𝐆𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐒 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐍𝐄𝐑𝐃𝐒 | 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐀𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐇

chapter 10

Annabeth's P.O.V.

When I got to school on Monday, everything was weird.

I had my glasses in my school bag, ready to do whatever Percy had planned, but clearly, it was clever. Everyone in the school was wearing glasses. Even Drew.

I crossed paths with Piper in the hallway.

"What's going on?" I asked her. "How come everyone has glasses on?"

She frowned. "Haven't you heard? It's national glasses day. Everyone has to wear glasses!"

Piper continued walking to class, leaving me alone in the corridor.

I thought for a moment, but what was going on was pretty obvious. Percy had planned this, and obviously, the rest of them agreed to go along with it.

But how he had gotten the whole school involved, I didn't have a clue.

I walked to English class, where I was going to ask Percy why the hell this was going on.

I sat down in my usual spot. Surprisingly, Percy wasn't there.

He ended up coming to class late, which never happened.

"Are you okay?" I asked, hearing the worry in my voice.

He nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"You're not," I said, looking at his neck. There was a huge bruise-looking thing.

He hid it well, but not well enough; I could still see it. Even though all I could see was a small purple part of his bruise, I could tell that it probably ran down his stomach.

"I don't wanna talk, okay?" he said, adjusting the glasses on his face. I gave a small, sad smile, but nodded and respected his wish.

After class, everyone seemed to stare at me in the halls. Probably because I was the only one not wearing glasses.

When I passed Drew in the hall, rolling my eyes, she said; "You're such a loser. You don't even follow the trend."

I punched her in the face and kept walking.

At lunch, I met up with Percy, Leo, Grover and Piper and someone else, who I was actually pretty familiar with.

His name was Jason. He was Drew's ex-boyfriend. They broke up a few days ago, and ever since, Drew hasn't let him sit at her table, so he's kind of a loner now. He had blonde hair and electric blue eyes. Jason also had a scar above his lip (something about making out with a stapler?). He was attractive, but nothing compared to Percy.

Woah, wait, what? No, that was crazy. Just forget I said anything.

"Jason, here, is in my science class. we're lab partners," Piper continued.

Jason smiled. "Hey." He looked at me and nodded. Probably because I stood up to Drew. And knowing her, the whole school probably knew by now.

During lunch, we chatted and laughed and overall had fun with the newest member of our group; Jason Grace. He was actually pretty cool. And he admitted to being a total history geek, which made me like him even more.

He kept mentioning that he was single, but by the looks that he and Piper were giving each other when the other wasn't looking, I couldn't be sure.

They somehow convinced me to wear my glasses for the rest of the day, and to be honest, it felt really good. The world came into focus, everything more detailed. It was spectacular. It had been so long since the last time that I had worn these. The world seemed to be getting closer. It seemed to want to be seen. To want to be known. I had to thank Percy for this later.

Percy hadn't uttered a word to anyone after what happened in English class, so I decided to talk to him after school.

I met him at the front of the school.

"Step-dad," he said, quietly, motioning to his neck. I wonder how he knew what I was going to say.

"You know that you can talk to me, right?" I said. "I'm going through almost the same thing."

He smiled sadly. "I guess. But this time was different. He was gonna kill her. I knew he was. So I jumped in to stop and took the rest of the beating for her." He looked me in the eyes, locking his gaze onto mine. "I've never been so scared."

I hugged him, and he started crying, not caring about the weird looks we were getting. I knew the person he was protecting from his step-dad was his mom.

Percy kept on crying, and I never let go of him. At that moment, I didn't care how much of a beating I'd get for coming home late because all that mattered was Percy, and I wanted him to be okay.

Finally, after what seemed like a half-hour, we parted. How could he be crying for so long?

"Sorry about your shirt," he said, laughing a bit. It was nice to see him smile after that break-down.

I looked down and saw that I was soaking wet.

I laughed. "It's okay."

After a few moments of silence, I said, "You, know planning this whole glasses thing was really sweet of you. You're a great friend, Seaweed Brain." I didn't even question how he had done it. That was a question for another time.

"Back at you, Owl Head."

"C'mon," I said, "let's go home."