So, another chapter! Sorry if it's a bit late. Almost 100 views! Now, if everyone who viewed reviewed...

Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or any of the references herein.

Ella asked Piper to take us out of the city to buy pretty clothes. She loved the idea. Piper drove and the two of us sat in the back. Normally cars don't make me feel good, but sitting next to Ella helped. I looked at her pretty brown eyes, and it calmed me down.

"So! Ella, you're gonna look stunning in a strapless gown. I'm thinking white, but spring green would be a great contrast with your feathers. We can't get something red or orange, that would just blend in with your feathers-"

"Green. Ella likes green. Spring green. Green Day, rock band, American Idiot."

"Okay then! Ooh, Thalia loves Green Day. By the way, accessories are on me, if you guys can pay for the dress and tuxedo."

I had a job for the summer, one in a warehouse. I only needed to move things around with a forklift. It was easy, and it payed a lot. I could buy everything. Piper was nice to pay for some of it.

"Yes, I can pay. Thank you so much."

Ella looked so excited. She looked ineffably happy. Ineffably was one of the words I learned when we were reading. It means "not describable." She flapped her wings a little, and the feather bracelet I made for her jingled. It made me happy that she was wearing it.

We got to the store. There were a few other people there. One couple was wearing camp t-shirts. The girl was Asian and pretty and the boy was tall with brown hair. The girl noticed us, and looked mad. She stomped away, to another part of the store. The boy followed. I don't know why the girl didn't like us. Maybe she saw someone else behind us? No one else noticed.

"Okay, so these are organized by color. Did you say spring green? How about this one, I love the skirt..."

I walked over to the tuxedoes while she talked. Most of them were black. I saw a whole aisle of light blue ones. They made me shudder-I was reminded of Polyphemus. He was the big mean cyclops who wanted to marry Grover. Even though the goat-boy made my nose itch, and his hooves made me nervous, he was my friend. I walked over to the black tuxedoes, then saw Piper coming my way.

"You know what? A white suit would match perfectly with a green tie to match Ella's dress!" She moved to the white tuxedoes, and pulled a plus-sized one out. "Try this one on while I get you a tie, okay?" I started walking to the dressing room and heard Piper talking to herself.

"Huh...must be some sort of curse from mom...I'm never like this! Oh well, as long as I can help some friends out with it. Wouldn't want to leave them with Drew..."

Ella was coming out of the room as I was about to walk in. She was stunning (another word I learned!) in a bright green sparkly dress. The dress was floaty and delicate, like a cloud. It was tight at the waist, short in the front, and long in the back. There were no sleeves, and a lot of skin and feathers showed. I lifted her by the waist and twirled her around. She giggled.

"Yes. Ella feels pretty. Ella will wear makeup and be even prettier. Tyson likes Ella?"

I put her down gently. "Yes, I like Ella. I like Ella very much."

We bought the clothes, with some very sparkly jewelry for Ella, before going back to camp.

Back in the store, Drew and Connor were arguing.

"We had a plan, sweetheart!" Drew insisted. Her charmspeak was almost visible in the air. Connor looked uncomfortable.

"I know, but-it's not that I can't do it, I just-I mean, even I can see how cute they are together. I don't want to ruin that, ya know?"

"You have to do this, hon! They aren't even part human, like us! They're monsters by definition. Are you going to let them be better than you?"

Connor resigned. "Fine. I'll start the sabotage tonight. But remember, if anything goes wrong, it's all on you."

Maybe not the best thing to say in a relationship. But Connor didn't really like Drew anyways. If she didn't have that dam charmspeak, they might not still be together. The thing was, he didn't always realize that she was using it. Maybe one of the Hephaestus kids could build him a charmspeak detector? Connor had ways of bribing them...