Chapter 2:
The next morning I ate a depressing breakfast then I threw a scrap of my food for the gods. Then I went out of the pavilion and ran into Silena. She managed a smile but when she saw how sad I was, her smile faded.
"You're jealous aren't you?" She said as if reading my thoughts.
"Of what?" I replied trying not to sound sad.
"Of Annabeth and Tyler, you do know that they're dating?"
"Yeah, I've heard"
But instead of replying, she just stared at me as if she was waiting for me to admit it.
"Fine!" I admitted. "I'm jealous."
"Yeah" she said "I thought she choose you-"
"me too"
"but then Tyler appeared and-"
"destroyed my life."
She sighed. "You know, if you really like her, let her be happy."
I hated the idea but she was right, if I just get revenge on Tyler, Annabeth would be mad at me . But the thought of Tyler really made me mad.
"Maybe you're right."
"Yeah, well see you later." And she ran off.
Once again I was alone, I felt like the most lonely boy now. But I thought positive, I had a ton of friends like Grover and Silena but Annabeth…she's… she's different. I decided to go to the Sword Arena, like I always do when I'm depressed.
I opened the gates of the Sword Arena and saw Tyler petting Ms. O' Leary , the sight of him made me feel like banging my head on the wall again asking myself "why him?" Plus he was petting my dog, that made me furious. I was gonna yell at him for petting my dog, but I tried acting nice which was really hard to do.
"Hey" I said trying not to sound mad.
"Hi, Annabeth told me this was your hellhound."
"Yeah, did she attack you when she first saw you?"
"Yeah"
"She does that to new people." I said, a little happy now.
I threw Mrs. O' Leary's shield and she ran after it. Then I stared at his sword, it was three-feet long, celestrial bronze, like mine.
"So how's your sword?" I asked stupidly.
"Oh it's fine, Jake made it for me."
Then he took Mrs. O' Leary's shield and threw it again.
"So where's your sword?" he asked.
Then I took out my pen and uncapped Riptide. He stared at it in amazement, and I felt proud of myself.
"That's cool, so it becomes a pen when you put cap on again?"
"Yeah, it's pretty cool."
Then he paused for a while like he was thinking of something, then he snapped his fingers.
"That's it!" he shouted "You're a good swordsman, maybe you could teach me some moves?"
Then I thought about and had a better idea.
"Why sure but I need to know how good you are at this." I started.
"But who should I fight?" He asked.
"Well nobody's here so why not me now, it's not that hard."
"Sure!"
Then this was my chance to show him who's boss. I mean I fought a lot of people, even Ares, the god of war. He was no match for me. But I was still thinking about it when he charged at me. I dodged, and stabbed but I missed. While fighting I could see the campers falling in for practice, even Annabeth. Perfect timing. He tried stabbing too but I deflected it with my sword. Now everyone was looking at us fight. I was teaching him, so I did the basics but he did something unexpected. I lunged then he deflected it with his sword, he twisted his sword, sending mine flying to the ground. I ran after it but when I got it and turned back, the tip of his sword was touching my neck, then we stopped. Everybody cheered. I lost, I let my own pride wear me down…which wasn't me.
"you...you fight good." I said finally.
"Thanks, you too." He replied.
We shook hands, I wanted to stab him there but I thought otherwise.
"Tyler, you did great!" Annabeth rushed in, ignoring me and giving Tyler a hug, I felt like throwing up.
"Well." I said "Maybe Annabeth can teach you some things, I gotta go."
"You don't want to stay?" Annabeth asked. But I was too embarrassed to answer. I went to the beach, the ocean was one thing I needed when I had problems. I found Grover and Juniper there having a walk but they stopped when they saw me. Grover read my face and told Juniper to go to the forest, she didn't like it but she reluctantly trudged off.
"So" Grover said finally "Can't get through the problem?"
"Can't get through the problem? Every time I see the "problem" I can't even look at it." Then I thought of what happened last night, when I left Grover in the bushes.
"Um, sorry about last night."
"Yeah it's ok.
"I can't help it, it's so hard."
"I know."
"Maybe Silena's right."
"What did she tell you?"
"She told me if I really like Annabeth, I should let be happy."
"Well a daughter of Aphrodite is always right, maybe you should leave them alone."
"Fine, but it's so hard." I admitted.
" I know" he said "maybe you should get ready for inspection.
"Yeah, thanks." Then I walked away leaving Grover alone again.