The Runaway Princess

18. I Wish It Was Me

For a moment I can't move. I'm frozen. Watching as Emily passionately kisses Percy. My chest aches, and I turn to leave. I hear Percy call my name, but instead of turning around I break into a run. I run and run and run, until I eventually find myself in the middle of the courtyard, at the base of the biggest tree on the schoolyard. It's lightly raining but I don't care. Hurt and confused and angry, I pull myself up on to the lowest branch and begin to climb. I climb as far as the branches will hold me and stop when I reach a branch that's high up and out of sight. Then the pain comes crashing down on me. I don't know why it hurt so much to see Emily in Percy's arms. I don't know why it pained me to see her with him, a loving smile plastered across her face. I don't know why.....but I wish it was me.
~
By the time I climb down from my hiding place, I've skipped at least 3 classes. The undeniable happiness I felt this morning is long gone.
When I re-enter the school it's free period, so I just walk to my locker. I'm half way to my locker when someone puts their hand on my shoulder. I look in the direction of the hand and see Piper standing next to me. "No offence, but you look like crap. What happened Annie?"
I open my mount but I can't seem to be able to speak, so I just frown and shrug. Piper looks around at the groups of kids flooding the hallway. "Here, let's talk about it somewhere a little more...private," she suggests and I just nod.
I follow Piper as she leads me into the greenhouse at the back of the school. Lightly, she pulls me over to sit on a bench in the corner. "Spill," she orders, taking a seat next to me. I tell her about Emily and Percy and about how Percy called my name but I ran away. I leave out the part about me feeling like I wanted to be in Emily's shoes.
Piper frowns and shakes her head but doesn't say anything. For a long while we just sit there in silence, both lost in thought. "I'm really sorry Annabeth," Piper says breaking the silence. All I can do is nod. Just then Jason walks up to us out of nowhere, his hands tucked in his pockets. "Um hey," he says, biting his lip somewhat nervously. "Hi," Piper and I say in unison. "Um Piper, could, uh, I um talk to you for a minute?" He asks nervously. Piper nods. "In private," he adds quietly. Piper shoots me a worried expression, which I respond by saying "Absolutely." I proceed to get up and dust myself off and shooting Piper a gentle smile before exiting the greenhouse.

I walk slowly down the hall, my hands tucked into my sweater pocket, humming quietly. Once I reach my locker, I enter the combination and grab my books for my next class. "What do you want?" I ask a little harsher than expected, I can tell without even looking that there's someone behind me. "I need your help," a feminine voice states. I turn around and almost gasp at whom is standing behind me. There, in a purple crop top, white skinny jeans, and white heels is none other than Stephanie Grace Cole.
My mind fumbles to form a sentence, but fails miserably and I just end up gaping at her like an idiot. "Oh god, will you shut your goddamn mouth!" Stephanie says angrily, I stop gaping. "Why?" I finally ask. "Why what?" Stephanie retaliates, her hands placed lightly on her hips. "Why do you need my help?" I restate. Realization creeps onto Stephanie's face as her glare is replaced with a smirk. "We both like Percy and-" she starts but stops when I open my mouth to speak. "And don't  even think about denying it Annabeth! I know these things. You like him!" She states, cutting me off. I feel my face grow warm. "Anyway as I was saying, we both like Percy, right? Unfortunately Emily is in both of our ways. Therefore I need your help," she says. I pause for a moment before saying "So you're saying a that you want to break them up?" Stephanie shrugs and nods. I process all this for a moment. I mean, here's the girl who's bullied me since middle school, asking me to help her break up her crush (and mine apparently) and his girlfriend, just so that he's single. And even though she hasn't said it, I have no doubts that if I go along with her plan and we succeed then Percy will be once again off limits to me. So in other words I lose either way. Yeah, like I'm gonna help her with that. "No," I say simply. "Excuse me?"
"I said no. N-O." Stephanie glares at me. A glare that makes me wonder if I'm going to regret this. "You're gonna regret this Chase, I promise you that!" Stephanie declares before sashaying down the hall. Great. Just great. I sigh and head to my next class, dreading the moment that my actions will catch up to me.