𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐋 𝐃𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐑, percy jackson

CHAPTER 52! the love she had for percy was a curse

"is sh mad?" cherry asked.

"i don't know. i brought up my friend rachel, and now she's upset." percy shrugged.

cherry made the same expression annabeth had.

a horribly hidden frown.

"who the fuck is rachel?" cherry asked.

"you're being weird too?" percy huffed.

"no. whatever. bye, i'm gonna go look for grover." cherry walked off, too.

it was true.

cherry had changed.

the realization that she was in love with percy had flipped her entire world upside down. not only that, nico's disappearance had completely taken over her life for a month.

everyone had been trying to find him.

nobody could.

nobody except cherry, at least.

unfortunately, he had a lot of unkind things to say to her.

when cherry had found him, he was quick to try to hide. when he couldn't, they got into an argument.

the only words that stuck with cherry, were nico's insults.

he told her that she was the worst goddess in the world. that she knew nothing of love and breathed cruelty. she didn't think a little boys words could affect her so strongly, but they did.

she'd already been midway through an existential crisis of her belonging and her feelings, which were only confirmed by nico.

percy would never love her. cherry would rot away as she watched them fall deeper and deeper into love, and it made her sick.

so, she did what she knew best.

overcompensate.

the last couple of people she'd left heartbroken in an attempt to distract herself could confirm it.

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cherry couldn't find dionysus anywhere.

he was one of her favorite people to harass at camp when she was bored. unfortunately, he was actually helping out the gods, which probably meant something horrible was happening.

just as cherry was about to head to the aphrodite camp and fall asleep, somebody named juniper told her that grover was in the middle of his formal hearing, and together, they rushed towards the woods.

actually, they didn't rush.

they walked a little faster than normal while talking about their nails. they hit it off almost instantly.

cherry could make anyone like her.

anyone but percy, at least.

a bunch of satyrs were sitting in a circle in the grass. grover stood in the middle, facing three really old satyrs who sat on topiary thrones shaped out of rose bushes.

the council of cloven elders.

grover seemed to be telling them a story. he twisted the bottom of his t-shirt, shifting nervously on his goat hooves. he hadn't changed much since last winter.

juniper was grover's girlfriend.

cherry thought that was adorable, and that it made a lot of sense.

together, they stood beside annabeth, clarisse, and percy.