Chapter 2 – Chiron Ruins My Night

At dinnertime, I walked into the dining hall, scanning the faces of the campers for Annabeth. She wasn't at the Athena table and she wasn't standing in line to get food. I hopped into the line behind some young campers. After getting my usual, I walked over to the middle of the room where the fire was burning inside the bronze brazier. Without much of a thought, I dumped a little bit of my food into the fire. Some nights I was more interested in sacrificing to the gods. Tonight was not one of those nights. I made my way to my table and sat down alone. I looked around for Annabeth again, but still couldn't find her. I wondered what she and Chiron had to talk about. She had left to talk to him more than two hours before. What could they possibly have to talk about?

I ordered a blue margarita to appear in my cup, non-alcoholic of course. The icy blue liquid appeared and I took a drink. I thought about my mother. Blue food always made me think about my mother. I hoped whatever she was doing, she was safe and happy.

"I hope you enjoyed your time with Annabeth," Harry said, stopping next to my table with his tray full of food. "Because next time we actually have a duel, I'm going to whip your butt."

I could tell that Harry was joking. He and I got along pretty well. I didn't have many people at camp I could truly call a friend, but Harry was one of them. Son of Hephaestus, he was a cool guy from Boston who had a New England attitude with the accent to match. He was a year younger than me, but still pretty cool. Plus he was really good at not just making swords, but using them as well. He was one of the only people at camp who could even come close to possibly beating me. (Except Annabeth of course. She was pretty lethal with her knife.) What Harry lacked in technical skill, he made up for in brute strength

"In your dreams," I replied with a smirk.

Harry kept walking to his table. The usual sounds of chatting and kids eating filled the dining hall. Since the rules of the camp were that you ate with your cabin-mates and them only, I was used to eating alone so the isolation didn't usually bother me. At the beginning of the summer I had asked Chiron if Annabeth and I could eat together. I thought he might budge, but he stood fast. It was an ancient tradition and camp loved ancient traditions.

For some reason, eating alone just then did bother me. Maybe if I could just see Annabeth and know she was alright, I would feel better. I mean, I knew nothing bad could happen to her in camp. Well, I was pretty positive anyway. And I knew that Annabeth could take care of herself anyway, but when you've been close to death as many times as I have, it's hard to shake the feeling that something could go wrong at any minute.

After eating quickly, I headed back to my cabin. As always, I was the only person to stay in the cabin. The nice thing was I never had to listen to anyone snoring or talking in their sleep. Plus, I got to spread my belongings out pretty much everywhere. But it could get lonely sometimes, too. And just like at dinner, I was feeling the loneliness.

I sat on the edge of the bed and took out a book that was written in Ancient Greek. It was some adventure story that a camper had let me borrow months ago. I opened it, but didn't actually read it. Reading in Ancient Greek was much easier than reading in English, due to my dyslexia, but reading still wasn't my favorite hobby no matter what language it was in.
At some point I must have closed my eyes and dozed off because the next thing I knew, a horn was trumpeting, signaling the start of the bonfire. I wiped the sleep from my eyes and got out of bed. When I stepped out of my cabin, I noticed it had grown dark. I guess I had napped longer than I realized. Along with other campers, I made my way to the bonfire. When I arrived, kids were already sitting around on up-turned logs and camp chairs around the golden blaze. The fire was high, over ten feet. Clearly, the kids around the campfire were in a good mood. As more campers came, the fire would just grow higher. I looked around for Annabeth, but didn't see her.

I chose to sit on a long log near the back. I could still feel the fire's warm glow, but I didn't feel the need to be right on top of it. A few of the Apollo campers started singing while others handed out sticks to toast marshmallows for s'mores.

"Is this seat taken, Seaweed Brain?" A familiar voice asked.

I turned to see Annabeth behind me.

"Actually, it's for a pretty blond girl," I replied. "Have you seen her?"

"No, but I'm sure she won't mind if I sit down for a while."

She smirked and climbed over the log. She sat down beside me, our arms touching.

"Where were you?" I asked Annabeth.

"Talking to Chiron."

"All this time?" I wondered. It had been hours since Annabeth and I had parted at the lake. "Is everything ok?"
She nodded. "Everything's fine."

"What were you talking about?"
"My future."

"Like a prophecy?" I asked, suddenly concerned.

"Not quite," she answered.

I could tell she was avoiding my question, but I didn't know why.

"Annabeth, what…"

I was interrupted by Chiron's booming voice. He had galloped to the middle of the campfire circle and stood just next to the flames. My first day at camp, it took me a while to get used to the fact that my old history teacher was actually a centaur, half man and half horse. But, after years at Camp Half-Blood, seeing a man with the body of a horse was nothing special. Very few things surprised me anymore.

"Good evening half-bloods!" Chiron exclaimed. "I have a special announcement to make."
Everyone immediately stopped chattering and all turned to look at Chiron. It wasn't often he made camp announcement. Whatever he was about to say was either very, very good or very, very bad.

"To celebrate another five-hundred years as a camp that safely harbors half-bloods, we will be having our Quincentennial dance!"

A cheer erupted, mostly from the girls. The fire immediately rose another ten feet and turned a brilliant shade of shimmering gold. Clearly everyone was thrilled by Chiron's news.

"Quincentennial?" I asked Annabeth who was smiling, but wasn't screaming like so many of the other girls.

"Every five-hundred years, the camp holds a fancy dance," she explained. "Current campers and alumni are invited."

"How is it that you know everything?" I wondered out loud, not for the first time. Despite the fact that reading was difficult for her, too, Annabeth seemed to be an endless book of knowledge.

"I've been at camp a long time, Percy. You hear things."

"Is that what you and Chiron were talking about? The dance?"

"Not quite, although he did mention it to me."

"Listen up!" Chiron announced, trying to get everyone paying attention again. Amazingly, everyone did calm down. "As is customary, we will be choosing the quincentennial king and queen of the dance. Voting ballots will be passed around at the end of this week. The king and queen will be announced at the dance. The dance will be in ten days time. Now, enjoy this beautiful night, young half-bloods!"

The campers all clapped and began talking amongst themselves. I could hear a group of girls talking about what dresses they were going to wear while some of the guys started frantically discussing who they would take to the dance.

"Well, this sounds lame," I said to Annabeth.

"It's tradition, Percy."

"Who wants to get all dressed up and go to some stupid dance? I mean, camp is supposed to be about learning sword fighting and skills and…"

"Some people don't think it's stupid," Annabeth said quietly.

I turned to her. It took all of my will power not for my jaw to drop.

"You're really interested in going to a dance?" I asked, surprised.

"I'm just saying that some people might like it."

"What's to like about it?"

"It's tradition!" She exclaimed.

"That doesn't mean we have to like it."

"What is so wrong with wanting to get dressed up and spend some time with friends at camp?"

"Nothing, I just don't see why it has to be a big deal."

"Then I guess I won't be seeing you there," Annabeth stated.

With that, she stood up to go talk to the other girls from her Athena cabin. I rolled my eyes and walked off. Maybe I was being a little harsh. I mean, it could be fun. But I didn't see what the big deal was. I could hear a group of girls squealing in excitement behind me. What was it with girls and dances anyway?

The next morning, I walked out to the climbing wall. I was in the mood to just let off some steam. Walking past the mess hall, I decided to skip breakfast. I did, however, see some new artwork hanging up from some of the columns that were around the mess hall. Ok, so maybe artwork isn't the right word. They were posters. Giant posters that the campers had made. Although my dyslexia often got the better of me, I was able to figure out that the posters were campaign posters for the king and queen of the dance. It looked to me like almost every single one of the older campers from each cabin were competing. Chiron had just announced the dance last night. Had nobody slept?

I picked up a flyer that had fallen on the ground. It had a hand drawn picture of Clarisse and said 'Vote for Me, Or Else.' Leave it to Clarisse to try to become queen by threatening people. I crumpled the paper up and threw it in a nearby garbage can.

As I made my way to the climbing wall, a few people said hello to me. I said hello back, but I wasn't in the mood to talk. I did look around a few times for Annabeth, but didn't see her. I wanted to talk to her about our little disagreement the night before. When I got to the Climbing Wall, I saw her near the top. I watched as she expertly climbed the last few feet before hitting the top. With her mission completed, Annabeth made quick work of getting back to the bottom. I was right there to greet her.

"Hey Wise Girl," I said, trying to sound cooler than I actually was and hoping that she had forgotten our little fight from the night before.

"Hey," she said. Her greeting was lackluster, like she wasn't actually that thrilled to see me.

"Want to race?" I challenged. If there was one thing that could make Annabeth happy, it was the chance to beat me at something. I was a good climber, but so was Annabeth.

"No thanks. I've got to be at the stables in a little while to help with flying lessons for some of the newer campers."

I stepped closer to her and was about to take her hand and apologize for not being more excited about the dance (although, to be honest, I didn't know what exactly I was apologizing for), when a boy from Demeter's cabin walked by and smiled at Annabeth.

"Did you think about it?" He asked her, pretty much ignoring the fact that I was standing there talking to her.

"I haven't made up my mind yet," she replied.

"We could have a good time."

If I didn't know any better, I would swear I saw Annabeth blush. Then she got that look in her eyes that usually was reserved for me. Whatever was going on, I didn't like it.

"I'll talk to you later, Josh," Annabeth said.

Josh winked at her before heading over to start climbing the wall. I noticed he rolled his short sleeves up at his shoulder to show off his muscles. The dude was pretty muscular. And Annabeth was actually staring at him.

"What was that about?" I asked Annabeth, jumping in front of her to block her view of Josh.

"Nothing," she responded quickly, side stepping me and heading away from the wall.

I kept pace beside her. "He said you two could have a good time. A good time at what?"

"The dance, Percy. We could have a good time at the dance."

"Why would you and Josh have a good time at the dance?" I asked, getting more confused by the second. Clearly, I was missing something.

She stopped in her tracks, a sure sign of irritation.

"He asked me to the dance, ok?"

"Wait...what?"

"At the campfire last night, after you left, Josh asked me to the dance."

"Why would he do that?"

She took a deep breath. "Is it so hard to believe that someone might want to spend time with me and be my date to the dance?"
"Of course not. I just mean...he knows we're together. What makes him think he can ask you to the dance?"

"Are we?" She questioned.

"Are we what?"

"Together?"

I looked at her blankly. I was pretty sure in that moment that I had walked into one of those old episodes of that show The Twilight Zone that my mom liked. Hadn't Annabeth and I just spent the last year together?

"I thought so," I said.

"Well, you never asked. And it's not like you asked me to the dance. As matter of fact, you were the one who thought the dance was dumb. Maybe I'd rather go with someone who actually wants to go with me."

"I never said I don't want to go with you," I insisted.

"Then what do you want, Percy?"

"I want to know how we got into this fight in the first place," I said honestly. This whole thing was being blown way out of proportion.

"If you don't know that, then I don't know what we're doing."

She stormed off. I was left behind, having no idea what had just happened.

Author's Note: Thank you for reading! Even though I just listened to all of the Percy Jackson books in the last two months, I have to thank the Riordan Wiki (Fandom) for being my go-to spot to fill in some details I might have forgotten. Please take a moment and review if you liked it or if you have constructive criticism. I always enjoy hearing what people think!