Annabeth's Boarding Tale

Blonde's Revelation

Tea was just like all the other nights, the group got their food (Annabeth had opted for spaghetti tonight which was a bad idea considering she was wearing a white dress) and then they would go sit down in their usual spot. Tonight was different though, Percy and Rachel were sitting on their own table; alone. Due to those two sitting elsewhere, Annabeth spoke to Hazel and Frank a lot more, the whole group seemed to interact better and they laughed frequently. Annabeth learnt more about the group such as the age they all joined- Percy, Piper and Leo were the original trio joining at the age of 12. At 13, Hazel joined, her and Piper had shared a lesson together. Frank moved the conversation to when he joined; last year at 14 years old along with Rachel and Jason. Despite their openness, Annabeth felt like they were holding something back and briefly when they were talking about Hazel they had all exchanged glances as if they were reminding each other not to say anything, including Piper. Annabeth wanted to ask about Luke so she decided to talk to Leo, she lowered her voice so only Leo could hear, not that it mattered, the others were reminiscing about some teacher,

"Leo can I ask you about Luke?"

He nearly spat his drink out but he managed to swallow, he looked her dead in the eyes

"Luke?" He shook his head "I don't know Annabeth, that's a sensitive and sore subject...for a lot of us"

"But he's Percy's cousin?"

Leo sighed "That's part of the problem" he continued "Look I'm saying this to you as a friend and as someone who cares about you, he's trouble"

"So's Percy from what I heard in History today"

"Let me guess, Luke's in your class?"

Annabeth nodded and Leo sighed, looked up to the sky and fell back into his chair muttering something along the lines of Percy being an i***t. After a few seconds he leans forward with his head in his hands, the others still don't seem to notice Leo and Annabeth's private chat.

Leo moved closer to Annabeth and quietly talked to her "Luke brings out the worse in Percy, gets him into trouble"

"How do you mean?"

"If you want to know more you'll have to ask Percy but do yourself a favour and don't mention Luke to the group, particularly Jason"

Annabeth nodded and they turned their attention back to the others but she couldn't help wonder what Luke had done and in particular why he brought the worse out in Percy. She decided she was going to take Leo's advice except she would ask Luke not Percy.

The gang got up from their seats and started making their way towards the student area, Percy and Rachel waved them off and said they would catch up with them later. Annabeth couldn't help but glance over where she could see they had both dressed up for the occasion, Rachel was wearing a black crop top which finished at her shoulders (it reminded Annabeth of Sandy from Grease) with a white skirt. Whilst Percy looked sophisticated in a light blue shirt where the sleeves were rolled up and had tucked his shirt into white shorts. Annabeth wondered what the occasion was. Everyone was coupled off except for Leo so she caught up with him and asked,

"First let me apologise for earlier but Luke is not someone we care or talk about" he responded

"I'm sure you've got your reasons and you're just looking out for me"

"I will always look out for you, which is why it pains me to tell you what Percy and Rachel are celebrating tonight"

He sighs "it was Rachel's idea to... celebrate...The day they first-"

"Oh god! They've done it? They've had s*x!"

"What?! No! You have got one dirty mind Annabeth Chase" he tutted

An embarrassed Annabeth lowered her voice and asked "What are they celebrating then?"

"Their first kiss! This time last year they kissed"

"That requires a celebration?!" Annabeth tried to hide her jealousy and anger but she wasn't succeeding "Why does that mean dressing fancy and eating alone?" She grunted

"Well there was a party last year and they ended up kissing but they didn't actually become a couple until June"

"That's months after the kiss though?"

"They've basically been together since the kiss but Percy waited until June to make it official. Rachel wanted to be together after their first few dates but Percy held back. So I think Rachel considers this their first anniversary because in her mind this is when it all started"

Annabeth felt her heart sink a little, if Percy had just held back until school started after the summer then maybe everything would be different. Maybe her and Percy would have kissed at the pool party and it would be them all dressed up tonight, sitting alone on a date.

The gang went indoors to the student area where they all sunk into the sofas. Frank challenged Annabeth to a game of air hockey where she kicked his arse winning 10-1. He was setting up for a re-match when she looked at her watch- 7:55.

"Sorry Frank I've got to go, maybe Hazel can take my place?"

"Sure, apparently I could use the practice"

Hazel replaced Annabeth and as Annabeth was walking out Piper grabbed her arm,

"Where are you going?"

"Oh, err I'm meeting a few classmates"

Piper raised her eyebrows and her facial expressions gave away what she was thinking.

Annabeth lowered her voice "I'm not going to ruin their date, I promise it's classmates"

"Just don't do anything stupid"

Piper released her arm and returned to the group whilst Annabeth made her way to the canteen.

He was sitting there waiting for her, one of the outside lights shone onto him like a spotlight and she could see him clearly. He really was handsome, she realised in history that he was but she didn't realise how much. He was looking out onto the fields and hadn't noticed her presence so she decided to sneak around him and before she could stop herself covered his eyes with her hands. He spoke gently "I was starting to worry you wouldn't show"

She laughed and took the seat next to him and he turned his body to face her. His eyes studied every inch of her body before speaking "You look gorgeous"

"You didn't clean up to bad yourself" she remarked.

He smiled and Annabeth found her self smiling as well.

"You ready to go?" he asked

"Where are we going?"

"Wait and see"

They stood up and Luke took hold of her hand, she didn't object. Luke dragged her through the school, a different route than Annabeth knew, Annabeth warned him that the group were in the student area so he changed directions and took them an alternative way. He led her up some stairs and down a corridor and before she knew it he had opened a door. She stepped through and saw that they were on the pool balcony, Annabeh peered over and could see a mixed group of 17 year olds messing around in the pool. She looked back at Luke who had put his fingers to his lips motioning her to be quiet, he led her to the other side of the balcony and quietly opened a door which took them to a terrace. Annabeth wandered over to the side and peered across the view in front of her, to the immediate left was the rest of the school, the far left had the forest which stretched over to the far right but on her immediate right was a smaller part of the school which led out towards the field but stopped short where some benches had been places. She recognised what was directly below her, this was where the group would usually eat and hang out. Annabeth looked onto the field where she spotted a couple laying down on a blanket not too far from the group's area. Annabeth backed away from the side and turned only to bump into Luke. He looked out towards the forest

"This is my favourite spot throughout the whole school" he smiled

"How'd you find it? I've never seen anyone up here"

"Ha, when I joined at the age of 13-"

That's why the group paused Annabeth thought to herself, they weren't sure whether to mention when Luke joined or not

"-me and Percy stole the keys...and then we went...exploring" he grinned clearly proud of his mischief

"First year and you stole the keys?" She raised her eyebrows in surprise

"What can I say? I'm a bad boy"

Annabeth laughed whilst she turned back and leaned against the terrace wall facing the fields, the couple had gone.

"You and Percy are close aren't you?" She asked curiously

"Just the way we've been brought up I guess" he fell silent staring off into the distance as he leaned against the wall beside her and Annabeth wasn't sure how to respond

"We did fall out in the summer though"

This shocked Annabeth after witnessing their behaviour earlier that day "Really? You seemed like best buds in history"

"I think Percy wants everything to go back to normal and by pretending he's forgiven me is his way of maintaining the friendship we had built"

"Forgiven you? What did you do? ... If you don't mind me asking?" She added

Luke turned his head towards her "He didn't tell you?"

Annabeth shook her head

"And the others certainly wouldn't have"

She remained silent, thinking back to what Leo had told her.

"You have to promise me that you won't change whatever option you have of me" he pleaded

Annabeth nodded and Luke took a deep breathe before he spoke

"When I joined so did Jason's twin sister Thalia"

"I thought Jason joined last year?" She paused "Wait twins?!"

Luke grimaced at her "Yes twins. Jason did join last year but Thalia joined the previous year, she couldn't cope with the travelling and consistency of swapping schools where as Jason managed to, however he saw how much happier Thalia became and decided he wanted to attend as well"

Annabeth was in a state of disbelief, why didn't Jason tell her that Thalia was his twin? Was it to painful for him to refer to her as his twin?

"How much do you know about Thalia?" Luke asked

"Only that she was Jason's sister and Pipers roommate"

Something told Annabeth to keep that she knew about Thalia's illness to herself.

Luke nodded approvingly and continued "Ok so the year I joined was the same year Thalia did. That year we became great friends, we were part of the group. Last year me and Thalia became a lot closer and after Christmas we decided to take it a step further." He paused and Annabeth could tell he was replaying the memories in his mind "Everything was great between us until July, she became really distant and started going a little crazy on me. She accused me of cheating on her!" Luke clenched his jaw and screwed his hands up into a fist, he turned his head to look at her and she could see the anger in his eyes

"I tried talking to her but she refused to believe me then she told me that she had been diagnosed with Narcolepsy which was a huge bombshell. I knew she'd been struggling but I didn't realise why" he sighed "Thalia wanted to focus on beating her Narcolepsy so she broke up with me"

Luke continued to stare at the fields but Annabeth could see the tears rolling off his cheeks "Then when I found out she was in a coma" he shook his head in disbelief and cried a little harder, she grabbed his hand to show her support.

"I didn't handle it very well, I turned to drugs and drink" he smiled a little "Can you believe it? 15 years old and I turned to alcohol and drugs for comfort. The whole gang shunned me out, pretended I didn't exist. No one wanted to save me. Apparently rumours had been spread and they all believed I had cheated and that I broke up with Thalia"

Annabeth gave his hand a light squeeze and Luke wiped the tears away with his spare hand and continued to talk "Even Percy, he was the only one I truly thought I could rely on from the group, being family and all, I thought he would believe me but he turned his back on me like the rest of them. His dad spoke to him and told him that family have stick by each other no matter what. That's the only reason he's talking to me"

Annabeth and Luke's eyes met and before she could react he buried his head on her shoulder sobbing and she wrapped her arms around him to offer support. They sunk to the ground with their backs leaning against the wall, Luke continued to cry whilst she stroke the back of his head.