𝐍𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒 | 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐀𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐇

chapter 20

If you asked Percy why he was nervous for his last day of school before Winter break, he'd most likely say that it was because his lovestruck heart needed to be mended. Annabeth still ignored him, always. Why? He had no idea. What he'd done? Still no idea.

Percy invited Luke to eat lunch with them since his school had ended the day before. Today was Luke's first day off. Lucky him. He didn't care if Annabeth still hated Luke, because Percy didn't, and they were friends again, and that's what mattered to him. He wanted his friends to see that Luke also had some good in him.

When lunch came, Annabeth sat as far away from Percy... again. Percy made sure to save a spot for Luke next to him and explain to the group about Luke's sincere apology.

One thing he forgot: the group didn't know he was coming, so naturally when Luke sat down next to Percy, everyone attacked him.

"Stop!" Percy yelled, but it was no use. Jason was punching Luke while Leo and Piper were holding his legs down. Annabeth was cussing Luke out. Nico and Reyna were sitting on his chest. And Hazel was still seated as Frank covered her eyes. The entire cafeteria stared at them.

"STOP!" he shouted again, louder.

"Bro, what do you mean, STOP?" Jason asked.

"Yeah, Percy," Piper continued. "This jerk ruined your chances with Annabeth!"

Percy and Annabeth looked at each other, blushing and knowing that the entire cafeteria probably heard that.

"Get off him," Percy said calmly. "Luke isn't here to hurt anyone. Not anymore."

"How would you know?" Leo asked.

"Because yesterday, he travelled 10 miles to get to my house just to apologize."

Nico practically laughed. "And what the hell does that prove?"

Percy shrugged. "He could've just texted me, but no, he came in person."

"We can forgive, right?" Frank jumped in. "Let's show him that we are the bigger and more mature people. That we aren't jerks ourselves. Violence is never the answer, you know. Why not ask him questions or something and judge by the answers?"

Hazel kissed her boyfriend. Frank deserved the whole world. Frank was a teddy bear disguised as a tough guy. Frank always knew what to do.

"See guys? Listen to Frank!" Percy requested. He looked at Annabeth and smiled, but she just glared at him. Luckily, Thalia couldn't make it to school today, because then things would've been very awkward.

"Fine," Piper said before they all got off of Luke and sat down. Except for Reyna. She kicked him in the crotch before taking her seat. All the nearby guys who had been watching got a pained look on their faces and went "oooooh. Ouch, bro," before continuing their lunches.

Luke got up and walked to the table, sitting next to Percy. "Um, hey guys. I'm really sorry about everything. Ever since I met this guy Kronos at our old school... I don't know. I've been a total jerk. He influenced me to do these... things that I never wanted to do and I guess I just became a horrible person. Annabeth, I'm so sorry." He looked behind me, to glance at Annabeth, but she was to busy glaring at me to care. "No one should be hurt the way that I hurt you. After you caught me and Thalia... something inside me realized that it was all wrong. That I was all wrong. I'm so sorry."

The amount of pain in his eyes and voice showed he was being honest. Everyone else still seemed a bit unsure but decided to give Luke the benefit of the doubt. But that didn't stop Nico from walking to Luke and slapping Luke.

"OW! What was that for?" Luke said.

"I don't know," Nico said, shrugging, "I just really wanted to punch someone. And, well, yeah that's actually it."

Again: this is why everyone loved Nico.

Annabeth huffed. "So you're all just gonna forgive him? Just like that?"

Luke gave an offended look. And Percy understood the reason for it. It's hard to change. And Luke was trying. Luke had gone from good to bad and then back to good. It's hard for most people not to feed into the darkness. It's hard to get back into the light. But Luke was trying, and Wise Girl just couldn't accept that.

Percy passed his hand through his hair. "Look, Wise Girl-"

"Don't call me that," Annabeth disrupted.

Percy sighed. "Look, Annabeth, Luke is trying, and he really is sorry."

Annabeth glared at him and walked away.

so, have you guys heard of the books Whisper and Weapon by Lynette Noni? if not, you guys should totally read it! those books are awesome, but if you have read them,  do you know where i could find some fanfiction based on those books? i'm beginning to be very desperate