So I know a lot of people were expecting a soccer game, but I skipped the actual game part because do you know how hard it is to write sports? To make a reader aware of 12 people at a time….. I really tried guys! Im sorry! But there will be an actual Capture the Flag game in the next chapter! Scout's honor! (Ok so I wasn't in the Scouts since I'm a girl and everything, but, for real, I promise)
*WARNING*WARNING* There is underage drinking in this chapter, please don't complain to me about that- if you feel the need to complain about something with this story, the grammar and spelling are much worse.
In an unexpected turn of events, Katie was running ahead of schedule and not dreadfully and hopelessly late. She had already unpacked all of her clothing and weapons and was currently slipping her feet into her tennis shoes. There was no hope for her hair, there never was, so she ended up just pulling her tangled ringlets into a single braid down her back. The slight red tint of her mahogany colored hair made her faded orange camp shirt look even more off colored and pitiful. It had become a tad distressed looking over the years, but it just added character. The unmistakable air of excitement lingered as she placed her bow and quiver under her pillow. She felt almost naked without them, but they would have made running around a field very difficult. So she settled for her sword- in ring form- on her finger.
She was ready, and she was determined.
"You look like you're about to lead an army into battle with that expression." Said a voice from behind her. In her intense concentration and preparation, Katie had failed to realize that someone had joined her. Arthur Nahuatl, son of Athena, stood there, leaning against the door frame of the cabin.
"How do you know I'm not?" Katie asked, arms crossed, but smiling.
"With you, there's no telling." Arthur laughed. He walked toward her and wrapped his arms around her waist. Katie, following his lead, wrapped her arms around Arthur's neck and leaned into the hug. Finally they broke apart.
"I missed you." She said, arms still resting on his shoulders.
He kissed her on the forehead, "I've missed you so much."
"I have to go to the soccer game now." Katie sighed, sounding truly upset over it.
"I'll walk you." Arthur offered. Together they exited the Apollo cabin and headed toward the training grounds that would double as the soccer field.
"You could play. I bet we would be on the same team. I have an 'in' with one of the captains, you know."
"You know it's not really my thing. I'll be your personal cheerleader though."
"Well, cheerleaders are hot."
"Really? You think so? I have always been more into soccer players."
"Well how fortuitous."
"Nice word choice."
"Yeah, some nerd taught it to me." Katie said, poking Arthur in the ribs.
"You guys are just so cute!" Came a voice, mockingly. By this point, Katie and Arthur had made it to the clearing where people had already begun to gather. Aaron was standing near the couple, hand sarcastically pressed to his chest over his heart.
"No one asked you, Merton." Spat Arthur, eyes narrowing and arm placed protectively over Katie's shoulders (which she quickly shrugged off).
"Yeah, well no one ever even talks to you, but that never stops you from throwing in your two sense about everything, thinking you're just so smart with your useless facts." Sneered the son of Hades. Arthur and Katie both opened their mouths to respond, most likely in the form of raised voices and cursing, but they were cut off.
"Leave him alone, Aaron. At least a girl is willing to be seen with him. All of the ones you hook up with pretend not to know you in public." Said Chuck, walking up to the little group.
"If you want to be one of those girls, Chuck, all you have to do is ask. I have an opening on Tuesday afternoons at four-ish." Said Aaron, winking at the pretty blonde. Arthur laughed at this and Katie rolled her eyes at the absurdity of such a suggestion.
"I would," Chuck said, pretending to mull the thought over, "if it wasn't for one little thing, you have the wrong parts for my taste. You're an outie where I prefer there to be an innie."
"You'll come around one day, Chuck Riley."
"Yeah right." She scoffed. "You have a better chance of getting together with Katie than with me."
Katie pulled a face that suggested she was extremely repulsed by even the mere thought of such an occurrence, much to Arthur's relief.
"Ooh! That's your 'Aaron' face." Said Sky, who had just walked up to stand next to Katie.
"I have one of those, too. Mine just has a little more disgust and a little less anger." Chuck said seriously, although it was clear she was holding back a laugh.
"Gods, you are all insufferable." Aaron huffed, truly getting angry.
Owen, probably on purpose to avoid an all-out fight, chose this moment to announce the beginning of the game. The players congregated to the center of the field and the spectators departed to the 'sidelines'. Sky gave Katie a 'good luck' thumbs up and headed towards the viewer designated area with her half-brother, Arthur.
The remaining campers on the field were quite a diverse group. Katie joined Owen who was standing at the front of the crowd.
"All right," He said in his naturally authoritative tone, "Katie has first pick."
Katie looked over the group. Chelsea Ronaldo, the little 11 year old daughter of Nike, stood at the front with a huge smile on her face, eagerly awaiting a chance of competition. She would make a good player, Katie thought, but maybe not a first pick. Chuck stood off to the side near Owen. They had a truly strange friendship, but there was zero chance that the daughter of Aphrodite would ever be on anyone's team unless it was Owen's. Aaron Merton was standing near the back, still looking a little pissed off. There was no way Katie was going to pick him, not for all of the drachma in Olympus. It didn't matter how nice his hair was or how stunningly piercing his blue eyes were. Katie shook the thought out of her head. Then, her eyes landed on the son of Hermes standing next to Aaron. Will Miller was tall and fast, he would make a good forward, and he wouldn't hog the ball too much.
"Will." Katie said, giving him a smile. Will gave Aaron an apologetic slap on the back and jogged over to stand next to Katie.
Owen didn't contemplate his decision long. "Chuck."
"Chels." Katie said, gesturing toward the little girl in the front. Chelsea ran up to Katie and gave her a big hug.
It was Owen's turn again. He scanned the crowd. He could pick his half-brother, Garreth. Gar was an excellent soccer player, but they clashed heads often. They both liked to be in charge, and Owen wasn't big on sharing that position. Instead he focused in on Marian. She was a strong, 6'1" daughter of Hephaestus. Her height and muscular build slowed her down a little, but she had an impressive reach. She would be an excellent goalie, he thought.
"Marian."
"Garreth." Katie said, immediately after.
"Aaron." Responded Owen, just as quickly. Aaron was an ass, but he was a football player, too, meaning he was athletic. On top of that, he was relatively quick on his feet. Owen knew Katie wouldn't have picked him in the first few rounds out of spite, but he didn't want to press his luck.
"Rudolf." Katie said, gesturing to the intense looking son of Ares. She didn't know much about him, but she knew he looked focused and had seen him playing soccer before, so that was enough.
"Juliette." Owen chose. Juliette was tiny, almost as short as eleven year old Chelsea, but she was fierce and a little scary for such a small person, thought Katie. She also had these terrifying green lines and dots on her face that seemed to glow and Katie had never really received an explanation for those and they were a little unnerving.
"Matt." Katie said, giving her half-brother a little head nod. She liked Matt, they were siblings and everything, but he was just so happy and she was just so not. Nonetheless, she gave him a smile when he jogged to join her.
"Lea." Owen called the Hermes girl over to join him. "Alright, figure out your formation since we only have six on each team and then we'll do a coin flip to decide who gets the ball first."
The two teams walked to opposite ends of the clearing.
"Lea is a better soccer player than Matt. Matt is more basketball." Will said to Katie under his breath.
"I know, but Matt is still good, and I need a favor from him later." She whispered back. She then raised her voice so that everybody could hear her. "Alright, so I am going to be left forward and Will I was thinking you could be center."
"Could I be right forward?" Chelsea asked excitedly.
"Sure, and I was thinking that Gar could be goalie. I need you to block any shot Owen takes. And that leaves Matt and Rudolf. I was thinking Matt would be Midfielder and Rudolf would be our last line of defense as a Fullback." Everybody nodded that they understood.
Across the field, Owen was assigning positions as well. "First the forwards, I'm center, Chuck is left, and Juliette is right. Our Halfback will be Lea and Fullback is Aaron. That leaves Marian for the goalie. If everyone does what they are supposed to this will work. I don't want to see a single shot on our goalie. No one gets past you, Merton. Everyone got it? Good." When winning was on the line, Owen didn't mess around.
The players from each team went to their designated areas. The six forwards met in the middle.
Owen raised his voice so everyone across the grounds could hear him. "The game is going to last 30 minutes- two 15 minute halves. There is absolutely no demigod powers allowed. Ok, call it, Rogers."
Producing a quarter from his pocket, Owen flipped it in the air.
"Heads." Katie called. Owen grabbed it in the air and revealed it was heads.
(Later)
"Oh, really, the wind just happened to be on your side the whole time? Even when we switched sides?" Katie accused.
"Come one, I can't even do that. I can harness lightning though. Here let me show you, stand still for a second." Owen replied feigning seriousness, although he was clearly thrilled to have won.
"Nobody likes a sore winner." Said Chuck who was ridding piggy back style on Owen's back. Katie stuck her tongue out at Owen. "And nobody likes a sore loser either, Katie. Gods, listen to me, I'm sounding responsible. You two need to pull yourselves together because me sounding like this cannot continue." She said looking surprised at herself.
The two were walking back towards the main part of camp together. Although a couple of onlookers had hung around, the game had gone into 'overtime' and had run pretty long causing quite a few half-bloods to head back before it had ended.
"I'm going to run ahead, I don't want to wait in a long line for dinner." Said Chelsea, waving goodbye and jogging ahead of the group. The older demigods waved to the young girl and then smirked at each other. They weren't going to dinner. It had been a tradition at Camp Half-Blood for as long as anybody could remember to celebrate after sporting events. The campers who participated looked at it as a positive, allies and opponents coming together. Not everyone knew about it, you had to be invited by someone who was already there, and you couldn't be invited until you were at least 14, though usually it was 15.
Instead of following the path toward the Mess Hall, the group veered to the left, heading deeper into the forest. If one didn't know where the group was going, it would have looked as if they were just wandering, but they were following a path, it was hard to find. An orange stripe was painted on a tree branch here, or a rock there, like road markers. Eventually the campers came to a small, circular clearing around twelve feet in diameter. There were wards and weird looking designs on the trees surrounding the clearing. When they were first invited, the older campers had told them it blocked Gods from knowing they were there. They had no reason to not believe it since no one had ever found them before. In the center of the circle, surrounded by small rocks, was the fire pit still with the ashes of the last fire that had burned. In a circle around the fire were logs, boulders, and even some folding chairs that some camper, probably a Hermes kid, most likely stole from the Mess Hall or the Big House.
The demigods each found a seat somewhere in the circle. Lea Daley sat in one of the folding chairs, Garreth took the chair to her right. To his right Felix, son of Apollo, had claimed a stump, and Matt sat in the only other chair next to his half-brother. Then was Arthur, Katie, and Skyler, sharing a rather large log, then Juliette and Chuck each on their own boulder. Owen sat on the stump to Chuck's right, leaving Will and Aaron on a smaller log, completing the circle, with Lea to Aaron's right.
"So who is going to start the fire? Where is Marian?" Asked Lea, looking around for the pyrokinetic.
"She bailed. This really isn't her thing. Rudolf left too. He didn't want to chance anything happening with Capture the Flag being tomorrow." Said Felix.
"He never talks when he's here anyway. The real question is who brought the goods?" Chuck questioned, eyes scanning the circle suspiciously. Will held up a six pack in each hand as Lea pulled out another two from seemingly nowhere. Owen let out a whistle and Aaron slapped Will on the back.
"I am always so impressed with you Hermes kids. I mean, really though, how did you even get that?" Asked Arthur in awe. He really was impressed. Unlike most other Athena kids, Arthur had a thing for breaking the rules. He went out of his way to do so. His eyes lit up at the thought of doing something with this much risk.
"Family secret." Said Will popping the top on his can and passing the others around. Everyone took a can besides Felix, Sky, and Garreth. Felix was too responsible, Sky was convinced it would kill all of her brain cells, and Garreth was too good.
"Guys, just be careful! Don't go overboard, it would be a stupid way for a demigod to die." Felix said worriedly, always watching out for everyone. He never participated in the activities of these gatherings. He was more there to make sure people didn't kill each other. Sharp weapons and lowered inhibitions did not make for good outcomes.
Katie looked over at Matt with a raised eyebrow, silently asking if he had held up his end of their agreement. Matt nodded and produced a paper bag that had been rolled up in his sweatshirt. He handed it to Katie who pulled out a rather large bottle of clear, liquid fire.
"Ooh, Rogers plays hard." Said Aaron approvingly, eyeing the bottle. "How'd you manage that Jones?" He asked Matt with grudging respect.
"Family secret." He said with a smirk, popping open the can that had just been handed to him.
Katie had taken two gulps of the bitter liquid when Chuck decided she had waited long enough.
"Ok, don't hog it. Pass it around!" Katie handed it to Sky who took a tiny sip and gave it to Juliette how took a shot and passed it to her right. And it kept going around and around.
As the night went on, the temperature of the air fell. Despite it being summer, the storms overhead kept the camp at a cool degree at night, but the teens who were in the clearing could not feel the chill, and it wasn't only because of the fire. By the time the flames started to die out only eight campers were left.
"Ok, ok.. I got one. Hiccup. Never have I ever been skinny dipping." Said Lea who was pretty gone by this point. Chuck, Juliette, Owen, and Will all raised their drinks to their lips took quick gulp.
"Ok, I think that's enough for you tonight." Said Garreth, taking the bottle away from Lea and helping her up. "I'll walk you back." He said to her half holding her up as they left the clearing together.
"Ok, it's my turn." Chuck slurred, she took a swig from the now almost empty bottle as she thought. "Ne'er have I e'er hooked up wif a Athena kid." Katie, Owen, and Aaron all drank. "Tha's so weird! Do they, like, tell you facts while yer kissin?" She asked, looking genuinely concerned.
"Alright, I'm heading back. Why don't you come with me, Chuck?" Suggested Juliette. She, being more on the mature side than most of her friends, hadn't drank very much all night.
"Ima come, too." Said Owen, swaying as he stood up.
"I guess I'm comin wif ya." Said Katie, giggling at nothing. She and Aaron both stood up and followed their friends back to camp. "Psst! Psst! Aaron!" She said, not at all whispering. "We should go 'n try to ride a Peg'sus!" She said, wide eyed, like it was the best idea she had ever had. And Aaron whole heartedly agreed.
Katie and Aaron took a right instead of following their friends back to their cabin, however arriving at the stables, they found a problem.
"It's locked." Said Katie dejectedly, looking as though her heart had been broken. She sat down on the ground in front of the barn door and put her head in her hands.
"Shhhh! S'okay!" Said Aaron, sitting next to Katie and wrapping his arms around her. "S'okay." He tried to assure the distressed girl. Neither of the two would ever truly be able to recall who instigated it, but next thing either of them knew, their lips were pressed together. It was Katie who finally broke away minutes later.
"Ima go to bed." She said, standing and heading back to her cabin, leaving Aaron sitting in front of the stables.
Hey! I hope you guys liked it! Let me know what you thought, and what you think will happen, in the comments! Also the next chapter is Capture the Flag so it'll be fun! I'm actually leaving the country tomorrow for vacation, but if I'll still type the chapter! If I can find internet I'll post it, if not it will be posted next Friday when I get back
Everybody should check out Rougeification's amazing fic, 'Olympians: Son of Apollo'! It's a really awesome, well written story!
Kassidy :)x