Hanging out with people every day was starting to get exhausting. Percy didn't mind his sudden group of friends, but he was only ever used to one friend that he rarely hung out with outside of school. Suddenly his whole life revolves around being part of this group.

He didn't really know most of them all that well, mostly because they didn't really talk to him much. Like Nico, he kept to himself mostly. Percy wanted to talk to him, he really did, but Nico wouldn't hold much of a conversation, he'd go quiet and start mumbling a lot.

"So, Percy Jackson." Annabeth stood next to Percy, her honey blonde hair up in a messy ponytail with princess curls that seemed almost too perfect.

  "Annabeth Chase."

  "How's your day going?" She sat down next to him, they were all hanging out by the river and Percy had sat off to the side. It was another day of refusing to go swimming.

  "Alright," Percy chuckled, "and yours?"

  Annabeth looked at him for a moment before smiling, "Just peachy. Heard Octavian was being a dick to you earlier."

  "Luke tell ya that?" Percy looked away and towards the water, he picked up a stone and threw it in an attempt to make it skip. It did not. "Yeah, fuck Octavian. Luke didn't really do anything to help either, seemed like they were kinda friends?"

  Annabeth sighed and joined in on the stone skipping, "Sorta. Luke means well, I think. He just... uhm, he doesn't like conflict I guess."

  "You guess?" Percy threw another stone and smiled when it skipped three times.

  "It's complicated," Annabeth chuckled, "But Octavian is a racist, sexist, homophobic asshole and he thinks he's above it all. Literally, he thinks he's some kind of god or something."

  "Dam," Percy sighed as he chucked a stone into the river, the water splashed back at him. "Drew also seemed kinda bitchy."

"Oh, yeah Drew..." Annabeth set down the stone that she was holding and sighed, "Piper and Drew used to be super close, practically sisters. Then one day Drew suddenly only cared about boys and treated Piper like some sort of love-rival. Piper still cares about her, but Drew doesn't give a single shit about her."

Percy sat up and stopped throwing stones, had her eyes always had that little glimmer in them? "How long ago was that?"

"Just last year," Annabeth turned and looked Percy in the eyes. For a moment, they were silent as they gazed at each other. In some dumb romance movie, they'd be making out by now, but they definitely weren't in a romance movie. "Enough about that. Tell me Percy, you knew Grover before this week, didn't you?"

"Huh?" Percy broke the eye contact and looked over at Grover, who had just joined the others after his nature committee thing. "No, why?"

"I don't expect you to know this, but I'm an honors student. Get all A's, best grades in the school, that kinda thing. Basically, I'm smart. Not just book smart, but I have a lot of knowledge on different subjects." Annabeth raised an eyebrow, "I used to study body language and signs of lying, and lets just say your body language while 'meeting' Grover was very awkward."

"So? What if I'm just socially awkward?"

"Oh, trust me, you are." Annabeth laughed as she spoke, "But when meeting me or the others, it was different. So why are you and Grover pretending to not know each other?"

Percy was silent for a moment, what exactly was he supposed to say to that? He couldn't exactly interrogate her about why she was paying such close attention to him, because maybe that was a hobby of hers or something. He wanted to deny it, but after almost a minute of silence, there was nothing he could say to convince Annabeth of his lie.

"Touché."

She raised a brow, "You didn't answer my question."

"Well Annabeth, you're smart. Why not figure it out yourself?" He smirked as he stared at her, "But don't put too much thought into it, the answer isn't all that important."

Annabeth furrowed her brows as she stared at him, he stood up and stretched his arms as he yawned.

"Just tell me, Percy."

Percy stared at her with a blank face, she stared back at him with determination raging in her eyes. It was as if a storm was brewing within her.

He sighed and sat back down, "Grover and I were friends in middle school, our friendship ended on bad terms and we decided to start over after meeting each other again. Really, it's nothing all that important."

Annabeth still didn't seem satisfied, but suddenly her eyes widened. It was as if something clicked in her mind, as if she found the missing puzzle piece she'd been searching for. She didn't speak, nor did she move. She stared at him with her wide eyes and raised brows in utter silence. Percy almost wanted to laugh, but he couldn't laugh at what she probably just realized.

"You good?" He asked, he tried his best to maintain a straight face, maybe with a little bit of worry but not too much. He'd practiced faking expressions all his life, luckily he became good at it over time.

"Are you...Uhh, Are you the friend Grover had in sixth grade? The one that..." she furrowed her brows even more, "The one that tried to...."

He tilted his head slightly, "What're you talking about?"

"I-" she sighed, "Nevermind."

  "Percy! Annabeth!" Thalia yelled out, she was swimming towards them, "Swim! Now!"

  Annabeth stuck out a middle finger at her and laughed, "In your dreams!"

  "Oh come on!" Thalia splashed water at them and laughed, "If you're gonna wear a bikini, at least put it to some use!"

  Percy raised a brow, Annabeth wasn't in her bathing suit. Annabeth seemed to notice his confusion, "I'm wearing it under my clothes."

  "Ah," Percy nodded, "Makes sense."

  Thalia stood up on the sand after getting out of the water and grabbed Annabeth and Percy's arms as she tugged them towards the water. "Come on children, mommy doesn't have the time for your whining!"

  "Wait!" Annabeth started tugging off her shirt and shorts with her left arm, Thalia let go of them and waited.

  Percy took off his hoodie and pretended not to notice the glance that Thalia and Annabeth shared after seeing his body. "What, expecting a six pack?" He teased.

  Annabeth snapped herself out of her gaze and snickered, "Trust me, you're too skinny for me to even think you'd have a six pack."

  "Oh, was someone thinking about Percy's imaginary abs?" Thalia wiggled her brows and chuckled as she pulled them into the river. The water was cold, but not too cold to the point where he couldn't even step in fully. He was able to get to the deeper part and not be a shivering mess.

  "Percy! Annabeth! You guys finally decided to join us!" Jason yelled as he and Piper swam towards them. Leo also began swimming towards them from the other side of the river, Grover and Nico followed behind him slowly.

  "Wow, us swimming must be so exciting." Percy exchanged a glance with Annabeth before looking back at everyone. They all now were in a circle.

  "Revolutionary," Piper grinned. Percy stared at her for a moment, his eyes finally noticing how skinny Piper was. Her rib cage stuck out and her stomach was flatter than any healthy body should be. Her arms were bony as well, and he wanted to bet that her legs were similar.

  Percy knew some people were definitely naturally that skinny, but he had a bad feeling as he looked away. He wasn't really one to talk about what people were going through, but he knew an eating disorder when he saw one. He started to remember how little Piper ate at lunch, if she'd eat at all. Even at dinner, she'd barely touch any of it, sometimes not even going up to get a lunch.

  Had he been so blind as to not notice any of that? He had been too focused on his own problems, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized that he was completely ignoring everyone around him. Not what they were saying, because of course he paid attention. He was ignoring their actions, the subtle things. 

  He needed to open his eyes and start paying attention again, whether he wanted to or not.

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  A bit of a short chapter, but I didn't think there was a better spot to end that chapter. We're beginning to get into the backstories of the other characters.

Also, happy pride month! As a part of the LGBTQ+ community, I just wanna say I love and support all of you! <3

Anyways, until next time!