Mostly Normal: Only Half of the Story

(Elliot) Act One, Scene Two

Elliot pretended not to hear his half-sister's jibe as they sat down at the new Janus table and waited for Chiron's usual speech to begin as it did before every meal that they had. The magnificent centaur stood up to his full height and smiled at all the campers.

The Janus table became dead quiet as he began to speak, "Tonight, if any of you want to stay for the rest of the year, you must inform me before dinner." All of the siblings at the far back table looked at Madeline, who blushed and began playing with her food.

"What?" she mumbled to her siblings, "I don't understand why you're all staring at me! By Jupiter, I'm going to kill you all if you give me that look again. At least tell me why?"

"You stay here over the winter right?" Ara asked with an adorable tone. Madeline nodded and then cocked her head to the side.

"I guess I should tell Chiron, then," the seventeen-year-old camper said. She got up reluctantly from the table and walked up to the front with a few other campers to tell Chiron they were staying. Elliot shared a conspiratorial look with Rio, who winked and grinned. The two boys had managed to tape a piece of paper to their half-sister's back that said 'if lost, return to Fred' and a bunch of carefully drawn and shaded hearts. When campers all around saw this paper, they snickered and whispered to their cabin mates about it. Madeline didn't seem to notice anything strange.

Finally Lorelai, a large camper from the Ares cabin, approached her and picked her up, swinging her over her shoulder as if she weighed nothing. Madeline blushed and squirmed a bit before she shrieked and closed her eyes. Lorelai placed her into the child of Athena's lap, following the sign to the dollar. Over at the Janus table, Rio and Elliot were laughing so hard that tears were streaming down their faces. Madeline opened her eyes slightly and blushed before she jumped off Fred's lap and ran out of the dining pavilion.

Fred himself looked embarrassed. "Why did you do that, Lorelai?" he asked the daughter of Ares, who snickered and winked.

"There was a note on her back," Lorelai giggled, and went back to her seat at the Ares table, where her cabin mates chortled along with her. Rio and Elliot high-fived each other, and Nora was laughing so hard she almost fell off the bench. Ara just rolled her eyes and turned back to Chiron, who was smiling faintly and waiting for the screams of mirth to settle down.