It was time for training, the only thing I hated about Camp Half-Blood with a passion. I loved to exercise, but only on my own accord. If I'm planning on sleeping until the sun goes down, then of course I'm gonna give you hell when you make me wake up at dawn to get out from underneath the warm shelter of my bed to have a sword pointed at my throat.
Which was what I knew would happen as soon as I looked at my morning schedule and saw that the first activity of the day was sword-fighting with Percy. I groaned to myself as I got dressed in my armor, knowing that I was probably going to visit Hades in the Underworld in a couple of minutes.
I approached Percy, who was too busy cleaning gods-know-what off his sword to see me coming. I adjusted the heavy armor I was dressed in, hating the sound that the rubbing metal made. I guess 'hate' was the word of the day, huh?
"Hey, Perce!" I greeted, plastering a huge smile on my face. "How about you and I pretended that we trained and go on with our day? It's a win-win situation, my buddy!"
He laughed as if I had made a joke, which I hadn't. "Sorry to burst the bubble but your swordsmanship needs a lot of work."
I groaned. "Please," I begged. "Just one day?"
He shook his head. "Nope."
"You're relentless." I sighed, taking out the sword one of Ares kids had given me when I first walked into the arena. The balance was alright and it wasn't extremely heavy so it would do. Another reason I hated sword-fighting was because I sucked with a sword. I was better with a dagger and pretty good at archery, so basically I liked every weapon except for swords.
I held the sword up in a defensive position, preparing myself for defeat.
Percy made the first move, faking a strike to my left, which I fell for. I made the move to block it and he stuck the tip of his sword in my hand, sending my sword flying across the arena.
"You need to anticipate my every move," he told me. "Be ready for whatever's coming your way."
"But you faked it!" I argued.
He bit his lip thought before saying, "I think you need some motivation."
I raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"When you're at your best, you're either in danger or you want something," He said, "so I'm giving you something to fight for." He lifted his sword. "How about for every match won, the loser tells the winner an interesting fact about themselves?"
I grinned. "Deal."
A couple of hours later, both Percy and I were dripping with sweat and still going. So far, I knew that Percy's real name was Perseus, he had a thing for blue foods (something that had to do with his mom), had a cyclops for a brother, and sucked at archery. I wanted to see the last thing for myself because was there really something Percy couldn't do?
Unfortunately, Percy learned a lot more about me than I learned about him, by default. He knew my birthday (March 23rd), my favorite color (green), my dream vacation (Paris), and a whole lot more that I won't say because it is extremely embarrasing.
My sword fell from my hand and skittered across the concrete floor for the hundredth time. I looked at Percy and glared. "Okay, I seriously cannot think of one more interesting fact about myself." I laughed dryly.
Percy stepped closer to me. "Oh, come on, there has to be at least one more." He said, poking my side. I flinched as he did so, knowing he did it on purpose.
Yeah, Drew's diary, I thought, but I can't tell him that. He'd probably hate me. He was too nice to do something like spill someone's secret, even if they were his arch nemesis.
I groaned. "I can't tell you. It's kind of a secret."
"Secrets are meant to be said."
"Told," I corrected him.
"What?"
"Told," I said, "Secrets are meant to be told."
"Exactly." He shrugged, his shaggy hair falling in his eyes. I resisted the urge to brush it away so I could have a clear view of his eyes.
Ugh, Mom, stop.
"Hey!" A voice called from the other side of the arena. We both turned to see a daughter of Ares standing there with her hands on her hips. "Finish up, lunch starts in five!"
"We'll be right there!" Percy yelled back, and then turned to me. "We'll finish this tomorrow?" He asked, turning his sword back into a pen and stuffing it into his jeans' pocket.
I nodded. "And about yesterday, I didn't really mean it. I was just really stressed and bothered. I needed some alone time and unfortunately, I can't sit at the bottom of canoe lake and think without drowning."
He smiled. "Yeah, I understand, but next time can you just tell me? Even after four years of being best friends with Annabeth, I still can't figure out girls..."
"Obviously! That's why you don't have a girlfriend."
"Ouch," he faked grabbing his heart, "that one really hurt. I'm going to get you back for that one."
"Really?" I raised an eyebrow, getting close to his face. I tried to seem intimidating, but it probably didn't work seeing as I was a couple of inches shorter than him and had to look up at him. "And how are you going to do that?"
Before I could defend myself, Percy grabbed me and wrapped his arms around me from behind. "Now that I know that you are extremely ticklish, I will tickle you to your death," he said, tickling my abdomen. I laughed, trying to get away from his hands but I had no luck. He was too strong for me.
"Staaahp!" I managed to say in between breaths. I turned around in his arms so that I was now facing him. "You're gonna kill me."
While Percy was busy tickling me, the daughter of Ares came back with a scowl on her face. Percy paused mid-tickle. I was suddenly aware that my frontside was pressed firmly against his front. My face grew warm when I realized we had been the only ones left in the arena earlier. We probably looked very suspicious.
"Did you guys not hear what I said earlier? Lunch is starting!" The girl said, this time staying to make sure that we actually left the arena as we followed her to the dining pavilion.
On the way there, Percy draped his arm across my shoulders, like it was the most casual thing in the world. I blushed when he leaned over to whisper in my ear, "I could get used to this."
I didn't respond because as natural as this felt, it was still Percy and I and somewhere, Annabeth could be watching us. I got the feeling I should've told Percy about Annabeth's threat, but I didn't want to be the one who screwed up their relationship. Well, according to Percy, their 'friendship'. Either he was lying about them or Annabeth was too protective over her best friend. She probably just didn't want to lose him. I don't think anyone would want to lose someone like Percy.
When we got closer to the dining pavilion, I sneakily pulled out from underneath Percy's arm, using the excuse that Alison was calling me to the Aphrodite table. Really, I was being a coward and trying not to let Annabeth see us together.
"Sorry, I'll talk to you later!" I waved at him as I strategically ran in between the tables so that Percy had no hope of following me. I didn't look back at him, mostly because I didn't want to feel guilty for putting that sad look on his face, the expression he wore whenever I ditched him.
I sighed, knowing I must've been the worst person to have an almost-maybe-but-not-really crush on.
"Where were you?" Alison asked me when I sat down, handing me some barbecue sauce to put on my meat.
I shrugged. "Out and about, training, y'know ... the usual."
Ali gave me a look, the one that said come-on-I'm-not-stupid. "How come I didn't see you at our archery lesson, then? Even Chiron was suspicious because you love archery!"
"I was busy, okay?"
"Yeah, with Percy," she said nonchalantly. I kicked her leg playfully under the table. "Probably snogging."
"Snogging?" I laughed at her unusual word choice. "What does that mean? Being made into a shish-kebab during training?"
She rolled her eyes. "No, making out."
"Ooh, Sienna was making out with someone?" One of the girls eavesdropping farther down the table asked. "Who was it?"
"No o—" I was interrupted by more rapid fire questions.
"Was it Travis? He's known for getting around." Someone else commented.
I grimaced. "Ew, no, never."
"It had to Percy!"
I face-palmed as everyone began to murmur that 'yeah, it had to be Percy' and 'oh my gods, you'd make an adorbs couple' and the odd 'your ship name should be Siercy.' This was how rumors started, especially when the source was the Aphrodite cabin.
Later, I was definitely going to kill Alison.
