(Friday)

It had been a  lot over a week since my "engagement".
Life had been moving forward as normal. College. The bookstore. Home. ignore dad etc

I tried my hardest to avoid Annabeth. However, every time I looked at her it seemed that my heart would do a little happy dance and my lips would automatically pull up into a smile.

Was I allowed to feel this way when I was engaged to someone else? Even if I was doing everything I could to get out of said engagement?
I didn't have any feelings for Rachel. She was nice and we got along relatively well....but...
I didn't want to marry her.
And she knew that.
Well....at least I hoped she knew that.

A couple of years ago, while my mom and dad were going through a divorce, mom dated a man named Gabe.
That smelly little piece of shit cheated on my mom several times. And was a horrible abusing drunkard.
Mom used to send me off to summer camp so I didn't have to deal with him.
But she was completely broken.
I remember coming home to find her crying while Gabe was passed out on the couch.

I despised him with every fibre of my being.

But luckily he was hit by a car and slammed straight into a stone wall.
So in simple terms,
He dead.

"Percy!" a voice said from behind me. Speak of the angel. I whipped around to see Annabeth, Jason behind her.

"Annabeth?" I questioned. What was she doing here?

DID I SUMMON HER?!

She looked beautiful as usual. Her hair was up in a ponytail and she wore a grey skirt, with stockings and an oversized shirt tucked in. She fit right in.

"I'm getting a tour of the school. Great Aunt Aphrodite is getting me enrolled here" she grinned. She looked so excited that it made me excited.

"Wait really?! Why haven't you told me ?" I demanded.

"Well" she chewed her bottom lip, "we haven't had any time to talk all week"

Right. I felt a pang of guilt in my gut.

"How about Percy finishes the tour?" Jason suggested. He tapped his watch, "I have a test"

Of course, Jason, ever the gentleman and teacher's pet, would have been tasked with giving Annabeth the tour of schools.

I looked at him in horror, "You have the option to miss a test...but you still want to take it?!" I asked.

Truth Time! I...I may have avoided her for the week. And I intended to do so now as well. Until I could get out of my engagement at least.

He rolled his eyes, "Annabeth, Percy will do the test of the tour."

With that being said, the blonde betrayer sprinted off to his next class, not giving me a chance to protest. I could have sworn I saw a grin on that smug idiots face.

Now that left me...to awkwardly initiate conversation.

"So...how have you been?" I asked, scratching the back of my neck. What was I supposed to ask?!!!

Annabeth rolled her eyes, "Just get on with the tour seaweed brain," she said with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

I did. It was awkward at first, me stumbling around the school and pointing at random things like chairs and trees. However, we both fell into sync naturally, laughing at all the stupid menu items in the cafeteria.

"And that's it I guess," I concluded, feeling proud that I could drag this tour on to miss at least two periods.

"That was some excruciating detail," Annabeth grinned. She raised her hands above her hair to tighten her sagging ponytail.

And that's even I noticed the dark splotches on her skin as her sleeves shifted.

"What's that, Annabeth?" I asked her, all the awkwardness dissipating. The light jovial mood had immediately disappeared, refilled by rage.

I could tell they were burn marks.

Smelly Gabe used to find it amusing to use me as his personal ashtray.

She froze. Like literally froze. She brought her hands down to tug her sleeved, her movements alarmingly fast. She kept her head down as if trying to will me to disappear.

"Nothing," she mumbled, bringing her dark eyes to meet mine, "I have a rash"

I rolled my eyes. The bell rang and students were stepping out to go to their classes.
I grabbed Annabeth's forearm gently and dragged her into the closest storage room.

It was painfully small and we were packed in there. She stood extremely close to me. It made my heart beat so fast I worried she could hear it. We were practically pressed against each other, shelves filled with cleaning supplies all wound us. The only light in the room emanated from a small dirty window. It illuminated Annabeth's face.

I could see her sweeping dark eyelashes, the bags underneath her eyes, her calculating stare. Her embarrassment once she realized our close proximity.

I moved a strand of hair from her face, levelling her chin so she could look me in the eyes, "That is not a rash. I can recognize a burn mark, Annabeth. I'm not stupid"

She bit her bottom lip. The simple gesture made a wave of emotions go through me, the same emotions I've been pushing down for weeks. I tried suppressing it again, but it only came back tenfold.

"Not like you care," she said, staring at me hard, "You've been avoiding me like the plague. Go back to doing that Percy, it's the best for both of us". She took a step away from me, crashing into the shelf behind her. She threw her hands up in exasperation.

And she stepped out of the closet in a graceful motion and slammed the door behind me.

That was the exact moment I felt my heartbreak. A palpable crack.

The door locked itself with a snap like fate decided to punish me further. Fuck the stupid fates of Greece.
I tried the handle, but it broke.

Just my amazing luck

I was finally let out of the closet by a confused freshman. The only memory which played on my mind for the rest of the school day was the look of pure disappointment on Annabeth's face.

Oh, fuck it!

When the bell rang, I walked straight out the school gates before my next class, to the only place I hoped I could think peacefully. I got in my car and drove.  The burn marks on Annabeth's arm was a picture that was burnt into my mind.

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Hello!!!

Imma try and do frequent updates on Sundays but my life is currently a mess so we'll see!😭

If yall are bored of waiting for this story to upload, go check out The Choosing (A Percabeth Au) on this very account.

That's completed so you can....idk binge read it or something

(It was also Percy's birthday yesterday and I didn't wanna upload it then cause it isn't exactly the happiest chapter)

But...............

(Turns out Seaweed brain is 28 years old now and my heart...felt a palpable crack! Haha!

No in all seriousness, I feel so old 😭😭😭)

So.....I don't know how to tune out so I'm just gonna say GO WATCH SHADOW AND BONE!!!

Thanks for reading!

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