Sorry that I haven't been updating for my other stories lately. Semester tests are this week and I been trying to study for them. I don't think I'll be able to update for any of my stories until the upcoming weekend, maybe even not until next Sunday. But I'll get working on my stories as soon as I'm done with my semester tests. Unless I decide to work on my novel instead since I haven't even been working on that lately either because of my upcoming semester tests. Other than that, here's the next chapter.

The Secret Is Out

Percy's POV

I don't know about all of you people out there. I don't even know about everyone else here in camp. But I do know one thing, I doubt I'm gonna get use to this. And by that, I mean I don't think I'll get use to Clarisse not being a bully to me. With how much she has been and for how much of a bully she's been to me ever since she first laid eyes on me, it's just hard to believe that we're actually on somewhat friendly terms. True, it's all I've ever wanted from her, but still, it's just hard to believe that it's actually happening. I have to say though, so far, I like Clarisse better when she's asleep. Here I am, sitting on the chair to my desk in my cabin and I'm just doing nothing but starring at Clarisse, who has been sleeping soundly and peacefully on my bed for over an hour. She had a small smile on the corner of her mouth, one of her hands resting between my pillow and her head with the other hand on her elbow, her hair in a ponytail and her legs wide out on my bed, and having our little baby growing inside her belly.

I can't believe I'm going to be a father. I mean, out of all the accomplishments I could ever achieve in my life, I never thought bearing the gift of raising a child was ever going to be one of them. I just wonder how everyone is going to take this news. I guess it won't really matter too much just as long Clarisse and I have their support. I just hope we do have everyone's support. We're really going to need it. I mean, this child is not only my child as well as Clarisse's, but this child is also a grandchild of Poseidon and Ares. As far as I can tell, this baby is going to be the very first second generation demigod since Chaos knows how many years exactly. Most demigods end up dead around age 18 or so, so this is going to be completely new for camp. Out of everyone though, I really hope Poseidon and Ares don't end up wanting either of us and/or the baby dead. If anyone wants to cause any harm to my child, they're gonna have to get through me first.

As time slowly went on, the horn signaling that it was now dinner time was called out. Getting up from my chair, I went over and placed my hand on Clarisse to wake her up by gently shaking her shoulder.

"Hey, Clarisse." I whispered.

"Hm?" Clarisse responded waking up and rubbing her eyes so she could open them.

"It's dinner time." I whispered.

"Alright." Clarisse responded through a big yawn and slowly getting up.

We got up and out of my cabin. Clarisse was still rubbing her eyes. She also looked pretty tired, and she definitely wasn't acting much like someone who would be wide awake right now. I guess she's like me. When I wake up sometimes, I just want to go back to sleep because I'm not ready to out of bed just yet. I've been through that quite a number of times in my life. It's irritated a lot of people as well. Oh well, it is what it is.

As we made it to the dining pavilion, the atmosphere was definitely awkward to say the least. When Clarisse and I got there, it was either just me, or I was able to feel everyone's eyes on us. I tried to ignore it as much as I could as I went up to get myself some food. Tonight, I got myself some more fruit and raw veggies, which seems to me the only thing I eat now a days. But now, I decided to get myself a little more food. After what I learned, I'm in serious need to try to satisfy my appetite tonight. I got myself some pasta, a New York strip steak, two blueberry muffins, and a diet coke. Yeah, for the first time in the month that has passed by, I have ate nothing but fruit and veggies. Needless to say, I ended up losing quite a lot of weight from it. I didn't have much fat, but I still ended up burning a few extra calories. Getting my food, I went over to my table. Clarisse came to my table after she got her food as well. It was the beginning of the weekend, so she was allowed to. She got herself a light salad as well as some raw veggies and fruit, and then two turkey breast sandwiches.

Though over the month, she just sat here to keep Drew away from me. This time, well, as you all know, now there's a personal reason behind this. Now the unfortunate thing about that, shortly after Clarisse started sitting at my table on weekends, her two friends Angelica and Paulina started to as well. And speak of the devil as I just said that, because Angelica and Paulina both eventually came over with their food. Usually when they come here though, it's in a look that says "you're a loser and I hate you". Now their faces have some sort of look that says "What the fuck?" They both didn't seem like their usual selves right now. I guess them finding out that the leader of our trio is actually going to be carrying a child for the next seven to eight months from now is not really sitting well for them. Though something in me was trying to warn me that this was a little more than just that.

"What's with you two?" Clarisse asked.

They didn't respond at first. They both just looked at each other and were what I thought was debating on something. They didn't even say anything to each other either, they just seemed to be trying to tell each other something through their eyes. I couldn't follow it at all, and I really doubted Clarisse was able to follow it either.

"You have some serious nerve Jackson." Angelica said with a death glare towards me and gritting teeth.

"First of all, I haven't said anything yet. Second of all, what are you talking about?" I said in a normal tone.

I wasn't afraid of their death glares even in the slightest. I've seen many more serious death glares than what Angelica and Paulina have and believe me, they all surpass their death glares by a mile, and that saying a lot. Plus with how many death glares people have already given me here, I've already gotten completely use to it.

"You know damn well what we're talking about Jackson." Paulina said exactly the same as how Angelica was talking right now, death glare in her eyes and gritting teeth.

'Man, these two really make it easy for me to want to have a holiday from here.' I thought to myself.

"Maybe I actually would know what you two are talking about if you could actually clarify on what you mean. You know, be more specific." I said still not feeling intimidated by them.

"We're talking about the fact you're the one who got Clarisse pregnant." Both Angelica and Paulina said.

Clarisse and I stopped dead in our tacks at eating our food. How the fuck could they know that? I mean, I know they found out that Clarisse is pregnant, they found out that she was carrying a child the exact time Clarisse found out since the two of them were in the infirmary with Clarisse when she found out. But how could they already know that I'm the father? Is it really that obvious? . . . Okay, that might be a stupid question. I guess it should be pretty obvious if you think logically about it. I mean, who else could the father be but me? I was the only guy around Clarisse when she was completely drunk off her ass that night. But then again, thinking logically isn't exactly a common trait for us demigods, not even for children of Athena. Believe me, I've been there and witnessed it myself. Logic isn't exactly a part of a demigod's life, only challenges, difficulties, hard ways, and very tough situations. So honestly, the fact that Angelica and Paulina have already found out actually shocks me. Or as I usually say in times like this, I'm godsmacked.

"How do you guys know that?" Clarisse asked.

"We heard you earlier." Paulina answered.

Earlier? When? What earlier? I don't recall them ever being around us. As far as I could tell, they weren't around us at all. So could they . . . oh. That's how.

"You were spying on us weren't you? You were keeping tabs on us in my cabin." I concluded in which they both responded with a simple nod, so that was the noise I thought Clarisse and I faintly heard outside my cabin earlier.

"And you two told everyone else to, haven't you?" I stated.

"Clarisse, what were you thinking?" Angelica asked, completely ignoring me at the moment.

"I thought we already went through this Angelica." Clarisse said.

"What did you do to her Jackson?" Paulina asked me.

"I haven't done anything to her. / He hasn't done anything to me." Clarisse and I said at the exact same time.

'Woah, that was weird.' I thought to myself.

"He clearly did something Clarisse." Angelica said, which got this commotion on my table to a point where we were starting to attract attention from most of the entire camp now, aka, confirming me the fact that the whole camp or at least a good majority of the camp for now did indeed know about my baby.

"I did this to myself." Clarisse said.

"Why!?" Angelica asked.

"It's not like she meant for it to happen Angelica. She was completely drunk off her ass after drinking so much at that party and she wasn't able to think straight. It's not her fault." I said trying to stand up for Clarisse.

"But you weren't." Angelica said giving me the death glare and gritting teeth treatment yet again.

"I lead her to her cabin to just have her get some rest before things got out of hand and she came on to me." I explained.

"And you did nothing! You just let her pleasure you!" Paulina said raising her voice.

"Hey, I tried to stop her, but she literally had me pinned down onto her bed. I had no way whatsoever of resisting her. Again, it's not like we planned for this to happen." I said as calmly as I could, which was actually starting to get a little difficult with how these two won't stop getting off our asses about this.

"Well thanks to you being the pathetic weakling you are, it did happen. And also now thanks to you, our reputation has been shot because of that thing, that atrocity growing inside of her." Angelica said getting pretty angry right now.

I think that all four of us at this table right now have something to be angry about. Though I think Clarisse ended up becoming the angriest out of the four of us. Because as soon as Angelica said what she said a few seconds ago, Clarisse let out a gasp. A gasp as in she couldn't believe what she had just heard and that she clearly didn't like it one bit. Though what went on after that though was not quite what I would ever expect from this moment right now. As soon as Clarisse let out that gasp, she grabbed a hold of her bowl of salad and threw it right at Angelica's face. Needless to say, Paulina and I were both actually shocked to witness that. Everyone else was pretty shocked to see this as well, considering the fact that this turn of event earned a lot of gasps and snickers from others around us. Though all the gasps with the exception of mine and Paulina's turned into laughs as the bowl fell from Angelica's face and onto the table, showing us the look of her face being covered with salad, ranch, and blue cheese. I have to admit, I did find it kinda funny. But considering the situation Clarisse and I are in right now, this really is nowhere near the best time to be throwing in some laughter. And Angelica was pretty livid about it herself, not that anyone can blame her.

"What was that for Clarisse!?" Angelica said in irritation and shock with food all over her face.

"How dare you!" Clarisse started standing up from the Poseidon table.

Angelica and Paulina didn't say anything at that. Apparently Clarisse doing and/or acting like this towards them instead of someone else is a completely new turn of events for them. Then again, I guess this whole business is completely new for the entire camp.

"How dare you say such a thing about my baby! How dare you describe my unborn child as nothing more than an abomination! It's just an innocent child that doesn't get to have a say in this matter at all! This baby hold no fault over what happened that night! So you leave my baby out of this!" Clarisse exclaimed.

'Holy fuck. I didn't really think Clarisse could actually get loose like this. While I am happy that she is defending our child, in a typical Clarisse La Rue kind of way of course, I'm not sure if she should be getting this angry. I don't remember much about pregnancy, but I do know that there are certain things both she and I need to be aware of to be careful with both her and the baby. I'm gonna have to look into this a little.' I thought to myself.

"And you leave Percy alone to. I will not tolerate you making his honor and conscience look like nothing but a mere word. I will not tolerate you two or anyone daring to make an embarrassment out of the father of my child." Clarisse said shallowly breathing.

I was shocked to hear that. It actually wasn't just our unborn baby that she was standing up for. She was standing up for all three of us, herself, our child, and even me. She's actually going to be on my side in front of the whole camp. I knew there were going to be quite a number of changes with this, though I didn't really expect those changes to be happening so soon or so fast. Man, this is just so unbelievable. I guess it's like how I basically said before, fate is quite the creature.

"And what about you?" Paulina asked me as Angelica grabbed a few napkins to wipe Clarisse's salad off of her face.

As soon as Paulina asked me that, I got up and placed my hand on Clarisse shoulder.

"I'm with her all the way. Come on Clarisse. Let's get out of here." I firmly said, leading her out of here.

I still felt everyone's eyes on us, but right now, I could give such a fuck less. I just wanted to get Clarisse out of there because I had a very strong feeling that despite the fact that this was going to make things pretty interesting, I needed to get her out of there and somewhere the two of us could be by ourselves for a little while. I lead her back to my cabin. It was the first place I could think of. And plus I think Clarisse and I might be a bit safer there instead of anywhere else here in camp. As soon as we entered my cabin, I locked the door and sat Clarisse back down on my bed. The whole time, she said nothing. She just kept clutching and unclutching her fists and she kept letting out shallow breaths. She settled down a little when I sat her on my bed, but only a little.

"I'm sorry about that." Clarisse quietly said.

"There was no telling what was going to happen out there. It's not like anyone met for any of that to happen." I said trying to calm her down a little, which didn't seem to work too well.

"Hey, look on the bright side, at least we don't have to worry about hiding anything anymore. And that everyone knows now that if they have something to say about our baby, they'll make sure it's something nice. Otherwise they got the temper of Clarisse La Rue to suffer." I said wrapping an arm around her and slightly shaking her a bit, which actually earned a smile and chuckle from her.

'Two points for me.' I thought to myself.

"I'm not letting anyone say such things to our baby." Clarisse said.

"Neither am I. Though I may not be able to handle the situation as quickly as you." I said.

"I'm not letting anyone describe poorly of my child's father either." Clarisse added.

"The same here. No one will get away with poorly describing my child's mother." I said tightening my hold around her, which was followed by her laying her head on my shoulder.

Just then, a knock came on my door.

"If its Angelica and/or Paulina, tell them to go fuck themselves." Clarisse sighed looking away from both me and the door.

"Who is it?" I asked.

"It's Grover and Annabeth."

How was that everyone? Did you all like it or not? I'll know through your review and/or PMs. Well, I got to get back to studying. I'll update again whenever I can, which again may not be until either the weekend or sometime next week. Until then, read, review, favor, follow, and reread. Later.