𝑷𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒚 𝑰𝒏 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑫𝒂𝒓𝒌 ꨄ

f i v e

"Oh my gods,"

"Who did that?"

"Did you see her? Clarisse is fuming,"

Luna had to bite her lip to not smile the next morning on her way to breakfast. All the campers had come out of their cabins to gape at the new paint job from five. The Aphrodite kids especially had made a ruckus out of it- giggling behind their hands and pointing at the Ares campers- all of whom seemed for once to be too shocked to punch anyone.

Luna saw the Stolls in the crowd from the Hermes cabin. She locked eyes with the brothers and winked. That was all she could do though- her, Connor and Travis, had agreed to keep their distance from each other that day so that no one could guess that the three of them were the ones responsible for the prank. That however, didn't stop her from gloating and pretending to be just as shocked and/or interested as everyone else.

When she arrived at the mess hall, it was quiet- which was a peculiarity in itself. Usually breakfast was when it was the loudest, but as she walked further in, she realized it wasn't completely silent. Clarisse's angry voice reverberated off the walls like a ping pong ball- enough to make anyone go deaf. Her face was so red Luna thought a one of her veins was going to pop.

"This is SO STUPID! Everyone treats the Ares cabin like were not even important! And now-"

"Be calm, my girl." Chiron was saying. He looked like he needed several shots of decaf, especially now that he had to deal with Clarisse as well. "It was a harmless prank. The paint can be easily washed away with some water. And no one got hurt which means we cannot instill any punishment on those responsible however much you might wish that."

"And also," Mr. D drawled. "I don't really care. Now go back to your seat, you despicable girl."

Clarisse looked like she wanted to say a lot more then that, but even she wasn't stupid enough to face down a god. She stomped back to the Ares table whom all looked either just as bitter and angry, or just plain embarrassed. A colour swirl wasn't exactly the greatest way to represent the cabin who was supposed to be full of the fiercest warriors at camp.

Luna took a seat at the Hermes cabin, and all throughout breakfast, had to cover her face with a cup of coffee. Even if Connor and Travis were on the other side of the table (far away from her) one glance at them would end in a staring contest which then would inevitably end up with them trying to hide their laughter.

Later that day, when most of the campers had dispersed and gone to their own affairs, Luna finally stopped to fully admire the job they'd done. Now that there was light, she could see the vibrant colors as they overlapped with the raunchy red beneath. It looked like a constipated bird had eaten a rainbow and then excreted it all over cabin five. The splashes of colour dripped down the wood and looked more like splashed eggs then anything.

She couldn't help it. She giggled a bit. The wild boar in the doorway and the barbed wire on the roof looked downright stupid now- no one would be threatened any time soon with this new décor.

"You!" Someone growled behind her.

Before Luna knew what was happening, a hand grabbed her and slammed her into the wall behind the Ares cabin. All the air got knocked out of her the moment she hit the hard surface, making her gasp. Clarisse had one of her hands pinned next to her head, holding her in place, and looked like she'd be ok with going to prison for a while.

"You think you're so smart, don't you?" She spit out. "I know you did this,"

Despite the fact that her breathing was labored and her heart thrummed against her ribs, Luna didn't think that there were other signs that she was scared. She could lie. Say that she had no idea who did this and that if Clarisse was looking for someone to blame, it shouldn't be her. But that would be taking the easy way out. And after all that planning with Travis and Connor, not taking responsibility for humiliating the Ares cabin would just be sad. Plus, Clarisse should know it was her. No, Luna wanted her to know it was her. Clarisse had been shitting on her more or less ever since she'd come to camp- and even if they'd had some good moments, they didn't nearly outweigh the bad ones. All it had taken between them was for Luna to be better, and their whole excuse of a friendship had crumbled.