The idea for this chapter was based off of a movie I saw earlier today that consisted of bullying. December 15 Percy's POV
"Where did you learn to fight like that?" I asked Nathan. He sheathed his sword and shrugged.
"Beginner's luck, I guess?" he said.
I nodded and went over to where Riptide was lodged in the bleachers. I tried pulling several times and nothing really worked. Some of the Hermes kids starting snickering when my hands slipped on Riptide's leather grip and almost lost my balance on one of the steps.
Nathan came up to me, "Maybe I could get it."
I stepped out of the way when he calmly grasped his hands around my magic sword. The limestone cracked as Nathan pushed the hilt downward. He lodged inward and quickly slipped it out of the cracks.
"I was always good with leverage," Nathan stated, "My dad was an engineer back in Nebraska."
He handed Riptide to me and I pressed the cap to the sword tip, making it shrink to a dark blue ballpoint pen, and stuck it in my back pocket.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Percy," he glumly said, slowly trailing off toward the lake. As for me, I trained with the rest of the Hermes kids until I switched over to rock climbing.
I hooked myself in the climbing equipment until the horn sounded. The walls shook ferociously as I grappled upward, clinging to fragments of rock. Some of them disappeared and reformed on other sides of the wall. When I was close to the top, lava was dumped right next to me, almost singing off my eyebrows. Pulling myself over the top, the horn sounded and the walls suddenly clashed together. Luckily the rest of the campers made it to the top without their feet getting smashed.
Nathan's POV
When I reached the lake, I slumped down on the end of the dock and stared at some of the campers that were competing in the canoe races. Just then, something caught my eye below me. A girl, about my age in a lime green tank top and loose blue jeans, was sitting at the bottom of the lake while weaving a whicker basket with threat and cloth.
She looked at me and waved halfheartedly. I was too stunned to wave back. Camp Half-Blood is the weirdest place I've ever been to on the planet. The girl in the lake set her whicker basket down and swam towards me. Her head peeked above the surface.
"Aren't you cold?" I shivered. My ADHD got the best of me.
She slowly shook her head, "No, you?"
I shook my head and stared across the lake, "You're staring at me."
"Who are you?"
I tried resisting the temptation of answering, considering that she might a sexual predator, but her voice was calm enough to talk back to, "Nathan Boone."
Another voice spoke in Ancient Greek behind me. The girl suddenly dipped below the lake and swam off to where I couldn't see her.
"Miranda is very flirty during the winter," the female voice said. I looked back to see Annabeth leaning on the dock railing. Her hair was tied back into a ponytail.
"Like I haven't noticed," I muttered.
"I heard about what happened at the arena," she said.
"I-it's nothing...really. All I did was twist his blade and sent it flying."
I was anxious to drop the subject already when I jumped up and slowly walked off the dock. Annabeth put her hand on my shoulder. I realized she was a few inches taller than me.
"The dance was called off, Nathan," she said, "Jason was caught trying to take down the decorations and started to spread propaganda about me and Percy."
"That'll lighten up my spirit," I sarcastically said. Her hand fell down as I walked off to the cabin area. When I reached it, I saw graffiti on the Apollo cabin saying: "Kiss me! Kiss me, I'm sunny!" and more of it was sprayed on the Athena cabin. If Annabeth finds out about that, she'll go nuts and maybe start punching Jason in the face before he has a chance to run to Chiron. Chiron wouldn't believe a word he said anyway.
Just as I was about to turn towards the dinner pavilion, a few Hephaestus kids were carrying a blue fifteen gallon water jug towards the edge of the beach near Long Island Sound. I ignored it and went to the archery field.
I tried several times to get my arrow to shoot at the target but it always missed. Chiron told me to aim on the side of my dominant eye, but neither side worked. Unfortunately for me, an arrow was stuck in an Ares kid's helmet and started chasing me towards the cabin area until he'd cornered me behind the Zeus cabin.
"It was an accident!" I tried to tell him, "I swear!"
"Arrows in people's heads doesn't count as an accident nowadays," he growled. My dad always said to keep control of my temper whenever I'm very impatient or frustrated, but he isn't here right now to help me. The Ares guy approached slowly towards me with a murderous face considering that he had temper problems too.
My courage suddenly regenerated back to me and I raised my fists. I was ready to punch him when I needed to. The sky darkened with my anger.
"STAY—AWAY—FROM—ME!" I warned him. I could swear that could travel for miles. Her face changed to surprised and horrified as she backed away.
"You freak..." he said. That ticked me off.
"If you ever...ever call me that again..." I balled my fists until they turned white, thinking of a good curse word to say, but the conch horn abruptly sounded for dinner.
"I'll get you next time, punk," then the kid stormed off. My fists and anger loosened as the sky lightened up again.
Annabeth's POV
Trudging towards the dinner pavilion, I saw an Ares boy running from the cabin area and not from archery practice. I took my seat at the Athena table while everyone else filed in. Nathan was last to squeeze in on the Hermes table. His face showed that he was absolutely miserable.
Chiron stepped up to the head table and raised his goblet, "To the gods!"
We repeated the blessing. Satyrs and dryads poured in from everywhere with platters of salads and steaks. As for me, I automatically went over to the brazier, scrapped the juiciest part of my steak into the fire, and blessed for Athena.
When I arrived back at my table, Jennifer, one of my friends, said, "Can anybody help me with the Rubik's cube?"
No one else answered but me, "I might. I'm usually good with that stuff."
Michael, son of Ares, scoffed over at his table, "Usually. Like that's ever going to happen."
His friends snickered and I scowled at them, "Who do you think you are?"
"Ignore him," Malcolm said, "He's the scourge of the Underworld."
"I thought that di Angelo kid was the scourge," Michael reminded him.
"Well it looks like you have a new title," I cursed at him.
He slammed his fists on the Ares table, "And you need to stop acting like a smart-eleck."
"Michael—," Jennifer tried to say.
"Don't get into this, Jenni!" he growled, "That's it! I'm breaking up with you. I'm sick and tired of you! Even a kid of Athena should be able to solve the Rubik's cube!"
Her eyes started watering. I couldn't believe he had the nerve to say that.
"Lay off her, Michael!" I yelled.
"Maybe I would if you quit annoying people with your lame architectural facts no one wants to hear about!"
"You take that back," I slowly started to get up but Malcolm pulled me back down. Everyone in the pavilion started staring at us.
"Just because she needs help with the Rubik's cube doesn't mean you can make fun of her!" I said.
"She's a daughter of Athena," he assured me, "she should be able to know that by now."
"That's it!" I jumped up and started towards him, balling my fists.
Clarisse got up to stop me, "You don't need to get into this, Wise Girl."
I ignored her even though she tried pushing me back. A helpful friend maybe but I was seriously mad at Michael. What happened next was totally inconsiderate of me.
Here's the Lightning Thief cast so far:
Percy Jackson - Logan Lerman
Annabeth Chase - Alexandra Daddario
Grover Underwood - Brandon T. Jackson
Poseidon - Kevin McKidd
Athena - Melina Kanakaredes
Zeus - Sean Bean
Chiron - Pierce Brosnan
Medusa - Uma Thurman
Luke Castellan - Jake Abel
Mrs. Dodds - Maria Olsen
Procrustes - Tim Aas
Smart ass kid who chased Percy and gang into Crusty's Waterbed Palace - Richard Harmon
