Hello World!
I know it's a bit late (by like three days) but Lá Fhéile Phádraig, a chairde! (translation: Happy Saint Patricks Day!) Anyways, hope you've all been well. Anyways, big big news! This is the final chapter of My Life at Camp Half Blood. Do not despair, my loyal readers, THERE WILL BE AN EPILOGUE! I'll probably post that now. Anyways, review and tell me what you think!
Love from Jenny
Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson or Heroes of Olympus. Do I look like Rick Riordan to you?
Previously on My Life in Camp Half Blood:
My hands find their way to his hair, and he smiles against my lips. I shift so I'm sitting closer to him, and he wraps his arms around my waist, pulling me even closer. I sit between his legs, hands running through his curly hair, not caring that my lungs were being deprived of oxygen. At that moment, I wouldn't even care if Chiron or Mr.D caught us. I wouldn't care if every demigod in the world was watching us.
I felt alive, and I liked it.
"Come on Ava, only five more laps!"
Katie's encouraging tone fills my ears as I gasp for breath, clutching my ribs, staggering. I stop, bending over wheezing, and she hands me a bottle of water. Nodding my thanks, I take a big gulp and she laughs.
"You're getting better. Yesterday you could only do ten laps without ending up like that. Now you're able to do twelve."
I glare at her, and collapse underneath the Athena Parthenos. She sits down beside me, patting my shoulder encouragingly. As soon as I was off the crutches, Will started me on a gruelling fitness regime to get my strength back. Apparently, I had to work myself back up to my normal fitness level before I could be back sword fighting. I was stuck on the crutches for a week, and my training was reserved to archery. I've been on the regime for nearly a month now, and I was nearly ready to go back to normal training. However, I had to be able to run twenty laps of camp before I could be deemed strong enough.
"Okay, that's enough for today. We relax in the sun for a few minutes, chatting about the gossip around camp. Trust me, there was a lot. The fireworks show is tomorrow night, and the amount of break ups and getting togethers was unbelievable. Lou Ellen had asked Cecil to the show, and he of course, had accepted. Even Clovis had stayed up long enough to ask someone, a girl from the Tyche cabin.
"So, had Conner asked you to the fireworks yet?" Katie asks, a smirk playing on her lips. I blush and shook my head. She looks shocked.
"Seriously?" and I shook my head again. "I'm not worried. We are going out so, maybe he just assumes we're going. Or maybe…. Should I be worried?" Katie laughs. "If he's anything like Travis, he's planning something spectacular." I laugh, and struggle to stand up, my legs aching.
"I'm going to have a shower. I'll chat you in an hour or so." "Don't worry, he'll ask!"
An hour later, I'm sitting on the porch of the Athena cabin, legs tucked under me, a book in my lap. My blonde hair, still wet, is thrown in a side braid. Camp is as it always is. Perfect.
Campers mill around, some strolling, some chasing after each other. Two campers who look no more than ten sit on the steps of the Hera cabin, simultaneously braiding each other's hair. In the bushes beside them, two nine year old boys wait poised, a jar in their head, no doubt containing some sort of creepy crawly, judging by the screams of the girls when the contents are dropped on them. The Apollo cabin is playing basketball with the Ares campers. Explosions can be heard from the Hermes cabin, and some smoke wafts out the windows. Everywhere you look, you see friendship, acceptance, and love. And I wouldn't change it for the world.
Conner Stoll emerges frazzled looking from the smoking cabin. He has soot on his face, and his curly hair is all over the place. I put down my book and stroll over. He's swearing in Greek under his breath when he spots me.
"Ava! What are you doing here?" He quickly shuts the door behind him, and whirls around to face me. I laugh. "I didn't realise it was a crime to say hello?"
He laughs nervously, eyes flitting back to the cabin behind him. "Conner, is everything okay?" He presses his back against the cabin door. "Yeah, everything's perfect. Nothing to see here!"
I look suspiciously at him. "Conner Stoll, what are you hiding from me?" Horror flashes across his face. "Why would I be hiding anything from you?"
I push past him, and enter the cabin to find an explosion of purple. Smoke and glittery fog waft around the cabin. I cough, and try to fan it away from me. "Conner! What did you do?" I turn to gap at him, and he hangs his head bashfully.
"I was experimenting with some firework powder, and some other things." I glare at him. "What other things?" He ignores me. "Conner Jack Stoll, if you don't tell me what exactly is going on then Athena help me I'll..." He holds up his hands in surrender.
"Okay, I may have stolen some of Lou Ellen's magic powder stuff and mixed it with some firework powder and this happened."
I look at him in mixed horror and amazement. "Why on earth would you do that? You know Lou Ellen will kill you when she finds out!"
"Well, how else was I going to get fireworks to spell out stuff?" he throws up his hands in exasperation. I look at him puzzled. "What was so important that you had to spell it out in the sky?"
He smirks and walks over to me, resting his hands on my waist. "Well, what about 'Ava Montague will you go to the fireworks with me?'" I smirk, looping my arms around his neck, heart racing, and butterflies fluttering around in my stomach.
"Hmm, not bad. Could be better." He laughs and puts on a thoughtful expression. "What about 'Ava, I think I'll die if you don't say yes'." I laugh lightly under my breath. "Better. I know what I really want to hear." "And what would that be?"
"Three little words. 8 letters. Say it and I'm yours."
His blue eyes hold a mischievous glint in them but something more than that. Adoration.
"Ava Montague, have you put a spell on me? I think I'm in love with you."
"You think?"
"I know."
I smile at him.
"The feeling's mutual."
He swoops down and captures my lips. My heart races. This is a kiss full of love, full of passion, full of hunger. My fingers become intertwined in his hair. He grips my waist, fingers playing with the hem of my t-shirt. I pull back to gasp for air, and we rest our foreheads against each other.
"I love you, Ava Montague. To the ends of the earth."
"I love you, Conner Stoll, to end of the universe and back."
This time I'm the one who kisses him, pressing close to him. He stumbles backwards, sitting down on one of the beds. I straddle him, kissing him furiously. Something stirs inside my heart. Love, hunger, passion. He breaks off the kiss, and begins planting kisses on my neck, undoing my braid so that my blonde hair falls in thick curls. I plant kisses along his jaw as he whispers sweet nothings in my ear. I love you. I love you to hell and back. To the end of the universe. To every corner of the earth. I love you and nothing's going to change that.
I stare into his eyes. They're aquamarine blue, sparkling even in the dimly lit cabin. I trace my finger along his jaw, his shoulders, his cheekbones, his lips. His hands run through my hair, untangling it, fingers running gently down my neck.
"I love you to infinity and beyond."
The kissing continues. Breaths intermingled, hearts racing.
"OH MY GODS! MY EYES!"
We break apart in shock, to find Chris with a hand clamped over his eyes, a look of horror on his face. I scramble off Conner, hurriedly patting down my wild hair, straightening my t-shirt. Conner's eyes never leave me, a permanent smirk stuck on his face. His hair is all over the place, lips bruised and puffy, cheeks red. His shirt had ridden up, revealing his lean stomach and 4 pack. I feel my face redden and I smirk back at him, before turning on my heel, and smiling at Chris. I race back to my cabin, picking up my book off the porch and running inside. I lean back against inside the door, and smile. My heart is still racing.
I hear a knock on the door, turn and open it. Outside stands a still smirking Conner Stoll. "You never said goodbye." He swoops down, kissing me once before pulling away. "Pick you up at eight."
"I have nothing to wear!"
I slump down on my bed in defeat. Katie, Piper, Annabeth, Rachel, Calypso and Reyna surround me, all in various stages of getting ready. Annabeth was finished; Piper was strapping up her shoes, Hazel and Katie doing their hair and Reyna doing her make up.
"Just wear what you're comfortable in," Annabeth shrugs, continuing her sketch of some new temple or something. "I just want to look nice for once!" I lie back, ready to surrender. "What about this skirt?" Piper asks, holding up a flowery skirt that goes to just above the knee. I shake my head. "I don't like my legs."
"Ava, you have great legs. You love showing them off!" Katie says in confusion.
"No, I don't. They've horrible scar going all down along them, and red blotches and marks from the surgery and…." I burst into tears. I hate my legs now.
"Ava, you're scars tell your story. They make you a hero. They show that you're strong, that you're brave. Be proud of them. They make you you."
Katie pats my back while Piper gives me these words of comfort. I sniff, and rub my eyes. Tears are a sign of weakness. But that's just what I am. Weak.
"Come on, I have the perfect top to go with that skirt."
An hour later, at five to eight, we're ready. I'm wearing floral skirt Piper picked out, with a pink tank top and a black leather jacket. My legs are bare, showing the ugly scars, with black ankle boots. Reyna did my make- up, with winged eye liner, and my hair falls in thick curls. Piper's wearing a floaty blue dress, Annabeth a white blouse and blue skirt, Hazel a gold maxi skirt and white tank top, Rachel short dungarees and a white t shirt, Calypso a black and red dress, Reyna a floaty purple dress and denim jacket. Katie wears a green shirt, skinny jeans and brown boots. At eight o'clock on the dot, there's a knock on the door.
It opens to reveal Percy Jackson, dressed in a full tuxedo. Annabeth takes one look at him and just shakes her head. "Seaweed Brain, you've been going to the fireworks for years. You know it's not formal!"
Next comes Jason, Frank and Leo, closely followed by Travis, who said Conner was on his way. Rachel and Reyna left, deciding to go stag instead. Which left me twiddling my thumbs for five minutes waiting on Conner.
Eventually he comes, dressed in a blue dress shirt and jeans, with a bouquet of flowers in his hand. "Sorry I'm late. I had to go steal, I mean, borrow some flowers from the Demeter cabin." I laugh, taking the flowers and putting them in a glass jar of water for the moment.
"You look amazing, by the way," he says as we make our way to the beach. The Hephaestus cabin had been working on the fireworks barge all morning, preparing for tonight. We arrived to a beach packed with demigods. Every inch of the beach is taken up by blankets and sprawled out teenagers. Even the pier was full. This was the first year we had the Roman demigods with us, you see.
"Come on, I know the perfect place," Conner grabs my hand, and leads me to the trees beside the beach, and we climbed up, perching on the higher branches. It gave us the perfect view of the fireworks.
"ARE YOU READY KIDS?" Leo's voice resonates across the beach from the loudspeakers. "Aye Aye, Captain!" the campers shout back and suddenly the sky illuminates. With loud bangs, the sky is filled with different scenes from history. Our history. It's almost like watching a movie. There's Hercules slaying the Nemean lion, Artemis hunting the boar, Washington crossing the Delaware. For the Romans, there's Romulus and Remus and some roman heroes. Then there are some more recent ones.
Annabeth when she found the Athena Parthenos, Reyna when she flew in the Athena Parthenos, Percy and Frank fighting giants; Jason, Leo and Piper on Festus, Percy destroying the glacier, the labyrinth, the Argo II.
The atmosphere was electric. Sitting up there, on that tree, with Conner's arm around my shoulder, surrounded by friends, I knew where I belonged.
This was home.