Chapter 5

~Percy's POV~

The visit from Nico kind of shut my systems down, and I walked in a daze most of the time. The whole camp was still recovering from the war, and everything was moving slowly and sluggishly. I suppose that's why I was too wrapped up in myself notice the sway Octavian held over half or more of the campers. That daze almost killed me.

No. Yes. No. Yes. What was I supposed to do? I just couldn't keep up the pretension anymore. It hurt that I couldn't tell my friends who I really was. That I couldn't inform them freely that I was gay. But I just cared too much.

After too long in my own world, I came back to reality. I had to tell someone. Anyone. Just...I needed to get the weight of my secret off my chest. But who? Again, I fell deep into thought. I couldn't tell Annabeth...

"Jason, could you meet me and Rachel by her 'pad' later at three?" He looked up at me and nodded, before going back to shadow boxing.

~Le time skip~

I paced uncomfortably by the open window of Rachel's 'cave/decked-out pad' as she shifted her feet. "Percy..." I shook my head and looked away. "Just wait, okay?"

Finally, Jason strolled up the path to the door and walked in. "Hey." I nodded to him and then continued pacing. What the hell was I doing!? They were going to hate me!

"Hey, you okay, Percy?" I glanced up at Jason and shrugged. "I guess." He smiled down at me, but shifted his feet before taking a seat beside me. Rachel laid a hand on my arm and I flinched, tensing up. Frowning worriedly, she and Jason both waited for an explanation.

"I'm..." Bowing my head, I gathered my courage. "Guys, I'm...I mean, I don't exactly know how to say this, but...I'm...I...I'm not...I'm...gay..." I ended in a whisper. Rather than hear their gasps of astonishment, I walked to the window and looked out...

Just in time to see a blond mop of hair duck under the window and then rush off.

Shit.

"Shit!" I turned back to my two friends, who looked at me, still in shock. "Octavian was here. He heard me." If possible, their faces turned even paler.

"Listen, Percy, it's fine. We aren't judging you. It doesn't matter." Rachel nodded in agreement. "We don't care." Rachel hugged me tightly and Jason patted my shoulder.

Relief made me break out into a hue grin. "Thanks, guys. But...shit. Octavian's gonna tell everyone at camp." Jason shrugged, watching me carefully. "It doesn't matter though, right?" Shaking my head, I turned to the window, where I could already see Octavian getting up on the raised platform. "I haven't told anyone other than you guys and my mom. Not even Annabeth..." Rachel's eyes widened in understanding. "Shit." I turned back to Jason, who looked seriously deep in thought.

"Ah, what could happen, right?" I grinned optimistically, but I knew they could tell I was faking it. Rachel bit her lip thoughtfully, drumming her fingers on the windowsill. "The ancient Greeks did approve of homosexuality, though. They were A-OK with it; in fact it came from them." But before she finished her sentence, Jason was already shaking his head. "That was in ancient times. It was the same for Romans, but they don't like being reminded of it. There was this one guy, Edward, he came out, and the next day Octavian had him driven from camp in a storm of self-righteous hate. I tried to stop him, but..." His shoulders lifted in a helpless shrug. "My guess is they'll try to do the same for you. The "

After a while, I turned to them and sighed. "We-I can't stay here forever. I'm going out, it's dinnertime."

Here I go.