Havoc - Piper McLean

11: I'm not like other girls

The title was lurid red: KING OF SPARTA. Under that, the poster showed the leading man—a three-quarters shot of bare-chested bronze flesh, with ripped pectorals and six-pack abs. He was clad in only a Greek war kilt and a purple cape, sword in hand. He looked like he'd just been rubbed in oil, his short black hair gleaming and rivulets of sweat pouring off his rugged face, those dark sad eyes facing the camera as if to say, I will kill your men and steal your women! Ha-ha!

It was the most ridiculous poster of all time. Piper and her dad had had a good laugh over it the first time they saw it. Then the movie made a bajillion dollars. The poster graphic popped up everywhere. Piper couldn't get away from it at school, walking down the street, even online. It became The Poster, the most embarrassing thing in her life. And yeah, it was a picture of her dad.

She turned away so no one would think she was staring at it. Maybe when everyone went to breakfast she could tear it down and they wouldn't notice.

She tried to look busy, but she didn't have any extra clothes to fold. She straightened her bed, then realized the top blanket was the one Jason had wrapped around her shoulders last night. She picked it up and pressed it to her face. It smelled of wood smoke, but unfortunately not of Jason. He was the only person who'd been genuinely nice to her after the claiming, like he cared about how she felt, not just about her stupid new clothes. God, she'd wanted to kiss him, but he'd seemed so uncomfortable, almost scared of her. She couldn't really blame him. She'd been glowing pink.

A girl with blond pigtails and braces raced up with a pile of clothes in her arms. She smiled and Piper thought, maybe some of these Aphrodite kids weren't totally stuck up.

"I brought you these," she said, "Hi, I'm Lacy"

"Piper" 

"I know," Lacy said breathlessly. "You can change clothes. The blessing won't stop you. This is just, you know, a backpack, some rations, ambrosia and nectar for emergencies, some jeans, a few extra shirts, and a warm jacket. The boots might be a little snug. But— well— we took up a collection. Good luck on your quest!"

Lacy dumped the things on the bed and started to walk away but Piper stopped her. 

"Can someone please tell me what's going on because I'm so confused."

"You mean last night?" A guy was cleaning wrappers and paper from the floor. Drew had called him Mitchell last night. "Drew can use Charmspeak, so she was trying to get the campers to agree with her. I think she has a crush on your friend—"

"Camilla?"

"Yeah, the one in the leather jacket"

"Charmspeak..." Piper remembered last night, the way the crowd at the campfire had swayed back and forth between Drew's opinion and hers. "You mean, like, you could talk someone into doing things. Or... giving you things. Like a car?"

"Not many children of Aphrodite have the power" Lacy said, "I don't, but it's pretty cool. Kind of scary when Drew snaps and makes us do our chores until the cabin is spotless, but other than that, yeah, pretty cool."

"So that's why she's head counselor," Piper said. "She convinced you all?"

Mitchell picked a nasty wad of gum from under Piper's bed. "Nah, she inherited the post when Silena Beauregard died in the war. Drew was second oldest. Oldest camper automatically gets the post, unless somebody with more years or more completed quests wants to challenge, in which case there's a duel, but that hardly ever happens."

"I know you think she's heartless" Lacy went on, "But she was pretty shaken up after Silena. Everyone called her a traitor—  the Hermes Cabin sometimes spray painted the word traitor on the outside of the cabin. And Drew had to deal with all of that"