Hey Stranger

Chapter 9

He had spent the rest of his time at Camp Half-Blood, sleeping in his own cabin and choosing his own activities. He made sure to fill up his activities for the whole day, something in him went against everything that made him not move around.

He made sure his routine stayed somewhat the same, to move and fight every few hours. The only time where he actually rested was the bonfires of the times where he had to eat food.

He had to eat, besides, he was a growing boy.

Clarisse and him were attached at the hip, getting weird looks from everybody around them because how they know Clarisse was because of her violent personality. There wasn't a lot of hazing like Percy had expected, for a camp the sneering was very minimal, but it might have been because he's Clarisse's friend.

Grover had only stayed for a few days to help Percy get settled and comfortable around the camp. Then he had left for his search for Pan, the god of the Wild, satyrs and folk music. Pan is to satyrs what Dionysus was to mortals back in ancient Greece.

That left Annabeth, who stayed mostly around her cabin. Her siblings sent Percy wary looks at almost every corner he walks around. Before meeting Annabeth, he hadn't known that it was typical for children of gods to look the same. Athena's children all have blonde hair and gray eyes, intimidating gray eyes.

The two of them would talk on occasion. An ongoing theory from both Percy and Clarisse was that Annabeth's siblings held her away from him. There were times on occasion where she looked like she wanted to reach out and talk to him, but instead, she'd hold back.

At their first Capture The Flag, she looked taken aback when Percy had followed the Ares cabin over to their side of the line, over to their homebase. She had called out his name, he had turned around. Then she didn't say anything.

Percy wasn't angry with everything happening, the not talking, the barely looking at him and even the awkward nods. But he was getting frustrated with her questioning looks, as if he hadn't tried to reach out to her.

Then the start of the school year was coming up and most of the campers had returned back home. When Percy shouldered his bag and whistled for one of the camp's pegasus, a hand landed on his shoulder. "Annabeth?" He raised his eyebrows at the empty air in front of him.

Then she appeared, her cap in her hand and a small smile before she put back on her cap. "You're leaving?" She asked.

"I am." He nodded, "I'm starting at a new military school, they want me there on time." He said and crossed his arms as he leant against the pegasus that kept calling him 'Little Lord'. "Why care?"

She let out a breath, "I care." She said, "I just couldn't show it." She pinched his arm but he remained, staring at his shoes because that looks slightly less insane than talking to the air in front of him. "I'm sorry, my siblings aren't happy that the son of a sea spawn is here. I tried by saying that Triton-"

"Triton isn't my father, Poseidon is." Percy said and pursed his lips. "Triton is just a way of trying to make it bearable for you to admit that you're friends with me."

She was quiet and Percy was sure that she had taken off in her invisible state. "I'm going back to California." She said quietly, "Will you be there?" She wasn't denying anything that he said.

"Of course." Percy let out a breath. "I'll be in California, but I'll be traveling around, going on all types of bootcamps."

"You'll be a good soldier at bootcamp." Annabeth joked.

Percy smiled and shook his head, "I might be too much of a wild card to be a good soldier." He admitted, "They're remedial, because I missed so much class." He said quietly.