Half of My Soul

Good Morning huh?

Silena

Light streamed in through the gaps in the leaves of the trees, it cast a green glow on the forest floor. The piercing glow hit Silena, stinging her eyes as she opened them for the first time that day. Every part of her body ached, had she really fallen asleep crying in the dirt behind the cabins? Silena adjusted to her surroundings; the birds whistling in the tree tops, the crunching of leaves far in the distance, the soft breathing of a girl on her shoulder.

Holy shit, Silena had fallen asleep in Clarisse La Rue's arms last night. Not only that, she had sobbed over her ex-boyfriend's new girl in Clarisse's arms. Silena rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, they were puffy and surely red from the crying the night before. Clarisse's eyes slowly flickered open. The painful realization of their predicament was clearly shown in her eyes as she looked around. Clarisse's eyes found Silena's, the beginnings of a smile forming on her lips. 

"Good morning" Clarisse's morning voice was raspy and rich. It coated Silena's brain and drove her mad. 

"Good morning Clarisse" her voice was nearly gone, all the wailing must have done it in for her. Shouting and laughing sounded in the distance, slowly making its way closer to the girls. Clarisse stood up abruptly and her eyes flipped, the loving soft tone switched to fear and embarrassment. Her smile dropped and she turned deadly serious. 

"Don't tell anyone about this-" Despite her tone, Clarisse wasn't angry, just embarrassed by who may see the girls together. Clarisse was known to like girls as well as guys, but someone from the Aphrodite Cabin was a no-go. Silena knew this, she wasn't fond of the idea of people thinking they had done something they didn't. Silena was definitely straight, she was sure of it. 

"I won't if you won't" Silena slipped her hand into Clarisse's, a silent ask for her to help her up. Clarisse's hand was strong and calloused,  and Silena's hand disappeared into it. Clarisse effortlessly hoisted her up, and they met together, faces just inches from each other. Her dark eyes bore into Silena's, and for a moment the forest disappeared, the voices in the distance silenced. 

"Well I- um, I gotta go" and with that, Clarisse bounded off towards the camp, leaving Silena beet-red and filthy, standing alone in the woods. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a silver compact, one glance in the thing horrified her, Silena's hair was standing at all the wrong angles, and her mascara-stained streaks down her face. She shuffled her way out of the trees, careful for no one to see her. She slipped into Aphrodite Cabin, luckily everyone was out of the cabin, breakfast would soon start, and she had to be semi-presentable for that. 

Thirty minutes later, Silena's hair had calmed down and she had washed the layer of dirt off of her skin. She caught herself in the mirror, her eyes still had the remnants of last night's emotional episode, her waterline puffed out like she had been punched in the eye a week before. Silena remembered Clarisse, crouching down immediately to comfort her, with no taunts or ridicule. She had genuine concern in her eyes, the girls in Cabin 10 would have laughed at her, but the Ares kid cared. Her gut twisted and turned around itself, her heart sped up. Silena took a deep breath, trying to calm the insects in her stomach. 

Silena ambled down to the Aphrodite table in the dining pavilion, she made her offerings to the gods and made her way to sit down. Her siblings were enveloped in gossip, Silena however stared into the distance, thinking about everything and nothing at once. How is it that all these people could talk about the lives of others, yet know nothing of their own? Who did her family love, actually love? Relationships were a game to them, a rite of passage. Silena had pledged she wouldn't take it. 

Clarisse trudged down the grass and slumped into the Ares table. Her siblings hit her shoulder, and they shoved into each other, wicked smiles reflecting around the table. Something about them radiated anger through the camp, part of their dad's blessing. But not to Silena, maybe because her mom is Aphrodite, but she felt warmth come from their direction. They seemed so happy, so real. The stereotypical "shallow Aphrodite kid" seemed to be everyone in Silena's cabin, she wished they could just be kids.

Clarisse's eyes drifted to hers, her eyes went wide as she realized Silena had been staring at her. Both girls go red in the face, resembling the strawberries on their plates. Silena quickly reverted her gaze to the cold toast on her plate, much less appetizing now. She dragged her fork around the food, trying to look busy, she knew Clarisse was still looking at her. 

It was Silena's day to do Cabin inspections. She made her rounds, all the usual cabins being messy, except Ares's cabin. Normally they were one of the dirtiest, they never cared to be organized or calm in any way, and it showed in their living space.  But today had been different, like they actually cared, for once. Only the gods know why. Silena gave them a three out of five, probably the highest they had ever gotten. She wondered if her run in with Clarisse had anything to do with it, seeing as that was the only thing out of the ordinary, but why? Silena rounded the corner back to Aphrodite cabin, her siblings huddled around the bunks. What they were talking about didn't seem to interest Silena. 

She strolled off to the pegasus stables, she had taught Percy how to ride one his first summer at camp. Though she wasn't a fan of the smell, or the sight, or how going down there ruined her shoes, something about being with the pegasi was calming to her. They never judged, maybe they did, only Percy can understand them. They never verbally judged, they made great listeners. 

Silena placed down a blanket on the shavings of a white pegasus's stall, if she got poop on this skirt, she would simply die. She sat down, legs extended in front of her, and laid her head back against the wall. The pegasus came over looking for food, smelling and licking her fingers, but became uninterested when he realized she had nothing to offer, and went back to his alfalfa. Silena thought about the last twenty-four hours of her life, she went from crying over her ex-boyfriend to feeling... something for Clarisse. The look in her eyes, Silena being the first thing she saw in the morning, nothing else mattered. 

The pegasus snorted and whinnied. Silena's eyes shot open, she looked around looking for the source of his stressor. Her eyes fell on Clarisse, standing in the door of the stall, staring down at her. Her face flushed when she saw Silena had caught her staring, she came over and plopped next to Silena, not even bothering to make it onto the blanket. 

"So, I- uh. I don't really know what last night was. Sorry for barging in on your, whatever was going on" Clarisse stammered through her words, she clearly wasn't the best at communication. 

"No, no, really. It was helpful, I probably would have cried through the night if you hadn't been there" Silena moved her fingers to brush against Clarisse's, lighting shocked between them. She interlaced her fingers with the other girls, butterflies erupted in Silena's stomach. She looked up into Clarisse's eyes, dark and big, like she could just fall into them like the pit of tartarus. If that was her way to go, she would embrace it. 

"Silena, I don't know-" Something burst in her, Silena lost control of herself. She was tugged by her gut towards Clarisse, her lips finding the other girls. Warm and comforting, her hands traveled into Clarisse's dark curls, tangling themselves up. Then reality took over, fear and embarrassment washed over Silena. She pulled herself away from the girl, tearing their lips apart, dragging her fingers out of the soft curls. She shot up to her feet like a rocket, brushing stray shavings off her skirt.

"Oh my gods, I'm sorry. I should go" Silena bolted for the door with tears welling up in her eyes, desperate to leave the judgmental pegasus and Clarisse, whatever she was to her. 

"No, Silena, wait" Clarisse ran out after her, she caught onto Silena's hand as they made it to the barn doors. Clarisse pulled her close, forcing Silena to look at her. Her hands cupped Silena's face, their heat burrowing deep in her cheeks. Clarisse's eyes darted back and forth between her eyes and her lips. Silena wanted to crawl up in the ball in the pits of tartarus.  Clarisse's thumb brushed the stray tear on her cheek. 

"Hey is anyone in- woah" the voice of Percy Jackson came in through the thrown open barn doors. The boy stood starstruck in the doorway, his jaw nearly touched the floor. The girls broke apart, standing awkwardly side by side. Silena nearly threw up, Clarisse glowed with anger next to her. She had been seen with her, now comes the snarky comments from Cabin 10.  Percy turned on his heel and walked out, shutting the door behind him. Once again they were alone. 

Notes: They finally kissed, I was gonna make this chapter longer but then I thought it would be more fun to leave it on a cliff hanger, even tho no one has read this lol. Anyways thank you for reading, comments/constructive critisism is always welcome. Love yah.