Chapter Fourteen
Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO or HoO series by Rick Riodan.
James's POV
About an hour later, Addie was still with me. I was on free time and I was sitting on the beach. She was making a sandcastle, a rather nice one, too, and I was just watching the small waves.
"Hey, Jamie, you wanna help me with this?" she asks.
"Nah, you go ahead." I say.
"Okay." she says, going back to tightly packing the sand together.
"Hey, Addie." I say.
"Yea?" she asks, looking up at me.
"You haven't let what Lydia said get to you, right?" I ask.
She doesn't respond, but goes back to building her castle instead. That silence pretty much answered my question.
"Don't let it. She doesn't know what she's talking about." I say.
"How do you know?" she asks, looking up at me again. The look in her eyes scared me. It was a burning fury almost, like barely contained rage.
Dad had gotten that look in his eyes one time. A Manticore had shown up at the house one weekend a couple of years ago when I was alone with Addie and Mike. It had nearly killed Mike. Dad had shown up from work just in time and killed it. When he had turned around to see if we were okay, that look had been in his eyes.
"How do I know what?" I ask, confused.
"How do you know she didn't know what she was talking about?" she asks.
"Because I just do. Lydia always talks trash about other campers. It's like she just thinks that everyone else is below her for some reason." I say.
"Oh, really?" she asks, raising an eyebrow.
"Yep. So, don't let it get to you. She doesn't know what she's talking about. You're an awesome person, Addie. You're nice to practically everyone and you stand up for what you believe in, and that's pretty impressive for an eleven year old." I say.
Her bottom lip trembles and before I know it, she's flung herself into my arms and sobbing her eyes out into my shirt.
"Hey, hey." I say, hugging her.
"They hate me here, James. No one likes me." she sobs.
"Now, that's not true. I like you." I say.
"That's because you have to! You're my brother, you're supposed to like me!" she says.
"Surely there's someone who likes you?" I say.
"No! Everyone's afraid of me and they always just stare at me like I'm some sort of demon from the Underworld that dad fights off." she says, starting to do that hiccup thing people usually do when they cry too much and too hard.
"Don't say that, Adrienne!" I say, holding her back by her shoulders and looking at her.
Her cheeks and nose were red from crying and her dark eyes were big and watery. She was sniffling and hiccuping, obviously trying to stop crying.
"Why shouldn't I? It's true." she says, looking down, dejectedly.
"No, it's not. What about the Demeter cabin? You spent the whole day with them after we got here." I say.
"I could tell they were just tolerating me for your sake." she says, sounding miserable.
"Well let's see, who likes you? Uncle Mo and Aunt Cassie's kids like you. And Percy and Annabeth, Jason and Piper, and Leo and Jessie's kids all like you. And what about Tristan?" I say.
"Yea, because I've known them since we were all babies. But they have friends here, and they avoid me for the most part because they don't want to talk to me in front of their friends. I'm talking about the people here that don't know me." she says.
"Well then, make people know you. It's not that hard. Just start talking to the kids your age while you're training. I know that once they get to know you, they'll love you. I'd stay away from the Ares cabin though, they're not very easy to get along with." I say.
"James, all that's easy for you. You're outgoing, a people person. You know how hard it is for me to do that." she says.
"C'mon, Addie. I'll start you out and introduce you to someone. If you want, I'll stay with you until you feel comfortable." I say, getting up and giving her a hand.
"Really?" she asks.
"Sure thing." I say, walking away from the beach, Addie on my heels.
A/N:
Short little nothing chapter. As I'm writing more scenes with Adrienne in them, I've found that a lot of myself has come out in her. Insecure about people liking her, shy, glares at stupid or mean people a lot...
Oh my god, guys! You're going to love Tuesday's chapter! There's a really big twist at the end that'll have you going, "WHAT THE FUCK DID SHE JUST WRITE?! HOW IS THIS EVEN POSSIBLE?!" *evil laughter*
Well, today was the Christmas sale at the studio and I did really well. I sold more than I thought I would, and that made me really happy ^.^
I really enjoyed talking to all the people that came in, that was probably my favorite part. And I felt really bad at one point. The lady that I worked for doing the snow cone stand this fall came in and she bought one of my pieces. Well, I had noticed earlier that she was limping slightly. Apparently there's something wrong with her knee or leg and she's in a lot of pain and the doctor can't see her until the 10th. So while I was packaging up someone else's things, she was talking to my teacher and she started crying and I just wanted to go up to her and hug her and tell her that she'd feel better soon.
So that's pretty much what was happening with me all day. Thank god, I get to sleep in tomorrow!
Oh, and I started watching American Horror Story a few days ago. Damn, I just really love Evan Peters. He's such a brilliant young actor, in my opinion at least, and I absolutely loved him as Tate. Right now I'm on the second season and I really love him as Kit.
M/A:
Today's ballad is Pleads and Postcards by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus.
XOXO,
Mrs-diAngelo25