A/N: Only one more exam to go and then I can write again! Hope everyones had a good week and that you enjoy this update. I will not be posting next week as I will be in Iceland without my laptop, and it's the end of a section anyway. Hope you enjoy this chapter, it certainly enjoyed writing it! ~ Emma
Emma couldn't quite believe she had been at camp for twenty four hours. She felt like she had done so much that school felt ages ago. As she sat down at the cabin three table, she looked around hoping Rachel would join her again. At home she never minded eating on her own, but she had actually enjoyed the other girls company. To her surprise it was Lou who came and took the seat opposite her.
"Aren't you going to get in trouble?" Emma asked quietly, as if she could avoid everyone noticing Lou's presence.
"As far as everyone else can see, I'm sitting at the Hecate table as always." Lou said, waving a hand over her shoulder.
"That's pretty cool. How long did it take you to master the whole illusion thing?" Emma said.
"A few years." Lou replied with a shrug, loading up her plate as the nymphs came round. "What's it like living on the outside?"
Lou didn't bother to disguise the topic change. For someone who plays with illusions so much, she was wonderfully straight forward.
"Pretty lonely." Emma said with a shy laugh. "My step-dad works in London, my mum's in a care home for early onset Parkinsons disease, so I've lived by myself for the past few years. It's a lot of fighting for my life and trying to balance that with school."
"Why not just send you to boarding school then?" Lou asked, getting up from the table to join the offerings queue. Emma followed suit. "Isn't that what parents do when they're too busy for their kids?"
"I got kicked out of a couple when I was young." Emma sighed. "It was easier to deal with the monsters and the aftermath if I lived at home. As my mum got worse I did more and more around the house, so it wasn't much of a change to live on my own."
When they were all called up to scrape their offerings into the fire Emma couldn't be bothered to do anything but just give up the nicest piece of chicken, saying her father's name. She hoped he knew that she was okay with their unspoken arrangement of staying out of each other's lives, even if she would continue to be bitter about it.
"But don't you get to do all the fun stuff?" Lou said, as they sat back down. "Like going to football games, getting drunk at parties, having a cellphone and going to prom."
"How is that the fun stuff compared to pegasus riding and playing capture the flag?" Emma said, stunned. Lou marvelled about Emma's mundane school life the same way she marvelled at Camp Half-Blood. But Lou's eyes lit up when she talked about the outside world, as if it were a living fairytale.
"I've been living in this camp for most of my life. That stuff is my routine." Lou groaned. "Tell me about homecoming."
Emma felt her cheeks flush as she looked down at the table.
"I… I don't really go to stuff like that." She said, tucking her hair behind her ear. "Being a demigod doesn't exactly make having friends easy and without friends, well, high school is just a bunch of classes and trying to keep your head down."
The way Lou looked at her made her feel almost guilty for not doing all the things that Lou would have loved the opportunity to do.
"Sorry I'm late." Rachel said, bustling in. She almost slid onto the bench right where Lou was but Lou must have revealed herself. Rachel gasped, but thankfully her reaction went unnoticed by everyone around her. "Lou! What are you doing over here."
"Keep your voice down." Lou hissed. "I really don't need to get in trouble two weekends running, I just want to have some freaking chocolate cake!"
"Desert privileges are always the first thing you lose." Rachel said in response to Emma's baffled look.
"Emma was just telling me that she'd never been to a school dance." Lou said, throwing Emma into hot water and even adding a glare to top it all off. Maybe her straightforward nature was a double edged sword.
"Really? You should, the Goode high ones are pretty good." Rachel informed her as she tried to look for one of the wood nymphs.
Emma couldn't keep the surprise off her face. "You've been?"
She supposed Percy could have taken her as a friend but he didn't seem like the type to go anyway.
"I used to go to Goode." Rachel explained which only made Emma gawk even more. "I switched to online classes after taking on the Oracle of Delphi to avoid any awkward moments of me collapsing on the floor and spouting prophecies."
"Makes sense I guess." Emma said. She couldn't imagine Rachel going to a normal school. She was too free spirited for that.
For the rest of the meal Lou quizzed Rachel and Emma on various mortal world things from TV shows to public transport.
"I doubt you'd have a way of watching the boxset, but I can always lend you the book it was based on?" Emma suggested, as they talked about a fantasy TV series both her and Rachel had watched.
"Could you?" Lou said, her eyes wide with excitement.
"Yeah, I have it with me actually. It's on my favourites." Emma said, smiling at the other girls reaction. Lou was a wild storm of emotion and could flick from one to the other with ease. She made it look so easy to be happy despite the trials of being a demigod.
"I hear Sherman got you pretty good with a sword." Kit interrupted, walking over with a broad smile. "But we all know a bow and arrow is by far the superior weapon."
"but pig balls are the best." Lou chimed in, a wicked expression growing on her face.
"How about I teach you a thing or two about Archery." Kit said with a smirk. "Unless you had any other plans tonight?"
Emma was absolutely exhausted, but she felt like she hadn't seen Kit all day and he had been so nice to her the day before. She supposed they could always take it easy.
"Reduced physical activity archery only." She said holding up a finger with mock-sternness. Kit smiled back.
"How could I refuse."
Kit had gone over the basics and they were now just doing some casual target practice as the sun set. A dagger had been her only weapon for some time, so she had become quite skilled at aiming, but that didn't seem to extend to archery. She was awful. Still, it was quite a relaxing sport, even if her arm already ached from Shermans attacks earlier.
"Have you thought about staying?" Kit asked he as he let another arrow loose.
"Staying here?" Emma said, caught off guard. She lowered her bow. "I don't think I can."
"Why not?" He pressed. He made it feel as if he were asking her if she wanted to go to the cinema instead of uproot her entire life and move to a year round summer camp. In truth, she wasn't really sure how to answer. What did she have in New York to stay for? She didn't have any family. The only person she would be leaving behind would be Rory, so why did it feel like such an impossible choice.
"Can I even get a high school diploma from here?" She queried, lining her bow back up.
"If you're here full time it isn't easy." He admitted. "Were you planning to go to college?"
"Yeah I am." Emma said, ignoring his use of the past tense. "I want to go back to England and study something technology based."
She tried to make him take her seriously by shooting another arrow but the fact it missed the target probably had the counter effect.
"Demigods usually can't afford to have ambitions, we don't last that long." He said dryly.
"Does that mean we shouldn't try to?"
His only answer was a shrug.
"Do you have a lot of friends back home then?"
"Just the one." Emma said honestly. "And that's a pretty recent development."
"Do they know about you? That you're a demigod?" He asked in a way that almost seemed challenging.
"He does actually. He's got the sight."
"Wait, is this the dude that cried when he got kidnapped?" Kit scoffed, keeping his eyes on the target.
"Don't talk about him like that." Emma bristled. "He cried when he saw someone he cared about being hurt, there's no shame in that."
"We're demigods. We've all been there. We don't break down on the battlefield." Kit argued. Even with his concentration divided his arrows still hit home.
"Just because he has emotions doesn't mean he isn't brave or strong." She said. She relaxed her stance but her muscles still felt tense. "He may not be a demigod, but last weekend he helped save me from an army of monsters and the fact he is helpless against them makes what he did all the more heroic."
"So he charged into an army of monsters unarmed?" Kit said raising his eyebrows. So now he thought Rory was an idiot. It made Emma want to shout at him, prove somehow that he was wrong. A small voice in her head told her he was just winding her up, but she couldn't help it.
"He's not stupid." She snapped, glaring at Kit, a simmering rage under her skin. "He's smarter than anyone gives him credit for, because he doesn't brag about his grades. He worked out what I'd do, where I'd go and then brought Percy and Annabeth knowing he couldn't keep me safe on his own."
"So he didn't save your life, Percy and Annabeth saved the day as per usual." Kit countered.
"No, they caused a distraction by fighting the monsters while be brought me to safety." She found her voice rising. "Because he's the kind of person that will always be there for you whenever you need him just because he can be, which isn't something you can say about a lot of people. He's observant and careful but honest and kind and he is the one person who would never let me down."
"Sure this guy is just your friend?" Kit said. He wasn't winding her up anymore, his expression was open and candid as if trying to soften the trap he'd lead her into so neatly. Emma opened her mouth to retort, but instead looked away. It wasn't like her to be the driver of conflict. She usually played these situations as Kit had just done, but as soon as she had said a word against Rory her chest had tightened as if she wanted to prove with every fibre of her being that he was nothing short of an incredible person. She couldn't explain what had just happened. He was just her friend. Just the only friend who had been truly kind to her. Who seemed to understand her.
"It's not like that." Was all she could manage.
"Why not?" Kit persisted.
"Because we don't like each other in that way." She said, looking at the floor. If she had liked him then she wouldn't have dated Austin, right? She would know if she liked him. Liking someone wasn't just a feeling that snuck up on you when you least expected it.
"Okay. You don't like him." Kit said, putting his bow down on a nearby table. She felt a nervousness rise in her chest as he approached her. He silently held his hand out for her bow and she gave it to him. It wasn't any use to her anyway. "He's your best friend, you think the world of him, you get all flustered when you talk about him, but you don't like him."
She remained silent in the way she always did when she didn't have something to say. She wasn't one of those people who could just carry on talking when logic and reason didn't seem to put any good words together. He went and went placed her bow with his. When he turned around he was unreadable.
"How long have you known each other?" He asked nonchalantly, feigning a camaraderie that contrasted the game of cat and mouse the conversation had become.
"A few weeks, a month, I don't know. We didn't exactly get along at first." She hated feeling like she was under a microscope, being examined on her every move. Her hands lay limply at her side and she gripped the bow tightly.
"What changed?" He probed.
"You ask a lot of questions, you know that?" She snapped, unsure of why she was quite so annoyed. She knew when it had changed but pushed the flood of thoughts back. He merely shrugged. He seemed to be thoroughly enjoying ignoring her every hint that she did not want to talk about this. "Why is it that as soon as a girl has a male friend everyone assumes she has to fall in love with him."
"I didn't say 'in love', I said 'like'." He remarked, making quotation marks in the air.
"And I said I don't like him!" Emma shouted, reaching boiling point. "He's stubborn and obnoxious and endlessly cheerful."
"That's the worst you can come up with?" Kit rolled his eyes.
All she could do was scowl at him. He was right, she couldn't come up with anything else. He hadn't pissed her off since their first meeting. He hadn't ever actually apologised, but he had more than made it up to her. In a way, she preferred that. Words were meaningless when compared to changed actions.
Stop complimenting him!
Something snapped in her. She was done with being awkward, done with just being quiet and observant and letting her thoughts be her only guide. She always held back waiting for the right move to reveal itself to her. She was in control of her actions, so of course she was in control of her own emotions, she always had been. If she liked Rory she would know, so she would prove to Kit what she knew to be true. She didn't like Rory McKenzie.
Caught up in the sudden rush of a bad idea she marched up to where Kit stood, leaning against a wooden table.
"I don't like him." She declared adamantly, before resting her hands on Kits chest and leaning toward his face. She held back for a moment, giving him the chance to stop her. When he didn't, she kissed him. She refused to be shy the way she usually had been with Austin as she moved rhythmically with Kit's mouth. Of course he was a great kisser, what wasn't Kit good at. He was beautiful, funny and most importantly, he was like her. He was a good match. So why did it feel so damn wrong.
Dark blue eyes flashed in the back of her mind and she could almost feel Rory's arms around her instead of Kits. She pulled her lips from his.
"Shit." Emma breathed, catching her breath. They were still just inches from each other and Kit had the most annoyingly smug look on his face. "I like him. I like Rory freaking McKenzie."
She quickly took a step back, clutching her hands to her chest as if she could erase what had just happened. Her eyes met Kits again and he was practically beaming at her. It was an odd reaction to have when someone kissed you only to realise they liked another guy. It all made sense when he said with great pride;
"I told you so."