War & Victory

Chapter 2: I Can Respect That

A/N: Ahh to have the mindset of a 12 year-old girl again....I miss that. Anyways, stan Rin and her unhinged energy! I hope you are all doing really well and I would love to hear your thoughts! Let me know :)

In the three days that the new kid had been unconscious, Rin was able to find out exactly three things about him.

His name was Percy Jackson. It sounded a bit pretentious, if you asked her—but considering that no one had, she was keeping that one to herself. Naming your kid after mythology was....just...well she had no words for it, considering that she herself was named after one of the queens of the Amazons. But still!Percy Jackson's mom had been killed. That one, admittedly, was a bit of a rough one. Everyone had heard about his feat of killing the Minotaur and that he had done it in a blind untrained rage after seeing his mother disappear before his very eyes. She understood how that felt. Understood what it was to watch your mother die. There was a level of sympathy she wasn't quite sure how to express to him, if he ever did, in fact, wake up. He drooled when he slept. Annabeth had been watching him sleep—as was her usual prerogative in watching the new campers and trying to determine if they were the one meant to help her go on her quest. She had been doing it the entire time they had known each other, and longer than that. Rin never found it weird, but finding Annabeth watching Percy for hours a day was a little uncomfortable, to be honest.

The campfire was in full swing as Rin slid into a seat beside Annabeth, Luke, Chris, and Demi—all of whom were in discussion. Her gaze swept over the group, a slight frown tugging on her lips at the sight of Demi and Luke's entwined hands. So they were back together again?

"Keep your nasty PDA to yourselves," Rin announced dryly, nudging at her older sister's knees.

Demi just gave a roll of her eyes. "Bitter."

"You know, we just love it when you two are at each other's throats," Chris cut in, tone pointed as he glanced between the two sisters.

It wasn't that Rin didn't like Demi and Luke together. It's just that for the past few years of her being at the camp, the two of them had consistently been together or breaking up every few months. It was a bipolar relationship that somehow always ended in one person hurting the other person.

And considering that she liked both Luke and Demi, it always placed her squarely in the middle of their squabbles. "New kid's not here?" Rin cleared her throat, glancing around at the other campers.

Before Luke could even answer that question, Annabeth had beat him to the punch. "He's asleep."

Demi and Chris glanced in Annabeth's direction, but Luke didn't even seem surprised by her knowledge. "So you're still watching him?" Luke questioned, leaning back against the log.

In the dim firelight, Rin thought she almost saw Annabeth roll her eyes. But she couldn't be sure, after all. "He could be the one. He has potential," Annabeth answered diplomatically.

"You just wanna win Capture the Flag again." Rin knocked her knees against Annabeth.

Annabeth gave a small smile. "Maybe."

"Any chance you'll just tell us what your plan is?" Demi cut in, eyes flickering with slight amusement.

At that, Annabeth's jaw snapped shut and she glanced at Luke. "You better not tell her anything."

Luke placed a hand over his heart, giving a dramatic gasp of offense. "I would never betray the team. I want to win, too."

"Yeah and you're still macking the competition." Chris coughed.