"Who are you?" Emmy demanded, starting to get angry. The girl had clearly pushed her, not accidentally bumped into her.
"The name's Cynthia Smothers, and that was for breaking my sister's heart." Emmy just stared up at the girl in disbelief.
"You've got to be kidding me." Emmy muttered as she lifted herself off of the floor. The white sweatshirt loaned to her was now completely ruined, a giant stain ran down the front. Her dark hair had noodles hanging loosely in it, she did her best to pick them out. "I would appreciate it if you left me alone from now on. I don't know what you heard, but I did not break Annabeth's heart. Her and Percy broke up, I had nothing to do with it. Now if you would excuse me," Emmy tried to push past the girl, only to be blocked by the other girl.
"Percy and Annabeth wouldn't have broken up. You must have filled his head with lies." Emmy gave a sigh, this girl clearly wasn't going to give up. The who pavilion struggled to hear their words.
"Look, I really don't want to talk about this with you. You obviously don't care what I'm going to say and don't have the intelligence to comprehend it." Emmy knew the girl was a child of Athena, so she probably did, but it sounded insulting. The small gasp from the crowd enforced this. Emmy once again tried to be the better person and walk away. Cynthia stuck her foot out, causing Emmy to fall once again. Percy stood from his seat, should he do something? His instincts told him to let her figure it out, he didn't want to get into the middle of that. He sat back down, watching them nervously.
Emmy glared at the girl in front of her. "Look, Ms. Prissy, I don't give a damn what you think, but you better get out of my way."
"What are you going to do? Steal my guy?" Emmy glared at the girl, not remembering the last time she had been this angry. Suddenly Cynthia's face fell, her brow beginning to sweat. "What are you doing to me? Why is it so hot?" Her skin started to steadily grow pink. Emmy's eyes widened and the pavilion gasped. "I... I didn't mean to." Emmy didn't even knew what had happened, but she felt like she had done it. Cynthia looked at her arms in disbelief. "It's a sunburn." She said the last word in almost a whisper. Emmy looked down as her own skin began to grow a bright gold. "She's a daughter of Apollo!" A random camper shouted. Above her head there was a symbol slowly dissipating into the air. It was the same golden hue illuminating her skin and in the shape of a lyre.
Emmy just stared speechless, no longer hearing anyone around her.
A hand gently squeezed her shoulder, bringing Emmy back to reality. Chiron stood over her, a kind expression on his warm face. "Let's get you to the Big House." She nodded silently and Chiron looked over to Cynthia, Annabeth standing at her elbow. "Annabeth, get her some aloe please. If you don't have any the infirmary should have some. But be careful of the Apollo kids." Annabeth nodded and started to drag Cynthia away. The girl started to yell, "Make sure you punish her Chiron! She could have cooked me!" Emmy rolled her eyes and carefully stood up. For some reason she felt extremely drained, even her arms were heavy. "Come along now." Chiron said softly grabbing her elbow. A crowd had built around them, but it parted letting Chiron through. Once again Emmy felt the familiar sensation of people's eyes on her. "Wait!" Emmy paused hearing his voice.
"Percy?" Just as she called out his name he burst through the wall of campers. He walked up beside them, and Chiron only glanced in his direction. The three walked towards the Big House, only the sound of Mr. D directing campers behind them.
"Okay Emmy, we need to talk about some things." Chiron said as they climbed onto the porch. Emmy's nerves increased. "First, you have to sit at your own table. I let it slide today because the Hermes table was already pretty crowded and you're new. Though someone should have told you it was against the rules." He shot a meaningful glance in Percy's direction.
"Hey, I tried to tell her. She just decided not to listen to me." Chiron chuckled and looked back at Emmy who simply shrugged.
"Second, you can't just go burning campers. She may have antagonized you, but-"
"It was a total accident. I didn't know I was doing it!" Emmy defended herself.
"I know that Emmy, but if I don't punish you then everyone will think they can just harm each other at will. We definitely don't want that, especially with some of our Ares campers." Emmy and Percy nodded with understanding. "Okay, so what's my punishment?"
"Tomorrow you can help the Hermes cabin clean up for inspection. Then help with dishes after dinner."
Percy sucked in a breath through his teeth. "Tough break, but I think I heard Leo complaining about dish duty. Something about an explosion." Emmy's eyes widened. She had to do the dishes with someone who caused an explosion? She gulped, but didn't want to make it worse so accepted it with a nod. "Just find Travis or Connor tomorrow to receive your chore, and I'm sure Percy can show you where to go for the dishes. He's done them plenty of times. Now you two head out before you miss campfire."
"Would hate for that to happen." Percy whispered sarcastically as he grabbed Emmy's hand and lead her away.
The campfire was what Emmy expected it would be, but still different. First, the fire changed colors, which fascinated her to no end. She spent most of the time watching the bright pink flames change to yellow and back. Percy said it had to do with the camper's moods, which Emmy thought made it even cooler. They sang songs, ones that were a familiar tune to her but the lyrics were different. She would have to work on that, but in the meantime she just hummed along. Once it was over everyone filed out, Percy casually draping his arm over Emmy's shoulders.
"Welcome to the Apollo cabin." Percy made a grand gesture towards the golden structure. The sun had already set, but Emmy could tell it would be hard to look at during the day. Butterflies flew around in her stomach, what if they didn't like her? It felt so juvenile to worry about something like that, but it was a real concern. She felt like she had already angered enough people at this camp, maybe the Apollo campers were included in that group. Percy patted her shoulder comfortingly, "Don't worry, they'll love you. Your stuff should already be in there. Just, be careful of Levi. He can be a bit... Overwhelming." Emmy was about to ask him what that meant when the cabin door burst open. In the doorway stood a tall, tan, and blonde teenaged guy. He had a sparkling smile that could belong to any actor, and his blue eyes almost glew. "My my, if it isn't the two love birds." He crossed his arms and leaned against the door frame. "Percy, I'm going to have to ask for my sister now. But feel free to kiss good night, I don't mind," The whole time he keep his mocking smile. Percy's cheeks reddened slightly as he leaned over and kissed her cheek, "Good night Emmy. And good luck." Before she could reply he ran off to his cabin. Emmy watched him go before turning to the boy in the doorway. "Name's Levi by the way. Welcome to the Apollo Cabin."