Hi again! I am sorry for not updating, but I've been busy lately. My soccer coach threatened our team with the promise of six packs by the end of the season. Gulp.

Gazzy: Oh suck it up. I got a six pack from flying all my life!

And I'm going to get one by dying at the hands of my coach! Anyway, enough complaining, on with the story!

Edited thoroughly as of 6/16/15 (:

Percy's POV

I guess it was pretty pathetic, but I was like a pricked balloon the next day.

Whenever I tried to talk to Annabeth, she scurried away from me as fast as she could. I'll admit it, I moped pretty hardcore. I had already talked to Chiron, and he had no idea what to tell me. Apparently Eros hadn't messed with any of his campers in a really long time, and even when he had before, no one had ever returned from their quests to find a reversal to the arrows' effects. That had been a truly uplifting chat.

At lunch, I couldn't really do anything but strain to try to listen to whatever Athena's kids were whispering to Annabeth. I sat alone at my table and picked at my meal, pasta and French fries, not eating much. No one could really blame me for how little I felt like eating at the moment- I was a little too preoccupied with how dead my insides felt to feel hungry. Not to mention the fact that almost every single person within a thirty foot radius was definitely keeping an eye on me, or gossiping about what had happened yesterday.

Needless to say, I left the dining pavilion as soon as possible, and headed to the Pegasus stables to talk to Blackjack. He always cheered me up, although I wasn't sure how he would manage to do so this time. At least he'd talk about something other than Annabeth- I hadn't had the energy to tell him the story of what had happened yet.

It was a really strange sensation, how much I wanted Annabeth to look up as I passed the Athena table combined with how much I wanted to avoid seeing that cold look on her face directed at me again. The table quieted as a whole when I walked by, and several of them looked up at least somewhat sympathetically at me. Annabeth, however, stayed focused on her food.

The worst part was that it wasn't even like she was trying to ignore me: I knew what her feigned avoidance of me was like, based on past experiences when I had somehow pissed her off. This wasn't the same. It wasn't as if she was making a conscious effort to keep her eyes pointedly away from me. It was just that she didn't notice me, or didn't care, or both. I wasn't anyone significant to her, just another camper at lunch. She was completely... well, indifferent.

I clenched my fists against the burn of pain that came with that observation, walking a little faster to get out of there as soon as I could. Doomed or not, I had to find a way to at least try to reverse the effects of that arrow. At least if I was on a life-threatening quest there would be something to distract me from Annabeth...

Damn, I really was pathetic.

Annabeth's POV

I don't know why everyone, especially Percy, is acting so weirdly. Percy kept insisting we had to talk, but I just walked away from him every time. How else was I supposed to react to his weird approaches? I didn't want to deal with him while he was acting so creepy.

My half-siblings were acting oddly too. Whenever I ignored Percy (for the umpteenth time- did he honestly have nothing better to do than bug me?), they stared at me and started whispering among themselves.

At dinner, I overheard them talking again.

"Poor Percy."

"Stupid Eros had to mess with the poor guy. I mean, nobody deserves that kind of crap."

"Look at him, he's so depressed."

Out of pure curiosity, I glanced over at Percy. As always, he was the only one seated at Poseidon's table. Usually, he filled the table by himself, laughing and calling out to his friends at other tables as he ate. Today though, he sat there huddled, staring listlessly at his food.

I felt kind of sorry for him, but I honestly didn't understand why he was so depressed. It wasn't like I had led him on or anything before starting to ignore him- he was just some random half-blood, and a son of Poseidon to boot! Why did he seem to think I'd want anything more to do with him than casual acquaintance?

He glanced up at me and I could see him visibly perk up when he saw that I was looking at him. Crap. I quickly glanced away. Obviously I didn't want to give him any ideas- he was already bothering me enough as it was while I kept shutting him down.

Still, I could almost feel it as he drooped back over his table.

"Oh no, he's starting to really break down."

"Oh Percy, please don't cry, the Ares cabin will make fun of you for the next fifty years..."

"Is there really no one who knows how to help him out with finding a reversal?"

I snuck a peek at him through my hair, making sure he wouldn't see me this time. He was staring hard at his food, shoulders quivering a little, and a couple tears dripping off his nose. Everyone was starting to notice- for some reason all eyes had been on Percy today, even though he wasn't doing anything remotely spectacular. Someone apparently alerted Grover of his friend's distress, because he quickly trotted over from wherever he had been and escorted the god-defeating son of Poseidon, weeping, from the pavilion.

I felt a twinge of guilt for somehow causing him so much pain, then resumed eating the delicious fried chicken on my plate.

Okay then! There's that chapter, and if you look in the far right corner, the next chapter should be up momentarily! I just need to type it! =D Anyway, review please if you liked it! I'm aware this is really short, but the original copy only had 200ish words XD so I added in another 800 or so with that above-mentioned thorough edit...

~TMI~