Silena Beauregard was bored of Aphrodite cabin.
She'd been excited at first- She was a daughter of the goddess of love, and it suited her exactly. But after a while, it just got boring.
Her siblings, who shared the cabin with her, seemed perfectly happy, deciding who suited each other, and spending far too much time on hair,clothes and make up. Silena's problem was that nobody took her seriously. She didn't really have any special powers, and she wasn't really expected to be good at the camp activities. She just wished that she could be in a more interesting cabin.
One Friday, she had a free afternoon, and decided to go and look around the other cabins and what they did. It would be interesting, at least.
She started off with Dionysus' cabin, 12, which was next door to hers. It only had two inhabitants, Castor and Pollux. It would probably be lonely in there, but they could make fruit grow and be useful to the camp. She walked past her own cabin, glaring at it with loathing. They were the most useless cabin at camp.
She reached Cabin 8, which belonged to Artemis. Of course, there were no campers in that one, just the Hunters when they visited. Being a daughter of Aphrodite, Silena didn't think she could ever be a Hunter, but at least they could shoot arrows, and travel the country hunting monsters. It would definitely stop her from being bored. She carried on walking to Cabin 6.
Athena campers were kind of like Aphrodite- they didn't really have any special powers either. However, they were at least respected, because they were wise, and good strategists. Silena got on pretty well with some of the Athena kids, but she could tell that they didn't really respect her parentage. She thought that being a child of Athena would be quite cool- in fact, before she had been claimed, that was where she had wanted to go.
Cabin 4 belonged to Demeter. Aphrodite kids usually mocked Demeter girls, because they spent a lot of time gardening, so they didn't really keep themselves tidy for very long. Silena would never join in with this- some of the Demeter kids were actually really nice, and once again, at least they had something useful to do.
Hera's cabin was empty, obviously. That was probably the only cabin that was less useful than Aphrodite.
Zeus's cabin was supposed to be empty, but a couple of weeks ago, the Golden Fleece had revived Thalia, and she now lived there. It would be lonely, and scary, but the powers were so cool. Silena had always wished to have powers as cool as that, and she was jealous of Thalia, even though she'd been turned into a pine tree.
Poseidon's cabin should also have been empty, but Percy lived there. Silena quite liked Percy- he could be quite stupid, especially when it came to Annabeth, but he didn't discriminate against her for being an Aphrodite camper. She thought being a daughter of Poseidon would be awesome, and the powers were amazing.
The next cabin was Ares. Silena hated the Ares cabin. They were violent, and horrible, and they always made fun of her. Still, they played their part in the camp, and they were respected, even if they weren't liked.
Cabin 7 was Apollo. Silena thought Apollo was pretty cool. He was an archer, a poet, and the god of the sun and healing, so being one of his kids would be good. There were so many aspects of being an Apollo camper, and barely any being in Aphrodite.
Cabin 9 belonged to the Hephaestus campers. Aphrodite and Hephaestus campers did not get on well, mainly because of their parents- Aphrodite basically ignored Hephaestus and cheated on him with Ares. As well as that, the Aphrodite cabin basically decided that Hephaestus campers weren't good- looking enough for them. Silena always kept quiet on this subject, because she would have loved to have been a Hephaestus camper- they could make anything! She peeked in the window of the cabin, and was surprised to see someone there- most campers spent their free time by the lake, or even practising their sword skills. She had assumed that all the Hephaestus campers would be in the workshop. She was about to leave and move on to Cabin 11, where she had spent a few days when she had arrived, when the camper turned and saw her. She recognised him- Charles Beckendorf, counsellor of the cabin. He grinned at her and waved at her to come in. She opened the door hesitantly and stepped in.
'Er, hi.' she ventured embarrassedly. What would it look like to have a daughter of Aphrodite in the Hephaestus cabin?
'Hey,' said Beckendorf cheerfully. 'What brings you here?' Silena couldn't help it- she told him everything.
'I just- I don't want to be a child of Aphrodite! Everyone else is respected, and useful, and has cool powers, and what do I have? Nothing!' She sank onto the nearest bed and broke down in tears. Beckendorf stood next to her awkwardly.
'I don't think you have nothing. You always make everyone feel good about themselves.' Silena laughed derisively.
'Yeah, sure. Everyone thinks my cabin thinks it's better than all the others, and that's probably true, but I don't! I hate Aphrodite!' Beckendorf glanced nervously at the ceiling.
'Come on, Silena. It can't be that bad,' he sat down next to her gingerly. 'The point is, even if your cabin is like that, you're not. The fact that you want to be useful shows that. I can teach you a bit of forgery if you like.' Silena looked up and smiled weakly.
'I'd like that. I'm sorry for this.' He shook his head.
'Don't be. Anytime you need someone to talk to, I'm here.' Silena smiled.
'Come on, then, teach me something new.' she said. He stood up and held out his hand to pull her up. She took it.
'Why, thank you, kind sir.' They walked out of the cabin and towards the workshop. As they passed the lake, a lot of people stared at them. Silena glanced at Beckendorf. He smiled at her.
'Don't worry, it's just making camp history for kids from Aphrodite and Hephaestus to be friends.'
Jake Mason poked his head round the door of the forgery. Silena and Beckendorf had been in there all afternoon.
'Guys,' he called. They turned towards him, both with engine oil on their faces. 'It's time for dinner.' Silena looked reluctant to leave, but they both walked towards the door. 'And, er, Silena?' She raised an eyebrow questioningly. 'You've got a little oil on your face.' She laughed, much to his surprise.
'It doesn't matter. Let's go shock my cabin.' She grinned at him and he found himself grinning back. He'd never really liked the Aphrodite campers, but Silena seemed like she was alright. They all walked to the pavilion together, and Silena talked excitedly about everything she'd learnt. Beckendorf nodded along proudly. Jake was impressed- she actually seemed like she understood it, and enjoyed it. They reached the pavilion to many stares- two Hephaestus boys and an Aphrodite girl? It was unheard of! And for an Aphrodite girl to show up to dinner with engine oil on her face- it just felt like everything was going crazy! Silena decided to shock them a little more.
'See you Jake, see you Charlie.' She called casually, loud enough for everyone to hear. The shock on everyone's faces grew stronger. Nobody called Beckendorf 'Charles', let alone 'Charlie'. Silena sat down with satisfaction, enjoying everybody's surprise. The rest of cabin 10 leaned forwards and started bombarding her with questions. She ignored them and serenely sipped her drink, until she heard someone say 'You two are such a cute couple!' She leant forward and hissed
'Do not go there. We are friends, and I wouldn't want to spoil that by being some stereotypical
Aphrodite girl, dating anyone who so much as smiles at me.' The other girls leant back.
'What's wrong with dating a lot of people?' Silena sighed.
'Aphrodite could be about so much more. We can make people happy, and we don't have to date them to do that.' She stood up and carried her plate the the bronze brazier. She scraped off about half of her plate.
'Thanks, Mum,' she whispered, 'I needed a friend.'