A/N

This is for DanceForever16, who owns Shaw Henderson. (And Lizzie Lehrer!) I hope you like it!:)

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I've been here for four days so far, and still, no one cares.

Depressing, right? Tell me about it. My name is Shaw Henderson, and apparently I'm boring.

Camp is great and all, and the people I've met are fairly nice to me, but I just don't stand out. Since all my siblings are just as good as I am at poetry, archery, healing, and music, I'm not special anymore, like I was at high school. I'm just another child of Apollo.

When I arrived at camp, It was easy for me to get adjusted to my surroundings, and I didn't really have to get used to any of the mythology stuff. You see, my mom had never kept it a secret from me that Apollo was my father. I'd even met him once before, when I won the New York State Junior Poetry Contest when I was 10. He wrote me a haiku to show how proud he was, and I have it hanging on my bedroom wall above my trophy:

You won the contest

It's because you're my son

We are amazing

I was going to point out to him that the second line only had six syllables, but he had seemed so proud of the poem that I didn't want to ruin it for him. But still, if he had just gotten rid of one of those contractions...

Ugh. The bad poetry made me shudder.

At the moment, I was scribbling in my own poetry book, while sitting in my cool, air-conditioned cabin. I jotted down a quick rhyme that popped into my head and slammed my book shut. Maybe today I'll go out and make some new friends. Or I guess I could explore the camp a little more, I haven't seen much of it yet.

It was about lunch time, so I headed down to the pavilion. Since the summer was just starting, camp was filling up rapidly, and I saw many unfamiliar faces.

One stood out to me so clearly that it was like there was a spotlight shining on her. She looked about my age, maybe a few months younger, and she was laughing and talking with what must have been a sibling of hers. I didn't notice him at all though, I just saw her pretty, long dark hair, and even from a distance I could see that her eyes were a beautiful sea green.

Then I noticed that she was sitting at the previously unoccupied Poseidon table.

Huh. A child of the Big Three? Interesting.

Since it was against the rules to change tables during lunch, I caught up with her once everyone was finished.

"Hey, uh, excuse me!" I called out, before she could walk away. She turned around and our eyes met for the first time, and my breath caught in my lungs for a moment.

She smiled at me. "Hi! You must be new here," she observed, holding out a hand for me to shake. "I'm Elizabeth Lehrer. You can call me Lizzie! And you are?"

"Shaw, Shaw Henderson," I announced, shaking her hand lightly. "And yes, I'm new. I just got here last Saturday."

"Well, I'm glad you're here!" Lizzie beamed. "Has anyone shown you around yet?"

I shook my head. "Nawh, everyone seemed kind of busy, and I didn't want to bother anyone," I said, shrugging.

"Well, come on then!" Lizzie said, taking my hand and pulling me along. "I'll give you the full tour!"

Lizzie and I chatted for a couple hours while she led me around Camp Half-Blood, showing me the sights. I learned that she was indeed a daughter of Poseidon, and that she was 15. I told her about my recent experience with a hellhound, and being saved by a satyr, then how my mom finally decided it was time for me to go to camp. We were getting along quite well, and she seemed to be enjoying herself.

After joking around and laughing for a while, I decided to finally ask her.

"So, do you have a boyfriend?" I asked, in what I hoped was a casual voice.

Lizzie giggled. "Actually, no. What about you?"

I grinned, but tried not to look too pleased. "I'm single too," I said nonchalantly. "But I'm surprised you are. You're so pretty, you probably have a waiting list of guys who want you."

She blushed and rolled her eyes. "You're not too bad yourself," she hinted, smiling.

I was just about to ask her on a date when she exclaimed, "Oh! There's the arena. I wanted to show you that too, come on!"

She grabbed my hand again and pulled me along. The arena was pretty large, with bleachers for spectators, rows of weapons, and even a medical station in the corner, it was impressive to a newcomer. When I looked up to see that the ceiling was transparent, which made the building seem even bigger.

There was a small group of people standing in the center of the arena, practicing sword fighting. One guy in particular seemed very good- slashing, parrying, dodging, and rolling around, he never seemed to stop moving.

"Who's the guy beating the crap out of everyone?" I asked Lizzie, pointing to the dark-haired teen whirling around the arena.

Lizzie grinned. "That's Percy Jackson, my big brother.

I raised my eyebrows appreciatively. "He's good."

"The best," Lizzie put in. "There's not a single person at camp who can beat him in sword-fighting."

"Really? Not any of the Ares kids or any of the older campers?"

"Nope!" Lizzie answered, obviously proud. "All the girls here have an inside joke: if you can find the guy that can beat Percy, marry him!"

"Really?" I said, now interested. "I think I'll go talk to him, then."

"Come on, I'll introduce you two," Lizze said, taking my hand and pulling me to the middle of the arena.

Percy had his sword tip pointed at his opponent's neck. The two froze in that position for a moment, until Percy swung his sword into its sheath and held out a hand to pull the other demigod up.

"Nice try, Logan," Percy told him. "Work on your defense, and we'll spar again next week."

Logan nodded, and jogged off.

"Percy!" Lizzie exclaimed as we reached him. "I've got someone I want you to meet."

"Hey, Izzie!" Percy greeted. "Who's this?"

"This is Shaw Henderson," Lizzie introduced. I mentally pumped my fist in the air- she remembered my name! "He's a new son of Apollo. Shaw, this is Percy."

I shook hands with the son of Poseidon, and he gave me a friendly smile.

"Welcome to camp!" Percy said sincerely. "How do you like it so far?"

"It's nice," I said honestly, "but kind of disappointing. My siblings and I are all the same."

Percy dipped his head. "I won't disagree with you there. Children of Apollo tend to have the same skills, more so than other demigods. Like, not all the Hephaestus kids are good with cars, and not all the Ares kids are expert sword fighters, but the Apollo kids..." he trailed off.

"Kind of a bummer," I remarked, tapping my toe against the floor.

"Maybe not," Percy said. "You might get a quest or something that'll set you apart, who knows? Everyone at camp is known for something, you've got plenty of time."

I shrugged again. "Eh, we'll see. Well, I don't wanna keep you from your sword fighting. Lizzie and I are going to explore the beach! It was nice meeting you, Percy."

"You too, Shaw," Percy nodded, drawing his sword again and turning towards an approaching demigod.

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I spent the rest of the day with Lizzie, talking and laughing and having a good time. I could tell we were going to be good friends, though I hoped I could change that in the near future. I know I had no chances of getting with her now, while I was a nobody, but soon enough I'll find a way to show her that I'm the one.

When I got back to Cabin 7 that night, I heard an eight-part harmony drifting out of the windows. I was sure I could find the ninth harmony, but I was too tired to sing, so I got ready for bed and fell asleep almost immediately.

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The next afternoon, I was painting a pot during arts and crafts. I was pretty proud of the way it was turning out, and was just about to put the finishing touches on it when the door of the cabin slammed open.

"Are there any Apollo demigods in here?" Ena Collins, a daughter of Nyx, asked frantically as she burst into the craft cabin.

I dropped my paintbrush and raised my hand.

"Good!" She exclaimed, rushing over to me and grabbing my wrist. "Hannah Cabell just fell off the climbing wall, and she hurt her ankle."

I grabbed my backpack before she pulled me out of the craft cabin, and she and quickly led me down the hill to the climbing wall. There was a girl, about twelve years old, sitting on the ground and leaning against the plaster structure. We reached her side and I knelt down next to her.

"Is he an Apollo dude?" the girl, who must have been Hannah, asked Ena, gesturing to me.

"Yes, I am," I said, my voice bristling with annoyance. "My name's Shaw."

"Hannah," she nodded.

"Well, what happened, Hannah?" I asked casually, scooting over to examine her ankle. It looked strange, and was already starting to swell, but I didn't react outwardly to it. Being a child of Apollo, I'm naturally good with healing, and a big part of healing is knowing how to treat the patient. The calmer you react to a situation, the more likely the patient will be calm and relaxed.

Hannah took a deep breath. "Well, I was just climbing with Ena for fun, since we have a free period right now, but I guess we should've waited for someone to strap us in properly," she finished sheepishly. She winced slightly when I put pressure on her ankle, so I drew my hands away.

"You probably should have," I agreed, unzipping my backpack and pulling a baggie of ambrosia out of the inside pocket. I broke off a piece and handed it to her. "You have a small fracture on your ankle. It'll be fine though, we just have to get you up to the infirmary right away so I can wrap it up."

"How am I gonna get there? I don't think I can walk," Hannah pointed out.

"I'll run up and get a wheelchair," I said, standing up and brushing my jeans off. "Be right back."

"Or you could just send someone else down with the wheelchair," Ena suggested. "I'm sure one of your siblings are working in the infirmary. Just run down to the office, it's closer, and have them radio the infirmary. Another child of Apollo could wrap her ankle up, and you can get back to whatever you were doing."

"Oh, yeah, right," I stuttered. Of course another child of Apollo could do it. Any of us could. It's just some simple healing. "Sounds good. Someone else can get this, yeah, you're right. Uh, I guess I'll go down to the office, I'll see you later then."

"Thanks, Shane!" Hannah said cheerfully.

I opened my mouth to correct her, but let it slide. "Yeah, no problem. Try not to move around too much."

Ena waved at me before I turned and jogged to the office. I tried not to feel too disappointed, but honestly, I've felt like a third wheel since I got here.

Actually, I feel more like a thirty-second wheel, if I'm going to count all my siblings. They didn't really need me. If Ena had found any of my brothers or sisters before she found me, they would have been able to do the exact same thing.

Before I walked into the office, I took a deep breath and tried not to feel too useless, so that it wouldn't show on my face. After having the older demigod behind the desk radio the infirmary, I glumly returned to craft class.

Painting didn't seem as fun after that.

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On my way to archery a week later, I heard someone call my name. Well, sort of.

"Hey, you there! Apollo kid!"

I sighed and turned around to see Jake Abel, a son of Ares. I don't know what was sadder; the fact that I knew his name but he didn't know mine, or the fact that I answered to 'Apollo kid.'

"Yeah?" I said.

"Apollo dude, my girlfriend Katie is organizing a talent show," Jake started to explain.

"And?" I asked, wanting to get to class.

"I'm inviting people to join," he continued. "It's not just any talent show, it's a talent competition, Camp Half-Blood style. The winner gets to be commander of their team for capture the flag, they get a trophy, and their picture will be displayed above the colosseum entrance for the week."

"Really?" I said, now intrigued. "How do you enter? And how is it 'Camp Half-Blood style?'"

Jake grinned. "It's the most spontaneous competition ever. To enter, right before you show your talent or skill, you just shout something like, 'Hey everyone, my name is Apollo dude and here's my entry for the talent show!' It lasts all week, and once it's over the whole camp will vote on their favorite entry."

"Sign me up," I said nodding, and he wrote something down on his clipboard. I sighed, figuring he probably wrote 'Apollo Dude.' "My name's Shaw Henderson," I added. "S-H-A-W."

Jake nodded absentmindedly and scribbled on the board. "Got it. See ya, Shawn!"

I exhaled deeply. Oh well. It's a start.

I continued on my way to archery class, which I had with Lizzie.

"Hey there!" She said brightly, scooting over to make room for me on the wooden bench she was sitting on.

"Hey yourself," I smiled, sitting next to her.

Thunder rumbled overhead.

"Looks like it's gonna rain," Lizzie remarked, glancing skyward.

"I heard we're going to get a huge thunderstorm," I informed her. "Zeus is cranky, so he's going to make it storm inside camp."

Lizzie grinned. "That might be fun, we never get cool weather."

"So I hear," I nodded. "But guess what I just did?"

"Hmm?" She asked, watching a guy from the Hermes cabin take his turn at shooting. He was horrible, and missed the target completely.

"I just entered the Camp Half-Blood talent competition!" I said, trying to hide my excitement. Because, you know, it wasn't manly to squeal over a talent show.

She beamed at me. "Yay! I hope you win. What are you going to do?"

I opened my mouth to answer, then closed it. "Um, I don't know yet."

"Way to plan ahead," she teased.

I elbowed her in the side. It was my turn to shoot, so I stood up and quickly took my turn, hitting the bullseye three times in a row. As usual, each of my arrows split the last one in half as they all landed in the same spot.

"Wow, Shaw," Lizzie said, her mouth wide open when I rejoined her on the bench. "Why don't you do that for your entry?"

Just then, one of my siblings, Harmony Dixon, grabbed a bow and arrow set and took her turn. She quickly shot off five arrows, hitting the dead center of the bullseye with the first one and splitting her arrows in half just like I had.

"That's why," I sighed, digging my heels into the dirt.

"Oh," Lizzie said softly.

"I've got to do something big," I blurted out quietly. "So far, you're my only friend, everyone else just calls me 'Apollo dude' or something! Every day, it's, 'Apollo kid, this!' or 'Apollo guy, that!' It's like I'm not even my own person!"

"Don't let it get to you, Shaw," Lizzie said comfortingly. "Just be yourself, everyone will come around eventually."

I frowned. "That's the problem! I can't be myself, because that makes me like everyone else."

Lizzie reached for my hand and squeezed it comfortingly. "You'll think of something. I know you will."

I returned a quick squeeze and sighed again. "I hope so."

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A few days later, I still hadn't thought of anything to do for the talent show. I was sitting alone in the bleachers of the arena, watching some sword battles, when the girl from last week came up to me.

"Hey! Steve, right?" she asked hesitantly.

I resisted the urge to sigh. "No, it's Shaw," I corrected politely. "You're Ena, right?"

She grinned. "Yeah. Sorry, Shaw."

I shrugged. "Everybody does it."

She giggled. "Oops. Well, I just wanted to know if I could sit by you while I watch the matches? You looked kinda lonely, and these are good seats."

I smiled and nodded. "Sure."

Together, Ena and I watched random demigods dueling across the arena. Some were obviously experienced, and some were complete novices.

"Hey, doesn't Percy Jackson usually participate in this?" I asked Ena, scanning the arena for him.

"He's taking a break this week," she answered. "He said he'd only fight if he was challenged."

"Is he here?" I asked, an idea forming in my mind. It was a crazy idea, but I thought I might be able to pull it off.

"Yeah, he should be," Ena said, glancing around the bleachers. "I usually have this arena period with him... Ah! There," she pointed to the far side of the arena. Percy was sitting alone, tapping his fingers against the bench.

"Excuse me," I said to Ena, standing up and heading over to him.

"Where are you-"

I didn't answer her. I climbed up to where Percy was sitting, and stood in front of him.

"Hey, man," Percy said, "Stan, right?"

"Shaw," I corrected quickly, then rushed on. "Are you up for a match today?"

"Uh, sure," Percy shrugged, pulling a ball point pen out of his pocket. "Now?"

"Yeah, hold on," I said. I ran over to the supply cupboard and grabbed the megaphone.

"MAY I HAVE EVERYONE'S ATTENTION!" I announced through the amplifier. "MY NAME IS SHAW HENDERSON, AND FOR MY TALENT SHOW ENTRY I'M GOING TO BEAT PERCY JACKSON IN A SWORD-FIGHTING MATCH!"

Almost on cue, thunder shook the building. There hadn't been any rain yesterday, but it seemed like the storm had saved itself up for today. It was pouring outside, and lighting flashed across the sky every few moments.

Most of the demigods in the arena stared at me in shock, and a few snickered, but ignored them and gestured for Percy to join me in the middle of the arena. He had a slightly amused expression.

"So, you're going to beat me, are you?" He asked ironically, while we both put on some protective armor.

I nodded, determined. I hadn't shown anyone at camp yet, but I was also an excellent sword fighter. I had won quite a few fencing tournaments at my old school, and I have the trophies to prove it.

"Well, all teasing aside, good luck," Percy said, reaching out to shake my hand. Percy uncapped his pen, and I drew my sword.

We both moved in a circle, neither one of us wanting to strike first.

Another crash of thunder shook the building, and I couldn't help but jump a little. Percy took that opportunity to swipe at my knee, but I saw it coming and parried.

He took another swipe at my hip, but I sidestepped and jabbed at his shoulder. He easily knocked my sword aside and thrust at my chest. I ducked, and swung my sword in a low arc, and he had to jump to avoid being knocked off his feet.

We whirled around the arena like that, jumping and twisting and spinning about. Eventually, the floor of the arena became too small for our battle, and we ran up and down the bleachers. At one point, I tripped and fell onto a bench. Percy stabbed at my chest, but I rolled away onto the floor, and Riptide bounced off the metal seat. I stood up quickly before he could regain the advantage, and hopped across two rows of benches so I was above Percy.

I swiped my sword across his abdomen, and just barely managed to nick his armor. He stumbled, almost falling backwards over the bleachers. He regained his balance and jumped back down to ground level, forcing me to follow.

Our audience was completely captivated, cheering loudly and gasping every time we managed to land a hit on each other. Neither of us had actually injured the other yet, and neither of us had come close to winning. Just keeping up with Percy was hard work, and I was seriously starting to doubt if I could completely beat him.

We met in the middle of the arena again and our swords clashed. By some chance, we both somehow managed to knock each other's swords out of our hands. A flash of lightning lit up the whole room, and I couldn't see where my sword landed. I blinked a few times, and saw both swords skitter across the floor and slide under the bleachers on opposite sides of the room.

Percy and I locked eyes, both not wanting to run for our swords, since we didn't know which was ours. So, we did the first that that pops into a demigod guy's head when they lose their sword.

We charged each other.

Percy and I put our heads down to go for a low tackle. At that moment, the biggest crash of thunder sounded, and another flash of lightning lit up the room. The lights sparked, then flickered and went out.

Of course, we being guys, we didn't stop charging even though we couldn't see.

And, of course, we being unlucky guys, we managed to crash our heads together.

I heard several screams and gasps, the everything went completely black

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When I came to, the lights were back on, and I had a massive headache.

"Ugh, I know what happened, don't tell me," I groaned, when I opened my eyes to see a group of relieved demigods crowded around me, Lizzie among them.

I sat up slowly and glanced around the arena. There were several holes in the wall, and I could see lots of dents in the bleachers. Uh oh. I guess Percy and I had done more damage than we realized.

"How's Percy?" I asked, wincing as I rubbed my head.

"Not great," I heard him call from a few feet away, surrounded by his own gang of concerned onlookers.

I almost laugh. "So, did I win?"

"Not a chance, Henderson!" Percy laughed, but his laughter was cut short with an "Oww."

"You may not have won the battle," a voice in the crowd said, and I looked up to see Katie Gardner holding a clipboard, "but you won the competition!"

"Huh?" I asked, still dazed.

"Technically, we're supposed to vote at the end of the week," Katie explained, "but while you were out, everyone cast their ballot. Besides, I'm pretty sure we won't see anything that entertaining for the rest of the week!"

I grinned slowly as I realized what that meant.

"So, congratulations!" She exclaimed, leaning down and shaking my hand. "Is there anything you want to say?"

"Yeah," I nodded, half-smiling. "Make sure you get my name right on the banner: Shaw Henderson. S-h-a-w."

Katie laughed. "No problem, Shaw."

"Can you put my name on the banner, too?" Percy asked from the ground. "I mean, I helped."

Katie rolled her eyes as everyone else laughed and cheered.

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"So, do you have anything you want to say about camp, now that you've won a major award?" Lizzie asked teasingly, when we were splashing around at the beach together later that night. It turned out I had gotten a minor concussion from crashing my head against Percy's, but I wasn't going to let that stop me from having fun with Lizzie.

I grinned and splashed her with the seawater. "Well, I guess I could get used to it here."

Lizzie stuck out her tongue and splashed me back twice as hard. "Nice to know that you'll be sticking around."

I knew it probably wasn't a good idea to get into a splash fight with a daughter of Poseidon, but I went for it anyway. I ran through the water towards her and used both my hands to splash her with a small wall of water.

What happened next was totally my fault. Who knew you could get a black eye from a water fight?

Lizzie giggled at me as I retreated to the beach, covering my face.

"No fair!" I called out, rubbing my stinging cheek.

Lizzie laughed some more and joined me on the beach. I was soaking wet, wearing my regular clothes, but she was completely dry. Also unfair.

"That's what ya get!" She teased, ruffling my wet hair.

I grinned. Yes, I really liked this girl. Her long dark hair was shining in the moonlight, and her eyes smiled when she laughed. Speaking of her laugh, which was musical; I could probably write a whole song about it. I allowed myself to space off as I planned what to say to her next, maybe I'd ask her to be co-captain with me for capture the flag...

I blinked as I realized that I had been staring at Lizzie for the past thirty seconds.

She cocked her head to the side. "Why are you staring?"

"You're just breathtaking!" I exclaimed, grinning cheekily.

She smiled, and her sea-green eyes sparkled.

"Can I confess something?" I asked smoothly.

She wiggled her eyebrows at me. "What is it?"

I leaned in. "You have the prettiest smile I've ever seen."

Of course, that made her smile.

"Can I confess something, too?" She asked conspiratorially.

"What?"

She leaned in too. "This smile only exists when I'm with you."

It was my turn to smile. Since we were already so close, I kissed her on the cheek. Hey, I'm a nice guy- I didn't want to go too fast.

"Will you go out with me, then?" I asked hopefully.

She leaned in again and kissed me on the lips.

Woah. So much for taking things slow.

"Just in case you didn't get it, that was a 'yes,'" she said, when we pulled away.

"Thanks for the confirmation," I teased.

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I must say, for the rest of the month, it was pretty nice walking past the colosseum and seeing a huge banner with my name and picture on it. I was finally getting some acknowledgement; whenever I passed another demigod, they would smile and say something like, "Hey, you're the guy that nearly beat Percy Jackson; you guys had concussions! It's Shaw, right?" and I would just smile and nod.

Because it is Shaw.

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A/N

Hey everybody! Sorry for the late updates!:( I've been ridiculously busy... I was going to update this story last week, but of course I had to burn my hand so I couldn't type:P Hopefully I'll update again in a week or two!

CONTEST!: 75th reviewer gets the next oneshot! It has to be a legit review, and DO NOT MAKE YOUR REVIEW YOUR SUBMISSION. If you are the 75th legit reviewer, I will PM you, and you can send me your submission then. So, go forth and review!:)

I really hoped you liked this story!:)

Anyway, submissions are still accepted! The form is in chapter 1. Please include some sort of plot line, or your story will be boring as all get out! (Also, I'd prefer not to write too many more love stories- I'm running out of ideas for them!)

Also, check out my other story, The Ring of Gyges- it's about a quest with Percy Jackson, Leo Valdez, and Ena Collins, an OC I wrote about in chapter two! (Owned by Ena Daughter of Nyx)

So, please review! It only takes a second! Thanks for reading!:)

Xoxoxo,

EmMarie