Alaster POV

I didn't expect to start changing my clothes soon when I woke up today. Okay, I was going to do it eventually, but not immediately.

Yeah, I know. It's October. I said that I'd go clothes shopping back in August. I guess I feel like these clothes connect me to Thalia in a much greater way. But times change, and so do clothes.

I was sleeping in my bed at the start of the day. My dreams involving Thalia's death were finally gone. After six years they were finally gone.

Oh, I almost forgot. I'm Thirteen now. My birthday passed, it was on October 15th.

Anyway, I was sleeping peacefully. But I heard a knock at the doors.

Knock! Knock!

"Go away," I said. "I'm trying to sleep"

Knock! Knock! Knock!

"Are you deaf?" I said. "I said get lost!"

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

"FINE!" I yelled

I forced myself off my bed. The sheets were all over the place and there were bags of chips that I got from the Stoll Brothers on the floor next to the bed.

I approached and opened the doors.

"What the?" I said, my eyes trying to adjust to the sunlight. "What are you doing?"

Silena Beauregard. She's the Head Counselor for the Aphrodite Cabin. She is also one of my friends that I had taken on my very first quest.

Silena was beautiful, with her long flowing black hair and blue eyes. It was breathtaking.

I mentally slapped myself. Get those thoughts out of your head. She likes Beckendorf.

"Happy Belated Birthday, Al!" She said, smiling.

"Thanks," I said. "What is it?"

Silena opened her mouth to speak but before any words could exit she looked behind me and her eye twitched.

She bulldozed past me and ran toward my bed. I immediately followed her. Once I stopped I realized that her gaze was stuck on the mess.

Silena's a neat freak. She hates all kinds of messes. One time she chewed out one of the campers for tossing all kinds of garbage on the ground. The kid cried.

Her head slowly turned toward me. Not a lot of people scared me...and Silena was not one of those people.

"What..is the meaning..of this?" Silena narrowed her eyes at me, piercing into my soul.

"I-I-I—" I struggled to find an answer. Silena turned back to the mess, she grabbed my pillow and removed the pillowcase before using it like a garbage bag and started loading everything into it.

"Honestly," she said, "do you ever clean in here?"

"Silena." I said. "You still haven't told me what you're doing here"

Silena turned back towards me with a pillowcase filled with empty chip bags, candy wrappers, and small boxes that at one point had chocolates in them.

"Oh, right." Silena said. "I'm taking you clothes shopping"

I raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Take it as a late birthday gift from me to you. Since I didn't get you anything for your actual birthday, plus you have been saying that you planned on changing up your look" Silena said

"Well, yeah. But let's not do this right now. Perhaps a few weeks from now, maybe a couple of months. Try doing it for a Christmas gift" I said

"Come on! I already picked out where we were going and everything. When was the last time you went clothes shopping in the first place?"

"Three years ago" I rubbed the back of my head.

"Exactly. Come on, it'll be fun. I promise" Silena said

"I don't know," I said

"Come on. Please" Silena pleaded.

I closed my eyes and groaned. "Fine"

Silena beamed. "Yes! I already asked Chiron. I had to really pledge my case on why I had to take you out of camp. I'll be waiting at Half-Blood Hill"

Silena left my cabin with the pillowcase full of garbage. I changed into my clothes in no time. I wasn't so sure how I felt about changing clothes, although it has been a while. But I was at least going to check out this store and if it had anything I'd want to get.

Before leaving my cabin I slipped my ring onto my finger and slipped my highlighter into my pocket.

I walked all the way to Half-Blood Hill where, of course, Silena was. She stood right beside Thalia's tree.

"All right, let's go. To think this'll probably be your last time wearing those clothes. If you ask me I don't think it's your style" Silena said

"These clothes are like my sister's," I said

"I know that," she said. "But just because she might've looked good in it doesn't mean you'll look good in it"

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever"

Before we left I stood next to Thalia's tree. I placed my hand on the wood and pressed my forehead onto it as well.

"I'll be back soon," I said. "I love you"

Then I walked away with Silena. Soon enough we were in the city. No matter how many times I asked her where we were going, she would always tell me the same thing.

"You'll see where we get there"

"Why don't you just tell me where we're going?" I asked

"Because I don't want you to judge the place before we get there," Silena said

Eventually, I realized where we were going. But I found out when it was too late.

"You're taking me to a GAP?" I said as I looked up at the sign of three white glowing letters.

"Yup," Silena said. "This is where we'll find your new getup"

"This better be worth it," I said. "There better be something I like in there"

Silena smirked. "I'm positive there is"

It didn't start out well. Silena tried to get me in all these shirts, shorts, and stuff like that. But every single time, I didn't like what I was given.

We were both almost ready to give up by the two-hour point. Silena had gone to put everything back so I wandered around the store. But then I noticed something.

Zipper hoodies. They were in a variety of colors: red, lavender, blue, green, grey, black, white, and orange.

Shirts were never my thing. Hoodies, however...

On the way back I picked up a couple of pairs of jeans that were an attractive light blue color. I went back to the changing room. I looked through the colors and tried on different ones until I found the one I had liked the most.

By the time I had sorted everything out, I heard a knock.

"Hey, Al," Silena said. "Sorry for bringing you here. Maybe you were right, maybe it wasn't time yet. I'm sorry for wasting your time"

I opened the dressing room door and smirked. "I don't know. I wouldn't say it was an entire waste of my time"

I came out wearing an orange zipped-up hoodie that was not zipped up to show my Camp Half-Blood t-shirt. I also wore one of the light blue jeans.

Silena beamed. "You look amazing! I told you we'd find something for you?"

"Excuse me? We?" I said

Silena rolled her eyes. "Whatever, let's just buy them"

And we did just that. Before we left, however, I put my new clothes on.

I liked my new clothes, they felt much more...me. Not saying that I don't love my sister. But I feel like I'm finally starting to become my own person.

Yeah, a very short chapter. I'm going to do a couple more chapters like these until I start doing Sea of Monsters. Hopefully you enjoyed the chapter.