Warning: very lame chapter up ahead. If you just want to read the good stuff, you'll have to wait quite a few chapters. If you're not looking for pure-boredom and filler-chapters, turn back now.

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Somehow, I managed to convince both Annabeth and Chiron that it was a good idea for me to leave Camp for a few days, possibly a week. Don't ask me how I did, because I personally don't know. Something about, "I'll call you every five minutes to assure you I'm not dead," and "I just want to say hi, honest."

I wanted to fly to Chicago to see my old friends; it'd been about five months since I've seen them and I've been dying to just talk to them once. I'd left them abruptly back in June just before I found out I was a demigod, and I've been itching to see them. I fully realized this would probably be the last time I'd see them, even if I weren't to die in the impending war.

But Annabeth and Chiron thought it was a bad. I wasn't sure why the Minotaur had attacked me in the middle of the day in the center of Chicago, as monsters don't generally single out and attack the children of minor gods (because they aren't something called important). However, given recent events, Annabeth suspects that Morpheus will try and kill me if I leave Camp, as it's physically impossible for him to do so within the boundaries.

I was ecstatic to go and see my friends. The only bad part? I have to bring Annabeth with. Despite the fact that I can fight a lot better than Annabeth and defend myself more easily, Chiron decided that it would be "best" if I brought her along. Personally, I was insulted by this insinuation and thought it'd be better for me to go alone, but I supposed it'd be better to go with her then to not go at all.

We left early on a Monday, around 5 AM. This time, Percy wouldn't be going with us; we were allowed to go on an airplane. Argus saw us off as we hopped on our respective plane to Chicago.

During the entire plane ride, Annabeth kept going off on how much she loved architecture (as if no one knew already) and how much Percy annoyed her (despite everyone knowing clearly that they were madly in love and meant to be). Personally, she annoyed me too. In fact, I had a very tempting urge to punch her. Don't get me wrong-I like Annabeth, I really do. She's very nice. But...I just find her to be midly annoying.

When we touched down in Chicago, we immediately set out to find my friends. I knew all of the spots they would generally congregate to, but I'd been away from them long enough to know that they might've moved where they hang out to avoid the cops getting familiar with their spots.

Annabeth and I headed down town where we caught sight of familiar black hair. As Annabeth was nearly hyperventilating and checking every corner for monsters, I noticed three teenagers zooming by on the other side of the road on skateboards. Immediately, a boy roughly of the same physical appearance of Shane went by. Without questioning, I knew where they were heading to.

After a couple of minutes, we came to the skate park where I would usually meet up with all my friends. A bunch of teenage boys were zooming around on their skateboards while girls sat on the side, gossiping and cheering the guys on. Only a couple of kids didn't look familiar to me. The rest were all friends.

I grinned to myself and quickened by pace; Annabeth was just a foot behind me. Together, we walked straight into the park and to the biggest cluster of teens. They all had their backs to us initially, but they all turned to look at Annabeth and I as we moved closer to them.

Jack was the first face I recognized. He stuck out like a sore thumb, mainly because he was twice the size of everyone else and clearly the leader of the pack. When I'd first met him, I was afraid of the kid, even though we were young back then; he just screamed authority. If he didn't steal for a living, Jack would make one intimidating cop. His greasy dark hair and dazzling blue eyes were precisely as I remembered, but somehow darker and crueler. Jack's happy grin immediately turned into a sneer.

Stephanie, a good friend, beamed and stepped forward. "Violet! You're okay! Where have you been?"

She and Shane ran up to me, hugging me awkwardly in a tight group. Huge smiles covered their faces; they seemed genuinely happy to see me. Shane let go of me and took a step back to look me over.

"Where have you been, Vi? After you and Grover took off, we looked for you guys. What happened?"

I grimaced, "I don't think you'd really believe me, Shane." He raised his eyebrows but didn't say anything. Shane's eyes darted to Annabeth.

"Oh, sorry. Annabeth, this is Shane and Steph. Guys, this is Annabeth."

Annabeth exchanged a handshake with Shane and Stephanie respectively. I turned to look at Jack who was frowning, along with quite a few people. Slowly, I walked up to him.

"Hey, Jack."

He narrowed his eyes. "What do you think you're doing?"

"What do you mean?"

"You take off for five months and just stroll on back like nothing happened? We search for three months for you."

I winced and looked away from Jack's smothering eyes. "I know. I got caught up in some things and had stuff to do. I'm sorry."

Jack snorted and walked away, his loyal followers going after him like lost puppies. He grabbed a skateboard and turned back to me. "I'm sorry too, Violet. But you aren't welcome here. You don't just take off and not even contact us, and then expect to have everything cool when you decide to show up. We're a family, Violet, and that's not what family does."

He hopped on the skateboard and skated over to the younger kids hitting the ramps. I turned around to find Annabeth with her mouth tight and seemingly biting back some retort, like "I told you so." Shane shook his head and kicked the ground with his foot.

"Sorry about Jack, Violet. You know how he is."

Stephanie frowned and shook her head violently. "He's a jerk. Jack's just mad because he thought you took off to be with Grover…you didn't, did you?"

I shook my head with disgust. "I didn't mean to take off. Things just…happened. I meant to return back to you guys, but fate came along and changed everything."

Shane frowned but didn't respond to that. "Are you staying this time? You and Annabeth?"

For a second, I contemplated that thought. How amazing it would be, to just be with my best friends again and never think about being a demigod or the impending war again. That was their world; being human was my world. Why was I supposed to help change something I didn't want to be apart of?

But I knew I couldn't. One: Jack probably wouldn't allow it. It was clear that he didn't want me to be in the group, which hurt a lot, but I knew about his little policy from day one. Second: I suppose this safe, human world wasn't mine. I was the daughter of a god and bred to fight.

Besides, Annabeth wouldn't let me.

Said girl shook her head and timidly stepped towards me. "Sorry, Shane, but Violet only came to say goodbye."

Both Shane and Stephanie did a double take.

"Goodbye," Shane choked out. "Why are you saying goodbye? I know Jack's a pain in the arse, but you can still always call us up!"

Right there, I wanted to cry my eyes out. In not even a year, I'd probably be dead. I would be up against my father in the middle of a war; demigods usually didn't make it out of a fight against gods alive. In fact, I'd be better off dead then what I was going to get as a punishment.

I shook my head, "I'm sorry guys. But after this, we'll probably never see each other again. I just wanted to see you one last time."

Twenty minutes later, Annabeth and I were heading to the hotel we'd be staying in for one night before we took the next plane to New York. I only saw my friends for a few minutes, but that was probably for the best. I didn't need to spend my time caught up in a past life of childhood homelessness and stealing to live.

I had more important things to do and think about. I had to train. I had to practice using my powers without passing out for hours at a time. If I was going to fight against the Titans and my father, I would need all the training I could get.

Sitting in the hotel room, Annabeth and I didn't talk. I knew she felt bad that only two of my former friends so much as talked to me, but I didn't feel as bad as she possibly imagined. I had new friends, ones that understood me precisely and could help me more than my old ones could. I wasn't a street rat, I was a demigod.

As I climbed into one of the beds, Annabeth turned out the light and got into her bed. It was much better than sleeping on the floor of the cabin.

"Hey Violet?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry about your friends."

"It's fine, Annabeth."

"No really, I am sorry."

"Hey Annabeth?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

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*Author's Note*

Told you it was lame. I have to admit, it's just a filler. In fact, most of the chapters will just be fillers; I would gladly just skip to the last few chapters, but I was advised against doing so.

Anyway, sorry I took awhile to update (and you just get crap after waiting), but I've been quite busy. School, work, Mario Cart on the Wii (ahh, good times Becca). I wrote the last chapter of Sleepyhead already, so I know precisely where I want to go with this. Plus, I've been coming up and planning out ideas for more stories (including one for you Becca…hmm, I seem to talk about you a lot).

Leave me a comment telling me if I should I continue with a full story, or just post the good stuff (I promise the other fillers won't me as lame, though. I pledge myself to that at least). And let me know which god sounds the best for a story I'm thinking of (not revealing any details, of course): Janus, Hecate, Hestia, Apollo, Poseidon, or Nyx.

Thank you!

XxSamacoyxX