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~ secrethalfblood
Dpov
It didn't take long for me to regret agreeing take a look at Lorelei's bracelet, which, incidentally, appeared to have been run over by a truck.
At first I thought it was a pretty good compromise. Lorelei got something with sentimental value repaired that she might not have been able to have fixed otherwise, and I got rid of the guilt of accepting the graphics card. It seemed like a fairly even trade, if not heavily weighted in my favor.
Now I was starting to realize that nothing was ever just as simple as a one for one exchange, at least, not when a child of Aphrodite was involved.
The second she approached my cabin's table at the start of dinner, I knew I'd made a mistake.
At least half of the camper's eyes followed her, evidentially stunned that one of them had something to do with one of us.
I could almost see the rumors that were starting to form between cabins as she walked back to her siblings, and was interrogated endlessly by my own until we were dismissed.
It had been a relief to get back to the shop, away from the questioning glances and back into my comfort zone. But even there, I wasn't completely free.
"I never thought I'd be bringing these to you." Priya said, clearly attempting to keep her tone neutral as she dropped the minitool kit on my bench, but I could see the curiosity in her eyes as she examined me, the beginnings of a smirk making its way to her expression as they landed on the silver chain in front of me. "Jewelry was never really your thing."
I shrugged, frowning at the metal wondering what the hell had happened to it. Several of the links were twisted and or looked as if they'd sustained a hell of a lot of damage. I was surprised at the number of charms, or lack thereof, that had come with it. They'd been just as trashed, but I'd expected there to be more of them. As far as I could tell, there were only two or three and she'd made it sound like she'd had this bracelet for a while.
Maybe the others had been so destroyed she didn't think even a child of Hephaestus could fix them.
'She must not have been wearing it when it happened.' I thought vaguely reaching into the kit and picking out a pair of small pliers and starting to repair one of the more damaged silver links. 'Otherwise, I was pretty sure she wouldn't have had both arms still attached.'
I pulled over a magnifying stand, only to glance up when I realized Priya was still standing in front of my bench, looking at me expectantly, as if waiting for answers.
"What?" I asked raising an eyebrow, and she grinned as she settled an irritatingly superior expression on me.
"Nothing." She said innocently, hooking a stool from the bench behind her with her foot, and sitting opposite me from mine. "It's just cute."
"What's cute?" I asked suspiciously and her smile grew.
"You, down here, staying up after lights out making jewelry for a girl."
"I am not making her jewelry." I said rolling my eyes, dethatching the damaged link to get a better look at it. "I'm… fixing her jewelry," I corrected, then quickly added. "That someone else gave to her." I stressed the word. "And it's just a favor."
"For a girl."
"For someone who did a nice thing for me."
"Who just so happens to be a girl." She continued leaning forward on my bench, now sporting a full-on smirk. "A very pretty girl."
"I don't see what she looks like has to do with anything." I said looking up from the chain to look at her, but she gave me an expression that told me she was clearly unconvinced.
"So you're telling me you don't think she's pretty?"
"Of course she's pretty Pri." I said trying to sound exasperated, but not quite sure I managed it.
Lorelei, like most of her siblings, was the sort of person you looked at and thought 'There's no way you're an ordinary person'. The sort of person that made you think they had to be a movie star or an up and coming super model, and despite Priya's expression, I didn't see the point in denying it. In the end, she wasn't exactly normal, was she?
"But it's irrelevant," I said cutting her off before she could pounce on the statement. "She needed someone to fix it, I could, and I kind of owed her one… sort of, so I took on the job."
"Ahead of all your paid work." She gestured the pile of weapons and armors that was still stacked near my workstation.
"Have you seen how well my PC runs with that card?" I asked her and she chuckled.
"Justify it all you want Dex, but I'm on to you." she said getting to her feet and stretching. She fixed me with a final meaningful look. "You think she's cute."
"I think she's crazy."
"No. Heather was crazy." She said flatly. "I know she was like your first real girlfriend and all that but we all hated her. And she treated you like crap."
I went back to the bracelet, mostly because I didn't want to look at Priya after what she'd said.
"She wasn't that bad." I muttered.
"Yeah Dex, she was." Priya said flatly. "And none of us are letting you get back together with her again."
I didn't answer this hoping she would drop the subject, and she seemed to realize it.
"Well," she shrugged. "I'm going to bed. Don't stay up too late, ok?"
"Alight." I said automatically, hardly aware of what she'd said.
"Night."
"Night Pri."
I heard her footsteps recede as she walked up to the main part of the cabin as I continued to work.
…..
I wasn't sure how long I spent fiddling with Lorelei's bracelet, but when I finally flopped onto my blankets, I knew several hours had to have passed. I hadn't bothered to check the time, mostly because I was pretty sure I didn't want to, but it must have been late because Kirk, who usually stayed up until at least two playing online games with his cousins in Korea, had already gone to bed. When I woke up later that morning, I didn't feel as if I'd slept so much as blinked only to see the sun filtering through the cabin windows and several of my siblings already heading towards the door.
"Hurry up Dex." Maria, our head of cabin said chucking a pillow at me. Already her wild blonde hair was curling and escaping it's braids. "You're going to miss breakfast if you don't get a move on."
I yawned but didn't bother arguing, grabbing a fresh set of clothes and making my way towards the dining pavilion with the last of my siblings.
It was only when I walked past the Aphrodite table and Lorelei smiled at me, that I realized, despite avoiding it as much as possible since I'd come to camp, I hadn't even considered skipping breakfast this morning.
I'd been too preoccupied to feel anxious about running into Heather and when I did see her, strangely, it wasn't as horrible as I'd come to expect it to be this week. In fact, it really wasn't all that bad at all. Just a little irritating.
Shocked, I considered this as I grabbed a stack of pancakes, made my offering, but was almost immediately brought back to the present when I turned to find a hulking figure blocking my path.
The girl was tall and built like a tank like most of the Ares sisters were, and she was scowling at me, her dark eyes narrowed.
"Emily." I said a little awkwardly, knowing exactly why she was here and why she looked so irritated
"Where is my mace?" she asked furiously. "You said it would be ready last night."
"I said it would probably be ready." I countered a little irritated.
Emily, the head of the Ares cabin, had wanted a few upgrades added to the most recent weapon in her arsenal and had been one of the first people to put in an order with me when I'd offered a discount.
Like many of her siblings, I was the only person she trusted with the weapons she liked best and while yes technically I told her I thought I'd be done with it last night, that was before I'd agreed to fix Lorelei's bracelet. And I hadn't given her a hard deadline.
"Yeah but you always complete orders on time so," she asked crossing her arms over her chest with an expectant air and I glowered. "Where is it?"
"Do you know busy I am this week?"
"Not too busy to flirt with Jake's weird little friend from cabin 10 apparently." She said disapprovingly, and something about this description of Lorelei stuck me as sort or strange.
I guess everyone was little compared to the Ares campers. But still…
Weird?
Unwillingly, I glanced at the Aphrodite table to see that unlike the rest of her siblings, she wasn't talking and laughing with the rest of her cabin. She was sitting a bit a part from them, at the edge of the table, seemingly lost in thought.
"It isn't finished yet." I admitted a little guiltily, turning back to Emily, but the guilt vanished when I saw her expression.
She looked furious.
"You've got to be kidding me."
"Something came up." I said and she rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, I'll bet it did." She muttered scathingly. "Let me guess, does that something have blue eyes and a taste for designer shoes?"
I was surprised at the hostility in her tone, but put it down to her impatience to getting her weapon back when she continued.
"You said it would be ready before capture the flag tomorrow."
"And it will be." I said irritated. "It just isn't right now."
"But you said-"
I cut her off.
"You'll get it when it's done Emily. But if you're really that concerned I can always let one of my siblings take the project."
"No." she said quickly, her tone angry but a hint of anxiety under it. "No it has to be you."
"Then top harassing me or I won't take any more of your orders." I snapped. "You'll get your weapon before the game. Until then stop bothering me."
"I'd better." She said darkly, but it was all she said and I as far from impressed when, as she walked away, she kicked a bench in frustration as she passed the nearest table.
'Why are the Ares campers such divas?' I thought forcing myself not to roll my eyes.
They were all so temperamental about their weapons…
'Still,' I thought a little uncomfortably, 'She has a point.'
I wasn't usually this far behind in my workload. Lorelei's bracelet was taking longer than I'd originally expected, throwing my entire time table off.
I ran my fingers through my hair with irritation and again without really meaning to, looked at the Aphrodite table. I was surprised to see this time however, Lorelei wasn't alone. She was talking to someone, a tall boy I thought was in the Hermes cabin who looked far from unhappy about the situation.
He was loitering by the edge of the table, and while she hadn't bothered to stand he did to seem to have her attention. Or at least some of it. She glanced at the Athena table, then back at him and again, while her expression was angelic, like she really was enjoying his attention, I couldn't help but think it had faltered for just a second as she'd looked away.
He didn't seem to have noticed this however. In fact, I was pretty sure I could have run him over with a semi-truck and he wouldn't have thought to question it. Might not have even noticed as long as she kept talking to him. It was actually a little pathetic.
It was clear for whatever reason Lorelei had turned on the Aphrodite charm, though how he didn't realize I had no idea. Then again, maybe he had and just didn't care.
It wasn't any of my business however, and I tried not to give it too much thought as I made my way back to my table.
I didn't realize I'd walked right past table 4 and Heather until I'd already sat, facing away from her.
Not sorry about this, I started to eat figuring I should probably get back to Emily's mace as soon as I got back to the shop when Priya, who was sitting across from me, said.
"Should have made your move bro."
"What?"
She glanced at the table for cabin 10, and Lorelei before turning back to me.
"Looks like you might have some competition."
"You really need to get a hobby or something Pri." I said calmly and she raised an eyebrow. "Or a life. You seem far too preoccupied with mine."
"Do you want to compare social calendars Dex?" she asked affronted.
"You have a calendar?" I asked and she smirked.
"Yes, unlike you I normally have plans. Though I'll be honest, I'm kind of surprised Tristan's talking to her."
She looked back over at Lorelei and the boy, a frown replacing her normally cheerful expression.
"He's got a girlfriend."
"Maybe he forgot." I said echoing the sentiment of what Lorelei had said to me by the lake.
"Maybe." She agreed, but she sounded distracted. "Still, I'm surprised she's putting up with it."
At this, I was shocked to see she looked a little disappointed as she turned back to the table.
"Why?" I asked skeptically.
The Aphrodite campers tended to love attention, everyone knew that. And they were notorious flirts.
"I dunno." She said with a shrug, but her brow was still furrowed. "I thought she liked you. Maybe you were right." She said with a shrug. "She could have just been flirting to try and get her way."
She continued to look a little disheartened by this and I shot her a tolerant expression.
"Chin up Pri." I said my tone encouraging. "You'll get through it. You know how the Aphrodite campers are."
The kids from Cabin 10 were fickle when it came to their affections. Everyone knew it. They liked who they liked, and then quite often, they liked someone else.
The few relationships that did last however, tended to be pretty serious. It didn't happen a lot, but when it did, they seemed pretty happy. I imagined it must be pretty nerve-wracking for the other person though, trying to figure out which type of relationship it was while they were in it.
"You're hilarious." She said and while it was sarcastic, she still seemed a little miffed. She lapsed into a contemplative silence in which I could tell she was thinking about the situation with Lorelei.
"Why do you care so much about this?" I asked.
She seemed far more interested in my relationship, or, I guess, lack of a relationship, with Lorelei than I was and she frowned at the question.
"I don't." she said thoughtfully. "I mean, not really but still." She shrugged. "I sort of liked her. You should have seen your face when she called you princess."
She laughed at the memory but her expression sobered pretty quickly.
"It was the first time all week you didn't look completely miserable."
"When she insulted me?" I asked raising an eyebrow.
"Hey, you insulted her first." She pointed out and while I wanted to argue, I knew she had a point.
"Fair enough." I muttered reluctantly, and she continued.
"But I dunno." She continued, her tone conflicted. "Most people, when they talk to you and you get all irritated and grumpy like you do, they back down. She didn't." Another shrug. "I liked that about her."
She grinned.
"Even the Ares kids won't try to walk over you."
"Because they're afraid I won't fix their weapons."
"You're fixing her bracelet." She pointed out. "I don't see you glowering at her like you were at Emily."
"Emily was harassing me."
"And yet, I bet if Lorelei had been the one doing it, she wouldn't have been walking away kicking things and throwing a tantrum because she didn't get her way." Priya pointed out. "I know you want to think she's crazy, but I think a part of you respects her for not putting up with your crap."
She smirked.
"How many people can you say that about?"
I didn't answer this, but I did think about it throughout the rest of the meal and as I returned to the shop, I found it sticking with me throughout the rest of the day.
I knew I should have been working on my more time sensitive jobs, but every time I went to a weapon, or tried to straighten out a piece of armor I went back to that stupid bracelet.
It took most of the day, and despite knowing I shouldn't have cared, a part of me really wanted to know what happened to it.
Maybe it was this that had me approaching the Aphrodite campers after the campfire, something I'd never thought in a million years I would do, and handing it back to her in person, a courtesy I rarely did with things I was working on. Usually, I expected people to come to me to pick up their items. I didn't exactly like making deliveries.
It seemed as if they were all talking at once, in a mix of languages, primarily English and French and it was all very fast. By her expression, I could tell that Lorelei understood what was being said, even if she was only half paying attention. Again, she seemed to be wrapped up in her own thoughts, and I was surprised when she didn't appear to notice me approaching her.
This didn't really happen all that often. I wasn't exactly small, and in my experience, people tended to be aware of where I was pretty much at all times if they could see me.
A hush fell over the group as they realized who I was looking at and Lorelei blinked, apparently a little confused when one of her brother elbowed her.
"What?" she said a little annoyed, as if she couldn't fathom why any of them might be interrupting her ruminations.
He pointed at me, and she looked up, then over her shoulder as if she thought I might be looking at someone else, before she seemed to remember something.
This brief moment of confusion seemed to be highly amusing to her siblings, because several of them snickered, some of them not very kindly, and I heard a repeated phrase directed at her in French from many of them in a not so well hushed whisper. The laughs that followed it weren't exactly quiet either.
I hadn't taken any French, but I caught the word 'noir' which I was pretty sure meant black.
"Hi." Lorelei said shaking her head a little as if to clear her thoughts and maybe pretend she didn't notice the whispering and giggles going on behind her.
And for half a second, an incredulous part of me wondered if Priya was right and Lorelei might have actually been interested in me as something other than a way to piss of her ex. But from the expressions her siblings were giving her, and the way they were whispering to each other pretty much ruled that out. She did a good job acting she couldn't hear them, and I almost would have believed they wouldn't have affected her, if it hadn't been that all of her confidence from our previous encounter had seemed to have evaporated while she was in front of her siblings.
'Or maybe she was just no longer powered by righteous anger.' A voice in the back of my mind suggested, which honestly could have been entirely possible.
"Hey." She said crossing her arms over her chest and looking a little distracted, as if I'd caught her off guard, or maybe she didn't want to be here.
They kept shooting her significant looks, but not very many of them were nice and she was clearly trying to ignore it.
"Did you need something?"
"Your bracelet." I said handing her the obnoxiously bright blue box it had been delivered in. "You said you were leaving on Sunday so I figured I should get it back to you before then."
"You fixed it?" she asked in surprise opening the lid, and I felt a slight note of satisfaction go through me when I saw her smile and realized it was genuine. It almost made up for the fact I was feeling about as awkward as she clearly did at this point. Almost.
"Yeah. It took a bit, but it's done."
"I can't believe this." She said softly. "I mean, no offense Dex." She continued taking it out and holding it up, admiring the work. "But this thing was pretty trashed. I'm kind of surprised you were able to fix it all."
She continued to look at for a moment, clearly pleased that it had been restored so well until one of her brothers whispered something not too quietly to her with a smirk, and I caught that same phrase they'd all been saying before. I still didn't know what it meant, but her eyes went a fraction of a bit wider and he shot her a significant but satisfied look, that had to be one of the smuggest expressions I'd ever seen in my life time.
I noticed that the happiness in Lorelei's expression seemed to have died at this, or at least been scaled back and she was a lot more like the girl I'd spoken to a few days ago when she'd approached my cabin.
"Thank you Dex," she said her voice a lot more composed glancing after her brother as he walked away after the rest of the cabin. "It looks great. Far better than I thought it ever would actually."
She was talking quickly though, and she seemed a little agitated.
"Yeah." I said not sure what to make of this. "No problem."
I was going to point out it had sustained a lot of damage, and ask what exactly happened to it when another question occurred to me. Why did she look so uncomfortable?
"What is that they're calling you?" I asked looking after her siblings as well, then back to her. "Singing Noir?"
She grinned at the pronunciation, but it turned a little bitter.
"Cygne noir," she corrected pushing her hair out of her face without seeming to realize she was doing it.
It looked like a nervous gesture.
"It's sort of a family joke." She continued. "About my hair color."
"What does it mean?" I asked.
"It's not really worth getting into." She said shaking her head and she was definitely avoiding eye contact now. "It's kind of a long story."
She still looked uncomfortable though. Embarrassed even. And with incredulous disbelief I found myself wondering if Lorelei of all people was feeling insecure. Was that even possible?
"You don't seem to like it very much." I pressed and she shrugged.
"Yeah, well, siblings are annoying. Everyone knows that."
It was obvious she wanted to drop the subject, but a part of me didn't want to let it go.
It just didn't make any sense. From everything I knew about her, she was the exact definition of a camper from Cabin 10. Gorgeous, confident, flirty, and perfectly willing to use all of it to her advantage. She could have been the poster child for a daughter of Aphrodite, but from her interactions that I'd observed over the last day or two, it almost seemed as if she and her fellow cabin mates might not always get along. Their treatment of her now and what she'd just said seemed to confirm it.
I didn't get it, and I didn't know why it mattered to me apart from the fact that growing up, I'd never been all that socially gifted. Even if people were always scared to give me too much trouble because of my size, I'd always tended to gravitate towards friends who were of the 'geek' and 'social outcast' variety.
I knew what bullying looked like. But I also knew it didn't happen to people that looked like her.
What was going on here?
"Thanks for fixing this." she said looking back at her bracelet and smiling.
"Yeah, sure, but I've been meaning to ask." I felt myself frown a little. "What happened to it? It looked like got hit by a truck."
I was surprised when she laughed at this.
"That's actually pretty accurate."
But she didn't elaborate further, and I figured if she wanted to get into the details of the situation she would have.
By now, most everyone had made it back to their cabins, and I was acutely aware of the glances we were getting from the few stragglers who were still waking back from the campfire, talking to friends or siblings before lights out.
"I guess I'll see you around then?" I asked, only realizing when I saw the surprise in her expression just how out of character this question was for me. I didn't really hang out with people here at camp, especially after Heather and I had broken up. In fact, it could almost be argued that I sort of avoided them.
"Yeah." She agreed and while I expected some sort of smirk or self-satisfied expression at this revelation, I didn't get one.
She did smile a little, however, and while it was small, it felt significant.
"I'll see you around."
She turned and started walking back to her cabin, but not before giving me one last interested look over her shoulder that had me watching her walk away, wondering what on earth it could have meant.
It was only when the door closed behind her that I realized I was standing alone, in the dark, staring after one of the Aphrodite campers like an absolute idiot.
I blinked and looked around to see that pretty much everyone had gone inside, and little disturbed by the fact I hadn't noticed this, I made my way back to my cabin only to see Priya standing by the door, grinning at me like a cat that had cornered her prey.
"Don't say anything." I said darkly and her smile grew.
"What was tha-"
"Not one word." I pointed at her.
She wasn't the only one looking at me however, and with frustration, I realized I was probably going to be the topic of a lot of conversations in the cabin when no one thought I could hear.
'Gods help me.' I thought annoyed, as usual, making my way to the shop knowing it was going to be a late night.
I really needed to finish Emily's mace…
Already the whispering had started as the door closed behind me and I rolled my eyes.
'All this over a stupid bracelet.' I thought darkly. 'Just because the girl was from Cabin 10…'
It was ridiculous. Even when I'd started talking to Heather people hadn't been this nosey. And I'd actually been interested in pursuing a relationship with her. Lorelei wasn't even my friend. She was an acquaintance at best.
I knew people cared way too much about the Aphrodite campers and they were a popular topic for gossip, but this just seemed excessive.
I started clearing my work bench to start on my next project, when I noticed bits of scrap metal were still strewn across it from earlier. Silver, from links in Lorelei's bracelets that had been beyond saving.
I'd still found it odd, how few charms there had been attached to a bracelet she'd seemed rather fond of. One that she'd, presumably, had for a decent amount of time.
I was just starting to wonder if anything could be made out of the leftover metal, when vague, half formed ideas about designs and what I thought she might like began to filter through my mind.
I'd already grabbed a pencil and a note pad to sketch out a schematic, when I realized what I was doing and froze.
'What the hell am I doing?' I thought unsettled, dropping the pencil and sitting back, staring at it in shock.
I'd never thought to attempt anything like this before, not even when I was in a relationship. It hadn't even crossed my mind.
I didn't know Lorelei at all. I wasn't even sure how much I even liked her, and not just as a girl but as a person even. But it hadn't been a conscious decision.
The ideas had just sort of flooded into my brain and before I knew it, as if possessed by some sort of creative force, I had several half-formed sketches of silver work, something I hardly ever paid any attention to, sitting in front of me.
I pushed the note book away, a little startled by my own lack of awareness.
'This is insane.' I thought sweeping the leftover jewelry scraps into the bin.
It was quality metal, and probably could have been used in something else, but I was determined not to think about that stupid bracelet or its owner.
I tore the page off the note pad and binned it as well, and grabbed the nearest item off of my work pile, tossing it on the bench.
I let out a humorless laugh as I realized that it was Emily's mace.
I got to work, knowing it would be another long night but a part of me a little relieved to have things getting back to my normal routine.
It wouldn't be long until break was over and I wouldn't have to worry about any of this. The back log of orders, how much further behind I'd gotten over the last few days, and, most importantly, anything even remotely related to the Aphrodite campers, especially Lorelei.