Chapter 11

"I still can't believe you gave him my number." Annabeth said as she organised some stuff in her locker."Well, you were being hopeless. I just wanted to help move things along with your relationship with Percy." Luke smiled as he leaned against the lockers next to Annabeth's.Annabeth looked at Luke, raising an eyebrow.

"... Did you and Thalia make a bet again?" Annabeth questioned, shutting her locker."What? Annie, that's insane! Why would we do that?!" Luke gasped dramatically, acting as if he was betrayed. "... How much money?" Annabeth titled her head. "Only ten dollars." Luke shrugged. Annabeth hummed.

"You guys are hopeless." "Now that's now very nice, Annie-"

Annabeth and Luke were about to turn around before they looked ahead and saw Percy walking in, keeping his head low. Annabeth furrowed her eyebrows. Grover wasn't with him, usually he was always with him.Annabeth glanced around, seeing a lot of people whispering as Percy walked by them.

"Percy, hey dude!" Luke called.Annabeth kept her gaze on Percy as Percy slightly lifted his head up and looking at Luke as he heard Luke call for him. Annabeth felt a shiver down her spine when she saw a lot of bandaids on Percy's face and even a bruise forming around his eye. Annabeth felt her legs move towards Percy and Luke seemed to stay still in shock.

"Are you okay? W-when did this happen?" Annabeth asked, studying Percy's face as she stopped him in the middle of the hall.Percy gave Annabeth a weak smile."Erm... I'm fine, seriously, there's no need to worry." Percy said.Percy met Annabeth's gaze and he saw the worry in her eyes.

"Percy, you looked fine when you called me yesterday, and now all of a sudden you are injured." Annabeth stated, reaching a hand up to Percy's face, gently holding his cheek. Percy blinked and his cheeks warmed up as Annabeth gently placed her hand against his face. "What happened?"

Percy leaned in a little to the warmth of Annabeth's palm. "I'm fine, Annie. I swear." Percy said softly, holding eye contact with her. "Seriously, don't worry about it. I'm used to this." Annabeth frowned as Percy leaned away from her hold. "You're used to this?" Annabeth scowled slightly.

Percy didn't like how Annabeth looked at him. How much worry filled her gaze when she looked at him.

"We need to get to class. Okay? I'll see you at lunch? Maybe you can join Grover and I?" Percy asked, about to walk away. "I'm not done wanting to talk about this with you!" Annabeth exclaimed. "Too bad, cause I am~!" Percy grinned at Annabeth. "I'll see you at lunch, Annabeth!" And like that, Percy took off.

Annabeth grumbled as she turned around and she looked at Luke. Luke went over to her. "... Your boyfriend okay?" Luke asked. "Not my boyfriend." Annabeth scowled. "Then why were you holding his face?" Luke raised an eyebrow. "I-!" Annabeth's cheeks turned red, unsure what to say. "Whatever! We need to get to class!" Annabeth began to walk off and Luke followed alongside her.

Annabeth couldn't get the image of Percy's face out of her mind. How he had a black eye forming, how he had quite a few bandaids on his face.

Did something happen when Percy went offline all of a sudden last night?

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Word count: 563