Author's Note: Do not worry, everyone! I have resolved the matter of the person who was copying my story! She has said she's sorry and has deleted the story that was basically mine! I have forgiven her, so everything is better now! Seeing Katie is MY original story, and NO ONE else's! So, you see ANOTHER story out there that sounds like mine, THEY are copying ME, and I would love to know who it is! But, I have forgiven 'Percy Jackson's Half Sister.'

On with the story!

-Scars

Chapter 4:

Confessions to Katie Gardner

The rest of that day, every time Nico saw Pollux, he had a strong desire to open a hole in the ground beneath Pollux's feet, sending him to the Underworld. But, he refrained from doing so, mostly because there were too many witnesses around.

Nico's emotions were driving him crazy. He felt so torn. His strong, squirmy, uncomfortable, yet pleasurable feelings he had for Katie were pulling him one way. Yet, her still being involved with Pollux and his hesitation to tell her the way he feels, pulled him another way. He felt that he had to let his feelings out, or he would burst.

One day, after seeing Katie reluctantly hold Pollux's hand and walk with him towards the training arena, Nico thought he'd lose it. He HAD to release his feelings, some way. He had to, or else he would be sure to explode.

He felt his feet running below him. He tried not to look at Katie and Pollux walking away. He ran all the way to his cabin, not turning back once. He couldn't stand it anymore. What was wrong with him lately?

Once he got to the cabin, he slammed the door behind him. He released a groan of frustration and banged his closed fists against a wall.

He didn't bother to worry about the pain now running through his hands. Instead, threw himself on his bunk and stared up at the ceiling. What in the name of the gods was wrong with his emotions? Why did love tend to confuse a man so much? He had never felt this angry at ANYONE, not even as angry as he felt at Percy, when he blamed him for Bianca's death. Now, he truly wished Pollux would burn up in some dark place in the Underworld.

Nico sat there on his bunk, breathing deeply, trying to calm the intense beating of his heart. He closed his eyes, trying to clear his mind completely. He WASN'T going to think about Katie; that would just bring him back to the topic of Pollux. No, he attempted to clear his mind and think of nothing at all.

When he opened his eyes, his heart now beating like normal and his mind cleared, he reached underneath his bunk for a small black journal.

Bianca had given this journal to Nico when he was about nine years old. He had never written in it, never having anything to say, but he had kept it over the years as his only memory, besides the little Hades figurine, of his sister.

Nico opened the book, blank pages starring back at him. He thought for a while, then reached for a pen in a drawer by his bedside.

He uncapped the pen and closed his eyes again. He had to collect his thoughts. Slowly, he released a sigh. Yes, he had to organize his thoughts about Katie, but… how?

He attempted to fill his mind with thoughts of Katie, and ONLY Katie, not Pollux, the simpleminded disturbance.

The first thing that came to him was her laugh. Her laugh seemed to pierce his thoughts, ringing in his ears, making him smile slightly.

He continued to think. The next thing that made its way in his mind was the way she talked: smoothly and soothingly. Nico felt the hairs on the back of his neck rising at the sound of her voice in his head.

And now, all the things about Katie just came flooding to him all in one big rush, like a wave splashing him awake. Her brown hair, long and wavy like a waterfall down her back. Her smile, sweet, tender and accepting. The way she sometimes wore her hair up with a flower through it. Her cheeks, pink and slightly tinged with sun. Her eyes, brown and warm, and how they sparkled faintly when she looked at him. The way she cared so much for plants and agriculture, things a Demeter girl SHOULD care about. And the way she always seemed to accept people and listen to them, not caring about stereotypes or who they were.

Nico opened his eyes to find himself smiling. He had almost completely forgotten his anger at Pollux. In fact, at that moment, the name Pollux was completely unknown to his vocabulary.

Slowly, he sat up. He rested the open journal on his bedside table and scooted to the edge of the bed so he was able to write in it while sitting down. He rested the pen on the top of the page, and let the words flow out of himself and onto the paper.

He began to write the title:

Confessions to Katie Gardner

"Hmm…," he said, pondering the title. It didn't sound that bad.

He kept writing.

Dear Katie,

I love your laugh. It makes me think of bells. Your voice is magnificent, too. Simply intoxicating.

Your scent makes me think of flowers and agriculture. Well, I expect nothing less from a daughter of Demeter.

The way your eyes seem to peer right through me and see everything, even things that I'm hiding, makes my knees buckle slightly under me.

And your smile… the way it seems to accept everything, even the bitter truth.

In fact, I love everything about you, Katie. I can't find one fault in you.

Well, except for the fact that you are dating Pollux. What's so great about him? Give me ONE reason why he's worth putting up with everyday. I see the way you are confused and tortured inside. Is HE the cause of all that? Is he the reason for all of this internal torment? Then tell me, why are you still with him? He doesn't make you happy, I can see it in your eyes. You're torturing yourself, Katie. The only person you are hurting by continuing this relationship is YOURSELF.

And me, of course. But this isn't about me. It's about you. I only want what makes you happy, and clearly that terd is NOT the answer.

Nico stopped writing, feeling his intense desire to hurt someone subside. He felt a lot better now. The words he had written just flowed onto the page from his heart. He didn't really think about it. Once he had written the first word, he couldn't stop.

He allowed himself to release a sigh. He slowly closed the journal, tucking it back under his bed and capping the pen, putting it in the drawer by his bedside.

He leaned back against the bed, sighing and closing his eyes.

These were his confessions to Katie, alright. Confessions she would NEVER hear.

* * *

Nico had fallen asleep sometime after he had written in the journal, without noticing. Maybe a day full of such confusing emotions had drained all of his energy.

Gradually, he got up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He looked down at the watch on his wrist. It was only ten fifty-five. Wait… TEN FIFTY-FIVE?!

Nico shot up from his bed. He hurried to his chest and pulled out a fresh camp shirt and a pair of pants. He quickly changed. He had slept through breakfast AND the first morning activities! He had to hurry and get back into the flow of the camp's routine.

He ran out of the door of his cabin and out into the camp, before he saw someone, a girl by the look of the length of its hair, heading in his direction.

For a second, Nico feared it was Katie, then the person showed to have blonde hair….

His friend Annabeth was approaching him at a run.

"Nico!" she exclaimed, stopping in front of him. "Where were you? You weren't at breakfast, OR at archery practice! Percy and I started looking for you. Percy is looking in the forest, we have to tell him we found you!"

Nico nodded half-heartedly. "Ok…," he said, looking down at the ground, still alittle shaken by his rude awakening.

Annabeth scrunched her eyebrows together. "Nico? Are you ok?"

Nico shrugged. "I don't really know anymore," he said, his eyes never leaving the ground.

"What is it?" she asked, genuinely concerned. "What happened?"

Nico looked up for the first time. "I-I don't really know," he said, then kept going. "It's just that… I feel so, so CONFUSED. I have never even felt half of the emotions I'm feeling right now. I can't stand it! It's too much for me to handle! But… I," he struggled to find the right words, "I still don't want these feelings to leave."

Annabeth looked at him, a slight smile on her lips. "Katie Love getting to you?"

"YES!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air. "I mean, I really, REALLY like her, Annabeth. It's just… Pollux and… and I can't, I can't tell her ANY of the things I feel for her! I couldn't even do it if Pollux WASN'T a problem! I just… ARGH!" He released a shout of frustration and confusion.

Annabeth looked up at him, a look of almost pity on her face. "Confusing, isn't it?"

"Yes," Nico groaned. "What do I do? I mean, I wrote this journal thing, and it helps me control my emotions and get them out, but I hardly think that'll help--"

Annabeth suddenly looked up sharply. "What? You wrote a journal?"

Nico blushed and nearly slapped himself for letting that slip. "Um, no, nothing. Really, it's nothing."

Annabeth gave him a half-amused and half-stern look. "Nico… what is it? What'd you write?"

Nico looked down and blushed as he confessed, "I-I wrote a journal, actually, I AM writing a journal. It's… kind of like my confessions to Katie. Since I can't tell her, I write them down. Or else… or else I might explode with all of these stupid emotions."

When he looked up, Annabeth was giving him a grin. "Aw! Nico, that's the sweetest thing I've ever heard someone do for another person! That's so thoughtful!" Nico blushed an even deeper shade of scarlet as she kept going. "Are you going to give it to her or tell her atleast?"

Nico looked up sharply, feeling panic rise inside of him. "NO! That's like signing a death warrant!"

Annabeth pleaded, "Oh, come on! How do you expect to win her over if you don't tell her?"

"I don't know, ok?!" he said, feeling completely hopeless. "I guess she'll never know. Besides, Pollux is STILL a problem!"

Suddenly, Percy appeared out of nowhere, panting. He looked like he had run all the way over there.

"There you are! Annabeth thought you might have been sulking in your cabin, for what, I don't know, but atleast we found you!"

Nico gave him a weak smile. "Yeah, great."

Nico walked off to the training arena by himself, leaving Annabeth and Percy behind him.

"What's wrong with Nico?" Percy asked confusedly, once Nico was out of their sight.

"Nico's just… confused is all," she replied simply, then smiled slyly. "And I know just how to fix it." And without explaining what she said, she took Percy's hand in her's and steered him away from where they stood. "Come on," she said, leaving Percy utterly confused to follow behind her. "We better get back to the training grounds."

* * *

Over the days, Nico found himself writing in the journal more and more often. Every time he felt any sort of feeling towards Katie, or noticed something new about her, he wrote it down.

Like his newest entry:

Dear Katie,

Today I have just discovered that you have a strong, and not to mention a dangerous side in you. I mean, I knew you don't like Connor and Travis, but… well, you basically exploded today.

When I saw Connor and Travis coming out from behind the Demeter cabin with a bottle of maple syrup in their hands this morning, crackling madly, I knew they had done something bad. Something that would probably tick the Demeter counselor, AKA: You, off.

And if they did that, I knew they were probably in for trouble.

Again, I knew you'd yell at them or something, but I didn't know you go as far as you did! It surprised me… ALOT.

Anyway, after they ran away, an ear-splitting shriek came out of the Demeter cabin, no surprise there.

When you and the other campers in the cabin walked out, half soaked in syrup, I was torn between laughing and ripping the twins to shreds. By the way, I find you no less pretty covered head-to-toe in maple syrup.

Then, all Hades was released, and I wasn't the one who did it.

Your face was burning, but not in the embarrassed way, more in the completely angry way.

You walked right up to the twins, who were snickering madly behind a bush, (I still don't know how you knew where they were) and began to yell. VERY LOUDLY. Since I was in my cabin, observing out the window, I only heard a few things that you said. Most of which I'm not going to put in this journal, because that's not really language I want to dirty the journal's pages with.

Then, you literally beat the stuffing out of the two. I almost felt SORRY for them. After that, you found it necessary to take what was left of the maple syrup inside of the bottle they had with them, and dump it on the two's sorry heads.

Boy, how I would have been out there by your side, backing you up. That... or pulling you away from doing any permanent damage to them.

And WHERE was precious Pollux at this time? Oh wait, that's right: He WASN'T there! Now, what kind of a boyfriend wouldn't be there, atleast to pull you away?

And let me ask you something else: Do you react that way to their pranks very often? If you do, then why do they still mess with you? These are the questions I require the answers to….

Strangely enough, I was almost… attracted to your irritated behavior with the twins. It showed that you were strong, and not to be messed with. I just hope I'M not the one to make you angry in the future… that would be the end of me.

Nico sighed when he finished reading over the entry. Writing it all down if he couldn't say it REALLY did make him feel better. It was almost like telling the real Katie. It felt comforting.

But, Nico knew he could probably never say those things to Katie's face. She made him so… so nervous. He knew he'd never have the courage to actually say all the things he said in the journal to her. What if she laughed? What if she didn't return the feelings?

Nico leaned back onto his bunk, wondering why things had to be so complicated.

Then he remembered Pollux and his quest. He smiled to himself, remembering a quote.

"All's fair in love and war," he said to himself, grinning. "Sweet dreams, Pollux. The war will start soon."

* * *

The next day, Annabeth headed to the Hades cabin.

Nico wanted her to help him break Katie and Pollux up, but he was too stubborn to do what she said. She would have to go in and find what she wanted herself.

Annabeth peaked her head by the window in the cabin: There seemed to be no one there.

She sneakily made her way inside the cabin. The door was unlocked, so it wasn't that hard.

She headed toward Nico's bunk, the only one that looked like anyone had slept in it.

"Now, if I were a journal, where would I hide?" Annabeth said to herself, headed towards his chest, searching frantically for a journal or book of any kind.

Annabeth nearly tore the whole room down, looking around like a madwoman for a journal. She had looked nearly everywhere when she made her way towards his bed.

She quickly threw his pillow behind her, searching desperately.

"Oh, so he WASN'T lying when he said he kept a teddy bear under his pillow," she said, turning the stuffed animal over in her hands.

After she set it back down, she continued to search. Then, the last place, and probably most obvious, where the journal could be hidden came to her: Under the bed.

Since the dawn of time, people had been hiding things under their beds. How come she hadn't thought of it before? Some daughter of Athena she was….

Annabeth looked under the bed and saw a small, black journal.

"Aha!" she exclaimed to herself, pulling the book out from under the bed.

She looked at it. It was a plain and simple book. Alittle musty with age, but still a very plain book. There was no title on the cover. There was no design, no spine on the book. A simple little journal.

When Annabeth opened the book, she found that the pages didn't have lines; they were just plain white pages, alittle yellow because of age.

Annabeth flipped through the book, reading every single one of Nico's "confessions" to Katie, as she could see they were called from the first page. After every entry, Annabeth found herself awing at how poetic and sensitive Nico could be when it came to Katie.

After she was done reading what Nico had written inside the book, she smiled to herself and said in triumph, "Well, you wanted me to help you, Nico, so I am. But these confessions might not be hidden from Katie anymore."