93Fourth one shot! It's March Break, so I figured I might as well write something while I'm not as busy as I usually am. This is probably OOC, especially the part in Annabeth's POV… but this is an AU one shot (like most of the others), so I'm not going to try to change that.
And I would LOVE LOVE LOVE it if you read my new one shot, Forever and Always. I was going to post it as "Define Together", but decided to just post it separately.
And I know, Percy's supposed to swim. Well, I know nearly nothing about swimming, so he's playing basketball.
Enjoy!
Forgiveness (n): the act of giving pardon
"Forgetting takes a lifetime and a year. That, you can't expect from me. Forgiving is easier, but still takes time. If you're willing to wait, you deserve my forgiveness."
Percy's POV
The crowd was going crazy. The deafening sound made it almost impossible to concentrate.
Percy Jackson was sprinting the length of the court, one hand dribbling the basketball and the other fending off defenders. Dodging several members of the opposing team, he ran up to the net and scored a perfect three-pointer. The final whistle blew, ending the game.
The clapping, stomping, and screaming from the crowds grew even louder. Looking back at his team, he saw hugs, slaps on the back, and their coach lifting up the trophy with a triumphant smile on his face. People swarmed around the golden prize, eager to be the first of their friends to catch a glimpse of it.
Percy was treated almost like the trophy. Everyone crowded around him, shouting out their congratulations. He nodded at all of them while squeezing through the crowds. He needed to get out of there.
Any of Goode High's other male students would have done anything to be Percy Jackson. Freshman year, he led the swim team to its first victory in six years. An year later, he joined the soccer, softball, and basketball team. The next year, he was captain of all three.
And now it was the final year. The one that mattered most. Senior year. And Percy Jackson was at the top of the school.
Surrounded by his sweaty teammates and the cheerleaders in their practically nonexistent skirts, Percy pretended to lap up all the attention. Putting a strained smile onto his face, he ran from the crowds, scanning the bleachers as he searched desperately for one particular face.
It was pointless, he knew. She never came to his games now. But he searched anyway, hoping this game would be different. It was the final game of the season after all.
And there she was. Seven rows from the back, towards the left, squished in between with Thalia and Silena. Thalia gave me a scowl, while Silena was busy cheering for her boyfriend of three months, Charles Beckendorf.
"Annabeth!" Percy cried, trying to yell over the shouting students. "Annabeth!" Waving his hands in the air, he tried to catch her attention.
It worked. Pushing her golden curls from her face, she gave him a feeble smile before pushing her way through the crowds, dragging Thalia along with her. Unlike everyone else, she wasn't heading for the court to awe over the trophy or congratulate the team.
She was headed for the door.
Percy knew he should have been happy. He should have been able to ignore Annabeth. He was popular now after all. She was still, and always would be, the geek.
He tried to enjoy the narcissistic girls like the cheerleaders hanging onto him at that moment. The girls who only wanted to get him in bed, and those who didn't even tried to make it to an actual bed.
He tried to be like the guys who were always comparing all the girls they had dated. The guys who only cared about who had the better jump shot, like the guys surrounding him at that moment.
He tried to be happy. But for some reason, he wasn't. As Annabeth left the gym, he had never felt more depressed.
"Are you going to stay?"
Percy looked up to see the coach staring at him questioningly. It was only then that he realized that his teammates were gone. He could have sworn they had been there five seconds ago, showering while yelling about their victory.
"Yeah. Uh, you know. Last game and stuff. Last time playing basketball for Goode High," he rambled on, trying to come up with a good excuse. "Is it okay with you?"
"It's fine with me. I'm leaving now, alright?" Percy nodded, and watched while the coach left.
Once he was alone, he ran back to the gym. The crowds had gone now, and though the lights were off, sunlight still streamed in through the windows.
Grabbing a ball from the ground, he shot it at the net, only to hit the backboard, miss the net, and have the ball bounce right back at him, hitting him in the face. Groaning, he shot it again. This time, he missed completely. Percy lunged at the ball, trying to catch the rebound, failing miserably.
As he was chasing the ball around the gym, he heard footsteps approach, echoing through the empty gym. "Sorry coach, I know I shouldn't be in here." Giving up on catching the basketball, he added, "I'll go now."
"Hey Percy."
He spun around, instantly recognizing the voice. The ends of her lips were curved upwards in a somewhat amused, but still cautious, smile. Annabeth. This was his chance to make things right.
Staring into her stormy grey eyes, he lost track of time. He didn't even notice she was waiting for a response until she spoke. "Right. You don't talk to nobodies like me anymore. Sorry, I'll be going now."
Suddenly, Percy saw his chance slipping away from him. "No, Annabeth! Wait!" Running frantically, he chased her into the hallway. Jumping in front of her to stop her from leaving, he said, "Annabeth, we're best friends. We're dating! You're my girlfriend and I'm-"
"Used to be," Annabeth said, cutting me off. "We used to be best friends and we used to be dating until you completely forgot I even existed. She tried to swerve around me, but Percy stepped to the side, blocking her way.
"I never forgot. I've just been busy lately," Percy pleaded with her.
Her grey eyes darkened, and her hands were clenched into fists. Her entire body started shaking with hatred. Percy watched as she struggled to contain her anger. Eventually, she gave up. "For two whole years? You… You fucking jerk!" Her hand flew at his face, leaving his cheek stinging.
Annabeth sighed, this time more successful in her attempt to calm herself. "Percy, you once said to me that you hate how our school is. How most schools are. You said you hate how the popular students act. That you hate how popular students and unpopular students can't be friends. How that's not changing." The calmness in her voice was starting to get overpowered by her anger. "And then, you go and make yourself popular and you became everything that you hated!" she screamed in his face.
Grabbing her hands, Percy said, "Annabeth, I'm still me. I haven't changed."
Annabeth glared, than shoved past him, heading for the exit. "I get it. Being popular is important to you. It's important to this whole damn school," she said, throwing her hands up in the air. As her hands fell back to her side, she stopped walking, but didn't turn back around. "I just thought our friendship was stronger than that. I thought it was stronger than popularity. I thought it actually meant something to you. I guess I was wrong. Goodbye Percy."
Without that, she left, leaving him staring at the doors of the school. Popularity had taken away his best friend and true love.
Annabeth's POV
As she neared his house, doubts started to fill her mind.
Annabeth, despite how much she hated Percy for ignoring her for so long, knew it was partially her fault as well. Ever since Percy started ignoring her, she only avoided him, making no effort to try to remain his girlfriend.
She was on her way to apologize. But what if he hates me now? What if he's mad about what I said last night?
Ignoring her fears, she pressed the doorbell, wincing at its shrill sound.
Thankfully, it wasn't Percy that got the door. It gave her a few more minutes to prepare. "Annabeth!" She found herself immediately wrapped into a firm, but somehow still gentle, hug. She looked up into the bright eyes of Sally Jackson. "Percy's upstairs in his room," she said.
With a quick nod to show her thanks, Annabeth climbed the stairs and strode down the hallway to the right, taking the too familiar route she had taken a countless number of times when she and Percy were still close.
She knocked twice on the door. "Come in," she heard him say. Cautiously, Annabeth opened the door and found herself face to face with her fear. Percy Jackson.
He looked surprised to see her there, but didn't object when she sat down on a chair opposite to his bed, where he was laying down. Quickly, he sat up, trying to brush his hair through the dark tangles in his hair. He rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, a nervous habit Annabeth had picked up from him.
"Hey Annabeth," he said as she sat down.
Sitting down, she looked at him straight in the eyes. "We need to talk."
"Getting straight to the point, huh?" Percy said with a nervous laugh.
"Percy, I know I've been blaming you for everything that happened," Annabeth said, "but I know all this was partially my fault. I could have called, emailed, texted, anything! But I didn't. I ignored you as much as you ignored me." Annabeth knew what she had do say next. This was the moment she had been planning for. Looking down at her hands, she whispered, "I'm sorry for everything."
When she didn't hear Percy say anything, she continued. Pouring her heart out was never an easy thing for Annabeth, but at the moment, it came naturally. "It's just… It hurt. I missed you, but you never paid any attention to me. You were always busy with sports, Friday night parties, or anything not involving me and it hurt. I guess I just couldn't admit it."
Percy said nothing. Annabeth didn't blame him after what she had just said.
"The past two years, it's been like…" Annabeth trailed off as I tried to think of a good comparison. "I feel like I've just shoved all the hurt I felt in a box that I sealed shut so tightly no one else could see what was inside. I didn't want anyone else to see my pain, anger, or regrets. Every time I saw you though, the box opened, just a bit, and I could feel everything I'd been keeping sealed up. I felt like my heart was being ripped from my body and getting torn to pieces. I couldn't stand it and tried harder than ever to avoid you. But a box can only hold so much. Too much emotion built up over the years, and last night, the box just burst open. I'm sorry I snapped at you."
She paused before she spoke again. "Percy…" She hesitated before asking the question that had been bothering her the past two years. Annabeth Chase was not a girl with trust issues. She just needed to hear him say those three special words after not hearing them for so long. Taking a deep breath, trying to muster up some confidence, she asked, "Do you still love me?"
Hearing nothing in response, she let her eyes slowly wander from her hands to Percy's face. A big goofy grin was taking up half his face and his green eyes weren't on her grey ones. They were staring at something behind her head.
Annabeth couldn't help herself. Her head whipped around, wondering what he could be staring at that was making him that happy. The only thing behind her it could have been was the wall, a small table, and a framed photo of Percy and Rachel laughing their heads off with their arms wrapped around each other.
Anger blazing inside of her, she turned back to him. "Percy? Are you listening to me?" His facial expression didn't change. He was still staring at the photo. "Just answer my question!" she yelled. That seemed to shake him out of his stupor.
He blinked a few times, the smile vanishing from his lips. "Huh?"
Taking one look at his confused face, she stood up. Tears threatened to fall from her eyes and it took all her strength to not fall to the ground sobbing. "I guess that answers my question." With those final words, she turned around, heading for the door, praying he would try to stop her. Run up to her, give her a kiss, then tell her everything would be alright and that he loved her.
He didn't. He let her leave. And that hurt more than every excruciating moment without Percy the past two years combined.
Annabeth raced out of his room, slamming the door shut behind her. Her tears were starting to blur her vision, making the world around her turn into a blur of colours. She couldn't cry though. Not yet at least. Blinking them back, she headed for the stairs. All she wanted was to get away from him.
Sally Jackson looked up from her book when she heard the thudding of Annabeth running down the stairs. She was about to just give Annabeth a smile and go back to her book when she saw the distraught look on the young girl's face.
"Annabeth?" she asked. "Are you alright?"
Annabeth gave her a quick nod, turning away so Percy's mother couldn't see her face. Without another word, she swung the front door open and started sprinting down the street.
People passing by gave her strange looks, but no one bothered to stop her. Even if they had tried, they couldn't have, as Annabeth was running faster than she had every run in her entire life. The wind whipped at her face as she ran, stinging her eyes and making it harder to contain her tears. Her legs ached from exhaustion, and she felt like she was going to collapse.
She couldn't feel the pain in her legs though. It was nothing compared to the grief that consumed her.
When she reached her house, her dad was already there, waiting for her.
"Annabeth? What happened?" he asked his daughter with concern. It wasn't everyday that his daughter burst into the house, nearly knocking down their door, looking like she was going to cry, strangle somebody, or do both. The girl in front of him looked too broken to be his brave, independent daughter.
Not knowing what else to do, Annabeth stood still, trying to come up with an excuse for her actions. "Hi dad," she said meekly. "I'm just going to go to my room." Choosing to ignore his question, she walked away, knowing her dad wouldn't follow. Her father cared about her, and Annabeth knew that. He never did well in situations like this though. He could never handle tears and heartbreaks.
Closing her door, she started gasping for breath. She couldn't breathe. Breathing hurt.
Everything hurt.
For the very first time since she left Percy's house, Annabeth let a single tear fall.
The shrill ringing of the doorbell made Annabeth look up from her homework for the first time in two hours. She figured distracting herself was the best way to deal with this. No more Percy means no more heartbreak.
"Mr. Chase?" she heard a familiar voice say as her dad opened the door. "Is Annabeth here?"
Shaking her head, Annabeth whispered to herself, "Oh god, no… what does he think he's doing?" She stood up, forgetting about her original plan to ignore him, and leaned over the stairs where she had a perfect view of the front door.
Mr. Chase gave a quick glance at the top of the stairs, where he knew his daughter would be listening. She frantically shook her head, mouthing the word NO to emphasize her point.
"She's not home," he said, finally realizing what had made Annabeth so upset before. "Goodbye." He started to close the door when Percy put out a hand to stop him.
"I made a mistake, Mr. Chase," Percy said. "And I feel horrible about it. I never want to let it happen again. Could you tell Annabeth to call me later when she has time? I have something I need to tell her."
Annabeth's father gave a quick nod. The boy in front of him used to be like his own son. Now, he was the boy who hurt his daughter. Frederick Chase didn't know what to think of him. "I will, Percy." When he looked back at the top of the stairs, his daughter was gone.
Walking briskly through the halls, Annabeth resisted the urge to start sprinting. Though no one cared much for the 'No running in the halls' rule, she still obeyed.
But at that moment, she was desperate to get to class before Percy spotted her. Almost desperate enough to run in the halls.
"Annabeth!" a voice called out somewhere behind her in the mob of students. Groaning, Annabeth picked up her pace, so that she was nearly galloping. "Wait! Annabeth!" he kept calling.
Getting frustrated, she spun around. "What?" she said angrily. Trying not to yell, as she didn't want the entire school hearing their conversation, she added, "You want to rub it in my face that you broke me? That you broke Annabeth Chase, the girl no one could get close to. That you got close to me and you broke me?" She was starting to yell, but didn't care about the students gathering around them at the moment.
"Well guess what, Percy. It hurt. I'm not going to lie, it did. You broke me two years ago, and I'm still piecing myself back together. I'm not going to let you break me a second time."
As Annabeth ran away, her own words running through her mind, she nearly slapped herself for saying what she did. She was supposed to be strong and independent. She wasn't supposed to admit that Percy tore her to pieces.
"Annabeth!" he yelled, starting to chase her. He grabbed her shoulder, trying to slow her down.
She shook off his grip. "Leave me alone," she whispered. "I don't need you anymore."
"Annabeth, please forgive me," Percy begged. "I love you. I love you so much that I couldn't possibly even imagine life without you. The past two years, all I wanted was you. Not basketball, not cheerleaders, not popularity. It hurt me too, not having you with me and knowing it was all my fault. It killed me to see you upset, and knowing I was the one that hurt you. I'm a jerk, and I know it. But I wanted you. What am I saying, I still want you! Please, Annabeth. Can you try to forgive and forget?"
Annabeth sighed. She saw the desperate look on Percy's face and the look on all the students' faces. Most of them were shocked. The most popular guy in school was confessing his love for the school's nerd.
Choosing her words carefully, she said, "Forgetting takes a lifetime and a year. That, you can't expect from me. No matter how long I try and you wait, it's not happening. I'll never forget what you put me through. Forgiving is easier, but still takes time. If you're willing to wait, then I know you deserve my forgiveness."
And with that, she walked away, leaving behind an awestruck crowd of students and Percy Jackson, the boy she loved.
I was going to make them get back together. I was going to write a whole scene where Annabeth forgives Percy and they're dating again. But you realize how unrealistic that would be. He ignored her for two years. It'll take time for her to forgive.
I tried not to make this one shot too long and boring… I don't think I was very successful. Oh well.
Review? :)