MAYA REYES didn't exactly think of herself as popular.
I mean, she was nice, kind, and occasionally funny, but she didn't think of herself as popular. Considering the fact that her highlight of camp was Dionysus coming up to her in the middle of di...
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WALKING THROUGH A SUN-LIT forest with Percy Jackson was not at all supposed to be like this! In her head, they were supposed to be walking arm in arm (because linking arms was so much better than holding hands, I mean, your arms didn't get all hot and sweaty as much as your hands did), her hair was supposed to be braided back in a fun, cute style that would accent her eyes (which Anne and Marie said was the only pretty feature of hers (she didn't exactly know if they were kidding or not)), and they were supposed to be talking amicably—Percy telling her about the history of his sword and Maya cracking jokes he would actually laugh at—well, she didn't know the exact details, but at least they would be talking to each other!
Instead, Maya was walking five feet away from him (she was afraid he would see the utter terror in her eyes if she came too close), her arms happened to be as sweaty as un cerdo en Cuba (because it was still so hot outside, like jeez Apollo, who rejected your sorry culo today?), her hair was down and half stuck to her neck (because the twins gave her like a two-second warning and Maya didn't know she could've used her totally incredible braiding skills), and she and Percy weren't even talking to each other because every time she tried to break the heavy silence, only squeaks came out and she had to disguise them as sneezes (which is very hard, she'll have you'll know. Do know how difficult it is to make fake sneezes sound like they are authentic to the average demigod ear?).
And even worse, Percy kept murmuring random and awkward bless you's, which made her feel even more guilty.
Finally, after more attempts at talking-turned-fake-but-natural-sounding-sneezes, she guessed that Percy couldn't take it anymore and turned on her in the middle of the forest.
"Ok, I don't know if you have a problem with me or something," he said, stopping abruptly and spinning around with his sword hanging perilously at his side. Maya backed up in surprise at the sudden outburst. "But I don't want to die via unknown monsters and I don't think you want to either. Plus, I've already got like three prophecies to fulfill and we're not going to get anywhere if we don't talk to each other."
He stopped, chest rising and falling with how fast he'd been talking, and his eyes flicked up to a red-faced Maya, who looked like a deer in headlights. She wanted to open her mouth and hablar but it was like the time that Stolls had squeezed a whole bottle of glue on her face when she had taken a nap during arts & crafts, and her lips were closed shut.
Why exactly did Chiron force me out of the Big House this afternoon? She didn't exactly see this "interaction" as productive. Maybe she should get her dad to inspect his job (jk, she secretly loved Chiron (as an abuelo, jeez) and had already tried meddling with her dad's job. All it landed her was being grounded for 4 hours. Literally, she still has the scars from where the vines had wrapped around her legs—trust her, you don't want to get grape vines angry).
Percy seemed to have lost all his spur-of-the-moment bravado and now looked awkward as he stood there, spinning his sword around. "Uh, when I said talk, I, uh, meant like communicating or something—"
