When I woke up the next morning, I grabbed a clean black hoodie, a green t-shirt, jean pants, and underwear. Quietly unlocking my bedroom door, I opened it a bit and checked up and down the hall. Then I looked at the bathroom door, looking for a light. Seeing nothing, I slipped out, closed my door, and ran into the restroom, locking it behind me.

Turning on the shower, I waited a few minutes for it to warm up and started stripping. I unwrapped all my bandages besides the one on my wrist. Even though the image was seared into my brain, I didn't need a reminder.

I stepped into the shower and felt the warm water rejuvenate my tense and tired muscles and bring relief to my aching cuts and bruises. After a few minutes of taking in the water, I quickly washed my body and hair. Cleaning the leftover makeup on my face, hoping it didn't break out my face since I neglected to clean it off last night.

After rinsing off, I reluctantly stepped out of the shower and got dressed. I dried my hair in a towel and rewrapped my bandages. I pressed the towel to my wrist's bandages to dry them without having to change them. Then I slipped on my clothes and rechecked the hallway.

Zooming across the space to my bedroom, I locked the door and went to my desk, pulling out my makeup kit. Applying quick and effective makeup, I threw the hood over my head and made sure I had my phone and house key. Checking the hallway one last time, I ran quietly out of my room and prayed that Gabe wasn't awake.

Seeing him passed out on the couch was a blessing. What wasn't a blessing were the numerous beer bottles thrown across the floor like a fucking obstacle course.

"Fuck" I whispered as I started to go across the floor. Tip-toeing over the bottles wasn't easy, and my heart was pounding in my ears as I tried to go fast enough, so Gabe didn't wake up while I was still in the house. Not to mention in the center of a weapon-filled space.

Sighing in relief as I got to the front door, I rejoiced in my head about how my clumsiness hadn't made me crash and burn. I quickly exited the house and walked towards the school.

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The day was going by fast. Before I knew it, he was walking out of Music Class and into the PE locker room. Absentmindedly walking to the bathroom stalls and putting on my clothes, I tried to wrap my head around the fact that I was eating dinner at Annabeth's house tonight.

I hoped that whatever I wore to school was presentable. I shut my eyes tight as I tried to tune out instances my mind created. Where Annabeth made me go home to Gabe before dinner or when she just up and refused to allow me into the house for the study session.

I chewed my nail as I walked out of the locker room into the gym. The teacher probably had something different for us to kill each with today. Last week was dodgeball. This week was hopefully a more mellow and calm sport that didn't involve bruising my bruises.

Unfortunately, only teachers with an eye for competition and blood, sweat, and tears were able to teach PE, so we were told to play flag football.

Right now, I wished we could have stuck to dodgeball. At least then I just had to suck it up for a single hit and then sit out for the rest of the day. But in flag football, I could already feel the bruises forming.

The teacher explained the rules and quickly walked up in front of the class and whispered to him that I wasn't feeling well, and my throat was all scratchy. The good thing about PE teachers is that most of the time, they're so excited to get to the blood, sweat, and tears that any disruption in their main focus is accepted so the class can continue to the 'fun' part.

So after getting the ok from my teacher and writing me a slip as evidence, I went into the locker room and changed back into my regular clothes. Strolling through the halls to my locker, I quickly grabbed my math notebook and headed calmly towards the library.

I opened the door, and thankfully the librarian was somewhere in the back and didn't notice me coming into the library during seventh period.

I quietly and quickly went into Annabeth, and I's little alcove where we had study sessions throughout the week and sat down in my usual armchair. I sat down and started working on my math homework until I heard a small noise.

Looking up, I scanned for it. Then, noticing the couch in the little corner for the first time, I walked up to a wrinkled blanket that almost matched the couch's color perfectly. Lifting the blanket a bit, I was met with Annabeth, sleeping on the couch.

Surprised, I yelped a bit and let the blanket fall back onto her face. She shifted in her sleep and quietly muttered nonsense under her breath.

I was in awe. I didn't expect to see Annabeth here. Did she always sleep before our study sessions? What was her seventh period? What was she doing here? Questions raced through my mind as I walked back over to the armchair I was previously sitting in.

Honestly, it's not the weirdest thing I've seen happen in a high school. Plus, Annabeth looked really peaceful sleeping on the couch. Now that I knew where she was, it was easy to see her golden curls falling from under the blanket, giving her hiding place away. I smiled softly at her, but then I realized I probably looked creepy and turned towards my math.

Quickly plugging earbuds into my phone and shuffling a math playlist, I got to work. Taking my time, I hummed softly to the music as I worked. Every so often, I looked at the couch to see Annabeth's curls poking out from under the blanket and would smile to myself.

After a while, the bell rang, and people started coming into the library. Annabeth still hadn't woken up, but I figured she would soon. I was finishing my last problem when I heard a soft groan.

Looking up, I saw Annabeth stretching as she kicked the blanket off her and walked over to the armchair across from me. She blinked sleepily and yawned, plopped down on the armchair with her feet over one side and her back against the other.

Slowly she looked towards me as she yawned again. A surprised look overtook her, and she yelped, almost falling out of the chair.

I bit my lip to stifle a laugh and watched as she righted herself on the chair, swinging her legs off the armrest and onto the ground.

"Sorry for scaring you, um, don't worry, I won't tell the librarian" I tried for peace. I wasn't sure if she was angry or confused, but I wanted to clear it up with her that I was cool with sleeping in the library.

"There's nothing for you to be sorry about. Honestly, it's just kind of embarrassing that you saw me wake up from a nap," Annabeth said sleepily. I cocked my head to the side, confused.

"Why is it embarrassing? Also, um, I didn't just see you wake up. I came in here during seventh to get away from flag football and found you sleeping on the couch. But in the meantime, I finished my homework," I tried to justify my actions and keep from looking like a total creep. I don't know if it worked, but her ears turned a bit red as she listened to me.

Thankfully she changed the topic from watching her sleep to the math homework."Um, can I see your homework?"

I handed her the papers, and she skimmed over them, sometimes writing something down but soon after, her face grew into a broad grin as she handed back the papers.

"These are great! You only got two wrong. I say you have this quiz in the bag," she praised, and I could feel the embarrassment flooding my cheeks.

"So um, now that you finished the homework, there's not much to do during our tutoring session. Want to come hang out with my friends?" Annabeth asked.

I could see she was kind of hopeful, though I don't know why. It seemed like she really wanted me to come, which was odd. No one felt the need to talk to me, and I didn't feel the need to talk to anyone else. But by going with her, I had a higher chance of going to dinner afterward than if I went home now.

I slowly nodded my head, and her face broke into a huge grin. "Great! I'll text them that we finished early and we'll meet them at this cafe down the street".

Standing and grabbing her school supplies, Annabeth grabbed my hand as I finished gathering my notebook and dragged me around the school.

Since Annabeth's locker was closer, she dragged me there by the hand and let go to open it up. She calmly placed her school supplies into her locker and then closed it. This time she grabbed my right wrist, and I pushed down a screech of pain when she pressed on the bandages.

Feeling pain shoot up my arm, I looked frantically for the hallway with my locker. Pointing down the correct corridor, Annabeth dragged me down by the lockers till I told her to stop.

She let go of my wrist, and I thanked her internally as my wrist stopped screaming in pain. Opening my locker, I stuffed my book into it and shut it closed, content with the slamming noise that filled the hall.

Smiling at me, Annabeth waved at me to follow her as she walked down the hallways to the school entrance. I fell into step beside her as she led the way to the cafe. After a few minutes of comfortable silence, we entered the small cafe with a jingle of the bell on the top of the door.

Annabeth scanned the room and retook my wrist, which exploded in pain, almost making me want to hiss. Breathing through the pain as Annabeth dragged me over to a booth with eight people already seated. Annabeth let go of my wrist, and I instantly felt a sense of relief. I sat down awkwardly next to Annabeth and Jason.

I only knew Jason, Leo, Piper, Calypso, and Annabeth, which is pretty good, considering that's half the number of people here, including myself.

Annabeth must've noticed how quiet things were and started introducing people. She pointed to a girl with dark shoulder-length hair with a blue streak, "Thalia," pointing to the pale black-haired boy next to her," Nico," and lastly to a girl with a brown french braid," Reyna."

I nodded and waved awkwardly. "I'm Percy." They all voiced hellos and started up a conversation with someone nearby. I just sat there, awkwardly, until the waiter came and asked for everyone's orders.

Everyone ordered a hot drink of some kind, but I just got water, I knew the extent of my stomach, and I wanted to keep it hungry for Annabeth's dinner.

The waiter jotted down the order and walked away. That was the cue for a whole bunch of questions.

"How'd you meet Annie?"

"What's your favorite color?"

"Are you part of the group now?"

"What's your favorite subject?"

"Um," I started. I had to think to keep track of all of the questions.

"Annabeth is my math tutor and was assigned to me last Monday. My favorite color is blue. I'm not sure if I'm part of the group, and my favorite subject is Music".

I hoped I got all the questions; I would feel terrible if I missed someone. But they all nodded, and I saw a glimpse of Annabeth putting her face in her hands, and her friends continued to ask me questions.

The waiter came and handed out drinks while they continued their interrogation.

I dodged questions about friends, family, or relationships in general. I answered the easy ones I knew off the top of my head, like favorite subjects and animals.

Thankfully it was nearing five pm, and Annabeth told everyone we had to go. I stood from my seat and followed Annabeth out of the cafe towards the school.

"Sorry about them; they can be a lot," Annabeth apologized, but I just laughed.

"No worries, honestly that's the most I've talked with someone in a while" Shit, this is what I get for not watching what I say. I clamped my mouth shut as I saw Annabeth look at me with a look of curiosity.

She looked away after a bit, probably realizing I wasn't going to talk about it.

"Once we get back to the school, we can go into my car, and we'll head to my house," Annabeth explained. I nodded as we walked on school grounds, nowhere near ready for this dinner.