Percy Jackson and the love sic

"Flowers! I need flowers!" I cried as I was running out of my empty cabin in my pajamas. I maneuvered my way through the battle area, across the Pegasus stables and over the Hephaestus workplace, all because of my horrible memory and this crazy thing called ADHA. The soul reason for all of this shenanigans was because I had forgotten the holiday made from the essence of Aphrodite. Tomorrow was Valentines day, I had totally and utterly forgotten. I couldn't believe it, she was going to be so disappointed. I didn't want to let her down, to many times have I forgotten something like this. She always acted like it was fine, but in those smiles she gave me, I saw such a sadness, it made me want to rip my heart out. Larissa was so good to me, even when I forgot things so important like her birthday, she would always forgive me though, and not even bug me about it, she was quiet when it came to things like that, she would never mention big days or things that meant a lot to her, she even acted like it was nothing. She sure did hint about things she liked though, I can list you all of her favourite places, all her favourite foods, even her favourite kind of paper. Don't get her wrong, she wouldn't announce it to the world or anything, she was so subtle about it that I really had to pay attention to what she was saying. I knew exactly what to get her, but no time to get it. How horrible am I? Her taste in almost everything is unique, none of your cliché things like chocolates or mixed CD's would please her, above everything else, she loved the arts. She loved to sing, even though her voice was quirky and had its kinks in it, she wrote poetry, beautiful poetry about things that you would never think to write about,once she wrote me this poem on how when I'm training, I always flip my sword to my right hand,but not me left. And the things she would paint looked like photographs of nature, they were so realistic, she could capture the softness and delicateness of a butterfly in flight. She noticed the small things, thats what I liked about her, she wasn't your average girl. Of course she had her down faults, but don't we all? I was rushing to the entrance of camp, all I had to pass was the stone toss arena, but suddenly Alexander smashed into me, almost smacking me in the face with a huge stone, we both fell on our butts.

"WATCH WHERE YOUR GOING SEAWEED ARMS!" Alexander called in anger.

" WHOA MAN your the one who smashed into me! With that huge bolder! I COULD HAVE DIED!" I called back.

He stood up and extended his arm to help me up. I reached out for it, and he pulled back, making me fall on my face in the dirt. I should have expected as much from a son of Ares, all brawns and no sympathy. Whipping my face from the dirt, I stood up.

"where were you heading to in such a rush anyways, its not like anyone wants to see your face that badly" he said with a smirk. I clenched my fist, trying so hard not to knock this kids block off. Starting a fight with Alexander was not a good idea, even if you win, you'll regret being born.

"Dude, don't you know? Tomorrows freaking Valentines day, I totally forgot and didn't get anything for Larissa." All the colour from his face seemed like it melted away. I never saw that happen to Alexander, and I hope I never see it again. A guy like him getting that pale in the face was a sure sign that the world was ending. In a small voice he said "oh gods" under his breath.

"so im guessing you forgot too" He smacked his hand on his face and let out an unpleasant moan.

"Cathennian..." he said "Im going to die" he repeated over and over. I shacked him, trying to make him stop being all creepy.

" Alexander. Alexander!" His hand dropped from his face and I saw his eyes, they looked like they were going to cry, but the rest of his face was stern as a barnacle.

"Listen," I started " I have an idea, you come sneak out with me and we can get some things for the girls."

If I had to sneak out of camp, I sure didn't want to do it alone. Alexander was my last choice of people to bring, but he was my only choice. "..." He was quite for a while.

"We'll come back before anyone notices were gone, trust me." I tried to sound as persuasive as possible. "I guess I have too..." he said in a deep whispering voice. "Great!" I said. We waited until there was no one around the entrance of camp, then we left.

"We need a car" I said. Alexander looked around in the gas stations parking lot, looking for a car that was the easiest to get into. Then he called me over to a sleek black car. "Stupid people." He said "They leave their windows a little open for a tiny dog like that?" he said pointing to a shaking chihuahua in the back of the car, strapped in like a little kid.

Then he laughed at it, as if he was amussed by its little shacking body. "Alright, lets get that ridiculous dog out and borrow this car" he popped the lock open and picked the dog up "We can't just leave it here." He said. "we'll have to bring it with us."

I looked at him, and gave him a 'what the hades' look, his face was blank as a rock, he was holding the dog like a baby. "...fine" I said, a smile cracked on his face but only for a split second, then he turned and put the dog back in its seat.

He got in the drivers seat and put on his seat belt, I sat in the passengers seat, and heard the dog whining. I squinted my eyes at Alexander, and he gave me a shrug. We started driving, and then 'eye of the tiger' started to play on the radio, I swear I saw Alexander head bobbing, or was it my imagination?

"so where do you want to go?" I asked. "uhh... I don't know... what do girls like?" He asked with a blank stare. "Well, I know what girl like, but I'm not sure what Cathennian likes" I said with a laugh. Alexander just looked more confused. "well, you spend like all your time with her, what do you talk about?" He thought for a second then said "...I don't want to tell you...." For a second, I was really scared, but then I saw that Alexander was blushing a bit.

"lets stop here" he said, I looked up and saw that it was a supermarket, I guessed he was going to buy her some flowers or something. "Alright" I said. We both looked back at the dog. "What about him?" I asked. "We bring him" Alexander said, which surprised me. "You carry him." "Me!? Why me!?" I asked. "...Do it.." he said in that deep tone, which gave me shivers down my back.

I guess thats how he gets people to do things, because I was carrying that dog with my life. He headed to the food section of the super market and instead of the greeting cards and flowers, he started filling his grocery cart with stuff like flour, eggs, salt, potatoes, sour cream, and bacon. I guess he got hungry while we were driving here or something.

We went to the checkout counter and there was this lady with highlighter blue eyeshadow "OOOOH! What a cute little puppy! Shes so cute! I want to eat her up!" Alexander had an annoyed look on his face. "whats her name?!?!?" the obnoxious woman asked. "uuuuummmmmm, her name is..." I was blanking, I couldn't think of anything except spot, and this dog had no spots whatsoever.

"Its a boy." Alexander said in an angry tone "And his name is Maximus" the womans arched eyebrows were as high as her hairline, she looked so stunned, and to be honest, so was I. After that she was quiet , just until she told us the cost of everything, she said it almost in a whisper, a scared whisper.

That must have been the fastest checkout in history, I could tell that she wanted us out of there. I mean come on, what kind of message does two guys in the grocery store carrying around a tiny shacking chihuahua send? Not a good one. So we got the the car, Alexander strapped the dog in the back, and we were on our way.

I was thinking of what I could get for Larissa, something to do with the arts, that I was sure of, but what could be meaningful and useful at the same time? I looked over at Alexander, his face was as stern as ever, he was so focused on the road. "you want to look there?" he asked, pointing to a small pawn shop on the side of the road. It looked kinda run down, I wasn't so sure what it was, but something was drawing my attention to it.

"sure" I said, so we pulled over to the side of the road. I looked back at the dog, then looked at Alexander. "You go, I'll watch the dog." he said, without any emotion change in his voice. "You sure?" I asked, kind of confused. " Yeah, don't be too long, or I'll leave you here." he said as if he really wanted to leave me here. "Okay, okay! I'll be quick" and with that said, I was in the little shop.
"Hello there son!" the old man at the counter said with a smile. "oh, hello" I said. "we don't get too many young fellows like you in here! What are you lookin' for? Something for a special little lady, I suppose." he said with a toothless smile that seemed to make the whole room shine.

"well, yeah, I need something quick." I said. "well, look around son, find something that catches your eye" I looked around the shop for a little, then I saw it. A charm bracelet, with all things Larissa on it. There was a music note, a paintbrush, and even a tiny little note book that opened up to a page with the initials 'L.E'. Larissa Etoile I thought, it was so perfect, but this wasn't a coincidence.

I looked over at the man at the counter, he was wearing sun glasses and there was a bottle of sun screen beside him. Larissa was a daughter of Apollo, I couldn't help but think this old man was him in disguise. "I see you've got your eye on that little charm bracelet there. We got that just yesterday, seems like destiny, doesn't it?" the old man said with another shining smile, those sunglasses would have come in handy right about now.

"yeah, funny, isn't it?" I brought the charm bracelet to the counter to buy it, then he said "Young love it so cute, kids fall head over heals in love, treat her well Percy." now I was sure, I was buying a gift for Larissa from her father. He just recited a horrible haiku, and he knew my name.

"thanks Apollo" I said, then he took of his sun glasses. "Was it really that easy to find out? Artemis was right, I should work on my disguises." he said crossing his arms. "so how much do I owe you?" I said taking out my wallet. "Don't worry about it kid, lets just say its a gift from both of us and call it a day, alright?" he gave me another one of those famous smiles, then disappeared into a ray of sunlight.

Alexander was getting impatient, he started to honk the horn like a mad man. I got out of the store as soon as possible, and slipped the bracelet in my pocket. He started the car before I could get in, I swung open the door and got in. "ever heard of anger management?" I asked "do you ever shut up?" he responded. Once a hot head, always a hot head I guess.

It was getting dark out, Alexander and I were making our way back to camp as fast as we could. We dropped of the car along with the dog where we originally found it. Alexander took his sweet time saying his goodbyes to the dog though. We were at the entrance of camp, and no one was around. "well, that was a success." I said to him in a whisper. " yeah." he said in a normal voice.

We started walking back to our cabins, then from behind me I heard "hey Jackson" I turned. "good job for reminding me about tomorrow, but don't think your on my good side just because of this one time" said Alexander, while trying to hide his face. "um, no problem?" I said, I guess that was his way of saying thanks, which was a miracle all in itself. Lucky for us, everyone was at the camp fire, singing happily as if we never left.

I saw grover, so I sat beside him. "hey man, hows is going?" I asked, "Percy! I haven't seen you all day! Where have you been? Larissa has been looking for you all day." he said. I guess people did notice that we left, but it wasn't a big deal. "you know, I've been around.." I said trying to sound as calm as possible. "hey, you do know that tomorrow is Valentines day right?" he asked in a whisper. Where was he a week ago to remind me that?

" yeah, I got it covered." I said. We sang a couple songs and then we all headed to our cabins. I saw Larissa walking with Cathennian, so I walked over to them. "oh lookie here! Its fish boy, come to steal my best friend away again? Hmmmm?" said Cathennian with a somewhat angry smile. " Good to see you too Cathennian, I saw Alexander head to the battle arena for some extra training, don't you want to cheer him on or something?" her face lit up a little, then she said "I'm doing this for Larz and my sweet Alexander, not you Percy!" and with that said she left to the battle arena.

"Hey Percy! I haven't seen you all day! Don't tell me you were in your underwater man cave." she said with a laugh. " Well, I haven't seen you all day either!" I said trying to sound concerned. "Well now we don't have to worry about all that. Whats important is that your here right now" she said with a smile. Just like her fathers, I though, I almost told her that, but it didn't. I walked her to her cabin, gave her a goodbye kiss then went to my cabin, and wrapped up her gift.


I slipped the little shiny box into my pocket and headed out. There was a new air to camp, everywhere I looked I saw couples, I guess you could say love was in the air. Some Aphrodite kids set up kissing booths, others had matchmaking booths, they went all out on decorating camp for the celebration of love. There was almost no one in the training area, except for Clarisse and Chris, those two were almost inseparable.

Of course, I saw Nathan with a swarm of girls around him, "ladies ladies! Why do I have to choose just one?" he said, then all of the girls mindlessly just giggles and cheered him on, and I'm pretty sure some of those girls had boyfriends. Nathan was a descendant of Narcissus himself, which explains his "good looks" and incredible love for himself. That guys must have at least 10 compact mirrors with him at all times. If he could he would probably just spend the days looking into a full body mirror.

I was walking over to the Apollo cabin when I ran into Alexander. He looked calm, and collected and he was carrying the ingredients he bought yesterday . "Hey Alexander, wheres Cathennian?" I asked. "I don't know. Probably still in her cabin." he said with a straight face. "Dude, aren't you going to go see her?" I asked, confused. " Not yet, I have to use the kitchen, and I swear if you tell her where I'm going, I'll make you regret it." He said as if it was the most normal thing to say.

"uuhh....sure thing man." I said then walked away. I got to the Apollo cabin and knocked on the door. One of Larissa's siblings answered the door. "Oh hey Percy, what brings you here?" she said. "I'm looking for Larissa, is she here?" I asked. "oh boy, you just missed her, I think she was actually headed toward the Poseidon cabin." they said with an unsure smile. "oh, okay thanks."

I said then made my way back toward my cabin. She must be eager to see me is she couldn't wait for me to come. I walked past the Hermes cabin and heard a familiar voice. " Hey! Percy! GET OVER HERE!" called out Cathennian. She was sitting on the steps of the Hermes cabin with her legs crossed. "oh what now?!" I called back. "do you know where Alexander is? He wasn't in his cabin, or in the training arena." I remembered what Alexander told me. "Alexander? I haven't seen him, does he still come to this camp?" I said.

She had an unsatisfied look on her face. "ha ha very funny fish boy, thanks for nothing!" she said with a sarcastic smile. "By the way, I hope you remembered what today was, if you make Larissa sad again this year, I'm going to sick Alexander on you!" she said laughing. "Don't you worry about me Cathennian, just worry about your missing boy toy." I called back as she laughed.

As the Poseidon cabin came into my vision, I could see Larissa sitting on the steps of my cabin looking at the sky. "Hey there speedy Gonzalez!" I called out to her, she looked up and gave me a smile. And when I got a better look at her, I was speechless. Her hair was left loose with a white head band, her hair shined in the sunlight, she was wearing a baby blue sun dress with white flowers on it.

"Hi Percy." she had such a soft voice. "speedy Gonzalez? Really?"she said, I laughed then said "you just can't stay away from me can you?" "oh stop it!" she said laughing. "follow me, I want to show you something" she said with a soft look on her face. What could she be planning? Whatever it was, I just know it will be great. We walked around camp until about 5:00pm and stumbled onto Cathennian and Alexander.

They were in the lunch room but the doors were locked, they were the only two inside. Larissa and I watched them from a window. I saw Cathennian sitting at a lunch table, the table had a deep red table cloth on it, and there were candles everywhere. Cathennian had an impatient look on as she waited for Alexander to get back. And when he entered the room, he was wearing a jet black suit with a red tie, his face was a little red too.

He set the platter of food on the table in front of the beaming Cathennian. When he lifted the lid off of the platter Cathennian jumped out of her seat and gave him a huge hug. It looked like he made her pirogies, I think Larissa told me that was her favourite food or something, that explains the ingredients he bought. "Lets give them some privacy" Larissa whispered into my ear.
"Come on Percy, here comes the best part of the day!" Larissa said to me. I still didn't give her the bracelet, I have to find the perfect moment to give it to her. She brought me to the beach, and the timing couldn't be better. The sun was just setting and the sky was an orangy pink colour. Then I noticed a boat at the small dock, she was bringing me to it.

"hey, I thought you hated water" I said. "I do, it absolutely frightens me!" she said calmly. "then why are we here?" I asked.

"because you love the water, and I want you to be around everything you love today." she said as her face turned bright red. I guess I made a pretty stupid face because she laughed, then said "and I know that as long as the son of Poseidon is around, nothing bad can happen to me" she said while taking my hand. I got in the boat first then helped her get in, she was nervous, I could tell mostly because she was shaking.

We rowed out away from the dock until we couldn't see the land anymore. Larissa calmed down a bit, she seemed more relaxed. The sun was still setting, Apollo was taking his sweet time I guess. It was such a beautiful day, I can't remember a time when I was this happy. The lighting hit Larissa's face perfectly, her eyes were a shiny amber colour, with a hint of orange. "Percy?" said Larissa. I caught myself just staring at her.

"Hey there!" I said. Smooth move. "hello again, how did you like your trip to dream world?" she said with a laugh. We both laughed for a while. Now was the perfect time, I was sure of it. "Larissa," I said as I took out the box with the bracelet in it, "Happy valentines day." her face lit up as I handed it to her. "oh Percy! You didn't have to get me anything!" she said. "You kidding? After all the things I forgot about before? You deserve at least this much!"

She opened the box, and took out the bracelet. Then she just stared at it, not saying a word. I got a little worried, she wasn't saying anything. "Percy..." she said with a single tear rolling down her cheek. Great, she hates it! Thanks a lot Apollo. "Percy, how did you know?! I had a bracelet just like this when I was a baby. My mother told me it was a gift from my father, but we had to sell it because of financial reasons...Not even Cathennian knew about that!"

I didn't know what to say, all I knew was that I was going to have to give all my offerings to Apollo for about a month. "lets just say a little old man told me." I said, then realized how strange that sounded. But of course Larissa just laughed it off

"thank you for remembering Percy, I love it!" she said. After we watched the sun set we rowed back to the dock, curfew was just around the corner. As we walked towards the cabins, we saw Nathan alone sitting on the steps of the big house looking into a mirror, what a surprise. He noticed us and said "Larissa! There you are! Where is your charming friend Cathennian? I haven't seen you two beauties all day!"he said disregarding my existence. "Hey, Nathan, save it for the mirror okay?" I said. "Oh! Percy my friend! I didn't see you there! Don't you worry about me! I always need someone around, I just love to be loved! I'm quite the socialite non?"he said while adjusting his hair in the mirror. " see ya later Nathan." I said. As Nathan went on about himself, Larissa and I slipped away to her cabin door. I almost didn't want to say goodbye. " so um..that was fun..today...the boat..." I was stumbling over myself, but before I could say anything else, Larissa grabbed my shirt collar, leaned in and kissed me. Then she said "Goodnight, my valentine."