percabeth ; the babysitter

chapter 20

"Hi," I said, walking over to Annabeth, who was leaning against a wall alone.

She looked up from her phone, immediately turning it off as soon as she recognized me.

"Hey?" she said wearily.

I scrunched my brows together. "What's wrong?"

"Hn? Oh, nothing!" she replied hastily, picking up her backpack and stuffing her phone into it. "Next period is soon so I'm gonna head out?"

She pointed to the halls that were getting crowded from students coming out of their clubs. I smiled slightly, letting her take the lead.

"Annabeth," She met my eyes reluctantly. "I know you aren't fine. I know you and Luke-"

She grabbed my collar and pressed me onto the nearest wall. Her face was just inches from mine.

Her eyes bore into mine. "Don't utter that bastard's name in my presence ever again."

I sucked in a breath and found the nerve to smile back. Her eyes flickered with surprise but they darkened once again.

"Consider me warned," I said. "You're cute when you're angry."

Someone cleared their throat. "Wow, what's going on here?" Piper asked, amused. "I just wanted to get my best friend so we can go to class together and I see her like this?"

Annabeth pressed her lips together. "Great timing as always. It's not what it looks like, I promise."

"What, you pressing Percy against the wall?"

I quickly snaked under her arm and left a sighing Annabeth to leave for Mrs. Dodd's class.

I smiled when I recognized a familiar figure and tapped on her shoulder. "Hey Rachel!"

She turned around and smiled. "Hi! Did you finish yesterday's homework? My dad held an event yesterday and I didn't do it."

I reluctantly pulled out a piece of graph paper. She's asked for my homework multiple times, and has had the exact same excuse.

"It's probably all wrong but here it is."

Rachel smiled and leaned over for a hug. "Thank you so so much Percy!"

I patted her back awkwardly and pulled back. "Yeah, of course."

"Wait, did you hear? Apparently Annabeth was spotted crying in the girl's bathroom earlier today. Little Miss Perfect probably got a B on a test. Boo hoo."

I was tense. "I bet she has her reasons."

She locked eyes with me. "I thought you didn't know or like her?"

Shit. "Oh, yeah of course I don't?"

She unfortunately didn't buy it. "You're lying to me, aren't you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I can detect a lie from a mile away, Jackson." She broke eye contact. "I have plenty of experience."

"Oh, I'm sorry," I muttered. How did this conversation go sour so fast?

She huffed. "I don't even know why I care. She seems like a pretentious fake bitch who's going to drop out of high school soon."

I recalled the tests poking out of her backpack, all marked with a red A+ inside of a circle, with some fine print right beside.

I cringed. "Yeah, she really does."