PERCY
What have I done? I never should have gone away with Miley. I should have just ignored her. Now because of my stupidness, Annabeth is mad at me. I watched her as she walked away from me and Thalia, who was staring me down.
"What?" I asked her.
"How could you do that to her?" Thalia demanded. Even though I knew she was trying to sound mad, her voice was soft. "You're the only person she actually loves." I didn't reply. How could I do that to Annabeth? I was a terrible boyfriend. Thalia was saying my name, but I just kind of sounded her out. Would Annabeth break up with me, or would she just ignore me? I decided to stop worrying about it and go clean up, like Annabeth said. Ignoring Thalia shouts for me to get my butt back there, I walked to the boy's bathroom. Thankfully, it was empty. I walked over to one of the sinks and started to wash the lipstick marks off of my face and neck. I had to let myself get wet, which sucked because the water in these bathrooms came in one setting- ice cold. Once my face was lipstick free, I fixed my hair and you wouldn't even know that I had been making out with a deranged mortal girl.
Hearing the door open, I tried to act as casual as possible- until I saw the person who entered the washroom. It was Matt Sloan. A crooked grin found home on his ugly face when he saw me. I turned to walk out, but Matt just slammed the door shut. Hopefully he wasn't thinking on having a make out session with me, too.
"What do you want, Matt?" I asked.
"Heard you and your girlfriend had a falling out," he said. He still had the same, obnoxious voice he had when I met him in the seventh grade.
"We didn't have a falling out," I told him.
"Then why did I see her walking around crying and mumbling, 'Stupid Percy...'?" I wanted to slap that grin right off his face. Annabeth was actually crying? No, Annabeth's tougher than that... She wouldn't cry... Would she? Matt laughed.
"Looks like there's going to be two more single people in Goode soon," he said. I glared at him.
"We're not going to break up," I said stubbornly. Matt laughed his annoying laugh again. I clenched my fists, and I felt a tugging feeling in my gut.
"Well lets just wait a couple days," he said, "before you know it, she'll be my girl-" I don't remember moving, but the next thing I knew, I was griping Matt's neck and holding him a few feet off the ground. His eyes were wide and his face was turning a light shade of red.
"Don't you ever touch her," I whispered, "she's my girlfriend, and even if she wasn't, she isn't dumb enough to like a jerk like you." Matt was gasping for breath; I was choking him. I didn't care. His skinny hands were trying to pry my fingers away from his throat. But I kept my grip firm. Matt's face was bright red. Then he smirked. He freaking smirked.
"I don't know," he breathed, "Annie's pretty dumb. I mean, she's dating you after all." My fingers tightened around his neck. No one talks about Annabeth that way. Matt closed his eyes shut for a second, tried to breathe, then opened his eyes.
Suddenly, his eyes became wide and he made a choking noise. His brown eyes focused on something behind me.
"The... The water..." he gasped. Still holding him, I turned my head around. Every single sink was overflowing with water and spilling onto the floor. I muttered a curse, released Matt and ran to the sinks to turn them off. I heard the mortal land with a thud, the squeak of sneakers. When I turned back around, he was gone. I managed to clean up all the water pretty fast. The bell rang, and I needed to get to class. I ran out of the bathroom, and was greeted by mumbling and staring. Great, Matt had probably told everyone that I had tried to strangle him. (Well, I kind of did, but he didn't have to go telling everyone.)
I thought that I would get away from the gossiping when I got to class- I thought wrong. As soon I stepped into the room, whispering and muttering broke out. A couple of Matt's 'friends' glared at me. Girls winked and waved at me flirtatiously. I looked out for Annabeth, and I finally spotted her sitting at the back of the room. I rushed over to her and sat down at the desk next to her. I reached over to grab her hand, but she pulled her sweatshirt sleeves over her hands. She didn't even acknowledge me.
"Annabeth," I said, staring at her. Annabeth continued to look at her hands.
"Annabeth," I repeated with more force. She took a breath and faced me. I expected her eyes to be red, just like Matt said, but they were normal. They seemed even greyer than usual, if that was possible. She didn't talk to me. She just stared at me with her angry face. I pulled her hands out the sleeves and held them.
"Annabeth you have to understand that I don't like Miley like that. I never have and I never will. What happened in there, it was all her. I didn't want to kiss her, I never want to kiss her. You're the only girl I want to be with-ever. No matter what anyone else says to you, I need you know that nothing happened in that closet-" Annabeth kissed me, which both surprised me and relieved me. When she pulled away, she kept her face close to mine.
"I believe you," she said softly.
"You do?" I asked, my voice just as soft. She nodded and pulled away. I felt like I still needed to apologize for something, but I didn't know what. Annabeth crossed her arms.
"Oh, by the way, I heard that you tried to strangle Matt Sloan," she said, pursing her lips. I felt my face heat up.
"Well... I wouldn't say I strangled him... I just put my hand around his neck until he couldn't breathe," I said. Annabeth raised her eyebrow.
"Percy," she said. I sighed.
"Fine, I tried to strangle him," I admitted. I waited for Annabeth to start yelling at me, but the shouting never came. I looked back up at her. She was just staring at me.
"You know, you can't just fight your way through all your problems," she said quietly so no one else would hear.
"I know..." I mumbled, "But he was talking about you!"
"He was, was he?"
"Yeah. He said that you were dumb and stupid for dating me." Annabeth smirked.
"Well I guess we can hurt him a bit for that can't we?"
"So we can hurt him if he says bad things about you but not me?" I asked. Annabeth nodded.
"Yeah, pretty much."
Just then, the teacher walked in and class started. For the next hour and a half, we talked about the gods. I almost started laughing when Mr. Roshon said that when gods have children with mortals, they create fictional people called demigods, or half-bloods. Thankfully, Annabeth kicked me in the shins before anyone noticed.
____________________________________________________________________________________
"So you actually tried to kill him?" Liam asked in shock.
"I didn't want to kill him," I said, "Just strangle him for a couple seconds." Liam laughed.
"He'll never live that down," he said, "more than half of the school has already heard about it." Annabeth squeezed my hand under the cafeteria table. Just then, the cafeteria silenced. Every single head turned towards the entrance. I looked around, and saw the last person I wanted to see. Matt walked through the cafeteria with four or five other guys trailing behind him. He wore a scowl on his face, glaring at whoever dares look at him- which was 98% of the room. Beside me, I heard Connor mumble, "He looks like a loser." Matt strode to the back of the cafeteria, where he sat at a table with his friends. In a few seconds, conversation started again and it became as loud as ever.
"That's the famous Matt Sloan?" Travis asked.
"Yeah," I said. Travis stared at Matt with his mouth open.
"He looks like a geek!" He said very loudly. Katie shushed him. "I've seen scarier kids in the Aphrodite cabin!" I was about to yell at him, but then I remembered that Liam and Jordyn knew about our lives. Silena glared at him.
"Hey!" Silena said.
"It's true!" Connor said, defending his brother.
"It is true, Silena..." Katie said quietly. Silena crossed her arms, and took another look at Matt. She sighed.
"I guess you're right..." she mumbled. Travis looked proud of himself, like he couldn't believe that he won an argument.
Soon, the bell rang, meaning lunch was over. We all got up and separated, each going to different classes. Annabeth and I had English with Paul. Unfortunately, Kelli the empousa was also in this class. When my girlfriend and I walked in, the monster focused her golden eyes on us. She looked like she was going to attack any second. Annabeth and I decided to sit as far away from her as possible, but as soon as we sat down, Kelli came and plopped herself down in front of us.
"Go away," Annabeth said. Kelli just smiled.
"Nah, I'm good here," she said. I rolled my eyes just as Paul walked into the class. He started talking about some dead guy who wrote an amazing novel and is now famous blah blah blah.
It was the middle of class when things started to go wrong.
When Paul had his back to board, Kelli turned and faced me. Her eyes turned red. Her teeth grew into fangs. Her fingernails became long claws. She was turning into a monster in front of everyone, and nobody even knew. I had to kill her before she could hurt anyone. I pulled Riptide out of my pocket, and Annabeth saw. She turned her attention away from the lesson and looked at Kelli. She slowly put her hand on the hilt of her knife. Seeing us prepare our weapon, the empousa stood and walked out, hissing. Paul turned and looked at me. Seeing the expression on my face, he nodded, meaning I could go. I grabbed Annabeth's arm and pulled her out of the class, the sounds of whispering disappearing behind us.
We ran into Kelli in an empty hallway. She stood there, a full monster. I was still kind of confused with the whole donkey/metal leg thing. Kelli smirked and hissed at Annabeth and I. I uncapped Riptide and it grew into a bronze sword. Annabeth held her dagger in her hand. The three of us stood- no one daring to make a move. But eventually, Kelli started creeping towards us. Annabeth took one step, but Kelli raised her hand and swung it across Annabeth's face. She cried out a curse and fell to the ground.
"Annabeth!" I yelled.
"I'm fine!" she called back, clutching her face. I approached Kelli, and was surprised when she didn't hit me. Instead she just smiled and stood close to me. She said some words in a language that I didn't understand, but I listened to every word. I started to feel very light-headed and weak. Suddenly, Kelli hissed and cried out in pain. Annabeth was at her side, digging her knife into Kelli's arm. Kelli turned and swung her arm across Annabeth's body, and Annabeth flew across the hallway and slammed into the lockers nearby. Her body went limp. Kelli hissed at her, then turned and faced me again. But it was too late, because my sword was already sticking out of her chest. Kelli shrieked, and exploded into golden dust. I stared at the scattered monster dust on the floor, when I heard someone moan my name.
"Percy..." I realized that it was coming from Annabeth. I almost forgot about her. I ran up to my girlfriend, who wasn't moving.
"Annabeth," I choked. Annabeth lifted her head. Half of her face was covered in blood. She took shaky breaths.
"Fine..." she whispered. I shook my head.
"No, you're not fine," I told her. Annabeth's eyes drifted down. I followed her gaze, and saw that the tips of her hair were soaked in red blood. I moved her hair to the side, and saw the wound.
Staring at her right shoulder and ending at her left, the skin was cut open, leaving a huge bleeding scratch. Kelli cut through her sweatshirt and shirt. I touched Annabeth's arm gently and she winced.
"Oh my gods..." I said quietly. Annabeth forced me to look at her. She raised her shaky arm and pointed upwards.
"My locker..." she breathed, "Ambrosia... Nectar..." She closed her eyes and bit her lip. I stood up and opened Annabeth's locker. A container of nectar and a few ambrosia squares at on one of shelves. I quickly grabbed them and crouched down in front of Annabeth. Her eyes were closed, but I could see that she was in serious pain. Tears slipped out of her closed eyelids.
"It's going to be ok," I whispered to her. Annabeth opened her eyes and the corners of her lips curled slightly.
"Thank you," she whispered back. Her voice was so soft, I could barely hear her. I unzipped her sweater and it fell to the ground below her. I pulled her shirt down her shoulder so I could get to the wound better. Of course it was awkward, but at that moment, I didn't care. I was only thinking about saving Annabeth.
"This might hurt," I warned her. Annabeth nodded. I started to pour a bit of the nectar on her cut. Annabeth started to scream, but she bit her lip and leaned her head against the locker.
After a few minutes, what used to be a serious bleeding cut was now just a thin scar. I looked up at Annabeth, who's eyes were closed.
"It's ok," I said quietly, "I'm finished." Annabeth slowly opened her eyes and looked at her wound. Looking at me, she faintly smiled.
"Thank you," she said again. Her face was still covered in blood.
"Your face," I said. Annabeth raised her hand and gently touched her cheek. When she pulled it away, her eyes slightly widened at the sight of her blood.
"It's from where Kelli scratched you," I said, noticing the open cut below her eye. I put an ambrosia square in her hand and folded her fingers around it. "Eat," I said. Annabeth took a few bites out of the godly food, and the cut on her cheek closed up. Annabeth stopped eating and dropped the square. Her hands were shaking. I grabbed them gently.
"You ok now?" I asked. She took a breath and nodded. I kissed her softly. She kissed me back, her hands sliding up my arms. I pulled away, and touched my forehead to hers.
"I love you," she said.
"I love you too," I replied. I helped her up and stand properly. I noticed that Kelli mad a huge hole in Annabeth's shirt, a place where a girl's shirt shouldn't have a hole in it. So I quickly took off my hoodie and wrapped it around her shoulders.
"Here," I said. Annabeth smiled at me.
"I'm gonna go to the bathroom and clean up," she said, pointing to her bloody face.
"Ok." I watched her walk away until I couldn't see her anymore.
ANNABETH
"You're pathetic," I spat at the blonde-haired girl facing me.
"You're pathetic," my reflection spat back. I sighed and started to wash the blood off of my face. I watched as the pink water swirled down the drain. I couldn't believe that I let an small empousa like Kelli hurt me this badly. I defeated worse things when I was twelve years old! Washing the blood out of my hair, I thought about Percy. How he took care of me, how he knew exactly what to do. I always thought that if he was put in this situation, then he would just start panicking and freaking out like he usually does when something goes wrong. But he was mature about it. I dried my hands and face with a paper towel and walked out of the bathroom to meet Percy. He smiled faintly when he saw me.
"How do you feel?" He asked. I shrugged.
"Ok, considering I almost just got killed," I said. I noticed that he had some golden dust on his forehead.
"You have monster dust on your face," I told him, raising my hand and brushing it away.
"Thanks," he said, "So, do you want to stay here, or do you want to go home?" I thought about it for a second.
"I'll stay," I said, "I'm fine." I zipped up Percy's blue hoodie. It was pretty big on me, but I didn't care that much. Just then, the bell rang and mortals started filling the hallways. I realized that I still had my dagger in hand, so I quickly stuffed it in Percy's sweater pocket.
Percy and I started walking to our next class, when I heard a shout behind us. Before I could even turn around, someone grabbed my shoulder and turned me around. I saw an angry-faced blonde-haired girl standing behind us. I almost groaned when I saw her.
"What do you want, Miley?" I asked. Her brown eyes darted from me to Percy.
"What happened to Kelli?" she demanded. I quickly glanced at Percy, who did the same thing.
"W-what do you mean?" I asked nervously. Dam it, why did I stutter? Miley crossed her arms.
"What happened to Kelli? I saw you two run out of class with her. Now she's gone. What did you do to her?" I was lost for words. What would I tell her? I definitely wasn't going to tell her that she was an empousa and Percy and I were demigods. But what could I say? Thankfully, Percy spoke.
"She, uh, went to visit her uncle..." he said quickly. Miley looked at him and raised her eyebrow.
"Her uncle?" she repeated. Percy looked at me for a second, then looked at Miley.
"Um, yeah. Her Uncle... Uncle Tartarus... Ok Annabeth lets go," he said, grabbing my hand and turning around.
And with that, we left Miley standing there, probably wondering who Uncle Tartarus was.