Chapter 2

The next morning, I woke up still half-asleep. I stumbled into my bathroom, stubbing my toe on the way.

"Aw, Hell!"

I jumped on one foot, holding the hurt toe in my hands. I must have looked just like a monkey, cursing and screaming about my toe. Good thing that the Stoll brothers weren't around with their damn camera…

I jumped unsteadily around my cabin before I reached the edge of my bed. I sat down on it, and pulled out the Black bra that I had sat on.

As I pulled out the bra, I'm embarrassed to say that it didn't register to me right then that I shouldn't have a bra in my room. But as it hit the floor across the cabin, I stared at it. Stubbed toe forgotten, I crossed the cabin, and looked down, still just staring at the bra, as if it was going to jump up and clamp down on my throat with its nonexistent teeth.

But finally, I picked it up, and read the name on the tag. "Felicia." And then I felt really stupid.

All the memories of last night came flooding back to me. I looked around the cabin ore than a few times,, just to see if she was hiding behind the bed or something. I realized then, that I wanted to see her very badly.

"What we did…that wasn't just a simple hook-up, I was pretty sure that it was something more. We connected in some way." I thought to myself.

The words had leapt unbidden into my mind. I looked down at the bra again, and noticed the slip of paper that was folded into the fabric. When I folded it open, I found the short message.

"Zeus' Fist. 11:00. TONIGHT"

I had a bad feeling about this. The message was short and crisp, not giving off any aura of light-heartedness.

I continued into the bathroom, hoping that the warm water from my shower could wash away my apprehensiveness. When it didn't work, I stepped out of the shower, cursing Percy for being the only one that could feel better after any water.

I deftly dressed myself, still focused on Felicia's note, not paying any attention to what I was dressing myself in. When I looked down, I cursed Felicia for having this affect on me. I liked CONTROL! Felicia took away any pretense of control I had. I was dressed in a pair of bright pink shorts,(I didn't even know that I had a pair), and a light gray shirt with a picture of a squirrel on it, nothing else. Worse, I was still holding onto that bra.

I cried out loud, and swiftly located my long, black, baggy pants, and my self-tailored Camp Half-Blood t-shirt. By self-tailored, I mean inky black.

After messing up my hair absentmindedly, I strode out of my cabin, slouching a little. The Aphrodites giggled and waved at me from across the square of cabins, while more than a few of the guys from other cabins glared at me menacingly. I chuckled to myself. Get a glare like the one Hades has on his face perpetually and then come back.

I looked back down on the ground and continued on my way. Yeah, sure, it wasn't the smartest thing to do, because I bumped right into Percy.

He took one look at me, and without even a 'Hey' came out with, "What's up with you?"

I ignored his question and instead said, "Hey, where's Annabeth? I thought I saw her walking down to the beach with Logan…"

His eyes widened, and he quickly turned and left. Logan was a child of Aphrodite, and even with guys, he was "hot". I chuckled at the thought of Percy jumping high above the waves like a dolphin, screeching out Annabeth's name for the next few hours.

So I kept walking, not really paying attention to where I was going, but then I was stopped by Annabeth herself.

"Nico, Felicia is in her cabin."

I blanched back.

"So? What do I care?"

She fixed me with a very serious look, and she spoke slowly.

"Nico, I'm a daughter of Athena. It's my job to know things."

I sighed. She had a point. But I was scared to go in there. There. I finally admitted it to myself. What if she left that note to break up with me or whatever? I mean, did it really count as breaking up if we weren't really together in the first place?

So instead of walking to the Iris cabin, with its funky, loud colors, I turned to head back to my cabin, to immerse myself in the dark colors of the shadows.

And it would have worked too, that is, if the breakfast bell hadn't clanged, and my stomach hadn't rumbled. I groaned out loud. I would have to face Felicia anyways.

"Oh, for Hades' sake!"

But I knew it wasn't Hades. I was pretty sure that it was because of a certain, beautiful goddess, one with an extremely stuck-up view of herself, no, literally, in the mirror, and who rode around in a white limo.

I groaned again.

"Aphrodite, why do you hate me so much?"

And I could have sworn I got a reply.

"Nico," a disembodied voice whispered on the wind, "I don't hate you…trust me, I want you to be happy."

A/N: Hey guys. I really did not like this chapter. It felt like a filler, but it's an important one. And it's already feeling like its going to be the overdone cotton candy crap, but I'm trying to steer it away from that direction!

So go ahead and review! And I'm sorry it was so short!

Oh! I'm thinking of doing the next chapter in Felicia's point of view, but tell what you think!

-playa