princess // percy jackson (under editing)

i. eight - camp halfblood and the case of op newbies

words : 3952

~edited~

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"are you sure you're okay?"

alliah dodged her question, only focused on making her way down the hill and over to the swordsfight-sparring grounds. annabeth jogged after her, slowly becoming annoyed as they reached the bottom of the hill and alliah seemed to still be ignoring her.

"alliah, answer me." annabeth demanded, halting in her steps. "or we're not going anywhere."

alliah rolled her eyes without even turning to look at the girl, continuing on walking.

"i know where it is, i can just go by myself if you wanna be like that."

annabeth frantically tried to muster up a comeback or something to that, but before she could even come up with her first word, alliah was already a blob of a figure walking away. she swallowed her pride and ran after her, making a mental note to mention to luke later that the newbie was quite fast, despite having relatively normal-heighted legs.

"you're being mean." annabeth stated as she walked alongside alliah, making sure not to fall behind but not to overstep - she liked the maintained rythm of the way they walked, she wanted to keep it at that.

"okay, my bad?" alliah scoffed.

"you're being mean," annabeth repeated. "tell me why."

alliah tossed her hands above her head in frustration.

"what, am i supposed to be acting like some happiness pump or something?" she snapped, freezing in her tracks. "you met me yesterday, was i super happy and not mean then-?"

"yes." annabeth rose an eyebrow, crossing her arms as she faced her off. "but today, you're just being a dick."

alliah opened her mouth to continue, but she decided against it.

she sighed.

"luke said that the highest kind of honor around here is the honor you get with glory. is that right?"

annabeth nodded.

"and if i get good at everything here," alliah continued. "the welding, the weapons, the arts and crafts - everything. if i get good at those, that'll get me glory?"

annabeth nodded.

"and if my mother claims me?"

annabeth nodded once again.

alliah bit the insides of her cheeks. "okay."

she turned away and began to walk off, annabeth having to chase after her again.

"what's up with you, alliah?" she demanded. "tell me what's wrong!"

"look, i'm just not having a good day." alliah gave up and finally admitted half-truthfully - she in fact, was not having a good day. but that wasn't the full truth. "i'm just tired, i guess. i'm not a fan of the bunk beds, they make my spine feel like a bone."

"your spine is a bone?"

"yes, but i'm not supposed to be feeling that it's a bone. like i know that it's there and it's a bone, but i'm not supposed to be feeling it, and feeling that it's there and it's a bone...is, well, gross, y'know? you get it?"

annabeth's eyebrow raise was reaching higher and higher heights that at this point, alliah had honestly found impressive.

she shrugged, defeated.