A/N: Yes! So how is two updates across the span of three days for a no-updating apology? XD Anyway, I got an ah-MAZING review for chapter 3. The kind of review telling me what needs improvement and what was not good. And I read my story over and realized they were right. I was really disappointed with it. I'm glad I caught the crappy-ness before I wrote more. So. Constructive criticism. I thrive on constructive criticism. And I eat reviews for breakfast, too. Well, that and a bowl of Awesomeness. So feed the author! XD

Enjoy! I don't own PJO or the Ramada Hotel and Conference Center. Or Wal-Mart. But I do own a nook. :)

Lilah's P.O.V.

Ray-Ray, Adam, and I became friends over a rock. No joke.

When I was about 5 or so, I went through this phase where I picked up every rock and kept it because it was "pretty". And I mean every rock. A piece of limestone, a piece of concrete. A pink rock with black spots, a turquoise one with orange speckles.

Some of them, when I pull out my giant container from my under my bed, I realize are actually really, really, really, lame or gross looking (Ex: Those concrete pieces, or this one I found that looks like a little ball of puke.) Some were really cool, like this one purple one or won with shiny crystals inside.

But anyway, I first went to the market when I was five, right? Well, I wasn't the only one. Little Rayna Stevens, with her little red fuzzball pigtails, was trying to balance on a fallen log on the edge of the clearing.

Little Adam Prone, with his blue striped paperboy hat on his mussed brown hair, was crawling aroud near the edge, trying to catch a toad.

And I, little Lilah Reed, with tangled black hair, was trying to climb a large oak tree on the edge.

Adam decided to make his move. He crouched down and then sprang horizontally towards the toad. Thud. He landed in the mud, the toad hopping away.

Suddenly, seconds later, the little branch I was on creaked. Panicked, I frantically tried to grab at the branch just above my fingers. The morning dew, combined with last night's rainfalls made everything slick and my feet slid out fromunder me. I let out a squeal as I plummeted down towards the ground. Thump. I landed on a pile of wet leaves.

Rayna, distracted by the fall of something large out of the tree near her (for you nitwits out there: Me.) broke her concentration. She tottered over to her left too much and fell. Oomph.

Something sparkly caught Adam's eye. It was laying in the grass, a couple of yards away.

At that same moment, my little five-year-old sight saw a gleam in the grass, only yards away.

And same with Rainy. She began to crawl towards the sparkly object.

I began to bear crawl.

Adam army-crawled.

We reached the sparkly object- A rock!- at the same moment. We all stuck our hands out to grab it.

We suddenly realized we weren't alone.

I narrowed my eyes at Rayna and Adam. "What are you guys doing? This is my rock."

"What? No, I saw it first!" Rayna protested.

"Yeah, right!" Adam scoffed. "I saw it before the both you!"

"What?" And so began the big argument. You know how kids are, right? And how they argue? Well, needless to say, it was many "nuh-uh!" s and "No, I saw it first!" s before we came to an agreement.

You see apparently, I wasn't the only five-year-old rock collector. Rayna saw a documentary on Discovery Channel about Diamonds, Rubies, Emeralds, and other jewels. She was absolutely fascinated. Adam pretended that certain rocks were special pieces of gold that he imaged in a pirate game he made up.

So we agreed to split it up. Rayna looked over her shoulder, ran and got something, and came back. It was a large gray rock. He stuck it out towards me. "Here. Use this." She suggested. I took the rock, just as Adam came running over. "There's a tree stump over there." He informed me, pointing towards the oak I'd climbed.

We walked over to the stump, and put down the sparkly rock. I lifted the gray rock over my head. I was about to slam the rock down when Rayna stuck out her arm in front of me. "Wait. Why do you get to brake it?" She demanded, putting her hands on her hips.

"Yeah?" Adam piped up.

I looked at them. "Because I saw it first. Duh."

"Oh. Okay."

….

"…Wait a minute. What?"

But I didn't wait. I slammed the rock down onto the sparkly rock.

Crack.

The rock cracked and split apart in three equal, perfect portions. We all looked at it, stunned. Then I threw the gray rock over my shoulder and shrugged. I reached out and snatched a piece. The others did the same.

"Wait a minute. Why do you get the big piece?"

And so, our friendship began. I found a piece of blue ribbon, and threaded the strip through a tiny hole in my piece of the rock, and tied it in the back, making a necklace.

Rayna found a scrap of brown leather, twisted it just so, and wrapped it around her piece of rock, making an interesting necklace, that, interestingly enough, hasn't broken since.

Adam took some wire and twisted and wrapped it around his piece. Then he took a part of a small chained and attached it to the wires, making a cool-looking keychain.

The pride and joys of our rock collections were now the symbol of our friendship.

Adam told us all about his little crop field, and how it was growing much more better than his older brother's. Rayna told us that she hated her name, and that it was to pretty and girly, and that we were to call her Ray or Ray-Ray, and if we ever called her Rayna that she would rip our legs of and make us eat them ("-and I won't even give you any salt or ketchup!") And I told them I didn't have a mom. They stared at me. I don't really think any of us fully understood my situation.

We did everything together. Those first five months were probably the best three moths of my life. For once, I really felt accepted, loved, and important. We played all sorts of games, and did all sorts of things. I finally went to someone else's house, and spent the night. We had so much fun.

September came to soon. It was the last of the five months, and we were aware that we wouldn't see each other anymore for a while on that last day, almost every vendor had packed up and was leaving, Ray-Ray, Adam and I said our goodbyes at the edge of the clearing, our official meeting spot. Tears in my five-year-old eyes, my dad took me hand and pulled me away, onto the back of Topher, and away from my friends, standing there, staring at me, and waving, as I rode away.

Like clockwork, we met every year during those five months, but for some reason, I just didn't feel like going.

"Month Three! Month freaking Three! Three!" Ray-Ray yelled at me, shaking my shoulders for emphasis. Adam pulled her away.

"I'm sorry! I really am. I was just busy. You know…doing…stuff." I defended myself.

"Doing "stuff", huh?" Ray-Ray made air quotes around "stuff". "And what did this "stuff" include, that prevented you from seeing your best friends in what has become a sacred time?" She asked, folding her arms over her chest. "What did this "stuff" include, preventing you from coming until month freaking Three? Hell, we could've already done all our usual stuff by now, and be trying out new stuff!"

What she meant by "our usual stuff" was all of the stuff we did each and every single summer without fail. Jumping the creek, stealing little jewels from Mad Max, a vendor, and getting homemade milkshakes from Nana, a nice, old woman.

"Well, let's cram our days with our usual stuff, then, do new stuff whenever we're done." I suggested.

Ray-Ray stared at me. "Well, uh, duh, Lilah, that's the only thing we can do. Duh." She rolled her eyes.

"Let's start now." Adam suggested from behind Ray-Ray.

Ray-Ray's eyes settled on something over my shoulder. A gleam came to her eyes, and a sly smile spread on her lips. "Let's not."

Ray-Ray, Adam, and I wondered around to the big wooden table.

"Um, Ms. Kiskos?" Adam asked. Ms. Kiskos looked up from a stack of papers she was studying.

She arched an eyebrow. "…Yes?"

Ms. Kiskos was the organizer of the Five-Month market. But mostly, she was an old grandma to everyone. There really wasn't any rules or restrictions to the market, but people always asked Ms. Kiskos before doing anything. She was definitely the Matriarch of the whole thing.

"We're here to sign up. For the flower-growing contest." Ray-Ray said. I sighed. They were making me enter, even though I detested growing anything, and sucked at growing and keeping alive flowers.

"Oh, yes, young contenders. Lovely. Just fill out this form here, children." She pushed a piece of paper towards us, along with a pen from Ramada Hotel and Conference Center.

Ray-Ray grabbed my shoulder and steered me over in front of the paper. Sighing, I uncapped the pen and began to fill out the form. I neatly wrote my name in cursive, filled out my age, address, parent's name, and phone number. I recapped the pen, gave Ms. Kiskos the form and sighed- again.

"Quit sighing, it's, like, depressing." Ray-Ray said, grabbing Adam and my hand and pulling us away. Ms. Kiskos' area was next to the entrance.

We went over to the post where I'd tied Ginger up.

"Gingy, baby!" Ray-Ray announced, patting Ginger's head.

"What's up, Ginger? Haven't seen you in a while." Adam acknowledged with a smile.

I untied Ginger and poured a little bit of water from my water bottle out onto her mouth. She lapped it up gratefully. I slung my leg over Ginger's side and sat up on her.

"How did you guys get here?" I asked.

Ray-Ray shrugged, her way of saying her parents brought her, and Adam pointed towards Silver Streak, his silver-coated horse.

A few years ago, Ray-Ray and I pooled our money and bought him from Mack. Apparently, Mack found him and managed to tame him, but didn't want him or know what to do with him. We gave him to Adam, who named him Silver Streak (with our help, of course) after his ability to run fast and hard for a long time without slowing. He was one of the fastest horses in the county.

Ray-Ray disappeared momentarily, going to find her parents and tell them she was going to my house. When she came back, Adam had already untied and sat upon Silver Streak. Ray-Ray pulled herself on Streak behind him, and the three of us made our way onto the main road, which was a few yards away.

"Race ya!" I shouted, smacking the reins to make Ginger gallop away. "Last one home is a cow pie!"

Ray-Ray wrapped her arms around Adam to keep herself steady, preparing for Silver Streak's incredibly fast canter.

They beat me by a mile.

A/N: Done! Anyway, I tried to make this chapter much more detailed and not going to fast. I lost my groove near the end, but hey! I think it was pretty good. I have to say I'm the most pleased by this chapter. But are you? Tell me in a REVIEW! = P By the way, remember that 17th reviewer gets a special shout out and secret surprise! =)

MY PLAYLIST FOR THIS CHAPTER:

1. Mannequin- Katy Perry

2. UR so Gay- Katy Perry

3. I Like It Rough- Lady GaGa

4. Kalimba- Mr. Scruff (XD Haha…this is on, like, all Windows HP computers, but I think it's catchy)

5. Sparks Fly- Taylor Swift

Not a lot of variety on my songs, but whatever. =P Anyway, don't forget to feed the author!

Read on and Rock out,

NinjaNakkiOfCabin11