Shattered |Leo Valdez|

Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

Erikka's P.o.v.

"LET IT GO! LET IT GO! CANT HOLD IT BACK ANYMORE!" Anna and I screamed at Brian. He laughed before he pretended to lift a cheek and 'let it go.'

"You guys are so weird!" Anna said, laughing and fanning her hand in front of her nose. "Did you just pretend or did you let it all out?" Brian shrugged and gave one of those Hermes smiles that scared the pee out of me.

I laughed and grabbed a chicken leg from the KFC bowl Connor had managed to steal for his 'not-date' with Anna. Anna, seeing it as just that, had invited Brian and I to join. Connor was slumped against the picnic table in a depressed mood that I had yet to see him in. "Aw, Con. Don't me be so mopey! Even though you're adorable when you're mopey!" Anna said as she pinched his cheek, making him duck his head to hide the redness.

"Guys, lunch is over. Let's go back and we can start training some more." Connor said, turning away from all of us to get out of the seat. Anna pouted her pretty, full lips.

"Oh yeah. Laurie and I kicked you out." Her sad demeanor changed to angry; a glare was thrown at Connor when he turned around. "And for good reason." He gave a sheepish smile and grabbed the chicken bucket (it was empty thanks to me) to use as a shield.

"Back, she-devil! Bringer of death to all fun!" Anna's jaw dropped.

"Did you just call me a buzz kill?" She pushed up the sleeves of her orange camp shirt and gave a fake glare this time. "That's it, Stoll! Come here and get your butt handed to you like a man!" He laughed and ran out of her reach as she followed close behind.

My smile grew as I watched them before Brian nudged me and explained about the butt kicking we would get if we were late to the strategy meeting with the Athena cabin. "What about Connor?" I asked, gesturing to him running around like an idiot.

Brian shrugged. "He never comes to the meetings, but Rikki, your new and Annabeth is not the first one you wanna tick off." I laughed, because she wouldn't be.

The first person for me to tick off here, was Leo. I gritted my teeth, because once my thoughts were on Leo, they didn't let me focus on much else. So as we walked to the Firewall to meet the other cabins, (Athena, Apollo, Poseidon, Iris, and more that I couldn't remember) I prayed that Annabeth would have something to say that was good enough to distract me. Because Leo Valdez was a topic my brain and I needed to stay far away from.

XxXxXxX

"Say WHAT?!" I yelled, my mouth dangling open. Annabeth wrinkled her eyebrows.

"You're on offense. Yes, that's what I said." I ran a hand through my loose hair before throwing it into a ponytail.  Taking a deep breath, I turned to Annabeth.

"Listen," she raised an eyebrow at me as I spoke. "You've seen me in action. I suck. You want that to try and win you a flag?" A smile graced her lips as she watched me quizzically.

"Yes."

Of course she would say that. She shot me a look that told me to just trust her, but I had trust issues: just saying. My mouth opened to retaliate, but instead closed to bite down a yelp. I glanced at Brian who had just ground my foot into the floor. I glared at him as Annabeth went back to telling everyone the plan. Apparently, her 'swell, ingenious plan' involved me going into a tree and staying there. After this was explained, my fear of accidentally stabbing myself lessoned and I was beginning to like her plan.

After an hour or two of training and strategizing, (both I failed at miserably.) we went to dinner to eat and pray before the game began. "-where you belong!" Annabeth yelled at Connor a little bit away from the Mess Hall. He looked sheepish as he mumbled something.