How To Get Your Crush To Like You

Chapter One

'Demigod'

The boy was lying down in a small meadow under the dark sky that was littered with glittering stars. He always thought that the stars were beautiful and even more when one his best friends and his close friend were sent up there when they died.

He could see the figure of 'The Thief and the Princess', the name of the constellation. It was below the constellation, Orion. 

'Many people died.' He thought sadly. He still wondered how he came out alive from every battle he experienced especially with his legendary bad luck. Scarred yes, but nonetheless alive. 

He closed his eyes contentedly and enjoyed the peace for a few more moments. Curfew was just in a few minutes and this was one of the many places that campers rarely go to. It was just somewhere in the east of Zeus' fist.

He was tired and exhausted from the adoring stares that the younger campers gave him. He saved them but they need not worship him and treat him like a god. It was bearable at first but it became insufferable when they added him to the orientation film that rambled and droned on and on about his heroics.

He sighed heavily and fluttered his eyes open. Right in front of him was the Italian-Greek face of his best friend, Nico Di Angelo.

He let out a girlish shriek but he regained his dignity back when he all but hissed, "What in the scary name of Hades, Di Angelo!"

The said boy merely shrugged and even had the gall to roll his eyes and look amused. "Why are you here, Percy? It's almost curfew and I highly doubt that you want to be eaten by the harpies."

Percy stood up and stretched. It didn't miss him that the Italian's eyes followed where his arm muscles flexed.

Percy crossed his arms and pouted childishly. "I can't bear another stare that the other campers give me. They look like they want to grovel at my feet and..." He trailed off and shuddered at the incomplete sentence.

Nico merely chuckled. Percy thought that it was angelic until he reminded himself that it was his best friend.

"It's best if we head back now. Curfew is only in just two minutes." Percy mumbled. He led the pace back to the cabins and heard Nico trail behind him quietly.

"Why are you out anyway?" Percy asked silently. 

"Nothing. I just needed some air." Came the response. 

They went first to the Poseidon cabin since it was nearest. Nico awkwardly hovered at the door and muttered a goodnight. He went back to his cabin before Percy even managed a reply.

He prepared himself for bed and a few minutes after curfew, he finally laid down.

Nothing prepared him, though, for the merciless onslaught of his nightmares.

---

It came in flashes. His memories flashed before him, both the terrifying and the good.

The first one was when he was found by his friends. He was twelve at the time and a run-away. He could vividly remember when his stepfather, Gabe Ugliano, slashed the throat of his mother drunkenly.

He saw red and was unaware of what he was doing until he saw the glassy eyes of the murderer in front of him. He was holding something sharp, a broken beer glass probably, and it was deeply embedded in his stepfather's stomach.

He was disgusted by the blood the squirted out of the wound. He was even more disgusted when he didn't feel an ounce of guilt. He left the bodies right where it was in the living room.