Annabeth opened her locker to put away her books and grab her backpack, ready to leave for the day. She took her backpack off the hook and slung it across her back. She closed her locker and turned around, frowning when there were three boys behind her. "What do you want?" She deadpanned, noticing how they were all a little startled at the fact that she wasn't startled. The middle, and probably the leader, of the three got over it quickly and smirked.
"We want to give you a present," he said, the boy on the left turning so that the one in the middle could dig around in his backpack. Annabeth raised her eyebrow and tapped her foot as she waited.
"Whatever this is, could you hurry up? I have to meet my boyfriend soon or he'll start to get worried about me." She rolled her eyes and checked her watch for the time. She looked up just as the ringleader finally retrieved what he was looking for from the other boy's backpack.
Her eyes immediatly locked into what he was holding.
A small glass jar with an abnormally large daddy longleg sitting inside.
"From the science class room," he said, bringing the jar closer to Annabeth's face as she stared at it, eyes wide and while body frozen stiff with fear.
Arachne's face flashed in her mind.
The boy opened the jar and tilted it, dumping the spider onto Annabeth's shoulder.
She screamed, tears flooding her vision as her head filed with images from her quest to find the Athena Parthenos(?).
She still hadn't stopped screaming.
Her knees gave out and she fell to the floor as she stared at the wretched creature crawling down her arm.
The boys stumbled back in shock, but Annabeth payed them no mind, having no attention to spare on them, all of it taken by the spider on her arm and the memories surging in her head. She sobbed and her chest heaved though her arm stayed perfectly still, she was terrified to move it, for fear of setting the spider moving again.
She couldn't move anyway, she was petrified with fear and memories that flashed across her eyes.
Her continuous screaming broke as she had to stop to take an impossibly deep breath and started screaming again, this time her boyfriend's name. "PERCY! PERCY, HELP ME! DON'T LET ME DIE DOWN HERE!" She sobbed and screamed and stuttered and muttered and the boys standing in front of her stared in shock.
The middle boy turned to the other two. "P-Percy is her boyfriend's name? Y-you don't think it's P-Percy Jackson, do you?" He asked them, eyes wide.
The right one shook his head quickly. "I-It couldn't possibly be! She just transferred here a week ago! Girls have been trying to snag him since the beginning of the school year! He always tells them sorry, they're not his type and that he has a girlfriend..." he trailed off as realisation hit all of them like a ton bricks. (A/N Don't let Jason find out! XD)
"You don't think this is her, do you? I mean, everyone always thought that he was just saying that to try and get them to leave him alone," the boy on the left said, wringing his hands together. They all looked at each other, concerned.
"What the Hades did you do to her?" A voice roared from the end of the hallway and Annabeth sobbed in relief as the footsteps sprinted quickly down the hall.
"Percy! Percy, get this thing off me!" She cried, her voice ragged and choked as she kept her eyes on the spider, seeing a flash of tan skin and battered jeans that fell too short on impossibly long legs. But she didn't have to be able to see him to know what Percy looked like in that moment.
The three boys stared at Percy with wide eyes before the middle one got up his courage to step forward and stick his chin out. "It was just a joke, dude." He said. Annabeth heard Percy snarl. The boys looked at Percy with hidden fear as he glared down at them, his raven hair falling in his face and his usually bright eyes dark now as he growled and bared his teeth at them like a wild animal.
"A joke?" His voice was low and quiet, dangerous. In the back of her mind, the part that wasn't completely occupied with the spider and flashbacks, Annabeth though, oh man are those boys in trouble! Percy usually saves that voice for monsters or enemies.
The boys all gulped and took a step back. "A joke?" Percy's voice rose to a yell and the boys flinched. "Well you had better leave now before I completely loose my cool and do something that we'll all regret. And if I ever find out you hurt my girlfriend again, I will not hesitate to put you in your place, do you hear me? I have been expelled from plenty of schools, I don't mind adding this one to the list if need be." The boys nodded furiously and turned around and quickly high-tailed it out of there.
Annabeth continued to stare at the terrifying thing sitting in her wrist the entire time, not moving. Percy crouched down next to her and slowly reached over to pluck the spider from its perch and then quickly threw it on the floor and stomped on it with his shoe. As soon as it dissapeared under her boyfriend's black New Balance sneakers Annabeth let out a relieved cry and flung herself onto him, knocking him over and sobbing into his shirt. Annabeth squeezed her eyes shut and tried to control her breathing as Percy wrapping his comforting arms around her and held her to him, protecting her.
Annabeth always felt safe when she was wrapped in his arms, like nothing could ever hurt her. Percy stroked her hair and murmured comforting things in her ear.
When Annabeth had finally calmed down, Percy got to his feet and helped her up to her own. He put his arm prospectively around her shoulders and glared down the hallway in the direction the three boys had run off in. "Just a joke my ass." He muttered, probably cursing them to their graves and asking Hades to punish them when they die.
Annabeth gave a shaky laugh and playfully slapped his arm gently. "Come on now, Seaweed Brain, they couldn't have known that I would react like that. Calm down. You don't need to kill them, I'm fine now. Just a little shaken up." She said, gently rubbing her hand up and down his arm. Percy glared for a little longer before sighing.
"Alright," he turned back to her. "As long as you're okay, then that's all that matters." He said, leaning down to place a small kiss on the tip of Annabeth's nose. She giggled and pecked his cheek.
"Let's go Seaweed Brain."
Word Count: 1172
So, I feel really bad about not updating and kinda disappearing to write Invalid, so I hope you liked this!
I'm in the car though so I don't have internet.
Give me two or three hours maybe and then I'll have internet again and I'll be able to see your comments.
Have a nice day/night/time!
Yours in demigodishness and all that,
Annabeth_Jackson_12 <3