Troubled

32

chapter thirty-two
annabeth

"You love that idiot?"

Thalia instantly rushed up to me the second that I closed the door to our dorm, which she had already dirtied in the time that I was gone.

"He's not an idiot," I scoffed back at her as I walked over to my desk and smiled, pulling Percy's jacket tighter around myself, which smelled of the sea and blue cookies.

"You've fallen for him, huh?" asked Thalia as she placed her hands on her hips and peered at me intensely. "You've got that dreamy look on your face."

I quickly dropped my smile as I reluctantly took off the jacket and draped it across my desk chair, sad to have to take it off. "What dreamy look? And shove off it, Thals, I'm a big girl. I can handle my own relationships."

Thalia shrugged as she slammed down on her bed and started to watch me walk around the room. "I'm just trying to protect you. You looked like this when you fell for Luke."

Any trace of a smile that was left on my face quickly vanished as all of the color in my face drained. "Percy isn't like Luke, Thalia."

Thalia raised her hands in surrender. "Sorry, but I'm just trying to protect you."

"I don't need protecting," I shouted back. Thalia's eyes widened. "If anything, I should be protecting you! What were you thinking, going out with that Reyna chick and egging Mr.D's car?!"

"Annabeth, calm down—"

"No! You have no right to walk all over my personal life and then chastise me when I try to do so back!" I snapped.

Thalia and I had never fought. Never in the many years that we've known each other. We'd always gotten along quite well, our only disagreements in music taste.

But this fight...it was different. It was filled with venom, although I wasn't sure what for.

"Annabeth, I'm just worried for you! That kid—he beat up Luke! I heard he had a past for beating up people, and I also saw him talking with Drew in his dorm earlier!" Thalia yelled.

Thalia was a scary person. That was just a fact. She intimidated nearly everyone at the school, including the teachers. But she was never scary to me. Not until now.

"Oh, don't sympathize with Luke!" I cried. "You're just mad that I dated him, when you so clearly wanted to our entire relationship!"

Thalia shook her head. "Annabeth, I've never wanted to date Luke, and I certainly would never go after him while you two were together. And you're just changing the conversation away from Percy."

"Thalia, Luke punched Percy first, and Percy told me why he was with Drew—she was asking him out! Which he said no to, by the way," I shot back.

"Yeah? Well, at least I didn't buy my popularity!"

I instantly shut my eyes and took a deep breathe at an attempt to calm myself. "Thalia, I'm done fighting with you. Clearly there's something unresolved between the two of us, but Percy is a good person. Don't bring him into this, alright?"

Thalia groaned. "Of course you're all levelheaded right now. I'm such a jerk. I'm...I'm sorry. It's just, seeing the way Luke used to treat you, and the way you just let him, I wanna look out for you this time."

Instantly guilt settled on me. I sighed as I made my way over to Thalia and sat next to her. "I'm sorry for being a jerk."

Thalia shook her head. "I escalated this too far. It's just....my mom has been insane lately, and I have to go see her over break. And I know spring break is a long way from now, but I can't stop thinking about it."

"I'll come with you," I volunteered.

Thalia raised an eyebrow. "You sure you wanna do that?"

I nodded as I took her hand in mine. "Of course. I'll do anything to support you. And you can show me around California, all your favorite spots. And Jason always brings Piper, so it'll be fun."

Thalia instantly pulled me into a hug, which was somewhat rare from her. "Thanks, Annabeth."

And even though I was excited to see California and glad that I could help Thalia, I was somewhat disappointed. After the wonderful Christmas break I'd spent at the Jackson's, part of me wanted to go back.