Annabeth's POV

"You can't just avoid Percy forever," Piper said as she swiveled back and forth in my desk chair.

"I can try." My voice came out muffled through my pillow.

"It's been four days. I think that the both of you need to get over your big heads and just make up already. Annabeth, Percy is your best friend, after me, of course." Piper waved her hand. "But in all seriousness, I've seen it. You two just click. And I can tell no matter how much you deny it, you're miserable. You miss him, and you want him back." Piper sounded really genuine, and I found myself agreeing with her. I did miss Percy, more than I'd like to admit. I just didn't understand what I did wrong; it didn't make any sense to me. But, none of that mattered; it stood no chance against my persistence. No matter how miserable and sad I was, my stubbornness out ruled it. I flipped over onto my back and sighed.

"Just make up with him already. Trust me, you will feel so much better once you talk to him again," Piper concluded.

"I just don't get it." I sat up. "I mean, yeah I was grateful that he helped me, but why was he so mad? We got out fine, and I got what I wanted." I sounded miserable, even to myself. "But why did we start fighting?" I asked more so myself than Piper.

"There's only one way to find out." Piper stood up, a smile on her face. "Let's go make up with Percy." Piper grabbed her coat and marched out of my room. I groaned and flopped back into my pillows.

Piper marched back inside. "No!" She grabbed my hands. "Get up!" She struggled to pull me off of my bed. I relented and got up. "Come on," she whined. "Annabeth do you think I like seeing you all mopey?" Piper's eyebrows furrowed.

"No," I mumbled.

"And if I know what's gonna make you feel better than don't you think we should go do that thing?" Piper asked, still holding my hands.

"I guess." I hung my head low and looked into Piper's kaleidoscope eyes. I could never decide what color they were; green, blue, brown. But I could decide one thing; there was sympathy behind all that color. Sighing, I realized she was right.

"Alright." Piper's smile was evident in her voice. "Then throw on your coat and shoes, 'cause we're going to see Percy."

"Can I at least change?" I gestured to the sweatpants and tank top I was wearing.

"No, there's no time!" She exclaimed a little dramatically. "And trust me, Percy won't care. He thinks you look good in anything." She winked and walked out of my room.

I scowled at her, but found myself blushing. I sighed and pulled on my jacket, grabbing my shoes and heading down the stairs.

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"Alright," Piper announced. "We're here!" She unbuckled and got out of the car. I kept my eyes on Percy's building as she came around to my side of the car. She opened the door.

"I don't wanna do this." I shook my head.

"Come on!" Piper grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the car. "You can do this. You are going to go in that building, make up with Percy, hopefully make out—" I elbowed her. She just snickered. "And make your life a million times better," She said, staring at the building with me. "Ready?"

"No."

"Let's go!" And with that, Piper dragged me into the building. I went one way towards the elevator, she went the other way towards the stairs. "We gotta get you hyped up," she encouraged.

"And sweaty? No thanks," I retorted.

"Oh, you'll be fine." Piper swatted the air dismissively.

I groaned and let Piper drag me towards the stairs. "Next time," I whispered towards the elevators, reaching my hand out. Piper rolled her eyes.

Once we had finally made it up the six flights of stairs, I was out of breath, and really dreading what Piper was making me do. I took a deep breath while Piper whispered little encouraging things to me. They didn't help much.

"Here." I stopped at Percy's door. I swallowed. I started to try and prepare myself when Piper interrupted me.

She knocked three times. I stared at her with huge eyes. "Have fun." She smiled then ran down the hallway to the elevators. I scowled and muttered a curse at her. Seconds later, the door was opened, and Percy appeared.

His clothes were disheveled, his hair was a bit messier than usual, and the slightest bit of peach fuzz ran along his jaw. He still looked hot. "Annabeth?" He asked, running a hand through his hair, then over his eyes. I assumed he had just woken up from a nap. His voice was still thick with sleep, and he seemed to brighten ever so slightly when he said my name. That tiny change made my insides melt. I tried to focus.

"Hi," I said, sounding unsure, which was pretty accurate as to how I was feeling.

"What's up?" He asked, stretching. I caught sight of his stomach when his shirt came up, and damn that kid really is toned. I fought down my blush.

"Well, um, I need to talk to you," I decided.

"Well, come inside." Percy stepped aside, letting me in. I muttered a thanks. I heard him close the door behind me. I went into the living room and sat down. I couldn't hear anyone else in the apartment, so I assumed that no one else was home, which was good, in case this turned into another screaming match.

Percy sat down, and no one said anything. The silence felt heavy and the tension was thick. The air was still, and neither of us moved.

"What did I do wrong?" I asked, breaking the silence. I looked Percy straight in the eyes, and his snapping up and meeting my gaze immediately.

"Annabeth," Percy sighed. "You didn't do anything wrong. You just... scared me," he mumbled.

"How did I scare you? Percy you know that I can take care of myself, I've been doing it for a long time." My eyes bore into his.

"I know, it's just..." he trailed off. "I don't want you to get hurt." He sounded a bit distraught and completely genuine.

"Percy, I would've been fine. When are you gonna stop worrying about me?" That came out meaner than I intended.

"The thing is, I'm not Annabeth." Percy's voice started raise. The smart thing to do was lower my voice, and try to calm him down. Of course, that pretty much flew out the window in the heat of the moment.

"Well you should!" I yelled. "I'm gonna do what I want, and you can't control me or my decisions. I'm a big girl, Percy, I can handle myself!"

"How do I know that?!" He threw his hands up. "With the shit that you've gotten yourself into, I can't do anything but worry!" He stepped closer to me.

"Fine! I can't stop you from feeling how you do, but from now on, don't interfere with what I get myself into, because apparently, it's too worrisome for you!" I mocked him, stepping forward as well.

"It wouldn't be so bad if you weren't so irresponsible!" He shrugged his shoulders.

"Oh, I'm irresponsible?!" I shouted. "How many times have I had to help you with your shit?!" I got right in his face, looking up into his eyes, which churned like a raging sea during a storm.

"Doesn't matter! You don't seem to worry about me anyways!" His eyes bore into mine. We were so close, I could almost feel his chest brush against mine as they heaved up and down with our angry huffs.

"You know what? Fine! I don't worry about you, I don't even care about you anymore!" I shouted, heading for the door.

"Really? You are so ridiculous! Now I know why your mother left!" He shouted.

I halted. My entire body froze. I felt as if I had been slapped.

"Annabeth, I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean it, I—" Percy began to stumble over his words, trying to apologize. I was so hurt and blinded by anger, the words barely even registered in my mind. I turned and walked up to him, practically seeing red. I brought my hand back and—SMACK!

I slapped Percy in the face as hard as I could. I stood there, while he grabbed his face. He didn't say anything, and I finally composed myself enough to get out a whisper. "You really are an asshole."

Then, I turned and ran out of the apartment, down the stairs, and out of the building. I walked home in the cold weather, not really caring. It felt nice for a little while against my hot skin. I sighed and walked quicker as tears started to form in my eyes.

I finally got home and ran inside the house. I didn't even bother to acknowledge Helen as she began to ask me where I've been. She stopped her question when I marched right up the stairs and into my room, slamming the door.

I leaned against the door and slid down, until I was seated on the floor. "You're not gonna cry over him," I muttered to myself over and over. It didn't work. I cried. I cried and I cried and the tears wouldn't stop. I couldn't tell if it had been five minutes, or an hour when someone knocked on the door.

"What?" I asked, trying to keep the tears out of my voice.

"I know I'm the last person you'd want to see right now," I heard Helen's muffled voice through the door. I rolled my eyes, but surprisingly she was wrong; she was the second  to last person I'd want to see at that moment—Percy won the number one spot.

"But no one else is home, so it's just you and me," She said. Her voice was surprisingly warmer than usual. More caring, more... motherly. "Can I come in?" She asked.

Ideally, my dad would be here, because he actually knew my mom. But did I want to talk to my dad about Percy, and just boy problems in general? Not really. But it wasn't like I had a choice.

"Fine." I scooted a way from the door to the other wall, not bothering to stand from the floor.

The doorknob turned, and Helen appeared in the doorway. She had a sympathetic look on her face—not something I was used to. She walked in and stood in front of me. She held out her hands, nodding her head and giving me a look, Come on. I relented and grabbed her hands, letting her pull me up. She brought me over to the bed and we sat. A few tears still streaked my puffy, red face, but they at least had slowed.

"What happened?" She asked, still holding my hands.

"Well, Percy and I fought the other day," I choked on my words, starting to cry again.

Helen pulled into a hug, and I let her. I put my head on her chest and she stroked my hair. "I know, I know," she whispered. Once I felt that I had gotten out most of the tears, I sat up again. I took a shaky breath, trying to prepare myself for what I was about to say.

"Percy and I fought the other day, because I did something stupid and he got mad at me because he was scared I'd get hurt." I watched as Helen kept her eyes on my the entire time. Of course I was surprised, but at the moment I was too upset to feel anything but needy, and Helen seemed to be here for me, so I would take what I could get. "We hadn't talked for a couple days, and that's why I stayed home from school," I admitted. Helen gave me a quick look with a small smile before I continued. "I went to go try and fix things today, but it completely went to shit." I waited for her to correct my language. When she didn't, I just continued on, trying not to read too much into this. "We just fought again, but this time was even worse because he..." I choked on my words. I started to cry again. Helen wiped my tears, telling me to take my time. I nodded, sniffling. "He said, 'Now I know why your mom left.'" I started crying again, and Helen pulled me into another hug.

"I'm sure he didn't mean it," Helen soothed. She stroked my hair.

"I know he didn't," I sobbed. "Because he said so right after but it still hurts. Why does it hurt so much?" I said miserably. I cried into Helen's bathrobe, which was soft and felt nice against my skin. Helen hugged me, not letting go.

"I shared such a vulnerable part of my life with him, completely trusting him with my feelings and my secrets and my trust," I continued. "And he goes and says something like that?" I sniffled. "It's not fair. I've never done anything like that to him, and I know that he didn't mean it but it still hurts so so, so bad." My shoulders shook as my body racked with sobs.

"I think it's because, like you said, you feel like he betrayed your trust. But if you know deep inside that he didn't mean it, than you should focus on that." Helen rubbed my back. "We've all said things at one time or another that we don't mean," she continued. "Like me, for instance. There are plenty of things that I've said to you that I don't really mean."

I pulled away and looked at her. "What do you mean?" I furrowed my eyebrows. I was really confused now.

"Annabeth, I don't hate you." Helen shook her head.

I laughed, though it wasn't genuine. "That's a good one," I snorted.

Helen chuckled. "I'm serious. When I first started seeing your father, all he could talk about was you. As things got more serious, I became so excited to meet you. I only ever had the twins, and don't get me wrong, I love them more than anything on this earth, but I've always wanted a girl. I was almost had a baby girl, but I lost her before she was born." Helen had tears in her eyes now.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know." I sniffled and squeezed her hand.

"I know, you couldn't have, it's okay." She sniffled. "But I met you, and I was so excited. I thought that this would be my chance to get as close to having a daughter as I could. Now, that doesn't mean that I wanted to replace your mother. I know how much you loved her, and I know that she loved you. But I thought maybe I could be like a surrogate mom for you.

"Anyways, we met, and you hated me. At first, it was kind of funny, but soon it became real. I'm going to be honest, I was heartbroken. I was so upset, and I stared to fake that out on you, and I am so sorry. That was so childish of me and I just, I was hurt, because you didn't like me," She chuckled sadly.

"I'm so sorry. I've been a bitch to you which is unfair. You just wanted to be here for me but I pushed you away. I seem to have made a habit of that." I started to get choked up again.

"It's okay," Helen said. "I forgive you, and things will work out with Percy. I promise. Give it some time. Give yourself and Percy a chance to cool down, collect your thoughts, and figure it out. All friends fight, but best friends always find a way to make things good again." Helen smiled at me and cupped my cheek.

"Thanks, Helen." I smiled at her, despite the tears dripping from my chin. Helen wiped my tears with her thumbs.

"And Annabeth?"

"Yeah?" I looked at Helen.

"You've been so good with the twins. You seem to love them just as much as I do." Helen smiled at me, and I saw a hint of pride.

"I do." I nodded, smiling.

"I'm glad they have an older sister like you."

"I'm glad I have little brothers like them." We both smiled and laughed before sharing one last hug.

"What do you say we binge watch The Office?" Helen gave me a smile with an eyebrow raised.

"How do you know what that show is?" I laughed.

"I watched it when I was younger, and I hear you watching it in here all the time." Helen stood up.

"Okay," I said, standing up as well. I followed her downstairs, and into the living room. I plopped myself on the couch as Helen went to make tea.

Who knew that through all of this, Helen would become my support?

I certainly didn't.

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Authors note

Phew. Done. 2,584 words later. 11:01 pm. Oof. Hope you guys liked. Thanks for all the reads! Don't forget to vote, comment, etc. thanks and love you guys!!
-bella💕