ATTENTION READERS!
Hello everyone! I know it's been a while since I posted, life and health issues put a serious halt on my ability to write and then I hit a period of major writer's block for several months. If you're a new reader, welcome! If you're someone who's read some of my previous stories, welcome back! I'll be honest, this story probably will not match even close to my usual posting frenzies seeing as I had almost nothing written out other than a basic idea of where it's going and I'm farther on another story that has priority that will not make it to this site, but I missed writing in this sort of style, and as always, I try to keep people updated if they ask.
So yeah, long story short, I've no idea how this story will turn out posting speed wise but depending on how it all comes together and interest, I'll try not to abandon it completely or put it on hiatus if it does gain active readers.
As always, I hope you like my story. Thanks for reading.
~secrethalfblood
...
"Watch it four eyes." A snide voice said in obvious irritation, and I looked up from my book to see three massive Ares sisters glowering down at me.
"Sorry." I muttered, realizing somewhere in the back of my mind that I must have wandered into their path as my eyes returned to my page.
They didn't respond, not that I expected them to and I continued making my way to breakfast still reading.
I was about ten pages further and about to step into the Dining Pavilion when my way was obstructed once again, however, when the person spoke, they didn't sound annoyed. They sounded amused.
"Put the book down Bambi."
"Ashton, what the hell?" I said angrily as the paperback was plucked out of my hands and I was forced to look up into the attractive, and extremely irritating face of Ashton Wells, son of Apollo, and my brother's best friend, grinning down at me.
"Don't call me that." I continued crossing my arms over my chest and he laughed.
"Lighten up, Harper."
Ashton was tall with the same golden blonde nearly all of campers in Cabin 7 had. It was stylish, medium in length for a guy, and somehow always seemed to catch the light perfectly in any situation. Perks I guess, if your father is the God of the Sun. His eyes were a warm shade of brown and looking at me with obvious entertainment before flitting to the pages.
"What language is this?" he asked curiously, easily keeping the book out of my reach as I tried to jump for it, and turning to look at the cover as if it would answer his question.
"Russian." I said in exasperation jumping again.
"Ah that's right." He said gesturing to the glasses I was readjusting after trying to grab the book. "I forgot those were more than just a fashion statement."
My glasses allowed me to read any language, even ancient ones. They were a gift from my mother when I'd first started coming to Camp Halfblood.
"Why are you reading something in Russian?" he continued curiously looking at me with what looked like genuine interest, but I scowled at him.
"Why would I tell you that?"
"Because you'll talk to anyone about something you're reading." He said, as if this should have been obvious and I felt a surge of annoyance go through me.
He was sort of right, but I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of admitting it.
"Well, thanks to you, I'm not reading right now am I?" I countered, swiping at the book again with no luck.
"What could possibly be so interesting to you in here?" He asked, tilting it in different angles, like it was an artifact he was appraising.
"Ashton!"
He ignored me, continuing to examine it, but when I grabbed his arm to try and force it down, he laughed, as if he thought the attempt was cute. Then again, maybe to him it was. Ashton had met my brother through sports. He was an athlete and built like one. The idea of me attempting to take something from him by force was sort of laughable.
"You know you're not getting this back until you eat, right?" he asked raising an eyebrow and I glowered at him.
"What are you, my mother?"
"No, and thank gods for that." He said with a slight shudder and I rolled my eyes. "But someone has to make sure you feed yourself. Even if it's not her."
"Whatever." I muttered, but stepping into the pavilion and making my way towards the Athena table, Ashton still clearly amused, one step behind.
"Finally." Charlie, my twin and Ashton's best friend, said in exaggerated tone as I took my place next to him, my arms crossed over my chest and what was probably a sour expression plastered on my face. "What's up with you?"
"What do you think?" I snapped. "Your friend took my book."
It was only our first day back at camp, and already they'd taken to irritating me just like they did back home. Unlike most other halfbloods that were friends through camp, Ashton had transferred to the same high school Charlie and I were set to start the summer after they'd met, which meant I never got a break from their over bearing behavior. I was subjected to not one, but both of them year-round.
"Probably so you would eat." Charlie mused and I let out an exasperated noise.
"I can read and eat at the same time."
At this, he and the rest of my siblings exchanged dubious looks.
"Yes, but it takes you an hour to eat half a sandwich." He said sliding a plate of pancakes and scrambled eggs in front of me then grinning and giving Ashton a fist bump as he walked up behind us. "And breakfast ends in ten minutes."
My brother was almost as tall as his best friend, but that was pretty much where the similarities stopped. We had the same eyes, light green and his hair, while a lot shorter than mine, was the same color as well, a dark mahogany brown, that had gotten lighter towards the ends seeing as he spent a lot of his free time on the basketball court with Ashton and their friends. He was thinner than Ashton too, in both face and frame, and while girls seemed to adore the 'smirking smart ass' expression he usually wore, I didn't really get it. In my opinion, not that it had ever mattered, Ashton was far better looking. Then again, seeing as Charlie was my brother and I'd been stuck with him since day one, I probably had to think that by default. Either way, it wasn't like either of them was lacking for attention from girls around camp, or school for that matter.
"You know, I can make my own plate." I pointed out as I started to cut off a bite of pancake. "Do you guys think I'd starve without you or something?"
"No." Ashton said with a shrug when I looked back at him, but he grinned and Charlie continued, looking smug.
"But we're not going to risk it."
"You guys are morons."
"Hey, you're pretty scattered brained." Charlie said putting his arm around me and pulling me into a crushing side hug. "You forget to do stuff when you get sucked into something, especially books. I gotta look out for my little sis."
"We're twins!" I said in exasperation, trying to extricate myself from his grip and he shrugged.
"I mean, if you want to get technical about it."
"How is that technical?" I asked throwing him a look. "That's literally what we are."
"Well I was born first." Charlie reminded me and I rolled my eyes.
"Ah yes that five minutes really solidified the gap between our maturity levels."
"Six minutes and forty-eight seconds." Both Ashton and Charlie corrected automatically and I glowered at my brother's best friend.
"Don't you have your own siblings to annoy?"
He chuckled.
"But it's so much more fun with you."
"I'm glad I can be of such high entertainment value to you." I said sarcastically and his smile grew.
"Me too."
"Go away Ash."
"Alright cranky." He said amused. "See you Charlie." Then smirked and as if he couldn't help himself added. "Bambi."
"Stop calling me that!" I shouted after him and he laughed as he walked away.
"Gods, you and Ashton spend way too much time together." I muttered turning back to the table and continuing to eat my breakfast.
"What makes you say that?" Charlie asked looking genuinely puzzled and I raised an eyebrow.
"He knows exactly how much older you are then me."
"So you admit it." He said his expression going sly. "I am older than you."
"Shut up." I said pushing his head away and he spluttered in shock.
I returned to my food realizing as I looked down that Ashton had left my book. I glanced in the direction of the Apollo table, where he was talking to one of his sisters, well aware that a few of my sisters were also looking at him. I wasn't sure why, but something about it felt exhausting.
I picked up the book and was about to resume from where I'd left off when Sabrina, one of my younger sisters, asked.
"Why does he call you that?"
"Huh?" I asked a little distracted, but glancing at her all the same.
"Ashton," she said tilting her head to the side slightly. She was about eleven with long blonde hair that was pulled into pigtails, and dark blue eyes that were looking at me with intrigue. Though a lot of girls around camp were into Ashton, she seemed to be simply curious.
"It's not worth explaining." I said shaking my head and returning to my book while Charlie chuckled.
"It's not that big of a deal." He said. "I don't see why you're so uptight about it. It's actually kind of cute."
By now we had the entire table's attention and I could feel their eyes on me, but I ignored them so Charlie intervened.
"He calls her Bambi because the day we met, when I introduced them he said she looked so shocked she was like a deer in head lights."
"Gods, you make it sound like I had a crush on him." I said annoyed. "You're misrepresenting the entire situation. He surprised me that's all. I was reading."
"What a shock." Mason, another one of our brother's chimed in. Unlike Sabrina, he was a year younger than Charlie and I, about sixteen, with short black hair and dark brown eyes.
The others laughed as I tried to bring the conversation back on track.
"He just walked up to me and started talking, while I was reading and I didn't think he was talking to me. So I when I realized he was, I was surprised. That's all."
My stomach knotted because it felt like a lie, but I wasn't sure why. I mean it wasn't, right? That's what Ashton had said, where he'd gotten the nickname from, but something about the whole situation had been weird mostly because I'd actually met Ashton before he knew who I was related to. I mean, it wasn't that big of a deal. But we'd definitely talked before Charlie had 'introduced' me to his new friend, and I'd sort thought he might have been into me, and if I was honest, I might have thought I was into him as well, but then in the space of an hour he went from a cute guy on the court to Charlie's new friend and suddenly it was like something had changed. Suddenly, it was like having a second twin brother. Just another person hell bent on embarrassing me as often as possible, and acting like a guard dog that took his job way too seriously. Needless to say, I wasn't exactly thrilled with how things turned out.
"Look it's alright if you had a crush on him Harps." Charlie said lightly, putting his arm around my shoulder again and I raised an eyebrow. "He's a good-looking guy."
"What if he had a crush on me?" I countered and his demeanor changed.
He went stiff.
"Very funny." he muttered, but despite his words, his tone was sarcastic and his smile had vanished.
"What?" I asked feeling a little offended and I noticed the rest of our siblings exchange anxious looks, clearly wondering if a fight was about to break out.
"Look, it's nothing against you Harps." He said automatically, as if what he was saying was a prepared statement and he was just checking the box. "You're pretty and you're smart, but it's against the bro-code."
"The bro-code?" I asked feeling an eyebrow jump back up.
"Yeah, you know. The things all guys know you absolutely cannot do to your fellow man." His tone was matter of fact, this should have been obvious. "You just don't date your friend's sisters. Especially their little sister."
"We're twins!"
"Regardless. The principle still applies."
"You're an idiot."
"Idiot or not, that's just how things are." He said and a few of our older brothers nodded in agreement.
"See?" He Charlie said, gesturing towards them as if this were all the justification needed.
I rolled my eyes.
"Don't you think if a guy liked someone enough, he wouldn't care about the 'bro code'?" I asked putting air quotes around the term, with an inflection that told him how stupid I thought the whole idea was.
"No. It's not how guys do things, especially a guy like Ashton. Besides, aren't you always saying he annoys you all the time? Why does it matter to you if he liked you or not?"
"It doesn't." I said frowning.
I really didn't care what Ashton's initial impression of me was. All I'd wanted to do was defend myself from how Charlie was portraying our first interaction. I wasn't exactly sure how we got here.
"Then why are we talking about this?" He asked breaking my train of thought and I shrugged.
"Honestly, I'm not really sure."
All I knew was that something was off with his impression of how Ashton and I first met, and it felt weird not correcting it. But Charlie was right. Ashton was his best friend, and he wouldn't do anything to mess that up. If Ashton hadn't said anything, it was probably because it just so unimportant that it wasn't a big deal.
"Anyways." Charlie said shaking his head looking as disoriented as I felt, but clearly determined to move the conversation along and I saw the tension around the table dissipate. "What is everyone up to today?"
I tuned out their responses intending to go back to my book for the rest of breakfast when something in the periphery of my vision caught my eye.
I glanced at the exit of the pavilion only to see Ashton talking to a very pretty girl. She had long light brown hair set in perfect waves, sky blue eyes, and was so beautiful, she made the camp shirt most everyone wore here, look like it belonged on the run way.
I recognized her at once. Jasmine Locke, daughter of Aphrodite and Ashton's on again off again girlfriend. They were currently friends, or at least what they called friends, but I figured they'd be back together at some point this summer. It was how it always seemed to happen, especially judging by the way she put a hand on his arm when she laughed at something he said.
"Harper."
"Huh?" I asked turning towards the voice and I saw that the table was empty.
"Breakfast is over." Charlie continued, gesturing towards our siblings that were leaving the pavilion. "Time to go."
"Oh." I said a little surprised.
He glanced in Ashton's direction, clearly wondering what I was looking at.
"What do you think?" I asked standing and grabbing my book, then gesturing towards the pair. "Think that's happening again?"
"Dunno." He said with a shrug. "I think he wants it to, but from what he says, he's not sure she does."
"Really?" I asked in surprise. Judging by the way she was smiling at him as they walked out with the crowd, I would have thought the opposite. "What makes you say that?"
"You'd have to ask him." He said with a shrug. "It's not really our business unless he wants to talk about it."
"Yeah I guess." I said, not entirely sure why I was frowning.
I liked Jasmine, well, I didn't really know her, but she seemed nice enough. Ashton seemed to like her, at least they got along from what I could tell. But Charlie was right. It wasn't my business.
I followed him out of the pavilion and was intending to ask around to see what the alliances for the upcoming capture the flag game were, when I heard a harsh voice.
"Hey! Four eyes!"
I stopped, but this time when I heard the insult, I grinned.
"You going to win me a chariot race or what?"
I turned to see a tall girl built like weight lifter, with broad shoulders, with long black hair and intense dark eyes that were narrowed at me. Tamera Yardley, daughter of Ares, nightmare in the arena and the human equivalent of an armored tank. Next to Tamera, waving excitedly, was another girl, completely dwarfed by her nearly six-foot stature. She was tiny with blonde hair styled into a pixie cut, a fifties style bandana, and hazel eyes that were glittering with excitement. Allison Schults, daughter of Hephaestus. Both were two of my closest friends at camp.
"That depends." I said with a grin. "You going to crash again?"
Allison laughed while Tamera scowled, and I jogged over to the girls.
"Blame your brother and his stupid friend for that." Tamera said sourly. "If he wasn't such a good shot the chariot would have made it. No one but Ashton could have taken out that wheel..."
"Don't worry." Allison said with a smirk. "We can pay him back this summer. I spent the school year cooking up some pretty nasty surprises for your brother and his friend."
She gave me a significant look. Our chariot had been poised to win last summer, but by some miracle, or I guess incredible skill and a little luck, Ashton had managed to hit the chariot's wheel at just the right spot that it took critical damage. The chariot crashed leaving the way open for Ashton and Charlie to take first place.
"Excellent." Tamera said with a wicked grin.
"So Chiron's letting us race this year?" I asked. There had been a couple of nasty injuries last summer, and while no one had died, it was rumored he was going to ban chariot racing again for a while.
"Nothing's official yet," Allison said with a shrug as she shifted her weight and crossed her arms over her chest. "But that's not stopping anyone else from planning."
The mischievous glitter was back in her eyes, her smile positively cat like, and I was sure it was one I was returning.
"Well then, we shouldn't get behind."
"My thoughts exactly."
"Yeah." Tamera said gruffly. "We need to have some serious upgrades from last summer, and you know what change we got make first?"
"What?" Allison and I asked in unison.
"Stronger wheels."
I laughed and Allison rolled her eyes, but turned and started walking toward the cabins her cabin, Tamera and I not far behind, each one of us eager to get planning my brother and Ashton's demise.