Saving a Hero

CHAPTER 7

Nico pushed me away and looked at me like I was crazy. He jumped out of bed, leaving me cold and confused. Nico mumbled while he was putting on his converse on the edge of my bed.

"What in the hell were you thinking Percy!"

Nico yell whispered at me. I tried not to laugh at him. He turned his head to me and looked at me dead serious. I didnt give laughing at him a second thought. Why did he act like that? I knew that it was sudden but I thought that Nico would understand my feelings for him. I could understand if he didn't return them, but acting like I just impaled him with Riptide was confusing. Nico looked at me again and stood up. He was looking at me bewilderedly. He must have seen how confused I was because he sighed and sat back down on the edge of my bed. He sighed again and looked away from me,

"Percy,"

He began, then balled his fists and frowned. 

"Percy, I'm not mad that you kissed me. But what about Annabeth?"

Nico looked at me with tears in his eyes. I frowned and looked away from him. Annabeth. I totally forgot about her. When I kissed Nico I was so happy and giddy and it made me want to giggle. When I kissed Annabeth it was like I was kissing a friend, she wasn't my girlfriend she was more of a friend to me. I constantly felt stupid compared to the daughter of Athena. She always talked about her future, her colleges and PHDs, I was never a part of her equation.

"Nico," 

He wasn't meeting my eyes, which made me feel pretty guilty. My voice was gentle,

"I'm gonna break up with Annabeth. I really want to be with you, Nico. You make me feel comfortable and important, Annabeth makes me feel stupid and slow. I really want to be with you, so I'll break up with Annabeth."

I had my eyes closed, I hoped Nico would want to be with me too, at this point in time I don't know how I'd deal with rejection. I opened one eye to look at him. He sat there staring at me.

"Percy no, no.... Percy, Perce!"

He was moving his hands all sorts of ways, and kept looking at me then closing his eyes with changing expressions. I was worried that I had said something wrong. Maybe I was pressuring him? Or maybe he didn't want to be with me! I was getting really worried. Nico ran his hands through his jet black hair, took a breath, and started again. 

"Percy I do like you." 

My eyes widened and a giant smile spread across my face. I was so happy, I'd never felt this happy around Annabeth. I was so giddy, I crawled up to Nico and sat beside him. Nico looked into my eyes and smiled weakly. 

"But you can't break up with Annabeth just for me, it not fair to her. I really do like you Percy, I always have, but it wouldn't be right to Annabeth."

I frowned, I wanted to break up with Annabeth. I haven't really been around her lately, she's been hanging around Piper and her siblings constantly.

"Nico, things with Annabeth and I haven't been good lately anyways, I want to do this. I want to be with you. So I'm going to break up with Annabeth tomorrow."

Nico stared at me and smiled. He flopped down on my bed and giggled. We held onto each other and slept the day away. 

The next morning the light shown through my windows and Nico was at my side still sleeping. I smiled and remembered the night before. My smile faded when I thought about how I was going to break up with Annabeth. I'm sure she would understand. I wrote Nico a note,

Good morning Nico, 
I'm going to the pavilion for breakfast and then talk to Annabeth. I'll be gone for a few hours. See you later,
Love Percy.

I had to write it in Greek, it wouls be easier for the both of us. I walked down to the pavilion and had the biggest breakfast that I've had in a while. Eggs, toast, sausage, orange juice, french toast, and blue pancakes. I scraped a little of everything into the fire for Poseidon and scarfed it down in minuets. I put my dishes in the tray for that harpies and headed over to the Athena cabin. I got there and knocked on the door. Annabeth answered and smiled at me. 

"Hey Seaweed Brain! What's up?"

She tilted her head and tried to meet my eyes, which I refused to do. I could see all of her siblings in the cabin, reading, playing chess, and talking to each other. 

"Hey Wisegirl, can we go down to the beach? We have to talk." 

Her smiled wavered and she raised her eyebrows. She nodded and closed the cabin door, following me to the beach. We walked in silence. Our feet finally hit the squishy sand and we found a place on the shore away from the other campers. We sat down, I cleared my throat and just said it.

"Annabeth, I want to breakup... With you."

I met her eyes and looked away, only to meet them again. She was frowning and her eyes were glassy. I felt very bad, but it needed to be done. She cleared her throat. 

"Did I do something Percy? Something wrong? What did I do?"

Annabeth was getting pushy, I didn't want to answer her, I didn't want to say the wrong thing. She was holding onto my arms with a tight grip, she was sitting on her knees. Instead of her being sad and crying, fiery rage shown in her eyes, she was frowning and her face was red. I scooted away from her but her grips on my arms were getting tighter making me stay in place. She towered over me on her knees and looked me in the eyes. She bared her teeth and barked at me, 

"What Percy! You start cutting yourself and your better than me or something? Your a coward! Your a coward Percy Jackson! Your not breaking up with me until I say so!"

My eyes widened. I've never seen Annabeth like this. I've heard about bad breakups but this was crazy! We could still be friends after this but not with her acting crazy right now. Her grips on my arms were sliding down to my forearms where she knew my cuts were at. I gritted my teeth as she grabbed where my freshest cuts were, and squeezed. At this point there were tears in my eyes. I'd made up my mind. Were were over, in every way.