Secrets | Percabeth AU

17- Paper Hearts

Please play the song Paper Hearts by Silver Trees ft. Bailey Jehl while reading this. BTW, this is the song that Percy, Annabeth, Thalia, and Nico supposedly "wrote" for Apollo's project.
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Percy's POV

Annabeth's been acting weird. Not blurting-out-facts weird, but not-in-the-mood weird.

During PE, we were doing the Archery unit. Annabeth is usually the top archer, other than Thalia. Now, her accuracy has gone bonkers. Even worse than mine! Trust me, if you gave me a bow and arrow and told me to shoot an easy target, I'll somehow have the arrow land way off. It's like thinking China is USA on the world map and vice-versa. That's how bad I am at archery. Period.

Not to brag or anything, but I did better than Annabeth today! I almost got one bullseye! And by almost, I mean 10 inches away from the red circle. Annabeth's shots just nicked the edge of the target. But hey, I'll count that as a victory for me.

She had a far away look on her face while shooting. Cloudy eyes. Grim smile. Not that I was observing or anything. Her shooting area happened to be right next to me.

Not only during PE, but also lunch. It was Pasta Day, and she just kept pushing the linguine around. The Annabeth I know would gorge on that linguine.

When the new guy, Luke Castellan, walked in, she kept staring at him. He stared back too. Do they know each other? Friends? Used to be friends? Relatives? Maybe, they we-

"-ter. Peter... Peter!" Nico half-whispered, half-screamed at me. I almost forgot I was Peter. When I hang out with people who know I am Percy, it's a bit odd to hear them call me by a different name.

"What?!" My irritated voice echoed through the room, interrupting Apollo's "inspirational" speech. Everyone looked at me weirdly, like I've grown goat horns.

"As I was saying..." Apollo went back to his speech. I glared at Nico, and he shrugged.

"Don't tell me you've gone a-wall too," Nico said. I gave him a confused look.
He pointed at Thalia and Annabeth, who were listening to Apollo.

"They haven't spoken a full conversation almost the entire day. It's weirdly disturbing without hearing Thalia's annoying voice, and Annabeth's big words," he said staring at the girls. I agreed.

It's hard to keep Thalia's mouth shut, so it's odd to see her so quiet and distant. A person can't change from talkative to quiet in a day, especially not Thalia. But that happened, so I've been proven wrong.

"First group up are Jason, Piper, Frank,  and Hazel," Apollo said, ushering them to the mini-stage.

They got to their places: Piper and Jason on acoustic guitar, Frank on piano, and Hazel on maracas. They all had a part to sing and did very well. I was surprised when Frank did riffs because he always was the shy type in the group. He seemed like a whole new person up there. He's letting loose and having fun under pressure. Good for him. When they finished, everyone started clapping and whistling.

Next were Calypso, Rachel, Leo, and the Stolls. This is gonna be interesting. I thought.

Rachel and Calypso strutted up the stage, their heels making a clacking noise. Those heels are getting annoying. Imagine hearing the clack of their heels for 5 days a week. It's like a metronome constantly beating in my head.