Hiiiiii
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Sooooo, this story is low key weird. I can't decide how I feel about is so... that's for you to decide. Is it good? Bad? Cringey? Just flat out horrible? Please review and tell me what you think. Well, I guess you should get reading now. hehe :l (I do not own pjo so, ya know)
It was just a normal day at Camp Half-Blood, when the Aphrodite cabin decided to play a cruel joke.
Drew decided that the camp was getting boring, and that they needed some more drama. So she got her siblings (more like slaves) to mix up a love potion, with the help of the Hecate cabin of course. And during breakfast, they poured that potion into Clarisse's cup. How they accomplished that? Now that would be a whole other story.
Breakfast was going smoothly until Clarisse took a big chug of her ultra black, super strong, extra caffeinated with more then a drop of love potion coffee. A small pink explosion went off, sending love smoke up into her face. When she inhaled, the potion went to work. It made its way up to her brain, disorienting her thoughts, clouding her mind. All she knew, was that she was madly in love with Perseus Jackson.
She got up, and started towards the Poseidon table. The whole camp was silent, and all eyes were on Clarisse. She walked like she was drunk, and she probably was. Drunk on love potion.
"I think you overdid it." Mitchell whispered to Drew.
"Shut up, dear." She was watching Clarisse intensely. "I want to see how this plays out."
Clarisse kept stumbling towards Percy, and he was watching her come to him, with a look of pure confusion on his face.
"Uh, Clarisse, are you ok?" He started to get up, wondering what the Hades was going on.
"Oh, I'm ok. I'm better than ok. I'm in love." Her eyes were glazed over, and there was a crooked smile on her face. The Ares cabin was bright red. Clarisse was being an embarrassment.
The whole camp burst out laughing. A few whooped and hollered, while some banged their hands on their tables. Even Chiron cracked a smile. Mr. D just rolled his eyes and drank his Diet Coke.
Clarisse sat down in front of Percy, and tried to hold his hand. But he pulled away, shocked, and honestly scared by the way Clarisse was acting.
"Percy," She purred "Percy, why don't you love me?"
The look on Percy's face was priceless. "Um, I don't even like you, let alone love you. And you hate me. Despise me. Loathe my existence. Why are you acting this way? Is this a new attack tactic?"
"Percy! How can you say such things. I'm in love with you. Why don't you love me back?" Her fingers kept sliding closer and closer to him.
"Um, I have a girlfriend. You know that, right? And you have a boyfriend." At this point, Percy was ready to run halfway across Long Island to get away from her.
"Did you just ask me out! Oh, Percy!"
And that's when things went crazy. She lunged at him, tackling him in a hug. Percy let out a startled yelp, and scrambled away from her. The camp cheered, getting louder and louder. In Percy's attempt to get Clarisse off him, he sent his plate of pancakes flying, starting a food fight. Soon, the whole dining pavilion was in chaos. Mr. D had left, and Chiron was watching the carnage. People weren't actually killing people, but you get the point.
Chris ran over, shocked at his girlfriend's behavior. "Clarisse! What's gotten into you!" He pulled Clarisse off Percy, and turned her to face him.
"Ewww, who're you?" She drawled, pulling away from him.
Chris shook her. "I'm your BOYFRIEND!" The camp laughed even harder.
"Noooo, I'm in love with Perrrcy." She looked like she was dreaming, staring fondly over her shoulder at Percy.
Chris could tell something was up. And only the Aphrodite Cabin could work up this level of stupid love magic. Even Hecate herself couldn't make imaginary love this strong. So he dropped Clarisse, giving her one final concerned look, then stormed over to the Aphrodite table. He was ready to beat the Hades out of them just to get a cure. And it's not like they would stand a chance against a son of Hermes anyways.
Annabeth, who had been watching this all with fascination, went over to the commotion epicenter. Poseidon's table. Clarisse was sitting on the tabletop, staring at Percy. Percy himself was just trying to eat his new blue pancakes in peace at the far end of the table. Very far away from the creepy Clarisse.
"Hey, Perce. How's it going?" She sat down in front of him, sarcasm seeping into her voice. The destruction continued around them.
"Ha ha, very funny. Very funny indeed." He poured more syrup on his already drenched pancakes. Then he ducked a flying chicken wing.
"You don't need that much syrup, Percy. You're going to get a sugar high." She says, taking the syrup bottle away from him. He just looks at her. "What? Why are you staring at me?"
"Because as a daughter of Athena, shouldn't you know that sugar highs are myths?"
"Oh, shut up. It's still not good for you."
"Yeah, whatever. Want one?" He offered a soggy pancake on his fork.
"When it's drenched like that? No thanks."
"Your loss." And he proceeded to shove the whole thing in his mouth.
"Percy that's gross." Clarisse had slid down towards the two lovebirds, and was watching them intently. Her fingers started to crawl towards Percy again. "Percy, I love you. Why don't you love me back? My love is unfaltering and unfailing. I will love you forevermore! Oh, if only you gave me the chance, you would see that we are meant to be!" She was on her knees, essentially putting on a play for the whole camp. "I will walk through fire for you! I will reach the depths of the sea just to get you a glass of water!"
"Um," Percy cut in, "I'm Poseidon's son, so you don't have to do that. And you don't want to drink salt water, it's gross." Annabeth tried to stifle a laugh, but it ended up backfiring. She started laughing, which got the whole camp laughing again.
Percy was over the initial shock of Clarisse's strange behavior, and was fed up. "Clarisse, I don't know what's going on with you, but it's not right. You hate me! Absolutely, one hundred percent pure hatred! Snap out of it! You have a boyfriend, and I have a girlfriend! So please, do us both a favor and leave me alone and go apologize to Chris!" The whole camp went silent.
Clarisse looked shocked, then the dreamy look came back. "I'll just give you time to think. This must be so overwhelming." Then she got off the table, and gave Percy a peck on the cheek.
Percy just stared at her. Unsure of what the heck she just did. She smiled sweetly at him, waiting for him to say something. Percy turned to Annabeth, and her gray eyes turned as cold and hard as steel.
"Percy... don't do something now that you'll regret later." Her voice border lining a growl.
That set Percy straight. Soon, the silence was filled with the echo of a slap, and Clarisse had a bright red handprint on her cheek. She walked out of there looking like a dog that just got beat.
The whole camp was silent. Then a voice shouted out, "CAN WE ALL HURT CLARISSE NOW?!" That got everyone laughing. Even Percy and Annabeth cracked up. It loosened the tension in the air, and made things seem a little bit more normal.
"SURE, BUT BE PREPARED FOR SOME PRETTY WICKED BACKLASH ONCE SHE COMES TO!" Percy shouted back. That got more laughs.
The Aphrodite table was not joining in on the laughs, and Annabeth immediately knew something was up. So she walked over and started to help Chris grill them.
"What did you do? Tell me!" Chris slammed his hands down on their table. Lacy yelped, but Drew looked as calm and collected as ever.
"Well sweetie, that's not a question that I can answer. Is it?" She turned to her siblings, forcing more charmspeak into her voice.
"Yeah, uh huh."
"Figure it out yourself." Drew forced more magic into her tone.
"Yes. Uh huh, uh huh." The cabin nodded in agreement.
"See? Now run along." She shooed Chris off, the charmspeak rubbing off on him. He started to turn, but Annabeth caught his arm.
"Nuh uh. You're staying." She pulled Chris back. She turned to Drew. "And you are going to tell us everything, or you're going to have to be on stable duty for a month. Oh, and don't forget dish washing." She stared Drew down, steely gray meeting soft brown. Even Drew couldn't resist the scare factor of Annabeth. She caved. But not before being a pain in the butt.
"Well now, if I'm to do something for you, you have to do something for me." She twirled a strand of hair with her finger.
"What do you want?" Annabeth wasn't about to agree to anything without knowing the whole deal.
"Oh, just a simple favor, really. I just need someone to help convince this super hot wood nymph that he should go on a date with me. He is the only good looking plant I've ever seen."
"You. Want me. To get you. A date. With a tree. You're kidding." Annabeth's jaw clenched, her fists curling into balls.
"Don't act so surprised. You're lucky, actually. I could've asked you to do much worse." Drew took a sip of her green juice. How that girl could stand something so foul was a mystery to the world.
"Ugh! Fine. I don't see why you couldn't just walk on over, and charmspeak that little sucker, but fine." Annabeth was about to leave when she remembered. "Swear it, swear on the River Styx that if I get you a date with this tree, then you'll give me the cure to the love potion." She shook a fist at Drew.
"Formalities, gods. But fine. I swear on the River Styx that I will give you the cure if you get me my date. Now go." Drew shooed them away.
Annabeth pulled Chris along with her to the woods. "Alright buddy. You've gotta help me."
"Awww, why do I gotta?" Chris whined "My arm's being dislocated!"
"Ugh! Just come on!" Annabeth let go of his arm, stomping into the woods. She stepped into a small clearing. "GOOD LOOKING TREES! STEP FORWARD!" She screamed at the woods.
"Shhhhhh! Monsters are gonna come and eat us if you don't quiet down." Chris looked around, expecting a monster to come out and snap him in two.
"Shut up." She muttered, waving him off. "Help me get this nymph."
Chris sighed, but cupped his hands around his mouth anyways. "HOT, HOT, NYMPHS! YOO HOO!"
"Why thanks! Aw, you're so nice!" A voice called from behind the two. They whipped around, and who they saw took their breath away.
He was leaning against a small Japanese Maple in a bad boy manner. He was definitely hot. His hair was longish, a red/brown color, like the color of the leaves on his tree. His skin wasn't the typical chlorophyll green, but a very pale green that it looked almost white. His eyes where dark brown, like the bark on the tree. He was slightly muscular, but in a lean way. He had a slight leafy smell, and he just had an attractive aura.
"Ok buster," Annabeth could tell this was the nymph Drew was talking about. No other tree spirit could look this good. "I hate to do this, but if you don't go on a date with this Aphrodite girl, this Ares girl with wreck havoc on our camp and no one wants that. So just agree to go on a date with this Aphrodite spawn, and then life will be nice again."
"Hm..." he cocked his head, thinking, "Ok! Let's go!"
The scowl melted off Annabeth's face and confusion replaced it. "Wait, seriously?"
"Yeah! Let's go!" He got off his tree and walked up to them.
"Um... this isn't a trap, is it? You're actually going to go on a date with this random Aphrodite girl you don't even know?" Chris asked.
"Well when you put it that way..." he started back towards his tree.
"No!" Annabeth shot Chris a hard glare "Please! It'll be ok. Please come."
"Ok... I'll come." He turned around, his arms were crossed. This nymph was one of the weirdest that Annabeth or Chris had ever had to deal with.
"Ok, follow us, but stay close. You can get lost super easily in here." Chris cautioned him.
The Japanese Maple nymph rolled his eyes. "Duh! I grew up here! You think I don't know the dangers of these woods?!"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just follow us." Annabeth trudged ahead, leaving the two boys in her wake.
Back at the camp grounds, the little trio made its way to the Aphrodite cabin.
"Open up! I've got you're nymph!" Annabeth pounded on the hot pink door.
Drew opened it, and hustled them inside. "Yay! My soon-to-be bae is here!" She squealed, pulling the poor guy in for a hug. "So, what's your name? Where should we go? Are you allergic to anything? Because I am not going to redo my date meal plan."
"Name's Daiki. I don't care. And I'm not allergic to anything."
"Yay! Let's go!" Drew started to pull him outside, but Annabeth stopped her.
"Give me the cure. Now." She held out her hand.
"Ugh! Fine!" She snapped her fingers, and one of her siblings handed her a slim testing tube like bottle. Dark liquid sloshed around inside. "Here." She handed the bottle to Annabeth.
"Thanks. Now you swear that it works?" Annabeth pocketed the vile.
Drew rolled her eyes. "Of course. Now run along." She waved them away.
Annabeth was skeptical, but she left anyways. "Now to find Clarisse." She turned, and saw Chris trying to sneak away. She grabbed the collar of his shirt, and pulled him back. "You're not going anywhere."
"Aw, man!" Chris complained, but didn't run away. Knowing that if he did, he would probably be judo flipped, or stabbed with a dagger. Not great options.
"Come on, we have to find Clarisse." Annabeth started walking in the direction of the arena.
As if on cue, Percy ran in front of them, running for the beach, screaming, "NOOOOOOOOO!"
Annabeth turned to see what he was running from, and what she saw made her want to run too.
Clarisse was chasing him, arms outstretched, shouting, "LOOOOOOVE ME! LOOOOOOVE ME!"
A stupid idea, but Annabeth jumped in front of the girl, hoping to stop her, but she just ran around her, and kept pursuing Percy. So Chris and Annabeth ran after her, having to sprint to keep up.
Chris tackled her, pinning her to the ground. Annabeth got the vile, and Chris sat her up, while still restraining her.
"Drink this." Annabeth held out the vile to Clarisse.
"Why should I?" She retorted. A small wave of relief washed over her, Clarisse was getting her spunk back.
"Drink this, or die." Annabeth threatened.
"Ugh! Fine." Chris released one of her arms, allowing her to drink the potion. She swallowed it down, and for a moment, nothing happened. Annabeth was getting ready to beat up the Aphrodite cabin if this didn't work.
In a split second, Clarisse's eyes glazed over, dulled, then went back to normal. It was so fast that it was almost impossible to catch. A shiver ran through her body, and she opened her mouth to speak.
"What the Hades are you two doing? Get off of me!" Clarisse untangled herself from Chris, and pushed Annabeth out of her way. So far so good.
"So, uh, do you feel normal? Not drunk on love potion? Not obsessed with Percy?" Chris asked.
"Uh, no. Why would I be drunk on love potion or obsessed wi-" she stopped, her jaw dropped. "Oh gods. What happened?" She stared at Chris.
So he told her what had happened, and she just stared at him in shock.
"Holy Ares, I made such a fool out of myself. Oh well, more reasons to be harsher and meaner to everyone for the next few months. Tell the Barbie Punks thanks." She kissed Chris on the cheek, the only person she showed affection to, and headed off to terrorize young children.
"Wow." Is all Annabeth could say. "At least she's back to normal. And I have my boyfriend back." She walked towards the beach, wanting to find Percy.
"No 'thank you'? Ok, I see how it is!" Chris called after her.
"Nope!" Annabeth called back.
"Dang. I work with her all day and all I get is a view of her backside." He muttered to himself as he went off to keep his girlfriend from murdering anybody.
