Chapter Eleven: Lake Side Chats and Evil Barbies
The beach beside the lake was the same as I left it, peaceful and tranquil. Or it seemed that way to me, I'm starting to think I had a past life as a child of Poseidon. But never the less it was beautiful at this time of night. Just as it had been that first night with Percy. But instead of him at the water's edge, I saw Gwen, drawing things in the sand with a stick.
"Hey." I called and her head shot up.
"There you are! I thought for awhile that you had up and bailed on me. Where were you?"
I felt the blush in my cheeks, but I tried to ignore it.
"I met someone after my archery lesson and we got to talking. I didn't mean to be late."
She gave me a smirk. "Who did you meet?"
"No one." I said just a little too quickly. She just kept smirking like she knew exactly who I was with with, a guy.
"What did you want to talk about anyway?"
Her face went serious, not a hint of the smirk was left.
"What do you mean 'What do I want to talk about'? Why didn't you tell me you were staying? I thought you left last night and then I see you at breakfast with that girl and I start to wonder." she pouted. "You tell me everything."
I sighed. "I didn't think you would even notice if I was here or not, not when you are so busy with your actual siblings now."
Gwen and I were like sisters, we told each other everything, we borrowed the others clothes, and we even had the kind of fights only siblings could have. But these kids were her actual family with the one thing we didn't have...shared blood. Her eyes widened.
"No way. Are you actually jealous of the Apollo kids?"
My face felt hot. "No."
"Good because you shouldn't be. We've been friends, sisters, for a lot longer than I've even known them. Do I care about them? Yes. Do I still love you like a sister? You bet your ass I do!"
I blinked. "Did you just curse?"
"Yes and don't make me do it again, I can practically hear my mother lecturing me about it." she rolled her eyes.
We laughed. We hugged. And I knew, even sitting in a camp full of demigods, goat boys, and monsters, that nothing had changed at all between us. It meant the world to me.
***Page Break***
The sky had turned dark as I made my way back to the cabins that night. It made me feel good to talk to Gwen again, even if it had only been a day we were apart. And with the mysterious Nico on my mind my spider sense couldn't have alerted me to the danger. The danger coming in the form of girls standing in front of a incredibly pink cabin.
I had just passed them when I felt a hand on my shoulder. A well manicured hand in case you were wondering.
"Well aren't you going to say hello?" a sickly sweet voice asked.
I turned and saw exactly who had stopped me. She was taller than me (I'm 5'7) with dark hair and brown eyes. Her appearance, from her hair to her face down to her clothes, seemed flawless. But under that smile I saw something I didn't like, bad intentions. But there was something in her voice that pulled my thoughts to her. I quickly stomped that feeling down.
I grabbed her hand and removed it from my shoulder. I wasn't gentle about it either.
"No I wasn't and now that I think about it, I'm still not going to." I frowned at her.
Her smile instantly disappeared. Looks like someone isn't used to being talked back to.
"I would watch the tone, you don't want to mess with me. I can make this camp a living nightmare for you. Or you could have a nice time, if you do some things for me. Otherwise things could get ugly, like your hair." she said, her eyes looking at my multicolor ponytail .
"What, are you going to put bug repellent in my hairspray? Would work if I bothered with hairspray." I smirked at her, letting my inner bitch out. But I didn't stop there.
"It's you who doesn't want to mess with me. I kicked Clarisse's ass this morning and I'm definitely not afraid of some wannabe Barbies."
Usually I wasn't a mean person, but it seemed that most people at this camp just had an out for me for one reason or another. Or maybe it was just like before I came here, I attracted trouble.
A smaller girl with light brown hair standing behind the taller girl spoke up.
"Drew maybe we should just go inside, we still have to clean up before inspections tomorrow morning." her eyes were slightly fearful.
I smirked. "Yeah Drew, you wouldn't want to stay out here and make an even bigger ass out of yourself would you?"
Her face was red, burning with anger. For a second I thought she would pounce at me. Just because she wasn't a kid of Ares didn't mean she couldn't be dangerous. I knew from experience not to underestimate someone, chances were, they had a lot more to them. But I wasn't going to back down, I was going to fight if she wanted to.
But to my surprise she huffed and turned away, entering her cabin and slamming the door loudly. Leaving all the other girls outside. The rest of her groupies just looked at me with wide eyes. It occurred to me that maybe some of these girls weren't like Drew at all. Maybe they were just scared of her. I stepped up to them, trying to look a little less intimidating.
"My name is Sarah Kenneth by the way." I held out my hand. Formal I know, but it was the way I was raised.
They all paused, like they weren't sure what to make of my gesture. But the girl who had spoken earlier slowly took it.
"Sophia Gilmore." she gave me a quick smile, a still unsure smile. "This is Jenna Morgans." she pointed to a short girl with blonde curly hair and green eyes. " Katerina Roux" A girl with red hair almost as bright as Miley's, but much more vibrant, her cheekbones high and her skin tan. "And Brooke Stone." This girl was hardly even a teenager, she was about eleven. Skinny, but well toned muscles. Her dark brown hair swooped in front of her face, blocking out her left eye. She gave me a nod of recognition, but said nothing. Which was more than I got from the other two.
"It's nice to meet you and for the record I'm not always that mean. I just don't like the way she was talking to me."
Sophia nodded in understanding. "We've been there, but you should be careful. She has a way of talking people into doing things they don't want to. A talent of a few Aphrodite children and it's hard to resist."
"It could be, but do you honestly think that she will try to do it again?" Drew wouldn't be dumb enough, I was a hard cookie to brake.
"She wouldn't if had you hit her or something. She may have charm speak, but she can't do anything in a physical fight. That's why she plays psychological warfare, when your least expecting it." she looked me dead in the eye. "So don't let your guard down. For anything."
I was taken back at the seriousness of her voice, not bubbly as it had been, but hard.
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because Drew is a hated bitch even among her own siblings. And because I hear you are undetermined. Maybe you'll turn out to be one of us."
I laughed a little thinking how much that would never work.
"Sorry, but my parent is my father. But if it had been my mom it wouldn't be so bad to be your sister."
Jenna seemed to smile at that and Brooke looked like she might crack an expression.
"I have to get back to my cabin, they are probably wondering where I've been." I turned and walked a few feet when-
"Wait!"
Sophia came up to me and jammed something into my hand.
"Wear these, they help block out voice allure like charm speak. My mom gave them to me, but I've kind of adapted my hearing without them. Plus, they'll totally match your hair." she said in that bubbly voice again.
She walked back to her sisters and they entered their cabin, leaving me in the dark. I opened my hand to find a pair of earrings. They were purple studs that were in the shape of butterflies. Of course, they had some glitter on them, but did match my hair. I stuck them in and noticed a slight difference in the noise outside. They could help with Drew, but it was another thought that made me smile. Sophia gave me these, a girl I had no relation to and for all purposes should have been against given her sister, but had found friendship in. An Aphrodite girl of all people had become my friend.
Maybe I'll forgive you for making me fall in love Aphrodite.
