Annabeth's Mortal Friends

Chapter Twenty

Quick reminder: this is an AU, I understand that the timeline might be a little confusing, but it'll become self-explanatory as time goes on<3
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Caleb Pierson's POV:

Okay, okay, deep breaths.  I may or may not have been panicking for this entire school day.  My last class is the first and only time I'll see Annabeth today, and then it's officially summer, so I need to make it count.  After all that weird stuff I searched up yesterday, I have to talk to Annabeth.

I'm not going to accuse her of being in a cult or anything!  That's pretty farfetched, even by my recent standards.  But given Percy's, ah, "profile," I'm not quite ready to throw the theory out.  I just have to play this by ear, that's all.

Seriously, where is Annabeth?   She's not some stuck-up nerd, but she's definitely not the type to be late to class.  She would probably have perfect attendance, actually, if it wasn't for her mysterious disappearances every once in a while.  Once, she even missed a week of school in the beginning of the year.  She still doesn't talk about it, but I always suspected that something had happened.  What if something happened to her this time?  Is that why she's late?  Should I ask to leave and go look for her?

I guess not.  Annabeth steps into the room, giving an awkward wave to the teacher, who answers her with a silent, reprimanding stare and cocks his head toward her seat beside me.  Annabeth returns his stern glare with an apologetic look before heading toward the back of the classroom to our desks.  She's lucky she works hard in this class, otherwise Mr. Black probably would've had a few words for her.  His name fit him perfectly; he's got dark hair and even darker eyes.  If I saw him walking down the street, I probably would've guessed he was a secret agent rather than a high school teacher.  Honestly, this might be his coverup job.

Annabeth sat down next to me, sending me a quick smile.  She pulled out her notebook, opening it to a clean page and pulling out a pencil, turning her attention towards the front of the room.  Mr. Black's voice draws me back into the discussion.  I've never heard anyone talking so dead seriously about AP English, yet here we are.

"Are there any questions about the final test you took yesterday?"

No one answered. Most people were just staring down the clock; the last class of the year before summer starts? Yeah, it was going to be pretty hard to get people to pay attention.

"No one?" Mr. Black pressed again.

Annabeth raised her hand, asking him something. I couldn't really pay attention to what she was saying, because as soon as I looked over I noticed the familiar black and blue marks peaking out from under her drooping sleeve. She put her hand back on the desk, nodding at Mr. Black before noticing my stare.

"Caleb, you okay?" She whispered.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just..." I trailed off nervously, taking a breath, "what happened to your arm?"

Annabeth glanced at her arm, studying it for a moment, almost as if she didn't notice the bruise was there.  Her eyes widen, but she blinks the shock away and turns back to face me.  "Oh, it's nothing, don't worry about it."  She brushes me off.

I exhale in silent annoyance.  I wish she would just tell me what's going on; that'd make this whole situation a lot easier.  Then we could go through the whole stage where she confides in me, I vow to protect her, I scare off Percy, then Annabeth and I live happily ever after.  She's making that part really hard on me.  "Alright...how are you and Percy doing, then?"

Annabeth tensed up.  Yes!  It's about time we talked about the breakup!

"Well, uh," she stuttered for a bit, before sighing and relaxing.  "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about me and Percy earlier, I should've..."