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00. trust fund, baby!
A GRUNT FILLED THE PRIVATE COURT AS A TENNIS BALL FLEW THROUGH THE AIR. The tailored skirt she wore flapped against her thighs as she ran to back hand the ball, her arm burning as she gripped the custom made racket even harder. Letting frustration leak into her swing, she missed the nylon ball completely. Gritting her teeth, she swore loudly.
If there was one thing Juliet Clémonte hated, it was losing.
"And I won," Her twin brother, Ezra, boasted. Running around the court like an idiot. "Again!"
Juliet clutched her racket in her left hand and wiped the sweat from her brow with the right. She couldn't fight the budding irritation, it was him. He had kissed every inch of her skin, making it impossible to forget his soft smile and loving lips. It had gotten to the point where the memory of him was seeping into her serve, making it virtually impossible to hit the ball without hearing his laugh.
Ezra stopped running but was still grinning stupidly. He had discarded his racket for a bottle of water, gesturing towards the frowning girl. "What's gotten into you? Your first real break from the hunt and you're spending it losing to me in tennis."
That was just it. Hunters didn't dream about being touched by their ex-boyfriends. They didn't get distracted by deep laughter because their brain thought it recognized the sound. Her soul missed him. Her soul missed the little love notes he'd leave in her favorite books, her soul missed the way he smelt, like salt spray and the Ralph Lauren cologne she got him for their anniversary, she missed running her hands through his soft hair and tugging at the ends, listening to him hum in content. Her soul missed him, and that was a very big problem.
She sat down at the bench near the water bubbler. "Dad showed me all these letters Percy wrote to the house while I was with the hunt. There were fifty-two in total over a span of three months."
Ezra's taunting smile melted off his face. "And you read them?"
Juliet let her head fall into her hands as her heart called out his name. "Every single one. In chronological order."
Her brother looked lost in thought. Ezra and Percy had always been close, but their friendship fell out when Juliet broke his heart. No matter how much he loved his sister, he'd always resent the way she went at the breakup. "Why don't you just come to Long Island with me?"
Long Island. Camp Half-Blood. Percy Jackson.
"Why would I do that to myself?" Juliet looked at her brother through the tears that were choking her up. "I made a vow to Lady Artemis, and if I go to Camp Half-Blood and see Percy, I'd probably break that vow in twenty seconds."
