.・゜゜・——— I AM NOT A WOMAN I'M A GOD !
LAUGHED IN THE FACE OF VIOLENCE
PREPARING FOR WAR WAS, IN fact, scarier than actually fighting in war, and that fact dawned on Regina when she walked past Peleus the dragon onto the grass that looked less green this august than the last. There were no more dandelions that sprouted from the dirt, so more canaries singing songs in the trees and no more camp activities taking place to paint the picture of happy campers. The atmosphere was different and it was clear that nothing gleeful was going to occur while she was there.
A lot of the equipment and activity resources were no longer spread around the camp, and it was rather empty. Or maybe it was always like that and Regina forced her mind to forget what her summer camp really looked like. The cabins were the same and stood high and tall, including the Ares cabin which was destroyed by a troll last summer during the battle. It was no longer a chestnut brown colour but rather a red brown. The boar head that hung from above the door was refurbished and brand new, which would usually be shining against the sun but the clouds were covering the giant star so now the boar head just resembled a rusty silver magnet.
She assumed all the Ares children were in there sharpening their tools for anything but fighting the war with the other cabins. Regina knew some of them were itching to join, to betray their camp counsellor and feed their bloodthirst, but it seemed they were scared of their leader. There was not a single Ares kid gearing up beside the other campers. Mad was an understatement.
She headed down the gravel path that split into two more paths: the path that lead you to the dining pavilion and onwards, and the path that gradually transformed into a wooden bridge to create the horseshoe placement of their cabins. She was headed down the latter.
It seemed to take her longer to make it into the Ares cabin, and for some odd reason it wasn't as loud as she thought it would be as she pressed her ear against the wooden door. Normally, the Ares kids were creating chants or committing physical assault on one another, simply because they were bored and they could. She assumed a newcomer would have their head being pushed down into the toilet by Clarrise: a tradition created by the Ares cabin for the new kids of the camp. Regina was grateful she managed to get out of it. Perhaps she was Ares's only exception. Which was highly unlike him.
Regina held her breath and opened the door, but what she saw in front of her was far from what she had expected. She exhaled quicker than she inhaled two seconds ago, as she looked at Silena Beauregard braiding Clarrise's messy hair and beside them was Thomas, filing her nails in an oval shape.
Thomas had always been cute, but however impossible it seemed, he had gotten cuter. He looked older but still possessed the elfish looks and the boyish charm of last year. She remembered his birthday was early this summer. He was eighteen now and he looked it. But where his eyes were usually bright and awake, there were hints of eyebags beneath them. Where the corners of his mouth were usually upturned into a permanent smile, they were now angled downwards so that a frown was etched upon his face. It seemed like it had been there for a long time. Suddenly, Regina didn't feel the positivity radiating off of him any longer.
But where there was deep guilt rooted inside of her, there was also an immense feeling of comfort. Thomas was always the person she could always stand, the person she could relax with and the person she could tell anything to without the fear of being judged. She missed when he tried to teach her how to drum, and she missed when he flipped through vogue magazines and told her what would look good on her. How they once replaced the marshmallows in the chubby bunny challenge with strawberries and how long Thomas teased her for being terrified of butterflies.
Seeing him hanging out with Silena was fine. She knew they were close as siblings. They were almost like the same person in two different gendered bodies. But Clarisse? Clarisse 'I hate everyone and if you even look my way I'll shove your head in my armpit' La Rue? He couldn't be serious. He was talking the most shit about her last year. Why was he so friendly with her now? Anger was building up inside of her, like it always was when something even remotely bad happened to her.
"Right. What the fuck is all of this, then?" Regina said through gritted teeth, her arms crossed over her chest accusingly. The three of them looked up, different reactions and expressions carved onto their faces. Clarrise was pleasantly surprised, until she seemed to question why Regina would show up out of the blue and curiosity overtook her. Regina couldn't pin point Silena's expression; she didn't expect much from the pretty girl due to the fact that they had only ever shared glances and half smiles last year if the two ever crossed paths. And Thomas?
Thomas wouldn't even look her in the eye.
Clarrise, like the leader she was genetically made to be, spoke first. "So you finally showed up? It's only taken a whole year."
Regina bit the inside of her cheek. She had no care nor intention of talking to Clarrise. She was looking at Thomas who was packing up his nail kit, a gulp stuck in his throat as he tried to look anywhere but her direction. She could understand why he was so angry and why he was acting like he was, but she still thought that it made him immature.
"So you can't even look at me then?" Regina said with a slight raise of her voice, causing Silena to look at her menacingly. That girl looked scrappy, but she also looked like a hair puller, so she wasn't too afraid if the pretty girl decided to throw a swing.
Thomas continued to ignore her. He packed up his kit and stuffed it into the pocket of his plaid Gucci trousers. Then he got up, helped Silena put on her jacket and walked out the Ares cabin without even a glance back.
You could practically see the steam erupting from Regina's ears.
If that was how Thomas wanted to play it, then that was how they were going to play it. She didn't even miss him. She hated strawberries anyway. "Fine!" She screamed, turning to where he was now walking down the path with his hands stuffed in his pockets. "By the way, have you ever heard of fucking concealer? Maybe you should stop spending money on Gucci bags and start spending money on hiding the ones under your eyes!"
"Low blow." Clarisse muttered, shaking her head. "Did you even come here to do anything or just insult everyone?"
Regina scoffed as she made her way to her bunk. It had been cleaned by the harpies since she left last August, even her desk was scrubbed down and all the excess of her war paint was removed. She had finished the pot she got from Percy in April. The last she used of it was for one of her basketball games where her school won the league. She wondered if Percy had watched her win.
"That's rich coming from the bully of the camp." Regina laughed, throwing the backpack her, Ares and Aphrodite helped her pack onto her bunk. It had enough clothes to last her a week and a few days, underwear that she completely overpacked, Christmas socks she never wore, her favourite lipstick she's been obsessed with as of late, a poster of Megan fox, toothbrush and hairbrush, some hair ties, extra helix piercings and a deep red weighted blanket because even though it was summer she constantly needed to be wrapped up in a large blanket whenever she went to bed. She had more unnecessary things, which was why her bag was bulging and near to explosion.
"Whatever. Why are you even here, then?" Clarrise said in her usual gritty voice. She sounded like nails against a chalkboard.
Her attitude triggered Regina so she came up with a petty and egotistical response. "Because as the Golden Child, dad personally wanted me to come over here and save your sorry ass from embarrassing him any further than you already are."
Clarrise growled like she was a rabid dog. Only an ogre would find her attractive. Sorry Shrek. "That whole 'Golden Child' stuff is bullshit and you know it. I've worked twice as hard as you and have been here twice as long as you."
"Yet I'm the one dad would rather talk to and I'm the one who received Bloodthirst. Can't say that same about you. Didn't he once say he was disappointed in you? He's never said that to me." Regina said with a smile because she was seeing how riled up Clarrise was getting. It was like a reward seeing Clarrise mad. Her face was flushed and her hands were clenched at her side. "Yeah, he even gave me a ride on his bike here, actually. Have you seen what it's made of? Wish I could tell you, but it's just between me and him, you know?"
Then a beefy and dirt-stained fist connected with Regina's nose. With a grunt, her head was thrown back and a soaring pain shot up in the bridge of her nose, and as quick as the hit came, she felt someone on top of her with one of their elbows dug into her chest. She felt the blood trickle down her nose to her lips as she took another hit to the mouth, and another one to the chest. She felt her throat gurgle with salty blood and fill up her mouth, pooling between her teeth and dripping off her lips. Clarrise elbowed her nose again and Regina just laughed in the face of violence. Like Clarrise thought this upset her? Would put her down?
"Really, Clarrise?" Regina cackled as she spat out thick sprouts of blood. Another hit to the temple. "I'm fucking invincible. You think you can hurt me? I've died and come back to life, and you failed to navigate a fucking maze. I can manipulate people's weapons and all you can do is throw a fist! You're pathetic."
"Fuck you!" Clarrise cried, her hands coated in Regina's blood. She swung again and Regina could feel her eye throbbing in pain, but she loved it. Boy, did she miss this kind of violence. Her school had a strict 'not physical assault' policy that made Regina want to die. What was life without a bit of violence?
"Hit me again, punk!" Regina howled with laughter as crimson blood poured from the corners of her mouth. She was sure she'd lost a tooth, but she quickly swiped her tongue over her teeth and found them all intact. "You know dad made me come up here to clean your mess? You're so pathetic that you're refusing to fight over a fucking chariot? You're an idiot!"
"It's a dishonour against our cabin!" Clarrise shouted, her eyebrows furrowed in pure fury. It was an ugly sight to see and made Regina chuckle more. She was laughing like a maniac and she was in her element.
"Boy! Did I miss you," Regina laughed, much to Clarisse's confusion. "I'm petty, but man are you worse. Ares is so disappointed in you, but when was that a new thing, right Clarrise?"
"You're nothing compared to me!" Clarrise roared, digging her uneven nails into Regina's wrists, drawing blood. "You're weak. Look at you, on the floor and dripping with blood. Dad would be so disappointed to find out his 'Golden Child' can't take a few hits."
Regina stiffled a laugh. "You're right, Clarisse. Truce?"
She held up her gory hand in a shake formation, and as Clarrise was about to take it, Regina swung an uppercut straight underneath Clarrise's chin, smashing her teeth together at the impact. This made Clarrise fly off of her and Regina stood up, kicking Clarrise's face with the side of her boot. She took the opportunity of Clarrise lying on the floor and stomped on her face, causing Clarrise to cry out in pain. "Can't take a few hits?"
She grabbed Clarrise by the hair and dragged her out of the cabin, throwing her into the shallow pond. People turned round to look at the commotion as Regina swung at her temple and hit her left eye with a hysterical laugh. "Who's weak now? Cmon Clarrise, get up."
She was about to elbow her between the eyes, but a set of arms wrapped around her torso in a gripping clasp and dragged her back before she could do so. "Hey, get the fuck off me!"
She noticed a piece of blonde hair fall to her shoulders and relaxed a little. She didn't know she was mad until now. She was whirled around and forced to face her friend Annabeth. It wasn't such a bad sight. It was refreshing after seeing Clarrise's bull face. "I have so many questions, Gi. Come with me."
ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀs ɴᴏᴛᴇ
Regina beating up Clarrise was amazing she stays winning fuck Clarrise.
Anyway, can't wait for more Regina anger issues moments she really started a fight on her first five minutes back. That's like a new record.
Don't forget to like and comment! Those comments really keep me motivated :)