Percy:
It was Thursday in the afternoon, three days after Calli and me arrived to Camp Half-Blood, and only one day after Calli had been claimed. It didn't seem fair. I'd been here longer than she had but she still got claimed first! Not only that but she was claimed by two gods! Two! Everyone was still talking about it. I guess nothing like that has ever happened before. She moved in pretty quickly with dark haired, sky blue-eyed, Josh and the rest of the Apollo kids. It wasn't fair because she was already fitting in. People really liked her. I mean who wouldnt?! She's tall, blonde, tan, athletic, and has a great singing voice, we learned last night at the sing a long. She was absolutely perfect in every way. I was so jealous of her. Not to mention she gets all of Luke's and Josh's attention when they are supposed to be training me! Annabeth gets really upset too. I guess she's used to having Luke around more.
So anyways today I was having my first sword fight. Everyone in cabin eleven, and Calli and Josh, because they had been so focused on Calli's archery she hadn't gotten a chance to practice fighting, gathered in a large arena where Luke was to be our instructor. We started with basic moves. I guess I did alright. Better than Calli. It made me feel a little better when she nearly chopped off Josh's head while talking with Luke. I mean, I at least understood what we were supposed to be doing and my reflexes weren't too bad. The only thing was, I just couldn't find a weapon that felt right in my hands. They were either too heavy, or too light, or too long, or too short. Luke and Josh tried to fix me up with a good blade, but both senior counselors agreed none of the practiced swords did me any justice. We then started to move into pairs.Luke decided he would be my partner.
"Good luck," one of the campers said. "Luke's the best swordsman in the last three hundred years."
"Maybe he'll go easy on me?"
Many of the kids snorted.
"Woo! Go Percy!" Calli cheered.
I waved at her before Luke and I started fighting.
Luke showed me a few thrusts, parries and shield blocks the hard way. With every blow, I got a little more beat up. "Keep you're guard up!" He said then whap me in the side with the flat of his sword. "No, not that far up!" Whap! "Lunge!" Whap! "Back up!" Whap!
By the time Luke called for a break, I was soaked in sweat. Everyone swarmed to the drink cooler. Luke poured ice water on himself, which looked like such a good idea, I did the same. As did Calli who was doing a worse job at sword fighting than I was. Her skin glistened with sweat in the summers sun. She looked pretty hot as she leaned her head on the butt of her sword. Not sexy hot, but hot like she might pass out hot. Well she was very pretty hot too.
After drenching myself in water, I felt better. Strength flowed back into my arms. The sword didn't feel so awkward anymore.
"Ok everyone circle up!" Luke ordered. "If Percy and Calli don't mind, I want to give you a little demo."
Great, I thought. Let's all watch Percy and Calli get pounded. The Hermes campers gathered around. They were trying to hide their smirks. I guess they'd been in our shoes before and couldn't wait to see how Luke used us for punching bags. I glance over at Calli. Unlike me, who was starting to sweat nervously, she looked eager to please Luke. He told everyone he was going to demonstrate a disarming technique: how to twist the enemy's blade with the flat of your own sword so he would have no choice but to drop their weapon.
"This is difficult, I've had it used against me. No laughing at Percy, now." He stressed. "I'm sure I don't need to ask you not to laugh at a lady, though." Luke said giving Calli a wink. Josh caught it and gave Luke a sharp look. "Most swordsmen have to work years to master this technique." He demonstrated the move on me in slow motion. Sure, enough the sword clattered out of my hand. "Now in real time," He said as I retreved my sword. "We keep sparring until one of us pulls it off. Ready, Percy? Calli, you're next." We both nodded, and Luke came after me.
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