How You Changed Me (Demigods In High School AU)

Chapter 31 || Meeting Jackie

ANNABETH CHASE

Annabeth sighed, approaching the prison.

"I guess this is it," she said, taking a deep breath.

"Why did I agree to do this?" Piper asked, frowning.

"Piper," Annabeth grabbed her, "I've lost Percy. Again. I lost him for three years and I'm not about to lose him again."

"Uhm... you kinda... did lose him," Renee said.

"Unhelpful," she muttered before entering the prison.

The lady at the front desk raised an eyebrow at them.

"State your purpose."

"We'd like to visit Jackie. Jackie Thomas."

"ID?" the lady asked, bored.

They handed her the cards and she scanned them.

"Please go to the telephone booth, where we'll be seating her soon."

They all headed there, sitting in the chairs anxiously. Suddenly, a girl walked in and Annabeth gasped at her appearance. Even in a jail jumpsuit, she looked gorgeous. She had beautiful blue eyes with flowing hair that was silkier than Annabeth's. Her lips were full and rosy, as well as her cheeks. She sat down, moving her brown wavy hair behind her back. It was all the way down to her bottom at this point. The moment she saw us, she frowned.

"Who the f**k are you?" she asked.

"Uh... hi. I'm Annabeth," Annabeth said, "This is Piper, Jason, Frank, Hazel, Renee, and Leo's on the phone."

"Hey!" Leo said, waving from his spot on Piper's phone screen.

"And?" Jackie asked, sounding confused.

"I'm guessing you're Jackie?"

"Well, yeah. Duh," Jackie said, still looking confused, "Look, I don't really have all day. What do you want to say to me?"

"First of all, I wanted to bring up the reason why you're in jail. Uh... because of the fact that you tried to stab Percy."

Jackie groaned.

"So he's a big mouth?"

"No," Annabeth shook her head, "He hasn't talked to anyone about it until he had a PTSD attack and he fell down the stairs. He just... started screaming your name, my name, and Renee's. And later on, he told us."

Jackie sighed.

"If you're here to make me apologize, I already have."

"What do you mean?" Annabeth scoffed, "You stabbed him when he trusted you!"

She found herself fuming.

"Why do you even care?! You don't even know him!"

"Well we're his ex-girlfriends!" Annabeth pointed to Renee and herself.

Jackie stared at them, back and forth, back and forth.

"Good for you," she said curtly.

"But through our times as his girlfriend, we noticed you did something to him."

"Stabbed him. Yeah. I get it! I'm sorry!" Jackie groaned, "I've tried to say that so many times! I mail letters to him but I guess he ignores it because they're in my handwriting. I wouldn't blame him."

She felt her anger cease slightly.

"Wait... Y-You're apologizing?"

"Yeah. Growing up... my dad wasn't ever proud of me," Jackie admitted, "So I thought taking care of Percy would make him proud. It just made him disgusted. He told me even if Percy took his spot on the billboard, he was happy the way he was and that I shouldn't have tried to commit murder. That he was disappointed he had a daughter like me."

"Well... I wouldn't blame him--" Piper started but Annabeth clamped a hand over her mouth.

"So what are you trying to say?" Jason asked cautiously.

"Who are you for me to say that too?" Jackie asked coolly, eyeing Jason.

"We're his cousins," Hazel pointed to herself, as well as Jason.

"And who are you?" she pointed to Frank.

"Oh... I'm just his friend," he shrugged, leaning closer to Hazel.

"Alright," Jackie sighed, "My point is... Even though he took my dad's place and all and I tried to kill him... I liked him. And I just felt guilty."

Annabeth backed away, the rather colorful presentation she had in her mind becoming no use.

"You felt... guilty..." Hazel said, frowning.

"Yeah. There's a TV in prison and I've been watching him. It's true, what you're all saying. I can tell. I mean, his eyes were so dull and they were cold," Jackie said, "I had to admit, I was a little bit depressed at the time I... stabbed him. So... if you're here to give me an earful, I didn't mean it. And I never will mean it."

They all stared at her, their jaws slack.

"You still hurt him, no matter if you're sorry or not. You stabbing him isn't gonna go away anytime soon," Jason said, his jaw clenching slightly. "My cousin laid there in the hospital for a week while he had to go through physical therapy to help his breathing. And after that, he wasn't ever the same."

Jackie's eyes filled with tears.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, "I didn't really mean to hurt him. Not at all."

"At the time, you did--"

"Guys," Annabeth cut them off, "Stop rubbing it in. If she's sorry, she's sorry. But there's nothing you can do to erase that incident."

Jackie nodded, looking down at her hands, her hair falling all over the place.

"But there is something you can do to help," Annabeth said as her head snapped up.

"What?" she asked.

PERCY JACKSON

"Merci, France!" Percy yelled and the cheering began.

The clapping. He grinned, waving as he exited the stage. The moment the cameras were off him, his grin slipped off his face, his posture slumped, his eyelids drooped, and the tears began to shine in his eyes. He entered the car waiting for Leo to get in.

"Some show tonight, man!" Leo cheered before pausing, "You okay, Perce?"

He nodded, still looking down at the steering wheel.

"Yeah," he said flatly.

Leo glanced over at him knowingly before he took off into the night sky in Paris. The people still bustled through the streets, the lights from the Effiel Tower beaming down at the whole city, setting their hearts alight. The moment they got back to their hotel, he slumped down onto the bed, totally forgetting to change out of his suit. Instead, he kicked off his pants and threw the shirt and tuxedo onto the chair next to his bed, hopping in.

The thoughts of Annabeth haunted him all the time. The way she screamed when he had left, the way she wanted him to stay, the way she cried as he told her everything. So he cried into his pillow. He cried for all he was worth.

Nothing. Percy was worth nothing.