So sorry for the update taking forever, here's the next two chapters as an apology! Now we get to see more of what CHB is like in the future (in my head at least)
Andrew McLean
I can't believe it's already Monday. I did not want to leave tomorrow a single bit. Camp is my favorite place on earth, and honestly I'm happy I'll be living here as a year-rounder. I'm going to miss being around Charlie and Ethan, and going to school with them is great, but I really don't like the city. I've always preferred when my mom and I have lived in small towns and now I'm going to be staying in the tiny New Athens and it's filled with my friends and other people who are actually like me.
We're leaving late tonight, so that we can go to school tomorrow morning, even though we're really going to need a break after today.
The whole point of this weekend was that there was going to be a reunion for the survivors of both wars. The past few days have just been like normal camp days, but in a couple of hours there was going to be a huge party in the recreational center where everyone dresses in ancient greek style clothing. The Aphrodite cabin has been making dresses, chitons, tunics, sandals, and robes all month and have been selling them in the camp store. The girls were all excited to dress up; us boys, however, were not. I am not fond of the idea of not wearing pants.
"Andrew! Ethan!" Charlie called and ran up to us at the canoe lake.
"What's up?" Ethan turned around.
"You guys want to sword fight?"
I groaned. "Charlie, we fought so much yesterday I can't with you anymore."
"Find someone else." Ethan told her.
Charlie pouted. "I tried with a bunch of people already. Sam fights too Roman, Bella won't because she says swords aren't classy, Cast is avoiding me because I beat him in front of his friends, Theo isn't even a challenge, and honestly I think everyone else is scared to fight me." She smiled and wagged her eyebrows. "You aren't scared, are you?" She taunted.
Ethan being his competitive self, jumped up and grabbed his sword and sheath off of the picnic table. He hooked it onto his belt and took off running. "Last one to the arena gets to use a sword that's not theirs!"
Charlie took off, waving her arm for me to follow. I ran after her.
"Dammit, Ethan!" Charlie complained as Ethan ran inside of the training arena before she did. "I'm so bad with other swords." She dropped her personal blade and pulled a new out from the small amory closet.
"Sucks." He retorted. I sat on a bench on the outskirts of the center of the court. The twins tended to get really into their fights.
"You better be rooting for me." Charlie whispered as she walked by.
"Always." I told her.
The sound of celestial bronze hitting celestial bronze and the grunts of the focused fighters filled the arena as the twins began to fight.
I watched Charlie parry, lunge, and side step. Her and Ethan both fought using the swiftest and fanciest moves. Honestly, the two of them and Cast are some of the best sword fighters in our generation of campers, which is no surprise considering their parentage.
Then I heard the cluttering of a weapon falling to the ground. Ethan kicked Charlie in the stomach and she fell to the ground.
"Fuck you." She wheezed, struggling to sit up. I rushed forward and helped her up. She clutched her stomach.
Ethan smiled triumphantly. "Come on Charlie, that was too easy!"
"I've been at this all day, leave me alone." She glared at him.
"Oh don't be a sore loser." He rolled his eyes.
"You kicked me in the stomach!" She argued.
"Sissy." He smirked.
Charlie lifted her fist and punched him square in the jaw. His head turned to the side and he brought his hand to his cheek.
"Sheesh, love you too sis." He winced.
Charlie smiled and kissed his cheek. "You deserved it."
"Don't I always." He grumbled.
Charlie and I walked away. She laced her hand in mine. "You good?" I asked her.
She nodded. "Yeah, I'm just going to be sore." She glanced at her phone. "Can we go back to the cabin? I need to start getting ready for the party with the girls."
"Of course." We left the arena and headed towards the cabins.
"Hey! I thought you guys weren't going to ditch me!" Ethan called.
Charlie and I laughed and took off running. We reached the cabin but before I could walk inside, Charlie pulled me away and we stood on the side of the cabin, behind some tall bushes.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"Did you tell Ethan?" Her voice was full of concern
"Tell Ethan what?"
She rolled her eyes and lowered her voice. "That we had... you know... sex."
I felt my face get hot. "No, of course not. He might be my best friend, but he's your brother. I wouldn't do that to you."
She nodded, "I think he knows though."
"How would he?"
She shrugged, "I don't know. He can read me like a book. I don't want him to look at us differently if he knows."
"So what do you want to do?"
"Should I tell him?"
"Do you want to?" I thought. "He might not take it well. Or might not even want to know."
"I guess not." She pursed her lips.
"Have you told anyone else?" I haven't, I wanted to know if she had.
"Just Bella, but she's sworn to secrecy, I promise."
I nodded. "Okay."
She kissed me, long and hard. "I'm going to go inside now." She whispered.
"Good, you need a shower." I teased.
"Shut up." Then she left me alone behind the cabin.
.^.^.^.^.
"This is stupid!" Sam tugged on his white chiton, "I'm not even Greek!"
"Oh come one, don't you like how free everything is?" Theo swayed his hips jokingly.
"You aren't seriously going commando under there are you?" Ethan disgustedly pointed at the tunic and chiton Theo was wearing.
"Why don't you take a look and find out?" He teased.
"Dude, that's so gay." I punched his shoulder as I walked to the mirror to adjust my belt.
Theo smiles cheekily and shrugs. "Hey, I'm not gay, but if you're curious just take a peek and you'll have your answer."
I ignored that last statement and changed the subject. "Ethan, did you tell the other guys we're meeting them at the gate?"
"Duh." He rolled his eyes. "I'm not that forgetful."
By 'the other guys' I meant our other friends who were year-rounders and full demigods. There was Christian Dunning, a son of Apollo, and Spence Hudson, a son of Nike. There were a couple of other guys that were in our group in the summertime, but they didn't come for this event.
"We should get going then." Sam said.
"I feel ridiculous." I sighed, looking at myself in a classic Greek chiton with a gold belt to hold it in place.
"Don't we all." Ethan patted me on the shoulder as he walked out of the door. I could still hear the girls giggling and fussing from the bathroom.
"Damn, how long does it take them to get ready?" Theo whistled.
"Knock on the door, see what happens." Sam dared him.
"I'll pass, I've had enough Aphrodite girls throw things at me for less." he laughed.
"Chicken," Ethan muttered loud enough for us all to hear.
Theo glared at him, but proceeded to march up to the bathroom door. He hesitated for a second then brought a fist up and rapped on the door.
"What do you want?!" Someone yelled from inside, I assumed it was Bella.
"Are you, uh, ready to go?" Theo asked.
"Go away Theo!" Sydney scolded, "we'll come out when we're ready."
"Oh, don't be so dramatic, we've been ready for twenty minutes now." I could practically hear Charlie rolling her eyes.
The door swung open and Bianca walked out first. Her usual mess of pale blonde hair was clipped back nicely and she had sparkling gold ribbon in her hair.
"If I have to inhale Vivian's perfume for one for second, I'm going to pass out." She declared as she pushed past us.
"It's not that bad!" Vivian complained, walking out of the bathroom next. She looked amazing, as usual. Being only a legacy of Aphrodite, she was much more... fabulous than I am. He strut past us, her long white chiton flowing behind her. "The rest of you hurry up so we can take a picture." She went to her bedside table and tapped around on her phone.
"Viv, can you grab my phone?" I asked her.
"Sure," She picked it up from my phone up from my bed and tossed it to me.
"Thanks." I tucked it into the pocket of the chiton I was wearing. She nodded.
I turned my head back to the bathroom, and I swear my heart stopped for a second. Charlie grinned at me. She looked like perfection. Her dark hair was curled and pinned up, with strands falling loosely by her ears. Her arms were adorned with gold bracelets and her sleeveless gown showed off her tanned shoulders beautifully. She resembled an ancient statue of my grandmother, but more beautiful.
I took a step towards her and offered my hand. She took it gracefully. I leaned in to kiss her but he pushed my forehead away.
"You'll smudge my makeup, dummy." She giggled.
The other girls finally exited the bathroom. Bella looked stunning, with golden cuffed sleeves on her dress, golden necklaces around her neck, and her dark curly hair fell loosely over her shoulders. I swear I saw Ethan's jaw drop when he saw her.
Lane Underwood and Sydney Stoll walked out behind Bella. Lane's green skin contrasted greatly with the white dress she wore. Her blonde hair was styled similarly to Biancas so I guessed it was done by the same person. Sydney looked amazing as well. The sleeves of her dress fell off the shoulder and the hundreds of freckles on her shoulders were very visible. She barely had any makeup on, but someone had done a great job on covering up the long scar she had across her nose. I noticed Sam stare at the floor when he saw her. I always forget that they dated last summer.
"Shall we get going?" Theo held out an arm for Bianca.
"We shall," she joked. The two of them strut around the room pretending to be proper, but failed tremendously. The two of them plus Sydney were hilarious to put together, I swear they never take anything seriously.
"Not yet we have to take a group picture!" Viv held up her phone.
We huddled up together, so that we could all fit in the frame. "Ethan, you take the picture, you're the tallest." Vivian handed the phone to him.
Ethan outstretched his arm and positioned the camera so that we all could fit, then snapped several pictures. I don't think there was a single serious one where everyone was smiling normally.
We left cabin 27 and headed towards New Athens, ready to party.