The Library Book

1. The Break-Up

[ 4 months after chapter 50 ]

"How bad do you think this is going to be?" Leo said to Annabeth, both of them huddled in the backseat.

"On a scale of 1 to 10?" Annabeth asked. "15." She buried her face in her hands. "I feel like we're children in a divorce. And I actually am a child of divorce!"

Percy found this conversation extremely amusing, but he had to admit even he was dreading the upcoming hours. For New Years' Eve, Percy and Jason had decided to throw a party. They were staying together in a rented apartment in Manhattan for the holidays anyway, so it made sense.

"I'm sure they'll keep in civil, right?" Leo hinted.

Percy and Annabeth simultaneously pulled a face.

"You weren't there for the break-up," Annabeth warned. "It was..." She frowned. "It was bad."

All of them had only been in college for about four months at this point. In had only taken two weeks for Piper and Jason to get into their first fight. Annabeth and Percy had front row seats to the entire fiasco.

Annabeth was called by both Piper and Jason nearly everyday, and she was so bewildered and torn that she couldn't do more than nod. Percy and Jason were both in Manhattan, and frequently saw each other.

Two months of constant arguing passed before Piper got on a train and came down to New York. Percy was relieved, thinking that they were going to kiss and make up. One of those things happened.

Piper left New York without a boyfriend, and that was that. Percy had visited Jason in his dorm for three days in a row after the break-up, trying to make sure he ate actual meals and didn't drown himself in Cheetos.

"It's only been a month," Annabeth groaned. "They have two options when they see each other; fight or pretend they don't exist. Neither are appealing at the moment."

Percy didn't want to make the situation worse by bringing up how difficult it had been to convince Jason to invite Piper. Frank and Hazel were too far away to return just for a week, but Annabeth and Leo were returning to visit their families. Percy thought it'd be a good idea to at least have the five of them back together again. He was starting to rethink things.

Leo slumped in his seat. "Can't believe we really thought everything would stay the same."

"It was too difficult for them to be apart for so long," Annabeth told him. "Don't you remember the early days when they started dating? They were glued at the hip."

Leo wrinkled his nose distastefully. "Good point. But then why haven't you two broken up?"

Annabeth met Percy's gaze in the driver's mirror. "Well," Percy stopped.

He didn't know quite what to say. Living in two different states definitely wasn't easy. The first few weeks before school began had been the absolute worst. There were...fights. Probably more fights within a week than they'd ever had before.

But there was something essential to remember; he and Annabeth were polar opposites other than the fact that they were both the most stubborn people on the planet.

They had made a promise to stay together (unless it got to the point where they were both absolutely miserable). And they were so determined to fulfil that they pulled through the fights.