Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who has commented now and over the years. You gave me the motivation to finally get to writing again! Here's to you, hope you enjoy :)
The sun was still bright in the sky at 6 o'clock as a group of campers gathered on the beach. While people started to murmur in quiet voices, smirks on their faces, Connor Stoll excitedly drew a large circle in the sand with a stick and the aura of an excited golden retriever. As he stood up, he dramatically flung the stick toward the waves gently lapping at the beach and held his arms in the air.
"Good Evening Gentlefolk! We are gathered here today to witness the amazing, the incredible, the ferocious, Madeline!" The small crowd laughed and clapped, a few onlookers hollering out in excitement. Solemnly with a hand over his heart, he added, "And whatever poor fool dares to take her on." Madeline stood in the crowd, smiling with her arms crossed as she rolled her eyes at her boyfriend's monologue.
"You regulars know the rules by now, but as a refresher: No weapons, no armor. No fight to the death, leave that for Capture the Flag. Whoever can pin their opponent down for five seconds wins." With an innocent smile on his face, as if he were selling Girl Scout Cookies, he added, "Can't be too hard, right? She's about four feet tall, so whoever wants to try their luck, step on up. I'll gladly take mandatory donations over here as we finalize the roster for tonight's show - I mean, tournament."
As she passed by Connor on her way to begin stretching, Madeline flicked his arm for the height comment. He puckered his lips theatrically at her and she stuck her tongue out. A wide grin broke across his face before he turned back to collecting cash, and some I-owe-you debts, from fellow campers. Sure, she didn't win every time, but pretty close. That risk only made the mischievous sparkle in his blue eyes shine even brighter. This evening, it seemed a son of Hebe was feeling adventurous enough to give his skills a shot. Two of his friends hyped him up, patting him on the back and goofily chanting his name in support as he stepped into the sand circle across from Madeline.
Madeline vaguely recognized him from around camp but they had never spoken. She had first arrived at Camp Half-Blood the year after Percy Jackson made the gods promise to claim all their children. While it had already been filling up back then, the camp was busier than ever. Now, three years later and even the cabins of the minor gods were starting to get crowded. There were more and more new campers every year that Madeline didn't formally meet. Thinking about this now, at the beginning of her last summer at Camp Half-Blood, brought a twinge of sadness to her chest. Pushing this feeling aside, she refocused on studying the boy as she pulled her thick, black curls back into a ponytail. He was a few years younger than her, maybe 16 judging by the slight roundness still on his facial features, and average height. His short wavy hair and large eyes gave him a very playful look. His shoulders were pretty broad, though his lean muscles hadn't completely grown into his frame yet. With his bare feet in the sand, he had a natural stance wider than most people. Maybe he'd been on his high school's wrestling team, she wondered. He'd be difficult to move around, Madeline noted with the slightest furrow in her brow.
Walking to stand in between them, Connor held up his hands to signal the crowd to quiet down.
"No biting or clawing. Uh, besides that do whatever you can to get your opponent on the ground!" Shrugging and taking a final look at the boy, he said, "And for you kid, I'd suggest you don't go easy on her. Madeline, daughter of Demeter! Javed, son of Hebe! Shake hands and begin on my mark."
The two demigods stepped forward and shook hands with two small pumps. Javed met Madeline's kind smile with a curious lopsided smile of his own, the smallest hint of disbelief in his expression. Though he did not want to insult her by underestimating her fighting abilities, he also found himself wondering how he could lose to the young woman standing in front of him. They wore the same bright orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirts and she did not appear extraordinarily strong beneath hers, although he could clearly see the built muscles of her deep brown legs in her jean shorts. Contemplating each other, they both readied themselves and sunk into fighting stances.
"Begin!" Connor shouted, the crowd breaking their silence and cheering for the champion they had bet on. Though she'd done this many times since two summers ago when Connor and his older brother Travis first came up with the idea, Madeline still got a nervous, exhilarating blood rush that made all her senses heighten and her hands just barely shake with an invisible buzz. After a moment's pause they both stepped closer and the match finally started. Javed took a trial swing at Madeline's midsection to gauge her movements and was surprised by how fast she dodged him. Suddenly, he found himself needing to spin away from where she approached him from the side in order to avoid the sweeping motion she aimed at his legs with her own. Nearly stumbling backwards, he quickly regained his balance and lowered his stance. Using his momentum, he charged forward and jabbed at her shoulder. Anticipating her defense, he caught Madeline's wrist and spun her around so that he had her locked in with her back pressed against his torso.
Now, with Travis living away from Camp Half-Blood after finishing his second year of college, Connor was a solo announcer, but the crowd was no less entertained for it as he ran around the grappling pair and narrated the action over the good-spirited heckling and cheers from the crowd. Madeline broke out of Javed's complicated holds on her three times in quick succession. Each time, he countered her movements and once again locked her into his grip.
"Looks like we've got ourselves a real contestant for the title this evening people! That is one tricky bind Madeline seems to be in! And ooh, you hate to see it!" he mirrored as the crowd grimaced at Madeline's failed attempt to knock Javed off balance with a quick rotation of her hips. At this, he was able to lock one of his ankles around hers, further cementing them into place. If she did not escape from his hold now, he would easily be able to get her to the ground and then she suspected it would be nearly impossible to recover.
Unsure of her ability to pull off the move but left with no choice, Madeline gripped the larger boy's forearms with her hands, threw her weight towards the ground and pushed off hard, being careful not to catch him on the bottom of his jaw with her head. Accidentally breaking his teeth would ruin the fun. Swinging her left leg up towards her chest and turning as much as she could to the same side, she was just barely able to get her leg on top of his left shoulder. She had to groan loudly against the effort and was definitely pushing the limit of her flexibility. He maintained his grip on her upper body, still keeping her pinned to his chest, and kneeled down on one leg to counteract the force of her spinning them around. Madeline did not hesitate as he began leaning forward, the sand rising up to meet her face. She drove her feet into the ground, sending Javed flying onto his back with her on top of him.
Finally able to truly break his arm lock with one of her elbows, she quickly rolled backwards, going into a handstand to vault herself over his surprised face and coming to a standing position. As the son of Hebe moved to get up, Madeline went for her final attack. Over-rotating the position of her arms to account for his bigger size, she was able to get him into a choke hold with one knee pressed sharply, but not painfully, into his back. He moved around to try to get her off of him but was unable to with the way she had formed her body around him. The blood rush in his head was beginning to dampen his focus, and his movements slowed as he fell forward, catching himself with his hands.
Connor began the victor's countdown in his melodious announcers voice, half of the audience joining him in glee while the other half called for Javed to get up and keep fighting. Unable to bear the embarrassment of passing out, Javed tapped the ground repeatedly with one hand. Madeline immediately released him and shot up into the air, accepting the applause from the circle of campers around them with a tired grin on her face and. Turning around, she offered her hand to the boy, now bracing himself on one knee as he caught his breath, and helped him up. He smiled sheepishly at her and they bumped fists, both impressed with the other.
"And the house champion remains undefeated, 5 battles in a row!" Connor screamed, howling madly with his face turned up to the sky as he ran along the inner perimeter of the circle and came up behind Madeline. He bowed underneath her arms, skillfully picking her up and carrying her on one of his shoulders. This caused a wicked, boisterous laugh to escape her mouth. He paraded her around the laughing crowd made of begrudging losers, Madeline's fans and now a stern looking centaur. Connor immediately straightened up at the sight of Chiron and Madeline hopped down from his shoulder. The section of onlookers standing in front of the Activities Director turned around in shock and scattered as abashedly as they could in the dying noise of the tournament. As the towering man with the lower body of a horse began to speak, nearly everyone besides Madeline and Connor was already gone.
"I will not warn you two again," Chiron said with his arms crossed over his chest and a dangerous set in his jaw. "You do not get lenience just because this is your last summer. No more gambling on camp grounds. If I catch you again, there will be severe consequences. I cannot allow you to continue taking money from your fellow campers, for whom you should both be trying to set a good example."
"Whoa whoa whoa," Connor said gently, holding his hands up. "I respect your concern for these youngins, Sir. I really do. That's why I would never swindle my beloved campers out of their hard earned money."
"So if you were to turn out your pockets right now," Chiron replied with the slightest hint of amusement in his eyes, "I would find nothing violating Camp rules?"
Sighing deeply with a tragic glance towards Madeline, the son of Hermes reached into the pockets of his bright blue shorts and slowly turned them inside out. In his hand he held a small Snickers bar.
"I must confess to my sweet tooth," Connor said seriously, displaying the contraband candy bar to the centaur like a sad offering. "It's more of a medical condition, really," he told Madeline shamefully, biting his lip and looking with pleading eyes back at Chiron. Madeline held her hands behind her back and bowed her head to the ground, pressing her lips together to keep herself from laughing. In the bustle of guilty campers scattering, she knew, Connor had artfully slipped the fight winnings into the pocket of one of his younger half-sisters. They'd meet up later to split the cash among those who had placed a winning bet. Shaking his head, Chiron grabbed the candy and turned his gaze to her.
"I'd tell you to try to keep him from doing anything too deplorable but it seems you've fully assumed the role of partner in his crime syndicate."
Taking a deep breath for a moment with a thoughtful look on her face, Madeline replied, "If we're ever going to truly close the wage gap in this county, it's important for young women to take on equal responsibility. And I think we're doing some really important work here, helping our fellow campers train in whatever way we can." Chiron groaned quietly and almost smiled at the two 18-year-olds. After a moment of silence, he said in a defeated voice, "Don't let this happen again. And get to dinner."
Connor saluted him and Madeline gave a few quick nods as they turned and jogged away from the beach, holding hands with grins on their faces as they made their way across the bustling camp. There were just over two months left of their summer, and they were determined to let nothing ruin their fun.
