One After Another

Wait- what?!

I continued meeting Laila in the woods after that mostly by chance, until slowly we started to actually hang out too.

One day I even sat next to her during the camp fire, and we slowly fell into a rhythm. We would meet up in the morning for training, classes, etc. I would have almost forgotten about my crush on her too, if it didn’t keep coming back to hit me in the face.

I ignored it though. We were friends, and I ought to be grateful for that.
One night at the campfire, we had just sat down, when Chiron stood to make an announcement. My mind raced trying to think of all the different things it could be. Did he put a new monster in the forest? Were we in trouble? Did someone die?

“Campers, I would like you to give a warm welcome to our newest camper. Milo, son of Demeter.” My heartbeat slowed back to its regular pace. Just a new camper. Of course it was, its always a new camper,
“Milo! Come sit with us!” Laila waved to him suddenly, calling him over. Hesitantly, he joined us.
He was interesting, with brown eyes and light brown hair that seemed to shimmer in the flickering light of the campfire. There was something about him I couldn’t quite tell, but I ignored that too. I'm very good at ignoring things if you haven’t noticed.
"I'm Laila, and this is my best friend Ari. Nice to meet you!" She bubbled as she dragged over a seat for him. He nervously sat down, his hands twisting and pulling at each other. Understandable. The spotlight wasn’t fun to be in.

Chiron spoke again, “Campers, we would have a specific group of demigods that would visit New Rome, with Nico di Angelo, Will Solace, Grover Underwood, and Piper McLean."

Laila looked over at me excited, and a let out a sigh. We were doing this it seemed. I couldn’t say no when she looked so excited. Plus getting to spend time with Piper, Nico, Will and Grover sounded nice. They were always so busy I had barely gotten to talk to them in times past.
"We will pick two campers from the Athena, Nemesis, and Demeter cabins as they had won the last game of capture the flag." "For Athena cabin, Laila and Malcolm, for the Nemesis cabin, Ari and Faith, last but not least, from Demeter, Katie and Milo." When I heard that they were choosing names my heart sank, but then I was chosen? And so was Laila? My heart started pounding excitedly, and I had to stop a silly grin.
Milo was coming also. I would like to get to know him a bit better. After all, there still was that something off. I'm sure he is nice though.
“Hey Ari! I’m excited for tomorrow, what about you?” Laila grinned as we walked away from the campfire.
“It’s ok, I guess,” I shrugged. I could be fun, but with Faith? Oh gods. Faith. She wasn’t gonna make this fun.
“Sure, anyways, night!” She quickly hugged me, and I resisted the urge to flip her onto the ground. Once instincts were out of the way, this was, well, it was nice. Just as fast she pulled away, already skipping back to her cabin.
“Night Laila” I called out into the night, leaving me feeling both joyful and empty at the same time. I couldn’t keep doing this-

How does everyone feel about this chapter?
School started up and I honestly forgot this existed, sorry.
Anyways

qotd//: Are you guys enjoying the story?

aotd//: I hate my writing, but Oreo's and Rhys's are great.

Fun fact: Sadly, the blowfish was voted as the ugliest animal by a public poll.