AN: Thanks to all those who helped me through my dilemma regarding the food in the Camp Half Blood cafeteria (for those who didn't see that post, I had no idea where the kids at Camp Half Blood got their food. I knew how they got their drinks and everything, but apparently the nymphs bring it to them). Thank you SuperReaderToTheRescue, Hell'sAngel'sQueen, and whoever posted a completely anonymous review without even putting a name in! This chapter wouldn't be anywhere near finished without you.
Happy Reading!
Maggie
...
Thump! My head was throbbing before I could even react. Groggily, I lifted my hand to my head and when I pulled it away, I found it covered in blood.
"Crap!" I said loudly before I could stop myself. My eyes shot open all the way, and found myself lying on the floor, staring up at the ceiling. A dim light streamed through the windows of my cabin, illuminating the room just enough to be made out through my half asleep eyes. Other than the sound of my ragged breathing, it was silent. I hadn't woken anybody up, thank goodness.
Slowly, as not to upset my head, I sat up. How I'd wound up on the floor was quite beyond me. Last I remembered was sometime around three in the morning, when Nico untangled himself from my arms and lay me down on the couch, too sleepy to carry me up to my bed. Once I was laying down, head resting on one arm rest, he curled up the same way, resting his head on the other.
I must have rolled out of bed, I thought to myself. Or rolled out of... couch...
I looked at Nico. He was still asleep, curled up on his half of the couch, one arm across his eyes to block out any light, the other across his stomach. I turned my head the other way and found Katie sprawled out on her bed, both arms hanging off the sides, managing to take up the entire full sized mattress on her own.
I smirked, and ever so slowly, got myself up. Once I was standing, I walked to my dresser. The clock on my laptop told me it was six in the morning. Sighing, I knew I wasn't going to get back to sleep, so I pulled out a pair of denim shorts and a yellow and pink flowered tank top, and ventured into the bathroom.
I studied my cut in the mirror. I wasn't losing too much blood; any blood I had lost was on my hand or in my hair. Deciding that it might not be the best idea to walk around for the rest of the day with blood matted hair, I hopped in the shower. After washing my hair, I walked out of the shower and brushed it through, pleased when I saw no more blood dripping from the tiny cut on the side of my head. My hair stayed crazy looking though, despite my desperate brushing. I decided to leave it until it dried.
Once I was dressed, I cleaned my teeth, and walked back into the main room, pleased to see Katie and Nico still asleep. I ran my foot over the area where I fell, to see what had cut me, and jumped back when I felt a sharp pain. There was a nail sticking up from the floorboard. Yep. That's it, I thought as I studied the sharp piece of metal.
How was I going to get it out? I didn't have a hammer handy, now, did I? The closest thing I had to a hammer would be a hairbrush. I ran back into the bathroom, grabbed my brush, and instead of trying to yank it out of the floor, started beating it into the floor, so it wouldn't stick up anymore.
Bang, bang, bang, it went, but the nail wouldn't go in any further. I hit it harder. Nothing. However, something did come of my frantic beating. Nico and Katie both woke up.
"Sofia? Would you mind telling me what you're doing?" Katie asked once she saw me kneeling on the ground, dented hairbrush in hand, smashing a nail on the floor like my life depended on it.
"I'm trying to get this nail that's sticking up back into the ground," I replied slowly, trying not to make myself sound insane. It didn't work.
"So you're beating it with a hairbrush. At 6 in the morning," Katie said, as if she didn't quite understand.
"Pretty much," I said, lowering my hairbrush.
"And what possessed you to do that?" she asked.
"I fell off the couch and cut myself on it," I said.
"Wait, couch?" Katie asked. She looked over at Nico, who was lying, half awake on the couch, very obviously fighting the urge to go back to sleep.
"She fell asleep on my shoulder last night and I was too tired to bring her up to her bed," Nico mumbled, rubbing his eyes.
"You couldn't have woken her up, like you did to me?" Katie sneered.
"I didn't have the heart to. She had quite an interesting few days," Nico replied, standing up and shaking out his hair. "I'm gonna go shower in Percy's cabin. See you later."
"Don't hurry," Katie mumbled under her breath. Once Nico was gone, Katie turned to me. "Put the hairbrush to good use and actually brush your hair with it. You look like you have a haystack on your head."
I sighed and stood up, brushing my hair for real. "Get up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, Miss. Katherine?" I asked adopting Nico's nickname for her. I walked to the mirror over my dresser and began messing with my hair a little to get it to look presentable.
"My grumpiness could have something to do with the hour at which you decided to wake me up with your persistent smashing of a plastic hairbrush on a nail in the ground, only inches from my ear," Katie snapped, stretching out her arms.
"I'm sorry I woke you up so early. Now let it go," I snapped right back, turning from my reflection to face her. She, even half asleep and fuming with anger, still managed to look beautiful. How she got her hair to fall so perfectly around her face at every moment of the day was quite beyond me. Mine, despite frantic attempts to get it to look nice, still refused to cooperate with my pleading hands.
Katie walked up behind me, brushed my hands from my hair, and stared plaiting it, French braiding it perfectly, until it fell neatly down my back. My hair wasn't long, but it was long enough to make an impressive braid. She patted me softly on the head. "I'm going to go take a shower now. The towels are in the linen closet, right?"
"Yeah," I said, smiling at her in the mirror. She smiled back and walked into the bathroom, leaving me alone at the mirror. I'd only spent two minutes in silence when Katie called from the bathroom.
"Seriously, Sofia?" Katie walked back into the main room with her hair in a messy bun.
"What?" I asked, perplexed. What had I done wrong now?
"You've been in this cabin all of one day and it's already a mess!" she whined.
"What's wrong with it?" I asked, following her back into the bathroom.
"Have you seen the medicine cabinet?" She pulled open the medicine cabinet behind the mirror. It was a mess. Bottles and jars were everywhere; soap dripped from a bottle of face wash on the top shelf down onto the bottom shelf; random Aspirin tablets were scattered around the shelves; toothpaste was caked onto the sides of the cabinet; it was a complete mess. I liked it.
"What about it?" I asked, playing dumb.
Katie sighed. "I'll be in the shower. Go get breakfast, and bring me back a blueberry muffin, please."
"Will do," I said, grabbing my chap stick and iPod, shoving them in my pockets, and walking from my cabin. The first person I caught sight of was Nico, walking from Percy's cabin in clothes that looked a little bit too big for him, rubbing his damp hair with a bright blue towel. He took the towel off his head, saw me, and smiled, walking towards the cafeteria as well. We ended walking next to each other after a few minutes.
"Where's Katie?" he asked, draping the now soaking wet towel over his shoulder.
"Showering. She sent me to get her a blueberry muffin," I said, smiling. His hair was still soaking wet, but I didn't tell him that.
"Sounds like Katie," he said, smirking a little. "You know, on one of our quests, she made me get her a full English breakfast, eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, beans, everything, and bring it to her in bed."
"She did not!" I laughed. We were inside the cafeteria now, walking side by side towards our tables which were, interestingly, right next to each other.
"She did so! Have a seat," he said, pointing to the end of the bench at the small Chaos table, the seat right next to the Hades table. I sat down where he pointed and he sat down at the far end of his bench, as close to me as possible.
"So what do I do?" I asked. A few very tired looking campers were scattered around the tables, some picking at breakfasts, some chugging steaming mugs of coffee. I looked down at my empty plate in confusion.
"Ask a nymph," Nico said, waving one hand. A nervous looking woman flounced up to him. She had pointed ears and short hair, like a pixie, and couldn't have been over four foot five.
"Yes, Mr. di Angelo," she said in a quivering voice. What had Nico done to this poor nymph? "The usual?"
"Yes please. And get Sofia here two blueberry muffins toasted with butter," Nico said, looking mildly disinterested.
"Yes, Mr. di Angelo. Would Miss Lovette like jam with that?" she asked.
"Oh, no thank you," I said before Nico could interject. The nymph ran back behind the wall she had come from, leaving me and Nico alone. Kinda.
"Thirsty?" Nico asked, taking a sip from his glass. I hadn't seen the nymph fill it up.
"How... wait... what?" I was confused. Nico laughed.
"Just tell the glass to fill up with whatever you want it to," he said, tilting his goblet towards me to show me what was inside. Judging by the bright orange colour of it, it was orange juice.
"Um... hot chocolate, please?" I asked, unsure of what exactly I was supposed to do. As soon as the words left my lips, however, the goblet filled with steaming brown liquid that smelled wonderful. I took a sip. Hot cocoa, and darn good cocoa too.
The nymph returned with the two blueberry muffins a second later, placing them in front of me. She had, in her other hand, an apple Danish, which she handed to Nico on a silver plate.
"Danishes? They have Danishes?" I asked once the nymph was gone.
"Just for me. And whoever else wants them, of course. It was my idea though to get the Danishes in the cafeteria," he said, breaking off a piece of pastry and putting it in his mouth. I looked at my blueberry muffin, put the butter on it, and broke a piece off. Nico was watching me interestedly, as if expecting something. He sure did wear that expression a lot, didn't he?
"What?" I asked, piece of blueberry muffin only inches from my mouth.
"I want to see your expression when you eat your first Camp Half Blood blueberry muffin," Nico said simply.
"Why?" I asked, hesitant.
"You'll see. Eat," he said. I shrugged, and popped the piece in my mouth.
"Holy crap!" I said, eyes wide.
"I know!"
"This is like..."
"I know!"
"The best..."
"I know!"
"Oh my..." I was unable to finish a single sentence, while Nico's smile seemed to grow bigger and bigger every time I tried. Once my mouth was cleared from that first bite, a took another, and another, until the whole muffin was gone. Only once I'd cleared the taste from my mouth, sort of sad to do so, could I formulate a full sentence.
"Pretty darn good, right?" Nico asked, taking the last bite of his Danish.
"That's an understatement," I chuckled, looking longingly at Katie's blueberry muffin, sitting in a little brown bag, just waiting to be eaten. Nico saw me.
"If I were you, I wouldn't lay a finger on that muffin. Katie's pretty vicious," he said.
"You don't have to tell me. We're talking about the girl that nearly bit off my finger for a yellow crayon in the second grade," I laughed, standing up and grabbing the brown bag Katie's muffin was in. Nico stood up too.
"The Hephaestus kids fixed my cabin," he said as we walked from the dining hall.
"Did they? That was quick," I said.
"They're pretty awesome builders," he said. We were out in the light now, and, sure enough, across the clearing stood the black cabin with Hades scrawled across it in silver letters, tall and proud, not a single mark on it.
"I've got to get this muffin to Katie," I said, pointing in the direction of my cabin.
"I've got to make sure none of the Hermes kids tried to steal any of my stuff while my cabin was under construction," Nico growled, shooting a dirty look towards the Hermes cabin.
"I'll let you do that," I chuckled. "See you later?"
"Sure."
We both walked towards our cabins, waving goodbye to each other when we reached our doors.
When I walked into my cabin, I found Katie sitting on the couch, reading Seventeen. She was fully engrossed, so absorbed in whatever could be found in that disgrace of a magazine that she didn't notice me walk in until I shoved her blueberry muffin in her face. Even then, she only nodded in thanks and continued to read her magazine. I sighed and threw myself down on the couch next to her.
"I'm bored," I said after a few seconds of silence. She turned the page to her magazine, probably not hearing a thing.
"That's nice," she mumbled.
"Do you want to go swimming or something?" I asked. I thought I'd seen some kids swimming in the lake yesterday.
"I'm busy."
"Can you not be busy for ten minutes and get your confused best friend something to do?" I asked, starting to loose my patience.
She opened her mouth to say something, but whatever it was, was lost in the mess of thoughts running through her mind about lip gloss and celebrities.
"Katie, please?" I whined. Nothing.
"Five more minutes," she muttered like a tired kid on a Monday morning.
"Fine! I'll go do something with Nico then!" I snapped, standing up fiercely and walking out of the cabin.
I heard something crash and a loud "Ow!" come from inside my cabin, but I chose to ignore it. I walked, bored out of my mind, towards the now fixed Hades cabin and knocked on the door. Silence. I knocked again, using the same knock Katie always uses when she's pissed, a series of fast, flitting taps at the door that keep going until someone opens up. Sure enough, that got him to answer.
"What, Katie?" Nico whined, pulling the door open exasperatedly. He calmed down a bit though, when he caught sight of me, and his angered expression was quickly replaced by one of confusion. "Um, hey. Long time no see," he joked, leaning against the door and looking at me curiously.
"I'm bored. Katie's too busy reading Seventeen to do anything with me, and I hardly know anybody else here," I said, crossing my arms and looking at him with the same look that he was giving me.
"I can do something with you, sure," Nico said, standing up straight and opening the door wider to let me into his cabin. I walked in hesitantly, sitting down on his bed. The cabin was pretty awesome, everything was black but the little knickknacks that sat on his shelves. The walls were black too, but seemed to glint like stone; obsidian, it seemed.
"Stay here for a minute. I have to run and get something," Nico said, walking into the back room of his cabin. When he returned, he was wearing a different shirt, and he was putting his wallet in his back pocket.
"What do you normally do on sunny Saturday mornings?" I asked, staring up at the ceiling.
"I practice sword fighting a little, sometimes I go swimming, hang with the Stoll Brothers, and there's always a movie projected on the side of the Big House once it gets dark on Saturday nights, so I guess we can go," Nico said thoughtfully, running through his schedule in his mind.
"All are good by me," I said, glad nothing in that list had anything to do with magazines. "Where are we going first?"
"Has anybody attempted to teach you sword fighting yet?"
"Nope. I've been here for two days," I said simply, wondering what he was thinking about.
"It's about time you learned, then," he said, grabbing his sword from the table by his bed, and walking to the door.
"But I don't want to learn! It seems scary," I said, looking at the shiny black sword in his hand.
"It isn't as bad as it looks," he said, holding the door open for me. I sighed and got up, walking out of the door and into the sunlight.
"How long did it take you to learn how to fight?" I asked, following him. I had no idea where we were going.
"I didn't learn to fight by being taught it. I had to learn it to survive," he said, putting his sword in the holder around his waist.
"How?" I asked, curious.
"I spent a lot of time in the Labyrinth as a kid," he said, expression suddenly serious. "I hung around with some people I shouldn't have, ran into some problems that a ten year old shouldn't have been in, and had to learn through experience."
"So you're good then?" I asked.
"You can say that," he said, a small smile breaking his stern expression. He stopped walking at what appeared to be a sort of arena. It was bigger than the coliseum that the campfire was held in, and the in the centre of the arena were six large practicing dummies, looking as if they'd been impaled quite a lot.
"This is the sword fighting arena?" I asked, staring down at it.
"Yep. Come on," he said, walking down the set of stairs leading into the middle. There was nobody in the arena but us, probably because it was so early.
Nico walked to a large metal closet type thing in the wall of the arena and pulled open the doors, revealing shelf after shelf of swords and amour. Nico skipped right over the armour section and pulled out a bunch of swords.
He handed me one. It was gold, and very heavy. "How's that feel?" he asked.
"How am I supposed to know what's right or not?" I asked, confused.
"Does it sit right on your hand? Is it top heavy, the handle too big, too thick?" he asked, looking at me quizzically.
"Um... it's a bit heavy," I said hesitantly.
"Okay. Try this one," he said, handing me another. This one was paper thin, and light as a feather. The handle was tiny, and the gold blade glinted in the sunlight. I lifted it up to look closer, but it bounced out of my hand. Maybe a bit too light.
Nico took that one back and handed me another. This one, a black one, instantly fell to the ground. "The handle is too big on that one," I said, pointing to it like it was a bug.
"I think this one will be perfect," Nico said, handing me a fourth sword, this one silver. I took it and held it for a second, waiting for something to go wrong. Surprisingly, nothing did. It was perfect, the handle was comfortable, I liked it.
"This one's the one," I said, studying the silver blade in awe. It was gorgeous, catching the light around me and sending shimmering orbs of light everywhere.
Nico closed the cabinet and walked out into the middle of the arena, drawing his sword. "Okay so the first thing you need to..." I cut him off.
"Wait, we don't need armour?" I was getting kind of nervous.
"Armour's for wimps. I spent eighteen months trapped in a labyrinth, battling spirits powerful enough to put Zeus to shame, with no armour, and I'm perfectly fine," he said, pointing his sword at me. "Now, raise your sword... that's right."
"I'm scared I'm going to kill you," I said, my voice starting to shake.
Nico chuckled. "I can assure you, Sofia, nobody's going to die."
"Okay..." I raised my sword but it fell to the ground.
"When you drop your sword, don't pick it up by the sharp bit!" Nico said, starting to sense a pattern with me. It was too late to stop me, though. I reached down to pick it up but jumped back in pain. My hand was gushing blood. Nico walked up to me and took my hand in his, studying the cut. "Oh, that's deep. See? That's what you get when you try to pick up the sword on the end that doesn't have a handle."
Once we got my cut banged up, and Nico made sure I picked up the sword the right way, we continued. He taught me the basics of sword fighting, after knocking me to the ground a few times. My sword fighting technique was simple: swing the sword around aimlessly until you feel it hit something. But my crazy philosophy was no match for his amazing form, and I was beaten every time we battled it out.
"Okay. I guess I can't teach you form, it's too organized," he said, exasperated. I joined him in front of the weapons cabinet. He pulled it open again and kneeled down on the ground, pulling a silver bow off of the bottom shelf. He handed it to me, and grabbed the matching quiver of arrows.
I followed him back into the middle of the arena, took an arrow from the quiver, placed it on the bow, and looked at Nico confusedly.
"No. You're doing it all wrong. Firstly, it's a bow, not a hair dryer, so hold it like that, there you go," he said, walking up to me, and moving my elbows so I was holding the bow right.
"Like this?" I asked.
"Perfect. Okay, take the arrow like this, no, not like that, like this, that's it, and point it, by gods, girl, not at me!" Nico sighed. He wasn't getting anywhere with me.
"I'm sorry!" I cried, getting a little fed up myself.
"Just aim and shoot," Nico said. I did just that. And completely missed the target.
"That failed," I said, lowering the bow.
"We'll work on it," Nico said, picking up the quiver and walking back to the metal cabinet.
"What are you going to try next?" I asked.
"A dagger," he said, handing me a little silver knife. It was like a mini sword, but fit better in my hand. I liked it.
"It feels alright?" Nico asked, walking back into the middle of the arena.
"It feels much better than the bow and the sword," I answered truthfully.
"Good. Now," he said, taking out his sword. "Defend yourself. I'm not really going to hurt you, and please, try not to stab me, just protect yourself, okay?"
"Okay..."
Nico walked towards me, and swung his sword. I dodged it, ducking under the blade seconds before it would have hit my head. I dropped to the ground, and stayed there until Nico's blade passed over my head again. From there, I jumped and swung and did all I could to stay out of the way of Nico's sword. I could tell from the expression on his face that he was impressed.
Without the long, heavy sword to get in the way, I was quicker and more agile. The dagger, instead of fighting me like the sword and bow did, actually aided in my movements. The same move Nico tried to teach me using a sword, the one that resulted in me very nearly chopping off my leg, ended up winning me the fight when I put a dagger in my hand. It took a second, but when I realized I was standing above Nico, dagger pointed at his throat, I blushed bright red and let him get up.
"I think," he said, brushing himself off and looking at me with a surprised expression, "that we've found your weapon of choice!"
"I think so too!" I said, a grin breaking out across my face. "Can I keep the dagger?"
"I guess so. Nobody really uses the daggers," Nico said, putting his sword back in its holder.
"Where do I keep it?" I asked. Nico ran to the weapons cupboard and came back with a leather case. He handed it to me.
"Put this over the blade of the knife and close this clasp around the handle," he said, demonstrating with my dagger.
"Thanks," I said smiling.
...
"You beat Nico? How is that possible?" Travis Stoll exclaimed when he heard the news of the final fight between Nico and I in the arena. Nico and I were sitting on the back doorstep of the Hermes cabin, talking to the Stoll brothers and enjoying the weather and drinking Coca Colas.
"I have no idea!" I laughed, pulling my dagger from my pocket and taking it out of the case. "This was the knife, the very one, that beat the legendary Nico di Angelo."
Connor took the knife and studied it. "It's a pretty little thing, isn't it..."
"Connor, give it back," Nico said sternly. Connor sighed in defeat, knowing not to mess with Nico, and handed me back my dagger.
"How badly did she suck at sword fighting though?" Travis asked from his seat at their patio table. He took a swig of his soda and set it back down on the table.
"Hard. She nearly sliced off her hand," Nico said, pointing to my left hand, which was wrapped in bloodstained gauze.
"How'd you do that?" Connor asked.
"She dropped her sword and picked it up at the wrong end," Nico said, taking a sip of his Coke.
"Oooh... not nice," Travis chuckled.
"It still hurts," I said, wiggling my fingers back and forth a little.
"Get Katie to take a look at it or something," Travis suggested.
"CONNOR!" an unmistakable voice screamed through the Hermes cabin.
"Back here," Connor called out, face bright red. Katie pushed open the back door and walked out the cabin.
"Speak of the devil," Nico mumbled under his breath.
Katie caught sight of me, one hand heavily bandaged, drinking a Coke, with Nico and the Stoll Brothers, and put her hands on her hips, raising one perfectly sculpted eyebrow. "Really? This crowd? You couldn't do any better?"
"What? You were the one who wouldn't do anything with me! I was replaced by Seventeen magazine!" I protested, shrugging and taking a sip of my soda.
"I didn't replace you with Seventeen magazine," Katie said very matter-of-factly. She turned to Connor. "Where's that camera I lent you?" she asked.
"Well..." Connor opened his mouth to say what was very obviously going to be an excuse for having lost it or something when Katie gave him the look. The same look that she gives anybody who dares question her. A mixture of pure hatred, accusation, knowing arrogance, and superiority, nobody with the will to live wants to fall victim to Katie's look.
"Tell me the truth, Stoll," Katie said calmly, letting her eyes do most of the talking.
Connor sighed in defeat. "It's in my bed side table drawer," he said quietly, standing up and walking into his cabin, an angry looking Katie following behind. Katie winked at me as she passed, breaking her pissed off facade, but composed herself again as she disappeared inside the cabin.
"Damn good camera, that one too," Travis was mumbling under his breath, upset about having to give it back. He should have known better than to try and cheat Katie out of her stuff. Nico was watching the whole thing with an amused look on his face, obviously quite happy that Katie's anger wasn't directed at him for once.
"I should go check on them, make sure Katie's not killing Connor or anything," I said, setting my Coke down on the step and walking inside. What I found was quite the opposite. Katie was sitting on Connor's bed, smiling goofily at him, blushing a deeper shade of red than I'd ever seen on her before. In one hand was her camera, and in the other, was Connor's hand.
I couldn't resist; she was my best friend! I just had to! "Awwww!" I cried before I could stop myself. Katie and Connor jumped apart, both hitting their heads on the top of the bunk bed at the same time. That was even cuter.
"And for the second time today I ask, what possessed you to do that?" Katie whined, rubbing where she hit her head.
Nico came in then, soda bottle in hand, looking thoroughly like he couldn't care less. "What's going on in here?" He caught sight of Katie and Connor's embarrassed expressions and cracked a knowing smile.
"Oh my gods. Can you two please just get out of here?" Katie whined, looking to Connor for support. Connor was actually laughing at his own predicament, which he earned a very dirty look from Katie for. He stopped.
"If you insist," Nico said, walking back out the door. I followed.
"How long have Katie and Connor been going out?" Nico asked Travis once the back door was closed behind us.
"They're not going out, not technically anyway," Travis said, studying something against the sky, something that looked suspiciously like the ring I'd been wearing not five minutes ago. I looked down at my hand. It was gone.
"Travis. Give me back my ring," I said, holding out my hand. He sighed and handed it back to me reluctantly.
"But they were like, kissing in there," Nico said, as if the ring ordeal hadn't happened.
Travis thought for a second. "Why are you so interested?" he asked suddenly.
"I need something to make fun of Katie for! She's always picking fights and I hate it when she wins. Normally poking at her love life guarantees me the fight," Nico said, as if this was totally normal. It seemed to work for Travis.
"I'll ask Connor later," he said, putting his hands in his pockets and tipping back in his chair, taking another sip of soda.
"Travis, what time is it?" I asked. Travis checked his watch, something obviously worth much more than he could have bought.
"Four thirty."
"I've got to get back to my cabin. I have to change before dinner," I said. I took the last sip of my soda and put the bottle on the table.
"You're going to the movie tonight, right?" Nico asked, sitting back down on the step.
"Yeah. Does Katie normally go?" I asked.
"Yes, and you're going to help me pick an outfit for tonight, because I'm going with Connor," Katie said from behind me. I turned around to find her standing in the doorway.
"Sounds good," I said. "See ya'll later," I called to Nico, Travis and Connor, as I walked through, and out of the Hermes cabin.
Katie, instead of heading for the Apollo cabin, walked to the Chaos cabin. "I don't have any nice clothes with me. Can I borrow some of yours?" she asked once we were inside.
"Sure. And pick me out something nice while you're at it, will you?" I said, walking into my bathroom. I tied my hair up on top of my head and hopped in the shower, just to quickly clean myself off, and five minutes later, I walked back into the bedroom wrapped in a towel.
On the couch was laid out a pair of light blue jean shorts and a green tank top with PEACE written across it in brown letters. Simple enough. Katie, with her clothes draped over her arm, walked into the bathroom to change, leaving me with the main room. I threw on the shorts and tank top, finishing off the outfit with a brown sweatshirt over the top, to keep me warm and my green flip flops because I couldn't be bothered putting on real shoes.
I studied myself in the mirror over my dresser. The French braid my hair was in was a complete mess, so I pulled the rubber band off the end and pulled it apart, letting my hair fall wavy down my back. I put a green headband in and smiled, satisfied with the way I looked. I wasn't gorgeous, but I wasn't ugly either, which was fine with me.
But of course, I wasn't just one upped, but five million upped when Katie walked out of the bathroom, long blonde hair in a sort of half pony tail, wearing a pair of skinny jeans and a pink flowery top that made her eyes look stunning. Even in her ballet flats, she was taller than me, looking like a runway model.
Katie handed me my chap stick and iPod, which I stuffed in my pants pockets, and she, the more sophisticated one of the two of us, grabbed her purse.
"Shall we get going?" she asked in a fake English accent.
"I believe we shall," I replied, smiling warmly at my gorgeous best friend.
...
Does everybody have to be in love? I thought as I watched Katie and Connor snuggle up in front of me. They'd been like that since we got to the movie, for nearly an hour now as we waited for it to get dark enough to be played.
As if reading my mind, Nico said, "It's quite sickening, isn't it?" from next to me.
"Quite," I replied, laying back on the grass the same way Nico was, looking at the stars. I'd never seen so many before! From my backyard in Houston, the light pollution wasn't that bad, but it was terrible in comparison to the light pollution here, which was exactly none.
"You like astronomy?" Nico asked, out of the blue.
"A lot, actually," I answered, staring up at the sky.
"You see that star right there?" Nico asked, pointing. I followed his finger and spotted a bright star in the middle of total darkness, one I didn't recognize.
"What about it?" I asked.
"That's my sister," he said, dropping his hand.
"Huh?"
"She was one of Artemis's hunters before she died. She was made into a star, like every other fallen hunter," Nico said, his voice suddenly very quiet. It sounded as if he was young again. Young and uncertain.
"You really miss her, don't you?" I asked, turning my head to look at him. His eyes met mine and locked.
"I do," he whispered.
We were startled back into the real world by the movie starting. I shook my head to clear away all thoughts and sat up, setting my focus on the side of the Big House where what looked to be the 1930's Robin Hood was playing.
I yawned loudly. Nico looked over at me, smiled a little, and turned his attention back to the movie. I leaned back against the grass again and just stared at the stars. They really were beautiful; shining brightly above our heads in huge numbers.
Nico copied me, laying down on his back and staring up at the sky with me. I yawned again, and Nico chuckled.
"Why is it that whenever we spend time together, it ends in you sleeping?" he asked, amused.
"I dunno," I mumbled, half asleep.
"You can use my shoulder as a pillow again, I don't really mind," Nico said, smiling a little.
"Thanks..." I curled up next to Nico, yawned one last time, and fell asleep.