Cabin 11 — Problem Solving

Travis (14) - Connor (13)

End of June

Post - Sea of Monsters

I hate camp.

I hate camp .

I hate camp so freaking much .

There's no one responsible here. No one who is even a little bit decent. Mom said this place would be fun. I'll learn how to fight and know who my real dad is. But so far, all it is are kids snickering behind my back, kids saying I'm from the "traitor" cabin, and kids doing a whole bunch of ass-kicking.

I wish my dad would hurry up and claim me. I don't want to stay here. I hate it here. I want to go back home to California. I want to go home to mom and Buddy. I want to go—

"Hey, Martin?"

I raise my blankets a little bit to see … what are their names again? Those twins? Brothers? I forgot. But they're my 'counselors,' whatever that means.

"What's wrong?" one of them asks. I wish they wear name tags. I hate twins for this very reason. I never know who I'm talking too.

"Nothing is wrong." And I throw my blankets over my head.

I didn't hear them move away, but I also don't hear them at all. Did they leave and I just didn't hear them? I peek under my covers to see that they'll still there and they're still looking at me with worry. I wonder how much of that is actually real and how much is faked for their job. This is their job, right? They don't really care for me. They don't care about anyone here.

I lower the cover and turn my back.

They're still not leaving.

Fine. Whatever. I'll tell them and I sit up on my bed, cocooning myself in my blanket.

"It's the bullies again. They keep saying 'jack of trades, master of none.'" It's stupid. I shouldn't be upset. If I look at it closer, it means I'm okay on all things. There's nothing I'm bad at. But their voice is so irritatedly patronizing, I hate it so much. I hate them so much.

One of them smiles. He snaps his fingers. "Then just say, 'better than a master of one.' All Ares knows is fighting, Apollo is either archery or healing. Hephaestian children can only do crafts. We are all of those things. We're more useful than they'll ever be. I mean, that is if Hermes claims you. If you end up being claimed by one of those three, then forget I said anything."

The other smiles too, but in a more sinister way. It kind of scares me. "Do you know who they are? We'll prank them for you."

The first one perks up and I notice he has a crooked smile. "Or that. We can prank them into oblivion if you want."

Pranking sounds more fun.

"It was two girls," I say. "They both have blond hair and they'll 2 inches taller than me. I think they each have at least 2 beads."

One turns to his twin. "Travis?"

Travis and Connor! That's right. Their names are Travis and Connor.

Travis nods. "I don't sense fibbing."

And they both stand. "Don't worry, we'll take care of it." Connor says, "So, Travis, you're the brainstormer. What kind of trick do you want to pull?"

Travis smiles again and I wraps my blanket tighter around me. He's scary... but Connor is also scary. They're both scary.

"It's Mikaela and Michelle from Apollo Cabin. Do you remember Mikaela is really scared of worms and Michelle is scared of spiders? Let's fill their shampoos with them."

I fall back onto my bed and closes my eyes.

Yeah, right.

There's no way someone can do something like that.

I want to go home.


"Are you sure, dear? You have only been there for a week."

"Yes, I'm sure. Everybody here is really mean. They all make fun of me and the people I'm rooming with. Nobody tries to stop it and nobody tries to help me—"

I thought back to my counselors. They were going to do something. A prank or something stupid like that. They're probably lying. People don't keep their promises.

"I want to go home. Can you come pick me up?"

"Okay, sweetie. I'll be there in two hours. Can I talk to Chi—"

Someone screams.

Mom jumps and asks me what's wrong. I told her I'll be right back and races outside. There's a huge crowd in the center of the cabins. People are arguing but I couldn't see who. I shove my way to the front, ignoring the annoyed grunts and glares.

I see Travis and Connor. They're standing in front of two boys, one with blond hair restraining a boy with black hair.

"Let me go, Lee. I'm gonna kill these two idiots!"

"Calm down, Michael. Let's all talk to Chiron together in the Big House."

Travis, or Connor, sees me standing by the side and waves. I wave back hesitantly.

No...They couldn't have...

But no more than a second later. There's a screeching cry from Apollo's cabin. "IT'S STILL IN MY HAIR!"

I think it was that moment I liked Camp just a teensy, tiny bit.


Chiron later said an announcement during dinner that "No bullying will be tolerated" and that all incidents should be reported to him. No counselors should take the matter into their own hands.

Travis and Connor snicker on our table. Chiron turns a sharp eye on them and repeats it again.No counselors should take the matter into their own hands.

Dinner resumes and I ate with a smile for the first time.

"Hey," our counselor said with a warm smile and we all look at him, "If anyone is ever bothering you guys, just tell us. We'll take care of it."

The other nodded, his mouth full, "That's what family for, ya know? Don't think you'll ever bother us. I love pranking. It is my life. I can never get bored of it. I have so many ideas for so many people. Help me put my plans to fruition."

"Travis, chill. You'll scare them."

"Me? Scare them? Your uptightness will kill them sooner than me."

Family...

I guess I'll give this camp thing another try.

Who knows, maybe this whole 'war' thing will blow over in a month or two and I'll get to see what camp is really like.


Author Notes:

I watched Avengers: Infinity Wars and I gotta say (no spoilers because I'm not like that), best. movie. ever. I just spammed my brother with memes of the movies. He's tired of me. I know he is.

But yeah, any comment and/or criticism is welcome!