Troubled

17

chapter seventeen
percy

Thanksgiving break was finally over.

After hugging my mom and assuring her I would be fine at school, I made my way back through the dorms and into mine.

Grover was gone still, probably visiting his family or something. Perhaps a girlfriend named Juniper he mentioned, who went to another school.

When I made my way back to my dorm room I saw a girl standing in front of the door. I grinned as I approached her.

"Hey, Annnabeth," I said as I finally reached her. She was leaning against the wall near my door, playing with her golden curls. "What are you doing back so early? I thought you weren't coming back until tonight."

Annabeth shook her head. "My plans changed. God, I hate Thanksgiving."

My eyes widened as I opened my room door and let her in. She followed me inside and collapsed on my bed as I started unpacking.

"Let me guess, you had a bad Thanksgiving break?" I asked her as I messily hung up some of my clothes.

She nodded as she placed her hands over her face. "Helen drove me insane. You know she gossips about me to Drew's mom?"

I burst out laughing. "Really? Does she know how pleasant Drew is?"

Annabeth shook her head. "Oh, she thinks Drew is simply a saint. Straight A's, a cheerleader. I nearly died right there at the table. So, how was your Thanksgiving?"

I shrugged. "Boring, but nice. My mom made blue mashed potatoes."

"Blue?" Annabeth asked as she raised an eyebrow, clearly confused.

"Yup, blue. Blue dyed food is kinda her speciality, you'll have to try it some time," I told her as I sat down next to her. "Do you have a ton of homework due tomorrow?"

Classes were resuming tomorrow and, since we had a 'huge' Thanksgiving break (it was five days), the teachers assigned us tons of homework to 'keep us busy and out of trouble.'

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Ugh, don't remind me. I have at least two papers due, neither of which I have started. Alright, I should probably head back now. Thalia is probably dying to know where I am."

I nodded as I led Annabeth to my door and walked her out of my room. "Good luck with your homework. Oh, and don't let Helen bother you too much, okay?"

She smiled and did something that surprised me. She pulled me into a hug.

"Thanks, Perce," she said as we pulled apart. She waved at me before rushing off towards her dorms, leaving me red in the face.

I stood outside of my dorm for what seemed like hours, completely unable to move. She'd hugged me. Why did she do that?

I wasn't usually the type of person to be fazed by hugs or affection. But Annabeth hugging me was...different. People would never dare to do such. But she did...

"Hey!" I heard an unfortunately familiar voice yell. I turned towards the source of the noise. Luke Castellan was practically running towards me from the other end of the hall. "No, don't run! Wimp, come here!"

He grabbed me before I could get in my dorm. I groaned.

"Dude, what do you want?" I asked. "Is this about the booing still? Because last time I checked, the football season is over."

He shook his head. "No, this isn't about that. It's about Annabeth."

I raised an eyebrow. "What about her? Wanna talk about how you cheated on her and broke her heart?"

"I broke her heart? Did she tell you that?" he asked.

I shook my head. "No, I was over exaggerating. What do you want?"

"Her," Luke said. "I want her back. I...I made a mistake. Drew, she's super hot and stuff, but she won't stop calling me, texting me, wanting to spend time with me. And now Thalia is fazing me out, and I'm losing my friends..."

"That's what you get for cheating on her, Luke," I said as I grabbed the handle to my door, but he simply slapped my hand away.

"Are you seeing her?" Luke asked me.

I frowned. "I see her every day. She's in nearly all of my classes, and the last time I checked she's not invisible, so..."

Luke rolled his eyes. "Very funny, but seriously. Are you going out with her?"

My face turned bright red and my voice nearly raised an octave. "Uhhh....no. Not really. Not officially. Not, like, really. So, uh, no."

"Okay, thanks, but can you, like, not see her?" he asked. "Like, ever. I saw you two hug, and I'd really appreciate it if you never did that again. Or saw her again. Yeah, just ignore her. Or tell her she's better off with me. Yeah, that might work."

I shook my head. "Sorry, no can do. We're....friends. I can't just ignore her like that and advise her to go back to her cheating ex."

He groaned. "It was once! Only one kiss, at the football game. Okay, maybe two or three, maybe more, but I love Annabeth! Can't you just step back, dude?"

"Sorry, Luke, but she's free to date whoever she wants," I responded. "Now, excuse me I have to go back inside—"

"You're making this really difficult," he said. "Sorry, but I have to do this."

And then he swung at me.