Hi again! I've had serious writer's block with this chapter, but I've finally got it finished, so I hope you like it XD You may have noticed that I've changed all my chapter names to song names and I want you to know that I don't own any of those (just to be clear)

Enjoy xx

Hazel's POV

Today has officially been the worst day of my new life. Well, maybe I'm exaggerating a tiny, little bit, but still - pretty bad day. I mean, everything was going fine until Leo Valdez showed up. Valdez. As in 'Sammy Valdez', my kind-of-almost-boyfriend who I left behind in my old life. I would be fine with it – if he wasn't the spitting image of Sammy. Same hair, same face, same smile, same everything. And that means he's related to Sammy, which also means that Sammy moved on. Without me.

Honestly, I can't blame him. He would've woken up one day, maybe gone to my house to see me and realised that I wasn't there. That I'd vanished. And he would've searched everywhere, asked anyone and everyone if they knew what'd happened, where I'd gone. But no one would, because I was here, in the future. I left him without any explanation, without even a goodbye. He must've hated me, I thought bitterly, and even though it shouldn't, my heart gave a painful squeeze. My eyes had started watering.

"…and then Percy – wait, Hazel, are you even listening to me?" Frank's voice snapped me out of my daze and I looked up at him.

"What? Oh…err, no, sorry, I didn't catch that." He gave me an incredulous look and then frowned.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his tone concerned, "You look a bit green." Do people go green when they're lovesick?

"Yeah, I'm fine, I think I just need a bit of fresh air to clear my head." I grimaced. Why did I say that? It made me sound like I was making an excuse to be away from him.

But Frank just nodded sympathetically at me, "Okay, I'll leave you to it." He patted me awkwardly on the arm, turned and walked away. Don't go, said the voice in my head, but I ignored it. I really could do with some alone time.

Frank had just come back from the meeting with all of the potential seven candidates from the prophecy (excluding me), plus Reyna and Thalia. Octavian wasn't happy that he got left out and started ranting and raving to anyone who'd listen about how the Graecus were a bad omen. Whatever. As for me, I really didn't want to be anywhere near that Leo kid in case I did something really stupid, like calling him Sammy instead of Leo. That would give me some explaining to do, because no one knew my secret except Nico and I couldn't talk to him right now since Annabeth put him on the naughty step for not telling her that he was here. He was going to be in a pretty bad mood. Anyway, I had to tell Frank some random excuse so I wouldn't have to go. I can't even remember what it was, but I don't think he believed me. He let me stay anyway. That's what I like so much about him; he trusts me with his life. He'll go along with anything I do and won't even question it.

By now I was out of the main part of the village, on the outskirts of the forest. I wasn't sure where to go next. Somewhere excluded, where no one else would be likely to go. Maybe the beach? That always seemed to work for Percy. I did a mental shrug: why not?

Percy really chooses the best places to be. The beach here is the most peaceful place I've been in a while; it's so quiet, and the rhythmic sound of the waves crashing against the shore is hypnotising. Like this, lying in the sand just listening, I can almost forget about Him. Almost. But try as I might, he's still there at the back of my mind, a reminder of what could've been. What would've been, for sure, if my mother hadn't taken me to Alaska to work as Gaia's slave. If I hadn't died trying to save her. If I hadn't been transported here. So many ifs. I wish they would just go away.

I sighed and closed my eyes, but that didn't help. If anything, that just made the memories louder. I could almost hear Sammy's voice now, muttering, annoyed and angry. Wait, why would Sammy be angry? I thought, just as someone stepped on my stomach.

"Ahhhh!" I screamed, and scrambled away from the offender. They tripped over my legs and fell onto the floor, cursing and sending up clouds of sand as they did so.

"What the hell!" I shouted at him. It was a boy. I could tell that now; he'd rolled over and was staring at me like he'd only just realised I was there, the angry look fading from his eyes.

"Sorry," he mumbled, "I didn't see you."

"Didn't see me? How could you not see me? I was lying right in front of you!" I was really angry now. How dare he just barge in and step on me?

"Well, maybe if you weren't lying in the middle of the sand we wouldn't have had this problem in the first place!" He snapped, and then sighed, "Look, I really am sorry. I was distracted; I should've looked where I was going." He got up and started to brush sand off his clothes. Now I got a good look at him. He had curly, black hair and a kind of elfish face. Oh gods. It was Leo. I swallowed and tried to act normally. Keep calm, I told myself, but I wasn't listening.

I attempted to get up and gasped. My stomach! It felt like someone had just stabbed me. Leo looked at me like I was mad, but then realised I was hurt and knelt down beside me. He looked strangely concerned for someone who's only known me for five minutes.

"Are you okay?" He asked. That's the second time someone's said that to me today I thought, and almost laughed even though it wasn't funny. I felt another twinge of pain as I moved slightly.

"My stomach…" For some reason I didn't want to tell him that he was the one who'd hurt me.

"Oh, gods, did I do that?" He said as realisation dawned upon him. He grimaced, "Will you let me look at it?" I regarded him warily, "It's okay, I won't bite," he joked, and grinned. I suppose one look won't hurt. I raised the bottom of my camp T-shirt so he could see the wound, and looked at it myself. There was a big bruise already starting to form and there was a graze in the shape of a heel from where the shoe had nicked it.

"Wow, I'm heavier than I thought," he said, still smiling.

"Need to cut down on the chocolate," I replied.

He looked at me with mock horror, "How did you know?" and despite myself, I laughed. It hurt my stomach, but I didn't really notice the pain that much anymore. He was laughing as well, and I realised that his laugh was completely different to Sammy's – and I liked it.

He got up and held his hand out to me. I gave him a questioning look.

"It'll help you up," he explained. So I gave him my hand and he pulled me up. When he touched me I felt a little electric shock go up my arm. I couldn't tell for sure, but I thought he felt it too. It was probably just the static from the sand. You get static from trampolines, not sand, Said the voice in my head. I ignored it.

Once I was up, he let go of my hand like it held the plague and cleared his throat, "We need to get you to the infirmary." He said. He looked like he was starting to regret helping me, and I'm not sure why but I felt disappointed. I started to turn away.

"You don't have to come. I know the way – I can get there by myself." I walked briskly towards the tree line.

"No, wait!" He hurried to catch up with me and I quickened my pace, but then I felt him touch my arm. I whirled around to tell him I was perfectly capable of walking by myself for five minutes and– stopped.

I didn't realise how close he would be when I turned; there was only about two centimetres between us. I looked into his eyes and was startled by their brightness. They were a beautiful shade of bright, bright blue, brighter than Sammy's. I don't know how I could've ever thought they were the same. My heart sped up when I took in the rest of his face – he was perfect. And then I looked up again and our eyes locked. I realised his hand was still on my arm and it felt like he was electrifying me, but it felt amazing.

"I didn't get your name," he whispered.

"Hazel. My name is Hazel." I told him, and suddenly was snapped out of my trance. I paled and bolted for the trees, ignoring the pain it caused me.

"No, Hazel, come back!" he shouted after me, but I didn't listen. I had to get somewhere where he wouldn't see me.

As I entered the forest I heard him cursing. I tried not to look back, but I couldn't help it. He was standing where I'd left him looking angry with himself.

"Damn! Stupid. Stupid!" he shouted, and kicked the boulder next to him. Hard. "Owwwwwwww!" he howled in pain, clutching his injured foot and hopping around in a circle. He looked so funny like that, I couldn't help it - I laughed.

His head snapped up, looking for the source of the sound, but he was too late. I was already gone.

Tada! I really enjoyed writing this chapter even though it was hard because I didn't know what to do.

Can anyone else not wait 'till spring? Everything good is happening then – all the new books come out (Mortal Instruments 5!) and the HUNGER GAMES FILM! XD

Anyway, sorry about my random rant there.

IMPORTANT FOR 'SAM'

Dear 'Sam' in response to your 'dumbo' comment – you can hardly call me a 'dumbo' when you called Hazel by the wrong name [Piper] after reading the story a minute before. I haven't read Son of Neptune since September and I don't possess a copy myself so I'm sorry if it's upset you that I've forgotten some of the details.

Please review (I would prefer constructive criticism, not insults) x