This was going to be the first Valentine's Day that I'd spent by myself, and for some reason Camp Half-Blood seemed colder.

Maybe it was me just thinking about Annabeth, it brought another wave of sadness over me, she'd broke up with me after the war. After everything we had gone through I didn't think anything could separate us.

I guess I was wrong.

Now not only do I have to deal with that but almost all of the girls in camp had been hitting on me lately. (Which didn't help my constantly darkening mood.)

A girl in a red dress, obviously an Aphrodite girl, and gave a huge smile, "Percy would you like-" I already knew where this was going, "Leave me alone Drew." I said as I walked away, come on give me a break! I thought angrily to myself.

I headed down to the lake; it always was a good place for me to relax. I put my hands in my pocket and felt Riptide. A small sigh escaped me, even my sword reminded me of Annabeth. I rounded the corner to the docks, and I saw a girl sitting on the docks by herself.

The girl was pretty new around camp, recently in the latter part of the war she had arrived, she was a daughter of Hermes, that and she was almost always by herself. She had caramel brown hair that just brushed her shoulders and she was looking out over the lake. Something about her seemed just as lonely as I felt, so I sat down next to her, and I knew she was ignoring me. Okay, let's see how long she can ignore me. I leaned over to her, "She's looking at the lake; the lake's beautiful isn't it?" She raised an eyebrow at me, but cracked a small smile, "You're an idiot, do you know that Jackson?" I returned her smile with one of my own, "With pride."

"So what's your name?" Seeing her around camp, and only now having a conversation with her made me feel kind of bed so I wanted to at least know the girl's name. She looked around my age as well. "Liza Peterson."

I nodded and had a thought occur to me. I nudged her side slightly with my arm, "Hey, why is it that whenever I see you you're always by yourself?" Liza sighed and looked back at the lake, "Because nobody ever tries to talk to me, and I'm perfectly fine with that. I mean it's not any different than when I was a kid."

She had peaked my curiosity with that, "What do you mean? Since I was a kid?" She looked at me and a small sigh escaped her. It seemed like she had already told her story to a lot of people and she would prefer not to say it again and that was exactly what she was about to do.

"Well I was an orphan, I lived on the streets and no one ever noticed me or offered me food or anything. Then one day this guy in a Rasta cap and a goatee comes up to me and offers me a free summer camp. I was like 'Sure free food, free showers, and maybe even some friends!' So far I'm having trouble on that last part." Her face fell slightly, and she gave a half-hearted shrug.

Liza then looked at me, "So Percy what's your deal? Why are you always so depressed looking lately? Friends? Family? Or girls?" I gave her a blank look, is she a mind reader? "Whenever someone's sad it's always one of those three things." She added and I my face darkened as I looked out over the lake.

"Fine then, girls or actually a girl." I took a deep breath and shook my head as I Annabeth's face flashed in my mind, her wavy blond hair, her stormy gray eyes that always seemed to see right through me...

The Daughter of Hermes looked at me and I just noticed that she had hazel eyes, green with brown on the insides. She leaned forward on her knees and glanced over at me, "Let me guess, Annabeth broke up with you?" I managed a laughed, better not let her worry about me, "Are you sure that Aphrodite isn't your mom?"

Liza splashed the water off of the wooden dock with her feet, "If I was, then you probably wouldn't be having this conversation with me." I thought about that for a moment before giving an embarrassed laugh. I scratched my neck with my pointer fingers and looked down at the murky water, "True." Liza reached over and pout her hand on my my shoulder, "Let me just say that Annabeth must be a nut job to break up with you."

I held up a finger like, whoa girl, you did not just go there, "Don't tell me you're hitting on me." Liza rolled her hazel eyes in an exasperated way, "Cool your pants; I'm just saying she's crazy because you're a nice guy, you're funny, you've gone through hell" literally "and you're a great leader, and you're extremely loyal."

"Aw shucks." I felt myself unwillingly blushing at that comment, it was a little tough to believe that I was all of those things. It seemed so crazy to think of.

She face rubbed her temples and looked at me after a moment, "So are you feeling a little better? I'm really not good with this whole...comforting thing." she said and I nodded slightly, a small smile tugging at the corner of my mouth. "Thanks Liza, and would you say that we're friends?" Liza shrugged, "What do you think?"

Honestly I had no clue what to think about Liza Peterson, but then again I didn't know anything about Annabeth for a while. "Yeah, I think we are."