SPLASH!
The water seemed to explode as a teenage girl dove in. Her head broke the surface and she shook her head like a dog, plastering wet hair all over her face.
"Come on in!" Sally Mer yelled back to the shore, "The water feels great!"
The red-headed daughter of Apollo shook her head quickly. Her green eyes shone as bright as her bikini. "You know how bad my hair looks when it's wet."
"As opposed to the usual, Rachel?" Another girl walked into the secluded, rocky beach with a picnic basket on her arm. She had a fishtail braid cascading over her right shoulder, held together by a red flower clip. She wore an orange crop-top with a purple peace sign on it, tie-dyed baggy pants, extremely bright yellow sunglasses, and green sandals. Somehow, the colors were all the perfect shade to match each other. She was the kind of girl who went to peace-marches and sit-ins, ate food with no dairy, wheat, or sugar, and had an obsession with tie-dye, stuffed toys, and figurines. Besides being a typical girl in the 60's, she was a model daughter of Iris.
The red-head made a face at the new-comer. "And a good day to you, May."
May placed the basket on a rock and pulled out a couple of sodas. She tossed one behind her back to Rachel, who caught it and popped the tab. May held the other one up in the air and wiggled it in Sally's direction. She didn't want to leave the water, but the pop looked too tempting to ignore. Taking a huge gulp of air, she dove under the waves and swam towards the shore.
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The rocky beach stung Sally's feet. Why they chose this place for their special place was unknown to her. The ground was grey stone, riddled with holes like Swiss cheese. Steep rock walls made a semi-circle around a blue lagoon, with beautiful clear water. If you went deep enough in the sea, the bottom changed to soft, white sand, with tendrils of seaweed snaking up out of it. Beautiful sea-shells dotted the floor.
The water didn't gradually get deeper, like at a sandy beach. It was like diving into the deep end of a pool. What would have made the side of the pool was, you guessed it, rock. The greatest thing, according to Sally, was the sea caves that lined the wall. When the sun shone, the place seemed to glow, the surface of the water almost blinding. But on cloudy days, it was just gray on gray on gray, like the world had been turned into the black and white pictures from the television set.
Today they had come to celebrate Rachel's 16th birthday. She had wanted the most informal birthday possible, so they had come together, just the three of them, to hang out. Or "chill," as May put it. Rachel had drilled into their heads, "No presents, no pretty clothes, and no other people. Just us three down at the lagoon. As far as you're concerned, there's nothing special about that day."
But today was beautiful. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. The sun dried Sally almost the second she stepped out of the water. And, to her annoyance, her hair popped perfectly back into place, like it had never been wet. She growled under her breath and dropped down next the Rachel, who was taking a long swig of her soda. She put the can down and glared enviously at Sally's hair.
"I wish my hair did that."
Sally pulled a strand in front of her face and sighed. "No you don't. It can be really quite annoying. Did you see the way Jeremy looked at me after swimming lessons and my hair was perfectly dry?"
"Tell your mom to knock it off." May responded cheekily, her back still turned. She passed Sally a drink and continued to rummage through the picnic basket. She muttered thanks and took a long swig. May suddenly yelled, "Aha!"
Sally twitched so violently that she spilled coke on her bathing suit. The dark liquid stood out against the yellow fabric. She directed an evil glare at May, who wasn't looking very proud anymore. "Chocolate-chip cookie?" She asked feebly, offering the bag. Rachel, on the other hand, was trying hard not to laugh.
Sally gave a defeated sigh and took two cookies, along with May's beach towel. The older girl yelped and tried to grab it back, but Sally was already dabbing at the stain. After stuffing a whole cookie in her mouth, she gave the other to Rachel and said something that sounded like,
"How bab buz it ook?"
Rachel rolled her eyes and responded, "Please. You would look good in a paper bag."
May stuck a cookie in between her teeth and put the rest of them back. Then they all sat in comfortable silence, chewing on chocolate chips. For a moment, everything was perfect.
"Let's do something." Rachel said.
"Like?" May asked.
"Breath holding competition?" Sally asked.
"You'll win. You always win. You can hold your breath for… was it two minutes?" Rachel said.
Sally grunted. "Collect sea-shells?"
This time the three girls looked at each other. May nodded. Rachel sighed relunctantly.
"I can't let you two have all the fun."
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May breached the surface with a shell between her teeth. She pulled herself out of the water and sat on the rocks, placing the pale yellow shell next to her. Barely a second later, Rachel's head exploded from the water.
"Shell?" May asked.
"Shell." Rachel responded, pulling the shell out of her bathing suit top.
"Oh gracious!" May burst out laughing and patted the spot next to her. With a grunt, Rachel heaved herself up and placed her shell on her lap.
"Where's Sally?"
"Last time I saw, she had three shells and was swimming towards a fourth."
More silence. The girls sat for at least a minute catching their breath.
"She's taking an awful long time, don't you think?"
"Eh, she'll be fine."
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But she wasn't fine. Underneath the waves, deeper and farther than any of them had ever gone, Sally Mer was struggling to survive. Thick seaweed had curled around her ankle and had risen to her stomach like a snake; some form of magic, that was for sure. Her feet were completely trapped. Her hands flailed wildly. But her moves were getting sluggish.
As the light slowly left her eyes, the seaweed curled over her chest and enclosed her arms. Groggily she lifted her chin to avoid the rising tendrils.
And then, as the last bubble of oxygen left her blue lips, the daughter of Aphrodite drowned.
And that… was my one-shot. My first Percy Jackson fanfic. Do you guys want another chapter? Follow, like, and review!
The end~~~