A/N: Here ya go. I didn't get any reviews since I've updated…Sigh. Review, please? It would mean a lot. So these few chapters are really really long, so I'm splitting them into two parts. Woo!

Chapter 5 Part 1: Making friends through strawberries

The video lasted for about fifteen minutes, which was already long enough for me. I felt myself constantly being distracted by something else while the narrator talked about camp cabins and activities. When it ended, Chiron turned on the lights. He gave me a Camp Half-Blood t-shirt to change into, that's when I realize I was still wearing my school uniform.

"Ah, Mr. D. How nice of you to join us. Meet our new camper."

I turned around and saw a short man standing in the doorway. He had a Hawaiian style shirt on and baggy pants. Oh, and he was holding a can of diet coke. He murmured something before walking in. "Yeah, yeah. Welcome to hel—I mean, Camp Half-Blood. Where all demigods belong, yadayadaya."

"Mr.D's the camp director." Tyler said, "I wouldn't get on his nerves if I were you."

"The satyr knows his manners." He said grumpily. Tyler looked down and backed off after that. Chiron ordered me to go change into proper clothing and meet them in the front entrance as he trotted out. As I walked across Mr.D, I saw him set his can of coke down on a desk and waved his hand around it. The can started growing and re-molding itself until it was a golden goblet. Mr.D smirked with excitement as he took the goblet in his hands once again.

"Mr.D, how many times do I have to tell you?" Chiron said to him, even though his back was turned, it's like he knows exactly what's happening. Mr.D swore in ancient Greek, and turned his goblet back into a can of coke. "I'm a god for crying out loud. Taking orders from him…" her muttered and swore some more. A therapist is what he needs.

After I got changed into, well, "Proper clothing", Percy showed me around camp while Grover and Tyler could head off and join the other satyrs. "They upgraded the espresso machine!" Grover said to him excitedly as they ran off. We headed out the Big House and the tour began. A strong, sweet scent filled me as Percy showed me the strawberry fields. The green field was dotted with bright red strawberries and campers inside waved as Percy as we walked by. Then we headed to the volleyball court and watched campers and satyrs play an extreme game of volleyball. It didn't end so well, a few other kids nearby had to run to the players and stop them from breaking each other's nose.

"Ares kids." Percy said while shaking his head, "I almost got beaten up by one when I first came to camp."

"Almost?"

"Made a toilet bowl explode in her face." He said, holding in a laugh. "Good times. We're cool now, though. Come along." I realized how big the camp was by then. There was an Amphitheatre, and a very intimidating climbing wall, which has burning lava below it. Very encouraging. We shimmied to Arts and Crafts, where I had to stop myself from running in. It was huge and full of any art supplies you could imagine. A few campers where in there painting and such, and a few were just throwing paintbrushes at each other.

"You like art, huh?"

I nodded. "It's the only thing that I don't really suck at."

"You're like my friend Rachel."

"Is she a camper?"

"Not exactly. She's the Oracle of the camp."

"The Oracle? Isn't the Oracle like… People who could predict the future and stuff?"

"Something like that. Rachel has the spirit of the Oracle inside her. When it's time for a quest, she usually goes all voodoo and speaks prophecies. But other than that, she's just a normal teenager like me. She likes to paint, too. Always coming up with crazy ideas. One time she tried dying Annabeth's hair rainbow. She freaked." He told me while we walked around the stables. They were filled with pegasi of all sorts of colors. "The Aphrodite and Iris kids are good with the pegasi."

"Annabeth's the girl in the picture with you, right? She your girlfriend?"

Percy blushed and bit his lip slightly, "Yeah. She is. She's a lot smarter than me, though. Daughter of Athena."

"She's really pretty."

"She is, isn't she? She's kinda intimidating."

We went around the Armory and Arena, where campers were suiting up and training. "Hey, Percy?"

"Yes?"

"About the Harpies…"

"Furies."

"Furies?"

"Yes. You should call them the Kindly Ones."

"…Kindly Ones."

"Yes."

"But I thought Tyler yelled 'HARPIE!' before you went all warrior on them." I tried to remember the situation, "What's the difference, anyway?"

"I think I could tell a Kindly One when I see one. They have chased me almost four times a year. One of my math teachers was one…But…Ah…It's kinda weird." Percy scratched his neck, "Furies are kind of…How should I say this…The servants of Hades? Let's go with that. They probably wouldn't attack or do anything without Hades' command. So why they attacked us, or you, or me, I don't know yet." He paused, "But I have a feeling we're gonna find out soon." He stayed quiet after that. We finally made our way to the cabins. There were twenty of them, all lined up in a big rectangle. Each of them had a different design. One was covered with plants and flowers, one was shinning an eye-blinding gold. One was more colorful than others, I kind of like that one, and one was just plain normal and worn out.

"The cabins. Each one of them represents each god, and their demigods lives in representative cabins. The first two is Zeus and Hera, no one really lives in there." He pointed to two of the biggest cabins; they were painted white and had columns over them, like those monuments and museum in Greece. One looked more elegant than the other and was engraved with peacocks. "Why, don't Zeus and Hera have demigod kids? Like Hercules?"

"Well, Hera sworn off demigod children, so the cabin's more of a…Respect, for her. Zeus had a daughter, though. Thalia Grace. Remember that pine tree we saw before we came in?"

I turned around and nodded at the sight of the tall pine tree. "Well, Thalia was turned into a tree once."

"…What?"

"Before she could arrive to Camp-Half Blood, she, Annabeth and…Uh…Luke were being chased by monsters, but Thalia was their target. So she gave up her life to save her friends. But before she died, Zeus pitied her and turned her into a tree, so she could live forever."

"So, is she still a tree now?"

Percy shook his head, "Nah. She's alive now. Another long story. To sum it up, we got the Golden Fleece to save the tree because someone poisoned it. The Fleece gave so much life to the tree that even Thalia revived from it. Freaky, huh?"

I was so shocked that all I could do was just stand there and stare at the pine tree far away. A girl, turned into a tree by a god, came back to life because of a giant piece of fleece made out of gold. I swore my brain was burning and my head was spewing smoke.

"Oh and Mr.D's actually Dionysus. God of wine. He's staying here cause of Zeus' punishment, that's why he basically hates everyone here. Just so you know."

What.

"So anyways," Percy continued, like a girl turning into a tree was something that happens all the time, "I live in that cabin," he pointed to the third cabin, "And then there's Demeter, Ares, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Hermes, Dionysus, Hades, Iris, Hypnos, Nemesis, Nike, Hebe, Tyche and Hecate." He pointed out and cabins one by one, but to be honest, I was so confused by that time that the only thing I realized was how much gods and goddesses' names start with an A.

"So, where do I stay?"

"Well, we don't know who your godly parent is yet. So in the meantime you'll be staying at the Hermes cabin." He pointed at the most normal looking and worn out cabin out of the twenty, "Hermes isn't very picky. So most unclaimed demigods go there. Although most campers get claimed right away when they arrive at camp, which is when they're thirteen or younger, so you're basically the only unclaimed one we have here. Hasn't happened in a while."

"When will I know who my godly parent is, though?"

"Probably sometime around the campfire, hopefully tonight. He led me to the Hermes cabin, and through the door I can already hear laughter and yelling. Percy banged on the door loudly, and a boy, a little bit older than me, opened the door.

"May I help you?"

"Hey, Travis. New camper."

"Did I hear new camper?" another boy said, with a high squeaky voice. He came out the door and stood next to Travis, and then I realized they were twins. He was a bit shorter than Travis. Although they had the exact same facial features, crooked smile, blue eyes and curly hair.

"Yup, unclaimed. Weird. So I guess she'll be staying here for a while."

"Oh, well then, ahem," the younger brother, I'm guessing, prepared himself as if he was preparing for a dramatic speech. "WELCOME, TO THE HERMES CABIN, THE MOST FUN CABIN AROUND!"

"And the cabin who stole my wallet." Percy muttered under his breath.

"I AM HEAD COUNSLER CONNOR STOLL. IT'S NICE TO SEE A NEW FACE AROUND CAMP. JUDING BY YOUR BLONDE HAIR AND…" He started staring at me, a very intense stare, really. I started to back off and hide behind Percy, "Why is he staring at me?"

"I can't make up what eye color you have." He squinted, "It's like blueish hazel brown green red gold."

"Uhm, I'm pretty sure I don't have blue hazel brown green red gold eyes."

" Blue hazel brown, then. Anywho, JUDGING BY YOUR BLOND HAIR AND BLUE HAZEL BROWN EYES, I SUSPECT YOU, ARE AN ATHENA OFFSPRING. BUT HERE IN THE HEREMES CABIN, WE WECOME," he took a dramatic deep breath, "ANYONE."

"AND I AM TRAVIS STOLL, CABIN CONSELOR AND OLDER BROTHER OF CONNOR AWESOME STOLL!"

"WHAT TRAVIS THAT WAS MY INTRODUCTION." He yelled at his twin brother then tackled him to the ground. "IT WAS LACKING AWESOMENESS SO I ADDED MY CHARM INTO IT. YOU SHOULD BE GRATEFUL."

"Are they always like that?" I asked Percy as he was laughing at the brothers, "Yeah, pretty much. Let's check you in." he walked into the cabin and I followed him. The inside of the cabin was as normal looking as outside, wooden bunk beds filled the room and there were a few desks. Other than that, the cabin was covered with confetti and glittering streamers. "Thing you need to know about the Hermes cabin, they like to prank and steal, a lot. Jeremy give the poor girl her bracelet back."

I looked down to my wrist, and like he said, my bracelet was gone. A small boy, named Jeremy, apparently, who's a little younger than me was holding it behind his back, pretending that nothing happened. "What? What bracelet?" Percy gave him the "Or else" look and he handed it over to me. "Uh, thanks?" I said as I took it back and slid it back on my wrist, making sure it stays there this time. Connor showed me an empty bed where I would be staying in and brushed the confetti off it. I threw all my stuff on the bed and said goodbye and thank you to Percy as he left, but I didn't stay long. The cabin was crowded and loud, the least thing I needed. So I headed out without a word and made my way to the Arts and Crafts.

The place was more cleared up now, although what's left of it is a mess. Paint and paintbrushes where everywhere while the remaining canvas were torn up. I managed to savage an unbroken piece, a few clean paintbrushes and some paint. It took me a while to get started, but I started painting Blackjack and the carriage we were on, at least what I've remembered. His black wings spread wide open like an angel and his beaded eyes reflecting the light. Thank goodness there were enough black paint around. I stayed there for a while, processing everything I just did and heard, and the fact that the mythological world exists, the things we were told in fairytales, how Athena was born from Zeus' skull and the war against the Titans and Olympians all exist, and I'm part of it.

"That's pretty." I suddenly hear a voice say to me. I turned around and see a girl with caramel colored hair, tied back into a ponytail. She was about the same height as me, wearing the same orange t-shirt that everyone else was wearing while carrying a basket of strawberries. "You're the new kid, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I guess I am." I said as she walked closer to me.

"Want one?" She offered the basket of strawberries to me with a kind smile. "Uhm, thanks but, nah."

"Seriously? They're really good." She picked one out of the basket and handed it to me. I took it in my hand, not daring to refuse the offer. "Thanks." I said softly.

"So, what's your name?" she continued to ask, popping one of the strawberries in her mouth.

"Alena Rose."

"Oh I love Roses!" she said with the most cheerful voice, "They're so pretty. My names Raina Evergreen, from the Demeter cabin. How bout you?"

"Oh, I haven't been claimed yet. I just got here a few hours ago."

"Really? That's weird. When I first arrived I got claimed right away. I got here two years ago, when I was thirteen. My brother's here, too. He's a year older than me though…Hey, are you alright?" She must've noticed how intimidated I looked, because that's how I felt. Why was that girl talking to me so nicely? No one's ever been so nice to me, especially when you're the new kid.

"Yeah, I'm great."

"I know how it feels. Things just seem so surreal, doesn't it? One day you're an outcast, the next you're living in this mythological world, realizing your parent is a Greek god." She sighed, "Yeah, pretty hard. But it's alright, you'll like it here."

"How do you know, though?" I started saying, "What if everyone hates me? Everyone I knew did. I'm always alone, and even when I try to make friends they don't last. Weird things keep on happening to me. And I just hate it!" Before I knew it I was spilling out my emotions to a girl I just met, but I didn't care, I needed that. "It's just unfair…"

"Well…I can be your friend."

For a moment there I looked at her like she was crazy, "And I know because, we're all the same here. That's why camp was created. You're going to fit in."

"Thank you." Was the only thing I could say to her. This girl was sincere, and she really wanted to help me. She gave me a hug after that, "Are you always this nice to everyone?"

"Well, mostly." She laughed, "I mean, why not be nice? Why fill yourself with hatred and anger when you could be—"

"Nice and bubbly?"

"Yup." Then she paused for a while, "Wait, what time is it?"

"Uhm, 5pm?" I took a look at my phone's clock. "Why? Is it time for dinner?"

"It's Friday!" she gasped, "We have to go! Now!"