All Her Life

Chapter One - NEW

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"A friend is someone who knows all about you, and still loves you."
~ Elbert Hubbard

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Annabeth sat at her desk in her Greek and Roman Mythology/Latin class, fiddling with her seafoam green gel pen. She kept her head down, using her New York Yankees baseball snap back cap to keep people from bothering her.

She popped in one of her headphones and turned 'Burn With Me' by Amaranthe on. She closed her eyes and listened for a second before working on the paper handed to her by the teacher, Mr Brunner.

She tuned out the people around her and answered the fist question.

In Greek Mythology, Athena entered a weaving contest against another mythical figure. Who was this figure?

Annabeth ahuddered, muttering under her breath. "Arachnae, Queen of... Spiders. Ugh..." Shivers ran up her spine, and Annabeth stiffened. Something touched her arm, and her body went rigid, eyes going wide in panic. She didn't even look. She turned, punching the person behind her in the face, feeling the rubber arachnid fall on her arm.

Annabeth screamed, falling to the floor, her phone hitting thr ground, headphone falling from her ear. People laughed, and the person she hit grinned. Annabeth continued to scream in terror, the rubber spider caught in her hair.

Mr Brunner, despite being confined to a wheelchair, rushed over and helped her remove the joke toy, before sentencing the boy to detention. She was given the work for the day, and dismissed from class with a hall pass. It happened every day. It was nothing new. The same routine. Nothing more, nothing less. Just torture and embarrassment and laughter.

Annabeth sighed and tucked her hat into her back pocket, playing with the ends of her hair while she waited for a bathroom stall to open up. Seriously, how many girls went to the bathroom all at once during class?

She let out a shuddering breath as a stall finally opened. She put her backpack on the floor, closing the stall door and locking it. Annabeth glanced around the stall to make sure she wouldn't get any handy pranks, before sitting on the toilet seat. She didn't actually do anything. She just sat there, listening to her playlist filled with Amaranthe, Daughtry, Lindsey Stirling, and Evanescence. She waited until the bell rung.

She grabbed her backpack, swung it over her shoulder, and left the bathrooms. Next was lunch.

She stood in line, hat on her head, and grabbed her food. Pizza, fries, milk, and a bottle of Ice, aka, sparkling, Cherry Limeade flavored, water. She ducked back to her place, hidden from view, and sat to eat her food, music blasting through her headphones.

Then there was Chemistry. Annabeths least favorite class of all. She sat in the back, with her gel pen and a worksheet. She ignored most of the lecture, before the words 'new student' caught her attention. She looked up at Mr Vulcan and blinked.

Beside him stood a tall guy, probably only 3 inches taller than Annabeth herself, so about 6-foot. He had black hair, messy and about medium length, the length not unattractive in any way. His eyes were a startling shade of green, and they couldn't seem to focus on one point without moving around. He ran his hands through his hair, messing it up even more. His skin was tan, like he had been on a fishing boat for hours with the inability to burn.

Girls in the room dawned over him, some drooling, others giggling and calling dibs. Annabeth looked back to her worksheet, rolling her eyes. He even had the audacity to look shy, as if he didn't know how good he looked.... And boy, did he look good.

She may have been a total social outcast, but she wasn't blind, or stupid.

"This is Percy Jackson, he's a new student here at Goode, and I want you all to make him feel welcome." She felt Mr Vulcan's eyes land on her. "Because there are people who are still shown unwelcome attitudes. Percy, how about you go sit in the back..."

Girls near Annabeth got excited and started pushing each other to empty a seat.

"Next to Annabeth."

"What!?" Someone snapped.

"Why her!? She doesn't even know the difference between a nerd and a hottie." Annabeth clenched her jaw and kept writing.

She was fine with the whispers as Percy walked towards her and sat down shyly, not speaking. Annabeth was fine with the looks, and the laughs... Until someone said something really stupid.

"Remember when she claimed rape against Jake? I heard she paid him to screw her, then pulled charges because she didnt like it..."

Even the new kid knew that she made a mistake. Annabeth stood from her seat and turned to the girl, whose eyes were wide with shock. Annabeth slammed her head into the table, possibly breaking her nose, before promptly sitting in her seat, putting her headphones in, and working on her homework.

***

He tried talking to her.

Smart move, Jackson, Annabeth thought sarcastically. Headphones exist for a reason.

She sighed and removed her headphones as her pen fell. Before she could bend down to get it, Percy was handing it to her, with a friendly smile. She hesitated, before smiling back and taking her pen slowly.

"Thanks..."

"No problem." Somehow, they managed to settle into a conversation, with Percy making bad puns and trying to make jokes. Annabeth smiled, a real smile, when he tried balancing her pen on his nose. It fell, and he got seafoam green ink streaked across his face. He, visibly, didn't care.

***

After school, Annabeth was walking home watching a YouTube video by Moe Sargi, which featured Moe Sargi being an idiot with one of his best friends yet again. Annabeth loved watching his videos. She didn't know if all of them were 100% real, but she still loved them.

Just talking to Percy in her Chemistry class had lifted her spirits... She was waiting for him to turn and laugh at her, though. Apparently, he was in the rest of her classes after lunch, and it made the rest of the day fairly bareable, because he always fought for the seat beside her. The only thing that killed her mood, was when people started picking on Percy for sitting with her.

He flipped them off and kept talking to her. It made her feel a bit better, but it also terrified her. Any time, he could turn and be like everyone else: Cruel, rude, evil, and heartless.

It was just a matter of time before he laughed at her, too.