Annabeth lay on her bed, thinking.

It's what she did most days after school - of course, after finishing her homework. Only, most of the time, she was never thinking of how to help her two best friends from being bullied.

Piper and Nico had decided to hide in a toilet cubicle with Leo for two hours before jumping on Annabeth as she left her last lesson. Nico had been in tears, practically, and Piper looked shaky herself.

They had dragged her to the boys' toilet - holding her wrists tight so she couldn't protest. And when she saw Leo...

Annabeth shuddered, the mattress no longer comfortable, and got up, pacing the room irrationally. Luckily, Leo wasn't injured too badly, and Annabeth soon managed to patch him up as well as she could, but inside she had been panicking.

This was just a warning.

Annabeth shook her head, feeling angry at herself for getting stressed. All these terrified feelings could be destroyed if she made someone speak to the principal or the office staff. And yet, Annabeth didn't want to do that. She was scared that, if someone said something, Leo and Nico would just get even more hurt.

Stop it, stop it, Annabeth chided herself, and she calmed a little, just as her door opened. She was suprised to see Percy standing at the entrance, hair messy, green eyes sparkling and hands dug deep into the pockets of a huge light blue hoody.

"Hiya Annie!" Annabeth read his lips before launching herself at him, wrapping him in a hug. His arms joined around her waist as she buried her face in his neck, before finally the tears came.

"Hey, hey, hey! Don't cry! What's wrong? I'm not that hideous, am I?" Percy said, joking even though his face showed pure concern. Annabeth grinned, tears still running down her cheeks and dripping off her nose, before freeing her hands to sign.

No you're not, Percy! You're amazing. It's just... thoughts.

Percy looked questioning and sat down on the bed, pulling Annabeth with him so she had to sit on his lap. His arms folded around her middle while his chin rested lightly on her shoulder. She looked down at him, at his lips, to see what comfort he could bring her.

"What are you thinking about?" He asked instead, cuddling her like a koala bear.

Annabeth sighed. Leo and Nico. They aren't safe at school... not now everyone knows about them. What if-

Annabeth jumped as Percy grabbed her hands unexpectedly, stopping her. "What? What's happened to them!?" He questioned frantically, eyebrows pulled together. Annabeth's heart sank as she realised: he didn't know anything.

She explained it, all of it, and was forced to watch as Percy's face grew sadder and darker. His fists clenched.

"How dare they..." he muttered angrily as Annabeth finished, her own hands falling to her sides hopelessly. "Leo... Nico... wait. It was Beckendorf wasn't it?"

Annabeth didn't answer, leaving a pained silence. After a few minutes, she felt a hand under her chin push her face up. Green met grey and suddenly their lips were touching. The room vanished into oblivion as the kiss increased in passion, love blossoming between them. And then, all too quickly, it was over.

Annabeth face split into a weary smile as Percy pushed some of her escaping hair behind her ear. Tears stung her eyes, it was all so unreal and bittersweet.

"Things can only get better, Annie. Don't ever stop believing that."

Annabeth smiled at her boyfriend's cheesy words and equally cheesy grin.

As long as we're together?

Percy's sea green eyes sparkled. "As long as we're together."

And the room faded again as the second kiss took their breath away...

Piper's POV:

The Next Day

Piper stared at her desk, her hair over her eyes. Her fingers tapped, tapped, tapped against the wooden table, matching the beat of her bouncing knee. If anyone was looking, they'd think she was just a super-excited or hyper kid when, in reality, Piper felt trapped.

The desk seemed to shrink as all her school things edged closer. The teacher droned on and on, his voice sinking into the background as the whispers around her got louder. "Omg, that girl is such a snake! I never thought anyone could be so horrible!" "I know, right!" "I thought she was nice..."

What if they're talking about me, Piper thought to herself, before pausing. Wait, why would they be? They're just talking about some random kid, like normal.

Piper flicked her hair from her eyes, about to sit up straight again, when another thought struck her. She hadn't visited Jason yesterday. She'd forgotten about Jason, her boyfriend who was in a coma! She was horrible... they were talking about her. And sure, her father had spoke to her last night, but was only a matter of time before she did something else and everyone hated her again.

Aaargh! Piper wanted to curl up and scream. Her leg bounced faster and faster, growing frantic, when-

"Pipes, calm down." A tanned hand grabbed her wrist, and she looked up from the desk to see Leo staring back at her. His warm brown eyes were curious, concerned. "What's wrong?"

Piper let out a breath, feeling her anxiety flood out of her. "Nothing, Leo I'm fine," she murmured, lying easily. "I was just getting confused by the work." She knew it was a stupid lie, especially when she was talking to an extremely ADHD boy with slight dyslexia, but she couldn't actually be bothered to come up with anything else.

However, Leo still held onto her wrist, even when she tried to pull it away. His eyebrows furrowed. "Please, Piper, what's wrong? You never get this stressed out over-"

"Is everything alright back there?" The teacher suddenly boomed from the front, causing the entire class to turn around and snigger at the two of them. Leo nodded quickly, and the teacher gave them one last suspicious look before returning to his lesson.

Piper moved away from Leo, picking up her pencil and gazing at the board without really seeing anything, when a tiny, scrunched up note bounced off her head and plopped onto her open workbook.

She unraveled it with a sigh - already knowing who it was off - and was faced with... a black scribble. Jeez, this dude needs to change his handwriting or something, Piper stated sarcastically as she began to translate the messy scrawl in front of her.

Tell me at lunchtime, ok?

The One and Only Supreme Commander of Everything Ever, Leo :)

Piper laughed as she realised Leo's 'name' was longer than the actual message itself, but was stopped by yet another death stare from the teacher. Turning back to her work, she realised...

Dam, I haven't even wrote the date yet!

~·~·~

"Nico!"

"Eeeeeek!" Was the only sound Nico could make before he was literally lost in Leo's gigantic hug. When he resurfaced, he was red-faced and panting, but grinning.

"They need to get a room!" Percy laughed cheekily, but stopped when he saw what the pair were actually doing: checking up on each other.

Nico reached up and discreetly pressed a kiss to Leo's cheek. "Are you ok?" He asked quietly, suddenly serious again. Leo nodded.

"I'm good. I haven't seen Beckendorf all morning, so we should be good!" He started bouncing again, like an excitable puppy. Nico, however, remained serious.

"Hey, guys, come on lets get lunch," Percy stepped in, noticing an abrupt end to the conversation and allowing his stomach to get the better of him. Nico nodded swiftly and Leo bounded away with him and Percy immediately. Annabeth shook her head.

Boys, she signed sarcastically.

"I know, right..." Piper agreed. "A never-ending void of hunger!"

The canteen craned to look at them as their table erupted into hysterical giggles, Piper's cackles loud enough to scare off most people. They were stopped immediately, though, when a receptionist approached the table, the same one as before.

"Piper McLean?" She asked, as Piper felt her heart sink. Jason.

She nodded bravely, her head filling with horrendous situations. What if... what if Jason hadn't lasted the night..?

But then the receptionist said something she would never have expected. Something that made Piper dissolve into tears.

Happy tears.

"Piper, Jason Grace is awake. His father told me to pick you up."

AN
I feel really bad :( for not updating for so long and then giving you this piece of rubbish :(((

I had so much homework and tests to revise for. I also completely failed a maths test, so I had to take a retest so, yeah, it's all good :)

Sooo, Piper knows! They'll be more on that next chapter! Also, thank you amazing people so much for all the reads, votes and comments on the last chapter! It was brilliant!!!

Adios, drama llamas!

RandomPhandom xxx