Annabeth's pov:

It had slowly occurred to me that the others would want to sit down and probably have a celebratory feast. Right now, I was sitting at the dining pavilion, the exact spot in which they were trudging off to.

I cursed myself, hoping to go to the infirmary without anyone seeing me. In fact, that area was practically my home now.

"Who's that?" A person asked, their voice too far for me to recognise.

"I don't know, the new camper?" Some boy said. "Feel sorry for her."

"I know right?" A person said, laughing a little.

I tilted my head in confusion. What was happening today, that would affect me? I would be in the infirmary all day long, which meant I would definitely not be a part of whatever they were talking about.

"Hey, new camper!" A person called, a voice that I was dreading. "We're going to eat, it's this way."

I kept my head down, starting to shake a little as they realised they were getting closer.

"Are you okay?" A girls voice called out- a voice that definitely sounded like Hazel's.

"Yes," I replied in a horrible deep voice, I didn't want them to recognise me.

"Come on guys," my heart stopped as another voice turned out to be Leo's. "Let's leave her be, and let's go eat!"

"You sure you're okay?" Hazel asked again, she was coming closer and I feared that she could see my hair.

"Yes, definitely." I said, my voice sleeping. "I've got to go to the infirmary, bye!"

She sighed. "You sure you don't want me to bring you some food?"

"No, but thanks anyways." I cursed in my head, I had forgotten to change my voice.

Hazel seemed shocked for a second, and I took that as my chance, running back to the infirmary.

"She saw me." I said, to no one in particular.

I then realised that there was no one in here except for me. Crap, I thought. They're all eating.

Just then, the door burst open, revealing a very tired Will.

"Chiron- said," he put his hands up, breathing heavily. "He said to come to the dining pavilion."

I shook my head. "Everyone is there."

Will shrugged, holding my arm and taking me, despite my loud protests.
I needed something to conceal my face, maybe a cloak? No, that would make me look like I was going to terrorise everyone here.

"A jacket with a hood!" I cried out to Will, we were nearing the place and I was desperate.

Will paused for a moment. "What?"

I quickly let go of his hand, and sprinted to the infirmary, trying to find the hoodie I had spotted earlier.

I smiled as I noticed it hanging limply on a chair, picking it up quickly and going back to Will.

"Oh, thank the Gods," he sighed. "I thought you had left me."

I rolled my eyes, pulling the hood over my face and trying to act natural. Trying.

Will went off to sit at his table, with all the other Apollo kids. I, for one, didn't know who I should sit with. Although I knew Athena was my mother, it didn't feel right sitting next to total strangers.

I sat at the very back of a random table, people looking at me curiously.

"Let's address the new camper here." Chiron said, giving me a knowing glance. "Stand up, please."

I quickly stoop up, then sat down at the same speed, trying not to get noticed.

"Why so jumpy?" A boy asked.

"Must be a monster or something." A  girl said. "Or she probably doesn't believe in any of this."

"She looks a lot like Annabeth." A blonde boy said, my heart stopping.

"Please," Chiron said. "Introduce yourself."

I gave him a warning look, my eyes glancing at the others. The whole area was silent, me saying my name was probably going to make the whole camp jostle with excitement.

"Come on, just say your name!" An annoyed Aphrodite girl said.

"Cat got your tongue?" An Ares boy said, his camp sniggering at what he said. That wasn't even a joke, I thought to myself as I wrinkled my nose in disgust.

"Why doesn't she want to be seen?" Jason said, my heart stopping once again. Seriously though, I felt like I would get a heart attack at this rate.

I felt my hood come off, a strong wind had managed to make it fall. I gasped, pulling it back on, but the damage had already been done.

I had expected everyone to stand up, or start coming at me, but they all sat in their seats. No words were pouring out of their mouths, my sudden arrival causing them to stay transfixed in their spot.

Bile was managed to sneak its way past my throat, and I disgustingly swallowed it, my head throbbing a little. Why did I always feel so weak? I thought, struggling to gain balance.

"Annabeth, are you okay?" Chiron asked, the camp starting to murmur as he said my name.

I nodded weakly, holding onto my head to try and stop the pain. It felt like someone was stabbing my skull hundreds of times, the pain increasing as they carried on. I let out a small cry as my stomach started to pain too. Gods, I thought. Must be the stress.

I didn't even care that people were watching me know, I was in pain and that was all mattered to me. I knew it was the stress anyway, the stress that had built up over the years.

It started when I was seven, when one night after I had woken up screaming from a nightmare, Helen burst into the room, complaining that I had woken up the boys. I was fed up, fed up that all she cared about was them. She didn't take it that well, and started shouting at me, my dad watching on the sidelines.

I ran away to forget it all, but it kept on coming back. The nightmares, the ear splitting screams, the shouts, the sympathetic glances from bystanders, everything really. I didn't talk about it to anyone, so as it increased over the years, causing me to form a protective wall over myself.

Once in middle school, my teacher told me that stress was a contributing factor to early deaths. I sat silently at the front of the classroom, my teacher giving me confused looks everytime I didn't ask a question. I would be suprised too if I was her, most of the time I would answer all the questions, and contribute as hard as I could, but that day? No, I was too scared over the fact that I had the biggest bounty out of all those teenagers sitting there.

That statement kept me up the whole night that day, but I was kind of grateful for it meant no nightmares that still terrified me to this day. I thought so much, that when it was time for me to get up, I had made a decision.

That I was no longer fearful of death. I would look death in the eye, and not shed a single tear as I let out one last breath. That was definitely a dark time for me.

I had to move schools for unknown reasons, and I just stopped. I stopped being the Annabeth Chase I was usually known as. The nerd, the one who couldn't speak without stuttering, the one who although was timid, wasn't afraid to kick you into oblivion. I had changed into a cliché popular girl, the one you'd see in movies. The one who, although complained about and hated, you'd secretly rooted for them.
I had changed into that, and in my second school, people began to know me. People began to fear me, but I wasn't fully evolved yet.

I was still nice, never talked about anyone behind their backs. Until I met Drew.

Drew to me, was snobby and a real pain in the butt. She would try and snake her way into my friends group, which currently consisted of Thalia, Piper and Hazel. One day, after a particularly long math lesson, I let her sit with us. She managed to attract so many boys, that my popularity increased, and me and Drew were at the top.

I hated to admit it, but I forgot about my real friends. The one who liked me for who I really was, not the fake personality I had managed to show to most people. I could see why Thalia started to hate me, in fact I was starting to hate myself too.

Then Drew found out about my secret, the one that ultimately caused all this, and I had no choice but to become friends with her. No, not friends, alliances. If she had a problem, I'd fix it, if she hated my friends, I'd ignore them. I was wrapped around her finger and I didn't even know it.

Then Percy came, I was still known as the queen of the populars, known to bully other kids. Everyone who weren't popular hated me, talked about me behind my back. But I didn't care, as long as they didn't know about my secret then I was safe.

Percy and the others hated me so much, that I had a fight with them. The fight literally broke me, and I couldn't go back together because I was broken so many times, that parts of me were missing. I didn't know how many times I cried at night, but all I remembered was my hair was usually damp from all the tears my pillow had suffered once I woke up. I had decided to hate the others too, and they found out how much i hated Drew. Drew found out, and my secret was now dangerously close to being out. The stress that had built its home on my head, was starting to unleash and become bigger than ever.

My eyes were burning so much, that it hurt to cry, and I vowed that day that I would get them back, and I did. I thought that if I did this, everything would go back to normal and they'd shut up about me already. But I just felt empty, even more empty than before, and I didn't know what to do.

Percy's secret was soon coming out, and he did the unspeakable. He hurt me, not mentally but physically. That didn't suprise me though, if I was him about to be known by the whole school that I was abused, I would definitely try to kill the offender. Percy's friends were all appalled, and I had managed to scurry away, so weak that I had managed to leave a trail of blood.

We had become friends after that, and if you want the whole story then, (go read book one, ya freaks XD) then I don't know, but I thought that I could finally open up my walls and breathe, but it had all come crashing down on me.

Everything become so distant, my friends, my school work, my mind, I was shattering more and more, and no one was there to help me pick up the pieces.

Then I came here, and although how much I wanted to accept all this and forget all of my problems, I couldn't. My old memories were like a parasite, holding on to me and continously irritating me.

I couldn't take it any longer, I just couldn't.