I woke up in an unfamiliar place, and instantly I tried to remember what was happening. I had spent the weekend and Monday sitting on my bed, and then Annabeth came to check on me. She took me to her house. I looked around, seeing a familiar grey bed to my right. I sat up, groaning.

"Oh, you're awake! That's good. I'll go grab you something from the kitchen," I heard someone say, and said person walked out of the room. Annabeth.

I fished my phone from my hoodie and looked at the time, 4 pm. I missed another day of school. I groaned and fell back onto the mattress. I needed to get back to my house. If Gabe was home, he wouldn't be happy if I was back past 5. I sat up and threw the blanket off. I stood up as Annabeth came back into the room, holding a sandwich.

"Sorry, I've only been feeding your PB and J, but it's the fastest thing I can whip up" she handed me the plate, and I took it gratefully. She walked back to her desk and shuffled through her papers.

"That's ok. Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches are the gods of sandwiches," I state while wolfing it down. 

"Um, since you've missed the handouts your teachers gave them to me. I know you just got up but do you want me to help you work on them?"

I swallowed the rest of my sandwich and nodded sheepishly at her. I walked over to where she was sitting at her desk and looked over her shoulder. She tensed a bit as I reached over her and grabbed the stack to the side. I looked over my stack, seeing mostly math and bio.

"Um, can we start with math?"

"Sure"

I sat down in one of the armchairs in her room and spread the papers across the small table in front of me. I yawned as I turned on my math playlist. Annabeth came over and helped teach me the new unit.

Suddenly her phone went off, signaling the time as 5 pm. She sighed

"I forgot to turn that off since I was home early" she moved to shut it off, and I stood up.

"Thanks, Annabeth, but I need to get back. He won't be happy if I'm not home" I put my papers in a pile and then stopped.

"Um, can I leave these with you? I know I'll just lose them, or something will happen to them if I take them home." I rubbed the back of my neck and looked out the window.

"Sure thing Percy, it's no problem, but um, are you sure you don't want to stay one more night?" She looked hopeful, but I knew that things would only be worse if I stayed another day. I breathed in deeply and steeled myself.

"No, thank you, but I should be getting back" I turned off my math playlist and put my phone into my hoodie pocket. Annabeth followed me out of her room and to the front door. Thankfully I didn't make a fool of myself and managed to walk through her house without falling.

"Oh, um, did you see if I got into the preliminary competition for Music?" Right as I started walking down the stairs leading to her door, I turned towards her.

"I didn't want to look without you. We can go tomorrow together, though. I'll meet you after school at the library, ok?" my heart warmed when she said that. She didn't want to look without me; I wasn't sure why this was such a big deal. It wasn't. It could be that she wanted to be there when I failed to get past the easy round. I shook my head. It'll be fine.

"Ok, I'll see you tomorrow," I waved and took a step, expecting solid ground. Nope, my foot fell through the air as I stumbled. Trying to regain my balance, I hit my right wrist as I tried to grab the handrail. Shocked from the pain coming from my wrist, I slipped off the next stair and fell face-first into the sidewalk. Feeling my nose and wrist scream in pain, I groaned. I heard footsteps pounding on the staircase and was aware of Annabeth helping me off the ground.

She was biting her lip as she looked at me. I sat with crisscrossed legs on the pavement and felt under my nose. There wasn't a lot of blood, but I was still bleeding. My cheeks and forehead felt scratched up, and I was sure my wrist was bleeding. I heard Annabeth come from behind me. I hadn't noticed that she ran back into the house. She held the first aid kit, and I sighed as she started wiping the dirt from my face with a washcloth.

After she cleaned the scrapes and I held a paper towel under my nose, she put the ointment on my cuts, making them burn. I winced and moved the paper towel from my face. Seeing that my nose wasn't bleeding, Annabeth wiped the dried blood away and put more ointment on my nose.

She bit her lip and looked at me. "Um, Percy, can I clean your wrist?" she had pulled my hoodie sleeve up, and I could see the bandage was soaked in blood. I knew what was there and I hoped that Annabeth wouldn't see it.

"No, I'll do it when I get home" I really didn't want her to see what I really was. The word defined me to a T, and I didn't want to lose her yet. She looked like she wanted to argue but nodded her head in understanding.

I stood up and pulled the hoodie sleeve down. "Thanks, and sorry, I'll actually be leaving now" I walked awkwardly away, reprimanding myself for being so stupid and clumsy.

"Bye Rusticitas, see you tomorrow" there was that weird name again. I shook my head, but I couldn't help the warm feeling filling my torso as I walked home.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I unlocked the front door and entered my gloomy house. I closed the door, and I felt all my paranoia hit me like a truck.

Where was Gabe? Is he home? Why wasn't he at the door yet? What's going on? I moved silently through the hallway wishing that he would've just pummeled me already. Suddenly I felt someone grab my mouth and nose from behind, placing a cloth over them. My heart leaped in my throat. I tried to look frantically around, but I couldn't see who it was.

I slowly felt myself getting sleepy, and my movements became sluggish. This wasn't Gabe unless he was trying a new twisted pain routine out. I felt fear grab my heart as my eyes closed, falling asleep.