》Impertinence, The Greatest Asset For Anti-Bullying
Natalia didn't know what to make of the camp. There was so much happiness, but she could feel the death radiating off the fields and ground. She didn't know how she could tell, but this place had faced war. She could feel the lingering atmosphere of dampness left by the souls that had descended to the Underworld. If there was a proven Underworld. And then there was the fact that, apparently, the camp was magically in the middle of springtime.
"Lacy?" She asked her tour guide and new friend as they walked towards the cabins to continue the tour.
The blonde girl looked at her curiously. "Yes, Natalia?"
"Who do you―" she faltered, wondering if she dared ask the question at all, especially if she so feared the answer she could receive. "Who do you think my godly parent is?"
Lacy stopped to think, when she saw something over Natalia's shoulder, paling. "Come on, Natalia. We should go."
"Can you just answer the―"
"Now, what do we have here?"
Natalia froze, and could see Lacy stiffen up as well, neither of them letting a single muscle relax as the small group of boys circled them, and she could see their swords glinting in the sunlight as clearly as the day. They could hurt her, and she'd be defenseless.
She stepped backwards, into a patch of flowering pumpkin vines, where she stumbled over a rock and fell onto her back. The boys turned all their attention to her, and, stepping into the flower patch, advanced quickly.
One of them sneered. "Weakling. You're just a wimp. Just like Lacy the Lame, here." He jutted his thumb in the blonde girl's direction, but she was gone.
So much for making friends, Natalia thought angrily. But why would anyone want to make friends with her? She was just a nobody. Natalia the Nobody, that's good, she thought sarcastically.
Another of the boys noted that the other girl was gone and scoffed. "Even Lacy wasn't lame enough for you. Gee, that's something new."
"Stop," Natalia said, but it came out louder than she thought.
The last boy gave her an amused smirk. "What was that?"
She was at her breaking point. "I said, 'stop'."
"Isn't that adorable?" The second boy rolled his eyes. "She's trying to be confident."
"Well," Natalia began icily, having had quite enough. "I'm surprised an idiot like you knows what a big word like that means. Can you spell that, too?"
"Uh, K- O- N- F- I- D- I―" "It begins with a 'C', halfwit. Oh, I guess that's what the 'Half' is for you. Half-brained."
It took the other two boys a few moments to get it, but they began snickering, and their laughing only grew louder as the one who tried to spell pushed Natalia to the ground.
"You trying to insult me? Huh?!" He grabbed her by her hoodie, but she didn't thrash around, knowing that it would only cause bad things.
"Yes," she answered simply. "I am quite impertinent when it comes to bullies. You should be well-aware that I am just as impertinent as you need me to be for you to shut up."
The bullies kicked her as they threw her back onto the ground, and although she knew they would leave bruises, they were nothing some time and patience couldn't fix. But the final blow is what really stung.
"I bet you're just an orphan that doesn't have anyone! That's why you turned to Lacy the Lame for help. You know how pathetic that is?" He sneered, and she snapped.
She clenched her fists to her sides. The ground began to shake, and the boys lost their grip on her as it rose and fell, the same black cracks forming out of the ground where she stood, just like before. They split open, and the same green vines wriggled from out of it, and curled around her, circling her. The spring wind seemed to be picking up, and her hair whipped around wildly as the vines curled around her arms and to her hands. The girl's eyes flashed a poison ivy green, and she thrust her hands in the boys' direction. The vines obeyed her command, curling towards the boys, and tightly wrapping around them.
Natalia didn't take notice of the crowd that was starting to form, all people that Lacy had asked for help as she had run to Chiron to break up the fighting that she knew would ensue.
"I am not a nobody. I am not an orphan. I know real heroes. If you knew anything about heroism, you would know not to judge people based on who they were, what they looked like, or how they grew up. You don't know me at all. If you were anything like those heroes you idolize, you would know that they weren't great until they quit the jerk act and became what they are known as today. Why don't you try?"
She released them from their prisons of greenery, and they ran as fast as they could. Natalia felt dizzy as the vines shrunk back into the ground, and she sank to her knees, feeling horrible at her internal glee that she had finally stood up for herself, but at the cost of hurting others.
How could I do this? She asked herself mentally. This isn't me!
She curled up into a ball in the flower patch, her breathing quickening. Her conscience of the angel and devil argued back and forth over whether it was right or wrong, and she didn't know who to side with. The bare thought of agreeing with the devil was nauseating.
The nausea overwhelmed her, and she fell onto her side, blacked out.
The cold was the first thing that Natalia could sense. It was chilly, and there seemed to be a draft right above her, or at least an air vent. Then came the sound, the scuttling of someone shuffling around. The stale smell of isopropyl alcohol flooded her senses, and she forced herself not to gag, no matter how much she hated the scent. There was nothing to taste, just the lingering bitterness from dried blood.
Must've had a bloody nose, she inferred, her sense of sight now kicking in, but at the wrong second, as she turned her head upwards, to stare directly at the light.
"Ah!" The brunette girl cried out, shielding her eyes from the blinding brightness of the light. She was temporarily blinded, and ended up falling off the cot.
A blond boy ran up to her, gently helping her lay back down onto the cot. "Shhh. Just relax. There are other patients here, too, you know," he said quietly, but loud enough for her to hear.
Natalia turned her head to the side, groaning in pain. "Where am I?"
"The infirmary at Camp Half-Blood. You overexerted your powers, and was brought here after you collapsed of exhaustion." The boy explained, rewrapping the bandages on her arms.
She cursed under her breath. "I was hoping it was all just a bad dream." She muttered, slamming her fist onto the mattress out of frustration.
"You can go now. Just eat this before you go, and take one before you go to bed tonight. Do not take more than a square. If you eat too much, you'll spontaneously combust into flames." He warned her, and helped her sit up again, placing a bag of what looked like lemon squares on the bed next to her. "You'll be a little sore, so go lightly on training, m'kay?"
The hazel-eyed girl nodded, and swung her legs off the cot, and her headache came back. She shook her head, trying to ignore the pain, and popped one of the lemon squares into her mouth, surprised by what it tasted like.
The blond boy smiled as she blinked in disbelief, slowly chewing on the odd-tasting food. "What does it taste like?"
She realized he may not have had it before. "I'm so sorry, did you want one?"
He chuckled, shaking his head. "It tastes different for everyone. Like their favorite food."
Natalia nodded, savoring the flavor. "My brother's favorite homemade pastry. Warm vatrushka."
The boy nodded, and watched as she stood up to walk out the infirmary door. He gave her an encouraging smile, and returned to his other patients.
As soon as Natalia stepped outside, she was greeted with sunshine. Immediately, she felt rejuvenated and tireless. There was this light airy warmth that was in the atmosphere that made everything seem very happy and rejoiceful.
For a minute, she just stood there, relishing in the warmth. She caught a few stares, but merely ignored them, and wandered around, having lost Lacy.
She found herself in the strawberry patch that she and Lacy had passed previously during their tour. As soon as she was within two feet, the plants went nuts, sprouting like weeds. She smiled, and sat down, the plants inching closer to be next to her, as if she was giving out the most delicious plant food known to plants. Wherever she stepped, flowers grew in her wake, and she looked back, crouching down to smell their sweet perfumes.
"Garden powers, huh? Demeter kid?"
She whipped around to face the voice, finding a random dude she had never seen before. She gave him an amused look. "Why are you talking to me? I was dubbed a 'nobody'. You should be talking to somebodies, not nobodies."
He smiled, his multicolored eyes shining. "I don't think you're a nobody. You seem like a somebody. So, I can talk to you if I want to," he argued, smiling radiantly.
The brunette girl shook her head, a smile spreading across her face. "I'm Natalia. Nice to meet you, stranger," she said warmly, holding out her hand for him to shake.
He shook her hand, smiling back as they sat in the strawberry patch, dirt staining their jeans. "A pleasure to meet you as well, Natalia. I'm Mitchell. Please don't judge me just because of who my godly parent is, but... I'm a son of Aphrodite," he muttered, lowering his gaze to the ground, where he began playing with blades of grass that shot up from the fertile soil.
She smiled gently at his insecurity. "No need to worry. I won't judge you if you don't judge me. I can assure you, I probably have the worst possible godly parent."
Mitchell laughed, his chuckle warm and welcoming. "Then, you'd be my sister. Aphrodite once found all our social media profiles and sent us all a message saying, 'Like my selfie or you're grounded.' Talk about parent goals. At least my dad was pretty sane," he joked, and the brunette girl smiled.
"Well, I guess my mom's a goddess, because I actually knew my dad." She paused to think. "Actually, I didn't really. He was a politician, so I never really saw him around. He was always really busy. At least you had your parent around. For the majority of my younger years, it was just my brothers and I."
Mitchell gave her a friendly sideways hug, immediately apologizing afterwards, remembering they just met. "Sorry, it's just really kind of instinctive. I come from a family of huggers and―"
Natalia cut him off by giving him a real hug, smiling. "It's okay. I like hugs. You're a good guy, Mitchell. You shouldn't let anyone else tell you otherwise. Or judge you because of your mom."
He hugged back after being startled for a second, and they stayed like that, just hugging in the strawberry patches as they merely enjoyed having a new friend.
"By the way, that show that you put on earlier? Where you nearly strangled those guys? They totally deserved it."
"Mitchell, anger overwhelmed me and I―"
"Not my fault my new best friend is just learning to be dangerous more quickly than others."
"Oh, my gods, Mitchell!"