Annabeth never spoke to Percy again after what happened at Capture the flag. Percy knew it was about her magical cap, but whenever he tried to apologize to her, she would draw her dagger at him. Great…he made a new enemy. Maybe being Poseidon's son isn't all that cracked up to be. Everyone in Camp avoided him, all except for Clarisse. She walks up to Percy with a huge smile on her face.
"This is amazing!" She shouted, she grabs Percy by his shoulders and lifted him up. "I knew you were special! I can't believe that you're really one of the Big Three!"
Clarisse placed Percy back down, "How do you feel Fishface?"
Percy cringed at her nickname, "I feel like everyone hates me."
"They don't hate you, they are just scared of how powerful you'll soon become," Clarisse boasted, she raised her fist in the air in confidence. "Think of all the glory you'll soon have."
Percy rubbed his chin, "No thanks."
Clarisse laughed, she pats him on the back, "Don't worry, they'll come around. There haven't been any demigods of the Big Three gods in a while, not since-"
The two demigods turned to look at the tree on Half-Blood Hill, they stared at the tree sadly for a short while.
"We don't live very long do we?" Percy asks bluntly. He turns to Clarisse. "How many demigods have died young?"
Clarisse looked at the ground in anger, "Too many…"
Percy placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, Clarisse noticed his touch and calmed down.
"Sorry," She says quickly. She turns away from Percy. "I just feel like our lives don't matter."
"Maybe we can try to make them matter," Percy says softly.
Clarisse chuckled, "That sounds like a much better plan."
"Do you want to train again?" Percy asks. "I kept thinking about how you want to see how much more powerful I could be when I'm in the water."
"That sounds…tempting. But Chiron and Mr. D want to talk to you in the Big House. If they want to talk about what I think they want to talk about, you have to get over there fast. We'll spar later," Clarisse smirks at Percy. She waved him goodbye. "I'll see you later, Fishface."
Percy watched as Clarisse walks away, he took a deep sigh and made his way over to the Big House. Where he would have a very unsettling conversation about a certain Lightning bolt.
Clarisse continued to spar on her own. She jabbed Maimer into a training dummy. She was waiting for Percy to finish his conversation with Chiron and Mr. D, she wanted to spar with him again as soon as possible. The Daughter of Ares spots a familiar bundle of blonde curls walk to the training area. Clarisse suppressed the urge to laugh.
"Hey Princess, getting some training in?" Clarisse asks casually.
Annabeth ignored her and started to practice her dagger attacks.
Clarisse shrugged off trying to communicate with the Daughter of Athena and continued training on her own.
"Why?" Annabeth says softly.
"Huh?" Clarisse thought she heard Annabeth speak. She turns to the girl. "Did you say something?"
"Why did he choose you?" Annabeth asks. She turns to face Clarisse, her grey eyes storming like small thunder clouds. "You're a bully."
"I can be very convincing," Clarisse smirks.
Annabeth gave Clarisse a hard glare. She hated Clarisse the moment she entered Camp Half-Blood. Now, she hated the Daughter of Ares even more. Clarisse noticed Annabeth's anger, she felt the urge to press her even further, but she stopped herself. She has never seen Annabeth this mad before. Before Annabeth could speak again, Percy ran up to the two demigods and stopped to catch his breath.
"Hey Fishface," Clarisse greeted. "How was it with Mr. D and Chiron?"
"It wasn't good, apparently I have to go west to find Zeus' lightning bolt because he thinks I stole it," Percy explained.
Annabeth looked at Percy with hate, "You got a quest?!"
Percy looked at Annabeth confused, why was she so mad?
"Yes, I did get a quest. Chiron said that I only bring two to help me on the quest. I chose Grover first, now I just need one more."
Annabeth got in front of Percy and glared at him, she grabbed him by the shoulders tightly, "Listen Seaweed Brain, you need me on this quest."
"You?"
"Yes, me! You need my wisdom! You need Athena's wisdom!" Annabeth shouted, she pushed her request on him more and more.
Percy looked away from Annabeth and turned to Clarisse.
"Clarisse, do you want to join me on my quest?" Percy asks.
"Wait, what?" Clarisse looked at Percy surprised.
"What?!" Annabeth shouted. "You can't bring her on the quest! She'll ruin everything!"
"Princess, Fishface made his choice," Clarisse said. She crossed her arms. "There's nothing else that you can do now."
Annabeth turned to Percy, fury flashed on her face, "First, you sliced up the magic cap my mother gave to me, now you're taking away my chance to be on a quest. You made a grave mistake."
"Listen," Percy raised both of his hands up. "I'm sorry I destroyed your cap, but Clarisse is one of the only other demigods I know here. We trained together, we were on the same team on capture the flag together, I trust her."
Clarisse looked at Percy in shock, how could Percy trust her even more than Annabeth? Annabeth's look of anger subsided, she looked at Percy in shock as well.
"Fine," Annabeth gave up. "I hope you like having a bully on your quest."
Annabeth stomped away angrily.
"Why does she hate me so much?" Percy asks Clarisse. "It has to be something more than just her cap."
"Annabeth is really smart, but she's also really stupid," Clarisse scoffed. "She believes that you two can't be friends because you're the Son of Poseidon."
"Really? That sounds dumb," Percy scoffed along with Clarisse. "She doesn't even know me. How could she just hate me just because of my dad?"
"Annabeth follows everything with extreme tradition, she hates Poseidon because of her mother, and she thinks Athena is superior to Ares."
"I'm glad that I choose you, I don't know how I would've dealt with her being on the quest."
"Do you really trust me?" Clarisse asks softly.
"I do. You're the one demigod here that treated me normally since I came here. Even though you tried to stick my head inside a toilet," Percy smirked.
"Yeah…" Clarisse looked down at the ground. Their first meeting wasn't exactly friendly. But now she sees Percy as one of her friends. Even if he's annoying sometimes.
"We should get ready for the quest, I'll fill you in on the details later," Percy pats her on the back.
"I need to grab something, I'll catch up with you later," Clarisse said.
As Percy walks away, Clarisse picks up her spear from the ground. She spots Annabeth from the bushed glaring at her, her grey eyes fuming. Clarisse sighs and walks away to catch up with Percy.