Aymee Parker B2 - The Cursed Mark

Chapter 53 : The hoodie

After Hestia's visit, Aymee felt like the month of July had passed in the blink of an eye.

Everyone had resumed the daily rhythm of activities and were doing their best not to let themselves be too distressed by the gradual disappearance of campers.

Ever since their little chat after practice in early July, Aymee had an almost blind trust in Hepzibah (when it came to joining Luke side, don't exaggerate), but that didn't stop Aymee from looking at Hepzibah with concern from time to time. Now that campers were disappearing every week, they had a lot more room to sleep or eat, but Hepzibah always found something she could complain about. She never said it out loud, but Aymee knew she wondered who her father was and why he didn't claim her. All the unclaimed wondered.

Over time, Aymee also began to notice there was some kind of rivalry between Hepzibah and Kosta that was taking hold. They argued and sent comebacks each time they met. Sometimes Aymee thought maybe it was jealousy since it was usually Kosta who started the hostilities, but it didn't make sense. At the beginning of the summer, Aymee had thought that maybe Kosta liked her too, so she had invited him to the fireworks. Only, with the Hecate's incident, she hadn't been able to join him and since then it's been radio silence. Kosta had never mentioned their maybe-failed date and wasn't trying anything in particular. Aymee didn't dare bring up the subject, mostly out of fear she might have misunderstood his signals and being mistaken all along. If it was true, then Tannaha had saved her from a particularly embarrassing situation by making her sleep like that all night. Thus, Aymee did not allude to the fireworks for the whole month of July either.

However, none of this seemed to register on the afternoon of August first, when Kosta came to see her with a face redder than a strawberry.

"...are you ok?" she asked worriedly.

The teen nodded, avoiding her gaze. Aymee tilted her head, her heart racing a little.

Is he...

"I spoke to Chiron," he began.

Ah, no, she calmed down immediately.

"All right..." said Aymee, not letting anything show and to invite him to continue.

Kosta licked his lips. He wouldn't stop shifting is weight and playing with his hands. She had never seen him like this.

"He said he was okay with us going to see a movie. At the cinema. For your birthday, I mean."

Aymee blinked. Her face broke into a big smile when her brain finally processed all the information. She jumped in place.

"Really?"

Kosta smiled in turn seeing her so happy. He nodded.

"My mother agreed to drive us."

"Oh wow!"

Aymee hugged him tight, laughing. The urge was stronger than her, she just had to give him a hug. Her heart went chabada-bada when Kosta laughed and hugged her back.

I can't wait! she thought as she buried her face in his neck.

The week was long. Sooooooooooooo long. Terribly long. Aymee was so excited she couldn't sleep the night before her birthday. When the day finally arrived, Aymee kept jumping around. After dinner, she, Kosta, and Hepzibah climbed the hill to wait for Kosta's mom to arrive. Hepzibah ended up grabbing Aymee by the collar of her t-shirt to stop her from jumping around again.

"It's just a movie. You don't have to get so excited."

Aymee blushed a little.

"It's the first time I'm going to see one..."