The Nine Times Percy Saved a Friend...

Chapter 1: Thalia

Thalia

In short, Thalia didn't like Percy.

By all means, she should've loved him. After all, he was the only one who didn't stand there gawking like an idiot when she came back to life. Chiron thought that her animosity toward Percy "stemmed from the eon old Zeus-Poseidon rivalry." Thalia gagged at that. Percy could go ahead and be like his old man as much as he wanted, but Thalia was not her father.

Then Annabeth, in all her daughter of Athena glory, deduced that the two children of the Big Three didn't get along because they were toomuch alike. Thalia had waited patiently for her friend to take it back, but when she didn't, the daughter of Zeus had the sudden urge to zap the girl with lightning. Being told she was like the Seaweed Brain, as Annabeth so accurately put it, was in even bigger wound on her ego than being told she was like her dad.

Percy just wasn't...bright? Powerful? A hero? Whatever he was, Thalia wasn't impressed. Maybe it was the headache talking, but she just didn't see what was so great about Percy.

He was unpredictable. He was so stubborn that even she gave into him sometimes. Thalia always came so, so close to making him lose his temper and then he'd just suddenly calmed in a blink. Everyone followed Percy as often as her, sometimes more. But worst of all, Annabeth relied more Percy than she did on anyone else. Annabeth Chase, the little girl who ran away, who wouldn't let anyone other than Luke and Thalia in, trusted Percy with more than just her life.

When they played Capture the Flag last Friday, it was like a slap in the face when her best friend asked Percy to cover her back instead of Thalia. Gods, she was a daughter of Athena and he was a son of Poseidon, they weren't even supposed to like each other, let alone make goo-goo eyes at each other's backs.

Nausea overcame Thalia, and she leaned over her bed just in time. She groaned and closed her eyes, resting her forehead on a shaky, sweaty arm. Will Solace told her that the headaches were a side effect of either being poisoned or being transformed. Whichever one it was, nectar and ambrosia didn't help any. Ha, and Percy was the one who thought it would.

So yes, frankly, Thalia did not like Percy, and everyone knew it. So what in Hades was he doing in her cabin, holding her hair back as she emptied her guts? Again.

Thalia sloppily wiped her mouth with her wrist and glared at him. She knew she probably looked like a slob and as intimating as a satyr, but seriously, what was he doing in Cabin 1? According to most campers, he had knack for doing the most impulsive and stupid things, but Thalia didn't know he had a death wish.

...Actually, that was okay with her.

"What are you doing in my cabin," she asked, trying to sound aggravated but the way her words slurred together ruined it. Gods, she sounded like Mr. D.

Percy shrugged. "Smelled like something died in here."

"Har har," Thalia snapped. She would've made a comment on how amazed she was that he could smell anything passed his own stench, but another wave of dizziness hit her. This time Thalia didn't even make it over the edge of her bed.

Percy's nose crinkled and he looked like he was trying not to vomit himself. Typical. He had one of those stomachs. "Ew," he put so eloquently.

"Shut u-u-up," Thalia groaned miserably. Puke stained her shirt, and okay, yeah, she smelled really bad. She wished she could just go die in a hole right about now. And where in Tartarus was Annabeth?! She'd chop off her foot to be with her best friend rather than Percy.

The son of Poseidon's hand left her unbearably hot forehead, and she almost whimpered at the loss of the cool sensation. Almost, thank gods she didn't. Now that would've been just as embarrassing as puking on herself in front of him. Percy mumbled a quick "be right back" and jogged out the door.