Whew. Here we go. Last chapter. Hope ya'll enjoy it!

Disclaimer: All PJO characters belong to Rick Riordan.

Chapter Twenty-One

Annabeth

Fate brought you back to me. This time, I won't let you leave. I'm gonna love you until the end.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

The funny thing about heartbreak is that it isn't agonizing. It's just a little voice inside you and a little stab of pain in the most sensitive part of your heart. It's almost a numbing feeling and that somehow makes it worse.

I walk home by myself after Percy drives off. His last words still echo around me, a track of betrayal and pain so agonizing I'm numb. Tears fall hot and fast down my cheeks as I watch his truck until I can't see it anymore.

You kissed him, Annabeth. And I'm not angry about it. I'm just disappointed. I thought we had a better relationship than that. Or maybe that was all just in my head.

His disappointment hurt worse than his anger. At least then I would know to step away and let him cool down before trying to talk to him. But disappointment is a whole other story. And the sad thing is, I know exactly how he feels. I had the exact same thing happen to me. I had felt everything Percy must be feeling right now and I know how much it hurts.

Oh gods, what had I done?

Why on earth had I let Luke kiss me? What drug was I on? Now, the thought of Luke's lips back on mine makes me want to hurl. I don't know what possessed me to kiss him back. I don't understand how I had thought it was the most amazing feeling ever. Those thoughts weren't mine. They couldn't be mine. A girl who's been cheated on before doesn't go and cheat on someone else. They don't make someone else who they've maybe fallen in love with suffer through the same pain they had to go through.

But isn't that exactly what I did?

I know why I did it, though. It wasn't love that I had felt for Luke during that first kiss after he apologized. It was more that I was in shock, a shock that put everything else on hold. I was processing the fact that the boy I had been in madly, blindly, extraordinarily in love with was here in front of me, asking for forgiveness, something I had dreamed about since the night I saw him and Calypso. Something a part of me had wanted even while I was dating Percy. So, in a moment when the whole world was on pause and the only thing in front of me while I fell apart was Luke, I let him kiss me. I even lead him on.

I feel like throwing up.

How on earth am I supposed to fix this? I barely survived Luke's betrayal. How am I supposed to keep living knowing that I caused someone else the same pain I had felt myself?

Shutting my eyes tight and taking a deep breath I start walking out of the parking lot. One foot in front of the other. That's all I focus on as I walk through the sidewalks of New York. Left, right, left, right. I'm still crying (it seems I have an unlimited amount of water in my tear ducts) and my body shakes. When I open the door to my apartment, my mom is sitting on the couch in her hoodie and pajama bottoms. She looks up with a smile on her face, but it fades once she sees my tears.

"Annabeth?" she asks hesitantly. I look at her, shake my head, and walk down the hall to my bedroom, ignoring her calls. I walk into my small bedroom and head straight into the bathroom to look at my appearance.

The horrible thing is, I still look as good as I did earlier in the evening. The only sign of my emotional destruction tonight are the tears running down my face. Reyna must have used waterproof mascara because there's barely a hint of black smudged beneath my eyes compared to the streaks of black I would have if the mascara wasn't waterproof. My hair is still up in it's annoyingly perfect updo, having not been touched once by Percy or Luke. And my lipstick is only slightly faded.

I stare at my lips. They are lips that two boys have kissed tonight. One whom I now hate and one I have come to care about entirely too much. Two different people and two different pairs of lips. And my lips, ones that still look full and bright and enticing, has been the pair that did all the damage. These lips on my face right now, sporting lipstick that should be almost completely faded by now, are the sole reason that I am feeling like this right now. These lips are the cause of everything.

My hands react before I do, turning on the faucet and wetting a hand towel, furiously wiping at my lips in a crazy attempt to get rid of this lipstick. This lipstick that had been smeared on two other people's mouths.

I wipe and wipe and wipe until there's nothing left to wipe, until my lips are raw and every drop of water on the towel is gone, until I'm crying so hard I can't see anything. I'm barely aware of someone coming into the bathroom and grabbing the towel from me. Arms wrap around me and I'm pulled into a tight embrace. Suddenly, all I smell is the familiar scent of grapes and I lay my head on their chest and sob some more.

"Shh," my mother soothes, stroking my head. "It's alright. It's going to be alright."

I shake my head. "No!" I gasp between sobs. "No, it's not alright! Everything is wrong, Mom! Everything!"

My mom pulls back, surprised. "Whatever happened, Annabeth, you can get through it," she finally says. "You're a strong girl."

I drop my head and lean back towards her, muttering, "You don't understand," over and over again. I'm pulled out of the bathroom and back into my bedroom, then placed on the bed. My mom settles in beside me, tucking me close to her, and instructs in a soft voice, "Tell me."

So I do. I tell her everything, from when I started dating Luke to the fiasco tonight. She listens without saying a word, which is unusual for her. I know that she hates Percy's father, which causes her to hate Percy. She didn't approve of our relationship, so once I'm finished talking, I expect her to give me a long lecture about how she knew I would get hurt like this (even though the whole thing is my fault) and I'm better off without Percy.

Instead, my mom's grip tightens. I exhale shakily, my tears finally stopping, and shut my eyes tight. "I don't know what to do," I whisper. "I tried to apologize, but he didn't listen."

My mom sighs. "He listened, Annabeth," she tells me. "But you did something that hurt him badly. He's trying to figure out what to do about it himself. Give him time to decide."

"What if he doesn't forgive me?" I ask. Another thought hits me. "Or what if he does, but he doesn't want me anymore?"

My mom doesn't saying anything for a minute. We sit in silence until she finally speaks up and says, "Then that's a consequence you'll have to pay for your actions. There's a price for everything."

My hands clench into fists. Though her words are harsh, she's right. Everyone has to pay for their mistakes and the bigger the mistake, the bigger the price. But I hope with everything in me for the tiny chance that he might love me enough to forgive me and start over, because I love him more than anything.

Oh gods, what would I do without Percy? How would I continue my life knowing that I might have found real love and I destroyed it by kissing someone else? That guilt would eat at me for the rest of my life. It will eat at me for the rest of my life if I don't do somehing about it. I can't live now having my heart broken twice. I have to do something to at least get him to apologize. But what on earth do I say now? What could make up for what I've done?

I decide not to think about it. I push everything that went down tonight to the back of my mind and I allow myself to cry some more. I fall asleep to the soothing motion of my mother's hands pushing the hair away from my face.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

My mom tells me the next morning that Thalia stopped by. I'm still in bed, now in one of Percy's shirts he had left at my house a while ago. I'm not even sure why I put it on. Everything that reminds me of Percy is too painful to see or think about, but for some reason, I can tolerate wearing the shirt. I'm not even sure I ever want to take it off.

I tell my mom to tell Thalia to go away. I don't want to see anyone. My mom gives me a worried look but does as I instructed and goes back to the front door. I fall back into the pillows. The numbness I felt last night is gone and replaced with this horrible aching feeling that throbs in every inch of my body. I feel like I'm hungover even though I've never had an alcoholic drink in my life.

The rest of the morning is a blur. I get up to grab a drink of water from the kitchen and see Thalia arguing with my mom. I quickly scurry away, but I know she saw me. I felt her piercing stare on my back. I would talk to her, but I don't want to hear her crap about how much I've hurt Percy and how I should have known better. I know. And I know that that's what she would tell me.

I go back to bed and watch a few movies on my laptop, ranging from The Conjuring to Pitch Perfect. I even watch The Notebook and cry through the whole thing. I feel like such a girl, but I don't care. I've decided to let myself feel sorry for myself and beat myself up for the weekend. I'll deal with everything on Monday.

I don't actually get up and do anything until Silena, Rachel, and Reyna storm into my room. They all look tired from the dance last night and confused when their eyes land on me. I look around and am slightly embarrassed by the state of my bedroom. My mom brought me a medium size of my favorite pizza, with pesto sauce, feta cheese, mushrooms, and chicken, and I'm ashamed to say that I ate the whole thing by myself. The box is empty and laying open on my bed. A couple empty cans of Coke are rolling around in the box. There's a box of tissues next to my open laptop and a few used tissues are strewn all over. The blankets are all wrinkled and twisted around me. I look sheepishly up at my friends.

"Hey," I greet softly. My voice is raspy from crying.

Silena blinks at me while Rachel and Reyna move towards me. "What," she said, "happened to you? You look like crap."

I try to smile but it comes out like a grimace. I try to reply but I don't know what to say so I just stay quiet. Reyna and Rachel move over all the trash, putting everything in the pizza box then setting the box down on the ground. They move to sit on either side of me and I almost start crying again when they wrap me in their arms. Silena sees my broken expression and her face softens and she crawls onto the bed, coming to rest next to my legs by Rachel.

"It was Luke, wasn't it?" she asks in a soothing tone and I nod, not trusting myself to say anything else. She makes a fist and continues, "I knew he was no good. I knew it."

I try for a smile and choke out, "Only because I told you."

Silena pauses, probably surprised by my joking words. Then she laughs. "True. But still, I knew he was going to try something. What did he do?"

I don't answer at first, instead looking at the girls around me. Then I break down and explain as best I can, choking back sobs the entire time. Reyna grabs my hand and squeezes once I'm done. The other two girls looked stunned. And a bit angry.

"Annabeth," Rachel says finally after a few moments of silence, "how on earth could you do that?"

I don't know. "I tried to stop it," I say lamely, knowing it in no way was an appropriate answer.

"Yeah, but not before you kissed him first," she argues. "I can't believe it. Poor Percy."

I look down to my lap and blink back tears. I can't believe it either. I feel awful.

Silena speaks up. "Well, I understand, if it makes you feel better, Annabeth," she says, rubbing her hand up and down my leg in a comforting gesture. "That doesn't redeem your actions, but I understand."

I stare at her. "You do?"

She nods. "Of course. It has to be hard when your ex is asking for you back. Especially considering how long you two dated. It's not okay that you kissed him, but it's understandable."

I smile, for real this time. "Thanks."

She smiles back but then the sincerity vanishes and a girlish edge appears, like she's about to squeal. "Okay, we brought a few things since we weren't sure what state you were in." Sh pulls two things from her bag and holds them up. It's a jumbo bag of Dove milk chocolate and a Redbox movie. I can't read the title, but I smile anyway.

"It's not a chick-flick, is it?" I ask with a fake groan.

Silena scrunches up her features. "Of course not," she says, disgusted. "I may be a total romantic, but even I get sick of those movies." I laugh and she continues, "No, this is all three seasons of Sherlock. So get comfy girls, because you're not going anywhere soon."

I laugh and take the disc to put in my laptop as the three girls all lean in close. Reyna opens the chocolate and we all grab a piece just as the first episode starts.

And for the next few hours as the four of us lose ourselves in mysteries and the glorious cheekbones of Benedict Cumberbatch, I forget about all the drama that had happened in the last twenty-four hours. And I'm happy.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Each Sherlock episode is about an hour and a half long and there's nine episodes, so the girls sleep over that night. We all fall asleep immediately after the last episode ends, around two in the morning, and when I wake up, it's ten and the girls are gone, including the DVD and chocolate. I groan and roll over, reaching to the desk to check my phone. I'm startled to see that I've gotten a text from Beckendorf. He asked me to meet him today at noon at Starbucks.

I scrunch my eyebrows together. I've had maybe one conversation with Beckendorf. He kind of keeps to himself. The only other people I've seen him speak to are Silena, Leo, and Percy. At lunch, he's always so quiet and the few classes I have with him, he's silent also. I have no idea why he would want to meet me, especially this weekend, of all weekends.

Alas, I pull myself out of bed and start the shower in my bathroom. Then I close the door and stand in front of the mirror and study myself.

Silena was right. I really do look like crap. My hair is braided in a fishtail braid that Reyna did last night sometime during season two, but after sleeping on it for a night, it's all messy and falling out. My make-up seems to have outlasted it's durability because now it's all smeared everywhere. I'm still in Percy's t-shirt and no pants. Just underwear. Sighing, I begin to undo my hair and gently run my fingers through the tangles. I grimace when I feel how oily it is. I haven't taken a shower since Friday morning and it's starting to show now.

After deciding to wash my face when I get in the shower, I stare down at Percy's shirt. It's a plain dark blue shirt with a faded look. The words "Manhattan Community Pool" are written over the heart and on the back is a big caricature of people in a swimming pool. I grip the hem as tightly as I can. A part of me doesn't want to take it off. Taking it off feels like I'm leaving him behind forever.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I need to calm down and collect myself. This is ridiculous. It's just a shirt and it's not like I'm getting rid of it by taking it off to take a shower. Quickly, I strip off the shirt and hop into the warm water. After fifteen minutes, I'm out of the shower and dressed in short jean shorts and a Goode High t-shirt. My hair is damp and falling down my back in crazy curls. I don't put on any make-up, afraid that I'll start crying at the smallest reminder of Percy.

I stare at myself in the mirror and swallow nervously. I'm scared that this is a trick and Percy will be waiting at Starbucks. I'm not ready to face him. I don't want to face him, not after what he said to me Friday night. I'm not mad at him for it, or hurt. I'm angry at myself because he's right. We did have a better relationship than that, but I went and ruined with my secrets and grudges. And I hate myself for it.

Taking a deep breath, I walk out the bathroom without looking back.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

I let out a huge sigh of relief when I spot Beckendorf sitting at a table in the small Starbucks shop. This isn't a trick. Thank God.

I walk in through the door and take a seat across from the large boy. He smiles at me as I sit and I smile, hesitantly, back. He takes a sip of his drink while looking at me and it makes me immensely uncomfortable.

"You don't want a drink?" he asks me, scrunching up his bushy eyebrows. "I'll buy."

I shake my head. "No thanks," I say, and I'm embarrassed to see that my voice is still raspy from all the crying I did yesterday and Friday night. My cheeks flame up. "What did you want to talk to me about?" I ask, trying to cover up my embarrassment.

Beck gives me a sympathetic look and I find myself trying not to strangle him. Miserable or not, Annabeth Chase doesn't do pity. I bite my lip and clench my hands into fists underneath the table.

"I just want to tell you a story," he says mysteriously and I want to roll my eyes. He wants to tell me a story? Sure, but when did the word "story" translate into a lecture about cheating? Because I'm positive that that's what I'm about to receive.

"Listen," I say, starting to get up, "I've heard it from enough people, so I really don't need to hear it from you. I know that I hurt-"

"No!" Beck interrupts, grabbing my wrist. I stare at his hand in bewilderment. "No, Annabeth, please sit. I'm not angry with you and I'm not going to talk about how you hurt Percy. I actually want to talk to you about Silena."

I stare at him. "Is there a moral to this story you're about to tell me?" I ask suspiciously.

Beckendorf sighs and nods with a guilty look plastered on his face. I bite my lip and slowly sink down into my chair. Beck releases my wrist and relaxes into his seat. I sit back and cross my arms, staring at him expectantly. He sighs and begins.

"I met Silena freshman year," he says with a wistful smile. "I had a crush on her the moment I laid eyes on her. All my friends made fun of me because of how lovesick I was. I didn't get the courage to ask her out until the beginning of the next year. Our first year and a half of dating was perfect. We were that picturesque couple that everyone thought were sweet. I took her out every Friday night and would bring her coffee every morning and she would kiss me at the most inappropriate times, but no one really cared because they loved us."

Beck gets a small smile on his face as he talks. I feel a sharp stab of pain in my gut, thinking about Percy and how, for a little while, we were that couple.

"But, like all good things, it didn't last. Everything fell apart winter break of our junior year. We were going through this phase in our relationship where we argued constantly. Every little thing would start a fight. We were having our biggest fight yet one night at my house. I don't even remember what it was about. All I can remember is that I was angry. She said something and that just broke the dam inside me and I..." He paused, his voice breaking. I find myself leaning forward, interested. "I hit her, Annabeth. I slapped her across the face."

My mouth falls open as his words register through my brain. I stare at him, this happy boy who's totally in love as he falls apart again in front of me. "But," I murmur, "you two are so happy together."

Beckendorf snorts. "Yeah. But that night we weren't. After I hit her, I froze. Silena just stared at me and then left without saying a word. All the anger left my body and I ran after her, but she was too far gone. We didn't speak to each other for the next month and I can honestly say, it was the worst month of my life. Never have I felt so alone."

"How did you two make up?" I ask.

He smiles. "I just apologized and she forgave me. We didn't immediately go back to the way we were before; she was a lot more careful around me and everything we said to each other was careful and hesitant so we wouldn't start arguing or fighting. But the point is that we tried, and something good came out of it."

I sigh and stare down at the table. I know that last part was directed at me and it hurts to think about it. Apologizing to Percy is going to be one of the hardest things I've ever done. The part that comes after, the rebuilding of the trust, is going to be even harder.

"I cheated on him, Beck," I say quietly. "I kissed Luke and when I told Percy, he hated me. He's not going to forgive me."

Beckendorf presses his lips together. "Annabeth, Percy loves you just as much as I love Silena. He might be mad at you, but he'll forgive you."

I shake my head. "You don't understand."

A laugh. "Yeah, I do. You kissed Luke and Percy found out. Now he's mad at you and you hate yourself for it. That's how it was with Silena and me. She hated me and I hated myself."

"You're not helping." I glare at him and he laughs.

"All I'm saying is that maybe you should go and talk to him," Beck says. "I know he'll forgive you."

But I'm not so sure of that.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

I don't even know I'm doing it until I find myself knocking on his door.

There's a large half-pepperoni, half-olive pizza in my hands with a two-liter of Coke and a container filled with chocolate-covered strawberries on top of the box. I don't know what possessed me to buy them. After my talk with Beckendorf, I remembered the moment at prom when Percy told me he would show up at my house with food like Troy Bolton did in High School Musical 3. And the next thing I knew, I had bought pizza, Coke, and strawberries.

My whole body feels like it's about to collapse when I hear the click of a lock unlocking from the inside. And then the door swings open and Percy's standing in front of me with a surprised look on his face. His eyes travel from my face to the food in my hands and then back up to my face. I can't read what he's thinking.

I swallow nervously as I look at him. "I guess I'm the one who pulled a Troy Bolton."

And for a second, one split second that's gone in a flash, I think I see him smile.

He moves out of the doorway and gestures for me to come in. I smile and walk through the doorway. Immediately, I'm hit with the familiar scent of Percy's apartment: vanilla and chocolate chip cookies. I want to burst into tears when I first smell it.

I move to the table, but Percy says my name and gestures for me to follow him to his bedroom. I do and when I enter the room, I have to do a double take.

His bed is rumpled and messy, like he literally just climbed out of it to open the door. Trash is all over the floor and partially on the bed. The small TV is still on, displaying the original Halo. I give Percy a small glance and he blushes.

Apparently I haven't been the only one going into a deep, two-day depression.

Percy takes the food from my hands and places it on the floor. I sit down across from him as he opens the box. He looks up at me and his eyes smile. I look down at my lap and blush. The pizza is the same kind that we always got when we were dating. I grab a slice of the olive half and start eating, even though I feel like I might throw it up.

Percy stares at me for a couple seconds before digging into the pepperoni side. Those couple seconds feel like an eternity.

The pizza's almost gone when one of us finally speaks. "What are you doing here, Annabeth?" Percy asks, brushing crumbs off his fingers. He looks at me with his wide green eyes and I have to look down.

"You know why I'm here," I mutter. I don't dare look a him, but I hear Percy sigh and imagine him leaning against his bed and running a hand through his hair.

"We already had this conversation, Annabeth," he says after a while. I look up and catch him watching me, those beautiful eyes staring at me like they're searching the deepest part of my soul. I quickly look back down, suddenly interested in my pizza.

"I wanted to apologize," I say quietly. "Again."

The silence that follows is so heavy, I can't breathe, I can't move or do anything. I sit still and wait for what feels like an eternity for his response. And when it comes, I'm surprised by what it is.

"I don't want an apology," he says. "I want an explanation."

I look up, confused. "Explanation?"

Percy nods. "Yeah. I want to know exactly why you did what you did and I want to hear what happened between you and Luke in California. I want to hear it from you."

He's heard it from other people? Who told him? Who knew? I told Silena, but she swore not to tell anybody. I don't take her as the type to tell secrets. Maybe he guessed. I mean, I'm not exactly a pro at keeping secrets.

Then his words really sink in. He wants to hear about my past. And while I know I should have told him before, now that the opportunity has arisen, my pride is getting in the way. I don't want to tell Percy about my weakest moment. I don't want to tell him how I was tricked and played by the person I thought I loved most. That's embarrassing and telling him that would give him the power to destroy me.

I shake my head and let it fall. "I can't," I whisper. "I'm sorry."

Percy takes a deep breath. "Annabeth." My name coming from his mouth feels like acid. "Tell me. You can trust me."

I look up but don't say a word. We stare at each other for a minute, the world fading away. I almost do tell him, but I can't seem to get the words out. They stay stuck in my throat, choking me until I shrink back and give in. I shake my head. "I'm sorry," I repeat and this time, Percy doesn't push me. He sighs and nods like he expected this, then stands up, grabbing our trash.

Then he walks away.

He does it with an edge, a sense of finality, like once he leaves the room, the conversation is over and always will be. My heart squeezes inside my chest and I want to collapse, I want to cry, I want to scream, I want to hunt Luke down for doing this to me. I want to do so many things, but there's one thing I don't want to do.

I don't want to run away again.

Percy is my rock, my anchor. He was the reason I did so many things. He was the reason I put up with the mean girls and the guys hitting on me. He was the reason I put up with the heartbreak and pain. He was the reason I risked feeling broken and why I decided to let love begin again. If he leaves, I'm hurt and broken again. I'll have to leave again, and I know that if I lose Percy, I won't ever give love a chance again.

Maybe that's why I run after him. The thought of never loving again moves my feet. If I learned one thing from Percy, it was to never give up. Percy never gave up on me, no matter how difficult I was to be with. He believed that he could get me and he did, in the end. Maybe that's another thing pushing me towards him. I believe that I can get Percy back. I believe that I can trust him.

"Wait," I say when I reach Percy in the kitchen. My voice is confident and commanding, which surprises me, since that's everything I'm not on the inside. When Percy ignores me, I grab his wrist and twist him around to where he's facing me. "Percy, listen to me."

We're facing each other, a mere two inches apart. My grey eyes bore into his green ones. I'm sure mine are full of fear, hurt, and determination. His are swirling with pain and confusion. And I'm drowning.

"What?" he asks. His voice is strained and cold. My heart crawls up my throat as I realize I've done this to him. I'm the one responsible for his hurt and feeling of betrayal. I bite my lip to keep from crying.

Here goes.

"I fell in love," I say, my voice firm. "I fell in love with Luke. I gave everything I had to him. My heart, my love, my secrets. But he took all of that and threw it away. He cheated on me with my best friend."

I look at Percy to see his reaction. He's staring at the ground, but I can see in his face that he's realized why I have a soft spot for Luke, why I can't speak his name without having to choke back sobs.

"You want to know what I did, Percy? I ran. I moved away from California. I locked up that part of me, the part that loved and I never let anyone open it. I never wanted to feel what that pain felt like ever again. Then I came here. I met you and something happened. That part of me that I had locked away opened. I was scared. I didn't want to risk breaking my heart again. But I couldn't bring myself to leave. I thought that maybe you were different. Maybe you wouldn't intentionally hurt me. But then Luke came and begged for me back. Percy, what you saw in the hallway, it wasn't what you thought. Luke had me cornered. He begged for me back and I...I fell apart again. I was confused and scared and vulnerable and I know I let him kiss me and I've never regretted anything more." I pause. "Just say the word and I'll leave. I'll never bother you again, I swear. But all I'm asking for is your forgiveness. I...I love you."

I don't notice that I'm crying until I'm done telling Percy that I love him. I start wiping my eyes, but stop soon after I start. Percy watches me, but I'm unaware of it. I'm unaware of everything as I remember what happened so long ago and how hurt I was.

Percy walks up to me and wipes away a tear that's making it's way down my cheek. I grab his hand and intertwine our fingers. His fingers are rough and calloused, but I enjoy the feeling of his touch so much, I don't care. "I'm so sorry," I whisper, staring at our interlocked hands. "I never meant to hurt you."

Percy smiles and pulls me into him. His arms snake around my waist, my skin warming at his touch. "I've already forgiven you, Annabeth," he says gently and I start sobbing, my body shaking against him as I lean my forehead against his shoulder.

It feels good, so good, to be back in his arms again.

Percy strokes my head and plants light kisses on my hair as I cry, letting me get it all out. I'm shaking so hard that my legs feel like jelly and I can't tell if I'm still supporting myself or if Percy's holding me up. He's holding me so tightly like he won't ever let go, and I'm struck dumb by the action. "Why?" I whimper into his shoulder. "Why are you doing this?"

Percy pulls away from me and looks down at my tear-streaked face. He smiles. "Someone once told me that loving someone means loving the good and the bad in them. It means loving them even when they make mistakes. And to be honest, Annabeth, you made a pretty big mistake that most people wouldn't forgive." I bite my lip and look away, but Percy's finger under my chin guides my eyes back to his. "But I'm not most people. I forgave you because even though you made a mistake, I love you. And I always will."

I let his words wash over me, an ocean of relief. I know that things won't be the same between us, that it will take a while for him to trust me again, that the fact that I betrayed him will always linger between us, but I ignore it and smile, unable to stop myself. "I love you too," I whisper.

He leans down and presses our foreheads together and, gods, it feels so right. He looks at me and grins wickedly. "I'm kinda glad my parents aren't home," he says.

I smile. "Why?"

He leans forward more until our noses are touching also. And then he moves me back until I'm leaning against the counter and smashes his lips to mine.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm forgiven.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

My hands shake as I type the text. Percy sits beside me in the driver's seat, silently giving me his support. He has no idea what I'm doing. I contemplate telling him. He has the right to know. But I decide against it. This is between Luke and I, and I don't want Percy to become involved in it again.

I spent days debating whether to do this or not. Luke doesn't deserve this, I'm sure of, but I don't deserve Percy. Life is full of things that we don't deserve, things we call blessings. We don't always recognize them at first, but someday, sometime, we do and we're thankful. I hope that Luke will one day recognize this blessing and act on it.

So as I press send, my heart pounding, I look up at Percy, who's smiling down at me. His green eyes shine brightly, and proudly, as if he knows what I just did. Maybe he does, maybe he doesn't. But that doesn't matter. I take his hand, more grateful than ever for him.

"Watch the road, Seaweed Brain," I tell him, smiling.

"Oh, yeah. Right," he replies, his cheeks reddening. I laugh.

He drives down to the beach, where we planned to have a picnic lunch to celebrate graduating high school. We arrive to crashing waves and salty air. Percy lets go of my hand to grab the cooler and get out of the car. I grab the blanket and meet him outside.

As we walk down to the shoreline, I think of the text I sent Luke. How to him, it could mean a last thread of hope, gone in an instant. It could help him see a spark of friendship, or it could bring on a storm of guilt.

But for me, it meant moving on. It meant leaving everything behind; all the pain, hurt, betrayal, and starting brand new. It meant that even though I had been hurt before, I hadn't let it ruin my life, but instead, I let myself learn from it. It reminded me that I am strong no matter how weak and vulnerable I feel. And it felt wonderful.

So later, while we were eating, I take out my phone and open up the text I sent to Luke. I look at it for a few seconds before I press the delete contact button, erasing Luke out of my phone, out of my life, forever. And nothing has ever felt more wonderful.

"You okay?" Percy asks, peering curiously at me.

I smile at him, letting the giddy feeling that stirs in my stomach whenever I'm with him show. I kiss him on the cheek and say, "Everything has never been more perfect."

But the words from the text, the three small words with that hold big meaning, still flash through my mind.

I forgive you.

Oh my gosh. I'm done. This story is finished. I'm almost in tears right now. I have slaved over this story for almost two years and I'm done with it. This is so amazing.

I want to thank everyone who reviewed, followed, and favorited this story. You guys are pretty much the only reason I even wrote this. You guys encouraged me through the rough spots and I can't thank you all enough! You all deserve your copies of BoO right now!

OMG, I just killed a spider in my room! Ew! I hate spiders!

Anyway, unfortunately, there won't be a sequel to this story. I played around with the idea for a little while, but decided against it. I do have a bunch of other stories I'm planning on writing if you like my work. Currently, I'm writing another PJO fanfic called The Most Important Sacrifices and I'm in the process of rewriting a PJO/HG crossover. And I'm planning on starting another Percabeth fic set in an insane asylum in the fifties. I don't know when I'm posting that one though.

Now that I'm done with random advertising, I want to say that I love each and every one of you and I hope you liked my story!

"The Lord isn't really being slow about His promise, as some people think. No, He is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent." 2 Peter 3:9