I sat there for almost twenty minutes as the two girls gushed over what had just happened. I watched as they bounced around squealing and chose to plop down on an unopened barrel, dangerous as that might be in a place that carried greek fire.

"Are they always like this?"

Leo had walked up next to me looking just as confused as I was bored.

"You know, I'm not really all that sure. I kind of only met them today."

"Ah, I see. So have you picked one yet?" He winked.

I almost fell off of my barrel.

"Wait, what?"

Barely managing to keep my voice below the level of the girls celebrations. The older man raised his eyebrow at me knowingly, in a way that apparently only a redheaded hispanic could do.

"Aw come on, they're both pretty girls, you're all going to be here at camp all summer long. Barring a quest of some sort. I'd go as far as to say that's unlikely, but a lot of us 'old timers' were saving the world before we were even totally sure we even believed in the gods."

I sputtered, not really a response, just a choking noise. Brought on by the idea that I was being encouraged to try and hit on other campers by a couselor. And not just a counselor, but womeone who was as old as the man who raised me. I mean, I wasn't opposed to the idea neccessarily, but I'd met these girls literally that mornig. And yes they were both attractive, I didn't know that I had the self confidence to be that kind of guy around girls that I thought were pretty.

Leo clapped me on the back while laughing, the impact was surprisingly strong for someone with frame as wirey as his. He wiped tears from his eyes as he spoke.

"Believe me kid, I wish I'd had the confidence problems you're having now when I was your age. Have you any idea how many girls I struck out with before I finally found Calypso? A lot, including a literal ice queen. Like the freaking goddess of snow."

As he finished guffawing the girls finally calmed down enough to realize how long we'd been standing, sitting, or being embarrassed here. Well, they might not have noticed the whole being embarrassed part, it depended on how red my face still was. At least I was relatively sure that they hadn't actually heard the exchange between mister Valdez and myself. That at least I didnt have to worry about.

We finally walked out of the shop and back out under the open sky. The sun shone brightly enough that I had to shade my eyes while my pupils made the correct adjustments, Laura and Kayla both mimicked my action, but recovered sooner than me. I had never really been a sunshine person. But it appeared whichever god was in charge of keeping this place in good condition was. in the distance I could just make out half-blood hill over the tops of some other buildings. There at the border of camp the sky grew more overcast, a brisk wind whipping at the longer grasses near the top of the knoll and the slumbering dragon that guarded the fleece that still hung from the branches of Thalia's tree. Around us though the air stayed still, only adding to the sense of safety that this refuge provided. Having looked around and located the mess pavillion, the rock climbing wall, at least one archery range, and the edge of the strawberry fields that helped fund the camp, I turned to my new acquaintances.

"So ladies, where to next?"

Kayla shrugged, a noncomittal gesture that I was beginning to just kind of expect from her. I was beginning to think she wasnt' really shy, just nervous and apathetic. And nervousness seemed to have gone away once she had been claimed. Laura however smiled conspiratorially.

"Any idea where weapon practice is?"

The gleam in her eye told that this was going to be about more than just practice, but I went along with it.

"Well I saw an archery range over there, do you think it'd be worth a try?"

It totally wasn't anywhere near the archery range, apparently a few too many children of Hermes and children of Apollo got a kick out of being far enough to run away, but close enough to mess with the Ares cabin. More than one massive meathead had lost a match and a pair of sneakers to "missed" shots. Now practice areas for any and all melee combat was almost as far away from the ranges as they could possibly be. On the bright side, despite the shining sun, we were all in good enough shape to make the trip without working up a sweat.

AS soon as we got to the spot Laura started searching the crowd intensely, probably looking for someone. Who it might be though I had no idea.

"So, Laura, are we looking for someone?"

Surprisingly, it wasn't me who asked the question. Kayla had perked up a little at the range, but Laura had been too intent on getting to where we were now to notice. Kayla had probably only followed us because she didn't know anyone at the range.

"Yep, and I just found him."

She jabbed her finger victoriously in the direction of the largest teenager I had ever seen in my life. He had to be at least six foot eight, probably four hundred pounds. And only a little bit of that was fat. He didn't look like mister universe, he looked like a strongman competitor. The kind of muscle that didn't look toned and obvious, the kind that could break you in half if he wasn't paying attention when he shook your hand.

My jaw didn't quite make it to the ground.

"You know that guy?!" Incredulity dripping from my words.

"Heck yeah I do, he's the biggest baddest guy on the grounds, But I'm going to prove I'm badder than any of them."

This time my jaw did hit the ground, it didn't take long for Kayla's to join it there.

"Kay first off the phrase would be more bad or worse, not badder. Secondly this isn't prison, no one's going to make you hold their pocket, we don't have antying we have to prove."

Kayla nodded a firm agreement before adding her own comment.

"Besides Laura; if you're going to pick a fight with someone you could at least pick another camper, not a candadian."

I stifled a laugh at her calling him one of those glesh eating monsters. His stature definitely fit the bill. But still this was ridiculous.

"Look guys, I'm not crazy, and before you tell me that's not what you meant, I saw the looks you gave me. I know this isn't a jail yard, but there is a social structure to camp. And the big bad Ares kid's run a bullying racket that's worth a fortune in drachma. If we can prove right here, right now that we're better than the rest, they'll never touch us."

I din't bother to mention that this wouldn't solve the problem for anyone but us, but whatever. I waved her on to do whatever it was she wanted to do. With the indication that we wouldn't try to stop her she marched right up to the one she'd singled out and got ready to start something.