

"No, it was actually supposed to be a date for my teammate, but he flaked on her at the last minute and, well, she is my project partner and I set them up, so I felt bad making her go alone."

"Wait, he cancelled on her and she still wanted to go?" At that point Rachel stopped skipping and turned to look me in the eyes. Her stare was intense, as usual, but full of confusion and deep thought.

"I mean, she said she had already planned her night out and was getting ready to go out when he called to cancel, so she asked if I would walk her over." Rachel pursed her lips and her eyes did a circle from the ground to the sky, then back up to me. She took a deep breath and then exhaled it into a small laugh.

"Mhmm, and so you went over there to pick her up, logically." The not-so-subtle smile on her face was growing with every word she said. I nodded at her, it seemed totally rational to me, especially considering that my mother would have killed me if I ever didn't stop to help out someone who asked. At my response, Rachel lowered her shoulders in defeat and made the turn towards the entrance to her building. "You know Jackson, I have absolutely no idea how boys and girls are the same species." Her comment threw me off, mostly because I had no idea what she was making reference to.

"Uh, what do you mean by that?"

"That you're an idiot, Jackson. Good night!" She waved over her shoulder as she walked through the front door of D building and up the stairs.

My walk home from Rachel's dorm was longer than I was expecting. I realized that I had put in a good few miles walking to the party, to get Annabeth, back to the party, to the bars, to Rachel's dorm, and now finally back home. Needless to say, my legs were starting to give out. I pulled out my phone to check the time and was smacked in the face by 2 missed calls and 5 text messages from Annabeth. My first reaction was to call her back, but thought better of it when I started to read through the messages:

10:14 pm: "Where are you?"

10:20 pm: "Did you leave?"

10:22 pm: "Katie said you had to run, is everything okay?"

11:30 pm: "Are you coming back to get me?"

11:47 pm: Missed call

11:50 pm: Missed call

11:55 pm: "You're an asshole, Percy."

By the time I reached the last message I had stopped walking and was facepalming in the middle of the dimly lit campus. I was about to call her back to explain the situation and apologize, but seeing that it was 2 AM and I didn't want to add waking her up to the list of mistakes I had made, I figured the conversation could wait until the next morning. I buried my phone back into my packet and started making my way back to my dorm. I didn't know how I was going to smooth things over with Annabeth, or how I was going to handle getting punched by Piper when I got my math grade back, but I did know one thing: I needed sleep!

When I woke up the next morning I couldn't remember making it back to my dorm. I think my brain fell asleep at some point and my body dragged itself to bed. I heard a thud come from Nico's room and thought to get up to see if he needed help. Picking up my phone to see if it was too early to care I knew something must have been wrong. Nico, awake, before 10am? I rolled out of bed and slowly made my way through the connecting bathroom. When I opened his door I saw my cousin with a very stressed look on his face. When he turned his head to look at me his hair was completely covering his eyes, so all I could see was his dumb smile looking at me

"Morning Percy, everything okay?" He didn't move and his face was starting to turn red.

"I could ask you the same thing. What's got you up so early?" He moved from his frozen position and started to pick up an old empty soda can from his floor to place it in his trash.

"Oh, just doing a little Sunday morning clean. Resetting for the week and such." I moved quickly and grabbed his arm which earned an alarmed look from him. I reached up and placed my other hand on his forehead putting a very concerned look on my face.

"Nope, no fever, must be something else." He pushed my arm away and let out a small laugh. He put down the trash bag and moved to sit on his bed. His shoulders slumped and he looked over in my direction.

"Ha-ha, I must be sick to clean, very funny." Now it was my turn to laugh as I pulled out his gaming chair and sat down expectantly waiting for his explanation. "If you must know, someone is coming over to play games, and I wanted to, ya know, not look like a slob." At first I thought that he was being nice to pick up a bit before people came over. Gods know that my Mom would kill me if she found out I let people over without cleaning first. I figured that was the end of things and stood to make my exit when Nico's words hit me. I slowly turned towards him and when our eyes met a look of terror spread across his face.

"'Someone is coming over?" I had a big stupid smile at this point and Nico's face had gone from red to true premium lobster status. He held his deer in headlights gaze for only a moment before flipping up his hood to cover his face with hair. We remained there in silence for a few seconds before he took a deep breath and looked back up at me.

"So…will you help me clean?" His voice was so sincere that I almost felt bad for poking fun at him. I moved to pick up a shirt that was on the floor in front of his desk and started to fold it. Nico went straight back to picking up the trash from under his bed and the morning slipped away in general quiet.

Cleaning the room to Nico's liking took the better part of two hours. My cousin was a lot of things, but tidy was not one of them. Nico also told Will that he would have a table we could play on in his room so that we didn't have to sit in the main lobby. Now, if I had learned anything about Will, it was that he didn't mind being the center of attention. I couldn't help but feel as though Nico's kindness was really just his anxiety looking for a way to ensure he wouldn't be publicly embarrassed if things didn't go well. Did Nico own a card table? No. Did the dorm rec room have a card table Nico sent me to steal while he stress cleaned? Yes. That was an interesting conversation trying to convince the Junior at the front desk as to why the table I was carrying looked an awful lot like the one from the rec room. The harder part was explaining why, what was supposedly my table, had "Property of NRU" written on the side in permanent marker. I think my mindless babbling was more that the RA wanted to deal with and he let me go just so I would shut up.

We were about an hour in when my stomach started to growl. Nico and I both paused at the low angry sound coming from my gut and realized we had both skipped breakfast. Luckily for us, Will had offered to grab lunch and bring it to the dorm when he came over. Speaking of, that should have been any second now. We had managed to clean up Nico's room enough to move a few things around and make the table fit without us being pushed into a corner. Nico was sitting at his desk while I layed on his neatly made bed and tossed one of his squishmellows into the air. I'm not going to lie, when I had first seen them on his bed on move-in day, I made sure to hit him with the most judgemental face I could. But now, laying here on the cloud-like comfort that they provided, I was considering sneaking off that night to buy 10 of them. A knock came from the door and Nico moved to open it, but I leaped from the bed and blew past him to swing open the door to the smiling face of Will Solace. In his hands, he held a take out box from Hestia's and a cardboard box with a picture of a train on the side of it.

"Oh, hey Per…" before he could finish his sentence I grabbed the items from his hands and brought them over to the small table we had set up. I opened the pizza box and took in a deep whiff of the saucy and cheesy goodness. Reaching in, I pulled a slice out and dug in, savoring every taste that hit my tongue. Only when I opened my eyes from the bliss did I realize that Will and Nico were still standing by the door, and were staring at me. I did my best to swallow the large bite and smiled at them through my embarrassment.

"My mom says that being hungry changes me." Nico remained there stunned, but Will let out a quick laugh and moved over to pat my shoulder.

"I'll have to remember that. In the future, I won't stop and talk with as many people on the way." He and Nico took the seats across from me and we split the slices three ways. Will caught us up on a show he had been watching about the pharmaceutical world and how doctors had been abusing certain medications with patients. Honestly, it sounded like the most boring show in the world, but the enthusiasm he added made it hard to not pay attention.

"Anyways, enough about the show, have you guys played Ticket to Ride before?" He gestured to the box he had brought with him with the picture of a train on it. Nico and I both looked at each other and shrugged.

"If I am honest, I was always more of a hide in my room person than a playing games with family person." Nico gave a sheepish smile to Will who returned his look with rolled eyes.

"Oh, really? I never would have guessed from your outgoing personality." Nico blushed at Will's statement. I let out a guttural laugh that earned a smile from Will and a death stare from my cousin. When we locked eyes his stare made way for a smile that told me he really didn't mind.

"So, how do we play?" Will spent the next few minutes explaining the mechanics of drawing cards and playing our small plastic trains to complete rail lines, and we were off! Luckily for me, Will had brought the U.S. themed one. I could tell you roughly where the American cities were, but Europe I would have been so lost. The more turns we played, the more fun it became trying to use strategies and create new routes that avoided those of the others playing. All in all, the game took about an hour to play, but it felt like 10 minutes! In the end, I convinced Nico that I wasn't going to take the final route through Santa Fe (IYKYK) and then stole it out from under his nose. The shock and anger on his face was only matched by Will's laugh and high five as the game came to a close. Even with my secret misdirection, Will smoked both of us, earning the longest train and completing more routes than the two of us combined.

"That was rude Percy…but also really sneaky." Nico was slowly sweeping his trains across the board and back into their plastic bag. I cracked a smile at what I was taking as a compliment.

"He is a pretty good actor, isn't he?" Will finished placing the board and final bags into the box and closed the lid, moving the box to the floor and leaving the table empty. I took the opportunity to grab another slice of pizza and place it on my empty plate. "Which is why I think he should try out for Two Gents with me." Nico laughed, but the sincerity on Will's face pulled him back together.

"Will, I already told you, I don't think I can do the show and swim at the same time." I tried my best to sound grateful for his compliment while also letting him know I was serious.

"Woah there Mr. Confident, there isn't any guarantee either of us will be cast. All I am asking you to do is be my scene partner. Once the cast list comes out, then we can look at schedules. So please?" He gave me his best sad child's face, big lip and all. As ridiculous as he looked, I could tell he was really trying to convince me. I took a bite of pizza to give myself a second to think before responding. I suppose Will was right, it doesn't hurt to try out. And hey, who was I to not help a friend in need?

"You know what, fine, but I want to read for Valentine." Our in class reading of the show had really drawn me to him as a character, or maybe just away from Proteus. A loving friend and partner who goes on a great journey to help his best friend and meet the love of his life? That was my kind of character. Proteus just felt so gross in comparison. Will shot me a big smile.

"Deal!" He stood up from the table and picked up his board game. "Well, that was a lot of fun, we should do it again sometime." Nico stood up as well and went to open the door for him.

"Yeah, it was. Maybe next time we can come to your place." Nico gave me a knowing look regarding the events of the morning. We both knew his room was going to be a wreck before the end of the day and we did not want to have to go through that again. Will stepped through the doorway into the hall and turned around to look at Nico.

"Well, Percy and I are going to be seeing alot of each other in the next few weeks between class and preparing our scene, so maybe you and I could get lunch sometime, if you want." Nico froze. Will's smile turned into a more sideways look, like a dog questioning what you are trying to tell them. I couldn't help myself, I had to come to the guy's rescue. I cleared my throat and stepped forward to put my hand on my Cousin's shoulder.

"He would love to. If I am remembering his schedule correctly, he is free Monday and Wednesday afternoons between 12 and 2."

"Wednesday sounds great, I'll meet you outside the student center at 1." And with that, Will turned to walk down the hallway, leaving Nico still frozen holing the door open. I reached up and slowly closed his mouth with my hand which pulled him out of his shock. He shook his head sending his hair directly into my face. His eyes met mine as the bewilderment set in.

"Did you just set me up on…a date?"

"I think so, and he didn't seem too upset about it." I shot him a wink. My cousin was smaller than me, but deceptively fast and strong as his fist met my stomach. I doubled over in a laughter filled pain as he trudged his way over to his bed and laid down. His face met the pillow with a clear 'pop!' as he took the opportunity to let out a muted yell out of what I could only assume were a mixture of nerves and happiness. I took that as my sign to cross back over into my room.
"Hey Percy." His muted voice was almost silent, but it was just loud enough to stop me in the doorway. I looked back over my shoulder just in time to see his smile from beneath his hair. "Thanks."

The rest of Sunday was just as productive as the beginning. As much as I hated it, cleaning up Nico's room really made mine look messy in comparison. After picking up, I caught up on some homework for biology and edited a few pictures I had taken on Friday. Sunday night drifted into Monday morning with a restful sleep and I made my way down to the pool for practice. The guys' locker room was buzzing with talk of Friday's party and what happened after I left.

"Oh hey Percy, how was saving the damsels in distress?" Connor placed the back of his hand on his forehead and pretended to swoon.

"Honestly, far easier than I was expecting. How was the rest of the party?"

"Dude." Travis turned from putting away his bookbag in his locker to face me. "Remember how we were playing ping pong when you left? Well, let's just say that the table was being used like a diving board by the end of the night." Remembering that we were playing in the garage I gave a bewildered look.

"What he means is that we moved it into the living room and used it to jump onto the coaches headfirst. Just some stupid fun that earned applause." Luke threw his towel over his shoulder and started to make his way out towards the pool and the ever blowing whistle of Coach Hedge.

Practice was fairly boring, for the most part. The meet wasn't for a few weeks, so Hedge mostly had us working on endurance training to keep us in top form before we started our big push for time. On my way out of the gym I heard the door catch behind me.

"Hey Percy, wait up!" I turned to see Luke in a light jog to catch up with me. "Thanks for coming the other night, it really meant a lot to have the entire team there." His smile stretched across his face in the usual charming fashion.

"Of course, I wouldn't have missed it. For the short time I was there it was a lot of fun!"

"We will definitely have to do another one where you can stay until the end." Luke flipped around and started to walk backwards facing me. "And I would say you should bring Annabeth again, but I'm not sure she is ever going to talk to you after you ditched her." The mention of her name stopped me in my tracks. The texts, I never remembered to text her back.

"Was she really that mad?" I had a tinge of hope in my voice that Luke could reassure me that it was okay, but the look on his face told me everything I needed to know.

"Well, let's see, from what I can remember she called you an ass, a dick head, immature, and a few words I had never even heard of before, and that was all before we left the house." Every word he said hit me like a truck. I had gotten so caught up in helping Piper and Rachel that I really hadn't stopped to consider that Annabeth needed help too. Or, maybe not help, but support from the only other person she knew at that party. In all of my self loathing I had almost missed the last part of Luke's comment.

"So, you walked her back home? That was nice of you." Luke flipped back around and started to walk normally beside me again.

"It seemed like the right thing to do, I wouldn't want her getting stalked or anything late at night. Besides, it kind of looked like she was going to smash a car window if she was alone." He let out a small laugh at the thought. We walked in silence for a moment before Luke interjected again. "She seemed nice before then though, and Katie liked her alot, so maybe if you make up we could add her to the group. And who knows maybe with a little Luke Magic she'll be interested in me."

"Yeah, let's hope that we can…wait, what?" Just as my question came out of my mouth a few students at the humanities building in front of us waved at Luke.

"This is my stop, I have to get some studying in before this physics exam. See you at practice tomorrow Perc!" With that, he ran over to the group, leaving me standing there like an idiot while I tried to comprehend his last statement. Adding Annabeth to our friend group was one thing, but her dating Luke? The idea didn't exactly sit right with me. Not that I cared who Luke or Annabeth dated, it just felt wrong in my head. All of these confused thoughts came to a halt as I saw the math building in the distance.

To say that I was petrified to walk into Algebra would be an understatement. I had almost considered skipping, but my own curiosity got the better of me, not to mention the fact that I wouldn't be able to show my face to Piper without having that test to show her. I walked to my seat and turned to the board only to see a note written that read: Tests will be handed out after class, please don't ask early. Great, I had worked up all of the anxiety expecting to walk in here and receive my downfall and now I had to live like that for another forty-five minutes. I couldn't focus and class flew by in a blur of numbers and equations. I was so lost in my own thoughts that I didn't realize that students had stood up and started to make a line to the teachers desk. Every step closer to the front felt like I was marching to my own death. When I reached the front I considered making a run for it, but before I could, she found my paper and handed it to me with a smile.

"An 87?! I got an 87!" I didn't know what to do. It felt like all of the anxiety that had been building on my body over the weekend all left at once in one big joyful boost of energy. I had to keep myself from jumping up and down or tackling my professor in a bear hug. I had never done so well on a math test before!

"Well done Mr. Jackson, you earned it." She gave me another soft smile before looking at the next student in line and asking for their name. I practically skipped out of the building. I felt like I was floating and carefree. At that moment, I decided I had earned a treat!

I walked into the Cafe like Caesar on a Triumph. In my right hand, I held my Algebra test high like it was a boon of war. Seeing my overdramatic and grand march, Rachel jumped to her feet and made fake trumpet sounds with her mouth to announce my entrance. She put on her best announcer's voice and spoke loud enough to disturb all six people in the building.

"All rise and bask in the glory of King Jackson, and whatever it is he has in his hand." Piper and Jason both clapped as I made my way to the table and took the seat across from Piper. Jason made his way out from behind the counter and placed a snickerdoodle in front of me, taking a deep bow as he did.

"Your victual my liege. I pray it is to your liking."

"Thank you, squire. You are dismissed." I waved my hand back towards that kitchen and Jason retreated away still in his bow.

"What is all of this about, my liege?" Piper mocked Jason who shot her a smile from the kitchen. I very smugly slid my test across the desk to Piper. Piper picked up the paper and began to inspect it. Rachel leaned in next to me as if to protect me from whatever Piper was about to unleash. After a few seconds, she slowly lowered the test from in front of her face and had a small tear in the corner of her eye.

"Now look, I know it's not an A, but…"

"Are you kidding?!" Piper interrupted, "I have never been so proud of somebody else getting a B before! Not to mention how good of a tutor I must be to have taken you from, well, whatever you were before to a B student, and a high B at that!" Now it was her turn to look smug. I laughed at her self appreciation and reached for my test back. She pulled it away before I could put a hand on it. "Oh no Jackson, this is going on MY fridge." Her pride reminded me of my mom every time I came home and told her I didn't fail a math test. I was a solid C and D student in every subject that wasn't science and art, but that was enough for her!

"Fine, you can keep it," I sat back down and let Piper continue looking over the test. "Of course, you do know that this means you can never stop tutoring me." She looked away from the paper and gave me a nod.

"By the end of the semester, you will have an A in math, I am calling it right now." I appreciated her confidence, however misplaced it may be.

"Honestly, I am just glad that I passed. Drunk McLean had me worried that if I failed I could never show my face in here again." I looked over to make eye contact with Rachel while Piper tried to hide her face in embarrassment.

"Now that I can believe." Jason yelled from the kitchen and started to make his way back over to the table. "I could tell at least 10 drunk Piper stories that could top your way home the other night, including an especially embarrassing one about a party sophomore year."

"Please, not that one again." Rachel threw her hands up in the air. "I admit, it was funny the first 15 times, but now it's just embarrassing."

"But our good friend Percy hasn't had the pleasure yet." Jason extended his arm towards me while flashing a pleading look towards Rachel. Piper remained still, head in hands, and face getting ever more red. Rachel rolled her eyes at Jason and waved off his attempt. She turned to face me with a very annoyed look on her face.

"Alright Jackson, here's the abridged version: There was a party at Castellan's house, McLean got drunk, and she may or may not have done a backflip off of a table with everyone watching."

"You left out the part where she completely misjudged it and landed clean on her ass!" Jason hit the table as he started to laugh. "Man Rach, you really know how to kill a good story." Piper only sunk deeper into her cocoon of shame. I couldn't help but smile at how funny Jason found the story. However, the smile faded as I thought a little deeper into the statement.

"Wait, Castellan? Like Luke?" Jason appeared to choke on his own laughter and Piper finally looked up from her pit of self made shame. The sudden shift from laughter to seriousness was abrupt enough to almost be scary.

"Yeah, he usually throws a few big parties a year. A lot of people used to go before people started to hate him. Now he just crashes everyone else's." Rachel picked up my cookie and took a bite. Jason took a deep breath and started to make his way back to the kitchen. The look on all of their faces told me that I shouldn't ask, but I was far too interested to take the hint.

"Okay, so clearly I missed something, but it seems to me like everyone on campus likes him." I reached out to my napkin and pushed my plate away from Rachel.

"And you would be right." Piper spoke up for the first time since we were discussing my test. The mood in the conversation had shifted so much that I almost forgot I came here in celebration. "But that's because most people don't know what actually happened, and Selena doesn't want us spreading it around." Piper and Rachel shared a glance at the mentioning of her name. Their eyes then darted back to the table in front of them as Rachel started to fidget with the napkin in front of her. For a group so usually full of life, the silence was palpable. Questions ran through my head as my eyes shifted between Rachel, Piper, and my half eaten snickerdoodle. Wasn't Selena the girl from the party with Charlie? What happened? Was Luke a bad person? What did he do to make them hate him? My mind was racing in the quiet of the afternoon. However, the looks on my friends' faces told me to back off. Maybe another time.

"Well," I broke the silence and started to stand up. Piper and Rachel snapped their gaze up to me. "If you can believe it, I have a play I have to go and rehearse for, I'll catch up with you guys later, thanks again for the help Piper." They shared a glance as they both registered what I had just said.

"Wait, did you just say you're in a…" and that was the last thing I heard before the door to the cafe closed behind me. There was a part of me that felt bad for leaving so abruptly, but I couldn't help but smile knowing the look they had on their faces.

Tuesday came and went with my only planned activity to rehearse my scene with Will. He did his best to keep his attempts to convince me I was good to a minimum. I guess he considered getting me this far a win and didn't want to push me too hard. Wednesday morning I received an email that Professor Argus was putting together a gallery in Seattle and would not be able to have class. Instead, we were to go out into the world and take a few pictures of a place that we found to be 'empty,' then submit a short blurb as to why we saw it that way. The day off of class was nice, but these abstract assignments were going to be the death of me. I had chalked my success on the first one up to dumb luck and Rachel's help, and I wasn't sure I could pull it off again. I needed to clear my head and get a new perspective, and there was only one way I knew how: Pizza!

Hestia's in hand, I made my way across campus to my favorite thinking spot. The little gate to the garden looked exactly how I left it, a small crack in the handle making it so you had to lift the door a little before it would open. I had thought about fixing it a few times, but thought better. It felt like a secret code to get in that only I knew, which was childish, but what is life without a little whimsy? The falling leaves of the season covered the browning grass and small wooden benches. It looked like small yellow, brown, and orange boats were floating in the fountain as they drifted across the water. I sat down and started to think of what it meant to be empty. My first thought was the student center before and after hours. The juxtaposition of the hustle of the day to the quiet nights of studying would show how an external experience could mimic the internal feeling of emptiness at the end of each day. My mind then shifted to the campus green after midnight, but that felt too similar to the original idea. Images of abandoned shopping malls and hospitals screamed 'empty' to me, but also 'terrifying' and 'axe murderer.' My mind drifted from idea to idea, to a leaf falling from a tree. Before I knew it, I had sat in the little garden for over an hour racking my brain and admiring the changing scenery.

I decided that maybe some time in the library might be less distracting and I got up to throw my trash away and head over. I stepped through the small gate and looked back at the garden one more time, and that's when it hit me. Rachel was right, I was an idiot. The answer had been right in front of me, and beneath me, and around me the entire time. I took out my camera and snapped a few pictures of the bench, the fountain, and the leaves on the dying grass. The light coming through the trees made for a perfect mood for the shoot. I closed the gate and made my way to the library to submit my answer.

Professor Argus,

At first, when I first read your assignment, I believed emptiness was the absence of life. An empty space was something begging for laughter and joy or tears and support. Even in a silent space, like a library, the feelings of anxiety and restlessness fill the subdued air. However, as I thought deeper, I was then reminded that emptiness can also be seen through the lens of anticipation. As you can see in the images attached, this little park is in mid-transition. The leaves, the grass, and the trees are all feeling the effects of the changing season. If you blinked, you would miss it, and if the park was full, the overstimulation would lead to a dismissal of the quiet yet ever encompassing shift. In short, emptiness can give us a feeling of being alone or wishing we were with others, but it can also provide us with a sense of reflection of what has been, and what is yet to come.

I submitted my response for class with five minutes to spare, and feeling a sense of excitement, I remembered why I loved photography so much. The old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words was true, you just needed the right moment, and a small park to think about it in!

Friday afternoon came too soon. I had spent most of Thursday in class and rehearsing with Will. I had to say that the scene was really coming along! As much as I hated to admit it, I was having a really good time, but I would never tell Will that. I marched my way towards the humanities building trying to convince myself that everything was going to be okay. I mean, it had been six days since the night of the party and I am sure that Annabeth would be over it by now, right? Or maybe she really wasn't that mad and Luke was making it up? Then I remembered something about her calling me an ass in those text messages. In the end, I settled on going in with a smile and simply explaining to her why I had to leave and that I was sorry. Annabeth may have been easy to anger, but she was an intelligent and rational person at her core. I paused outside the door and took a deep breath, putting on my best big, stupid smile.

I pushed open the door and stepped in to see Chiron sitting at the front desk. He met my smile with his own and gave me a small wave, then returned to his book. A few other groups were working diligently throughout the room, talking in hushed tones as to not disturb everyone else. Then I saw her, Annabeth, sitting in the back of the room. Her usual spread of her laptop, iPad, folders, and architecture books were played across the table. However, she wasn't deep in thought as she usually was. In fact she was staring directly at me, her eyebrow raised in an accusative fashion, and her foot tapping as she gestured for me to join her. It took all of my will power, but I took a step into the room and towards the back. I had no idea what I was about to walk into, but I knew I wasn't ready.

A/N

Hello Again!

So it has been a few months, but I am back! You know the drill, life gets in the way and writing takes a back seat, but I haven't given up on this story. No matter how long it takes, I won't leave you hanging in the middle.

Percy is just starting to get the hang of college life by attending parties, meeting new people, and even seeing a small slice of the night life around NRU. If only he could remember to answer a text every now and then…

Will he and Annabeth make up? Will Nico end up meeting Will for that date? Will Percy get a part in the school play? What were Piper and Rachel so upset about that happened between Selena and Luke?! Leave a comment to let me know where you think the story is heading!

Thank you for reading!

GRNLEP1309