Percy
Crunch, crunch, crunch.
The sound of fists hitting trees.
How could it come to this?
Percy kept punching the tree. This morning Annabeth had walked up to him.
"I've been thinking", she had said. Usually not a good sentence coming from your girlfriend, and this time it did not disappoint in being bad.
"You've been really distant lately."
" I don't know why that is", said Percy.
"Well... I-I... I think we need a break."
" W-what? "
Annabeth had gotten up and hurried away, looking embarrassed.
So now here he was, punching a tree.
"Stop that! You're hurting me!" Percy jumped and turned around. Standing behind him was a dryad, probably the spirit of the tree he was punching. "You've been here all morning, hurting me!"
" Oh... Sorry", Percy said. "Has it really been that long?"
" Yes", the dryad said. "You really should get back to camp and stop punching me."
" Yeah, you're right. "
On the way into camp, Percy stopped in the strawberry fields just to smell the flowers that grow up between the bushes.
"Hi Percy" , said a somewhat creepy voice
Percy spun around with his sword Riptide, and nearly decapitated Nico di Angelo.
" Ah. You've got to stop sneaking up on me like that! " he said.
"Sorry, can't help it" , said the son of Hades. " What happened to your fists? "
Percy looked down at his hands, which were bruised and bloody. " Oh, ummm... I got into a fight with a dryad", Not entirely true, but he wasn't ready to admit what had happened, even to himself.
"Oh... You should really get some water on that. "
Usually water wouldn't have helped, but Percy, being a son of Poseidon, got healed by water.
"Ok" , Percy said. He started walking down to the lake.
"Mind if I go with?" Nico asked.
" Sure. " They started walking down together. Percy noticed that Nico smelled like brimstone.
"Have you by any chance shadow traveled recently?" Percy asked.
" Maybe. "
"I thought Will told you not to do that."
" Who cares what Will thinks. "
"What?" Percy asked, " I thought you two were going out! "
"Not anymore", Nico replied darkly, "He dumped me for Clarisse."
" Oof. Also, who would want to date Clarisse? "
"I know, right?"
"Hey", Percy said, "while we're on this subject, there's actually something I need to tell you."
"Yeah?" Nico asked, and Percy could have sworn that there was a hopeful note in his voice.
"Annabeth and I... We kinda broke up. "
"Is that why you've been so depressed?"
How had he noticed that? Was Percy really being that obvious?
"Umm... Yeah. How did you know that I was depressed though?" Percy asked
"Excuse me? Son of Hades here." said Nico
"Huh, I didn't know you could do that." Just then, the bell for lunch rang.
"Oh crap, I'll talk to you later" , Percy said.
"Ok, bye."