It's been a week since I moved to cabin ten. Lester's nice to keep around. He jokes around a lot, which is fine. He doesn't look like he has lots of friends. Maybe I'm his first. He's also one of Marty's punching bag.
"Hey, Lester," I asked him one day, out of boredom.
"Yeeeaaah?" He was combing his hair in front of a mirror.
I marched over and grabbed the brush from his perfectly manicured finger. "Hey! I was using that! There are more of those there!" He pointed to a shelf. A box was sitting there innocently, but I knew inside , it was bursting with different types of brushes. I grabbed that too and headed out of the door.
"Woah woah woah... wait up, Mitchell!" he said desperately.
I ignored him and jogged to the pavillion. I dumped the box's contents to the nearest flaming brazier. Lester clutched his hair and looked like he was about to rip his golden locks off his scalp.
"What did you do that for, man? I'm never going to look perfect again!"
"Listen to yourself, Lester," I said shaking him by the shoulders. "This is exactly the attitude that's disgracing the sons of Aphrodite! Ever wonder why Marty targeting you? He thinks we're girls!" I shuddered to emphasize my point.
He slid into one of the tables, "Mitch, what are you going to do about this anyway? Talking's not gonna stop Marty."
"No it won't," a new voice suddenly said. I spun around and saw Marty and two of his brothers. Lester jumped up so fast he banged his knee against the table. I was about to run like the dickens, whatever that is. I hope dickens were fast. Marty grabbed my shirt.
"Not so fast, Michelle. You too, Lina," he said. Lester, that idiot, just froze there. He was too scared. 'Get the heck out of here!' I wanted to shout.
"Jacob," he bellowed to the guy on his left. "Let's give these ladies an escort to the lake."
We were sopping wet. Marty threw us into the lake.
I hate the water. It was dark and cold down there. You can't see anything and you don't know which way is up. I thought for a split second that I was going to drown. I flailed wildly in the water. I must've looked like an idiot but I didn't care. The waves were going to swallow me forever. I had to get air. 'What if there were sharks down here?' I stupidly thought.
Some naiads pulled me to the shore. Marty was gone. Lester and I were sprawled out on the shore and stayed there until Drew found us.
You see, he knew I couldn't swim. I had hydrophobia- fear of the water.
Drew and some of the Aphrodite girls were staring down at us. We stared back.
"Hey Mitchell, Lester!" she said in an annoyingly happy tone. "Were you going for a swim? Sorry we interrupted. Girls, move out. Give these guys some privacy."
They giggled like it was funny and walked away. Only one girl stayed behind. She was wearing braces and had blonde ponytails. She looked about 12. She looked back to make sure Drew was out of earshot and whispered, "I'll go get Chiron."
She ran toward the Big House. Chiron will probably lend her a leaf blowers.
"Good to know there are some nice people in cabin 10, eh Lester?" I said.
Lester nodded and stood up. He squeezed water from his shirt. We waited for a few minutes and Lacy came back with a huge leaf blower.
In a few second we were dry. I offered my hand to the girl and we shook.
"Lacy," she squeaked.
"I'm Mitchell," I said. Lester gave a crooked grin and said, "Can we talk privately for a minute?" Lacy looked confused but just nodded and backed away a few steps.
"Mitch, you want to add an Aphrodite girl to our circle of friendship?" he whispered like it was shocking.
"So? We barely have a circle. It's only the two of us," I retorted.
"You were the one talking about being a guy!"
"That's different-"
"And she's a girl."
"I'v got a feeling she's not an Aphrodite brat. Too smart for that. An kind. Besides, there's always safety in numbers."
He scowled and turned back to Lacy. "Well, we have judged you fairl-"
I elbowed him in the gut. "Thanks for helping us Lacy," I said simply.