"Rachel!" I exclaimed. "I had no idea that you were still planning on coming."

She grinned. "Yeah, I managed to convince my parents. When I called Mr. Brunner and asked for a guide, he suggested that you show me around, so I told him to make it a surprise. I assume that it worked, yeah?"

I nodded, walking closer to her. "So, what's up? How are things?"

"I'm doing pretty good. I have a lot to tell you. So much has happened."

I smiled, happy to be reunited with one of my best friends. Rachel and I hadn't known each other for too long, but we still had a really strong relationship and lots of experiences together. I was sure the remaining month of summer would only lead to more.

"Well, first of all," I said, spreading my arms. I gave her a nice, quick hug. "It's good to see you again, Rache."

"You too, Percy," she said back with a happy expression on her face. She glanced down from my eyes to my feet, trailing up my body. "Um, not to be intrusive, but why aren't you wearing normal clothes?"

I chuckled, my cheeks flushing a little bit. "Well, as you noticed, I was very late. I was at the beach with Silena and this little girl named Lacy and we really lost track of time. I had no time to change, so this is what you get until we check out the cabins."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "You just wanted to show off your body."

I laughed nervously. "It's an added bonus, I suppose."

Actually, it was more of a hidden fee. I still had quite the dusting of scars covering my torso that I was ashamed of. I just wished that they would fade. I hated the memories that they brought up, even though they were of a past life.

"Have you done anything yet?" I asked, trying to switch back to what we were actually meant to be doing.

Rachel nodded. "Yep, Mr. Brunner already had me take that quiz thing. I just need to be shown around, he said"

"Okay, well, let's head to the cabins first. I can show you all of the different types and then we can take a pitstop in mine."

"Sounds good."

We headed out of the Big House and crossed the creek. We wandered through the strawberry fields and passed the armory and arena, cutting straight to the cabins. As we walked, Rachel chatted about her experience in England.

"The weather was really crummy," she told me. "It was always overcast or rainy, and the temperature never was above seventy. Our hotel was really nice, but that was expected. My dad never settles for anything below first class." She scoffed.

I held back a smile.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing," I assured.

"Tell me, Percy."

"You already sound like an English person," I admitted, laughing.

Rachel's jaw dropped and she shoved me away. I laughed and stepped closer, bumping her to the side with my hip.

She scowled, but before she could retaliate, we reached the cabins.

"Look," I announced, "we're here. So, these are the cabins. Where you stay depends on what results you get back from the questionnaire you took back at the Big House. Each cabin is modeled off of a Greek god or goddess, and that god is like the patron god for the campers in each cabin. I'm sure you can probably assume which is which just by the look from the outside. The evens are mostly the girls; this is the Dionysus one, then Aphrodite, then Artemis, Athena, Demeter, and lastly Hera."

We paused in front of the largest two cabins, Zeus' and Hera's. The Zeus cabin was almost like a huge marble box. The large door was painted a shimmering bronze color with lightning bolts embedded in it, and the porch had several marble pillars. Hera's cabin was similarly fashioned, made of marble with pillars decorating the front, but the columns were much slimmer and decorated by strands of flowers. There was also peacock carvings on the walls.

"Wow," Rachel said. "Zeus and Hera, I'm guessing."

I nodded. "Yep."

"These are beautifully constructed," she murmured. "They must have taken ages to make, as well as all of the other ones. How has Mr. B. funded all of this?"

"Mostly donations, as well as a bit of his own money. But, yeah, it is pretty crazy."

"Who stays here?" she asked.

"Nobody stays in cabin two, but my good friend Jason is the only Zeus camper."

"Huh," she commented.

"Let's keep going," I suggested. "The next cabin is my personal favorite, cabin three. Poseidon's cabin."

Rachel smirked. "I'm assuming this cabin is where you stay."

"You'd be right," I said, smirking back. "Want to go inside?"

She nodded. "Why not?"

Cabin three wasn't just my favorite because it was mine. I also thought it was just really pleasing to look at. It really was the perfect fit for me. The cabin was low and long like a bunker with greyish blue walls like the ocean on a stormy day. All of the windows were on the side of the Long Island Sound so that the only sound that could be heard was of waves crashing down. 

Inside, six bunk beds were present, only two occupied. Tyson's bunk was on the same wall as the door and mine was on the opposite wall. The third bunk was on the complete other wall, and it was pressed against it the long way. If you looked from the top, the bunk beds would make a shape like one of those smiley faces with a straight mouth.

Both Tyson and I slept on the bottom bunk, although his was much neater. His blankets were smoothed out and his pillow was fluffed. All of his belongings were tucked away in a bag that he stored beneath his bed. The only thing of his present was a small Swiss army knife on his bedside table. My bed was unmade - Hey, I had taken a nap! Cut me some slack - and my clothes were falling out of my duffle bag.

"It's not very homey," Rachel commented quietly.

I shrugged. "I suppose. Is it the stone walls that give off that vibe?" I joked.

She laughed. "This bunk is yours, right?" she asked, sitting on the messiest bed.

"How'd you know?" I laughed.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Who's stuff is that?"

"My buddy Tyson. He's a little younger than us, only fourteen, but he's really nice. We're the only Poseidon campers though."

She slowly nodded. "So I've noticed that some cabins have many more occupants than others. What's the deal with that?"

I bit my lip. "I don't really know. I guess the people that fit the Poseidon or Zeus category would rather open their summer doing what they want and not whatever is scheduled for us here. Or perhaps I'm just a very rare specimen."

Rachel laughed. "Get dressed so that we can finish up. I want lunch!"

I chuckled, grabbing a CHB tee shirt from my bag and throwing it on. I slid on some sneakers and called that good. We fled cabin three and continued the tour.

"That's the Ares cabin," I stated, pointing at the gruesome building. "That's Apollo's, and then we have Hephaestus', and lastly Hermes'."

We looped back to the arena and armory, except that time I described them to Rachel and told her what we did there. At the stables, headed through the strawberry field and across the creek again. We passed the volley ball court - where Rachel was adamant she would be very often, laughing at my "sorry little face" - the arts and crafts shack - where she was also convinced she would triumph over me and many other campers - the lake, the amphitheater, and the climbing wall. We crossed Eros Creek one final time and rushed to the mess hall.

"Time to eat?" she asked.

"Yep," I answered giddily. "Get ready for a meal like no other."

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Wednesday, 8-15-18

Over three weeks had passed since Rachel came to Camp Half-Blood. She had been announced that Sunday at dinner as an Apollo camper, which she was pretty okay with. Over the weeks we had bonded a lot, as expected. We didn't get to spend most actual lessons together, since the Apollo cabin was pretty full and the Poseidon cabin mostly trained with the two other small cabins, Zeus and Dionysus.

It was a Wednesday, the fifteenth of August. Annabeth must have just gotten back in America. There was only three days left of camp. We were going to be dismissed on that Saturday, my birthday. I was taking a Greyhound bus back to my apartment, dropping my stuff off, and hailing a taxi to the LaGuardia airport to reunite with my best friend.

I really hoped that I was as prepared as I wanted to be. I knew how I felt about Annabeth. She was my everything and I wanted to spend every waking moment with her. I wanted to spend time with her as more than friends, too. I wanted to hold her and hug her and maybe even kiss her, but the mere thought of that honestly terrified me. It terrified me and excited me at the same time.

I decided that the moment I saw her, I would run up, hug her so tight, ask her how she's been, and tell her that I really, really like her. I wouldn't think about how she would react, if she would reject me, if she would...oh boy.

Yeah, I wasn't prepared in the slightest. I was a nervous reck.

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How'd you like that lil inside look on Percys thoughts at the end? I wasn't sure whether or not to put that in this chapter or the next, but I think this is fine.

Hi, how are you? How has your day been? I hope you're doing swell :) hahaha!

Please leave a vote if you enjoyed and comment what your favorite season is! My favorite is summer time! I love the weather we have here and the fact that I have no responsibilities.