I decided to reward you guys with two chapters, considering I made you wait so long. So here it is! Part 9!
Lydia pov:
Simon is a very good teacher. Is it strange that that is my first thought? You would think I would have been thinking about his hand on mine, or how close he was standing, or how good he smelled, or even the feel of his breath in my ear, but that all came second. I stood as still as I could and tried to follow his directions.
"Put the little notch right on the string. There you go." I did as he said. "Now keep your arm slightly bent so you don't bruise it. Pull back slowly. There you go." Pulling the string back did take a bit of strength, but it wasn't so hard that I couldn't do it. The bow seemed to be perfectly tuned to me. "Keep your elbow up." He gently nudged my elbow up. I could feel blush forming on my face and was glad he couldn't see my face. "Angle it a little closer to your face so you can look down the length of the arrow at your target." I moved my hand holding the string closer to my face. "Good. When you release, just relax your fingers and pull them back and out of the way. It will look like you're painting your cheek with your fingers." I slowly loosened my grip on the string but keeping my hold on the arrow. I put it back in the quiver at my hip. "Now deep breathe. When you release it, release the arrow. Aim by looking down the length of the arrow and lining it up. Are you ready?" I nodded and practiced my breathing. I smiled up at Simon, feeling a little nervous. He smiled back and I instantly felt better… until I looked back at the target, then I was nervous again.
Simon stepped back and I instantly missed his heat behind me. I pulled my arrow back out of the quiver and notched it. I made sure I was in the correct stance before I pulled it back. I checked my hands and made sure everything was right. I took a deep breath and prepared to shoot. I held it for a second before I released it with the arrow.
It shot out almost too quickly to follow and landed with a thud-
Right in the ground, two feet in front of me.
"That's it?" I turned around and looked at Simon incredulously. He took one look at me and dissolved into laughter. After a few seconds I started laughing too. We both collapsed on the ground and laughed. I saw some feet approach and looked up to see Percy standing over us. He looked at us rolling around laughing, the bows lying on the ground beside us, and the single arrow sticking in the ground. He cracked a smile.
"A master already, are we?" he laughed as Simon and I recovered. I was the first one to sit up. I could feel the wide grin stretching my face. I couldn't remember the last time I'd laughed like that.
"Can't you tell that my skills are infinite in their greatness? How dare you doubt me!" I was surprised to hear the joking tone in my voice. I hadn't felt this good in a long time.
"Well, You could have done really well, except you were aiming at the ground. Even I could see that, I was standing way over there." Percy told me with a smirk. I reached out and punched him in the knee. His leg gave out on him and he crumpled to the ground next to me. "Hey! It's not my fault! Blame the teacher, not the messenger!" He was laughing though, so I knew he wasn't going to hold a grudge. Simon jumped up and offered me his hand up. I took it and noticed that his eyes had changed again. They changed from a dark green to a light blue, almost turquois. I wonder if he knows that they do that.
"Lydia lets go canoeing! We can work on archery later, but right now it's hot!" I looked away from Simon and down at Percy. He was fanning himself dramatically and pretending to faint. I laughed at his theatrics and reluctantly agreed. As we were walking away, I looked back at Simon, to see him watching me.
"Day two and already breaking hearts. That has got to be a record." I looked up at a smirking Percy and punched him in the shoulder. "Hey! Oh, come on!"
I laughed at the ridiculously innocent face he was making and we continued to make our way to the lake.
Was that at all like you expected?
