Viva Las Vegas
I stared intently at the lake. There was complete silence around me. That familiar tugging feeling in my gut was starting again, but the water stayed still. Focus Percy, I thought fiercely. I tried shaping the water with the power of my eyes, and it rose a few feet from the lake in a wobbly sphere. My body shook from the effort, and I felt the power slowly leaving my gaze, the tugging feeling disappearing. Just one more-
"What are you doing Seaweed Brain?" A voice asked, making me jump out of my skin. The ball of water splashed back into the late. I spun around and came face-to-face with Annabeth.
My heart raced and a blush rose in my cheeks when I saw her. It wasn't just because she was incredibly beautiful, with her long silky curly blonde hair and gorgeous grey eyes… but mostly because she was my girlfriend. Even though the thought was still new to me and Annabeth, the relationship still felt very natural. Like it was meant to be and all that jazz.
"Er, I don't know." I mumbled, making Annabeth give me a sparkling smile.
"Want to skip lunch and have a picnic instead?" Annabeth asked, pleading with her eyes. I grinned subconsciously and nodded. She brushed a loose strand of hair out of her face and smiled back. We began to walk toward the Dining Pavilion together, our hands laced together.
We were back at camp Half-Blood after we had finished off Kronos's army. The camp was still pretty ratty from the aftermath of many attacks, but all the campers were helping to fix it up and build the new cabins Annabeth had designed. The place still had a cheery glow to it, besides all of the construction going on. Like, for instance, at the moment the campers at the Dining Pavilion were gathering their food and chattering loudly. The place was full of life.
I loaded my plate with pizza, plump fruits, and veggies, and asked my glass for an ice-cold Coke. I pushed my offering into the fire pit, offering it to Poseidon, my dad.
Instead of moving on to our separate tables, Annabeth and I continued walking up to the hill over-looking the lake. We got a disapproving look from Chiron and many wolf whistles from the other campers. Annabeth rolled her eyes, but kept trudging up the hill. Even the new campers somehow knew all about us as the new "it" couple at Camp Half-blood. Apperently everyone had been waiting since we met for us to go out.
When we reached the top we sat in the shade of a large elm tree. I dug into my food, eating like the pig I was while Annabeth ate in a more dignified manner. After eating in silence for a few minutes, Annabeth looked up and studied my face. I chewed slowly, watching her calculating expression. She tilted her head to one side, looking at me as if I were a difficult homework question. I had gotten used to looks like these, since Annabeth read me like an open book. But this look unnerved me.
"Is there something on my face?" I wiped my mouth hurriedly, and Annabeth giggled.
"There's something on your lip." Before I could react, she kissed me. That's the oldest pick up line in the book. I thought, running my fingers through her hair and pulling her closer to me. My stomach fluttered with giddiness. Annabeth pulled away all too soon, and continued eating like nothing had happened.
Girls are so confusing sometimes. Especially her.
There was a few minutes of silence in which she avoided my gaze and picked at her food. She was so beautiful, that even just looking at her made me feel like I was being electrocuted; a feeling I knew quite well actually. I knew that she was trying to get me to do something.
"Guess what?" I blurted stupidly to break the tension. "You know how Olympus gave us money for saving their butts?" Annabeth nodded. "Well, they gave us like, millions of dollars in mortal money. So Chiron has allowed us demigods who saved Olympus, to take a vacation."
Her mouth dropped open, and I smiled. I told her the rest, like how we can choose where we are going if ten or more half-bloods agree. Even though under normal circumstances so many demigods together would attract a lot of monsters, but there was barely any left since it had been only a week after the war. And also how we would only have one 'parent' with us, so we could practically do whatever we want. Her eyes got wider and wider with every word of explanation.
I had been so excited when I had found out, when Chiron had told me. He had told me not to tell anyone yet, but I knew that everyone was going to find out soon anyway. I'm glad I had finally spilled; I probably couldn't have kept it a secret much longer.
"So where would you want to go? Anywhere in the U.S…" I prompted her. I really didn't have any ideas yet, but I knew that she would be chock full of plans of cool places to visit.
"Vegas." Annabeth said quickly without seeming to even contemplate it. I did a double take.
"Really?" I expected her to say something sophisticated, like Washington DC or Vermont. I mean I love Vegas and all, but I didn't think that Annabeth would go for it.
"Definitely! The hotels have amazing architectural values and the replicas of everything are very accurate." Even though I barely understood a word she said, I grinned. Our time in Vegas before had been short, and being in such a crazy city with a whole bunch of demigods would be amazing. This was our chance to try to be normal teenagers for once. And it was going to be perfect.
"Well what are you waiting for?" Annabeth said, popping to her feet. She outstretched her hand to me, and I outstretched my fingers to hers happily. She pulled me to my feet, and we set off to find our friends.
Chiron couldn't say no to the 25 kids that agreed. Especially since a few of them were over eighteen themselves, and very responsible. Annabeth had squealed rather loudly when he announced we would be leaving in about a week. We still had to get some guards to help Chiron watch the camp, and there was a lot of planning to do. When we were dismissed from the meeting, everyone was in high spirits.
"You didn't invite me?" Said an agitated voice from next to me. I nearly jumped out of my skins, since I had been walking alone. But when I looked over, it was just Thalia. She was wearing her usual black punk outfit, and she had the whole "Lieutenant of Artemis" glow to her. I hadn't seen her since a bit after the war. She looked great, besides the slight limp in her step and the dullness in her usually bright eyes.
"Thalia, hey! What are you doing here?" I said casually, grinning as she threw a friendly arm around my shoulders. I purposefully avoided asking how she was, because I knew that even though she was acting like she was, that she was not okay. She sure was a good faker.
"I came to join your trip. It's Vegas baby, I couldn't miss it." She smirked at me.
"No way, you're coming? You don't have to work with Artemis?" I stopped in the middle of the grounds, turning to her in surprise. I did even think it would be possible that she would come.
"She's giving me a week off. It's all worked out." Now she was full on smiling too, not being able to contain her excitement. Things with Thalia were always thrilling because she sure had a way to make even the most maiming-resulted danger seem like just a silly rollercoaster. Even though I and she had been through a few (okay many) arguments, she was still one of my best friends. Probably because I and she were so alike, with our temper, attitude, and actions, it was natural that we corresponded with one another like we do. We helped keep each other from doing things that we both knew were dumb, and that one of us had probably experienced at one time or another.
"Dude that's awesome." I high-fived her, watching as her features brightened momentarily. "Annabeth's going to be stoked." I then watched as her features darkened, making me internally hit myself. I knew better then to mention Annabeth to her. It's not like they were in a fight or anything, they were still as close as ever, it was just me mentioning her that made Thalia upset.
And I understood exactly why. It was hard to watch everyone get their happy ending except for you. Losing Luke was harder on both Thalia and Annabeth, and it was an extremely touchy subject for both. Thalia more so, thank the gods, since Annabeth had me, which was hopefully enough. But watching Annabeth and I being all couple-y really upset Thalia. And I screwed up – again.
I opened my mouth to apologize, or to say anything really, when Annabeth herself came over.
"You didn't say hi to me!" She scolded Thalia, giving her an oblivious smile and hugging her. Thalia weakly leaned into her hug. However, her glare towards me showed a lot more power. I looked at my sneakers, feeling awful.
I barely heard their exchange about Thalia being able to come, and I knew that Annabeth was only excluding me because she must have seen Thalia's hurt expression. To take my mind off of my stupid words, I walked to my almost constructed cabin, admiring how fast the campers at built it. We had only been back at camp for a few weeks, and it was near completed. I loved the blue and gold wave designs, and the new hot-tub sized pond inside. It looked great.
Just as I was about to step inside, Grover trotted over to me from the shade Juniper's tree. He was one of the first people to agree, and he was probably the most excited. Even over Annabeth, who was pretty hard to top in that compartment. Even though he had jumped around like a kid with candy when he found out, he still seemed so much older ever since Pan's wish had been passed on to him. He had grown taller, burlier, and his horns were getting larger every day. He didn't look like a teenager anymore.
"What do you think? No fighting, no monsters, no quests for an entire week. Do you think you can survive?" He asked me, grinning manically.
"I'm not sure. It might be hard for me to go for an entire week without almost getting killed." I joked back. I knew there would still be fighting though, even if it wasn't in battle armor. I knew that numerous fights and drama would break out between all of the demigods. I mean, what would you expect?
"I'm glad you guys chose Vegas. It's going to be a blast." He punched my shoulder a lot more roughly then he probably meant to, and then disappeared into the setting sunlight.
I sighed and stepped into my chilly cabin. I walked over to my lone bed and plopped down on the plush mattress. I had the worst feeling in the pit of my stomach, like everything was going to go wrong soon. I knew it was just my instincts telling me "don't go out into the real world, it's too dangerous" and all that, but honestly, this was more. Maybe it was just because I know that there is going to be a lot of drama between all of the demigods. Maybe it's just because I know that Thalia is going to lose it one of these days, and I have a feeling that I'm going to be the cause of that. Or maybe I was just worried, as I always was, for my friend's safety. We all knew that we were taking a huge risk, just going out into the open like this in such large numbers, but we had already taken so many precautions. It couldn't go wrong… or could it?
I was lost in thought when there was an almost silent knock on the door. I stood up just as Annabeth walked in, her eyes darting around the room nervously. She closed the door behind her and walked over to me. She hugged me.
"Is she mad?" I asked my chin on her shoulder and my lips close to her ear. I was shivering from the coldness in the room, and from having her in my arms.
"She didn't say anything." Annabeth whispered, knowing who I was talking about instantly. "I don't think she's mad at you Percy, I think she's just upset in general." I sighed. I pulled her back so I could see her solemn face, but kept my arms around her.
"I didn't mean to mention you… it just happened." Even though she knows exactly where I stand with her, my face still got hot when I said this. She tried to hide a smile.
"She'll get over it at some point you know. It's just harder because she's not really supposed to care for him, with Artemis and all. So she's been trying to hide it from her, which just makes it worse." She quieted for a minute. I looked down, thinking about the rebel Thalia I thought I knew and this fragile Thalia. They were so different.
"She never got to say goodbye to him." Annabeth had tears in her eyes, but I just hugged her again.
"Don't worry about it now. Focus on how freaking amazing our trip is going to be." My words came out not as soothing as I wanted them to be. The dumb jealousy was tightening in my chest again, but I just shoved it out. She's upset for Thalia, not for herself. I thought, although I knew it wasn't true.
I sure hoped our trip would be as great as everyone was making it out to be. But knowing my luck, I knew something would go wrong. I knew that going on an actual vacation with my new, completed family would be different but totally awesome in the same way. I reminded myself to research some hotels and help Annabeth write out a schedule, since I knew it would drive her nuts if we didn't. I wasn't sure, but I was pretty sure that along with her ADHD and dyslexia, that she probably had OCD too. But it only made her more perfect in my eyes.
"It will be." She answered my question, pulling me out of my scattered thoughts. She tipped down my chin so her lips could touch mine. I felt the same tingling feeling I always felt when she was kissing me, and I half wondered if it would ever wear out. But I knew it wouldn't. At least I hoped not.
Hey yall! So I have a lot of plans for this story, and I'm excited to get it all out there. Each of their days in Vegas will be split into two chapters, and there will be A LOT going on besides just all the sightseeing and such. I went to Vegas myself, so I do know what I'm talking about here. There's going to be tons of Percabeth, a little of unintended Percy/OC (I know I know, ew) and a bit of Thuke. I'm really excited for this story and I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and the rest! Please please review, I am inspired by ideas, feedback, and complements from reviews. If you are a fellow writer, then you know that getting no reviews sucks and makes you not want to write at all anymore. Don't be a dream crusher! I do not own Percy Jackson or any of the characters/scenes you recognize. Thanks for reading!
~Lots of love,
Alaina