Thank you again for giving this story a chance. Hope you all are still having at least a slight interest in the story, and I hope you all like the next chapter.

Godsmacked

Percy's POV

Seriously? Seriously!? Mother fucker, why do the sisters of fate have to be so cruel? What have I done to deserve this? . . . Actually, you know what, no one answer that. I don't wanna know. . . . Okay, I think I do know why I deserve this, but I really don't want to be reminded of it. I really don't want to be reminded of the shame I brought upon myself last night. But then again, I guess I really can't just forget about it, no matter how much I want to. I mean, how can I possibly just forget such an experience like that? Just looking at her or even thinking about her is more than enough to remind me of that night. At least she doesn't remember anything from last night. Wait, does she remember? I sure as hell hope not. She cannot have any memory of last night. If she does, well, not only will it ruin the both of us, but I'll be in deep shit.

"Clarisse?" I asked again, still not believing that she actually found me here.

"Hey." She said, still in a disbelief expression on her face.

I guess she and I both really didn't know how to process any of this. I mean, how would we know how to process all of this? I mean, I've been coming here to get away from all of my troubles ever since Clarisse has been bullying me, swimming and playing music to try to calm me from my sorrows and trying to relieve myself from my pain. And now that she's found me, now that she found my secret hideout, now that she's discovered my secret, I am now exposed to her. She now knows of my deepest secret . . . well, as of today, second deepest secret, but not the point. Now that she knows about this, I now have no hiding place from her and everything and everyone else in camp. And to make matters even worse, I'm nowhere near in shape to have any communication with her. This is basically a gigantic what the fuck moment.

"What's up?" I asked awkwardly.

'Yeah, real smooth of you Jackson, you water loving idiot.' I thought to myself.

"I don't feel too well right now." She said, moving her head in a different direction so we aren't having any eye contact anymore.

"You don't feel too well right now, as in?" I asked motioning her to continue.

"I'm stressed out because Drew was really getting on my nerves earlier." Clarisse explained.

"You and me both." I admitted.

Again people, I don't hate her, I just hate how she's uses boys for sex and then just dumps them as if they were nothing but trash. That being said was followed by Clarisse and me looking at everything but each other. It was yet another awkward silence between us right now. I had a strong feeling that we were gonna be here for a while. Part of me wanted to just run and try my best to avoid her for as much as possible, the other part of me on the other hand just wanted to drown to the bottom of the lake and not come up at all. I was just so lost right now. I just wish I knew what to say or do right now; that I could say or do something that will maybe lighten things up around here. I had nothing though. I was officially once again godsmacked. Let's see, how many times have I been recently been godsmacked? Well, there was Clarisse and here two friends Angelica and Paulina making me feel like shit yesterday, there was Clarisse getting drunk and getting me to dance with her for Jungle at last night's party, Clarisse persuading me to have sex with her right after I take her away from the party and brought her to her cabin so she could get some rest, Drew trying to seduce me and Clarisse actually stepping up to get her away from me, and now she's found me at my secret hideout and I have no way to escape this trap hole I've thrown myself in. So throughout today and yesterday, I've been godsmacked at least five times.

Gods, I really need a holiday, and a pretty damn long one at that. And this was going nowhere either, her and me just sitting/standing around doing nothing. With the silence starting to swell in me and starting to slowly kill me, I completely turned my attention away from Clarisse and everything else around me, and turned my attention back to my guitar. I wasn't really playing any song in particular, I was just randomly and softly strumming the strings of my guitar so I could faintly here the music I was making. I didn't know if Clarisse could hear me, but right now, I didn't really care right now. I had too much in my mind and I was basically just trying to find something to do other than rot in this awkward moment I'm having right now.

"I didn't know you could play." Clarisse said.

Not what I would expect to hear from her, but I guess considering the state of things, I guess it's better than nothing.

"I taught myself when I was a student at Yancy Academy. There really wasn't much for me to do there other than try to battle my dyslexia and ADHD, so I decided to teach myself. Haven't really played in a while, so I thought I'd try to get back at it." I told her, and in all honesty, I had no idea why I just did that.

I haven't told anyone that except for my mom. Grover was able to find out when one night he slid and hid under my bed to try to see what I do when I'm not trying to study, read, or anything else. Needless to say, he didn't have a pleasant night from my part of it. It resolved in me literally taking one of his crutches and hitting him with it. As you can probably tell, I don't really take people invading me on my privacy well at all. It also shows that there are actually times that I can have a dark side to myself. I just do everything I possibly can to make sure I don't let that out in any way, shape, or form possible.

"You're good." Clarisse said.

I slightly smirked at that, but I didn't really know how to process those words. She hasn't really had a time where she didn't bully me at all. It was a nice thing to hear, but I didn't let it go to my head.

"Thanks." I simply replied.

'Gods, why do the fates have to be so cruel?' I thought to myself.

"So why are you playing after all this time?" Clarisse asked.

I looked from my guitar and at her instead with a look of confusion on my face. Since when did the toughest girl at camp care about anyone's feelings, or even anyone other than herself for a change?

"Why do you ask?" I asked, genuinely curious as to why Clarisse suddenly cared about the way I felt.

Clarisse blushed and looked away.

"Well, I saw that you were upset and I was just trying to be . . . you know . . . nice." Clarisse said shyly.

I stared at her for a minute with a raised eye brow. She just stood where she was and had an awkward expression on her face, awkward as in she might've said something stupid or embarrassing. She was about to say something else, but I had already beaten her to it by answering her question.

"Lately, I haven't been in much of a mood to be in my father's domain lately, so I needed to come up with another thing to kill time with. And the first answer that came into my head was getting back to my guitar." I answered.

She nodded in understanding, but didn't really say anything. Even though I figured that it was because this was still an awkward moment for her, I was thankful she didn't really say anything. I didn't really want to hear her say anything about this. Knowing how she is, there's no telling what she would have to say about this. It was then just another awkward moment between us. She still stood where she was, and I was still just sitting where I was, strumming the strings of my guitar still. I have to say, this is one of those moments where I wish that I wasn't me.

"I hope Drew didn't do anything to make you feel too physically sick. I know she's not really a great person to be around." Clarisse suddenly said and to my surprise, came to sit next to me in front of the lake.

"I've had worse." I said still strumming my guitar and not really trying to look at her.

From the corner of my eye, I thought I saw disappointment and maybe even sorrow in her eyes. I thought I saw the exact same glimpse of something that's a part of her that I saw last night, but couldn't determine what I saw. I still can't quite determine what I'm seeing in her eyes right now. I don't know what it is. I'm barely detecting it in her eyes and I don't know how I'm actually seeing a glimpse in her that is something she's hiding and clearly doesn't what me to see. But whatever it is, I don't think it's something I should try to focus on.

"Why did you do it?" I asked her.

"Do what?" Clarisse responded.

"Why did you stand up for me when Drew was trying to come onto me and be all slutty? I thought you hate me." I stated.

"I hate Drew a lot more. I hate her with every fiber of my existence. She is without a doubt the worst demigod I've ever met in my life. Plus like you, I don't really like how she uses every guy here for sex and just uses them in any other way she pleases to just leave them. Plus . . . well, you're the only guy who not only has no interest in her, but you're also the only boy Drew hasn't lured into her snatch yet, and I intend to keep it that way." Clarisse explained.

"So neither one of us like Drew for how she's lives her life as a slut." I stated.

"Yep." Clarisse simply responded.

"Well, we at least got one thing in common." I said with a tiny smile showing at the corner of my lips, and from the corner of my eye, I could see that the exact same thing was what was happening to Clarisse right now.

"So, what was that song you were playing?" Clarisse asked.

"Fade To Black by Metallica. It's a suicide song. One of the many songs that I play because it has a lot of meaning to it and I can somewhat relate to it." I answered.

"Do you ever write any songs yourself?" Clarisse asked.

"Not really. I think about it sometimes, but I personally think it's best if I leave that to the world's musicians. Plus, it's not like any song I write will ever get recognized at all." I answered.

"It wouldn't hurt to give it a try." Clarisse said.

We just sat quietly after that, with the exception of the noise I was making from the strings of my guitar. Though this silence wasn't quite as awkward as the other ones. It was pleasant at least, we didn't have anything to worry about right now, nothing is going on, and we were just enjoying the environment of the lake. At least, for the most part, there was a small part of me that was still in an awkward moment trance. I still can't get last night out of my head. It was still stuck inside of me. I mean, I'm not expecting for the memories of last night to just suddenly go away like it was nothing, but I really wish I could get last night out of my fucking head. And to top it off, I'm tired. I didn't sleep at all last night, and I don't really know how I'm still awake or how I haven't passed out yet. So far it seems Clarisse doesn't remember anything from last night, so I'm just gonna try to keep it that way.

"Thanks by the way." Clarisse suddenly said.

"For what?" I asked confused.

"For last night." Clarisse simply responded.

I stopped dead in my tracks there. Did she actually know? Does she remember anything? Does she suspect something? I don't know, but either way, the inside of me right now is just freaking out right now.

"What about last night?" I asked, hoping I didn't asked as nervously as I felt right now.

"For taking me back in my cabin when I was drunk. After Drew gave me that Long Island Ice Tea, I completely lost it. I was just completely out of my mind, even though I don't really remember too much of what happened last night." Clarisse explained.

"Oh, sure." I responded.

Okay, I'm dead. Even though she doesn't remember much about last night, it's not a complete blur like how I had hoped it would. What if this means she'll eventually remember everything? What if she finds out? What if she learns about what happened in her cabin from someone? She didn't feel too good a few minutes ago, I don't feel too good either. Well, technically I didn't from the beginning, but you all get my point. I just feel so bad and numb right now.

"Do you know any Godsmack?" Clarisse suddenly asked me, breaking away from my thoughts.

"Hm?" I asked.

"I asked you if you know any songs by Godsmack." Clarisse said.

"Not all of their songs, but most of them. Yeah." I answered.

"Play one." Clarisse said.

I have to admit, I was a bit taken back by that. I never would've pegged Clarisse La Rue as a person that has any interest or fascination, or even any care whatsoever for music. With her being a daughter of Ares, I didn't really think that music was a part of her. But, then again, I'm the son of Poseidon and I'm supposed and expected to be one of the toughest demigods alive, and I've been disappointing a lot of people on that lately. So I guess it would be logical to get a little bit of a wrong idea about Clarisse as well.

I'm not the one who's so far away

When I feel the snake bite enter my veins

Never did I wanna be here again

And I don't remember why I came

Candles raise my desire

Why I'm so far away

No more meaning to my life

No more reason to stay

Freezing feeling,

Breathe in, breathe in

I'm coming back again

I'm not the one who's so far away

When I feel the snake bite enter my veins

Never did I wanna be here again

And I don't remember why I came

Hazing clouds rain on my head

Empty thoughts fill my ears

Find my shade by the moon light

Why my thoughts aren't so clear

Demons dreaming

Breathe in, breathe in

I'm coming back again

I'm not the one who's so far away

When I feel the snake bite enter my veins

Never did I wanna be here again

And I don't remember why I came

I'm not the one who's so far away

When I feel the snake bite enter my veins

Never did I wanna be here again

And I don't remember why I came

I'm not the one who's so far away

When I feel the snake bite enter my veins

Never did I wanna be here again

And I don't remember why I came

I'm not the one who's so far away

When I feel the snake bite enter my veins

Never did I wanna be here again

And I don't remember why I came

Voodoo, voodoo, voodoo, voodoo.

Voodoo, voodoo, voodoo, voodoo.

So far away...

I'm not the one who's so far away...

I'm not the one who's so far away...

I'm not the one who's so far away...

"How was that?" I asked as I ended the song.

"It was nice. I liked it." Clarisse said.

She looked like she was about to say something else, but then a shout came from the distance.

"Clarisse!" Shouted the voice of some girl; it was most likely one of Clarisse friends.

"Oh, I got to go. Later." Clarisse said getting up and running off to the direction we heard the voice come from.

After she left, my eyes began to feel pretty heavy. I guess Godsmack's slow rock song Voodoo, the song of theirs I just played kinda gave me the desire to sleep, the desire I wish I had last night in my cabin. I guess eventually finding the urge to sleep eventually is better than never finding it at all. So after a minute or so of just sitting down and doing nothing but looking at the lake, I passed out.

Again, I have to apologize if this isn't going well for any of you. I really haven't been getting as much time to plan and write as I thought I did. I hate college. I should've waited a year before going to college just like how my friends said I should. Why I actually didn't listen to them is beyond me. I hope the chapter went well for you, as well as the story is going well for you, and I'll update again whenever I can. Hopefully I can do a better job with the next chapter. Goodnight.