Annabeth's Mortal Friends

Chapter Eight

Caleb Pierson's POV:

Things returned back to normal in a pretty decent amount of time.  The doctors really only wanted to monitor me for a little white, but nothing too serious happened to me.  I don't know if Percy had a change-of-heart mid-attack or if he's just not as tough as he looks, but I'm going to assume it was the first one.  He's been trying to act totally friendly to me, which makes me wonder if he thinks I actually believed his bullshit "dog attack" story.

My friends have done a pretty good job of keeping Percy away from me, but I'm more worried about Annabeth.  Those two are practically glued at the hip, so we've been finding it nearly impossible to keep them apart.  We care about Annabeth, though, so we aren't giving up hope yet.

"We're ten minutes into lunch already, should we just assume Percy and Annabeth aren't going to make it?"  Andrew asked, gesturing with his sandwich in hand.

Emma shrugs, twirling her pasta with her fork, the scratches of metal against the hard plastic of the plate being drowned out by the surrounding conversations in the cafeteria.  "I have no idea, they said something about saying hi to 'Mrs. O'Leary' but nothing else past that.  Those two are so weird..."

Why does that name sound familiar?

"'Mrs. O'Leary?' That sounds like a librarian's name, who is that?"  Jordan wondered aloud, resting her chin in the palm of her hand.

I snapped my head up from my lunch, raising an eyebrow at Emma.  "Are you sure that's the name they said?"

"I think so," Emma pondered, "why?"

"That's the same name Percy called his motorcycle a while back..."  I responded, shooting a glance at Andrew as he let out a sigh.

"Jesus Christ, a motorcycle too?  He already has that tattoo, and those weird scars.  I get more worried about this guy around Annabeth every second."

"You and me both, dude." I started before pausing, slightly taken aback.  "Scars?  What scars?"

"He was stretching the other day, and I saw this wicked gash on his stomach.  He got all defensive when I asked about it, so I have no idea where it came from."  Andrew saïd, drumming his fingers against the lunch table.

"Jordan, you're awfully quiet.  Everything good?"  Emma asked in an attempt to change the subject, glancing over at our cheerleader friend.  She looked up from her salad, a deadpan look on her face, but there was a noticeable, mischievous glint in her eye.

"If we had anything serious to worry about with this guy, it's probably online."  She said, poking her salad with her fork and jabbing it in my direction.  "You, you're a nerd, think you could do the internet stalking?"

A slight heat rose to my cheeks.  "Shut up Jordan, you stalk guys online all the time!  Why do I have to take this one?"

"Because you're in love with Annabeth," she muttered, smirking at me.  "Besides, I just find social media stuff.  If we're talking, like, a criminal record, we have to be a little more advanced than that."

Emma squirmed a bit, leaning forward slightly, trying to keep the conversation private from the rest of the room.  "You guys don't really think he's a criminal, do you?"

"He attacked Caleb, I think that's a pretty damning crime, Em."  Andrew said, looking over at his girlfriend, who just nodded in response.

"So," I interrupted, "do you all want to come over after school?  We can figure out this whole mess there."

"Yeah, the sooner, the better."  Jordan said, gathering up her stuff as the bell rang for the next period.

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