Annabeth had always prided herself on her ability to see through the superficial advances of boys (and sometimes girls believe it or not) that came her way both inside camp and outside of the protective barrier that Thalia's tree provided. In the Athena cabin, emotions that blinded your ability to rationalize were seen as useless and a waste of time. Not that many of her half-siblings could resist the chokehold love had on them. Apparently when you find your person, there's nothing you wouldn't do for them, including risking your life, which never made sense to Annabeth. Fortunately, she had yet to lose her wits and didn't plan on falling for some love-struck half-blood or even worse, a dimwitted mortal, anytime soon.
At Camp Half-Blood there was this inside joke with the counselors about couples that would get together for the summer and then find out they didn't really like each other once they left for the rest of the year. Whenever you would inevitably have a crush on someone, (because let's face it, we all have crushes from time to time) other people would say you had on "camp goggles." This basically meant that you were seeing people through a lens, only getting to know the good parts of that person's personality since he or she would be on their best behavior around their boss. Like, how could you not fall in love with a guy who had a nice tan, wicked sparing skills, and was good with kids?! Almost everyone fell into that trap at one time or another while at camp.
It would start with flirting at first and would lead to sneaking out at night to see each other and making out in the broom closet during activities. Then BOOM you go on a few dates outside of work, and they ghost you for the rest of the summer, making it really awkward because you still work together. Or they stick around long enough for you to see how crazy they are and find out he has this elaborate plan to kill all of the gods using an imprisoned titan king who really knows how to hold a grudge- not that that had ever happened to Annabeth before. She was far too smart to let something like that happen.. hahaha…
Anyways, before you start thinking she's some kind of heartless bitch, it's not that Annabeth didn't like the idea of falling in love one day. It's just that there were so many other things to worry about this summer that needed her full attention. As a head counselor for the Athena cabin, there were responsibilities that took priority. Like the redesigning of the original 12 cabins, plus finishing up the construction of the new cabins for children of minor gods. Not to mention all the training and strategies for capture the flag, activities, and the counselor meetings-
Gods. When you lay it all out like that, I really don't have a life do I? Annabeth thought to herself as she looked at the daunting list of things on her to-do list. It had taken up so many sticky notes she eventually gave up and wrote out an entire list that took up the front and back of a piece of notebook paper. As excited as she was for this summer, it was honestly overwhelming to step back and see how many things she signed up for. Of course, she knew better than to overload herself by biting off more than she could chew, but it didn't mean she wasn't swamped until the end of the summer session.
She had gotten used to busy summers after learning how much she hated having nothing to do. Leading up to the summer was always one of her favorite parts, especially since a lot of it was behind the scenes stuff that took place in that weird intercession period between the end of school and the start of camp. She got to move back into her cabin and pick her bunk before any of the other campers showed up which meant she had time to decorate and organize the cabin before it was ruined by twenty other restless teenagers.
This year she had decided to go for a DaVinci theme with a few of his most famous models hanging from the ceiling and schematics pinned to the walls. It perfectly fit the vibe of the heavy Greek architectural influence in all of the cabins, especially after Annabeth was finished with their designs. Besides, she always found she worked best when surrounded by something inspiring, and she knew many of her half-siblings worked the same way.
She had just unpacked the last of her depressingly small number of belongings when the Stoll brothers poked their heads into the doorway and announced a counselor meeting was scheduled in the Big House after dinner. She thanked them but was quick to shoo them out and close the door before they could plant any stink bombs under the mattress of an unsuspecting newbie. How they got the position as counselors, she will never know…
It wasn't the first meeting they had had since the counselors all arrived the day before, but Annabeth knew she was going to dread this meeting more than any of the others throughout the summer. This was the one where Chiron forced all of the counselors to play ice breaker games to get to know each other and work as a team. In demigod speak that meant they were going to be doing deadly obstacle courses or basket weaving with nymphs or something just as painfully awkward. It was always the least interesting part of the training process and always gave the newer boy counselors the chance to stare at the girls, sizing them up to see who would be the easiest to date.
Although, they would learn pretty quickly not to mess with the girl counselors. They were the fiercest warriors the camp had produced and always formed a close bond against the cockiness of prideful suitors. Most of them, including Annabeth, had been counselors for three of four years and were far too intimidating for boys to even look their way. She had gotten used to the quick glances in her direction that darted the other way once met with her icy stare. Her seniority was her greatest asset besides her intelligence, and she wasn't afraid to use it against newbies who tried to challenge her.
A horn blew in the distance signaling the start of dinner at the mess hall. Annabeth went to pull her sneakers on and shoved her ballcap into her back pocket as her half-brother Malcom- the boy's counselor for Athena- walked in. She shot him a smile as she pulled her hair into a ponytail, inspecting herself in a mirror for any bumps or stray pieces of hair.
"Hey Bethy," he said, shoving his hands in his pockets. "You about ready to head over to the mess hall? You've been cooped up in here all day." He took a moment to look around at the decorations she had hung and the completeness of the space despite the obvious lack of campers and their own belongings. A low whistle escaped his lips and his eyebrows shot up.
"Wow, it looks great in here. You really outdid yourself this year." He walked over to the poster on the wall that boasted a replica of DaVinci's Vitruvian Man.
"Thanks," Annabeth said proudly, walking over to examine the poster beside him. "I thought a theme surrounding Leo would be the perfect inspiration for this summer's projects."
It had taken her days to cut out and construct the hanging models and sketch out replications of famous diagrams rather than buying them in order to save money. It was a lengthy process, but she knew it would be worth it the moment her campers would walk in, jaws dropped in amazement just like Malcom.
"I completely agree," Maclom nodded. He reached to rub the back of his neck, looking away sheepishly, "My side of the cabin is pretty bare right now. I didn't have time to make any decorations after moving out of my dorm this semester."
Malcom had been studying archeology at Columbia University and had barely made it back to Long Island for counselor training. He had always been one of Annabeth's biggest role models and she loved getting to work with him every summer. There was always something interesting to learn from him.
"That's alright, I can help you think of something before lights out tonight," Annabeth patted his should as she moved to walk towards the door. "We should get going before all the good stuff is gone!" She said over her shoulder.
"There's no way that would happen," Malcom called after. "You know the Hephaestus and Hermes counselors are always late to meals." Annabeth laughed and started walking towards the mess hall, not bothering to wait to see if her brother was following behind./p