I seem a lot more anxious to write this story than all the other ones right now. I guess I was a little more prepared for it than what I thought. Thank you for reading, and enjoy the next chapter.

Slightly Turning Over A New Leaf

Clarisse's POV

As soon as I heard my name being called, I dashed away from the lake and rushed over. It was either Angelica or Paulina calling my name, or maybe both of them. Either way, my name was being called by a friend of mine and I went over to see what they wanted. I also left so that I wouldn't be seen with Percy. I couldn't be seen by anyone of me being nice to Percy. Despite how much I don't really like being so mean and hurtful to him, I can't come to terms with ruining my reputation here. Though as I went to look for my friends, my thoughts were dwelling on Percy. I just couldn't ignore the fact that something seems different about him. I mean, he looked like he hasn't had any sleep last night, and that alone wasn't a good thing. There was also the fact that he seemed trouble by something. That's an unusual look for him. He's never had that look on his face before, not even all the times that I bullied him. So to see him having such a look that is so new to see him have is quite a shocker. I mean, I know the past two months have been pretty rough for him, but what could've happened so recently that has had such an effect on him. Could it be that all the pain he feels he lets out when he's alone at the lake? Does he hide his emotions from everyone so that no one can see what he feels? Does he save his pain for when he's alone? It makes feel worse for being so mean to him. He never did anything to make me hate him, and yet I just went ahead and decided to be such a total bitch towards him. He wasn't a terrible person at all. He was a great and wonderful person. How can the world be so cruel? How could I be so cruel?

"Clarisse." Both Angelica and Paulina said as they finally found me.

"Hey guys." I said.

"Where did you go? We've been looking all over for you." Paulina said.

"I needed to get a little fresh air." I answered.

"Okay, well, we've got the obstacle tower competition coming up right before lunch, so we need to get ready." Paulina said.

"Oh, okay. I'll go get ready." I said turning to head over to my cabin to get ready.

When I got to my cabin, I got my combat gloves on and ready for the tower. I didn't really need to get ready for anything, I just used what I said as an excuse to get a couple of minutes to myself. As soon as I got my gloves on, I sat on my bed and let my thoughts dwell on Percy again. I can't help but worry about him. I also can't help but dwell on what a terrible person I've been towards him. I've been delivering him nothing but pain and grief, and all he ever offered me in return was kindness and care. He tried to help me when the Colchis Bull tried to kill me and everyone else in camp. Other than his cyclops brother Tyson, no one else was willing to ever help me with anything. Everyone else just stood back and watched. Percy tried to help and save me, and all I did was make a sarcastic remark on how he's still alive. And then there was the night my quest was called. He tried to warn me that Luke was after the Golden Fleece to and that if I end up facing him, my quest will only be all the more complicated. I didn't heed his warning. Instead, I just told him to try not wreck things at camp while I was away. And then there was the quest. He knew he wasn't allowed to interfere with another demigod's quest, but he didn't care. He only cared about making sure camp would be saved and being able to help in any way he could. All he wanted was to help me and he didn't care if it cost him something or not. Even though I somewhat accepted his help, I was still a selfish shit towards him. Yet despite all of that, he's still here today, trying to be a calm and friendly person to everyone in camp, and not caring who they are or what they've done. How can Percy be so forgiving? How can he just be so selfless? How can he be so caring? How can he be so generous to everyone around him and not care what others think about him? I don't understand how Percy is able to possess the personality he has. He doesn't care if he's a winner or a loser, he just wants to be the best of himself, nothing more than that. I hate to admit it, but Percy is a much better person than what I could ever be. It's really no wonder why he's clearly Chiron's favorite student. Everyone knows how Chiron 'secretly' favors Percy over everyone else here. I just wish I could fix everything I've ever done to him. I want to, but I don't know how to.

Hours later, the horn sounding the beginning of the obstacle tower competition was blown. Taking a deep breath, I got up from my bed and exited my cabin. I made my way to the arena and I got ready for another victory at a competition. A lot of other campers had already started trying to climb up the tower and to get the ring in the tower's helmet before everyone else. Everyone who wasn't competing was sitting on the bleachers, watching, cheering, and enjoying the show. Everyone competing were trying to climb the best they could, but everyone kept getting knock down from the tower. As for me, I decided to wait until most of everyone was either giving up or not able to get back up. As I did that though, I slowly realized something, Percy wasn't here. Completely forgetting about the obstacle tower, I looked everywhere for any signs of Percy, but I couldn't find him anywhere. I was expecting to find him here by now since like me, he competes in every camp activity. He's not here though, which worried me. I thought he'd be here by now. Maybe he was just running a little late, maybe he was just getting ready and was on his way.

Looking back at the tower, almost everyone else was already down. I took this as my que to drop in. I jumped on the closest latter and made my way up the ladder. Achieving that, I went for what I consider the fun part, note the sarcasm in my voice right now. I climbed the tower. As I did, people started to chant me name, cheering me on to win this, like how I always win at everything. Like they even need to think anyone can beat me. I made it to the top of the tower, and was ready to achieve my victory. But before I did, I looked around to make sure everyone could see me. Detecting that I had all eyes on me, I grabbed the ring out of the helmet and held it high in the air for everyone to see. That's when the crowded roared for my victory and chanted my name again. Like every other time, I've got the crowd at my worship. So I grabbed a hold of a rope and slid back down to the ground.

"The winner of today's competition is the daughter of the god of war, Clarisse." Chiron announced.

The crowd cheered for a few minutes until it was about time for everyone to leave the arena. I was being applauded and cheered at again as I took my leave. But before I got far, I was stopped.

"Clarisse La Rue." Called Mr. D.

I turned over to his direction to see him coming over to me. He looked like his usual self. He didn't look any different than what he usually does. I have to admit, with what went on at the party last night with his children being able to sneak some alcohol beverages into the camp, I was kinda expecting for him to be in a grumpy mood about that. I mean who wouldn't think that? He is after all the god of wine. We all know how much not being able to drink any wine for the next century is a living hell for him. He suffers his worst punishment ever for falling in love with a naiad that his father Zeus had a thing for as well. Ironic irony if you ask me.

"Yes Mr. D." I said.

"I have to ask, have you seen Peter Johnson?" Mr. D asked me.

"His name is actually Percy Jackson sir." I said.

"Whatever, look, back to my question. Have you seen him?" Mr. D asked again.

"No, why?" I responded.

"Because he was supposed to be in the arena during the competition like everyone else, but he never showed up." Mr. D said.

"He didn't?" I asked confused and surprised.

"Nope. He never showed up." Mr. D said.

This was so unlike him. Percy has never ditched before. This was just so unlike him. I don't know him that well, but I do know him well enough to know that as of right now, something was up with him and that he was hiding something.

"I'm afraid that I don't know what's up Mr. D." I said.

"Alright, well, if you find him, tell him I am only offering him one warning. If he ditches a second time, he will be in very serious trouble." Mr. D said taking his leave.

When Mr. D was out of sight, I ran over to the first place I thought of that I could probably find him, where I found him this morning, the lake. I didn't know if I expected him to still be there, but it was the only place I can think of to start off with. Plus I don't really know where else he would be right now. Again, I don't really know too much about the guy. Though that didn't stop the fact that I couldn't help but worry about him. Clearly, something is troubling him, and even though I don't know what exactly, I do know one thing for sure. Whatever is troubling him, it has something to do with me. I know that I'm responsible for this sudden change in him. That feeling made me hope that he was still there. But when I got there, even though I wasn't expecting him to be there, I was hoping still that he was there so I don't end putting myself in a position where I basically have to go on a wild goose chase just to find him, he wasn't there. His guitar wasn't there either. My hopes of finding here were false. At first, I thought he was underwater, I thought he was in the lake. I was very tempted to go in there and look to see if I was right or not. But then I remembered what he said earlier today.

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.

With that in mind, that confirmed that he was indeed not here and that I have no idea where he could be right now. I wanted to know where he was, but I didn't want to spend time trying to find him, since looking for him will require me to most likely look all over camp. So that left me with one other option, just wait for him to turn up. He's bound to show up again sooner or later.

-Line Break-

It was dinner time. I was sitting with Angelica and Paulina again at my table again and we were eating our meals as well as having random conversations. When I say random, I literally mean random. With us being people stuck in one place, seeing each other every day, and eventually learning about everything that happens in camp, there isn't much of a single new subject to talk about. It gets kinda boring around here pretty easily from time to time. Everyone else was enjoying their meals as well as randomly conversing like us. I went along with randomly conversing with Angelica and Paulina until I caught a glimpse of a pair of sea green eyes making its way to the pavilion. Completely ignoring my friends now, I turned to the glimpse that I found. Percy came in and got himself some food, but not too much. He only got himself some fruit and veggies. He looked a little better than how he did this morning, his eyes didn't have any bags anymore nor where they bloodshot, some of the color and life in his eyes were back to, and he seemed a little more like his old self again. He didn't look exactly back to normal, but he did seem better than this morning, so I guess that's better than nothing. The one awkward thing though was that he had a pair of earphones in his ears. He was listening to some music. I have to say, I had no idea he could be pretty daring. Demigods using electronics is an easy way for monsters to detect you and find you so they can kill you. Cell phones alert them the easiest. Things like IPods, IPads, and laptops, they're not as dangerous for us to use like cell phones, but they still do give away our presence to monsters. I mean, I know we're in camp, and nothing will be able to get through the barrier thanks to the Golden Fleece we were able to recover, but still, who knew Percy could actually be so daring.

"Oh Percy." Cooed Drew from the Aphrodite table.

"Drew." Percy said voided with emotions.

"Come sit with me babe." Drew said gesturing for Percy sit by her at her table, and in doing so, starting to irritate me yet again.

"No thanks." Percy simply said before taking a seat at the Poseidon table and began silently eating food and listening to his music.

Looking at Drew, I could tell she was not taking her being rejected by Percy too well. I could tell she was planning to come onto him yet again. She wanted Percy, and she was not taking him not being interested in her well at all.

"I don't bite Percy. You have nothing to fear. You can trust me to take good care of you." Drew tried to persuade him.

"Again, no thanks." Percy said still void of emotions.

She was leaning on the edge of her chair and getting ready to get up from her seat. I could tell she was about to get up and go over to him. Angelica and Paulina were starting to snicker at the scenery. They were snickering at both Percy's and Drew's misfortunes right now. I had nothing to snicker about. The only thing I felt like doing was to just beat Drew down yet again. As for Percy, well, I still just felt bad for being how I was to him. I wanted to make it up to him. And I had an idea of how I could at least make a start and an attempt. Keep that bitch away from him.

"Come on Percy, you know you want to." Drew cooed, still trying to get Percy over to herself.

Percy didn't say anything this time. He just sighed irritated. Then he held his IPod up for her to see and showed her that he was turning up the volume of his music, and then just went back to eating. He was basically making a demonstration of how he intends to make sure he doesn't hear another word from her. I couldn't help but smirk at that. Drew, getting offended by that, was about to make yet another move. Feeling the urge to rub salt in the wound, I picked up my food and got up from my table.

"Where are you going?" Paulina asked me.

"Clarisse?" Angelica asked me.

I just completely ignored them both and continued head towards my destination. I went and sat by Percy. He looked confused by this, as did a few other campers. Back then, I'd never let this happen, but after revealing to everyone this morning that I clearly hate Drew a million times more than Percy, I have complete confidence and tolerance in this.

"Clarisse?" Percy asked confused.

"Like I said, Drew's never touching you." I said patting his shoulder and getting back to eating.

In the corners of my eyes, I could see Drew glare at me, which I was perfectly okay with, and Percy slightly smiling in gratitude to me before he goes back to his fruit and veggies. This will definitely make things interesting around here.

That came out a little differently than what I was originally intending, but oh well. I like where I'm taking the story, so that's all that really matters. Well, now that this update is taken care of, I better get to work on the updates for 'A Dying Romance', 'Danny Phantom's Night Out', and 'Love The Goddesses'. Hopefully I can an update for those stories posted before the week ends. I'll update again as soon as possible. God, please let the holidays get here fast.