Here is is. Finally.
~
My head is pounding and I can feel dried blood on my lips. I lift myself up slowly, to avoid too much pain. I'm still in my apartment. I glance at the clock. 5:20 am. That means my mom is still asleep and she defiantly does not have to know about this. I hurry to my room to clean myself up. I clean the blood from my face and try to cover the bruise on my nose with some of my moms concealer. The bottle stays in my room in case of happenings like these. My nose looks out of place, but that's probably my own imagination. Plus we can not afford hospital bills right now so I'm going to have to deal with it. I'll just keep my head down all day. I stay in my room to finish up homework until 7:20. Annabeth usually meets me in front of my building but I know she'll probably notice. I text her to tell her I have to go in early for a test and practically run to school.

I arrive twenty minutes before first period and simply linger at my locker and around the halls until it's acceptable to go sit in the classroom. As I wait in silence, I practice reading the signs on the walls for nearly the hundredth time while trying to shake off a impending headache. Normally when I get bored in class I simply practice reading. There is no harm in it. With my dyslexia I have to work extra hard to learn to read. Well, I know how to read I just need to think about it and practically translate it in my head. It gets frustrating.

The bell rings and Annabeth and Thalia walk in to sit next to me. I keep my head low, turned away from them. "What's up with you, Percy?" Thalia asks.

I shake my head, keeping it low. "Just a bit tired that's all. I had to come in early and I just came in here to sit. Didn't think you would be here yet." Good one, Perce.

"Then why won't you look at us?" Annabeth pushes. Just as I was about to give some lame excuse, the bell rang. The only time that noise has brought me joy. I pull my books out of my bag and try to look as interested in what the teacher is saying.

-
I walk against the walls throughout the day. Both for the support and to stay away from everyone else. I also nearly fell asleep in every class.
Lunch was not easy either. Annabeth would not stop interrogating me. My head was starting to spin. Not sure if it was from Annabeth or from Gabe.

"Percy? Are you even listening to me?" She asks. I look up, suddenly feeling dizzy. The room is spinning. The food I ate moments ago threatens to come back up. "Percy? I'm just worried. Don't think I'm mad at you...Percy?...Will you just listen to me?"

"Shut up, Annabeth!" I snap at her. My outburst caused the entire table stop their conversions and look directly at me. I cannot process anything though. I try to stand just to get away from everyone but immediately fall to my feet as soon as I get out of the chair. Annabeth slides to her knees in front of me. I can feel Thalia's hand on my shoulder. I attempt to push her away. Everyone near me is just making me more dizzy. My head is pounding. The headache just increased profusely. It feels like it is about to explode. The pain in my head causes the pain in my nose to become more clear. Maybe it's just mental but there is a sharp pain in my nose, right in between my eyes. I feel blood trickle out my nose. I quickly wipe it with my sleeve, hoping nobody saw it.

"Oh my gosh, Percy. We need to get you to a doctor." Annabeth demands.

I shake my head vigorously. "No. No. I don't need-" I grip my head and groan from the pain. I let it all out. The pain I have felt all day resurfaces. I think my body has reached its limit. Earlier I thought I could do this but now I just want to tear my head off.

"Luke." Annabeth pleads to him. I feel arms wrap around my shoulders and legs and I'm thrown onto someone's back. I'm guessing Luke. I hear Piper say she will take care of the attendance office.

"I don't need to be carried like a baby." I comment.

"Whatever you say, Perce." Luke chuckles. Our school is directly across the street from a hospital so that's handy. We burst into the emergency room, Hazel signing me in as Luke sets me down. I must say I am not as dizzy but it probably just comes in stages. Annabeth sits next to me and takes my hand in hers.

As if it all hits me at once, I ask "Why are we at a hospital?"

Annabeth smiles weakly at me. "You're hurt."

"I think I'm fine."

Annabeth stands and walks away from me. She stops at about ten feet and holds her hand up. "How many fingers am I holding up?" From far away everything seems to mold together and will not stop moving.

"Two?"

"Five." She sits next to me once again and takes my hand. "You're not fine. You look like you've been run over by a truck. Your nose is extremely crooked and..." She wipes her finger across my nose and cheek. I try to hold in my groan. "Sorry." She rubs her fingers together. "Is this coverup? Are you wearing makeup?"

"No." I answer innocently.

"Percy, it doesn't even match your skin tone."

"Sorry."

She smiles sadly at me but doesn't say anything. She rests her head on my shoulder and we sit there in silence until my name is called. I ignore the thought of how expensive this will be and the amount of questions I'm going to get from my friends. I simply follow the doctor into the exam room and push those thoughts out of my head.

"So Mr. Jackson, you are complaining about your head hurting severely. Have you hit it on anything in the past or come in any collisions?"

Just don't talk about Gabe. "I am quite clumsy. I slipped last night and banged my head on the coffee table."

The doctor's eyes widen. "And your head didn't hurt then?"

"Well I had a headache. Didn't think much more to it."

The doctor nods and gestures for me to sit down. "I am going to run a few tests on you. For a concussion." He makes me follow his finger with my eyes, which proves to be difficult for me. He also felt around my head and asked me to read things from far away, which I informed him in dyslexic but I tried anyways.

He writes something down on his clipboard and turns to me. "It seems to me you have a concussion, rather severe I might add. How were you able to go to school?"

I shake my head. "I just thought I was really tired or had a bad headache."

"Well it's a concussion and..." He looks closer at me. "It seems to me your nose may be broken just looking at it now. It's very out of place and looks to be very swollen." He softly touches the side of my nose and I wince. "You hit your nose too?"

"Maybe." I smile innocently.

The doctor shakes his head. "This might have to be surgically fixed."

A thought occurs to me. "Doctor, how much is this going to cost?"

He does not look up from his clipboard. "Well I guess it all depends on your insurance. What type do you have?"

"I don't know."

"I'll just contact your parents. They'll know."

My breath hitches in my throat. "Um, is that necessary?"

He nods unknowingly. "Yes. You are underage."

I nod. "I know. I know. I'll just go call her."

Before the doctor can object, I get up and exit the room, dialing my mother immediately. She answers after the second ting. "Percy, I'm at work."

"I know. I'm sorry. It's just..."

"Percy I'm busy. It's rush hour, please." She pushes. I can hear the annoyance behind her voice.

"I'm sort of at the hospital."

"Percy!" She yells, causing me to pull the phone away from my ear. "I'll be there in ten minutes."

I couldn't say anything else before she hung up, probably already running out of her store.

I went back into the exam room to wait for my mother. The doctor went over the seriousness of my concussion, the medicine and what I should do about recovery. Apparently I should not attend school for at least a week and not look at electronic screens or stress my brain too much. The idea of staying home for a week excites me. But I know if Gabe figures out about it he'll most likely harm me, which probably won't do well in my recovery. I'll have to figure something out on my own. I do not have to bring Mom into this. She already has enough on her plate.

Just like Mom said, within ten minutes she was running into the emergency room. Annabeth led her to my room to talk with my doctor.

"You must be Ms. Jackson?"

She nods and shakes his hand. "Yes I am. What's wrong with Percy?"

The doctor looked between the two of us. "Percy has a severe concussion and a broken nose as I see it. I'll need to set up a surgery for his nose. But I'm sorry, that can't be after your concussion is healed. You'll have to stay home and I talked to Percy about this. No electronic screens. No stress on the brain. Sleep a lot. I have medicine for the pain. I'll subscribe that to your local pharmacy. Sound good?" We both nod. "We'll schedule an appointment for the surgery sometime the week after next. I will call you to set an appointment. Good?"

My mom agrees. "Great. Thank you doctor. Percy. Go talk to your friends. They are probably worried. I'll take you home. I'm going to talk to doctor here for a second." I nod, know she doesn't want me to know about our financial situation.

My friends all sit in the waiting room, looking worried as ever. As soon as I walk in Annabeth jumps to her feet and approaches me. "You okay? What did he say?"

I shake my head, ignoring the pounding. "Severe concussion and broken nose."

Annabeth's face falls. "How did that happen Percy?"

"I really don't want to talk about it now. My headache is getting worse by the second. Can I just sit down to wait for my mom?"

She nods and leads me to a seat next to hers. The others look questioningly at her, she brushes them off, implying to tell them later. I sit with my head in my hands. I feel a hand rubbing my back in circles. Her touch immediately calms me down and I'm able to finally relax. I must have dozed off because what felt like a second later my mom is helping me into the car.

I lean my head against the window. "What am I going to do about next week? You know Gabe-"

She cuts me off, not daring to look over. "I know he did this to you, Percy. I know it all. I'm so sorry." She sniffles, wiping her nose and her eyes quickly. "I promise. I will figure something out soon." I lean my head back against the window and listen to the soft hum of the engine, falling back into sleep instantly.

--

I know. Long wait for such a bad chapter. You all are so awesome or being so patient. I will get better. Promise. Sorry for boringness of this chapter. It was a filler chapter. New update by Sunday.

Lucy.