Chapter 12

At sunrise the next day, I was already up with a bag packed and ready for our trip to Egypt. I was standing in front of the bathroom mirror for what seemed to be like hours trying to get those stupid gold strands out of my hair.

"You know, for a daughter of Aphrodite you sure are taking a lot of time to finish up in there." Percy teased from the other side of the bathroom door.

I opened the door even though one side of my hair was still perfectly made, while the other I had managed to pick out most of the annoying thin strands. And so, on that side my hair was sticking up in all directions and must've looked like I had been attacked by a rabid chipmunk.

When I opened the door Percy immediately began to laugh, and so did the figure behind him. My eyes opened wide at the site of Rick standing there as I realized how much he had looked like Akhenaten in my dream. I gasped quietly and slammed the door, locking myself inside once more.

"Oh come on Evie, you don't look that bad." Percy began "Come on, you're going to miss the boat!"

"I don't care, I'm getting these stupid things out of my hair if it's the last thing I do." I yelled back.

I heard the handle on the door jiggle as one of them tried to open the door. "Come on Evelyn, open up!" Rick said.

"I give up." Percy mumbled "Good luck getting her out of there, I'm going to your cabin."

I could hear Percy's footsteps walking out of the cabin. "Come on Evelyn open the door." Rick tried again.

When I didn't budge, Rick called out again "If you won't open this door, I'm going to open it for you!"

Before Rick could hurt himself by trying to bust down the door, I finally unlocked it. I guess he must have heard the click of the lock because he immediately opened the door before I had a chance to lock it again. I could tell he wanted to laugh at my appearance, but he made an effort to not laugh.

Rick rolled his eyes at the little progress I was making "Alright, move over I'm helping before this takes another three hours."

"I don't need your help!" I spat back.

"What is it with you? You don't have to be so proud all of the time you know!" Rick said.

"Insolent…" I mumbled to myself, but I think Rick must've heard me.

"Excuse me?" he said, but not angry almost confused.

I sighed and stopped fiddling with my hair long enough to say "I'm sorry."

I went back to ripping out the strands of gold and this time, as awkward as it was, I let Rick help. In half an hours time, we had finished and my hair shaped itself back into supermodel status. I grabbed my bag and we left my cabin without saying anything.

When we got to the camp half blood borders, we found Jonathan and Erica waiting for us. "Evie! I thought you'd never get here!" Erica called out while bringing me into another bear hug.

"Erica…you don't have to hug me every time I see you, right?" I managed.

Erica let go of me "Sorry, I'm still getting used to you being back." she apologized.

"I'm still getting used to being back. Wow, this is kind of weird having this discussion…" I replied.

"Am I missing something?" Jonathan asked. Rick, Erica, and I all looked at each other and laughed. Jonathan must have figured he wasn't getting an answer so he settled for another question "So what took you two so long?" he asked, with his eyebrow raised.

"Well I had to wait for Miss Beauty Queen here who had a little…" Rick chuckled recalling my chipmunk hair "hair issue?"

I punched his shoulder and he feigned pain. "Insolent…" I mumbled again.

"I am not!" Rick laughed.

"You sir, are an insolent!" I replied poking a finger at his chest and he smiled at the thought of his old nick name.

"Oh come on you two. Do you have to do this every time you meet?" Erica complained.

I smiled up at Rick "So what were you doing with that vase?" I asked, testing him.

Rick chuckled "I was too busy thinking about what I was going to say, and didn't realize I was about to walk onto a pillar."

I laughed at the thought of him loosing his balance and failing that miserably. "Than why were you nervous?"

"Because I had see you fight. And that very day, you almost killed Erica in practice." Rick chuckled at the memory.

"Speaking of that…" Erica began "you could have killed me you know! You were like an inch from slicing my neck!" she laughed.

I smiled at Erica "Sorry." I said sweetly.

I looked over at Jonathan who was staring blankly at the rest of us "Jonathan my good friend, I'll tell you later." Erica told him while leading him off to a van at the bottom of the half blood hill.

"Come on." Rick said smiling. He began walking down towards the van but I grabbed his hand.

"Rick…" I started, he turned to look at me "I am sorry. I'm sorry for how rude I was, I just. I thought that I had to be strong, I didn't want people to just treat me like just another pretty face. I just want you to know that I'm really sorry and that, you are a great friend." I apologized with tears forming in my eyes.

"So I'll take that as I'm not an insolent any more?" Rick teased.

I laughed and let go of his hand "No, you're not an insolent anymore."