𝑷𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒚 𝑰𝒏 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑫𝒂𝒓𝒌 ꨄ

e l e v e n

Since the day Clarisse auspiciously followed Luna down to the beach, the hobby had stuck. Now, whenever they had spare time or lessons concluded, they'd wonder off. Sometimes they sparred (which was more Clarisse teaching her then anything) or they just sat down on the cold sand and did nothing.

Lessons. Right. Clarisse had talked her into going to those again, somehow. The morning that she went back had been full of worrying and pacing back and forth inside her cabin while the others got ready. She stared at them, feeling anxious that for once she was leaving with them instead of standing behind.

Her concerns weren't for nothing, however, because the moment they arrived at their canoeing lesson (which was not an Are's kids favourite), she saw people get quiet, start to whisper. She felt her stomach coil, and the urge to turn back strengthen.

And then- "What are you punks staring at?" Clarisse snapped. "Get lost before I punch a hole through your faces."

The other Ares campers muttered their agreement, and she felt herself warm up. She hadn't anticipated what it would be like to have her cabin mates stick up to her, hadn't predicted what it would feel like. The way they all crowded over and around her was relieving, like she was one of them now and they weren't afraid to show it. Even if they did that by looking like a pack of wild dogs, Luna certainty didn't mind.

Things got better after that. She convinced herself that it didn't matter, that it was only her, and Clarisse, and Shae and whoever else had her back. The rest was background noise. Literally. The activities took up way too much of her attention and effort, so about two hours in, she stopped registering who was staring at her. She'd fallen quite behind in her hiatus on most things (Luna didn't even want to think about the horrors that awaited her in wrestling class) but it did for a great distraction.

People were going to talk. They were going to whisper and gossip and do all sorts of things because that's exactly what teenagers did when someone who was different rose to attention. But it really just wasn't her problem. She couldn't control their opinions, couldn't control what they thought of her, and she was fairly done trying.

She knew who she was, so what did it matter who everyone else thought she was?

Yeah, people stared at her. Looks of startled shock wherever she went, surprise that she was showing up after practically disappearing. She'd even seen Michel Yew, the guy that had fixed her up the day after she got claimed. He looked the same as last time- minus the slightly scared look on his face when he saw her. He waved at her and in return she gave him a smile, which turned his ears pink. Luna thought that was very endearing.

And so it went. A week passed and Luna kept asking herself only one question: why did i ever think that any of it mattered? She'd thought that because she'd been humiliated by a god in front of everyone, had thought it because everyone else seemed to think it too and a million of other reasons. She had no place there, that had been made abundantly clear. But that was fine.

I have no place here, so I will make one for myself.

She'd be damned if she let herself give in to her emotions again. She'd made that mistake once- it wouldn't happen again. And hiding away? Where had she gotten that bright idea? Maybe from her irrational fears. But if there was one thing she had learned living in the Ares cabin, it was that being a coward got you nowhere- being quiet, got you nowhere.

So she wasn't going to be quiet anymore. She went to every lesson, laughed at every dinner, and wasn't afraid to look people in the eye anymore.

OoOoOoO

One night after dinner, there was a lot more excitement than usual. Finally, the time for capture the flag had come. Luna was absolutely ecstatic. She hadn't played in ages, and now that it was summer, many more campers had arrived, which evened the game out. She cast a look towards Clarisse, who never looked so ready to fight before. It made Luna remember that no matter how docile Clarisse was around her, or in the company of her siblings in their cabin, she'd never stop being a daughter of war.