Camp Jupiter: War Games

Title: Hope and Longing

Name: Willow

Cohort: Three

Prompt: 3. XXX goes to a summer camp XXX doesn't want to be at but XXX's [family member] made them go. XXX meets YYY and they instantly hit it off.

Words: 2998

"Dad-"

"Piper, we've already talked about it. Jane said that this is an excellent summer camp, you'll have fun there."

"But you promised we'd-"

"I'm sorry, Pipes, but things came up. Besides, it's only two months. We'll have all of August to hang out. Okay?"

"... okay, Dad."

It was always like this, wasn't it? So why did she even bother when her father, the famous movie star Tristan McLean, would never manage to make time for her? Promise after promise would be broken, and Jane the annoying secretary would ship her off to yet another boarding school, summer camp, or whatever would keep her away from her father.

As much as Piper wanted to refuse, to not go to the summer camp, she knew she had no power to do so. Her father, and to an extent, Jane, held much more power over where Piper would be staying. And as much as it pained her to admit, her father listened to Jane far more than to her.

And now she was left stuck in a car alone, trundling along to the remote camp over an hour away. If this was just Jane's excuse to get rid of her, it was working quite well.

"Just a few more minutes, miss," the driver said. Sighing, Piper stared out the window at the towering forest surrounding her. There wasn't even internet connection out here, so there was practically no way to contact her father if things went wrong. Jane was truly evil.

When the bus finally stopped, Piper hopped out, wincing as her heavy backpack dug into her shoulders. Politely waving to the driver, Piper looked out at the winding path into the woods, which would supposedly lead her to the camp. Well, there was no time like the present to see if it would.

The driver would pick her up in two months, apparently - well, either way, she wouldn't see him for a while. She could already hear the car peeling away, leaving her alone in the wilderness. Hiking up her backpack, she began the lengthy trek up the path.

When she finally made it up to the top, she found herself by a tall pine tree with a wooden sign painted gold hanging from a branch. Peering at the wooden sign, she saw the words Camp Half-Blood written in blocky black letters.

Raising her eyebrows, she snorted. Camp Half-Blood? What was this place? Jane certainly had picked a rather shady camp in her opinion. Looking around, she saw that she was on a steep hill. Strawberry fields covered the land below, and she saw a blue farmhouse up a head. Cabins were arranged in a U shape, and she saw some sort of collection of picnic tables nearby. Maybe it was the dining area.

While she was surveying the area, she didn't notice a blond girl approaching her.

"Hey! Are you Piper McLean?" Jumping, Piper whirled around to see a girl with bright curly hair smiling at her. She wore an orange t-shirt with the camp name written on it, Piper noticed. Well, Jane certainly hadn't given her one of those. She hoped all of the camp didn't wear them - the last thing she wanted would be to stick out.

"Oh, yeah," Piper said casually. "How did you… know my name?" Piper hadn't been photographed much by the paparazzi - her dad had made sure of that - but there were still plenty of photos of Piper McLean, the famous movie actor's daughter, on the internet.

"Oh, the activities director, Mr. Brunner, sent me," she said easily, looking at Piper weirdly. "How else would I know you?"

Sighing in relief, Piper gave her a half smile. It was good this girl didn't recognize her; hopefully it meant that not many other people would. "No reason," she said simply. "So… are you here to show me around?"

"Yeah," Annabeth said, still looking a bit suspicious. "Well, anyway, we should begin the tour. And I'm Annabeth, by the way. I'm going to be a camp counselor this year, and we're in the same cabin. Cool?" It didn't really seem like she was looking for an answer - Annabeth was already jogging down the hill. But Piper nodded anyway before following, not wanting to accidentally offend her.

"So, this is the Big House, it's basically where Mr. Brunner stays," she said, seemingly rehearsing a practiced speech. "Counselors occasionally have meetings there, but not often. Over there are the strawberry fields, how this camp gets most of its money…" the tour went on, and it was like any other tour Piper had ever received: boring and dull, packed with information. Annabeth seemed nice and all, but Piper just wasn't that interested in tours and whatnot.

When the tour finally ended and left them standing by the beach (where they often played volleyball, Piper learned), Annabeth turned to Piper expectantly. "So. How are you liking Camp Half-Blood so far?"

"It's alright," Piper said, looking at the ocean longingly. If things had gone according to plan, she would be surfing with her dad right now, not stuck here. "But, um, why is it called 'Camp Half-Blood'?"

"Oh, that?" Annabeth said, deflating a little. "Well, Mr. Brunner is a history teacher, and he thought it would be interesting if the camp was named after half-bloods, or, demigods from Greek mythology."

"Okay," Piper said, brightening a little. "I know a bit about Greek mythology, I learned about it with… my dad." Her face grew a little sour, and she stared at the ocean once more, wistfully thinking of surfing.

Annabeth noticed, and pursed her lips. "Family issues?" she guessed. "No worries. Plenty of people have them too." Clearing her throat, Annabeth changed the topic. "And that's cool that you learned about Greek mythology, I have as well. Who's your favorite goddess?"

"Maybe Artemis?" Piper said hesitantly. "Athena's cool, too, and Hestia. But certainly not Aphrodite."

Annabeth smiled brightly, and Piper figured that her answer had pleased Annabeth. "My favorite is Athena. I don't like Aphrodite either, but she's better than Hera. Cows," she said, shuddering. "Stepping in cow dung is the worst."

Piper laughed, and thought that maybe summer camp wouldn't be too bad. "True," she said, smiling. "Though I don't think that Hera exists… or is making cows leave you presents everywhere." Annabeth raised her eyebrows, clearly trying to bite back a laugh.

"Well no duh," she said in a mocking voice. "What do you take me for?" Her pretentious sneer faltered and gave way for a grin, leaving the both of them laughing.

As they made their way back to the camp, making jabs at each other, Piper felt at home at this camp, for some odd reason. And as much as she hated to admit it, Jane had picked a good summer camp. It seemed, for once, that her father's secretary had been right. Well, at least she didn't have to say it to Jane's face.

But it seemed for the first time in forever, Piper had hope. Hope that things would be okay, and that maybe she could find a place at Camp Half-Blood. Yet she still carried the longing to be able to spend time with her father, longing that life would be different. But it wasn't like she could do much about it.

Drinking some of her 'bug juice', Piper half listened to Annabeth's monologue about the joys of the architecture class she took. Sure, it was sort of interesting, but Piper honestly didn't really care for it. But, she kept a look of interest on her face, not wanting to offend her first friend here.

"... so, I actually ran out of graph paper one day, and it was really embarrassing because… oh, it looks like it's time for the camp sing-a-long. I'll have to tell the story another day. You coming?" Annabeth asked, looking at Piper who quickly made an attempt to seem as if she had been listening.

Truth be told, Piper hadn't really wanted to go to the sing-a-long. She was an okay singer, but she didn't really want to sing in front of all the other people - what if she embarrassed herself? But Annabeth had told her they would meet some of her friends there who had been busy with other activities - Percy and Grover. Percy and Annabeth were dating, something Annabeth had been quick to tell her, quite happily and, dare she say, dreamily.

Well, hopefully Grover would be nice and talkative so Piper wouldn't have to be the third wheel… because it seemed that Annabeth and Percy were really close, dating or not. Walking to the campfire, she saw a black haired boy wave to Annabeth enthusiastically, already making his way over. A red haired boy with a goatee next to him also waved, clutching a pair of panpipes. It was interesting, as Piper had never seen panpipes before. She wondered if the boy, who was probably Grover, was any good. Hopefully.

"Annabeth!" the dark haired boy exclaimed, throwing an arm around Annabeth and giving her a kiss on her head. Turning to Piper, he said with a smile, "I'm Percy, by the way."

Piper nodded. "Annabeth told me about you."

"She did? Hope they were all nice things," he said, looking down at Annabeth with a sweet smile. Rolling her eyes, Annabeth shrugged Percy's arm off of her.

"Okay, let's go sit," Annabeth said loudly, marching them over to the bench.

Piper tentatively sat next to Annabeth, listening to the other three's conversation. She occasionally joined in, and found that Percy and Grover were fun to be around, which was a relief. Now her friend count had tripled, from one to three.

Sitting in front of the campfire, singing along with her newfound friends, Piper felt content. She didn't feel upset about being forced to go here, instead she felt happy. She and Annabeth had hit it off immediately, something she hadn't really expected. At the boarding schools she had been sent to, she didn't really fit in with the others, which was always bothersome. But here, these people were friendly, accepting. It was a nice change.

Now singing some sort of song about a grandma - don't ask Piper, she certainly hadn't picked it - Piper let her mild embarrassment be covered by the dim light. Cicadas buzzed loudly, leaving a nice background noise to listen to, albeit a bit annoying. Frogs croaked in the distance, the wind carrying the sound through the chilly night air. The stars twinkled more brightly than Piper had ever seen, the constellations jumped out at her unlike how they had once appeared back in the city. The fire was a bright, cheerful orange, reflecting the mood of the campers. Sparks flew into the air, and gooey marshmallows were carefully roasted to a golden perfection.

All the times Piper had gone camping before, it was just her and her dad. Most of the time, their trip had been cut short, her father making a hasty exit to work on some sort of project. But here, there was no sense of impending doom, no nervous glances over at her father, counting down the minutes until he had to go. Instead, Camp Half-Blood was full of relaxing, chill activities that made Piper slow down, feeling calm and content. There was no rush to pack in as much bonding time with her father, rather, Piper didn't want to rush anything. For the first time on a vacation, there was no real doomsday clock. No clock ticking down the hours, minutes, seconds, nothing was making her go faster, quicker, speedier. Life rolled on, as it did, but at a comfortable pace.

So she was allowed to sit at the campfire, singing songs for the rest of the evening, and then the next night and the next night without interruption.

"Race you to the canoe lake!" Annabeth yelled, already sprinting off into the distance and leaving Piper behind. Sighing, Piper got to her feet and ran after Annabeth, already accepting her loss. And sure enough, by the time Piper had made it to the lake, Annabeth had already dove into the water.

Popping up, Annabeth smiled victoriously. "I won, then," she said, satisfied.

"It would've been rather hard not to," Piper remarked, rolling her eyes as she walked cautiously into the lake.

Piper only had a day left at Camp Half-Blood, something that was quite surprising. It had felt like the summer had breezed on by, leaving her wondering where her two months had gone. She had originally thought that it would be a torturously long experience at Camp Half-Blood, but it had been quite the opposite.

Now that she had stayed here, Piper found that she would miss the place. It had become a second home for her, as ridiculous as that sounded. She had only been there for two months, after all. But as Piper's home had never felt comfortable and cozy for her, Camp Half-Blood's warm and relaxed mood had been an excellent change of pace from the cold, bland mansion her father owned.

"Well, come on in then," Annabeth said impatiently, watching Piper inch her way into the lake. "I don't have all day, you know."

"Of course I do," Piper said, shivering as the water crept up to her chest. "You've been talking all about your date with Percy - how could I miss it?" She adopted a ridiculously high pitched voice that sounded nothing like Annabeth's, and said, "Percy is going to take me to see this wonderful museum outside of camp, he had to jump through so many hoops to let us leave camp, blah blah blah."

She didn't mind Annabeth talking about her date, though. In the span of two months, Annabeth had become one of Piper's best friends. She was also one of Annabeth's best friends - the key word was 'one' as no one could replace Percy, as that would literally be impossible. Which was good, as there was no way Piper wanted to. She was never going to be able to do so, and Percy and Annabeth were too cute to be slighted like that. She was perfectly fine with settling for the best female friend.

Percy and Annabeth, or Percabeth as the campers called them, had set quite the standard for all couples, best friends, and partners alike. And no, Piper was not a giant Percabeth shipper, or anything to do with that sort of thing. It wasn't like she was a child of Aphrodite, or something ridiculous like that.

"I do not sound that annoying!" Annabeth protested indignantly, splashing Piper with water and interrupting her train of thought.

Sputtering, Piper immediately retaliated, kicking water at Annabeth and swimming away. "Excuse you, ma'am," she said snottily, putting her nose in the air and fighting the urge to laugh. "I do believe you have no right to act in such an unladylike manner, splashing water at your superiors. What. A. Disgrace." Bursting into laughter, she ducked away as Annabeth, fed up with her antics, made a grab for her leg, wanting to drag her under.

Unfortunately for Piper, Annabeth succeeded and started pulling Piper down. Struggling under the water, Piper finally broke free after a couple failed attempts and burst through the surface, sucking in air. Annabeth followed afterwards, unable to hide her smile.

"I'll miss you, you know," Annabeth said seriously after a moment. "Just wanted to make sure you knew that now that you're leaving today, since your father pulled you from camp early."

Piper nodded. "I didn't expect him to, but I guess he did," she said shrugging. Or rather, Jane did. "Well, now that I have your phone number, we can talk until next summer. And you'll have to tell me about your date with Percy, since you talked about it so much."

"I did not! Well… did I?" she asked sheepishly after a moment. Piper nodded immediately, and Annabeth sighed. "Well, I guess I do talk about Percy a bit."

"No worries," Piper said easily. "The whole camp is invested in Percabeth - you two are like the camp's mascot. Sickeningly adorable."

"I suppose," Annabeth said, rolling her eyes. "Now, enough with all of this talk - I came here to swim."

They lapsed into silence, splashing and diving around. Occasionally, a few playful words were exchanged, races competed, and contests held. It was definitely one of Piper's favorite moments from all of her time at Camp Half-Blood - but nothing could beat the marshmallow incident - and she knew she would hold this memory for the rest of her life. It would be comforting to remember when she felt alone in her father's mansion, or at whatever boarding school Jane had found.

And as the sun waned, blue turning pink, Piper and Annabeth rose from the lake, and in the distance, a lone figure stood by the pine tree, carefully picking his way down the steep hill. Much to her surprise, Piper realized that it was her father, here to pick her up, not the driver who had brought her here.

Annabeth waved her hand, gesturing for Piper to go on. Without hesitation, Piper started running over to her father, a sense of longing, hope, and regret lumped inside of her. As much as she wanted to spend hours with her father, she wanted to spend time at camp, where it felt comfortable. But she ignored all of that for now, focusing on one thing: running to her father as the sky became streaked with pinks, purples, and oranges, dusky clouds meandering overhead. It was a nice day, really, one full of reunions and wistfulness.

Her father spotted her, smiling and his arms spreading wide. Grinning back, Piper crashed into them, ready to go back to the city.

And even though she would long to go back to Camp Half-Blood terribly, Piper had hope that her life could be different, better. But no matter what happened, she knew that life would go on, as it always did.