The Feast for Tuna turned out to be a pretty big deal after all.

It was late in the afternoon, possibly five or six o'clock. The whole camp was gathered around the Senate house, anxiously awaiting the news. It was crowded, as if you were being packed into a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Reyna stood at the front and center, awaiting the news from a son of Apollo who replaced Octavian. I've heard some things on him, and he was fishier than a bowl of goldfish crackers. Lance was standing a couple feet away, and he was trying to push his way towards me. "Astra!" He waved his hand, and I immediately turned away.

Shoot, how do I stay away from him? I put my arm on some random person's shoulder and spontaneously started talking to look busy, "-so I said, 'your beard looks thinner' and that seemed to cheer her up quite a bit."

Lance, obviously confused but realized that I was talking to someone else, turned away and tried to find Austin.

I sighed, removing myself from that poor victim. "Sorry about that; I had to avoid somebody."

The person turned around, his cheeks puffed up like a blowfish, "Is that person gone?"

I looked over my shoulder to clarify, "Yep." Almost immediately, he burst into laughter, doubling over and holding his stomach. I could've even sworn he was laughing to the point of crying. "Uh, is something wrong?" I asked, a little worried that I chose the wrong person to randomly use as an escape route.

He started coughing, and I looked around to help but he held out a hand to stop me, "Pfft, it's fine. But your ways of dodging a bullet are absurd," He straightened up, revealing his face. Two dark eyes stared down at me. He had tan skin and muscular arms. A dove was tattooed on his arm with a few lines underneath, which seemed a bit similar to Jason and Percy's marks. "I'm Michael Kahale, son of Venus, and one of the cohort's centurions. And you?"

"Oh," I held out a hand and he shook it tightly, "I'm Astra Windlass, daughter of Artemis, and food eating enthusiast."

"Interesting," Michael chuckled and flipped back his dark hair, "I've heard of you. Well, the daughter of Artemis part."

"I didn't know I was that famous," I frowned, "Dang it, now I have to start giving autographs."

He started to laugh again, "And I didn't know you were hilarious. If you don't mind me asking, why were you trying to dodge a bullet in the first place?"

"Ah," I immediately felt my face flush, "It's nothing-."

Michael snapped his fingers, cutting me off, "I got it. Someone did something to you. Almost romantic, in a sense. Fess up."

"But you already figured it out!" I complained, not wanting to go into any sort of detail, "How'd you know?"

He shrugged, "Venus powers. Not the best, but interesting at most. Now I really want you to spill, and these Fortuna events usually take a while."

"I don't know..." I muttered, the memory still fresh in my mind.

"Think of it this way," Michael said, "And I'll offer you this. If you keep overthinking about this, what's going to happen when you're in a battle? You can't just freeze while remembering something; you gotta act fast. Do the same with your feelings."

"Michael," I said with a choking voice and placing my hands over my heart very dramatically, "Even though we've only met for at maximum five minutes, I think you've become my best friend."

We clasped hands and pulled each other in a hug. Austin, who managed to squeeze his way next to us frowned with confusion, "Okay, I lose you for ten minutes and then you're already having a bromance. I need to put a bell on you."

"Hey Austin," I let go of Michael, "Meet Michael, a life changing mentor and possible future therapist. You should hang out with him."

Before Austin could interject, a loud conch shell indicated that the reading of the will of the gods was finished. The crowd went silent. The son of Apollo came out of the Senate house, holding a scroll. Reyna stood by his side, anxiously tapping her foot against the marble floor. While they were doing a whole ritual thing and what not in Latin, and obviously I couldn't understand any of it, I thought back to why I was avoiding Lance in the first place. I mean, friends can kiss, right? Don't they do that as a greeting in Europe or something? But it's pretty obvious that Lance isn't from Europe; he came back from the dead about half a year ago. I pulled the loose strands from my hair across my face, feeling very embarrassed.

I guess it was pretty obvious why he kissed me: He's losing brain cells every time he gets bashed up in a fight. I mean, what other reason is there?

"Camp Jupiter!" Reyna cried, holding the scroll that the son of Apollo had, "Here lies the future. Let us pray to the goddess Fortuna for good tidings!" She slowly unraveled the scroll, and the majority of half-bloods were clasping their hands together and praying feverishly. Not knowing whether or not I should copy them, I just resorted to laziness and thought that placing my hands together would be too much work.

"Let's hope it's better than last year's..." Michael muttered.

Reyna quickly scanned over the contents with her eyes running over the papyrus, and snapped the scroll closed with a swift movement of her wrist. The audience waited in a dreadful silence. She thrust her right hand out, clutching the scroll tightly. "Rejoice!" She shouted, "The gods have answered us with an abundance of great luck. Let us begin our jubilee with celebration and happiness!"

The roar of the crowd was amazing. People were already streaming towards Temple Hill to start worshiping their deities. Others headed down to the south end of New Rome, preparing for a giant party. I saw Annabeth at one end of the crowd, and Lance at the other. Naturally, I headed towards the Daughter of Athena, still not fully understanding my feelings towards Lance. After a few minutes of awkwardly shoving through people and apologizing every time, I eventually was by Annabeth, "Where are we going?"

"Probably to the lake," She answered, looking like a squished gummy bear, "They might be setting up decorations there."

"Okay. But where do we-, holy bacon strips on a hippo's butt!" I screeched as someone grabbed my arm and I was yanked away from Annabeth. A hand went over my eyes, and my vision went dark.

* * *

I decided not to retaliate, because I couldn't ruin the feast. I'll plan an escape route, I thought to myself while the perpetrator continued to drag me along. As soon as I figure out where they're taking me. I heard the creak of a door, and a ton of laughter.

"Alright, I'm leaving her off to you," I heard Michael's voice, and I was pushed towards quite a few grabby hands. There was a brief moment of when I could see before someone covered my eyes again, and I saw "Tell me when she's done. Then we'll move on."

"Hold the pickle!" I shouted, "You're going to kill me?"

A bunch of giggles happened around me. "No, but what we're going to give you is to die for! So just stay still," A young girly voice said, and I felt something drape over my shoulder.

Okay, here's the plan, I continued in my head, When they're off guard, do a spin kick and-.

"We're done!" They interrupted my mental monologue, which I must say was only five seconds long, and the hand finally came off my eyes. It took a while for my vision to clear, but then I saw a mirror placed in front of me. A light blue stola, what Roman women used to wear, was wrapped over my clothes and around my body. A black palla, which was a sort of shawl that was draped over my left shoulder, under my right arm and over my left arm, hugged the dress. My hair was let out of my ponytail and was effortlessly curled past my face.

"Wha-," My jaw dropped. Was I wearing makeup? How did they apply eyeliner if someone was covering my eyes? "Someone give me a washcloth!"

"Gorgeous!" A girl jumped in front of me and applauding happily, "Mother would be pleased to see this."

"Why am I wearing this? I'm not even Roman," I said, turning and watching as the fabric moved along with me. I was extremely uncomfortable in this; I've never worn such feminine clothes in my life.

"Since you're here, you're going to have to wear this for the festival," She shrugged, "The Venus kids are in charge of makeovers, so you're getting the best this year."

"Wait," I suddenly said, swiveling around, "If you're Venus children, then why aren't you missing like the Aphrodite cabin?"

The children looked at each other in confusion, probably wondering what this lunatic girl was saying. "If you're done rambling, we've got others to work on before the dance," The girl pushed me out the door against my protests of not wanting to wear the outfit in public.

"But I don't want to-, wow," My eyes widened to the view, "This is more beautiful than a glazed donut in the morning." It was already dark in Camp Jupiter, but everyone was wrapped in glowing lights and candles. There were stalls by a sparkling lake which reflected the lights. Annabeth, who was leaning against the wall, twisted a lock of her hair between her fingers.

"They got you too, huh?" She grumbled, also not appreciating the makeover. Her blonde hair was pinned up into a falling bun that dangled like loose threads, and her own stola was a light grey, reflecting her stormy eyes. "Serena's staying with Leo, who earned himself babysitting duty. Too bad Percy couldn't be here."

"I'm sorry," I apologized, "If I tossed the fire faster-."

She held up a hand to stop me, "It's not your fault. Go down and enjoy the party. I'll wait for Austin; they've probably gotten a hold of him as well." Annabeth was obviously still a little upset, but her strained smile made me a little scared.

"O-okay," I stuttered, backing away, "See you later." Hustling down the stairs, I headed towards the lake where the party was being held.

What I could possibly describe wouldn't be enough to show how Romans can throw a party. Food vendors were set up along the sides of the lake. There was a small arena for sword fighting as entertainment. Loud music was blaring, probably thanks to the Apollo children. I waddled through the crowd, still not used to the outfit. After a while of snacking way too much, and yes, that's probably the only thing I did, I decided to head to a quiet part of the lake.

I leaned against the trunk of the tree, exhausted from the chaotic few days. As I watched the camp prepare some sort of event, I heard a light trail of footsteps behind me. "Astra? Is that you?" Lance popped behind me, and I nearly jumped from shock. My heart started to pound really loud again. His hair was gelled to the side. He wore a simple white tunic, which by the way if you were wondering, was a little see through. It was mostly hidden by his yellow toga, which was elaborately draped on his shoulders.

"Uh, you didn't recognize me?" I tried to brush it off by acting sarcastic and flippantly pushing a curl over my shoulder.

"Sort of," He sat himself next to me, a bit too close for comfort, "You look beautiful."

Urgh.

"You don't look half as bad," I turned away, already feeling my face burn.

"Although you're uncomfortable as Hades," He gestured at the makeup.

"It feels like layers of cake," I groaned, patting my hand against my cheek to calm myself.

"It's a good thing I found you," Lance chuckled, with his blue eyes sparkling against the lights, "I've been trying to talk to you all day."

"Really?!" My voice cracked, and I coughed into my fist, "Uh, really?"

"Yeah," He looked at me, and I couldn't hold eye contact, "About the thing that last night at Las Vegas." Oh gods I was hoping he wouldn't bring this up. I was hoping we wouldn't talk to each other or meet each other or share our cookies with each other ever again. That's how nerve-wracking I felt.

"W-what thing?" I laughed nervously, "I don't remember a thing. Actually nothing at all!"

He arched an eyebrow, "Want me to do it again?" I stopped talking. Lance sighed, noticing how awkward I felt, "So, what did you think?"

"Huh? What did I think?" I asked, and he nodded. "Uh... I don't know," I replied, uncertain if it was the right response. "What did you think?"

"I thought you were rash," He shrugged, the toga shifting on his shoulders, "I thought that you were going to die."

"And so..."

"I kissed you. You were there, remember?" He snickered.

I cringed, feeling my hands curl up into fists. "I might be sounding stupid, yet I always am, but why did you do... it?"

Lance didn't remove his gaze from me, and I continued to look at the ground, "Because I thought I was going to lose the person that I love."

Oh.

OH.

OH?!

"What?!" I turned to him in shock, realizing that his face was closer than I thought it was, "Y-you, you, you wha?"

"Love," He repeated, "The person that I love."

Loud cheers came from the lake, and the campers were holding small rectangular objects in their hands. With a swift light of a match, each of them lit the box-like object, and it started to glow. It was a lantern, and they all began raising them into the sky, like a scene from Tangled. I heard Reyna's voice from afar, "Let us lift these lanterns as if they are our prayers. Let the gods see our joy and happiness and hope that it reaches Olympus!" They roared again, and began to start the dance. Stringed instruments began to play in the background, and they started to dance.

"Love?" I asked, swallowing nervously, struggling not to move away, "But how-."

"Astra," He said sternly, "Get it in your small, naive mind already. I love you."

That was like a blow to my head with a hammer. "Like how I love chocolate?" I tried to steer clear, not wanting to have my emotions get anymore jumbled up as they already were, "Or how Percy loves the ocean?"

"I swear, I will actually punch you this time," Lance rubbed his temple, "You know what I mean. Now your turn: how do you view me?"

What did Michael say? I had to act fast? He's right, though. If I continue to push this off, and I get into a fight with Eris or Ouranos, this will completely hold me back. I frowned, trying to interpret my feelings. "I'll be honest, Lance," I said, biting my lip, "I don't know. I mean, I view you more than a friend. You're very close to me." He nodded, listening silently. "But I don't know if I can say love. I've been on the streets for quite a while, so I know nothing about it. Perhaps from your past life, you've learned a thing about it or two, but I've got nothing. So I can't figure out how I feel right now."

He stared at me, and I finally couldn't keep eye contact anymore. I technically rejected him, but then I didn't. My brain had completely derailed, so I couldn't even think straight. After a moment, Lance tilted his head. "Maybe I can help you with that." He leaned in, and closed the small gap between us with his lips against mine. I squeezed my eyes shut, too scared to move away. Lance broke it and leaned his forehead against mine, "So how you feel now?"

My cheeks were on fire. I opened my eyes and started looking at the ground once more, obviously feeling very shy, "It-, it didn't feel... Wrong?"

He smiled and leaned in again, giving me another kiss. We stayed still as the lanterns continued rising up to the sky, and the soft sound of music echoing from the lake.

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I was reading the comments on the past chapter, and you guys are the sweetest people in existence. Thanks so much for your support!

(I am so cheesy that I defeated string cheese (you guys have no idea how much I was cringing when writing this).)

Can't talk much, short A/N for long chappie! Vote/comment if you enjoyed (and I promise to all you action seekers that there will be more coming up. This ain't Twilight).

XOXO,
Arisa