I believe an explanation is in order for my rather unexcused absence. Unfortunately I have nothing to say other than I just haven't been inspired lately. So sorry if this chapter isn't to entertaining, but I have to say, to those of you who review it makes me feel good and makes me want to write more so thanks to you guys.

~o~

When Clarisse had told us we would be training with the Ares cabin, I had just brushed it off as nothing. We trained at Camp Jupiter, this wouldn't be difficult at all. This would be a walk in the park.

That was before she woke the cabin up at 6:30 in the morning to go on a 7 mile run around camp. More like a sprint through the park.

We got back to the cabin at 7:00. Then Clarisse lectured her cabin, the Romans were excused just this once, about how their stamina was terrible and how "their lazy asses should be able to run seven fucking miles in 20 minutes tops." Except she was yelling. Really loudly. After about 8 minutes of screaming she dismissed us to shower and get ready for the rest of the day. Apparently that was the warm-up for the warm-up. Oh joy.

"So how do you feel about Camp so far?" Clarisse asked me, with a smirk on her face.

"Sore, particularly my legs." I said with a laugh.

She chuckled. "Come on we need to get to the showers before the Aphrodite's get there, they always use all the hot water."

With that we grabbed our clothes and toiletries and set off to the shower cabins. That was one of the things I wouldn't get used to. At Camp Jupiter the Bath House was always well kept and clean. Here though, you were lucky if you didn't see more than one or two roaches. Personally not something I want to experience when I'm showering.

When we got to the showers, it seemed like someone was already in there. I wondered who would be up this early, besides the Ares cabin anyways. Camp didn't really "start" until 8 o'clock. Clarisse claimed a shower stall and turned the water on. I decided it would be weird if I went to one of the showers next to either one of the occupants so I chose one near the back. After what I judged to be about 6 minutes one of the showers cut off. About two minutes later the door to the cabin slammed shut. A few minutes later I finished and cut the water off. I dressed quickly and exited the shower to go brush out my hair at the sink.

I was surprised to see that Clarisse was gone, I had assumed it was the girl that was here before us that had left. But it seemed that Clarisse had finished getting ready rather quickly. As I began towel drying my hair, the third shower's curtain got thrown aside and out stepped a beautiful girl who looked about 16, my age.

She was wearing a pair of shorts and a tight T-shirt. She was Asian and had long dark hair with dark eyes framed with long lashes. She was gorgeous. And she knew it.

I realized I had been staring so I quickly averted my eyes and went back to brushing the rats nest I called my hair. All the while I was brushing out the knots in my hair, the girl had taken out a make-up bag and began applying the products to her face. I didn't think she needed it. I was beginning to feel nervous around this girl and I quickly put my hair in its trade mark braid and bee-lined it out of there. I walked quickly back to Cabin 5, trying to forget the awkward encounter I had just had.

"Took you long enough." I heard as I walked through the door to the Girl's side of the cabin. Sure enough there was Clarisse, red bandana and all.

I rolled my eyes. "Sorry your Highness, my mistake."

She simply chucked her pillow at my face. "You have to go get a tour of camp after breakfast today smartass."

"With who?"

"Someone from the Hermes cabin, I'm not sure who though." I couldn't for the life of me remember which Greek god Hermes was.

Clarisse seemed to sense my confusion. "Uh, I'm pretty sure its Mercury for you guys?" Yep that cleared it up.

"So the counselor is just going to show us around?"

"No I'm pretty sure the older members are going to split you up into groups and give you the grand tour." She said just as the bell for breakfast sounded.

"Okay then. "

Breakfast was confusing, I admit. I didn't really understand the point of throwing a portion of our food into a fire, but I just assumed it was a Greek thing. Clarisse led the cabin throw the line at the fire and then back again to the Ares table. I was so absorbed in the fact that my glass would fill with whatever drink I wanted that I almost missed when an extremely tall Hispanic boy brushed pass Clarisse, a smirk prominent on his face. Right under a blue and purple nose that was obviously broken.

Interesting.

The meal flew by quickly, Clarisse and I just making small talk the whole time. Before I knew it the nymphs had collected everyone's plates and campers were dispersing to there activities for the day. All except for the Romans. I wasn't sure I wanted to go on this "tour". It would make my stay here feel permanent and I missed New Rome. I was homesick.

As I wallowed in my self pity Chiron began calling out names to be put in groups with different Mer- Hermes campers. The group I was put in was relatively small, it seemed like we were the left overs. The group consisted of 7 people, including myself, and I wasn't really acquainted with any of them. Great, cue the awkward silences. After a while of waiting my "group" got assigned to one of the older campers in cabin 11. The guy looked about 19. As I studied his appearance it dawned on my that this was the guy who bumped into Clarisse this morning.

As I was thinking this the boy cleared his throat to try and get our attention. "Uh, hey guys. So I'm Chris and I'm gonna show you all around today."

There was a beat of awkward silence as we stared each other down, Chris VS Romans. He seemed to be able to move past this as he urged us out of the dinning pavilion to go show us the rest of the cabins.

Being a leader for a long period of time had programmed my mind to always be at the front ready to give instructions. So it was unsurprising when I ended up right behind Chris. To my discomfort Chris seemed to be one of those people who always loved to be involved in a conversation. I just so happened to be the victim.

"So what's your name?" He said with a smirk as he glanced over sideways at me.

"Reyna." I replied curtly.

"No last name Rey Rey?" I was beginning to get the feeling that this boy liked to deliberately piss people off. And it was working.

"Don't call me that!" I snapped at him. "And I don't go by my full name, its just Reyna." I answered back. He just chuckled and began talking about the "destination" we had just reached. It went on like that for a while. Him talking about "the wondrous sights of Camp Half Blood", while it was obvious most of the group members could care less, and him striking up conversation with me as we traveled to the next stop on the tour.

Eventually the gods forsaken tour came to an end and the Romans went off to find there cabin mates for the summer and rejoin their activities. Apparently Chris and I were going to the same activity; sword fighting.

"So your staying in the Ares cabin, huh?"

"Yeah." I laughed

"So on a scale of 1 to 10 how welcoming has the children of the god of all things violent been?" He asked, humor clearly laced in his voice. Before I had the chance to reply, our conversation, if you could call it that, was interrupted by yelling, very loud yelling. Chris and I quickly followed the screaming voices to the outside of the arena where there seemed to be an argument on the brink of becoming an all out fight. Chris started walking faster, I had a feeling he knew who was inside the ring of bystanders.

"Go suck a dick its the only gods damned thing you're good at!" An extremely familiar voice yelled.

"Oh please, I can tear you down with no effort at all. You underestimate my mothers power." A second voice shot back.

"Oh right, how could I forget the Goddess of STD's. I can see the family resemblance!" Chris and I managed to push our way through the crowd just as the girl from the bathroom slapped Clarisse across the face.

The punch came almost instantly and connected with the girl's jaw. Within moments a bruise began to form. I faintly heard an 'oh shit' from Chris before he took off into the middle of the fight and somehow managed to hold Clarisse back. The other girl, however, seemed to be tougher than she looked and the instant Clarisse stopped swinging she was back on her feet clawing at Clarisse's face with perfectly manicured nails. Clarisse all but threw Chris off of her and grabbed the other girl by her hair. They two became part of a classic girl fight. Both with their hands firmly wrapped in the others hair and screaming and pulling at each other the whole time.

I didn't even notice when Chiron showed up.

"STOP THIS INSTANT!" It was actually quite terrifying to see the centaur yell. And everyone else must have thought so too because the campers who didn't disperse themselves instantly, immediately took three steps back.

"You two should be ashamed of yourselves, fighting in the midst of the visit of our guests. You two both know full well that fighting is not allowed outside training. I am very disappointed in you two." His tone was cold and steely, a tone I would have never expected from the loving teacher Chiron was.

"It wa-" The other girl began.

"I don't need excuses Miss Tanaka." He snapped at her. She instantly quieted. "Miss La Rue, Big House. Now. As for you Mr. Rodriguez, go to your next activity. And someone please take Miss Tanaka to the infirmary." He ordered. With that Chiron walked, or, trotted away to the Big House with Clarisse in tow. All the remaining campers went on to their next activities, Chris included though he didn't look to pleased about it. I noticed that no one seemed to be willing to help the girl to the infirmary.

I walked over to her and offered her my hand to help her off the ground. I had to ignore the butterflies that jumped into my stomach when she accepted. We didn't speak as we walked to the infirmary, I wasn't really taking her, considering I didn't quite remember where it was. But all the same the silence wasn't awkward like it was early that morning, it was simply just silence.

When we walked into the infirmary I saw that almost every cot was filled with Apollo campers caring for each one. It was obvious that we would have to wait. But this girl had other plans.

"Will come here!" She yelled. A handsome blonde haired boy with blue eyes walked over to us.

"What is it Drew?" He said, obviously exhausted.

"I need you to give my something for my face. It's starting to swell, and I can not rock that look." She said matter-o-factly

"Tragic." Will said with a role of his eyes. He handed her an ice pack wrapped in a rag. "Just keep that pressed on there and you'll be okay. You might want to clean out those cuts too." He said.

"Well then do it." This girl was really starting to sound like an all out bitch.

Will just rolled his eyes. "I can't right now I'm kind of busy." He turned and faced me. "You think you could take care of it? It's real simple." Somehow I just couldn't refuse those blue eyes. They were so much like Jason's.

"Okay, sure." I said. Cleaning out a few scraps couldn't be that hard, right?

"Thanks, you're a life saver." He said with a smile and with that he walked away to his next "patient".

I took the second rag Will had handed me and began dabbing the cuts on the girl, Drew's, face and arms. It was hard to concentrate with her staring at me the whole time. I was finally forced into starting a conversation, which is exactly what I think she wanted.

"Why were you guys fighting?" I blurted out. Not a very polite introduction, but oh well.

"We don't like each other." She replied simply.

"Way to be specific."

She laughed. "I don't really know why we don't like each other, all I know is that when I'm in the same room with her, I just get so angry. I'm pretty sure the feelings are mutual though."

The conversation on the Argo II came back to me, how Leo kept talking about the "legendary" Drew VS Clarisse fights.

"That's too bad..." I said quietly. Not knowing what else to say.

"Eh, not really she's pretty hard to be around. It's amazing that Chris still puts up with her. He could do better."

That caught my attention, but then I realized that it all made sense. The punching in the nose, the over sized sweatshirt, the brushing past her at breakfast, the asking about the Ares cabin. Chris Rodriguez and Clarisse La Rue were an item. That sure was news.

"There." I said. "All done."

She examined the cuts she had obtained and nodded in what I hoped was approval. "...thanks." She said slowly, as if she wasn't used to saying the word.

"I'm Reyna by the way." I blurted out. Way to sound like a total dork Reyna, great job.

She just flashed her brilliant white teeth in a smirk as she turned to walk away. "Drew." She said over her shoulder.

Drew Tanaka, I said in my head. Her name was simple. Short and sweet. There really wasn't anything special about it.

And I liked it.

~o~

I know I'm a terrible person, I make you wait forever for a new chapter and when I do update its boring as fuck. (Pardon me). I'm still in the beginning stage with this where I'm trying to introduce all the characters, but not all at once where it becomes to fast paced. Reviews make Sam happy, so if you can I'd appreciate it!