Hey, guys! I know, I know, it's been a really long time since I last updated and I've been bored lately, so I figured I might as well write something. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO

Annabeth's POV

"I told you, sir, it's not uncommon for teenage girls to-"

"Yes, but this isn't just any teenage girl. Annabeth is my daughter. She wouldn't do something like this."

"Well, maybe she hasn't been getting enough support at home."

"Are you suggesting that I'm a bad parent?" Hearing my dad yelling at some lady wasn't exactly my favorite way to be woken up in the morning. I didn't recognize the woman's voice, though, and something in my brain registered that they were arguing about me. Why? My dad hardly ever paid attention to me unless he thought I was getting into trouble. I didn't remember doing anything bad lately. They continued to argue and I tried my best to tune them out, only my dad's voice constantly grew louder. I groaned and brought my hands up to my ears, only something seemed to be caught on my arm. I opened my eyes and realized there were tubes going into my skin. What was going on? I took a quick glance around the room. White walls, a bunch of machines, a strange bed that definitely wasn't mine.

"Oh my gods," I muttered. I was in a hospital. How had I gotten there? What happened?

"You're awake." I whipped my head around to the left to see Julie sitting uncomfortably in a chair by a set of windows. Next to her, Trevor was completely knocked out, his head thrown back on the top of his chair as he snored like an old man. Julie stood up and walked over to me.

"Sorry about the arguing," she said. "I tried to calm him down, but I only was able to get them to leave the room." I nodded and tried to remember what had happened, how I ended up in the hospital. I realized then that Julie's eyes were puffy, like she had been crying recently, and she was avoiding my gaze. The look on her face was something like guilt, but I wasn't sure why. Surely, she wasn't the reason I was in the hospital.

"So," I broke the silence. "What am I doing in the hospital?"

"You don't remember?" Her eyes were wide and she looked like she really didn't want to explain it. Suddenly, I remembered talking to Percy outside of the locker room and feeling like my stomach was exploding inside of my body.

"There was this horrible pain," I told her. "That's all I remember. What happened?" She started fidgeting with her fingers and looked down at them like she couldn't bear to look at me.

"Annabeth, you overdosed."

"Huh?" That didn't make any sense. I hadn't taken any medicine. "What are you talking about?" Julie opened her mouth to continue, but was interrupted by my dad.

"Good, you're finally up," he said as he walked in.

"Dr. Chase," the nurse that he had been arguing with ran in after him and grabbed his arm to stop him, but he just shook her off.

"She's my daughter," he told her. "I have the right to talk to her."

"Oh, great," Julie mumbled, but he didn't seem to notice as he turned towards me.

"You! What were you thinking, young lady? Taking an overdose on pills! What's wrong with you?"

"What?" I exclaimed. "What the heck is everyone talking about? I didn't take any drugs!"

"Annabeth," the nurse said calmly before Dad could continue. "We know you overdosed on weight loss pills. There's nothing to be ashamed of; we only want to help." She gave my dad a look, but he didn't seem to notice through his anger.

"What? I never took any diet pills!" I was completely confused by the whole situation. Thinking back on it, Shelby had given me some diet pills when she dropped off the clothes the week before, but I never took any of them. But if I didn't take any pills, what was I doing in the hospital? It didn't make any sense.

"The tests don't lie, Annabeth!" my dad shouted. "Julie even found the bottle in your locker." I glared at Julie, who had a guilty look on her face. She muttered a barely audible "sorry" and looked away. "Five pills were missing from the bottle. Did you take all of those this morning? You could have died!"

"Okay, even if I did take the pills, I wouldn't take five at a time. I'm not an idiot! Can't you see that I'm being set up?"

"If you didn't take the weight loss pills, how did they get in your system?" my dad asked.

"Sir, please," the nurse intervened, trying to calm him down.

"Stay out of this! Answer the question, Annabeth."

"I don't know," I mumbled, realizing how hopeless my argument was. I never took any pills, but they somehow got in my body. How was I supposed to explain it to my dad if I didn't even know how it happened?

"Well, then, Annabeth, if you didn't take the pills, why did you have a bottle in your locker?"

"Those aren't mine!" I yelled. "I was going to give them back to Shelby, but I started feeling sick and completely forgot about it."

"So you got them from a friend?" my dad raised his eyebrows in question.

"No," I snorted. "Shelby isn't a friend."

"Then who is she?"

"She's Percy's girlfriend." I wasn't sure if they were really broken up or not, but I didn't know what else to call her using child-friendly words.

"Oh, so it's that boy now, isn't it?"

"What? No! Percy didn't do anything!"

"Did he say you were fat? Is he the one that made you take the pills?"

"No! No one made me take any pills!"

"You've acted so different lately. Did you think I haven't noticed all the new clothes and makeup? Are you trying to get someone's attention? Did you think overdosing on drugs would make you look better? Make you more popular?"

"No! Dad, I told you! I didn't take any pills! I swear!" I felt tears coming to my eyes and I tried my best to push them back. His eyes locked onto mine like he was trying to decide if I was telling the truth or not. Finally, he shook his head.

"I don't know who you are anymore."

"Well, maybe you would if you paid more attention to me! All you ever do is pay attention to your new family! I don't even matter to you anymore!" A tear slid down my cheek, but I didn't bother to wipe it off.

"I'm going to ask you one more time," he said, completely avoiding what I had just said. "If you didn't take the pills, how did they get in your system?"

"I don't know! Someone probably drugged me or something!"

"Why would they do that?" His anger seemed to have vanished and he just looked tired now.

"I don't know!" Another tear fell as I realized he wasn't going to believe me. "Shelby! She must have done it! She's been pretending to be my friend for the past few days to get me out of the way!"

"Out of the way of what?"

"So she can have Percy to herself!"

"Percy," my dad repeated in disbelief. "The guy you have no feelings for."

"Yes! I mean, wait, Shelby has always seen me as competition, not that I am. She's always hated me. It makes sense!" He shook his head and turned towards the door.

"Dad, wait!" I shouted behind him. I stood up and started to follow, only to be reminded by a tugging on my arm that I was still attached to a bunch of machines. I turned around and started pulling everything out of my arm, not even bothering to be gentle.

"Hey!" the nurse, who I hadn't noticed was still in the room, grabbed my hand and stopped me.

"I need to get out of here," I protested.

"Calm down, Annabeth," Julie said as she hurried to stand next to me.

"Look, I honestly have no idea how those pills got into my system. Nothing is wrong with me! I just need to go."

"Annabeth," the nurse said as she gently pushed me back down on the bed. "It's okay to admit the truth. Plenty of teenage girls are self-conscious about their weight and looks. It's nothing to be ashamed of. You can join a support group, or go to therapy and pretty soon, you'll learn to be confident in who you are." I bit my lip and tried not to show how frustrated I was. Obviously, no one was going to believe me, so there was no point in arguing anymore.

"I just want to go home."

"Okay, I'll go talk to the doctor and see if you can be released yet. In the mean time, stay here and leave these alone." She pushed the needles back into my arm so fast that I barely felt the pinch as they went into my skin. The nurse gave Julie a look that seemed to say keep an eye on her before she left the room.

"This is so messed up," I complained. As if my life hadn't already been bad enough before I was sent to the hospital for something I didn't even do.

"I'm sorry about all of this," she said as she sat down on the foot of the bed.

"It's not your fault, Juls. It was Shelby. It had to be." We sat there in silence for a few moments, thinking about this, when I realized someone was missing. "Hey, where's Percy?"

"He went home about an hour ago when your dad got here. He started yelling at Percy and blamed him for what happened with you. He really wanted to stay and talk to you, but I told him it would be a good idea to leave until your dad is gone."

"Oh," I said. I wasn't sure what else to say. In a way, this kind of was Percy's fault. The only reason Shelby was messing with me, and I was sure she was, even if I didn't know how, was to keep me away from Percy. Still, it wasn't like he asked for his girlfriend to act like a jealous maniac. A loud snore snapped me out of my thoughts and I looked up to see Trevor, who was still passed out on the chair.

"Okay," I said in disbelief. "How did he sleep through all of that?" Julie smiled, but she still looked kind of upset. Just then, a thought hit me.

"Julie, you believe me, right? I mean, I know this looks really bad, especially after everything that happened last week, but I swear I didn't do this."

"I know," she said, but she still wouldn't meet my eyes.

"Then why are you upset? You look like you want to cry."

"I just…" she took a deep breath, like she was trying to hold herself together. "I just don't see how someone could do something like this. I mean, you've never done anything wrong to anyone and they just think it's okay to set you up like this and humiliate you by putting you in a situation that you can't get out of. It's wrong."

I sighed. "Well, that's Shelby for you." She looked like she wanted to say something else, but the nurse came back in the room, cutting her off before she even had a chance to talk.

"Annabeth," the nurse said as she walked in. "The doctor wants you to stay overnight to keep an eye on you. If you're okay tomorrow, you're free to go home." I nodded and she left the room. I wasn't sure if I was upset about being forced to stay the night or relieved that I had an extra day before I had to face my dad again.

"I guess that means you're not going to school tomorrow," Julie said. "At least you don't have to worry about running into Shelby until Wednesday."

"And everyone else at school." I sighed. "I'm sure word's already gotten around that I'm some jealous, self-conscious girl who would change everything about myself for a guy." Julie smiled at me, trying to be reassuring, but we both knew it was true.

Oh, well, there was nothing I could do about that. Rumors would spread and I wouldn't be able to stop them, so I might as well enjoy my last night of peace, even if I do have to spend it in a hospital.

I wanted to end it on a happier note, but I have to get off the computer and I really wanted to post something. Hope you enjoyed it! I'll try to get the next chapter up soon, and things will get more interesting then. J