5. I Sword Fight With a Female Dog
Piper's POV
The next morning after breakfast, I ran into Raven, literally. Our foreheads slammed together and we both stumbled back.
Well Raven stumbled back, I plopped down on my arse.
I stood up and dusted off my shorts. When I looked up, I saw that Raven was scowling at me viciously.
"Watch where you're going, McLean!" She spat out.
I held up my hands in surrender, "Geez, who woke up on the wrong side of the bunk this morning?"
"Can it, Beauty Queen," She muttered as she dusted off her boots.
Beauty Queen.
Leo's nickname for me.
I knew I was being unreasonable, Raven probably had no idea that Leo used to call me that, but hearing it coming from her mouth made me extremely angry.
"Excuse me?" I demanded.
Raven looked up at me and rolled her eyes. "What? Do you have something in your ears? I said can it."
My anger flared and I had to resist the urge to slap her across her rude face.
"Like you can talk about shutting up. Did you gargle liquid garlic last night and drink a glass of milk before going to sleep? Your breath smells worse than horse poo."
Raven didn't seem fazed by my insult. "Of course you would know everything about horse poop," She smirked, "But I won't get into that, as I'm about to eat some breakfast."
"Go on, say it, Raven. Or are you too chicken?" I bit out, my anger getting the better of me. I knew I was giving her what she wanted, but I couldn't help it.
"Me? Too chicken," Raven snorted. "Says the girl whose hair looks like it was attacked by two year old children and then devoured and spat out by fluctuated goose. Did you cut your hair on your own with safety scissors?"
My fists curled and my arms shook. I wanted to punch her soo bad. All I wanted was to give her a bloody nose and that'd be a lot of trouble to be done with.
Raven must've seen my anger because she cast me a smug smile. She faux yawned. "Well, I think my tummy is about to implode from hunger. See you around Beauty Queen."
Then she walked off, leaving me angry and speechless.
I never knew how much I hated Raven Rose until now.
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"And she's so annoying and aggravating, and she makes my blood boil and all I want is to kick her where it hurts and-"
"Whoa, whoa, Piper, slow down." Jason took my hand and patted my cheek.
I took a deep breath. Jason and I were sitting down by the beach, watching the sunset. We had decided to skip dinner and campfire for some alone time, as we haven't hung out in weeks.
I sucked in another breath and stared into his icy blue eyes.
"Say that again, Pipes. I could hardly keep up," He joked.
I gently punched his arm but started over nonetheless. And so I went.
I ranted and ranted, spilling out my cooped up bitter feelings toward Raven.
Jason was a great listener. When I finally finished, he nodded in conclusion and gave me a hug.
"I just… hate her so much it hurts." I whispered into his shoulder.
Jason opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the snapping of a twig.
I turned around to see Raven, standing still and frozen. She was staring back at me, emotionless. Her hands were dropped by her sides.
I quickly stood up and ran over to her. Her eyes were blank.
"Um…how much did you hear, Raven?" I cautiously wondered aloud.
She remained silent.
"Raven?" I asked her.
I stared into her shining green eyes. They were glossed over.
True, I felt bad, but I wasn't sorry.
I meant every single word that I said.
Call me rude and heartless, but frankly (zhangly), I think that honesty is the best policy.
I continued to stare at her.
Raven took a deep breath and looked deeper into my eyes. Her lips barely moved as she murmured a response.
"Everything," She told me.
Then she turned.
"Raven, wait!" I grabbed her shoulder.
She shrugged it off and stared back at me. I saw an emotion flash briefly in her eyes.
Hurt.
But then it was gone and Raven darted farther up the beach and disappeared into the trees.
I stood there numbly.
Jason came up behind me and gave me a peck on the lips before walking off.
And still I stood there numbly.
The sun sank below the horizon.
And still I stood there numbly.
She was hurt that I hated her so much… yet… doesn't she hate me equally as much?
Or was she hiding her true feelings?
But why?
Maybe she's scared.
Of what?
What was Raven hiding?
Why was she faking?
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The next morning Raven and I avoided each other at all costs. We almost collided again, but she quickly dodged out of the way and continued her power walk to the pavilion.
I munched on my muffin and stared intently at the Hecate table. Only a handful of them; 8 campers in all.
They all had either dirty blonde hair, purple eyes, black hair, or emerald green eyes; which equaled 4 combinations.
I didn't know all of their names, but I know there were Lou Ellen, Cassie, Tess, Dawn, and Gil.
Raven was picking at her cereal while resting her head on her fist.
Lou Ellen muttered something in her ear and gestured towards a different direction.
Raven rolled her eyes, but seemed to be fighting a grin nonetheless. She shoved her half sister and got up.
At the same time, on the other side of the mess hall, Saben James got up.
Saben is pretty good looking, not as cute as Jason, but still good looking. Many people say that he looks a lot like his late older brother, Charles Beckendorf, who died in the Titan War last year.
The only difference between the two boys is that Saben is 2 years younger and has lighter eyes.
Saben caught Raven's eye and waved her over. She smirked but walked towards him still.
He whispered something in her ear. Raven's eyes widened and she shoved him away, gasping from laughter. A few glances were cast over to them, but they didn't seem to mind.
Raven muttered something to him and pulled him out of the mess hall, dragging a blushing and sputtering-in-denial Saben in her wake.
I finished by breakfast soon enough so I stood up and told my cabin mates to meet me at the arena for a sword fighting lesson with Percy in 15.
They all nodded while Drew shot me evil looks.
Guess she's still sore from the whole me-taking-away-her-leadership/monarchy-business.
Oh well.
I was the first one to arrive at the arena, aside from Percy of course.
He was talking to Annabeth. She smirked and slapped his arm, but gave him a quick kiss before going off to do gods know what.
Percy arranged a line of straw stuffed and armored dummies along one wall of the arena and uncapped his sword, Riptide. He was about to sever one when he saw me. Percy lowered his sword and waved me over.
"Hey there, Piper, you're here early." He grinned.
I nodded in greeting. "Wasn't feeling hungry much," I unsheathed Katroptris (A/N: did I spell it right?) and swung it around my fingers. He whistled.
"As much as I like daggers, this is a sword fighting class, McLean. You're gonna have to pick from one of the extras." Percy patted me on the back.
I rolled my eyes but sheathed it nonetheless and walked over to the Formica table that was sitting off to the side. The surface was littered with bronze swords. I tried out a few. None of them were balanced, but I eventually found one that came the closest.
By now, the Aphrodite cabin had filed into the arena and we were waiting around for the other cabin that was supposed to have this class with us.
The first person to walk into the arena had dirty blond hair and emerald green eyes; Gil.
And Gil is from Hecate…
Oh crap.
The next person to skip in was a young girl who looked around 13. She had curly dirty blonde hair and emerald green eyes, just like Gil's.
One by one, and sometimes by two's, the rest of the children of Hecate walked in.
Raven came in last, flanked by Lou Ellen and Cassie. Cassie and Lou Ellen could be twin sisters, the way they looked. Though Cassie was paler.
She caught my eye. I stared right back, hoping my expression was blank yet guarded. She looked away.
Seeing that everyone was present, Percy cleared his throat to get our attention.
"Alright guys, welcome to Sword Fighting 101 with yours truly," He grinned. "We're going to practice your basic strikes and jabs on these dummies," He gestured to the line of armor clad scare crows, "Before we take a break and I divide you up into pairs. With your partner, I want you to take turns parrying and blocking attacks. Use the strikes that I show you. First person to touch the other person's breastplate wins. If we have enough time, maybe we can have a tournament."
I felt myself grin. This was going to be fun.
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"Alright guys, I'll be pairing you up based on height, weight, strength, build, and skill," Percy ticked off the categories on his fingers. "When I call you I want you to walk to your partner and choose a spot in the arena to practice. I'll be circulating around to see if anyone needs help. Ask for held if you need it."
"Drew," Percy called. The bratty Asian girl looked up from her nails. Her perfectly arched eyebrow was raised.
"You'll be paired with Dawn from Hecate," He continued. Drew's jaw dropped when her vision focused on the 14 year old girl. Dawn had wavy black hair that was tied back in a no-nonsense and purple eyes that were blank as she stared back at Drew.
Drew's face turned red as she stumbled to string a sentence together. "You… you're telling me… she's…but…I'm…so…older...ugh." She groaned and stomped over to the table to grab a sword.
Dawn led her to the other side of the arena and they began to spar.
I stopped paying attention around then and decided to just daydream.
I vaguely registered Lacy being paired up with a girl her age named Tess. She was the one who had skipped into the arena right after Gil.
They hit it off, I think, and helped each other.
I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't respond when Percy called my name.
"-per. Piper… Piper McLean. Daughter of Aphrodite? POCAHONTAS!" Raven stamped her foot.
I snapped my head over to her I almost got whiplash. "Yeah?"
Raven rolls her eyes. "We were paired to spar together,"
I scowled. "Of course we were,"
"Shut up, I don't want to do this either, Sacagawea. Let's just get this over with." Raven shot back. She gripped her Celestial bronze sword and led me away to a far corner of the arena.
Once we started, I immediately noticed that she held up pretty well, despite the fact that she clearly hadn't ever sword fought before in her life.
Something told me she would do better in up close combat, like with daggers, or maybe even hand to hand.
Raven tossed so many taunts at me, I was sure that the girl who she was on the beach last night was nothing but a fragment of her.
And so we went, throwing jabs and strikes, and flinging defenses and parries.
That it, until Raven let her guard down for a split second and my sword grazed her arm.
She hissed in pain and quickly shoved me away, causing me to stumble back. I crashed into the ground and my eyesight turned shaky.
When it finally cleared, I saw that Raven was muttering curses and clutching her arm, which was dripping blood. She threw me hateful glanced before stalking off, murmuring things about Cherokee Barbie's and spells.
Oops?
Since my partner was gone, and class wouldn't end for another half hour or so, I just sat down on the cobblestones and watched the other's spar.
I laughed quietly as I watched Dawn beat Drew countless times by a landslide. Tess and Lacy seemed to be getting along well, and seemed to be equally matched. Lou Ellen and Cassie were paired up, and they kept cracking jokes at each other and laughing, so they weren't getting any work done.
I just hope their magic is impeccable.
And through it all, Raven never came back to Sword Fighting 101.
Author's Note:
And there you have it: chappie No. 5! I promised I would update this week and I did.
Hope you liked it!
Thanks for the reading and for the reviews, follows, PMs, and favorites!
Love you!
XOXO,
PercyJacksonGreekFreak
