The Child of Hera

Chapter 39-Luke

Luke was so proud!  Birdie could fly!  WOOHOO!  He gave her a big hug, crushing her ribs, and shouted, "YAY!"

Then she kissed his nose, and he led her out of the arena.  They made their way over to the beach, and watched the sea waves roll over the horiozon.

"Owww," she groaned.

"Do they hurt?" he asked, somewhat amused. 

"Of course they hurt!" she answered.  "That was my first time flying!  I was just acting all confident, so I wouldn't have to take those aggravating classes with Will anymore!"

Luke chuckled, and gave her a big hug.  He buried his face into her tangled hair and took a deep breath.  He just stayed there for a moment, his arms around her, and her wings brushing his arms.  Her hair smelled like something fresh, but he couldn't quite place it.

But of course it wouldn't last.  It would never be able to.  

"Birdie?" he said, somewhat nervous.  He was worried how she would react.

"Hm?" she answered with her head over his shoulder.

"If...if you ever see someone...erm..."

"What?" she asked calmly.

He would have to tell her the story.

"Birdie...I...?  I don't really know how to say this.  Maybe we should sit down."

They sat down at the beach and Birdie put her head on his shoulder.

"If it's that painful for you to talk about, then I could always...you know."

He did know.  He wasn't sure if he should let her.  

"But I don't have to of course.  It's totally up to you!" she said a little too quickly.

Luke lifted her chin so that their eyes were level.  "Go ahead," he said, "Just know, that I never wanted any of it to happen."

Birdie looked confused, but she placed her hand on his forehead.  The memories of that day came flooding into the front of his mind.

After lunch, Luke was training with a fencing robot named Slicey.  Courtesy of Leo.  The robot wasn't that good, but it was huge, so that evened the odds a little.  He would have trained with a real swordsman, like Percy or that guy Jason, but he felt hesitant.  He had kind of almost destroyed their camps.

After he had disabled the robot by hitting a spot on its chest, he was sitting on a bench, resting.  He was about to get up again, when he was pushed back down by some Aphrodite chick.  She had black hair, brown eyes, and made a T-shirt look glamorous.  Her shorts were way too small. 

"Hi!" she said in a flirty voice, while sticking out her hand for him to shake, "I'm Drew!"

"And I'm training," he answered simply, trying to get up again.

Drew pushed him down again.  "HAHAHA!  You're SO funny, Lukey!"

Was her really having to deal with this again?  His biggest problems used to be girls flirting with him, nonstop.  He thought that since he didn't exactly have the greatest reputation (cough*almost destroyed the world*cough), he wouldn't have to deal with girls who liked him.  It was much easier for them to hate him.

And Lukey?  Seriously?  He hadn't been called that in years.

"You look hot," she said, handing him a water bottle.  "Do you need a back rub?" she asked.  She sounded desperate, but maybe it was his imagination.

"Um, no thanks," he said, pushing away the bottle of water.

"Oh come on.  You're working so hard out there, I think you deserve something special," she said in a seducing voice.  He tried to move away, but she just kept scooting closer.  Eventually, he ran out of bench.

Luke got up and walked out of the arena.  Drew followed.  He tried to go to his cabin, but she was right behind him.  He tried canoe lake.  Would she ever stop?  He ended up in the forest.

Eventually he got so mad, he whipped around and shouted, "GO AWAY, DREW!"

"You don't mean that!" she said, giggling.

Luke let out and exasperated sigh.  This was getting old.

"Drew, I don't like you.  At.  All.  Not only in the romantic way, but I really, really, hate you."

Her eyes widened.

"Why do you even like me anyway?!  I freaking betrayed the camp, succeeded in raising the freaking king of the titans, and almost destroyed the world in the process!  What on earth about any of that would make you like me in any way?!"  He was really getting angry now.

Drew narrowed her eyes.  "The same reason every other girl at this camp has a crush on you.  You're hot."  She stated this as if she rated the Male specimen for a living.  "That includes Birdie," she added.

Luke's eyes widened with anger.  How dare she insult his princess like that?!  He was about to say something, when Drew grabbed his shirt, and pulled him into a fierce kiss.  He tried to pull away, but she pinned him to a tree.

"Get away from me!" he shouted, pulling away.

"You'll come back to me eventually, but for now I'll let you go," she said simply, wiping her overly large mouth, and running her fingers through her hair.

Luke ran.  He couldn't believe that she let him go so quickly, but he was glad for it.  He ran into the arena, and started fighting.  He didn't stop for hours.  He never sat down.  He just sliced every practice dummy to shreds.  

That is, until Birdie came.

Birdie took her hand off of his head.  She stared at him with a world of hurt in her eyes.  Luke looked down, ashamed.  Then she tackled him in a hug.

"Wha-?!"

"I'm so sorry that you had to go through that," she whispered.

"I- You're not mad at me?"

"Of course not, Luke!  How on earth was that your fault?"

"I guess-I guess I just got used to being blamed for everything, that I actually believe that I'm at fault for all that goes wrong."

She squeezed him tighter.  "We probably should get to dinner," she said.

"Yeah," he agreed, but didn't want to go.  He wanted to stay there and cuddle and stroke her wings forever.