This is really just... bad. I don't like it but I've left y'all waiting for a month and I feel awful. But I hope you guys like this chapter, thank you for all the support I love you <333

Wednesday, September 26th
5:25pm - Annabeth's bedroom

"Oh my god."

Annabeth suddenly felt woozy. Dropping the shirt, she felt herself slipping away, falling into unconsciousness. She would have fallen to the floor had Percy not stood up and grabbed her just in time.

"Hey, hey, Annabeth?" Her vision was becoming spottier by the second, but she could still hear his voice. It was like she was drifting under water, however. "Annabeth, come on,"

She tried to breathe. She felt Percy's arms wrapping around her. Annabeth found herself leaning into him, her legs turning to jelly.

"Annabeth, open your eyes, come on." She could hear the panic in his voice, although he tried to be gentle. He carefully sat on the bed, Annabeth still leaning into his chest. "Mr. Chase!" Percy yelled at the top of his lungs, his voice cracking.

Annabeth tried to open her eyes, she wanted to. She didn't like making Percy this worried. She wanted to be okay for her baby. She needed to be.

"Mr. Chase! Annabeth's about to faint!"

"What?!" The yell was followed by heavy footsteps coming up the stairs. "Annabeth! Annabeth, come on, you're okay." Her father's voice was comforting. It reminded her of a time when she was younger and she had skinned her knee. She was hysterical, but her father was able to calm her down.

"Percy, go get me water and there should be fruit in the fridge," her father's voice was calmer than Percy's but still worried. There was no response; only footsteps speeding through the house.

"Annabeth, can you hear me? Open your eyes, breathe," he encouraged. She opened her mouth to speak, but she found only a low moan came from her throat. She focused on breathing—in and out, in and out.

"Here's water." Percy was back. Annabeth felt the glass at her lips. She took a sip of the water, and her vision started to clear. "I could only find grapes," Percy said.

"That's fine. Annabeth here, eat some grapes," her father began to feed her the grapes. The sweet, cold fruit tasted good. She kept eating them and found herself coming closer to consciousness, like she was being pulled back down to earth.

"I-I'm okay," she managed. She looked at Percy and her father. Their expressions were grim, colored with worry. They looked relieved to see a bit of color coming back to her face.

"Drink more water," Percy said, handing her the glass. He didn't let go of it, instead letting her hands wrap around his. He was probably afraid she'd drop the glass. She took a few more gulps of the water. She felt better after that.

"I'm sorry," she sighed, staring at her hands.

"For what?" her father asked.

"For making you worry and freaking you out." Percy's panicked voice was suddenly ringing through her head again. She felt guilty. She didn't like concerning the people around her; she was the one who was always strong. Annabeth was usually concerned about her friends and was always there for them. She hated to be a burden.

"You don't have to apologize," Percy said gently. He gave her the most sincere look she had received in a while. It was startling how touched she was by it. "We're here for you, Annabeth. Okay?" He smiled at her. It was four simple words; we're here for you. But they said so much more than that. They said, you're not alone, and you don't always have to hold your head high. It's okay to need people to rely on, and that's exactly what we're here for.

Annabeth almost started crying. "Okay," she nodded her head.

"I'm gonna go make an appointment with Dr. Wilkins, just to make sure everything is okay. Alright?" Her father stood up.

"Yeah," Annabeth said, nodding. She watched him leave before everything caught up with her.

"What happened?" Percy asked.

"Luke raped me," she blurted. She felt it might be easier then dragging it out. But she didn't look into Percy's eyes; she couldn't.

"Oh my god, Annabeth." Percy's face fell and he seemed to be at a loss for words. He had known a very small portion of it, but even then the news still had to be shocking.

"That shirt," she pointed to where she dropped it on the floor, "its the one I was wearing the night it happened. Bits and pieces of that night have been floating around my head, but I couldn't seem to get things to fit together, and it was all fuzzy," she explained, getting that look of intense thought on her face. She never realized that she did it, but people started pointing it out, and now she's really only half conscious of it. "But I saw that shirt and it was just like when I was staring at it as he..." she trailed off. She didn't want or really need to finish that sentence. Percy understood.

"Annabeth, I'm so sorry," Percy said, looking heartbroken.

"Don't be." She didn't want him to be upset for her; there was no point. It happened and there was nothing anyone could do about it now. What they could do was adapt and react with caution, so that maybe her life wouldn't completely go up in flames.

"I swear to you if I had the money I would track him down and beat the shit out of him—" Percy started with gritted teeth. She stopped him.

"I know," Annabeth chuckled sadly, putting a hand on his arm.  "And I really appreciate that, but that's exactly what I don't want." Annabeth was slowly figuring out this whole Luke situation. Part of her wanted to forget him completely, acting as if he never even existed. But she knew that she couldn't. She would forever be reminded involuntarily by her mind and by the people at school and wherever else and, of course, her baby. But she needed to be level headed about it.

Remember the good; cherish that. Don't forget the bad, but don't let it eat you up and consume your time. It wasn't worth it. Move forward and keep your head high and the people who love and care about you close. If she stuck with these principles, she would come out on top. And she was usually good at following rules.

"I understand. He's the last thing you want to think about," Percy said.

"True, but I don't want to pretend he didn't exist. I never really liked playing pretend when I was little either so," she joked. Percy chuckled. "I just have to make the best of what I'm given. Whether I like it or not." She shrugged. She had learned that a long time ago.  "Although, what I've been given is pretty great." She smiled at him. He smiled.

Percy stared at her and they sat in silence for a few minutes.

"What?" she asked.

"You're just... incredible," he said, sounding like he was in a trance. A dreamy look took its place on his face. Annabeth felt butterflies in her stomach, a thousand wings fluttering. Her cheeks felt hot. "Uh, sorry," he suddenly said, shaking his head and turning bright red. "That was really forward—"

"No it's fine," Annabeth laughed. "I like forward." She couldn't keep the grin off her face.

Percy seemed relieved. He chuckled. "Thank god," he sighed. They laughed. This kid was really something else.

Something good for her.

~*~

Monday, October 1st
11:45 pm - Goode High cafeteria
8 weeks and 5 days

"Connor, give me my wallet back!" Jason reached around the brown-haired boy as he smirked as Jason failed at snatching his wallet from him.

"You're gonna have to get it back, Grace," Connor taunted. He looked through the slots. "Ooh, look! A shark tooth," Connor pulled it out as Jason scolded him to stop. "Oh, fine, ya big baby." Connor put the tooth back and handed him the wallet.

Percy laughed at the two. While that was going on, Juniper, Drew, and Katie sat discussing their vegan diets. He tried to tune all that out; he could barely understand half of it. Across from them sat Beckendorf and Travis, who were laughing at something Percy didn't hear. Then there was Will and Grover discussing something at the far end of the table. Percy was surprised to see Rachel and Nico talking, but hey, that was Rachel for you. It seemed that she made a friend wherever she went. And finally, next to him was Annabeth and Thalia. Annabeth was laughing at something Thalia had said, her grin wide and eyes smiling too.

She looked beautiful when she laughed. Her hair fell from its ponytail in beautiful golden curls. Percy wasn't exactly sure what he was feeling; just general attraction or if he was crushing on her. He had a small feeling it was the latter. No, it's irrational; you barely even know her, he reminded himself. She probably didn't even feel the same anyways. She had just gone through a messy break up, and although Percy wanted to help her heal, he knew that he could do a better job of that as her friend. She didn't need a boyfriend right now.

"Percy remember that time when we were at the beach and a seagull shit on your head?" Thalia laughed.

Percy started laughing too. "Oh god, yeah. That was awful."

"Ew," Annabeth laughed. "Thankfully, I've never been shit on by a bird, but there was one time when my dad was eating a sandwich and the seagull just took the whole thing. It cut his finger too,"

"Well that sucks," Percy commented.

"Yep. We went home after that he was just too upset." Annabeth nodded.

"I would too, honestly," Percy agreed, making her laugh.

"Okay," suddenly Travis was the loudest person talking. "I cannot be the only person here who's slipped in the shower when I was getting it o—" he stopped abruptly, realizing that everyone was listening to him at this point. They all burst out laughing, while Juniper and Katie turned bright red. Nico shook his head with a small smile, and Annabeth was laughing so hard that she was grinning ear to ear. Percy smiled wider at that.

"Well, am I wrong?" he asked. Everyone laughed even more.

"Well its not like Annabeth would know," Thalia teased.

"Shut up!" Annabeth playfully shoved her. Percy felt his cheeks getting hot. It was odd to think about someone else like that. He pushed the thought away, as well as a feeling of guilt.

"Different topic," Connor decided. "My brother fucking someone is not something I wanna talk about," he reasoned. Connor was usually pretty blunt like that.

"Will, who'd you bother today?" Annabeth asked.

"No one yet." The blonde haired boy smirked.

"Oh great, I can have a peaceful day," Annabeth said, eating another cracker. She had told him it was all she could eat; anything else would come right up. Percy didn't think it was a substantial lunch, but he didn't want her to be sick either.

"Uh, maybe not," Katie said, standing up and looking back. That was when Percy saw it.

Nancy Bobofit and two other girls he didn't know stood by Grover at the water fountain. They kept dunking in his head, getting him soaking wet. Annabeth and Percy shot up at the same time and marched over. Percy had had his fair share of quarrels with Nancy. It was usually because she was picking on Grover, his best friend. Now didn't seem any different, even after seven years.

"Leave him alone!" Annabeth called. She protectively pulled Grover behind her. Percy and Juniper were quick to help him get cleaned up. He was ready to give the girls a piece of his mind, but it seemed that Annabeth had it covered.

"Why? He's a loser. What does it matter to you?" Nancy snarled. She got right in Annabeth's face.

"He's not a loser. The fact that you think your opinion justifies any of this shows that you're the one with issues," Annabeth said.

"I have issues?" Nancy laughed bitterly, her side kicks following in suit. "At least my boyfriend didn't leave me."

"You should stop worrying about my love life and focus on yours. Oh wait, its nonexistent," Annabeth retorted. She snapped her fingers in recall. Percy noticed how she didn't falter at the mention of Luke. He took that as a good sign.

One of her friends chimed in. "It wasn't nonexistent last night when we—"

"Shut up, Gwen!" Nancy cut her off and turned bright red. As far as Percy knew, Nancy was straight, which made this whole situation a lot more awkward for them.

"You clearly have some things to work out," Annabeth said. "I'll leave you to it." Then she winked, leaving them all bright red. She turned and everyone followed her back to their seats.

"Peaceful day," Percy joked.

"Peaceful day," Annabeth sighed.

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