Previously on Trouble -
"You're welcome." Clarisse had quickly left, and Percy didn't feel like continuing the rest of the day. He watched as she had finally turned the corner, then he too left. He went through the front doors of the building, before anyone could see him and walked home. On his way, all he could think about was Clarisse almost drowning, while he, the Son of Poseidon was above her, just watching. He felt his heart breaking; he walked home, hearing the thunders raging across the sky. It began to rain.

Clarisse rushed inside and ran up the stairs to her room. She was dying to contact Chris. Her bones ached with desire as she was moments away from seeing Chris's gorgeous face. Just a foot away from her room, she was stopped by her Aunt's empowering, booming voice.

"Is that you Clarisse?" her Aunt shouted.

"Yeah Aunt May, I have a lot of homework today, so please don't bother me!" she hollered back. She rolled her eyes and muttered "She could be the official announcer for Olympus, she wouldn't even need a horn to exploit her voice."

"I'll be going to the store and running some errands, you need anything?"

She closed the door behind her and locked it fast. "No! Bye!" She rushed inside her bedroom and waited for her Aunt to drive out of the driveway. She smiled as she heard the car engine turn on, and by moments growing faint. She knew the car was leaving farther and farther. She paced around and said to herself, "What am I going to say? What is he going to say?" She giggled like a school girl. She shook her head, "Only Chris can do this to me." She thought to herself. She then stopped and said, "Just do it already!" she inhaled and exhaled in and out slowly, and closing her eyes, she was able to create the mist and form a rainbow. She said with such sincerity in her voice, "Oh Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering." She threw the drachma into the rainbow and it vanished. A little sputter of a noise confirmed that it was her turn to say something yet again. "Show me Chris Rodriguez." Her heart began to beat, corresponding with the seconds of time. In front of her, the clear air began to shimmer and form into what she exactly asked for. As soon as she saw Chris, she wanted to shout his name out, but stopped herself just in time. Chris didn't know he was in the middle of an Iris message, but Clarisse didn't mind. She just wanted to look at him for a few seconds, looking at his chiseled jaw, his new haircut, a faint patch of hair growing under his chin, she saw everything. She saw someone next to him, with long brunette curls, with her teeth brightly showing. Clarisse examined the place where her boyfriend and the girl she already hates were at. It was a lake, with the bluest waters she had ever seen. The trees were bright green, and it seemed to be that the pair was strolling alongside the sidewalk that followed the path of the lake. The brunette girl, she spoke, with an annoyingly high pitched voice.

"Chris, come on, you can't come with me to this gorgeous lake, with an amazing scenery, followed by a beautiful sunny day, with that look on your face!" she pointed at him.

Chris looked up and Clarisse saw the sparkle in his beautiful brown eyes. Her heart stopped for a second and she carefully placed her hand over it. "It's okay." She thought to herself.

"What look?" he grumbled.

"That look!" she poked at the corner of his mouth and he sighed.

"Sorry, I'm just, thinking of someone Gabby."

"Who?"

"This girl I've been seeing, you know her name, Clarisse."

"I don't really like her."

"You've never met her!" he scoffed while laughing.

"Well, she hasn't tried to contact you the past month, has she? She's making my Chris sad."

"My?" Clarisse angrily thought to herself.

Chris chuckled, "She's probably busy. She would contact me as soon as she got the chance too."

"I doubt it." Gabby smirked.

"And what about you, don't you have a boyfriend who hasn't called you in what, a week? You got angry over it, and I've been coping with a few days past a month!"

"I broke up with him; he took too long to phone me."

Chris laughed, "That's actually completely ridiculous."

"Maybe, but I know when and how to sort out something wrong in my life."

Chris paused and became silent. He saw a bench and immediately took a seat. His legs had grown tired, and Clarisse could see a scar near his ankle that had placed itself there due to the fight against Kronos. She frowned; she could tell he was missing her. Gabby sat next to him, and sat in silence for about half a second. Again, with her disgusting high pitched voice, she interrupted their moment of peace. "Chris?"

"Mhm?" he replied.

"If you had to choose between someone who was never there for you, and someone who is always there for you, what would you do?"

"What kind of question is that? I mean, the answer is obvious isn't it?"

She shook her head, "That's why I'm asking you."

"Of course I'd choose the person who is always there for me, wouldn't you?"

She beamed, "Exactly." Chris then reverted his eyes back to the water. It was like he was trying to command the water to still. His eyes then began moving, searching for tiny minnows when Gabby again called out his name. "Chris?"

He looked over to her and sighed; "Yeah?" she grabbed his face and kissed him right on the lips. Chris's eyes widened when she planted her lips on his, he first wanted to protest and pull away, but instead, he kissed her back. Clarisse's heart had shrunk 3 times smaller than it was, she felt like the Grinch. The color of her face changed from tan to completely pale. She screamed, "Get off him!" The couple broke apart and Chris said,

"Clarisse?" he looked her right in the eyes. Gabby, who couldn't see through the mist looked at him and asked, "What?" Chris saw the tears in Clarisse's eyes forming, while Clarisse angrily balled her fingers into a fist. She wanted to curse and hit him, but she also didn't want him to see her cry. Luckily, the time limit of the drachma had cut them off. Clarisse felt as though her body began to tense up with heat rapidly. She felt as though she was transported to the Underworld and her body was set on fire. The feeling she had earlier, her bones aching for him, suddenly changed from the feeling of euphoria to the feeling of despair. She quickly unlocked her door and sprinted to the bathroom. She turned on the water from the sink, and began gasping for air; she splashed it onto her face. The water shriveled on her skin and she felt an ounce better- but it wasn't enough. With her clothes on, she jumped into the shower and turned the knob. The ice cold water poured onto her as she stood with a blank look on her face. She waited for the water to take over her body and cool her off, and then she collapsed in tears. She slowly knelt down, and then sat down on the tub crying her eyes out, crying not only because of Chris, but because of what happened with Percy. She wanted to pretend it didn't bother her, but it stung. She punched the bathroom tiles and with a crack, it broke off from the wall. She didn't care; she just wanted to be released of the pain she felt in her chest. She again gasped for air in between her outburst of cries. She sat in the shower for about 10 minutes, until the cold began making her shiver. The tears however were still in her system. She wasn't the typical crier, and she figured that was probably the reason why she couldn't stop. She never dealt her hands of cards with sadness, especially with crying, and it was probably the time to pour it out. She stood up, turned the water off and retreated to her room. The tears suddenly stopped as she entered her room. She wiped her face, emotionless, she began to change. She threw on a t-shirt and some sweatpants and then she plopped herself down onto her bed. She buried her face in her pillow. She looked up mistakenly and she saw the picture of her and Chris. With the anger rising from her, and she grabbed it and threw it as hard as she could against the wall. It cracked and shattered. She breathed through her nose slowly, trying to contain the anger and preventing any possible reason to completely wreck her Aunt's home. She bottled it up, and as time passed, she fell asleep. She dreamed of the day they defeated Kronos. Chris had found her alone, looking over at the lives that were lost. He grabbed her hand and said, "Thank you."

"For what?" she said, continuing to look at the bodies.

"For helping me when I came out of the Labyrinth, you saved me."

She snickered, "That wasn't me, thank Mr. D."

"You nursed me back to health properly, and Mr. D just finished the job. You're amazing." He then slowly raised his hand to her cheek and kissed her. She kissed back, her stomach filling with butterflies. The feeling seemed to last forever, when her alarm clock blared into her ears. She woke up faster than Hermes could deliver a message, she was sweating, and her eyes were filled with tears. She wiped them and glanced over at the clock.
7:00

She sighed as she got up. She walked on over to leave her room but stopped as she stepped on something awfully sharp, her foot had gotten cut and it bled a little. "Crap." She muttered. She knelt down to see what it was, and it was the photo frame she had thrown last night. She carefully picked up the picture of her and Chris. She eyed it, looking at how happy she was in the past. She crumpled it up and threw it in the trash. She sighed and thought to herself, "Please Zeus, let me get through this crap day, especially with Jackson stepping on my every move." She left, gently closing the door behind her. She had no more strength left in her.

*Sorry for the late chapters everyone, I've been just caught up with mountains of homework! My deepest apologies please enjoy this chapter. Thank you for all of your reviews, they really brighten up my day. Stay forever gold!