¹On This Spring Day.

013.

               For a short while, they did get along. But it didn't last. Nothing ever did. ( AJ knew Violet would call him a pessimist for thinking the way he did, and she would be right. ) And that pessimistic attitude only became worse the third day Annabeth was back at Camp.

               She walked into the Arts & Crafts Center, a notebook filled with pages held close to her chest. "AJ." Her voice was meek, almost hesitant.

               He stopped carving his halfway-done painting of the night sky. "What?"

               Annabeth smiled fondly at the painting, as if reminding her of better times. She shook her head. "I need to talk to you."

               "Oh, do you?" He dropped his paintbrush in the cup neck to him, ignoring how Annabeth flinched at the sound. "You didn't before."

               She opened her mouth to respond, but sighed, and closed it. It was a minute before she spoke again. "AJ, I feel bad for what happened."

               "I'm sure you do."

               "But we were kids."

               The burning feeling became worse. "What do want, Annabeth?"

               "I just want to talk." Her grey eyes looked glassy in the light. She blinked quickly. "About anything. About Violet."

               It always seemed like such cruel irony to AJ that he would become best friends with the girl who also became best friends with Annabeth. Despite what he thought he would've done, he never held it against Violet. Maybe that was because she didn't push them to become a friend group; she kept Annabeth and AJ separated ( because they themselves never took the initiative to hang out ).

               ( Or maybe he didn't hold it against her because he knew no one would ever be as good of a friend as Violet. )

               His jaw clenched. "Violet?" he asked.

               "Yeah." Annabeth swallowed. "Um, I knew you two were really good friends."

               "We are, yeah."

               The daughter of Athena watched him for a moment. "You don't care to talk?"

               I do care, he thought. I care a lot more than I should.

               He took a breath. "I guess not."

               Annabeth gave him a tentative smile. "You're art's gotten a lot better. Have you picked up weaving? A lot of my siblings really like weaving."

               "Annabeth." AJ gave her a hard look. "What did you want to talk about Violet?"

               The smile melted, and a look worse than heartbreak crossed Annabeth's face. "I need to tell someone. But I don't know who else to talk to."

               He frowned. "What?"

               "You've had to have noticed," she said, confusing him. "The way Violet's been acting?"

               "Yeah. Yeah, we had—we had a fight right before you guys left." His eyebrows pinched together. "I've felt ... horrible about it."

               That only seemed to fuel Annabeth's mission more. "You asked her why she was being so flakey, right?"

               He nodded. "... Yeah. She brushed me off. Maybe some pretty shitty lies."