Monday came early.

Well, technically, it came on time. It was just we went to bed around 3 and had to wake up at 6ish.

My phone alarm was going off, and I quickly moved my arm that was wrapped around something to my hoodie pocket, where I shut the alarm off.

Then groaning that I had to get up, I unwrapped my arms, and something moved. I almost fell off my bed when I realized that Annabeth was still wrapped around my torso. Then I breathed a sigh of relief; she was sleeping.

Then I remembered school.

Shit, I really don't want to move. But Annabeth will kill me if she realizes I let her sleep past school. What if I pretend I'm still asleep? Yeah, let's go with that. She can't be angry if I'm not awake.

I quickly shut my eyes and moved back to my previous position, snuggling my face a bit into her hair. Breathing in her lemon-scented curls as I felt myself drifting off.

"Percy? What time is it?" Shit, she woke up. I tried to make it look like she woke me up, moving a bit.

"Um, hold on, let me look at my phone," I spoke sleepily as I moved my hand into my hoodie pocket. I pulled out my phone and looked at the time while still holding Annabeth close to me.

6:08 am. My alarm went off 8 minutes ago. I sighed. So much for my sleeping-in plan.

"It's um 6:05 am," I said softly, and I heard Annabeth breathe in sharply. Then she untangled herself from me and slipped off the bed. I huffed as she started busying herself with getting ready.

"Hey, um, you have like 45 minutes, breathe a bit, you just got up," I spoke softly to her. Not wanting to seem like I was trying to tell her what to do.

"I need to get to school, head to the library, check out this new book, return my old one, go ask my Architecture teacher about finals." Annabeth continued mumbling to herself as she picked up her clothes and packed up her backpack. She either ignored me or didn't even hear what I said.

She stopped abruptly. Blinked a few times. Looked around the room and then looked back at me, still laying down under the blankets, watching her.

"What are you doing?" Annabeth asked suddenly. I blinked. What?

"Um, I'm lying down? In bed? Watching you get ready for school?" I answered with a questioning voice, not sure what I'm supposed to say.

She looked at me surprised and then asked, confused, "Aren't you going to get ready for school?"

"Um, I have like 40 minutes. I'm going to chill out till there's around 5 minutes, and then I'll actually move. I would leave earlier, but since you're here, I don't need to," I explained slowly.

She just shook her head and left the room to change. I sighed to myself and snuggled back into the covers, placing my head on a pillow. Closing my eyes, I tried to go back to sleep.

"Rusticitas, get up, come on, get ready for school. Or I'm leaving you here," I heard Annabeth threaten as I almost managed to slip into a peaceful slumber.

I groaned as I forced my eyes open. Sitting up, I pouted at Annabeth, who had come to stand by the side of the bed. She had a disapproving look on her face as I looked at her.

"Please, you can wait three more minutes, right?" I grumbled at her, closing my eyes again as I laid back down. I felt a hand on my face slapping my face softly. Groaning, I looked at Annabeth, who was trying to get me to get up.

Then I got a mischievous smirk on my face, and I saw Annabeth frown in confusion. I quickly grabbed her wrist and pulled her off balance. She swung forward, and as she tried to regain her balance by sliding off the bed, I quickly grabbed her waist and pulled her into me.

She struggled as I held her tight against my chest. Hugging her from behind, I closed my eyes as I snuggled my face into her neck. I felt her relax as she tried prying my arms off her.

"Percy, let me go. I have school," she growled.

"No"

"Percy, I'm serious."

"Who said I'm not?" she was quiet for a few seconds before she slumped in defeat.

"Please?" she sounded so tired it nearly broke my heart. I slowly turned her around, so she was facing me. Keeping my arms wrapped around her waist loosely.

"Hey, stop stressing so much, ok? You're the smartest person I know. If I can wing the finals, you can ace them," I spoke softly to her, looking at her panicked expression. I softly kissed her, closing my eyes.

She was tense but then relaxed into the short kiss. I pulled away and looked at her again.

"I'm here for you no matter what, ok? If you needed a snuggle buddy to sleep, call me up. I'll be there. Need a coffee and a doughnut? Call me up. Whenever you need something, I'll drop everything" I held her gaze as I saw her relax a bit. I quietly swore to always be there. No matter what was happening, Annabeth needed me? I was there.

She nodded quietly, looking away. I kissed her cheek and let her go.

"Ok, Rusticitas, but can we actually get ready for school now?" she asked softly, not moving even after I let go of her.

"Alright, I'll get ready now." I groaned playfully at her while sitting up and getting off the bed. Grabbing a clean t-shirt and jeans, I slipped out of the room. Walking to the restroom, I quickly changed and went back to my room.

Seeing Annabeth wasn't anywhere in my room, I grabbed my house key and made sure my phone was in my pocket before walking out of my room. I looked around the house and finally found Annabeth in the kitchen.

"Hey, what are you making?" I announced my presence to her as I leaned against the door jam. She looked at me as she opened the microwave.

"Pizza"

"Nice"

She took out a plate and handed me a piece of warmed up pizza. I nodded my thanks, took the hand she wasn't eating with and led her out of the house. She was already wearing her backpack, so I figured she had everything ready to go.

As we walked to school, I quickly finished my piece of pizza before shooting my Mom a text telling her we left for school already. I heard Annabeth gasp beside me, and I swiveled my head to look at her.

"What's up?"

"I just realized the results of the competition come out today!" she was grinning widely as I felt my stomach give birth to a baseball.

"Just think! You definitely won, with your amazing voice and all. There's no way that you lost to that boring piano player and playful guitar player. I heard that numbers 2 and 4 were the best candidates, but in my opinion, you smoked them," she rambled, and I felt my face heat up as she praised me. I tried to discreetly pull my hood up to hide from the compliments.

Unfortunately, Annabeth saw it and giggled at me. Then quickly unlatching her hand from mine, she ripped the hood down and then just as quickly grasped my hand. In surprise, I tripped over nothing and almost fell on my face.

"Aww, don't be embarrassed, Rusticitas. I'm just telling you the truth," Annabeth teased. Which only made me blush more as I rubbed the back of my neck and looked away.

I could feel her smirk as I refused to look at her. Thankfully we got to school, and as we walked in, I looked at the clock, 6:47 am. Still 15 minutes early to zero period. I glanced at Annabeth, and visibly saw stress lift from her shoulders as she realized she was early.

I squeezed her hand as we walked to her Architecture class.

"Hey, earlier I heard you saying that you wanted to exchange your books. Want me to do it for you?" I offered. I mean, I had basically an hour to kill before my first period.

"Wait, you'd do that?" she looked at me as she swung our hands as we walked.

"Yea, I mean I have plenty of time to do it," I confirmed, and I saw her face light up. I made a mental note to help her with exchanging library books from now on.

"Ok, hold on, let me get the book out" she dropped my hand and swung her backpack around. Grabbing out a novel, she handed it to me, Ranger's Apprentice and the Ruins of Gorlan. "Ok, the next book of the series is called Ranger's Apprentice and the Burning Bridge."

I nodded to her, accepting the book. Then she wrote a few digits on a piece of paper and handed it to me. "This is my long ID so that you can check out the book for me," she explained. I nodded again and put the piece of paper in the book.

Then she put her backpack back and then grabbed my hand, resuming our walk down the hallways. At around 5 minutes to zero period, I kissed Annabeth goodbye and walked to the library.

I opened the doors, slipped the paper out, and placed the book into the returned pile. Then walking to the fiction section, I sifted through the books lining the shelves.

"Hey Perce!" a familiar voice rang out, and I looked to my right to see Rachel.

"Hey, aren't you supposed to be in class?" I asked suspiciously. She just smirked at me, and I gulped.

"So, did you do it?" she asked bluntly.

"Um, what do you mean?" I acted dumb, still looking for Annabeth's book.

"The deal dummy, did you tell her you loved her?" she asked exasperatedly. I pretended to look as if that made me remember.

"Oh yeah, yeah I did," I said, a bit wishy-washy. I mean, technically, I did. I told Annabeth I loved her; she was just asleep.

Rachel narrowed her eyes at me as I pulled the book from the shelf. Her face broke into a grin as she said, "Oh, I know you did; a little birdie told me." I grew confused. Who was the 'little birdie'? I mean, the only people in the house were Annabeth and mom. Mom was in the other room, and Annabeth was asleep.

Mom wouldn't have been able to hear me, I whispered it, and she was most definitely asleep at 3 am.

My face paled as I started walking to the checkout center. Did Annabeth hear me? I mean, I wanted her to hear me, but I didn't expect her to be awake. I felt my cheeks burn as I handed the book to the librarian.

Pulling out the piece of paper, I handed it to the librarian, who typed in the six number long number before giving me the book and throwing the piece of paper away. I thanked her, and Rachel followed me out of the library.

"On a different note," I sighed in relief. Thank goodness we were off the topic of Annabeth" when are you guys going to see your scores for the competition?" she finished.

"Um, I'm not sure, maybe after school? I really don't know," I answered honestly as we walked towards my locker.

I quickly opened it and placed the book softly in my locker before taking out my math notebook. Closing the door, I turned around and saw no Rachel. Confused, I looked around a bit before deciding she went to her class finally.

I sat down on the floor across from my math class and waited. I still had 30 minutes till class started. Groaning, I stood up and walked to the music room.

I grinned as I grabbed Riptide. I walked to my seat, sat down, and started playing, softly singing to myself. I felt my mind slip away as I continued playing the guitar.

I flinched out of my trance when someone tapped my shoulder. I almost fell out of the chair. I looked at the culprit to see a guy there. I squinted and recognized him, that number 2 guy in the competition.

"You're in my seat," I blinked at him. Then the words processed. I bit my lip in embarrassment and quickly stood up, apologizing. Then after putting Riptide away, I looked at the clock. First period started in a minute. I raced out of the room towards math. Pushing past other kids as I ripped open the door and rushed to my seat.

Making it just as the bell rang, I breathed in relief—time for a sucky and dull day to start.

I was right when I said sucky. However, I was wrong when I said dull.

Today was not dull. It turns out a few groups of kids saw Annabeth holding my hand and spread the word. I felt even more out of place in the halls when they would whisper about me. I was used to being the kid they occasionally laughed at when the jocks made their beatings public, not the center of gossip.

Throughout classes, the jocks took advantage of their freedom of seating to sit near me. I was constantly picked on throughout periods. Pieces of paper, spitballs, snickers, name-calling, you name anything they could do in class, they did it.

I didn't get a break during the passing period either. The jocks followed me as if stalking me, and when passing them in the hall, they would push, punch, trip, clothesline, and all-around pummel me. I felt a black eye forming as I walked out of history class. I tried to run.

Tried.

As soon as I started towards my locker, a hand shot out and grabbed my collar. I choked as I gasped.

"Where are you going? We have a full 30 minutes to ourselves, don't think we're going to let you miss out on the fun," one of the jocks sneered as he held fast to my collar. I debated pulling my hoodie off. But it would take too long, and I'm pretty sure they wouldn't leave me alone.

I sighed as I accepted my fate. I was dragged along with the group of three jocks as they walked me to the side of the school. As I was pushed against the brick wall near the dumpster, old fear crept from my heart. Increasing my heartbeat.

I haven't been beaten in a few weeks, maybe a month and a half. It was blissful, and honestly, I should've known it wouldn't have lasted. I would always be the kid that was pushed around. I can't believe I thought it would be different.

Two of the jocks grabbed my arms, holding me steady. Not like they needed to trap me; I wasn't going to run. That would just fuel them more.

The third started punching, and I realized how weak I had gotten. Each of these jock's pitiful punches hurt. I bit my lip. This isn't even on the scale of Gabe. Why did this hurt?

It's because you're weak.

No, no, it's just because I got used to the peacefulness of not having Gabe around. Then by knowing Annabeth, her influence protected me.

Exactly you're so weak you needed someone else to protect you at school.

No, that's not true. I've done this before, it's fine, I'm not weak, Annabeth told me so, I have to believe her. Yeah, Annabeth is right, she's right, she's right.

"I can't believe you're still alive. I guess you were too weak to actually kill yourself, huh? Backed out at the last second, I'm sure. Why are you even still alive? You should just die" the words hit me worse than the punch following them. I tasted blood, but I couldn't tell if it was from my nose or my mouth.

That one word. I had to get past it. Annabeth told me I wasn't weak. She told me I wasn't, I should believe her.

If she's right, why is the word engraved on your wrist?

My thoughts came to a halt. My wrist burned as if it was being engraved all over again. I felt the fists continue to pummel my face and chest; I couldn't do anything. Hearing and listening to the word echo in my mind. Maybe Annabeth just didn't completely understand. That's probably why she hung around me and agreed to be my girlfriend. She just doesn't completely understand yet. Once she does, she'll probably agree with me.

"I can't believe you're Annabeth's boyfriend. Honestly, she deserves better."

I felt myself agreeing, and honestly, he was right. But Annabeth definitely deserved better than me. I'm just the trash on the side of the road; she should look for someone else. Maybe not him, though; this guy was a jerk.

I felt my heartburn as tears pricked my eyes. I shut my eyes as the jock continued to hit me. Eventually, I was released, and I crumbled to the floor. I didn't know what time it was. I didn't care.

I just laid there. Just breathing listening to my thoughts. Becoming so loud, the bustling streets of New York died away. I don't know how long I laid there, staring off into space, until I felt my phone go off.

I startled awake and pulled my phone out with a shaky hand. Clearing my throat, I picked up the call.

"Hey"

"Hey, Percy, where are you? Are you ok?" Annabeth.

"Oh hey, Annabeth, yeah, I'm ok," Liar.

"Well, then come on over to the library; seventh period just got out," I froze. I'd been lying here for 2 hours? I was surprised but masked it.

"Ok, on my way. I got your book, by the way. I'll stop by my locker to grab it real fast."

"Alright, see you in a few, love you," my heart warmed, and a small smile graced my lips.

"See you soon, love you" I hung up and couldn't wipe the smile off my face. I used the brick wall as I found the motivation to move. I shakily walked towards the school's side entrance and started walking through the busy hallways.

Reaching my locker, I realized I lost my History notebook before I was taken out to be a punching bag. Cursing, I got Annabeth's book and walked swiftly to the library. Taking out my phone, I examined my face with the camera. A black eye, split lip, bruises forming. Yeah, the hood is going up.

I flicked my hood up and pulled it down as far as it would go, and walked into the library.