Annabeth's Boarding Tale

Trouble

Mr D had started the lesson but Annabeth couldn't help but notice 2 empty chairs, she leaned forward and whispered to Silena,

"Where are Luke and Percy?"

Silena subtly leaned backwards but refused to take her eyes off Mr D,

"Don't worry, this is normal for them"

And she went back to copying the notes off the board.

Annabeth realised that Silena was oblivious to the event that had occurred in the morning, she felt a tap on her shoulder and just like Silena did, subtly leaned backwards.

"Dude this isn't right" Grover expressed,

"Where are they?"

"I have no idea, they said they would be here"

Annabeth nodded, "I'm going to look for them"

"How? Mr D won't let you"

Annabeth smirked "I have my advantages" and went back to her normal seating position, leaving Grover with a puzzled look on his face.

After a few minutes Annabeth raised her hand,

"Yes Miss Chase?" Mr D asked flatly,

"May I be excused to go to the toilet?"

Annabeth heard Grover chucking to himself

"Didn't you go at lunch?" Mr D asked, still focused on writing on the board

"Well yeah"

He looked over at Annabeth "Then it can wait another 50 minutes until the end of class" he turned his attention back to the board thinking the discussion had ended.

"No it can't Sir!" She exclaimed with a guilty look on her face, she hadn't meant for it to be an outburst like that but she desperately needed to find the boys.

He sighed and motioned for her to leave, she thanked him and stood up with her bag.

"You can leave your bag here though Miss Chase"

"I can't do that Sir"

He threw his hands up in the air "And why not Miss Chase?"

Annabeth was aware that the whole class had now turned to see her response and she knew exactly how to embarrass him and she didn't care if it embarrassed her,

"I am on my period so unless you want me to bleed on your chair then I would like to go and sort myself out"

The whole class was stunned with her response and Mr D practically shoo'd her out of the door and said that if she wanted to take 5 minutes to go and eat some chocolate then she should. On her way out she got a grin from Grover and she could tell that she had impressed him. Now she had to find the boys and knock their heads together for forcing her to use the period excuse.

She checked the student area first and then the canteen but found it empty, she looked out onto the field and couldn't see them their either. She stopped and thought, 'Where on earth could they be?'. As she was about to go search the library she remembered Luke saying the terrace was his favourite spot and that him and Percy found it together, could it be that they both went there to sort things out? She ran with her spirits high, she felt confident that they would both be there. She crept through the balcony careful to keep her head down so the class in the pool wouldn't spot her, she reached the end door and saw that it was slightly open. Annabeth pushed it open and sure enough found both boys slumped against the wall talking and to her surprise, laughing. Annabeth stood in the doorway dumbfounded as to what she was seeing,

Percy spotted her first "Oh hey, Annabeth hey"

Luke then noticed her and produced a menacing grin,

Percy sounded dreary and that was enough to shake Annabeth out of her trance,

"Are you guys ok?"

"Me and my... boy Lukey here ... are fineeeeeee... but you don't... look so... good" his speech was slurred

"I don't look good?" Annabeth queried

"You always look good but-" Luke replied but was interrupted by Percy

"You have... 2 heads and... spiders crawling... all over you"

Luke laughed at his cousin and Annabeth tried to remain calm and quickly double checked herself but couldn't see any spiders on her which was a huge relief, she didn't want to freak out in front of the boys because she would never hear the end of it. As she got closer to the boys she saw that their eyes were bloodshot and Percy kept sniffing and wiping his nose. Percy seemed agitated as he was looking all around, she was about to ask the boys what they had done when the wind picked up and the smell drifted over to her and confirmed her suspicions. Weed. The boys had smoked m*******a. She crouched down to Percy and he could barely keep his eyes on her, Luke stood up and wondered over to a bench

"Oh Percy, what did you do?" She brushed his hair out of his face and her fingers ran all the way down the side of his cheek as he struggled to string his sentence together ,

"I... you'd...be happy... Me and Luke... Friends"

She sighed, "I'm glad your friends but you didn't need to resort to drugs"

"Tor boo..."

Annabeth's face scrunched up in confusion whilst Percy started to drift off but Annabeth shook him a little and he jolted upright

"For you" He whispered before he started to drift off again and Annabeth heard Luke laughing,

"He's pathetic, that was only his first" Luke took another puff of his joint,

"We need to get him to the medics, now Luke"

"Why should I help? He threw a punch at me only a few hours ago"

"And you better pray he doesn't find out that you got him high otherwise you'll have another bruised cheek"

"And if I told you it was his idea?"

"I'd say you were lying"

Luke smirked and Annabeth shook Percy awake again

"..Rachel.." He muttered

The colour in Annabeth's face faded, she felt like her heart had just been ripped out and she wanted to throw up but Percy beat her to it, she moved around so she was behind Percy and rubbed his back whilst offering him comforting words.

"It's ok Percy, I'm here"

Luke laughed harder and Annabeth shot him a look, he just tutted and took another puff

"Why aren't you like this?" She asked

"I am a recovering drug addict" he said smugly "I'm used to it"

Percy threw up again and Annabeth couldn't help but feel responsible,

"Luke, I know you're a good guy and I think Percy knows it aswell which is why he came to make amends so please help me get your cousin to the medics and I swear I won't say it was you"

He pondered this for a second, Percy tipped his head onto Annabeth's shoulder but she pushed him away so that he was in an upright position, she didn't want him to choke on his own sick.

"Please Luke" she pleaded

He sighed, put his joint out and hopped off the bench "I'm doing this for you, not for him"

Annabeth ignored him as they lifted Percy to his feet, she wrapped one arm over her shoulder and Luke did the same the other side.

They managed to walk across the balcony unnoticed by the students below and down the corridor where they entered the medical room. The Nurse made them put him on a bed, Annabeth said that he had smoked weed so the nurse asked Annabeth to make him drink some water whilst she tried to take his blood pressure. Once the nurse managed to get a reading she went and got Mr Brunner who then demanded an explanation, Luke looked at Annabeth waiting for her to explain,

"I had just gone to the toilet and was on my way back to class when Luke ran up to me and said that he had found Percy and needed help getting him to go the medical room so we ran back to him and brought him here"

"Is this true Luke?"

"Every word Sir"

"So why do you smell of weed as well Master Castellan?"

"I guess I didn't throw the joint far enough away from me when I was helping Sir"

Mr Brunner nodded, approving Luke's response whilst Annabeth made Percy take another sip, before he closed his eyes and fell asleep

"What do we do now?" Annabeth asked

"We have to monitor Percy for the next 24 hours whilst he recovers, it may be a wise idea for you to stay here Miss Chase so when he comes around he sees a friendly face and you can make sure he has a drink when he does"

Annabeth nodded and Mr Brunner looked at Luke

"As for you Luke, go and take a shower. I don't want any other students to know about this until we find out who is responsible"

"Yes Sir"

Mr Brunner and the nurse left whilst Luke glanced over at Annabeth and their eyes met for a split second before she turned to Percy and stroked his hair.

"I'm sorry Annabeth"

"Just go" she said weakly with her eyes focused on Percy's closed eyelids and with that she heard Luke shut the door.

She looked down at Percy's face and stroked his cheek "I'm so sorry Percy" She wiped the tears from her cheek, she wasn't someone who cried a lot but in the last week she had cried more than she had her entire life. That made her chuckle and as she looked down at Percy she realised that she really did like him and she never wanted to see him in this situation again. It didn't matter to her that he had said Rachel's name because she was sure of her feelings for him and nothing would change that. She pulled a chair over to the side of the bed and sat down as he stirred in the bed and rolled over.

"Annabeth? Annabeth what happened? Why am I here?"

Annabeth sat up and grabbed his hand and tried to reassure him in a calm manner "Percy calm down, we're in the medical room"

His eyes scanned the room and nodded when he recognised it as the medical room, she squeezed his hand and he squeezed back which made her smile, she told him to sit up and she handed him a drink

"I'm just going to get the nurse ok?"

Percy nodded and she disappeared and within a couple of minutes Annabeth reappeared with the nurse.

"I'm just going to monitor your blood pressure"

He gladly held his arm out but held his gaze on Annabeth, she gave him a reassuring smile.

"Can you remember anything Percy?" The nurse asked

He shook his head "All I remember is feeling really cold"

The nurse nodded "Its ok, it's normal to not remember, it might come back to you and if it does I want you to tell me"

Percy nodded and the nurse turned to Annabeth, "You should probably go and get something to eat"

Annabeth's eyes went from the nurses to Percy's and back to the nurses,

"Yes you can eat it here, it might be a good idea to bring him a little something aswell"

Annabeth nodded "Anything in particular Pers?"

He shrugged "I'm not picky" he smiled,

"Ok I'll be back soon"

Annabeth quickly grabbed a handful of foods and shoved it onto the tray, she turned and was on her way back to the medical room when she was stopped in the corridor by a voice that sent a shiver down her spine

"Annabeth" he called out

She felt the warmth of him behind her so she turned around to see the one person she currently did not want to see

"Luke I have to go" she said

"I just wanted to apologise about, well everything that's happened today" he sighed "I also wanted to thank you for lying for me"

"I made a promise Luke, I don't break my promises"

"And I am going to make you a promise that I am going to try my hardest to keep, I promise that I will make it up to you, Annabeth Chase. Everyday of my life if I have to"

Luke gave her a sympathetic smile and vanished into the canteen and Annabeth returned to Percy in the medical room.

"You ok?" He asked as she sat on the bed and handed him a slice of pizza,

"Yeah just... lost in thought" she smiled.

Percy nodded and chomped down his food and Annabeth plucked up the courage to ask the question she dreaded the answer to, "Do you want me to get Rachel?"

Percy stayed silent and after he finished his mouthful responded "No"

Annabeth was surprised but relieved at the same time

He continued to say "I don't want to worry her and I think I'm in safe hands here"

She smiled and they ate the rest of the food.