"Hey, Percy, wake up. You gotta let go of me. Percy. Blue, Ky, Rusticitas!"

I heard someone whisper shouting at me, and I sleepily groaned. Realizing my back was all cramped, I reluctantly took my face from its warm placement and cracked it. I heard a sigh in relief, but I wasn't sure why. My brain isn't catching up with what was happening. All I wanted to do was go back to sleep.

Since I didn't have a good reason not to, I laid down, pulling my warm pillow-like thing with me. Oddly enough, my pillow groaned as I pulled it closer and snuggled my face back where it was before, breathing in the refreshing smell of lemons.

"Percy, let me go! I need to get to bed, too!" my pillow was talking. I groaned and pulled it closer if that was possible.

"No, it's comfy," I slurred as I started drifting off again. I heard a snort and a giggle but didn't have the energy to place where they came from. I was being woken up as my pillow was leaving my embrace. Quickly, not wanting the warmth and safety to leave me, I grabbed it and pulled it back down into me. I felt soft breaths on my chest as I hugged my pillow tighter, snuggling my face back into my pillow.

I closed my eyes and slowly fell back asleep, making sure my pillow wouldn't leave me.

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I woke up the next day to see the sun hitting my face. Groaning, I shifted away and sat up.

"Sleeping beauty has awoken!" I heard a soft giggle, and lazily opened my eyes to see Rachel laughing at me. I could've sworn I had a pillow last night, I guess not.

"Hey, what time is it?" I asked with a yawn. Not that it mattered, but if it was late, then I probably shouldn't continue to intrude. Plus, I had a party to go to sometime tonight.

"Noon. Hey! Annabeth, bring in the leftover pancakes!" I groaned as I laid back down on the floor. Then after hearing my back protest, I stood up and stretched, hearing my back crack. I heard soft footsteps and turned around to see Annabeth come into the room.

She still had my hoodie on, and it made my heart flutter as she looked at me.

"You drool in your sleep," she said bluntly as she handed me a plate of pancakes.

"Um, thanks?" I sat down and started eating. Rachel's eyes flickered from Annabeth and me as if expecting something to happen. Confused, I swallowed. "Um, Rachel, is there something wrong?"

Her gaze stopped on my face and stayed there. I immediately thought there was pancake on my chin and went to wipe my mouth.

"You don't remember," she stated. I looked at her, confused, and cocked my head to the side.

"I don't remember what?" I was looking from Rachel to Annabeth. Rachel looked disappointed, and Annabeth looked torn between being relieved and distraught.

"What happened? What's wrong? Did I do something wrong?" I stumbled over my words as I grew steadily more scared that I did something. I tried to rack my brain. What did I do? All I remembered was falling asleep during the movie and then waking up.

"No, you didn't do anything wrong. I'm just surprised," Rachel said softly. I felt guilty, it seemed to be important, and I felt terrible that I couldn't remember.

"So, what time do you normally go to that guy's party?" Annabeth changed the subject after a few minutes of awkward silence, which I was grateful for.

"Oh, um, I don't really have a specific time, just when it's dark and I'm hungry," I shrugged. "Oh, um, where is everyone?" I asked sheepishly.

"Well, Leo and Calypso have work on Sundays, and Jason and Piper are in the other room watching Criminal Minds while snacking on leftover pizza. Reyna and Thalia came by an hour or so ago and raided my fridge. Nico hasn't been by yet, but I assume he's hanging out with Will," Rachel listed. I nodded and played with my jeans.

"So, um, anyone want to watch something?" Rachel started. Again, I was happy someone spoke up.

"Sure, what are we watching?" I asked.

"Well, we could watch a TV show like Sherlock; I know Annabeth would love to rewatch it," Rachel started.

"Anything's fine with me," I said quickly. Rachel just grinned at me as Annabeth walked behind me to sit on the couch. She was abnormally quiet, which was weird since she was usually talkative in the mornings. Maybe afternoons were different; it's not like I see her during lunchtime.

Rachel turned on Netflix and started Sherlock. I watched playing absentmindedly with the carpet. As the first episode finished, Annabeth announced she was going to work on her Architecture project. I immediately perked up.

"Hey, want to show me your drawings? You mentioned them at Denny's," I asked. I wasn't sure if she actually wanted to share her sketches. When you say something during dinner, I don't think people actually go along with what they said.

"Sure, I'll show you," Annabeth stood from the couch, and I followed her to the dining room. She pulled out a gray folder and flipped through a few loose pages before pulling out some paper. She gave them to me, and I let my eyes scan the meticulously drawn outlines that outlined the building. Her handwriting was written small with arrows to point out places with measurements and information on the structure.

"Annabeth, this is awesome! I may only get bits and pieces from what you've told me, but this is so cool!" I grinned excitedly at her, and she beamed.

"You think so? I thought maybe this arch was a little low or that this column was a bit off-center" She bit her lip as she pointed out the specific attributes of the drawing. I looked over the paper and tried to find what she felt off about it. The arch was in the right place, and the column was perfectly centered. I tried to think back to when I watched my mom go over a few building plans and what she told me when I was younger.

"Actually, if you're looking for what makes this building seem off, I think it's that the doors are on the right. My mom always says that if you want your building to look nice and immaculate, keep the symmetry. So I would either draw in another double door on the left or shift the doors to the center" I finished and handed the paper over to Annabeth.

She quickly brought another piece of paper out and redrew the same building, tracing the lines. Then she drew the double doors in the center. She pulled out another piece of paper and did the same thing, except drawing double doors on both sides of the building.

"Holy shit, your right. The building looks more complete with these two versions. Now the only question is, do I add more doors or move them to the center?" Annabeth chewed on the back of her pencil, which I found adorable. I shook my head, help first, swoon later.

"Um, what is your building for?" I asked softly.

"The project?" she looked at me, confused.

"Uh, I meant, if this was actually going to be built, what would you use it for?" I clarified, and her face lit up.

"Well, the arch is too formal for a warehouse or a normal building. However, it could be used as a bank or maybe a courthouse." Annabeth started rambling, discarding, and putting ideas together.

I cut her off before she got too in-depth. "Ok, so you have an idea, right? Because of the arch and columns, you added to bring it more of a Greek look, but you think that it's too formal for everyday use, right? So if this was a bank or courthouse, where would you place the doors?" she thought for a second, and I could see the gears turning.

"Normally, when you walk into a bank, there's only the doors in the center, same with a courthouse. So then, the doors should be in the center. That actually ties the Greek with the modern times together pretty well. Thanks a lot, Rusticitas!" She smiled at me as she wrote Rough Draft on the two sketches with the doors on the right and both sides and placed them in her folder. Then she sat down and started doing measurements and a whole bunch of math that was out of my field of expertise.

It felt good that I was able to help her. I never thought I'd help one of the smartest kids in school, but I guess everyone overthinks things at some point in time. As her hand moved across her paper, short curls fell in front of her face as I watched her. I laid my head on the table on my folded arms.

"What's up?" I startled out of my daze and looked at Annabeth. She was looking at me strangely, and I realized I'd been staring. Feeling a brush run up my cheeks, I stood from the table, blurted out a nothing, and walked out of the room.

When I walked back into the living room, I found Piper and Rachel talking in hushed voices as I approached them.

"Hey, guys, I've gotta head home. I'll see you on Monday though" Of course, I didn't really need to go home, but I felt like I needed to get out of the house. My emotions were being insane, and my mind wouldn't be able to control them without some downtime away from Annabeth. Especially while she was wearing my hoodie.

Rachel mumbled an ok, and I left Annabeth's jacket on the couch. "Um, I don't want to bother Annabeth, so I'm just going to leave her with my hoodie, ok? Bye, you guys, tell Annabeth I said bye!" I quickly opened the door and walked swiftly down the street. I let my feet take me wherever they decided to go.

I took deep breaths. Get your emotions under control. What was happening?

One day Annabeth's your tutor, the next she's patching you up, then she lets you cry on her shoulder, and now you think she looks cute in your jacket. What the fuck, man?

I took another deep breath, ok, think about it. Annabeth accepted my faults and issues with studying, accepted my scars, and allowed me to keep things from her that I knew were tearing her up. Then she helped me get over playing in front of a crowd and convinced me to enter into a competition I might've been dropped from. Lastly, she wears your hoodie and sits on your lap while you have a sleepover at her friend's house! Pure insanity!

It's only been what, 2 or 3 months since she started tutoring you? What happened to not letting her get close? You still have those guys on your trail! You can't allow yourself to be selfish! Once we see that I didn't make it to the final competition, I'll cut all ties with her. Yeah, I'll do what I couldn't a few weeks ago.

Except now, you care more than you did.

Shut up! I was emotionally unstable last time!

Oh, and you won't be this time?

No! I'll do it right! I won't trip, and I will cut the ties!

But what if you make it to the final competition?

Then I'll keep my distance but still see her after school like I did before. I still have my job, and I don't have to go to school early. It'll be easy, just half an hour every day after school. But I doubt I'll get into the competition, so there's nothing to worry about. Tuesday morning, I'll cut the ties, and then she can forget about me. It'll be fine.

I bit my lip as I found myself in a park. I walked over to a park bench and sat down, my head in my hands. I tried to pull myself together. Come on, Percy! You've done this before, push them away, keep them at a distance, don't let anyone get too close. It's not hard! You've been doing it your whole life!

I know this should be simple, I've done it before in some previous schools, but I've never felt such a strong connection to someone. I scowled; there's no time for that! Starting Monday, keep your distance!

I sighed as the sky tinted pink. I stood up and started walking towards the house that was having a party. I'll get some dinner, wait a bit to see if any of Annabeth's friends were coming, and then go home to stare at the wall. Sounds like a plan.