"It's nice talking to someone I haven't known for years. Gets kinda depressing when everyone brushes me off as the weird art girl."

  Percy stared at Rachel as he sat across from her in the forest, leaves surrounding them.

  "Why do they they brush you off?" He asked, curious as to why.

  "Well, my whole childhood I had went to a private all girls school... let's just say that coming here and seeing boys all the time was very thrilling to me. I'd obsess over them." She giggled as she continued painting on her canvas, her palette sat next to her with extra paint stuffed into her bag. "They never liked me back, so I'd try and paint them portraits to make them like me, they thought it was weird and creepy. I think about six or seven guys in total, not too sure anymore though."

  "A private school?" Percy laughed, brushing aside the hair that fell into his eyes, "You must be rich."

  "Yeah, kinda. My dad owns a private helicopter and everything."

  Percy widened his eyes and stared at her for a moment, "Wait What? Then what're you doing here? Isn't this too run-down for your parents?"

  She shrugged, continuing to paint on the canvas with a blue color, "I didn't like it at home, and I kept arguing with my mom over it. My dad was never really home, so it wasn't like I could talk to him instead. I lashed out at my mother at the end of eighth grade and she finally snapped and sent me away. I like it better here, though. Much more free, it feels like I can finally breathe."

  Percy nodded, he could relate to that feeling. Though the suffocating feeling still lingered in his life, it wasn't as suffocating as when he was living with his step-father.

  He looked around him, admiring the beauty of the nature. Tall trees that held leaves with hints of red and orange, signs of them falling soon. Some already had, as the ground was covered in the crunchy dead leaves. The sky was blue and cloudy, signs of a rainstorm in due time. It was a bit chilly out as well, Percy had a sweater on, so he wasn't feeling it as much.

"So tell me about yourself, Percy. Why'd your parents send you to this boarding school in the middle of nowhere?" She asked after the silence had felt unsettling, Percy was a bit grateful for that. He wasn't all that great at starting conversations, or keeping them alive.

"Well, I get expelled from schools a lot. This was just a school my mother and step-father knew would take me."

"Ooh, troublemaker!" She giggled, looking up at him with curiosity, "What kind of heinous things did you do to get yourself expelled?"

He wasn't sure if saying it to Rachel was a great idea, but he felt like she wouldn't tell anyone, so he decided to say it. "I sold drugs on school campus."

She widened her eyes and set her paintbrush on top her ear, "I didn't see you as the type to deal drugs. Interesting."

"I didn't do drugs myself, I just needed quick money. My mom was living paycheck to paycheck, I had to get a part time job to help out, but that still wasn't enough."

"What about your dad?"

Right, his father. Sometimes he forgot about that man, the guy that had never bothered to be in his life. "I just have a step-dad. My dad died when I was ten, but he wasn't ever in my life anyways."

Rachel was quiet for a moment, as if she couldn't even speak if she wanted to. Percy was confused, he'd never really been sad about his father's death, he hadn't even cried at the funeral. He had found it a bit odd, but he hadn't gotten to meet the man when he was alive, all the memories with him were faded away, from when he could barely even speak or walk.

"Sounds like the most awkward funeral ever..." she spoke in a soft and comforting voice, her full attention on him.

  He chuckled, "Yeah, it was."

  "Umm..." She cleared her throat, "If you... if you ever want to vent to someone, get those pent-up emotions out, just Uhh, just look for me? I'd be glad to listen."

  Percy nodded, "Yeah, okay. I'll look for the girl that throws blue hairbrushes at random people in the woods."

  She chuckled, "Yeah, sounds about right."

  "I think dinner is over now," Percy sighed as he began to stand up, "Why don't you eat dinner in the dining hall?"

  She shrugged, "I grab dinner from the dining hall, but it's not like I have anyone to sit with. It gets lonely sitting by myself in a room full of so many people. It made me feel so small and so unworthy of everything, so I snuck off outside one day and I've been doing it ever since. I'm still alone, but now it doesn't feel like the spotlight is on me."

  "Well," Percy began, "You're Not alone now."

  She smiled, "Thank you."

——————————————-

  His cabin was colder than he remembered it, a slight breeze creeping in from the windows. His bed was a mess of blankets and pillows, Jason's was neat and tidy. Of course Percy decided that he didn't care what his side of the room looked like, but it still made him a bit self-conscious.

  "Where were you during dinner?" Jason asked from the doorway, Percy turned around to face him and shrugged.

  "I went for a walk instead."

  "Okay. What'd your mom call for?"

Percy sighed and sat down on his bed, "She just wanted to tell my that my step-father is in the hospital. That's all."

"Oh shit, is he okay?" Jason seemed worried, which confused Percy because Jason couldn't give two shits about Gabe, he hadn't ever met the dude.

He shrugged, "Probably. My mom didn't really tell me too much, doctors hadn't spoken with her yet."

"I hope he gets better," Jason patted Percy on the shoulder after walking over to him, "Wanna go on a little field trip with the others?"

Percy shrugged, "sure, why not."

———————————

When Jason said field trip, Percy expected to be leaving the boarding school to some cool place in the city, but no. There he was walking into an old and abandoned school. Weeds grew out of every nook and cranny of the bricks that stacked up high, it was a one-story building so it wasn't too high. The red bricks were coming loose and the signs around it were faded. The playground was devoured by grass and weeds, not to mention the countless pathways that now were covered almost completely in grass. Nature was reclaiming itself.

"Isn't that locked down? Aren't we gonna get in trouble for breaking in?" Percy asked as the group stood in front of the double-doors with boarded up windows.

"We'll be fine," Leo grinned, "We do this all the time."

"Besides, you gotta live a little." Percy looked over at Piper, who spoke the words with a slight chuckle. She carried a backpack with flashlights and lock picks, which he had no idea where they got those, but Percy wasn't one to question something so unimportant.

  Most of the group stayed behind for this, the only ones tagging along with Jason, Piper, and Percy were Annabeth, Nico, and Thalia. Annabeth seemed a bit bothered by something, a certain tenseness surrounded her yet no one decided to ask the obvious question. Percy almost wanted to, but he felt as though that moment wasn't the right time.

  Piper kicked at the door, it opened quickly with a loud creak. "Welcome Percy, to the biggest mystery in this whole town."

  "Mystery?" Percy chuckled, "Looks like This Place just shut down and was moved to a better location."

  "Maybe," Thalia began, "Or maybe someone died."

  "People die in schools and they don't shut down. Heard of columbine before?" Annabeth sighed, "Percy has a point, that's all I'm saying."

  Percy smiled at Annabeth, who only looked at him for a moment before following behind the others. Percy Follower alone behind them and entered the dusty hallways of a former elementary school. The hallways were dark and dreary, the posters and drawings still hung up onto the walls. It almost seemed stuck in time, remaining so similar to when the doors were closed for good.

  "Let's Split into pairs! Jason and I, Percy and Annabeth, lastly is Neeks and Thalia!" Piper giggled as she handed out the flashlights.

  "We'll meet up back here in one hour, or when we get bored," Jason sighed, "Luckily Leo decided to stay behind today, he usually pulls pranks on everyone."

  After that, each of them wandered off into different halls. Annabeth was quiet, following behind Percy slowly. He kept glancing behind him to make sure she was still there, a part of him scared that she'd disappear into thin air. She seemed sad, like any moment she could collapse on the floor and sob into her own arms.

  "Everything alright?" He finally asked, stopping and staring at her with concern. She stopped walking and looked up at him, hardening her expression and putting on the mask that hid her emotions.

  "Yeah, I just have a lot on my mind. It's nothing, really." She spoke as though she'd rehearsed it many times, so he didn't give up.

  "You know that's not true. You don't have to go into details, but what's going on?"

  It was silent for a moment, the flashlight facing the ground and being the only thing Annabeth would look at, Percy didn't mind though. As long as she spoke to him, gave him a chance.

  "Luke and I had an argument earlier, that's all. It's nothing, really. It just... it happens sometimes." She sighed, "That's all."

  He stared at her for a moment, then sighed, "What were you two arguing about?"

  She sat down and leaned against the wall, he did the same. "Nothing really. Have you ever been in a relationship?"

  "No, could barely make friends as it was:"

  "That's surprising, you're a really nice person," she looked over at him for a moment before looking at the dusty tiles, "Luke is my first boyfriend, we've been dating for a while now. I remember that back when he asked me out, I thought it was some prank, but it turned out that it wasn't."

  "And you said yes? Why?"

  She didn't say anything, just looked away.

  "Annabeth, I haven't known you for long, but you don't look happy with him. I don't know what your happy self looks like, but that isn't it."

  She sighed, "I always had a crush on him, ever since I met him. It was like this moment where my brain stopped thinking and I just spoke. I don't even know, really. This is dumb, we're done talking about this." She stood up and brushed the dust off of her jeans, then continued venturing around the hall. Percy stood up and followed after her, shining the flashlight at the things ahead.

  "You know, when I was a kid my mom always bought me blue candy whenever I was sad."

  "Why blue?" She asked in a quiet tone.

  "Because my step-father said that food can't be blue, so my mom and I became obsessed with blue food ever since. Kind of a spite thing."

  She giggled, "sounds about right." She stopped walking and leaned down to tie her shoes, which came unlaced. "So, Why are you telling me this?"

  He stopped and waited for her, "I was just thinking we could sneak off to some candy shop and buy a shit ton of candy."

  "Oh really?" She finished tying her shoes and stood back up, "I might just take you up on that offer."

  "You'll Just have to show me where the candy shops are, because I have no idea where anything is."

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  My mind is so blank rn, like I'm writing and while I'm writing I can't imagine any of the scenes and that sucks because then everything feels so hard to write.

Idk, give me ideas for anything you wanna see in future chapters, might make it a bit easier.

I really gotta hold myself back from revealing a bunch of shit that's going on with the characters, like you guys know most of Percy's situation by now, but you barely hear about everyone else.

Anyways goodnight I'm tired. I should probably work less too, work sucks and as a high schooler, I don't need money that much rn.