How To Love

Ch. 8: Welcome Home, Boy

-Percy's POV-

I've been getting cold looks all day. I've been called a jerk, an ass, a man whore, you name it, I've been called. In addition to that I've received a hard slap from Thalia -my cousin. Even though they weren't so close, Thalia and Rachel were friends. When Thalia learned what I did, she wasted no time to tell me what a lowlife I was and that she was disgusted of me. I know she didn't mean any of it. She never does. But there was one particular reaction that really made me want to dig a hole and hide down there forever; Annabeth's death stare. Her beautiful grey eyes were always judgmental and distant to me, but today... today it was a whole new level. Her eyes became stone-like, there wasn't even a bit of emotion in her eyes, except disgust. It struck me in a way that nothing ever has. I didn't care until I met her eyes. She didn't draw her eyes away, but kept looking straight into mine, like she wanted to torture me even more. That's when the disappointment kicked in. I have never been disappointment in myself, despite everything. But looking into her eyes... The more I thought of her, the more beautiful she got. It was impossible to stop once you started. Once I remembered her eyes, princess curls I couldn't stop. And look at me now. What the hell am I doing? Drew. Drew. Drew. All you have is Drew. Big boobs. Big boobs. Big boobs. Drew. Drew. I kept repeating to myself. I saw Drew walking by. ''Drew! Want some more of this fella?'' I asked her smirking, and gesturing to myself, I knew she would accept it. However, what I didn't expect was her rejecting me and walking away. ''Oh don't fucking play yourself Drew.'' I said after her. I knew she would come crawling back to me. She always did. Then I saw her again, Annabeth, she had seen everything. This time she didn't even stare at me one second before walking away.

With great frustration, I walked right out of the school. I needed to be away from that hellhole as much as possible. When I reached the door, I saw Rachel getting in a car wand leaving. The sudden guilt was enough to make me run out of school. I don't know how far I ran. I reached a small park, and sat there staring at the water. I tried to calm down my thoughts. They were currently going insane. It's as if there was an alarm system in my brain, and all of the alarms were going off. Even though I tried to calm myself by looking at the water -which always had a soothing effect on me- my thoughts kept drifting to Annabeth, which only made me even more frustrated. I knew that the only thing that was better than watching the water was being in it. It came to my mind that I had swimming trunks in my locker. As ironic as it sounds, I ran back to school. I had lost track of time, but it seemed that it was a lesson period. As quickly as possible, I grabbed my trunks and ran to the pool.

I cannot even begin to explain how good it felt when my body hit the water. It evaporated all of my frustration and I was calm once again. I swam as fast as I could, as long as I could. I wanted to let all of my anger, all of my energy out. When I was sure that I had calmed down fully, I stayed underwater for a while, hesitant to go up and take a breath, to face the reality even if it was for a split second. But after a few minutes, I ran out of air. As I go up to take a breath, I see coach Hedge standing right next to the pool frowning at me.

''Jackson, what are you doing here in my pool?''

''Swimming?''

''Don't be smart with me. Get out.''

''But coach I—''

''Listen Jackson I've had it with you. You are supposed to be a captain yet you... well, we all know what you did. Then you run away? If you want to stay a captain, you better behave yourself.''

''But Coach—''

''No 'but's. Get out.''

I unwillingly got myself out of the pool, and went to change. The bell had rang a few minutes ago, so the gym started filling with students. ı pushed open the locker room door, feeling as aggressive as ever. I hear a shriek as I turn the corner. Annabeth. In her fucking bra. ''What the hell?'' she cusses. ''Me? What the hell are you doing in the boys' locker room''