𝓓𝓪𝔂𝓭𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓶𝓮𝓻 | Percy Jackson and the Olympians

iv - Are you ok?

"Oh, sorry new girl, didn't see you there."

She rubbed her forehead where she collided with her assailant, wincing slightly at the bruise that was starting to form. When she opened her eyes, a calloused hand was in her face. She followed the arm up and locked eyes with a grinning Lee. She glared as she took his hand and he helped her to her feet, narrowing her eyes when she realised he was stifling a laugh. She let go of his hand and wiped it on her hoodie in more than evident disgust towards the boy.

Lee cleared his throat and flourished his arm, gesturing to the door of the cabin. "Welcome to the Apollo cabin, new girl," he intoned in an awfully fake Buckinghamshire accent, causing a few giggling fits to breakout within the cabin.

"It's smaller than the Artemis cabin," she mentioned in a sing-song voice. She walked in slowly with her hands behind her back, her right hand clasped around the silver bracelet Artemis gifted her.

"Yeah because there's more people here. More people, more space taken, room feels smaller. Common sense, new girl," Lee retorted, indignantly. "Come on, your bunk is over here." Lee began walking away from the door and into the open space of the cabin, leaving Lyanna to carry all of her belongings.

"Wow, chivalry truly is dead," she muttered as she began to follow.

The entire cabin had quietened to silence, focusing on either her or the hyperactive Galen following behind her. Lee led her to an empty bunk in the very back of the room and gestured for her to take it. She dumped all her belongings on the floor and kicked them underneath her bed as she sat down on the mattress.

"The beds were comfier as well," she sighed to herself, bouncing a few times on the slab of rock that was her Apollo room mattress. Galen jumped up onto the bed and curled up at the foot of the mattress, watching Lyanna intently.

"So sorry that not everyone can have memory foam, Princess," a boy grouched.

She bristled at the nickname, memories of her middle school experiences that she'd suppressed began resurfacing. She took a shaky breath to steady herself and looked towards the source of the voice. A short boy with dark hair and a turned up nose was scowling down at her from one of the top bunks at the other end of the room. His scrunched up expression reminded her of one of her elementary school teachers that hated her.

All the confidence she'd managed to muster up until now suddenly seemed to deflate out of her as she succumbed to the numerous stares all trained onto her. She squirmed uncomfortably and lowered her gaze to her lap, fidgeting with her ring. Galen edged closer to her and placed his head in her lap as if sensing her turmoil. It's a shame these other idiots can't take a hint, she thought.

She drew another shaky breath, the sound seemingly reverberating against the walls of the noiseless cabin. Galen moved his head off her lap with a soft whimper and she crossed her arms against the bottom of her ribs. She leaned and rolled to the side, turning her back to the rest of the cabin and focusing her attention on the wall instead of the dozen-or-so pairs of eyes trained on her back.

Someone clapped twice in quick succession, drawing the attention of the rest Apollo's children. "Come on, guys. We've got to go to our mythology lesson," Lee announced and she heard the footfalls of all the children leaving the cabin.

When she heard the door close, assuming everyone had left, she began to sob quietly. The full weight of the last twenty-something hours crashed down onto her like a house of cards, except all the cards were made of lead instead of paper. She was too tired to fully realise what had happened in the previous day when she arrived at camp last night because she was so eager to just get to sleep, but now with nothing to distract her? It was all too much.