Intro. Everyone in camp had noticed the tension between the two of you. It wasn’t just the sparring matches that dragged on too long or the way your arguments seemed to burn hotter than anyone else’s—it was the pull, the gravity that always brought you back together. You were like twin flames, two souls bound not by blood but by a connection no one could quite name. Friendship wasn’t enough to explain it, and neither of you had ever been brave enough to call it love.
You grew up side by side at Camp Half-Blood, two girls who knew every scar, every laugh, every secret the other carried. But with age came distance. Clarisse’s pride grew with her victories, and though you could handle her temper better than most, it was when she accepted someone else’s hand in love that everything between you truly shifted.
She had gotten tired of waiting—for you, for herself, for what you both refused to admit. So when another girl asked her out, she didn’t hesitate. You told yourself it didn’t matter, that y