REGGIE

I got on top of the hill first, obviously. I wasn't like Ms. Drama Queen who was probably having trouble packing all her makeup. I only carried my dagger Enyo and a small piece of ambrosia, just in case, in my pocket. I was wearing jeans and I had changed my Camp Half-Blood t-shirt for a simple grey one and a black hoodie (honestly, I never understood why demigods would go on quests wearing the camp uniform, like I'm pretty sure that's quite an obvious clue to monsters).

I wasn't really scared of the quest. In fact, I wanted to go really bad because I wanted to meet a real monster and Medusa sounded pretty amazing. As a daughter of Hecate, I'd been studying all kinds of magic and Medusa had been a bit of a hot spot. Turning people into stone by eying them? That had to be cool to witness. I'd gotten really pissed about Chiron not wanting us to deal with her. I wasn't precisely good at fighting, I preferred using magic, but I was ready to kill her and if I was lucky, maybe I could keep the head. Yeah, creepy, I know. I wasn't very popular around camp as you can probably tell.

The Apollo kid came first. He carried a small backpack and was wearing (oh Gods, they never learn) a Camp t-shirt. His hair was short, darker than most Apollo kids (about a light brown) and he had amber eyes. He stood beside me.

"We didn't properly introduce" he said on a nervous tone "I'm Sam Fletcher. You're Reggie, right?"

"You don't have to do this" I replied, avoiding eye contact. I wanted to save him time.

"Do what?"

"Be friends with me. We don't have to be friends to do this" I could tell he was getting uncomfortable

"Uh, okay" he replied. I spotted Drama Queen walking up to us.

"Alright, I'm ready!" To my surprise, her backpack was not enormous, it was pretty much the size of Sam's. The girl and the guy exchanged a few conventional words that I didn't pay attention to until Argus came to pick us up with the Camp's bus. It was a short drive to the nearest human bus stop. He dropped us and we took a normal bus. I sat on the back, right next to the window. Sam was right next to me and Drama Queen was next to him. I looked at the window and tried to ignore them but I could still overhear their chat.

"So" the girl said. I could practically hear her smile "Sam, right?"

"Yeah, hi" I bet Mr. Manners was glad to talk to at least one of us.

"Son of Apollo?"

"Yeah, and you're a daughter of Demeter? I don't have any friends from your cabin, sorry, we tend to like different things"

Silent pause"Oh, sort of- I mean yes but no me! Totally not me! Gosh, my siblings can be so boring sometimes, like they're not into, like, fun and stuff. But not me. No, I'm different"

She was probably blushing. I couldn't help but smile at her nervousness and how ridiculously hard she was trying.

"Uh, well, that's alright I guess" Sam said "so do you have some sort of control over nature or something?" Did Alison just…wimp?

"Yes, sure! I mean I'm all about plants and harvest, really. You know, the family thing haha. So what do you do?"

Sam reached his hand inside his backpack and showed something to Alison.

"Oh. Wow. And you can shoot that? With like real arrows?" I laughed without thinking. "Excuse me? Anything funny you want to share with us?" Alison retorted.

Her question kind of got me, but I never admitted it. I had a weak spot for brave people, especially since I am a coward. And this girl liked it or not, was pretty brave.

"No, nothing. I just couldn't help but notice how incredibly beautiful the landscape is" I said "and how amazingly dumb you are" Her mouth fell open "Oh, don't be so surprised. Most girls like you are"

"Girls like me? What in Hades is a girl like me like?" Sam was moving in his seat, uncomfortable and awkward, looking back and forward from Alison to me.

I managed my best smile "You know, girls like you. Drama Queens. Lazy, stupid, dependent. They take advantage of everyone around them and they are very, very useless. I'd bet you don't even have demigod powers"

"Uh, Reggie, I think you better cut it off, please?" Sam intervened shyly but neither Alison or I listened.

"You know nothing about me! And what about you? You think because you're all alone and mysterious and creepy you can call me names and make me feel bad about myself? Where are your friends, by the way? Oh right, you have none"

"Girls"

"Not now, Sam. What is it with you? Why can't you just smile more are try and socialize with other human beings"

"Girls!"

"Why don't I socialize? Maybe because I fear bumping into attention seekers like you, who only care about themselves"

"GIRLS" Sam yelled over our voices "We're here" The bus had stopped.

A few passengers looked over at us three as we got down the bus and I'm almost sure some of them kept looking out the window as the bus sped up again.