Don't Need Your Sass! (CLOSED)

POV: Fletch Kealoha

The bright yellow sun beat down on Camp intensely today. I could feel it's gentle rays brushing the back of my neck as I walked from the Arena back to the Apollo cabin. Of course, I didn't mind the sun at all. It felt homely and natural as it kissed my skin. I couldn't help but feel thankful for my roots. Being a child of the Sun God and also Hawaiian had it's perks for avoiding sun burns without the dire need for sunscreen.
I wiped a hand across my forehead to wipe some sweat across my face. I was coming back from combat training, and that was always the activity that made me the most sweaty. My old orange camp shirt, frayed and cut up from multiple battle training activities clung to my back uncomfortably. Every so often I would reach behind and try to air it out in the humid weather. Sadly, there was no breeze today, so it didn't really do anything for me.

I entered the square formation of the cabins and eagerly made my way to the golden one that mirrored the suns valiance like a pool of crystal clear water. I couldn't wait to be in the comfort of the cabin again, and to change into some cleaner and less sweaty clothes.
I jogged up the porch with ease, like I had done it a hundred times before and wrapped my hand around the golden door knob. With a hard tug, the door swung open smoothly and a gust of cool air blew into my face. I couldn't help but let a satisfied groan as I slumped into the room with my usual goofy grin plastered on my face. I shut the door behind me as I entered the cabin.

The first thing I realized was the song that was playing on the radio. Penelope Barnes' new single. I had heard it a couple times being played on the radio. It was super catchy, and I hummed along as I strode in and towards my bed. I nodded in greeting to my siblings who were letting the music move them before I suddenly realized there was a face I didn't recognize, belonging to a girl I'd never met before who was laying on a bed with colourful bed sheets.
I noticed her pink lips pulled into a smirk, and I couldn't help but wonder what she could be smirking about. I knew she was a new sister of mine, and that sent a thrilling sense of excitement through my body. I couldn't help but smile at the realization. Forgetting to put on some cleaner clothes, I strode over to her bed and sat down next to her on the floor and crossed my legs.
"Hi!" I said enthusiastically, keeping my smile pressed onto my face. "I'm Fletch... Your new brother, I guess. I mean, I assume you're a daughter of Apollo... I figured because you looked so at home you were. If you're not, it's cool... But I think you might be in the wrong cabin." I paused for a moment, realizing that in all of my excitement I had started to ramble. "Uh... What's your name?"

(It's all god!)

The girl pushed back her honey blonde hair before she took a moment to answer me. I waited patiently, letting the chorus of the song on the radio fill my ears, but not fully process. I began tapping my fingers along with the song subconsciously.
"Yes, I was just claimed the other day, and my name is Penelope." She answered. I let the corner of my mouth turn up into a grin, my body still buzzing with excitement. Gods, getting new siblings was so great. I couldn't help but find it ironic that the girl had the same name as the artist on the radio, but then, the songs sometimes changed depending on the inner thoughts and feelings of the Apollo children. Maybe it had been trying to hint her name to me before I asked her for it.
"Penelope... Like Penelope Barnes?" I joked with a wink as I tilted my head towards the radio. "Well, welcome to the cabin, Penelope. It's cool to have you here." I let my hand place itself on the back of my neck, trailing my fingers across the ends of my dark hair.
"I'm the Cabin Leader around here... So if you have any questions don't be afraid to ask," I was still completely not used to being Cabin Leader, and saying that I was felt weird to me. Whoever thought it was a good idea to give me the responsibility of organizing my cabin and picking the activities for our schedule must have been seriously loco. I mean, half the time I didn't know what I was doing, so when people DID come up to me with questions, I pretty much looked like an idiot. I didn't let Penelope know that, though. I felt it was better to have her confidence in me upon our first meeting.
I shot another quick, friendly smile her way as my hand dropped back down into my lap.

I pursed my lips, at her question, knitting my eyebrows together slightly in thought as I dropped my gaze from her pretty green eyes (ooc: I think they're green? Correct me if I'm wrong.) to look at nothing at all in the direction of the floor. What fun things were there at camp? That was kind of a big question, considering Camp was filled with fun things.
"I guess that depends on what you like to do," I spoke after thinking for awhile. I tried to sift through all of the locations at camp that could be categorized under 'fun'. The fact that I had just met Penelope, and had no idea what she was like, or what she liked didn't help in any way of knowing what to tell her.
"There's the Lake. That's a pretty cool place. Great for sun-bathing. Or... The Arts and Crafts center if you're into art. Some people find the Climbing wall fun... I personally don't but that's because every time I try to climb it I nearly kill myself. We have Pegasi... They're not easy to ride, but it's totally fun." I brought my gaze back up to her to see if any of my suggestions had lit a spark in her eyes.

I couldn't help but fidget with my damp camp shirt again. It was becoming super uncomfortable now as the sweat started to dry, becoming cold on my warmer skin. I lifted myself from the ground, but decided to keep talking so she'd know I wasn't ignoring her. Luckily she had chosen a bed near mine so I didn't have to walk far to get to my dresser and pick out a tank top with a graphic of a palm tree silhouette in front of a sunset backdrop.
"The amphitheater is a great place to chill out... I really like taking my violin there to practice. Every night the Apollo cabin hosts a sing along at the amphitheater, but since you've been here a couple days you probably know that. Anyway, the acoustics there are great!" I pulled my orange shirt over my head with my back turned towards her, exposing the large scar on my shoulder I forgot I had. Normally, in front of any other camper I wouldn't care if they saw, but scars like that weren't as natural to most new campers. Upon remembering I had it, I quickly turned to the side and threw my clean shirt over my head. "Do you play any instruments? Sing? You might really like participating in the sing along." I turned back to face her and made my way back over to sit where I had been before. This time I brought my knees up near my chest and rested my elbows on them to let my arms hang limp.

I was more relieved than anything to find that Penelope didn't seem to think I was ignoring her. I wondered what she was writing in her notebook, but didn't dare try to sneak a peek. I lived in a cabin with six, now seven sisters. Privacy was one of the most valuable things here. I was taught too well by my grandparents back in New York City to be that annoyingly nosy brother going through peoples private affairs.
My grandmother forced it into my brain a long time ago that going through peoples things was not an okay thing to do. She had always kept a lot of diaries on a bookshelf in her room. One day, a much younger version of myself, with a lot less common sense had walked into my grandparents room on a rainy evening, in a desperate attempt to find something interesting to do. Naturally, I found myself in front of a book shelf filled with the inner thoughts and feelings of my grandmother. I was going to pick one off the shelf, but I was too short and ended up causing an avalanche of diaries to topple over me. My grandmother came in to see what the noise was, and the angered expression on her face was enough to turn me off from poking my nose into others written down secrets for the rest of my life.

Penelope asked me when the sing along started, not putting down her notebook. I looked at the clock that hung over the golden door of our cabin, reading the Ancient Greek numbers easily.
"It starts after after the Camp Activity, which is Capture the Flag tonight, and that's after dinner, which is starting super soon." I was rather excited for this Capture The Flag. Lot's of stuff always happened when Capture the Flag was played. Like the time Luke and I had nearly been choked to death by killer tree's. That was a long time ago now. I wondered how the teams would be split up this time, and what our team would plan to win. I always loved being on the defensive side. That was the best place to be if you were an archer. You could hide in bushes and tree's and totally take the opponent by surprise.
I was also excited to see how Penelope would play. Sometimes Capture the Flag would help spark a new camper to integrate more into camp. Especially if their team won. I didn't know how competitive Penelope was, or how determined, but that was definitely the time I would find out.

Before I could say anything else, as if on cue the deep and thunderous blow of the conch shell sounded over camp to signify the start of Dinner. My stomach gave a low growl in response to the familiar stimulus, and a happy grin played on my face.
"Looks like soup's on!" I hoisted myself to my feet, nearly toppling over as my head spun from getting up too enthusiastically. Woah... I steadied myself with a slight shake of my head before offering my hand to Penelope.
"Care to join us for some grindes?" I invited, before remembering that barely anyone knew what I was talking about when I used my Hawaiian words. "er- good food," I corrected with an awkward smile.

I excitedly followed her to the door, after I had quickly scooped up my violin from my bed and swung it over my shoulder. I was happy I had earned a smile from her. I was also glad that she was just as hungry as I was, at least it seemed that way from the sound her stomach had produced.
When I got to the door, I gave a strong push, and it slid open smoothly again, leaving the summer evening light to burst through the cabin. Instantly I was hit by the warm air of the outside, but as the afternoon progressed to evening, the air was becoming less thickly humid and more warm. Now it was beautiful out, and I couldn't help but take a deep breath in to fill my lungs with the fresh camp air.

I walked beside Penelope as we made our way to the dining pavilion among the crowd of demigods also exiting their cabins to grab their grub. As we walked I stuffed my hands in my pockets of my jean Capri pants, leaving my thumbs out to tap the beat of the Penelope Barnes song that was now stuck in my head subconsciously as I walked.
Soon, we found ourselves in front of the dining area. Demigods had piled in to sit with their cabins as usual. I took the chance to glance around, spotting my friends sitting with their siblings. I led the way through the crowds, nodding hello's and aloha's to those who greeted me as I walked by.
I soon found my way to the familiar Apollo cabin and took a seat near the end of the table, where there was also an open spot for Penelope on the opposite side right in front of me. I quickly greeted my sisters before my stomach growled an unnecessary reminder. I glanced at my empty plate wishing for a turkey dinner just like you would have on thanks giving. Instantly a mound of fluffy white mashed potatoes and two steaming turkey drumsticks covered in thick gravy appeared in front of me. On the side of the plate lay a corn on the cob, lathered in butter. Gods, what a glorious dinner. My mouth began to water, and I picked up my fork, stabbing my potatoes and shoving the delectable supper into my mouth.
When I had finished chewing and swallowed, I looked up at Penelope.
"So, how's camp life treating you? I ask because I know how overwhelming it can be. Hell, when I first came I spent my first year hidden away from the Demigods and spent most of my time in the forest with the Nymphs and Satyrs."

A saddened expression crept onto my face as Penelope answered my question. I could feel my eyebrows turn up, and the corners of my mouth tug downward slightly as I finished chewing on a part of my turkey drumstick. When I swallowed I set it down, and wiped my greasy fingers on a napkin set beside me.
Curiosity tugged at my mind as I thought about her words. Penelope looked to be about my age, so when I heard her speaking about her career I instantly got confused. How important of a career could she have had at our age? Usually people our age only got part time jobs, not full on careers. I also felt a wash of sympathy hit me like a heavy rainfall when she talked about the boy she had met.
"Your career... What was it?" I asked curiously. "I mean, it sounds super important. How do you know it's going down the drain?" I paused for a moment to think about how to reply to her other worry she had voiced.
"...And yeah, guy's are complicated," I said with a halfheartedly lopsided grin, which was meant to convey my sympathies for her tough time with this guy she had met. I couldn't help but think about how terrified I was to screw anything up with the crush I had on a guy who was also one of my best friends. I noticed I had dropped my gaze to my food as I thought about him. I lifted it to meet Penelope's glance again. "Did you guys... Like each other? Or was it a one-sided thing? Because those suck... There'd be a lot more hope for you if you both had feelings for each other, y'know?" I began to wonder who this mystery guy was, but I didn't want to bombard her with more questions so I let it be for now. I scooped up some more of my mashed potatoes onto my fork and started to eat, now that I was finished talking.

I listened to her talk about tours and fans, and the realization quickly dawned on me that she actually WAS Penelope Barnes and didn't just share a name with her. I couldn't help but let my eyes widen a bit in surprise. The Penelope Barnes was my half sister? No way.
I watched her play with her hair as she continued on to tell me about her realationship with the guy she was worrying about. It sounded like something out of a movie, really. I wondered why they'd gone out of camp to go on their date. Being attacked was kind of inevitable, and I still wondered who the guy was. I was about to ask when she requested I talk about my love life.
I could feel a bright blush prickle at my cheeks at the mention. Nervously my hands started going into overdrive, using my fork to play with my mashed potatoes instead of eating them. I realized I couldn't lie to Penelope. She had been truthful with me, so I needed to be truthful to her. At least, as truthful as she had been to me.
I glanced up at her, keeping my head down slightly. Man, talking about this was hard.
"M-my love life?" I repeated, just to make sure I had heard right. It unfortunately looked like I had. I sighed and ran my free hand up the back of my neck, trying to figure out how to say it.
"My love life is... Sort of a train wreck too... I mean, I've never really liked anyone before, not like this, but the one time I do end up getting a crush on someone, it's for this guy who I consider to be one of my best friends." At all costs I avoided lifting my gaze to the Zeus table as I talked, already feeling that every ear in the dining hall was directed at me as I spoke about it. It wasn't because I was talking about liking a guy, either. No, I didn't care if people knew I liked a guy. It was because of the guy I was talking about that I was getting so nervous.
"And I don't know if I should tell him? Or if that would just mess everything up, because I really don't want to lose him as a friend... Or make things awkward between us. Plus, I don't think he feels the same way, or will ever feel the same way." I gave another halfhearted lopsided smile, which felt a lot more awkward than I had meant for it to. "See? Guy's are complicated."
My mouth felt dry, so I reached for the cup that was placed beside my plate, but realized it was empty. I wished for it to be filled with my favourite comfort drink, Fruit Punch Arizona. The glass immediately obeyed me and I took a sip of the sweet tasting fruity drink.