Hello! Once again I'm sorry that I don't update on a consistent schedule but life has its own ideas. I'm not going to keep making promises I can't keep, but I hope you do enjoy the chapters when I do eventually post them.

On a different and totally unrelated note that I'm going to put here because I don't have any other social media where I can, I've recently discovered that I am asexual, but I'm still too scared to come out to my friends and family. I guess I just wanted to put it out there somehow because it's kind of eating me up inside not telling anyone. But now it's out there and if anyone wants to talk to me about sexuality or if you have questions, or if you just want to chat and have someone listen to them I'm always willing. Just pm me! Anyway, on with the story. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own HOO or POO

Annabeth avoided him for as long as she could on Monday morning. He wasn't able to talk to her until right before English, and even then Annabeth did her best to focus only on making sure that everything for their project was ready. The classroom was relatively empty, with only the occasional student trickling in from the busy hallway outside.

"Annabeth-" Brett tried.

"Do you think it would be better if we started right with the powerpoint, or should we begin with a little bit of an introduction?" Annabeth didn't look at him as she spoke.

Brett tried again, "I don't understand why you're so angry with me."

Annabeth whirled around to face him. Her voice was incredulous. "You don't understand- Brett you tried to flirt with me when you know I have a boyfriend, and then you proceeded to insult not only Percy but me as well!"

It was rare to see Annabeth angry like that, usually, she was more reserved. Brett thought that Percy must have had something to do with it. His poison was infecting Annabeth, but Brett decided not to mention his thoughts. The way to make Annabeth understand was not through making her angry. "What are you talking about?" he questioned instead. "I never insulted you!"

"You insinuated that I didn't know how to handle myself, that I wasn't smart enough to know if I was in a dangerous situation. That's pretty insulting, Brett."

"I'm not trying to insult you, Annabeth," Brett insisted. "I'm trying to help you. You're too close to see that Percy is bad for you."

"Percy is one of the best things that's ever happened to me!" At this point, Annabeth had completely forgotten about making any last-minute changes to their project. Her voice had gotten louder. She wasn't quite shouting, but she was loud enough that a few of the other students turned to look in their direction. "He's my best friend, and we've gone through hell for each other! The last thing I need is some guy who thinks he knows me placing judgment on my life. You don't understand anything, so just stop trying, Brett."

"It's not good to get attached so fast."

"What are you talking about?" She was quieter now. She sounded almost baffled by Brett's statement. Or maybe she just didn't like that Brett was calling her out.

"I mean obviously you haven't known him for that long, and it's not healthy to get so attached to another person so quickly."

"What makes you assume that I haven't known Percy for long?" Annabeth defended.

"Well if you had I would have met him before now, or at least heard of him."

"How incredibly arrogant of you," Annabeth seethed. "You do realize that I don't have to tell you anything about me, right? For your information, I've known Percy for six years, and we've been dating for the past two."

What? How could she have possibly known him for that long and yet still not see what an awful influence he was? It just wasn't possible to be friends with someone for that long without realizing that they were not the type of person you'd want in your life. Annabeth must be in deeper than he originally thought. Maybe she owed Percy and his gang money? Or maybe he was blackmailing her? Brett didn't know, but he did know that he had to get her out of there.

"Where did you two meet?" he asked. Maybe Annabeth was making it up to try and make their relationship sound more convincing. He would just have to catch her in the lie- make her see.

"Summer camp," Annabeth responded instantly.

"How old were you?"

"Twelve."

"What was your first impression of him?" Brett hoped his question would trip her up.

It didn't. Annabeth responded without hesitation. "I thought he was a scrawny little twerp. Then he went and proved himself to be just as obtuse as he looked." She smiled fondly, which didn't match the sentiment of her statement.

"Then why on Earth are you dating him?"

"Like I said. He's my best friend. We've been through a lot together, and I wouldn't trade him for anything else in the world."

"But-"

Annabeth stopped him. "I'm not going to discuss this, or any topic related to it, with you. I don't care what you think. I make my own decisions, and I don't need you poking around in my business." She turned away, and the bell stopped Brett from trying to continue the conversation.

After their conversation, Annabeth went back to ignoring him. He tried for the rest of the English, and even during gym class. No matter what he said or did she still managed to avoid him.

With a defeated sigh he slumped down at the cafeteria with his lunch.

"Aw, cheer up, mate," his friend Randy nudged him. "You gotta get your mind off of this whole Annabeth thing. What'd' ya say to pizza after school?"

That was one of the last things Brett wanted to do, but he tried to respond enthusiastically nonetheless. "Yeah, that sounds great, Randy."

Randy and Jake had been his best friends since middle school. He met Randy when they'd ended up sitting next to each other in biology, and they had quickly become friends. Jake joined their group about two months later when Randy stepped in to stop a pair of bullies giving Jake a hard time for being raised by a single mother.

It'd been the three of them against the world ever since then. They'd survived middle school together, and now they were completing their last year of high school. Brett didn't want to think about what would happen next year when they all went off to college. Randy had his eyes on Plymouth State University up in New Hampshire, while Brett was looking at Universities closer to home. Jake still hadn't decided on a college, but he wanted to escape to the West Coast.

Brett liked to think that their friendship was strong enough to endure the distance, but he knew of people who had been closer than them that had drifted apart after high school.

There was no point worrying about it now. He might as well live in the present and enjoy the time he still had with his friends, and not worry about what the future might hold.

"I'm down for pizza," Jake said, sitting down across from Brett. "But I have basketball practice 'til 4, so we'd have to meet after that."

"How about 4:30?" Randy asked.

"Cool with me," Jake answered. "Brett?"

"Huh?" Brett looked up distractedly. "Yeah, I can do 4:30."

The pizzeria was a small, local place. It didn't look like much from the outside, with it's peeling paint and flickering neon sign, and the inside wasn't much better. The walls were covered with old Italian paintings, and there were fake grapevines wrapped around dingy sculptures of Roman gods. Minimal sunlight filtered through the dirty windows, and the dim lights didn't illuminate the room any better.

They came here often. It was a great place to relax and forget about the real world for a while. They sat their usual booth, tucked into the corner and removed from the hustle and bustle of the restaurant, but it still gave them a good vantage point of the rest of the building. Brett listened as Jake and Randy argued about whether their math teacher was a demon from hell, or if she was simply an escaped criminal posing as their math teacher for the sole purpose of spreading misery. It wasn't long before Brett managed to push any thought of Annabeth to the back of his mind.

"Oh come on, no human being can be that evil! She has to be a demon."

"For that to be true," Jake replied, using a slice of pizza to point accusingly toward Randy, "you'd have to believe that demons and monsters exist."

"Well, Mr. Atheist, you can't prove that they don't exist," Randy countered.

Jake took a bite of his pizza. "It's the same concept as 'innocent until proven guilty.' Until it is proven that monsters do exist, the assumption is that they don't. The burden of proof lies on your shoulders, not mine."

Randy huffed. "Yeah, well, you'd know everything about 'innocent until proven guilty,' wouldn't you? I still don't know how you managed to swipe Mrs. Palmer's glasses right under her nose."

Jake shrugged. "Pure, unadulterated talent, my friend."

Brett opened his mouth to give his input on the matter, but something else caught his attention.

A group of people had entered the restaurant and made their way to the counter; not an unusual sight. What had made Brett pause was the fact that he recognized them. Standing at the counter talking to the employee were three of Annabeth's 'friends.' More specifically, Leo, Jason, and the girl that Brett had assumed was Jason's girlfriend. Brett leaned forward, trying to catch what they were saying.

Leo asked the boy behind the counter if they delivered to Long Beach to which the boy responded that it was outside of their delivery range.

"What's it gonna take to get you to deliver to the beach?"

"I'm sorry sir, but we don't deliver there."

"Are you sure you can't make an exception?" the girl asked.

The boy shook his head. "I'm sorry, no."

Leo shared a look with Jason and his girlfriend. "I got this, Pipes," he said before pulling out a giant wad of cash. "I'll ask again," he said turning back to the employee, "what's it gonna take for you to deliver to Long Beach tonight?"

Where did a group of teenagers get that much money? The only explanation Brett could think of was drugs. It wouldn't surprise Brett one bit if the members of Annabeth's friendship group were involved in both the sale and consumption of drugs. People like them often came hand in hand with addictions.

Brett watched as the boy behind the counter stumbled over himself in his haste to fulfill Leo's wishes. Money was power, and oftentimes that power fell into the wrong hands. Who knew what sort of influence these people had over Annabeth?

"Hello? Earth to Brett?" Randy waved his hand directly in Brett's line of vision. "Were you even listening?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, of course I was listening." Bret waved his hand dismissively "Hey, what do you guys say to hitting the beach tonight?"