AN: Sorry for the long delay in getting this chapter out. It's summer and we were both on vacation without internet access at different times. But here it is, finally. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Any recognizable characters are owned by their respective owners. I do, however, own any and all original characters and plots.
I woke up the next morning to the sound of a horn and a drooling Laila asleep next to me.
"That would be breakfast, time to get up girls," Luke said softly, shaking my shoulder.
"5 more hours, dad," Laila mumbled, covering her head with her pillow.
Luke chuckled. "It's not your dad, Laila. It's Luke."
"Then 5 more hours, Luke!" Laila grumbled. He snickered, and started shaking her.
"Does anyone have a tub of ice water?"
"I'm up, I'm up," Laila grumbled. "Where's the fire?"
"It's breakfast time, Laila," I said.
"Ooh! Breakfast! Why didn't you say so earlier?" Luke and I started laughing as Laila looked at us, puzzled. "Why are we just sitting here when there's breakfast to be eaten?" she remarked grumpily as she got up. Everyone lined up in order of seniority, meaning Laila and I were dead last. We walked out to the pavilion and sat at our extremely crowded table. Laila looked around, then she jumped nearly three feet out of her chair like she had been pricked with a pin.
"Laila, are you okay? Well, I mean as okay as you could possibly be because there are a few loose screws in that noggin of yours."
"Hey!" Laila protested. "I just saw that guy from last night, he's over there." She pointed to across the pavilion and sure enough there was a guy sitting all alone at one of the tables. He had dark brown hair that was almost black and was also dressed in mostly black. He had a sword hanging by his side, suspended there from a chain belt. Laila was somewhat right, he was cute, so I told her so. "He's not cute. He's hot, sexy, manly, but not cute," she insisted.
I heard the sound of hooves clopping, recognizing it from horseback riding with my dad, and suddenly, it was silent. I looked around to see the centaur, Chiron raising his glass. "To the gods!"
Everybody raised their glasses. "To the gods!"
Some ladies came over with huge plates of food. I could see my favorites: oatmeal, strawberries, apples, and grapes.
"I don't see any drinks," Laila commented.
"You just speak to the goblets, and they fill it up with whatever you want," a random blond haired kid at our table said. "Of course, it can't have alcohol."
"Dang. There go my plans of mixing tequila into my coffee," Laila muttered sarcastically.
"It's not like you need coffee, Laila. You have enough energy," I remarked. She stuck her tongue out at me, and filled her goblet with chocolate espresso anyways. I filled my goblet with a vanilla milkshake. We all filled our plates with the delicious looking food. As Laila was about to take a huge bite of her food, we noticed everyone getting up and heading towards the fire in the center of the pavillion with their food. We got up and followed everyone else.
As we got closer to the fire, I noticed that everyone was dropping parts of their food into the fire.
"What a waste of perfectly good food," Laila whispered to me, frowning. A person right in front of us turned and frowned.
"It's an offering to the gods. They like the smell."
"The smell? Of burnt food?" I questioned. His eyebrows rose. I guess I could believe that after everything that seemed impossible that had happened to me. It was then that I really noticed how attractive he was. He had an eye patch, which was the most noticeable thing about him. To me it meant that he was mysterious. His eye that was watching me attentively was a deep brown, almost black. He had black hair that was pulled into a short ponytail.
Laila bumped me, bringing me back to the present. "What?" I hissed, turning back to her. The boy put some pieces of his orange n the fire, whispering something that was unintelligible. I took a step forward, shoveling half of my apple into the fire. "I'm not entirely sure what I'm supposed to say, but thanks for getting Laila and me here safely," I whispered quickly and headed back to our table.
"You thought that boy was cute, didn't you!" Laila whisper-shouted as we reached the table. I elbowed her, noticing that he was staring right at me. "Oh my gods, he is looking right at you!"
"Laila! Stop! That goth boy you think is hot is staring at you too," I said. She elbowed me, but I figured that I earned it.
"Yeah, well... You snore in your sleep!" she yelled. Everyone stopped talking and stared at us. Laila shrinked back. "Sorry."
"It's okay, now everyone is really staring at us." We giggled, and slowly everyone went back to their conversations.
"Want to look around camp after breakfast?" Laila asked. I nodded, taking a bite of the extremely good oatmeal.
After breakfast, which Laila explained was called "breakfast" because it breaks the fast that you have over the night of not eating, Chiron stomped again to get everyone's attention.
A short, chubby man in a leopard spotted Hawaiian T-shirt and purple running shoes stood up tiredly. He had big blue bloodshot eyes, a red nose, and black-almost-purple-hair.
"Uhm, I guess I'd 'ought to greet you little snot-nosed brats. Ahem, Greetings. Chiron says that Capture the flag is tomorrow, and Cabin Eleven currently holds the laurels. I couldn't possibly care less, but congratulations. And as some of you know, probably because of the most recent outburst, we have two new campers, Gretel Summers and Lindsey Khan." Chiron mumbled something to him. "Oh, um... Grace Winters and La—Laila Kapoor. As of now, you may start your daily activities, run along."
Chiron approached us after everyone had left. "You two have the rest of the day free to do whatever you wish. Your normal activities will start tomorrow."
Afterwards, we left to start our self-guided tour. We had just passed the arena when we saw Luke coaching other kids on how to fight. With swords. Shiny. We walked into the arena. After a moment, Luke looked up, noticed us, grinned, and walked over to us.
"I have something important to tell you guys," he said once he'd gotten close enough for us to hear him.
AN: So, how was it? Please let us know. If you liked it, tell us why. If you didn't like it, tell us why.