Avery's POV
I tapped my pencil on my bottom lip, as I laid sprawled out on the floor with papers everywhere. “What did you get for number six?” I asked, looking up at Luke who was on my bed, working on the same project that i was. Camp Half Blood wasn’t as much as a summer camp as you’d think, they drill you with Monster Fighting classes which include small studying, homework and tests.
Luke shrugged, which was impressive as he was hanging upside down off my bed. I smiled when i saw him, his hair hanging from his head in a really cute way. “I’m bored.” He instead stated.
This being the fifth time that he’s mentioned he was bored, i gave him a look before sighing and rolling onto my back, staring up at my ceiling. “Okay so what do you want to do?”
“We could watch a movie?" He suggested.
"I don't have a tv in here, you know how much technology messes with us.."
"Oh." Luke frowned then grinned."What about that iPad that you have? The one that Brianna hooked up to block out a signal for monsters?"
My face brightened. "Oh yeah!" I hopped up then dug through the chest at the foot of my bed then found the case for it. I took out the iPad then hopped onto the bed next to Luke who had set pillows by the headrest so we could use it to lean back on. He opened his arms and I smiled before snuggling besides him as we searched through movies until we found one that we want. Luke set some pillows in front of us to prop the iPad up then snuggled next to me as we watched.
While we watched, I couldn't help but smile as Luke brought me closer to him. I loved it when we cuddled. Luke had a strong heartbeat that was alway so comforting and his arm was always tightly around me. Throughout the movie, I got bored and started to trace patterns on Luke's chest on top of his shirt. I saw him smile when I started but he didn't tell me to stop so I kept doing it.
After a while, my hand started to get tired so I laid it flat on his chest, my thoughts to myself.
His necklace suddenly caught my eye and I moved my hand up to finger to beads. "What even are these for?" I asked.
Luke looked down at my hands to see what I was talking about. "Every camper gets one." He said as he started to take off his necklace and show me it. "Each bead symbolizes a year a camp. And the picture on the bead symbolizes the most eventful thing at camp." He explained, pointing at the different colored beads. "The cabin counselors vote on the most significant thing and then that's what we put on it. Since you're the only one of your cabin, your a counselor and you'll get to come to the meeting. The meeting should be soon. Actually," He frowned, thinking for a moment. “It should be tomorrow.”
I nodded, showing that I understood then looked up to see his face. "Will I get one?" I asked. "A necklace I mean?"
Even though I had been at camp for a long time, I didn't hear about the necklaces. I knew that Annabeth and Luke always wore theirs but I never saw other campers wear it, I always assumed it was some sort of friendship thing but I'd never asked.
He nodded at my question then started to put his necklace back on. "Every camper gets one at the end of the year. You should actually be getting one soon, camp ends next week."
By now the movie was long forgotten.
I groaned, lying my head on his chest again. "Don't remind me." I moaned. "I don't want it to end."
Luke smiled then started to play with my hair as he spoke. "Have you thought about if you want to go year round?"
There was a silence for a moment while i thought. "I don't know..." I said unsure.
"Most of the kids go back to their mortal parents and go back to school," Luke explained. "But there are some that stay and train year round. We have classes here too that can count as school education."
I nodded thoughtfully while he spoke.
"So what do you think?" He asked as he tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. "Do you want to stay or go back out into the real world?"
"Chiron has been hinting that it will probably be too dangerous for me outside of camp. He wants me to train more."
"But do you want to stay?" Luke pressed gently. "It's your decision, not his."
"Are you going to stay?"
Luke chuckled then nodded. "Yeah I'm a year round camper.
I sighed, relieved, "Then I'm going to stay too."
His face suddenly became serious, his hand growing still before he sat up while I followed, confused, wondering what was wrong. "You're not only staying because of me are you?" He asked, then quickly added, "I mean I love that you want to, but I don't want to force you into anything. If you want to go outside the camp, then you should."
"Awe Luke." I gushed then leaned forwards and gave him a soft kiss on his lips before pulling away. "You're sweet. But I think I really want to stay. I mean- it's not like I have anywhere to go back to.
"You're sure?" He pressed sweetly.
I smiled again then kissed him once more, letting my lips linger on his for a little longer. Lukes head lifted toward me a little bit, meaning he enjoyed the kiss. When I pulled away, he slowly fluttered his eyes open. "I'm sure." I told him.
He smiled then leaned forwards and kissed my nose. I smiled back then crawled off the bed, sitting back down on the floor. "So what did you get for number six?"
Luke groaned, flopping back down in the bed. "I thought we were done."
"Correction, you're done."
"Why can't I just give you the answers?" He complained.
"Because I don't want to have to clean up the dishes!" I responded. "You know how strict Mr. D is, plus, he hates me."
Luke rolled his eyes. "Honestly Avery, he hates everyone."
"Come on, what did you get for number six?"
He sighed before grabbing his backpack and searching for his assigning, he opens his mouth to tell me what he got, but he was interrupted by someone entering the room.
Luna walked in casually but as soon as she saw Luke, her eyes narrowed and a low growl left her lips.
I scowled at her.
Ever since my date with Luke, when we snuck out after curfew, Luna had been acting more hostile towards him. She had always acted oddly around him, and other boys, but now it seemed like she didn’t want Luke around me unless she was there, and she always gave him hostile looks that freaked him out.
“You know better than to be in a room alone with a boy.” Luna growled lowly at me.
I rolled my eyes. “It’s just Luke, Luna.”
Another growl rumbled in her throat. “Exactly.”
Luke sat up from the bed, looking warily at Luna. He hated it when Luna and i talked together in front of him because, unlike me, he couldn’t understand what Luna was saying. He just heard growls, snarls and moving of her head as communication. It freaked him out not knowing what she was saying, but I talked normally to her as if she was human.
"Umm... I'm gonna uh... Go." Luke said, slowly starting to get up, gathering his things and swinging his backpack over his shoulder."Bye Avery." He leaned down to kiss my cheek but the glanced at Luna and swallowed before leaning away and leaving.
My eyes followed him out the door until he disappeared from sight. I turned to Luna, glaring. "Did you have to do that?"
She seemed to be fully relaxed now and walked in circles a few times before slumping onto her dog bed that I had for her. "Yes." She simply replied.
Once again, i scowled at her. “I don’t know why you have to be so rude to him. What’s your problem with him anyway?”
For some odd reason, Luna hesitated before turning sitting up and looking at me. “I just want the best for you, Little Star.”
I sighed, seeing a look of hurt in her eyes. “I know you do, but Luke is amazing. I’m actually well, happy with him. I Know you want to help me, but i promise that Luke would never do anything to hurt me.”
Luna held my gaze for a minute longer before curling back up again. “I know, Little Star,” She said softly, “but we can’t let our feelings cloud our judgement.”
My mouth opened, ready to fight back, but my mouth shut when she answered me. I was about to ask her what she meant by that, but i shook it off, or at least tried to.
The next day came quickly, the activities passing by with lightning speed. Grey and I hung out by the beach for our free time then went over and played the Apollo cabin in basketball and got our butts handed to us on a gold platter.
Once lunch was over, it was time for the senior counselor to meet in the Rec Room
Someone knocked on my door, the short taps close together. "Come on Avery!" I heard Annabeth yell. "We're going to be late!"
"Coming!" I yelled as I walked towards the door, braiding my hair down my back as I walked. When I opened the door, just finishing wrapping the elastic around the end, I paused. "Annabeth?" I called out. She was no where to be seek.
A smirk tugged at my lips as I closed my eyes, opened my enhanced senses, listening. When I heard someone breathing, and small steps walking towards me, i smiled to myself then rolled to the right just as someone jumped at me.
I hopped back up, easily like a gymnasts as I heard a loud "Ump" as someone rolled into the door. Annabeth's Yankee's hat fell of her head, making her turn visible again. I laughed at the awkward position that she was in.
"Oh ire ad corvos, Avery." She hissed, which translated to “go to the crows” and it was much more offensive than you’d the. She stood up and snatched her cap off the ground.
Still laughing a little bit, I shrugged. "I told you you'll never get me."
"You cheat." She muttered brushing her cap off before shoving it in her back pocket.
"Then you cheat in Capture the flag." I teased, ruffling the top of her head. "Using your abilities isn't cheating"
A small smile tugged on Annabeth's face. "Come on," she fixed her hair. "We gotta go. We're going to be late."
I smiled as we started to the Rec Center, talking and laughing. Annabeth was about six years younger than I was but I loved her to death. She was like a little sister to me. We didn't talk as much as I would like, but Annabeth was one of the few people that was still my friend after my claiming. And I appreciated her for that.
When we walked in, I smiled when I saw Luke and left Annabeth to go sit by him.
"Hey." Luke grinned as I sat down next to him.
"Hi." I responded, smiling too then blushed as he kissed my cheek then intertwined our fingers.
Silena gushed across from us. "You guys are so cute together!" She squealed.
"Yeah, you guys are so cute I want to puke." Thalia muttered, picking at the Ping Pong table that we used as the table for the counselors, Chiron and Mr. D to sit at.
Annabeth nudged her. "It's cute." She scolded. "Stop. And you know you think they're cute together."
Thalia rolled her eyes, but a smile tugged at her lips, betraying her. She then turned to Luke, her face serious again as she pointed an accusing finger at her. "You break her heart, and I don't care what we've been through, Castellan, I'll crush you."
Luke smiled, used to her personality then squeezed my hand, looking sweetly at me. "Would dream of it."
"I want a cute relationship when I'm older." Annabeth grumbled.
"Oh you will," I told her perkily. "And I will ship it straight to Tartarus."
Annabeth scoffed playfully.
Smiling, I looked up at the rest of the table to see Clarisse sharpening a knife, glaring at everyone, Beckendorf making something with his hands under the table, Lee Fletcher wrapping and unwrapping his hand in a gauze; clearly bored. Silena was staring at Luke and I with a dreamy expression; while muttering about how cute we were, Katie Gardner from the Demeter cabin was in the corner trying to regrow the plant that was wilting, and finally, Nico was sitting in the back, hands in his pockets and head down. Luke sat to my right while Annabeth sat to my left, Thalia next to her. At the head of the table, it was empty, everyone waiting for Chiron and Mr. D to show up.
Finally, Chiron walked in the doors, full centaur form. "Alright campers, let's get this started."
Annabeth's hand suddenly shot up as he took his place at the head of the table.
Chiron raised an eyebrow but called on her. "Yes, Annabeth?"
"Where's Mr. D?"
"Not joining us." Chiron answered.
"Thank goodness." Thalia muttered under her breath and I giggled while Chiron gave her a look, obviously hearing her. He cleared his throat then started to speak again,
"Mr. D is attending matters of his own-"
Katie spoke up, "You mean playing Pac-Man?"
Chiron sighed. "Yes. Now-"
Once again he was interrupted.
Beckendorf chuckled, "He plays that thing so much I'm surprised it hasn't broken."
The Camp director tried again, "Yes well-"
Lee looked up from the gauze, cutting Chiron off. "Did he invent it?"
Annabeth answered. "No, a man named Tōru Iwatani did in the 1980's it first came out in Japan."
Thalia paused from picking at the table. "How do you even know that?"
"I don't know." Annabeth shrugged sheepishly. "I used to play it and I was... curious."
Chiron tried to speak again but his mouth was only half way open before Clarisse spoke.
"Who cares who invented the stupid thing?" She groaned.
"Ah come on Clarisse," Luke jumped in. "Like you've never played it."
Her eyes narrowed at him. "I-"
"Children!" Chiron yelled, stamping his hoof on the ground, making everyone stop their arguing immediately and then to look at him, eyes wide. He took a deep breath in, calming himself. "We do not need to discuss the matter of Mr. D's absence." He paused then gave Lee a look. "Or who invented Pac-Man."
Lee gave an embarrassed grin, while Clarisse muttered under her breath. "Told you."
Thalia's eyes narrowed at her as she held a finger towards her, letting a shock of electricity fly through her finger and shock Clarisse.
"Ouch!" Clarisse yelled, shaking her hand while Luke, Annabeth and I tried to hide our laughing, Thalia's arms crossed over her chest, smirking as she crossed her feet on the table.
Chiron cleared his throat, giving the four of us a warning look before continuing to speak. "We need to talk about the ending of this Camp year, and what we need to put on this years bead."
Immediately the campers started to talk at once, sharing ideas of what we could put on the bead. My head spun at how many people were talking, so i didn't try to single someone's voice out.
"Now, now," Chiron tried to stop everyone. "One at a time."
"What about when Avery was claimed?" Nico suddenly muttered from the corner. Everyone's heads turned to him surprised as he never spoke in meetings or hardly ever unless he was with Grey. Then their heads turned to me.
I blushed stinking down in my chair from all the attention.
Lee nodded thoughtfully. "I mean, it's not every day that we get a child of Artemis."
Everyone started to nod, agreeing with him.
"On the bead, we could put a crescent moon with an arrow going through it," Silena suggested.
Beckendorf nodded thoughtfully. "The bead could be the usual size, we could be able to make them pretty easily in the forges."
"Painting them would be easy," Annabeth agreed. "We could make it silver with... blue maybe?"
"I don't think-" I started to speak, trying to get them to change their minds, embarrassed that the bead would be about me, but Luke cut me off.
"All in favor for the first daughter of Artemis to be on the bead?" He announced in a commanding voice.
Everyone raised their hands except Clarisse and myself.
Chiron looked surprised at how quickly everyone had voted. "Then it's settled. Beckendorf, could how soon could you make the beads?"
"We can finish them by Sunday. It will take a little bit of time to get the molds and to fire them. But we should be able to finish them pretty soon." We'll have to hold off personal projects, but we should be able to get them done as soon as possible, Chiron."
"Thank you," Chiron nodded to him then looked over at Annabeth. "And how long will it take the Athena cabin to paint them?"
"All of them?" Annabeth asked then thought for a moment. "I'd say Wednesday. Most of the Athena kids are finishing up packing but Wednesday by the latest."
My cheeks were flushed bright red while Luke just squeezed my hand.
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A/N: Sorry just a filler. Better stuff will come soon I promise! Thanks for reading dolls!
-Breann