Percy's POV

"Hey, Annie." Drew walked over to our table, her little posse behind her.

Annabeth turned around and stood up, facing Drew. Annabeth was taller than Drew, and stood at full height with her arms crossed and eyebrow raised. I would not want to be Drew. "What." Annabeth's jaw clenched.

Drew didn't seem scared at all. What a dumbass. "I don't know, guess I was just bored." Her pink lips curled into a smirk.

"Oh well, there's this really awesome place, it's called fuck off and it's located right off the nearest bridge." Annabeth's sarcasm earned the laughs of the other students in the cafeteria.

"You're such a bitch, you know that?" Drew seemed angry now.

"I'm sure there's a reason why you're calling me that. I'm trying to look at it from your perspective, but I can't stick my head that far up my ass." Annabeth said with fake sympathy. Our table laughed, along with almost every other.

"At least she has an ass." One of her minions backed her up. Not that I look at Drew's ass, but she really didn't. There's only one person I'm looking at all day.

"Oh please, the only thing you can turn on is a microwave." Annabeth retorted. Everyone laughed at that one, including myself. Annabeth might skip school, but that doesn't mean she doesn't have wit.

"That's not true!" Drew said. "Just ask Luke." She smirked.

"I would, but I don't really feel like puking up my guts." Annabeth said.

"You're gonna puke? Just be glad you don't have to see your own face all day." Drew smirked smugly at Annabeth as everyone laughed.

Annabeth didn't say anything, though she didn't frown or glare at Drew, which made her look more mature. But I was really hoping she'd come up with something soon, because Drew was about to win the standoff.

"That's it! You failed!" Drew smiled triumphantly as Annabeth continued not to speak. Everyone had quieted down now.

Annabeth looked her dead in the eyes. "So did your dad's condom."

The entire cafeteria erupted in "OH!"'s. Reyna and Leo got up and started jumping around, yelling, "OH SHIT!" Or, "HOLY FUCKING SHIT!" I decided to join them.

Annabeth just stood there through it all, while Drew stood, glaring, but stumped. Annabeth smirked at her with her arms crossed. Drew stormed off, her minions following close behind. I went up to Annabeth and smiled so wide, her face breaking into a grin as well.

"That was so fucking awesome!" I yelled over the noise.

"Thanks!" Annabeth laughed as I slung my arm over her shoulders.

What a badass. 

She was really was perfect.

><•><

"Hey Chase!" Luke called from down the hall. Two of his football goons stood behind him, all three of them smirking.

"Oh, Luke," Annabeth closed her locker and walked up to them. "I saw this abnormally large pile of dog shit on the sidewalk today, and I thought of you." Annabeth gave him a fake smile. Piper laughed and I snorted from behind her, making her smirk. The others in the hallway found that funny as well.

"I drove by an animal shelter with dogs at the windows and thought of you." He smirked.

The crowd that had gathered didn't give many laughs. It really wasn't that great of a joke.

"You know that acting like a dick isn't gonna make yours any bigger?" Annabeth asked sarcastically. Everyone laughed.

"Yeah, 'cause you'd know about his dick!" His brown-haired friend called.

"Please, I have standards," Annabeth crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. But I could feel the nervous tension around her. I knew why. Everyone 'ooh'd.

"That night at the party begs to differ." Luke smirked.

That son of a bitch.

Annabeth halted. "What." She asked through gritted teeth. Her fists were clenched and I could see her muscles tense through her shirt.

"You know what I mean." Luke had an evil look in his eye.

Annabeth marched forward, right up to Luke's face. "You know what happened at that party, and we didn't have sex. So stop lying." Annabeth growled lower than anyone else could hear. Even I could barely understand it, but I knew enough to figure what she was saying.

"I'm not lying," Luke had the nerve to laugh. I wanted to knock his pearly whites out right then.

"You're really that desperate?" Annabeth stepped away and spoke a bit louder now. "You have to lie so people think you can still get laid? That's depressing."

"But I'm not lying." Luke insisted. "Why are you?"

"I'm not lying. I wouldn't have to lie because I wouldn't fuck a douchebag like you in the first place." Annabeth retorted angrily.

"You're still lying." Luke said.

"Yeah? So was your mother when she said you were a miracle." Annabeth glared at him. Everybody laughed, I as well. Then Annabeth turned and stormed off. I had a scarce idea of where she was going, or what she was doing. But by pure instinct, I followed her.

><•><

I found her pacing behind the bleachers, jaw clenched, eyebrows furrowed.

"Hey," I walked up to her. "Are you okay?"

"He's gonna—He's gonna," she stumbled over her words. Her steps became more frantic.

"Annabeth," I tried to get her attention. "Annabeth." I grabbed her shoulders and held her in place. She abruptly looked up at me, and her eyes were filled with fear. I had rarely ever seen Annabeth so scared; she was normally the one to make other people scared.

"He's gonna tell everyone that we had sex, Percy." She said miserably. "And then I'm gonna have to tell the truth and I—" she took a shaky breath. "I can't." Her voice cracked. She sounded so distraught and broken and my heart ached for her.

"It's gonna be okay," I tried to soothe her. "Because once you tell the truth, Annabeth—"

"Everyone's gonna think that I'm lying. That I'm a slut and a whore and that it's my fault because it is my fault and I—" She rambled, turning and putting her hands through her hair.

"Hey, hey, hey," I made her meet my gaze, one hand on her shoulder, the other under her chin. "This is not your fault. And once you tell the truth," I started, staring her straight in the eyes. "Everyone is gonna see what a horrible person Luke is. And, maybe there are other people in the school who went through what you did, and do you know how much that will help them? Annabeth, I promise you, people are not gonna blame you. I don't. Piper doesn't, neither do Jason and Reyna and Hazel and Frank and Leo and Calypso." I listed. "No one's gonna blame you." I looked deep into her eyes. Out faces were just inches apart, and I could feel her breath fanning my cheeks, feeling warm in the cold air.

"Really?" She whispered.

"Without a doubt." I smiled at her.

She smiled back at me. "You're a pretty good friend, Jackson."

"Just returning the favor," I smiled before slinging my arm around her shoulders as we walked back inside the school.

><•><

Percy: where are you?
Percy: are you ok?

I had texted Annabeth about fifty times. I was supposed to drive her home, but I couldn't find her. I searched everywhere, with the help of Jason, Leo, and Piper, but we couldn't find her. I was starting to get worried, because I didn't know if she was okay.

I decided I'd do one last sweep around the school, double checking in case I had missed anything. I started my walk, checking everywhere. I didn't find anything until I made it to the back of the school, where I heard some familiar voices.

"You shouldn't lie, it's really not right." I could practically hear the smirk in Luke's voice.

"You better cut the shit, Castellan," I knew exactly who that growl belonged to. I had just found Annabeth. "Stop telling everyone that we slept together. We didn't." I could tell she was waiting for the right moment to pounce on him. I peeked around the corner.

Shit.

Of course, Luke couldn't go anywhere without his little posse. Three of his goons stood behind him, making it four to one. I knew that Annabeth could take care of herself but still; it really was not looking good. I didn't like her odds. So, I readied myself to jump in if needed, though I really hoped it wouldn't come to that.

"Why should I stop? What are you gonna do?" Luke taunted.

"Well, after I beat the fucking shit out of you, I'll tell everyone what really happened." Annabeth threatened, her voice getting quieter. I peeked around the wall to see she had stepped right up in his face.

Annabeth had guts.

I mean, to confront someone who nearly raped you, especially how she's confronting him—I'd never be able to do it. I had such a respect for Annabeth for all that she puts up with.

"Really? Who's gonna believe you? No one, if you have no proof." Luke narrowed his eyes at her.

But she does.

I imagined that that would have been a great time for me to step in and kick everyone's ass like the badass guy in movies, but this wasn't a movie, and I wasn't a badass guy.

"But I do have proof." Annabeth challenged.

"Really? What proof?" Luke asked, a cruel smile played on his lips. "People aren't gonna believe your word against mine. The new girl could just be looking for attention. Now, they all know me for four years. How could they possibly believe that their star line backer would try to rape someone?"

"I have proof." Annabeth nodded, smiling now. I couldn't help but smile a bit too, because it was true. I was her proof. I was there. I saved her.

"What proof?" Luke asked again, through gritted teeth.

"Well, if you're so sure that no one will believe me, then it doesn't really matter, now does it?" Annabeth taunted.

"You're just bullshitting me. You don't have proof. She's bluffing." He announced.

"But I'm not." I saw the game Annabeth was playing. She really was clever.

"Then tell me. Tell me what proof you have!" Luke raised his voice.

"Why? Why does it matter if no ones gonna believe me?" She taunted.

Luke had a fire in his eyes. He lunged forward and swung. Luckily, Annabeth had been anticipating that. She ducked and then grabbed his arm, twisting it. My attention was pulled from Luke when his sidekicks jumped in. They went to get Annabeth off of Luke. I couldn't help myself; I surged forward, distracting all of them. I punched one in the face, and dodged the grabs the others made at me. I kneed one in  the crotch, making him crumple to the floor. As I was doing all of this, I was vaguely aware of Annabeth fighting Luke. It looked like he had caught her, from the blood trickling from the corner of her lip. I wanted to march up and fight Luke, but I knew I couldn't. And Annabeth seemed like she had gotten a few hits in herself. Luke's nose was bleeding and his lip was busted. I stood my ground against the others. I was able to get another one down, knocking him out with a punch to his temple. He'd be fine.

There was just one left. He just so happened to be the biggest of the three. He had to be at least 6'4, about two inches taller than me. He was also huge. Like, everything about him—his head, his arms, his chest. I was gonna have to try really hard with this one.

He went to swing at me, but I ducked, then grabbing his arm and jamming in his elbow. He spun, allowing me to kick him in the back into the wall. But he wasn't going down that easily. He came back and swung, which I wasn't expecting. He hit me in the jaw, making me stumble. Then, with me thrown off guard, he tripped me, making me fall flat on my back. I groaned in pain, squirming a bit.

"Percy!" Annabeth yelled. Before I could see anything else, the huge figure looming over me, was kicked back. He hit the wall, and fell to the floor. I realized that Annabeth had kicked him, and that she was now standing over me. "Stay back!" She screamed. Her chest was rising and falling quickly with heavy breaths.

"Aw, there she goes, protecting her little boyfriend again." Luke teased.

Annabeth glared at Luke with more fury in her eyes than I had ever seen. I realized that I wasn't gonna let Annabeth fight this alone and protect me. I came her to protect her. And that was exactly what I was going to do. I gathered up all my strength and stood. "Percy, no," Annabeth whispered to me.

"I'm fine." I said. Physically, I was definitely not fine. But that didn't matter. I needed to get Annabeth out of here. "Beat the shit out of me, I don't care. I'm used to it. But let her leave."

"Percy, I don't do heroics. We both win this, or we both go down." Annabeth spoke lowly in my ear.

Before we could argue anymore, Luke came forward. He went to kick me, but I grabbed his foot. I shoved him back, making him fall.

"Go!" I yelled. Annabeth decided to listen to me for once and ran. I followed after her while Luke was still down. He decided he wasn't finished. He caught up to me, but I quickly turned and threw a punch, hoping that I would hit him. The universe seemed to be on my side today. I landed a left hook right to his temple. I quickly turned and kept running, not wanting to wait and see what happened.

When we finally got to my car, we quickly got in and drove off, out of the school parking lot. I took that chance to calm myself down, regulating my breathing. I pulled up in front of Annabeth's house. After a few quiet minutes filled with nothing but our heavy breathing, I decided to strike up a conversation.

"Are you insane?" I looked at Annabeth.

"Probably."

"I'm being serious. You could've gotten hurt way worse than you did." My voice was firm, and I was angry. "You can't keep picking fights with people Annabeth—"

"I can do whatever I want, Percy. You don't dictate my life. I can take care of myself." She said stubbornly.

"I know that, Annabeth. But there's a point when you need to slow down and stop." My voice kept raising, as did my anger.

"Don't tell me I need to slow down. Luke was being an ass, and he deserved that—" She was getting louder as well.

"I know that he did, but you don't deserve to get hurt!" I yelled.

"You know what, I don't need this from you!" She yelled and got out of the car. She slammed the car door shut and walked up to her door. I drove off, my jaw clenched and my grip tight on the steering wheel.

•••

Authors note

Ooooooof
Yo I'm so tired
Just wanted to pop in
Thanks for all the reads. Don't forget to comment, vote, etc. thanks and love you guys!!
-bella💕