Strange

Chapter 20: I, For Once, Make Apollo Not An Arrogant A-Hole

11:15 am, Wednesday, January 20th, 2011

Annabeth leaned back in her chair, watching the clock.

Did Annabeth normally encourage paying attention in class? Yeah, sure, something to that effect.

But she was on edge today, even more than normal. Everyone was staring and whispering at her and Percy, and their mortal friends wouldn't meet their eyes. Not only that, but Annabeth was still in pain from a monster attack the day before.

Maybe it was the painkillers she'd been downing, maybe it was the looks from her peers, maybe it was the fact her ADHD had been going haywire the entire day, but Annabeth was struggling.

The attack had been on her and Percy's way to school. They'd been waiting in traffic when they both saw the shadow in the alleyway, and after a glance, managed to pull to the sidewalk.

The shadow had ended up being a pack of hellhounds, nothing major. But Annabeth had been diving to block Percy from one of the hellhounds slash of claws, and in turn, got some nasty scratches.

Percy had called into Paul, telling him that they would not be in school that day, and a request to get notes from their classmates from the day. And then Percy had picked her up, called Blackjack, and they flew home.

To their surprise, Nico and Will had stopped by for a visit, but that turned out to work in their favour because the hellhound had gotten her pretty bad.

Annabeth had been practically dragged to the couch by Will, who immediately started healing her while grilling the couple on what had happened. Nico, as silent and brooding as always, watched from the corner.

Percy had stepped out at some point to grab the bikes, calling a tow truck to help bring the beat-up bikes home. When he'd gotten back, Annabeth had been sent to bed, and Nico and Will were making out in the kitchen.

And finally, the clock struck 11:25 and the bell dismissing them for lunch rang. Annabeth gave a sigh of relief and haphazardly threw her books into her bag, deciding to organise it later.

She was the first one out of the classroom, and half ran, half walked to her locker. Tossing her stuff inside, she grabbed her lunch and went to the cafeteria.

Percy, whose class was in a separate wing of the school, was already there when she sat down. Damien and Sydney, who had been in Chemistry with Annabeth, sat down a few minutes later, followed soon after by Cameron and Kate.

They still weren't meeting either of the demigod's eyes.

Annabeth tried to ignore it, instead choosing to talk to Percy. He was complaining - yet again - about the Ancient History teacher, a woman neither of them liked very much when Sydney cut in.

"-Annabeth?" her voice was strained and awkward.

The girl in question turned and raised an eyebrow, "Yes?"

"We've been uh hearing some...rumours?"

Annabeth's heart skipped a beat, for whatever reason. "What rumours?" she asked, keeping her tone cold and distant.

"Well um, yesterday Lilith Van Wes came back. And she uh, she said that you were," Sydney glanced between the couple, "um..."

"Spit it out, Lise." Annabeth barked.

Sydney gave a small twitch, not accustomed to the tone, but pressed on, whispering her next words, "pregnant."

Annabeth's jaw went slack. She heard Percy's water bottle, which he had been taking a swig from, clatter to the floor. The sound caused everyone to turn their attention toward the group.