Breathe (Percabeth AU)

VII: The First Day

This chapter is ok ish (at least in my eyes) but enjoy reading anyways! Also, thank you for all these reads!! We hit 1k recently! ❤️

Monday, September 3rd
7:50 am - the main entrance of Goode High School

"I can't do it." Annabeth stared at the mob of students flooding into the school. She felt anxiety building up inside her, a lump in her throat threatening tears. She tried to swallow it.

"Yes you can," Thalia convinced her. "I will be at your side the whole time. Well, if we have the same classes," she pointed out.

"That doesn't really help," Annabeth said, trying to take deep breaths.

"Right. Sorry. Anyways, you'll be fine, Annie. Come on," Thalia tried to reassure her, dragging her up the grand steps and into the school.

You've been here a million times, she told herself. You even like this place a little. She decided to believe herself. She was still worried though. However, the loose shirt and ripped jeans she wore seemed to do a good enough job at hiding her barely existent baby bump.

"No one knows, or is gonna know," Thalia whispered to her. "You will be fine."

Annabeth tried to focus on where she was going.

After weaving through large crowds of students, they finally made it to the main office, getting their schedules and locker numbers. They made their way to their lockers, which were luckily side by side.

"Oh, look who it is," Thalia said. Annabeth closed her locker, looking to her left. She was met with a familiar pair of striking green eyes.

"Hey," Percy said, smiling kindly at Annabeth. His gentle expression somehow gave Annabeth a second of clarity. She gave him a small smile back. "You okay?"

Annabeth took a deep breath. "I think I'll be fine." She nodded. She began organizing her locker just like every other year. Her tiny mirror was stuck to the inside of her locker door, as well as a picture of her and Thalia. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out a picture of her and Luke. Suddenly, she wanted to cry. She swallowed her tears, thinking of how she would probably never see him again. Yet at the same time, there was a sense of relief. Annabeth still couldn't figure out why. Of course, she was hurting. It was a different kind of pain, though, not the worst she's felt. No, the worst she had ever felt was many years ago. She decided not to think about that.

"Hey," Thalia said, appearing behind her and placing a hand on her shoulder. "Don't look at that." She took the picture from Annabeth. A few tears slipped from her eyes. "Come on," Thalia said with a kind of New York accent that made Annabeth laugh. "Don't do that," she said, wiping Annabeth's tears away.

"Thanks,"

"Are you okay?" Percy asked from behind her, his eyebrows furrowed with concern. Annabeth couldn't help but think he looked a bit cute.

"Yeah, I... I'm actually okay now." They all chuckled.

Suddenly, they were swarmed. This tended to happen when you're the popular kid. Percy's friends came first. A scrawnier boy walked up to Percy, "long time, no see, huh?" Annabeth identified the boy (or really man, at this point—he had been held back a few years) as Grover Underwood. He wore the same clothes that Annabeth had seen before; baggy jeans and a tie-dye t-shirt. Next up was the Stoll Brothers—Goode High's star troublemakers. She had heard of some of their pranks. A lot of them weren't her style but she had to admit, they were well planned, which was something Annabeth could appreciate. The identical boys clapped Percy on the back and poked him in the side in greeting. A familiar face suddenly smiled at Percy next—Charles Beckendorf. He was one of the kinder kids on the football team. Annabeth only knew him through Silena Beauregard, for the two had been dating since freshman year, and were completely in love. She noticed Nico DiAngelo lurking quietly off to the side, his presence brooding and dark. Finally, a face she knew quite well; Jason Grace. A few more kids, mostly from the swim team, joined the group. She was barely in acquaintance with half of those people, but she was a very observant person.