Rachel gazed longingly at Percy and Annabeth. She knew that she would never get a chance with him; she knew that Annabeth was much better than her; she knew…she knew that the Fates had wanted her to live alone. Rachel knew that, and she knew it well.

Percy was laughing as he put his hand around Annabeth's waist, to pull her closer to him. Annabeth was giggling, as she played with his hand. She leaned against his shoulder, and closed her eyes.

Rachel looked at them, and then looked down at herself. She suddenly felt self-conscious, and she never did. She looked at her ratty jeans, and her tie-dyed shirt. Then she turned her eyes towards Annabeth, and noticed that no matter how simple she dressed, she would always look better than Rachel.

Annabeth felt Rachel's eyes on her like daggers trying to pierce her skin. She looked at her, and smiled smugly. It felt good, that she was with Percy, it felt so good. Annabeth had Percy's full attention, and she knew that he would do whatever she told him to do. She then looked up at Percy, and smiled as he gave her a quick kiss.

She sighed, thinking, that life couldn't get much better than what she had. She had a wonderful boyfriend, she had a best friend, Thalia, and she didn't have any competition. That was what she relished most about her life, that she knew that no one could compare to her, and that no one could ever steal away her life.

Rachel winced when she saw Percy lean down to give Annabeth a quick kiss. It felt as though someone had ripped her insides out, stomped on them, and then shoved them back into her. She turned to look at her friend Katie Gardner, and then when Katie finally looked at her, she signaled that she wanted to leave the little circle of people sitting on the grass. Katie nodded, and then saying a quick goodbye, she grabbed Rachel's arm, and putting her arm through it, walked away.

"Okay, Rachel, you have to tell me everything, okay?" Katie whispered, as soon as they were out of the earshot of the group they had just left, "I can't help you, if I don't know what's going on. So please, tell me. Or do you want me to beg, because I quite frankly am not going to beg." Katie finished, waving her hand for emphasis.

Rachel sighed, knowing that it was near impossible to keep anything from Katie. She looked at her, and then bent her head, knowing that the tears would come, once she began talking to her.

"Well…" Rachel prolonged, "You see…" She just couldn't get the right words out. She looked at Katie quickly to see if she was still paying attention, praying desperately to any god that would hear her, that Katie wasn't still paying attention. Obviously no god heard her, or they would just delight in hearing what she had to say, because Katie was staring intently at her.

"Okay, fine…I like Percy." Rachel finally burst out.

"Percy, does this dress make me look fat?" Annabeth asked as she twirled in the creamy white dress, that she had just bought for the dance that Chiron and Mr. D had arranged for Christmas.

Percy gazed lovingly at her, before he realized that she expected an answer. Then stuttering he began to reply. But, before he could reply, Annabeth interrupted him, saying, "You know…I like this dress a lot. Do you like it?" Percy watched as she turned her stormy gray eyes to meet his sea green eyes.

Percy began strongly this time, and he managed to not be interrupted, "Actually, I love it. You looked amazing, wonderful; I quite frankly don't think that there is a word to describe what you look like." His smile, which had been there before, grew wider when he saw Annabeth's face light up at the compliment.

"Omigosh! You're kidding right?" Katie gasped out, once she finally found her voice. "No freaking way! Rachel, you can't".

Rachel's smile died away, when she heard the last part of what Katie had just said. She couldn't like him, what in the world was that supposed to mean?

Katie evidently saw Rachel's excitement die down to little more than a weak smile, which she tried to fool Katie with. Katie immediately regretted what she had just said, well, partially. She didn't want Rachel to be hurt, and she knew her, and even if she put on a hard exterior, on the inside a lot of things hurt her. Then she began to talk again, though this time she started softly, trying to make up for what she had said before. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean what I said earlier, to be as, oh whatever, what I was trying to say, was that I don't want you to be hurt. I know that you will, and I don't want to watch you break."

Rachel looked at her, and this time smiled a real smile. "Don't worry…you won't watch me break." She promised.