Annabeth's POV

Wrote it down on the walls, she was screaming it out
Made it clear she's still here, are you listening now?

I was walking through the woods, staring at my feet, keeping careful footing. My thoughts dwindled about a million different things, as they always did. It was an ADHD thing. I looked up and paused my music when an all too familiar voice called my name.

"Chase?"

"Asshole?" I asked sarcastically, though I was surprised. I continued walking to the dock, stuffing my earbuds and phone into my bag.

"Happy to see you too." He turned back to the pond. "I swear, you always seem to know where to find me," He mumbled. "What are you doing here anyways?" He pulled a rock from a bucket and chucked it across the pond. It landed in the water with a gentle 'bloop'.

I sat down next to Asshole, on the other side of the bucket. I did the best I could to avoid getting splinters, for the wood of the dock was old and worn. It also didn't help that I was wearing denim short-shorts. "I have magical powers and can sense when a pond is in the area. It's a sixth-sense thing." I replied, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

"And there she is." Jackson threw another rock.  "The sarcastic, pain in the ass, Annabeth Wiseass Chase, whom we all know and find extremely irritating."

"You know you love me." I poked his side. He flinched a little bit. He's definitely hurt. He scoffed. "I found the pond when I first moved here. Did some exploring."

He just nodded solemnly. For the first time, I noticed how fucked up his face was. I saw his lip was cut, like he had been punched. A bruise adorned his right cheekbone. I saw a cut peeking out from under his raven black hair and navy hood. I was curious and impulsive—both traits always got the best of me—so I couldn't stop myself from pushing his hair up and his hood back.

I swallowed. A huge gash ran from his temple to the bottom of his ear. "What happened?"

He gulped. "Luke." His answer was hesitant, so I knew he was lying. He was also dodging eye contact, another nervous habit I had picked up on.

"We both know Luke isn't capable of that." I paused. "You're lying to me."

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are." I pushed.

"Just let it go, Annabeth." His voice was quiet. The kind of quiet that was scarier than a yell, or a shout. He called me by my first name, which he rarely ever did. He finally made eye contact, holding my gaze. This struck me before anything else. His eyes were bright and alert, because he was excited, riled up. He was scared.

His green irises seemed to churn like waves in a storm. A violent storm. An angry storm. Something had happened.

Something bad.

I decided not to push further—I know, very rare coming from me—even though the curiosity was killing me. I sighed and grabbed a rock from the bucket. I chucked it across the pond. The stone landed on the other side of the water, in the grass.

"Good job." Jackson smirked.

"I bet you couldn't even make it over." I challenged.

"Oh really?" He threw another stone, the slightest grunt escaping his lips. He winced a little bit. My hyperactive brain began to imagine the other injuries he probably had and was hiding under his sweatshirt. I shook my head to clear the thoughts.

The stone just made it to the other side, plopping in the grass.

"Luck."

"Skill."

I laughed. "Yeah right." Then I raised an eyebrow. "You're not as weak as I thought. Where'd it come from?"

"Where'd what come from?"

"Your strength, dumbass. You have to have done something to have more than the spaghetti arms I imagined."

"You imagined me?" He sent a smirk my way.

"Shut up." I nudged him. "I imagined you tripping in the halls and face planting the other day. And I laughed." I finished. He gave a soft laugh. "Anyways," I prompted.

"I used to swim."

"'Used to?'"

"Freshman year on the school's team, up until I was pretty much bullied off the team. Then, I did a swim camp during the summer until junior year."

"Why'd you stop camp?"

"Um..." He paused. "Didn't want to do it anymore."

"You couldn't even come up with a good lie?" I asked jokingly.

"Sorry." He shrugged. The conversation didn't do any farther. But I had a feeling that his reason to stop swimming was tied to his current injuries and where they cane from. But I had learned my lesson—don't poke and prod at Jackson's life. It's a bad idea.

I looked out over the pond. The sun was setting, casting vivid colors across the sky, and the water reflected it all. It was beautiful, really. I reached into my bag, pulling out my phone, chalk pastels, pencil, and sketchbook.

First, I took a picture. Then I flipped to a new page in my sketchbook and started drawing.

"You just have this stuff on hand, like, wherever you go?" Percy nodded at my pastels.

"Yes. I carry an entire art studio around in my bag."

"Always with the snarky remarks." He smirked.

"You expected something else?"

I noticed from the corner of my eye how Jackson watched me intently while I drew. But he was focused on me, not the drawing. Weird. When I was adding finishing touches, I spoke up. "Still staring, Asshole?" Now it was my turn to smirk.

He turned bright red. "N-no." He stuttered, and I raised an eyebrow at him. "I was looking at your drawing." He gestured to the sketchbook. "Which, isn't half bad, Wiseass." He looked impressed. I had drawn a girl and a boy sitting on a dock, the sunset making them silhouettes against the orange, pink, and purple sky. Black trees framed the pond, which reflected the whole scene.

"Wow. I think that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me." We laughed.

"Who's it supposed to be?" He pointed to the boy and girl perched in the dock.

"Well, this is Girl," I gestured to the female figure. "And this is Boy." I gestured to the boy.

"I'm confused."

"Of course you are, Asshole." I rolled my eyes. "It's not meant to be anyone in particular, really. It can be whoever you wanted it to be. That's what art is. You can interpret it however you want to. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

"Wow. I didn't think you could be so deep, Chase." He looked mockingly impressed.

"Shut up."

A few moments of comfortable silence fell over us before Percy spoke. "How you ever done graffiti?"

"What?" I raised an eyebrow. The question's randomness threw me off guard.

"I don't know," Jackson shrugged. "You seem like the graffiti-type."

"Are you stereotyping me?" I faked being offended.

He laughed. "Shut up."

"Yeah." I sighed. "Back in San Francisco." I threw another rock after putting my stuff away. "God, I miss it so much." I breathed. I really did. More than anything. "I miss Piper. I miss  Hazel." I leaned back on my hands. "I miss Jason. Now, you have no idea what I'm talking about, but I'm telling you anyways."

Piper is my best friend, along with Hazel. Jason is too, until we dated for a bit before breaking it off. But even after that, all of us were still close. We were inseparable. God, I'd give anything to get that back.

"I can't imagine how you feel." Percy looked out over the lake.

"Well, to say it sucks, is a painful understatement." I started playing with a thread hanging from my shorts. "It's just so unfair. I wasn't even consulted about any of this 'moving' bullshit. Part of me wishes that my dad didn't get that 'amazing new job offer'," I made air quotes with my fingers. "Despite the fact that this was really beneficial for his career." I sighed. "Sometimes I wish that my dad didn't marry Helen, for as much as I love my little brothers. I wish my mother had the decency to stay." I blinked, clearing my water lines of any tears. I was not about to cry. In front of Jackson no less.

"I wish my dad didn't have to leave. Maybe then he'd still be here, and my mother wouldn't have married Gabe. I wish Luke wasn't such a dickhead stabbing me in the back like that. I wish I hadn't listened when Silena told me to go, even though she's probably happier where she is now. I wish people would stop looking at me like I'm dangerous." Jackson listed his wishes. I had a million questions going around my head, and I'm sure that Percy did too. But neither of us voiced our concerns. We just stared at the horizon, a comfortable silence falling over us like a cozy blanket. We just watched the horizon, where the sun had just disappeared behind the trees.

"There aren't enough shooting stars for one of us, let alone both." I laughed bitterly, and Percy chuckled. I looked up at the sky. The stars shown brightly out here in the woods, for they didn't have to compete with the lights of the sleepless New York City.

I looked over at Jackson. He was barely visible in the moonlight, but I could vaguely make out the feature of his face, cuts and bruises included. Seeing him fucked up like that made me feel... protective?

No. Nope. No. I do not feel anything other than resentment towards Jackson. Stop it, Chase. Get it together.

"Do you ever feel that... that you could just disappear and no one would care at all? No one would come looking for you? Or that people would be better off?"

Asshole looked over at me. His eyes stuck out in the darkness. They seemed to stop churning so angrily, and he looked more relaxed; at ease. A look of concern passed over his face, but it was gone as soon as it came. "Sometimes. I think I could just fall from the face of the earth and no one would really think anything of it. The kids at school would throw a party to celebrate." I chuckled at that.

"I just feel like the main priority in my house is my little brothers. And I get it; they're little they need attention. But some recognition would be nice, you know?" I had no idea why I was opening up so easily to Jackson. I had gained a bit of trust issues after my mother, and I barely admitted these feelings to myself. So why did I just pour my life out to Jackson? And why was it so easy?

"Yeah. That sounds rough." His voice had a tone in it that said, if only you knew the life I live. This just made me more curious, and furthered my suspicions. However, I didn't say anything about it. Not to ask questions seemed like an unspoken rule. And it was the one rule I was willing to follow.

"Then I think about Piper and all my friends who would be upset if I were to disappear. Deep down, I know my dad would be devastated. So fuck everyone who wants me gone." I stood up with a rock in my hand and turned, taking a few steps down the dock. Then I turned and chucked the rock with all my might, making it land on the other side of the pond. "Fuck everyone!" I yelled, not caring who could hear.

Percy looked up at me, grinning. He stood up and chucked a rock as well, before yelling, "Fuck everyone!"

Soon, we were both yelling 'fuck everyone!" We both ended up doubled over with laugher, gasping for air. "Yeah!" Percy laughed. "Fuck everyone!" We yelled together. Percy grinned from ear to ear, and I'm sure I was beaming as well. "Whoo!" I howled.

After Jackson and I had regained our bearings and come to our senses, we sat back on the dock, a little closer than before.

"You know, you made me a little less miserable, Wiseass."

"I take that as an insult, Asshole." I smirked.

"Take it however you want." He slightly shook his head, softly laughing.

I grabbed my bag and my board. "I should probably head home. Every minute adds up to the lecture I'm about to get." Jackson laughed.

"Yeah my mom's not gonna be too happy when she finds that I'm not home when she walks through the door." He stood up and we walked to the street together.

"Well, I will very unfortunately see you tomorrow, I guess." I said.

"Yeah. Not looking forward to it." Asshole joked. "And my mom would kill me if I didn't ask so, need a ride?"

"Thanks but Helen would only grill me more if I showed up in a boy's car." I gave a small smile.

"Alrighty. See you tomorrow, Wiseass."

I snickered and threw my board down. "You still suck, Jackson!" I yelled as I rode off. I looked back to see Jackson grinning. And this time, I was smiling too.

This night had been surprisingly fun.

But it only fucked up my head even more.

•••

Authors note

Guys I am so sorry that this update took so long. The process I had to go through to get this out was excruciating. @Ineedadamsnackbar_rn this ones for you. Anyways, here it is, at 2:45 am, a whole 2336 words. And I had to go back and edit. You see the sacrifices I make for this? You better hit that little star right there in the corner. Anyways, thanks for all the reads! (We're close to 1k!) don't forget to vote, comment, etc. thanks and love you guys!!
-bella💕