Chapter 60: The First Day of Summer

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The beginning of June meant demigods coming to Camp Half-Blood for the summer, new campers and old campers. For the school year, there were so few of them. But over the course of the next few days, those numbers reached well over a hundred.

The Apollo cabin now housed Will, Kayla, Austin, Brooke, Rosemary, Jerry, Gracie, and Yan. Jerry, Gracie and Yan were new to Camp, and they all got claimed not long after they arrived.

When Brooke came back, Will was waiting for her. As soon as he saw her, he gave her a big hug. "I missed you!"

"I did, too!"

Will let go. "How was the family?"

"Awesome! Chaotic, but awesome! My mom had the baby, and she named her Ellie!" Brooke showed him some pictures.

"Now." She said, putting them away. "Tell me everything."

So Will did. He told her about burning down the Lotus Casino and finding Rosemary, and how Rosemary was claimed by Apollo ("What a twist!" Brooke gasped.) How Will was able to stand up for himself against Drew and how Nico helped, that Nico seems much more comfortable and happy now, how he was getting mysterious dreams of his mom, that they went to go see Will's mom, Cecil FINALLY admitted his crush on Lou Ellen, they watched ATLA, when the Hedge's came, figuring out how Rosemary ended up in the Lotus Casino and why she was having memory problems, all about baby Estelle, all about Jason dying (Will teared up and Rosemary started crying), their trip to Camp Jupiter, the 2 of them dancing, the Oracles getting freed and communications working again, Reyna being a hunter, Will's new power (she started laughing like crazy), hanging out with Rachel, Piper visiting, their six month anniversary and Nico saying that he loved Will (she squealed very loudly), and finally, finding out what Maria was up to the whole time.

They did a lot of stuff those last 6 months, didn't they? And Will didn't even mention everything going on with Tartarus and Nico's PTSD. Will knew that things like that were private. He had asked Nico if he could tell Brooke about Maria, though. And asked Rosemary if he could share the stuff about her.

Brooke just seemed shocked. "Wow. That.....that is crazy. That's a very busy 6 months."

"It really was. I haven't even told you the stuff that happened right after you left."

Will didn't know if her mouth could hang open anymore, but it did.

"I'm never leaving Camp Half-Blood again! I missed out on everything! And I thought that I had a crazy 8 months since I left, with all of the little kids and whatnot! I even went to school!"

After Brooke told her about her last 8 months, they gave each other another hug, then Will introduced Brooke to the new Apollo kids including Rosemary.

That same day, Chiron left in a hurry. He had said that he was off to a very important meeting and left right away. He didn't give any details, but whatever it was seemed important.

Then he and Cecil said hi to Lou Ellen, both of them giving her hugs. Her short dark hair was recently redyed green, and she seemed happy to be back.

After they all caught up, Will told Cecil that he would let them catch up privately. Cecil blushed, and Lou looked confused but didn't say anything.

Will pretended like he was walking away, but really he just hid behind one of the cabins and peaked around the corner so he could hear their voices and see their faces.

"What was Will talking about?" Lou asked.

Cecil was blushing really hard. "Well, I told him something a little while ago. Something that I need to tell you."

"Okay?"

Cecil looked at his feet. "I like you. As in I have feelings for you. I really hope you feel the same way. If not, that's okay. I get it. I want to be friends before anything else."

Cecil looked up. Lou Ellen was blushing and smiling. "I feel the same way." Then she kissed him gently on the lips.

His eyes widened, and he kissed her back. Then they backed away and smiled at each other.

"I take it you like me, then?" Cecil grinned.

She rolled her eyes, but she was grinning just as hard as he was, both of them still blushing a lot. "Well, duh."

Then Cecil told her about how that if they didn't work out, to promise they would still be best friends. She agreed and said she was thinking the same thing.

"Can I hold your hand?" Cecil asked her nervously.

She grabbed his hand instead. "You don't have to ask."

They walked away smiling and blushing.

Will felt happy for them. He was glad to see that he was right. They looked cute together.

Speaking of significant others, (or like Nico liked to say, "significant annoyance") he went and found Nico. He was sitting in the grass under the shade of the trees. His hands were positioned under his chin and his legs were pulled up to his body. He looked very sad.

Will sat down next to him. Neither of them said anything. Sometimes, people don't need words of encouragement. They just need to know that the other person is there. Will wasn't sure, but he thought that maybe that was what Nico wanted in that moment. If Nico didn't say anything, Will wouldn't either.

Silently, Nico laid his head in Will's lap and closed his eyes. Will softly stroked his hair. They listened to the noise around them: campers laughing and talking, feet running on the ground, Mr. D yelling at someone in the distance. They felt the cool breeze blow through the hot June day, and smelled the strawberries from the fields. They heard monster noises in the distance, coming from the trees.

They both were comforted by all of it. It was home, after all. 

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