Disclaimer: seriously? Do I really need to do this? *sigh* Okay, I don't own Percy Jackson. *tear*

4/4/11 NOTE: This story is very experimental and at times, bipolar. It was originally supposed to be a one-shot, but then I decided to make it continuous. Then it was supposed to just be a drama of them at Camp. Thalia was going to be falling for Nico, but there was going to be some other guy that had tried to rape Thalia and he would come back. But now it's about a quest (best way to go if you ask me). So, forgive me for changing it up and causing confusion at times. I hope you guys still enjoy this story aside from its momentary chameleon-like plot.

4/6/11 NOTE: Seeing as this has been going on for a while now, I might as well end it right now. I understand that there is quite a lot of cussing in the first couple of chapters and I put a warning in the summary, as well as having cut down on it, so I would appreciate if you all would skip with the comments on it. Thank you.

Nico's POV

Oh joy. Its Aphrodite's day, A.K.A Valentine's Day. The day that most girls looked forward to and most guys didn't care about…unless you were a son of Aphrodite, then it was as huge to you as it was to the girls.

Yeah, tell me that I'm bitter or that it's just because I'm single, but it's all just going to go right over my head. I'm not listening. I hate Valentine's Day. Period. End of story. It was so overrated and boring and fluffy, and worst of all, pink. I shuddered just at the thought of all that pink. The red wasn't so bad because I could always pretend that it was just blood all over the place.

I walked out of my cabin (Aphrodite decided that we all have to go celebrate at camp unless we have a legitimist reason for skipping. Unfortunately, I didn't have one.), dreading the rest of the night. The Aphrodite cabin always loved to go overboard on the night of Valentine's because it was "especially romantic at night." I guess they were just thinking how romantic it is how it would be for lovers to swap virginities tonight. I thought it was plain stupid.

"Hey, Nico!"

I already knew that it was Percy, but it was kind of surprising that he was looking for me instead of being all lovey-dovey with Annabeth.

"Hey," I greeted him, "why aren't you with Annabeth? In fact, why are you at camp? You have a good reason for skipping."

"She's getting changed for dinner. And it's nice to see everyone here- or at least the people who showed up. Any ways, we wanted to make sure that you were all right, you know, being all alone tonight."

"I won't be alone. There will be plenty of Aphrodite's kids running around trying to get everyone to join in on their Valentine's celebration."

"Well, that's true, but…" Percy trailed off, running his hand through his jet black hair.

"You don't have to worry about me. I'll be fine," I assured him.

Last year had been the first year that I had ever been in love. Her name had been Mandy and, of all days, she chose Valentine's Day to tell me that she had been cheating on me for a couple weeks and was pregnant with another guy's baby. It was going to be the only Valentine's Day that I would try to enjoy and spend time with someone I loved. If I had hated Valentine's Day then, it was nothing compared to how much I hate now.

"Well, okay," Percy sounded uncertain and his sea-green eyes were full of doubt," If you need anything just call me okay?"

"Okay."

Yeah, I didn't have any plans to call him for anything unless I was dying. He and Annabeth were going out and I wasn't going to ruin or interrupt it. Besides, it was one heart break that happened over a year ago. Did he really not have faith in me to let it go? Gods. I understand that I hold grudges, but really? That's just offending.

After Percy left to go get changed, I decided to walk down to Fireworks Beach. I was surprised to see Thalia sitting there in her black skinny jeans and her poor Camp Half-Blood shirt that had seen a sharpie and scissors one too many times.

"Hey, what are you doing here?"

I guess I hadn't made it clear that I had been walking up behind her because she jumped when she heard my voice.

"Oh, hey. Well, since I'm not a part of the huntresses anymore and Percy and Annabeth, and pretty much the whole camp, are making out and spending Valentine's Day together, I have nothing better to do. Plus, Valentine's Day sucks and I don't want to be around the 'joy' of it all," she rolled her eyes at the whole "joy" thing.

I sat down beside her.

"I'm right there with you on that last one. Well, I don't have anything better to do either, so I guess I'm with you on everything," I rambled on.

"What's your reason for hating it so much? Just because of all the pink?" she gestured to my all black outfit: black jeans, black Linkin Park t-shirt, black Converse.

"Not exactly. Last year, the first girl that I was ever in love with- Mandy- told me that she was pregnant with another guy's baby. She'd been cheating on me for a couple weeks. I had already bought her a present and set reservations up for dinner. I was really going to try to spend my whole day like everyone else does on Valentine's Day," I paused," The pink is pretty horrible, though."

Thalia laughed. "That really does suck about your girlfriend," she said sympathetically.

"Yeah, well, I guess I should've been more insistent with the questions when Mandy suddenly became 'busy.'"

"You can't expect to know every time something is wrong. And you can't exactly question people every time something suddenly comes up, because it may just be that- something unexpected comes up."

"Yeah, that's true," I paused, "It's kind of weird to hear you say something comforting to a guy," I teased.

"Shut up," she slapped my arm," I can say whatever I want to say to a guy now," she got kind of a sad look in her eyes. It wasn't completely noticeable, but it was there.

"Do you miss it as much as before?" I knew that it was dangerous to ask her because she could easily shock the hell out of me, but my ADHD took over before I could stop it.

"Well…" she looked out towards the ocean and waited a couple of minutes before answering, "Yes and no. I'm glad that I get to be here with everyone again, but I miss the huntresses. They were like family- still are, I guess."

Thank the gods! She didn't shock me to death…or to my Dad's place, whichever one you prefer.

"Oh," was all I could say for a few moments. Talking about the huntresses was bringing up memories of Bianca, so I didn't talk for a few minutes in fear that my voice would crack.

Why can't I ever think about it without freaking out? No matter how hard I try to talk about it and accept it-

Thalia interrupted my thoughts, "Why do you care if I miss them?" She didn't sound rude, just curious. Probably because she knew that Bianca's death still hurt me even after six years.

"I don't really know. I guess I'm just making small talk. Plus, you still look sad when someone mentions them, so I wanted to know how much you hate not being with them."

"It definitely sucks ass that they abandoned me, but they have to do what they have to do, so I might as well move on."

The one thing that bothered me about Thalia not being with the huntresses was that I had no idea why they abandoned her. I would ask, but then I might piss her off and I really don't want to do that. I was already treading in dangerous waters, so I might as well not push my luck. Maybe I'll ask some other time.

"Right. So…" I trailed off not knowing what to say.

"You still emo as ever?" she smirked, going back to her old self-the Thalia that I knew and loved.

What the hell? Did I just fucking say that I love her? It must be Aphrodite messing with me. She loves to do that kind of stuff. Yeah, that's it, Aphrodite was messing with me. I don't love Thalia and she doesn't love me. Her dad killed my mom and I don't love Thalia. It was like how Percy and Annabeth used to be. Oh shit! Used to be. Now they're completely and totally in love. Stop freaking out, Nico! But I have a good reason to freak out! Am I really arguing with myself? I must be going crazy.

"Are you okay? Is something on your mind?"

Damn it! I must have had a crazed look on my face giving my thoughts away.

"It's just that it's kind of weird to think that I'm sixteen now and you are too, now that you're not in the hunt," I wasn't lying because it was weird, but I wasn't exactly telling the truth either because that wasn't what was on my mind- at least not right now.

"Oh, yeah, it's weird, but then again, if you're going to judge weirdness you shouldn't do that at Camp Half-Blood…or in any other situation where a demigod is involved."

"That's true."

I looked over at her to find that she was just staring right back at me. I couldn't read her expression, which bothered me because it didn't make figuring out what to say next any easier.

"What are you doing for the rest of the night?"

I hadn't thought of that. Shit. How was I going to escape all of the crappy love songs at the sing-along tonight?

"I haven't thought that far ahead."

Thalia laughed, "I wouldn't have expected you to."

I scolded her, "Thanks so much, Pine Cone."

"You're welcome, Dead Boy. Now, if you're done with all of the scolding, what do you say you and me go somewhere to escape the sing-along tonight?"

"Glad to know that we share the same feelings about that."

"Of course."

"So, if we do sneak out what are we going to do?"

"I don't know. The mall, the movies. Anywhere that doesn't suck."

"If you sneak off to your tree after dinner I can meet you there and we can shadow travel our asses out of here."

"Sounds like a plan."

"Good," I said while standing up, "I'll meet you there."

I brushed the back of my jeans off and walked back to my cabin. I wasn't completely sure of what to think about going out alone with Thalia tonight, but I knew one thing- tonight was going to be one hell of a night.

Whoa! This is my first continuous story! How exciting is that? Very! xD Any ways, what do you guys think? Love it? Hate it? Anything I can improve on? Press the magic button and let me know in a review. :]