POV: Annabeth
Jason practically charges over to Percy.
"Where the fuck have you been?!" The rest of the party comes to a screeching halt.
"Here." Percy doesn't even so much as glance at Jason.
Grover walks over to him, calmer than Jason did, and motions for everyone to go back to whatever they were doing.
"Percy...... Percy have you been drinking?"
Grover glances at the game of beer pong. It's not great if he was drinking, but the way Grover asks it seems like a bigger deal.
"What?! No! I switched everything to Kombucha and these people were all too wasted to notice."
"Oh. Ok, good."
Percy's eyes seem to soften and he looks apologetic.
"Why didn't you answer any of our calls?" Jason demands.
In response, Percy pulls out a cellphone that's so cracked it looks like it's going to shatter in his hands.
"This thing isn't working as well as you might think."
"Perce, maybe we should get out of here. We can take you home or to one of our houses." Hazel's voice is soft and reassuring, but Percy still tenses.
"You guys can go, but I'm staying."
Gods, he's stubborn.
I don't push back, though. Instead, I walk over to him and grab a pingpong ball.
"Alright, Seaweed Brain. How do I play?"
Percy laughs and Grover shakes his head and goes to the other side of the table.
The others look at us like we're crazy, but eventually they probably figure out that Percy's not going home and the best thing we can do in this situation is try and take his mind off of it.
Thalia joins Grover's team and the rest of the group disperses throughout the house.
I almost throw up from the Kombucha, so Percy drinks mine.
Why is it so vinegary?
At a certain point we get bored and head out to the pool.
I've never been a fan of pool parties. Especially considering their probably 33% piss, 33% chlorine, and 33% alcohol.
I feel bad for whoever has to clean it.
Piper runs over to her house to get some swimsuits and I end up wearing a hot pink bikini that makes me look a little too much like Barbie.
It's ridiculously cold out and dark by the time we actually get in the water, so basically everyone else has already gone back inside.
"Percy, why do you still have your clothes on?!" Piper asks.
Sometime during the day he changed into shorts, so he's wearing those along with a shirt.
He scratches the back of his neck and does his classic trouble maker grin.
"Listen, Piper. I like you a lot. You're a great friend, but I just don't like you like that. I also don't feel comfortable with you flirting with me with Jason sitting right here," he slaps Jason on the back and everyone starts snickering. "It's not you, it's me."
In return Piper splashes him and kicks him in the shin.
"Seriously, though. Why do you still have your clothes on?" Leo asks.
"Why do you think?" Percy snaps back.
It makes me kind of sad to see how Percy's and Leo's relationship just fell apart.
I obviously understand why Percy's mad and doesn't want to forgive him, I wouldn't be very forgiving in that situation either, but they've been friends for such a long time. It's so weird how you can go from loving someone so much to hating them more than you ever loved them.
And as to why Percy doesn't want to take his clothes off is pretty obvious.
The whole reason we're even at this party is because we came to check up on him after he was beat up.
"If you feel more comfortable with your clothes on then you should, of course, keep them on. Just know that we would never judge you, Percy. We want you to be comfortable around us." Hazel swims over to the edge of the pool where Percy is sitting and pulls him into a gentle hug.
How can a person be so sweet?
Percy hugs her back and once she swims back over to Frank he pulls his shirt off and everyone audibly gasps.
Percy gives us a weak grin. "I know. Super hot, right? You should all close your months so you don't catch flies." This time nobody laughs.
It's worse than I could have ever imagined.
"Percy," I start, but he just shakes his head.
"I'm fine. It's nothing."
"It's not nothing!" I exclaim and he just shakes his head.
"Please, Annabeth. I'm fine."
He looks so pained and on the verge of tears.
"No! You don't get to 'please, Annabeth' me! I've been trying to let this all go and not push you, but for God sake, Percy! Look at you! You. Need. Help. And you need to let us help you!" I can see the reflection of my bright red face in the window and everyone around me seems stunned into silence.
"Alright, so what's your plan?"
"What?" I respond, dumbfounded.
"How would you help me?"
"I-"
"Would you fistfight my abusive stepfather yourself?" I flinch at how he says it almost casually. This is also the first time he's outright admitted it to us that he's being abused. Or to me, at least. "Or do you think it's just as simple as calling the cops or child services, so I can be put into foster care or some shit. Gabe also has friends, Annabeth. People who owe him and have already given me multiple black eyes before. So tell me, what's the plan?" He grabs another bottle of kombucha and practically gulps it down.
"Percy?" Frank asks softly. "Where is your mother?"
Percy's glare makes everyone take a step back and he pulls himself out of the pool.
"Everyone just back the fuck off! There's nothing you can do! Don't you see that? It doesn't even matter anyways. I've lived like this for most of my life and I've survived without anyone running to save me!" He walks away angrily and mutters "God, that sounds so depressing. Maybe this feeling is why people drink."
He closes the screen door behind him and sits down on the couch with his wet clothes.
I can see Grover glancing at him to make sure that he doesn't leave.
I start to pace in the pool, which is a lot harder than it seems, and put on what Thalia likes to call my thinking face.
"There has to be something."
"Annabeth," Grover begins. "For as long as Percy is stuck in that house I will continue to rack my brain on how to help, but right now he just needs our support and a safe place to stay when things get tough. I've been trying my whole life a-"
"Well, maybe you just haven't been trying hard enough!" I exclaim. I can feel my cheeks heat up again.
"FUCK THAT! I'm the only one who has ever fully stood by him. I help him cover his bruises when he comes to school. I pick him up when Gabe kicks him out. I patch him up when Gabe beats him down. I'm his shoulder to cry on and, hell, sometimes I'm even his punching bag. I'm trying as hard as I can!" He slumps down in the water and glances defeatedly back at Percy.
"Why would you help him cover up his bruises? That's just enabling him." Leo says.
Grover growls at him. "Enabling him? He's not a fucking addict. And when your best friend comes to you, given you haven't already slept with his girlfriend, with a few broken ribs and a smashed up face. What would you do? Knowing that you can't call the cops because he'd hate you and you don't know if that would give him a worse or better life than he has now. You also can't confront his stepfather because he would quite literally murder you. Please tell me what the fuck you would do?"
Leo has shrunken down and half of his face is now in the water. "Sorry," he mumbles.
From the corner of my eye I can see Percy getting up to leave and Grover seems to notice too, so he gets up to leave.
Now instead of defensive Grover just looks defeated. "I'm trying the best I can," He whispers as he's drying off "see you later, guys."
Nobody seems in the mood to stay, so we all dry off and leave. Frank and Hazel drive me home and I check in with Grover to make sure everything is okay.
Apparently, Percy's staying at Grover's until further notice.
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
The lights are on in the kitchen and there's an extra car in the parking lot so I assume that my father is here.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck knuckle shit!
I haven't spoken to him since the famous phone call.
Suddenly, I'm regretting telling my father that he should fuck off. Not because he didn't deserve it but because he'll probably be in a shit mood and take it out on the boys.
I open the door and Helen immediately rushes towards me.
"I'm so so so sorry, honey." She says and grabs my bag from me.
"Wha-"
"Hello, Annabeth." My head snaps up immediately when I realize who's talking.
When my mother left the boys weren't even born. I got one postcard of Athens from her a month after she left and that was it.
Looking at her now I realize how much I really do look like her.
I don't let her know that my knees are shaking and I want to burst into tears at the sight of her. I don't let myself slap her in the face and I certainly don't let on to the fact that I also want to hug her and beg her to never leave me again. Instead I give her a sarcastic smile.
"Hi, Athena. Did your plan to abandon your family finally backfire and are you here in need of money. Or no, wait, you came here for me. You wanted to try and repair our relationship, is that it? No, of course not. I've got it, my father called you and told you that I've been acting out and that you're the only one that can knock some sense into me."
She remains silent and I hear the boys playing upstairs with my father.
"Well, which is it?"
She sighs. "The latter."
Helen seems to be holding her breath so I reach for her hand to give it a squeeze.
"Frederick!" Helen calls. "Get down here! Right now!"
He comes stomping down and pauses when he sees my mother.
"Hello, Athena. I didn't know you were here yet." He stares at her for a while longer until Helen pulls him down the rest of the stairs and pushes him towards me.
"Hello Frederick, how are you?"
My mother has always had the best poker face. She never seems to get nervous and she jumps head first into awkward situations without any fear. Which explains why she is now standing in her ex-husbands living room in the house he shares with his new wife, his new kids, and the daughter she abandoned. The only problem with this skill is that I'm not so sure that it is a skill. Maybe what happened all those years ago just didn't affect her at all. Maybe she just doesn't care.
"I'm doing well. How a-"
"Where are you staying, Athena?" I cut my dad off.
"Excuse me?"
"Where. Are. You. Staying?" I kick my shoes off and lean against the wall with my arms crossed.
"In an apartment in the city." She responds.
"Is it your apartment?" I ask.
"Well, yes. It is mine." She takes a sip of her tea that I'm suddenly wishing was poisoned.
"Do you live there permanently?" My face starts to heat up and I ball my hands up into a fist.
She nods.
"For how long? How long have you lived in an apartment approximately 30 minutes away?!"
My father clears his throat but we both ignore him.
"Three years." She states calmly.
"Well then, go fuck yourself, Athena."
She seems to brush off my comment.
"No, I'm serious. Go back to what I'm sure is a beautifully architectured penthouse, lie down in your cold, cold bed, think about the fact that your going to die alone and the only thing that's going to miss you is your money and your cat, and go fuck yourself!"
"Annabeth." My father warns.
"Did you know about this, Frederick?" Helen asks timidly from the corner, but I can see her hands practically shaking in anger.
"Did you know that this woman has lived in the same city as your daughter for the last three years and you haven't told her?"
My father opens and closes his mouth like a fish and remains silent.
"Well then, Frederick. You should go fuck yourself too." Helen states matter of factly. If I were drinking something it would have come out of my nose. Helen never curses.
Helen goes to the kitchen and squeezes my shoulder on the way out.
"Well, father. I'm not sure what you were trying to accomplish by inviting her here, but it's safe to say that your plan failed. Was your plan to have her kidnap me? Or just sit down and talk to me? Because I hate to break it to you, but I have zero respect for this woman. I used to admire her career, at least, but now I don't. So unless you guys want to talk to each other, which by the way would be ridiculously awkward and weird, you should go, Athena. Go back to your empty apartment and sit there by yourself because you left the only people who ever cared about you. And Frederick you should either go back up stairs to hang out with the boys because I'm sure you were only up there for ten minutes or you should just go back to work. Now, I'm going to bed. I didn't think my night could get any worse, but it did. Goodbye."
I storm off and go upstairs to say hi to the boys before I retire to my room.
I hear Athena's car drive away as I sit down at my desk to finish up some homework.
I hear a knock on my door and Helen comes in with a bowl of popcorn.
"Hey, kid." She places the bowl down next to me and sits down on my bed.
"I'm really sorry about today. You don't deserve any of this. Your father is staying the night and maybe tomorrow. Let's just say that he's definitely sleeping on the couch tonight. I just wanted to tell you that I'm proud of you and that I'm always here for you." She gives me a hug and gets up to leave.
"Hey, Helen?"
"Yes, honey?"
"I really wish you could have been my mother."