Sup everyone! I'm back for the promised Christmas special, so happy holidays to those who celebrate, and happy New Years, or Hanukah for those who do not! This will be the last chapter I post until the summer, unless there is a lot of good feedback from this chapter, and then I might update every month or so. Also, please please please head over to my profile page and take the poll to vote on which stories I should publish next, it would be really helpful! And on that note... Enjoy!

Percy:

School has been hard for the past two weeks. Seeing Annabeth around school laughing with other people, and smiling at other boys when I only wanted her to smile at me was harder than I ever would have thought.

And I had thought that it was going to be super hard to begin with.

In fact, I was just beginning to wonder if she was avoiding me on purpose when she showed up next to my locker.

"Percy."

I ignored the burning in my throat at the indifference with which my name was said. Annabeth used to say it with love and happiness. "Yes, Annabeth?" I asked, trying to be civil without sounding like I was on the verge of tears, which I was. I was emotional. But the whole hall did not need to know that.

Annabeth leaned against the locker next to mine. "Remember that little coffee shop we always used to go to?" She asked, nostalgia and sadness finally breaking through her mask of coldness.

I nod, unsure of where she was going with this.

"What are the chances that your attachment to that place led to you hiding the next clue there?" She asked, badly feigning a nonchalance that was not there. My jaw almost dropped. How could she stand there, the girl who I had loved, who I still loved, and who I was fairly sure still loved me, and ask me to help her cheat for the exact reason she had broken up with me for?

I slammed my locker on her, turned on my heel, and strode off the the gym. But Annabeth had long legs, and soon there was a familiar hand on my shoulder as she forced me to turn around. There was hurt in her eyes, hurt that made my heart crack. "What Annabeth?"

"What? You just walked away from me?" She said, her eyes narrowing in a way that I was way too used to seeing.

"Yeah, like you did to me. You realize how ironic it is right? You want Water Child's help to cheat, when you broke up with me for being Water Boy!" I say, my voice rising before I check it, remembering that we were in school, and it was no place for an ex-lover's spat.

Annabeth, the smartest person I had ever met, was for once speechless. And then all of a sudden she wasn't. "No, Percy, I dont think it's ironic. I think its fair that you use the position you lied to me about to help me now," she said, her gray eyes getting that stubborn look that I always found endearing.

But the more she talked the more pieces my heart broke into. So I just shook my head sadly at her, and walked away. This time she didnt follow me, but it was only because Luke Castellan, someone who I had once considered a friend, had stopped to talk to her.

As I walked away down the hallway, I heard a few words of what he said to Annabeth. "I can... help... win," Luke said. And with those words, there were enough pieces that my heart finally shattered.

And there was nothing I could do to help it as I heard Annabeth respond, "Yes."

Three Days Later

Percy:

I had hoped that my hearing was wrong, even though I knew in my heart that it wasn't, and that Annabeth wouldn't have allied with Luke, but I was proved wrong when I saw their names on the leader board go from individual to a group, which was allowed because they were both already in the game and had not gotten out yet. I had posted three more challenges since our breakup, with stunning results.

It was down to the final one hundred teams and solo people. And it was Christmas break. Which meant that to prolong the competition, I was going to start posting one challenge a week, as well as my usual plain blog posts, but that way suspense would rise, and I could spend more time setting each challenge up, and in turn make them harder.

But my mind was on Luke and Annabeth. Everyone had noticed, since the whole school was now focused on my competition, and in turn me, and in turn my relationship, or lack of one, with Annabeth.

So it was the talk of the school when the leader board changed. Luke and Annabeth were a team. It was whispered all around.

I wanted to punch everyone who said it, to break their noses and take them from the competition. But the competition was hosted by Water Child, and I was Percy Jackson. And now, for the first time, I had to fight to keep those two things separate.

Even now, as I sat at a lunch table with my swim team and Grover, my laptop open as I drafted the newest post for my blog, one that wasn't a new task, I was getting looks of pity that I didn't want. So I ignored them all, hunching over my keyboard, and began to type.

Dear Olympus High,

Not another challenge, sorry to disappoint, but this began as a blog, and you know what they say about loosing your roots...

Either way, why don't we talk about something coming up that seems to be at the front of everyone's mind. Christmas. And Hanukkah, of course, if you celebrate that. But at the risk of not being politically accurate, let's talk a bit about the red and green holiday. Things to buy, presents to wrap, cheer to spread. That's all anyone is talking about. But can be talk a bit more about what Christmas really is to us? As everyone in this beehive school knows, things have recently happened in the love department for me that weren't great. But now, with the holidays coming around, I feel an opportunity to surround myself with loved ones, and family, and to wash away the negativity. So that's what Christmas and the holidays to me mean this year. For everyone, it means something different, but usually it means something a bit more than just presents under the tree. So tell me below. What does Christmas mean to you?

On another note, can I reiterate? People suck. The next person to ask me for a little hint "cause we're friends", or try to bribe me for a tip on the next challenge is going to get a fist to the face. I'm not a violent person, don't get me wrong, but damn, you people know how to tick a person off. So keep that in mind everybody! Stay tuned for a new challenge in the next few days.

~Percy Jackson, Water Child

Uploading the post to my site, I shut the laptop, and chuckle when I saw a few people at my table discreetly go on their phones to check what I had posted. Grover stole a few fries from my tray, and I laughed a bit harder. The laugh but off abruptly when I realized that it was the first time that I had done so since Annabeth had broken up with me.

The thought was humbling, but when I realized that it had made what I had wrote accurate. This was a time to wash away my past, and get over Annabeth, even if I didn't think I would ever be able to truly stop loving her. But I was okay with that bittersweet love, I thought as a tentative smile broke out on my face. Because it meant that there was hope things would one day get better.

That we could get better.

Whoooo! I managed to fit some Christmas in there too! Thank you all so much for reading, and happy holidays from the bottom of my heart! You are all amazing, and you make my day better with each of your kind words! Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year to all of you! Till the summer! Bye!