artemis ; pjo

NYC

Outside of the hotel Chiron was giving partners to people who didn't have any. Of course I was last, like always.

"Who else doesn't have a partner?" Chiron asked.

I raised my hand. I saw another hand shoot up on the opposite side of the crowd. Two more. Four people.

"Okay Frank with Amanda, Sadie with James" Chiron decided.

   That was weird, Sadie was from the Aphrodite cabin, everyone would be asking to be her partner. I could see her smirk from here.

She probably told everyone not to ask her, so she could be with James I thought.

"Yo!" A voice boomed.

  Suddenly I felt bolder like thing crash into me. I stumbled side ways and crashed into Jess.

"Sorry" I said.
I looked up and saw where the voice came from. 6 ft tall Frank from the Ares cabin.

"Hi Frank" I mumbled.

   This is gonna be fun.

"Yeah, so I'm gonna need to touch a lot of things, maybe smash, so just stand back during the trip" Frank boomed.

"That makes no sense whatsoever" I said said quietly.

"Are you picking a fight, because you don't wanna pick a fight with me"Frank threatened.

"Never mind" I said under my breath.

"Alright everybody, today Percy and Annabeth will be giving a tour of New York" Chiron stated, "Because Percy lived here, and Annabeth knows the facts".

   Before we started moving I saw James slithering through the crowd, towards us.

"Frank, wanna switch partners? I'm with Sadie" James bribed.

Oh. My. Gods. James is giving up Sadie for me,I thought.

"Yeah!" Frank said, in a victorious motion.

"Hey" James said, bumping me with his elbow.

"Hi" I said flatly. I'm still not talking. To embarrassing.

"So what's up" he asked obviously trying to keep the conversation alive.

I shrugged.

"Is there something wrong" James asked.

"Not really" I mumbled.

   He got the message and stopped. We started walking and Percy was talking about the monuments and such while Annabeth was trying to calm Charlie down.

   Every once in a while James would say something and I'd force a smile, maybe fake laugh. Every time I did, he would look more concerned, but covered it quickly so I wouldn't see.

As we were nearing the large apartment buildings, James grabbed my shoulders and spun me to face him.

"Please tell me what's wrong" he pleaded.

"It's nothing" I said.

"Come on, you can't live your life like this" James justified.

I stayed silent. People were now passing us in big waves.

"Okay, fine" James said casually.

Next thing I knew we were flying down the alleyways.