Daughter of Apollo

Chapter 11

"Woah,woah!' Percy called, his hands up in surrender.

As I had spun towards him, I had grabbed another arrow and loaded my bow without realizing it, and now it was pointing right at him. I blushed and lowered it quickly, my heart still beating in my ears. "I-I'm sorry! You scared me."

He laughed and dropped his hands back down to his sides. "My fault. I was watching you shoot and I guess I was pretty quiet." He gestured to my bow. "You're really good, by the way."

I tried to hide the pride I felt in the fact that Percy Jackson thought I was good at something, but I smile slipped out. "Thanks. But why are you here?"

He suddenly looked uncomfortable and reached up to run his hand through his shaggy hair that always smelled a little like saltwater. "Well, uh, Annabeth told me about earlier and-"

I cut him off, extremely embarrassed. "Oh gods. Does everyone know about that?" I seriously needed to stop bringing attention to myself.

He shook his head violently. "No, no! I just wanted to talk to you about Marcus." The mention of his name made me clench my fists. Before I could stop him, he continued. "We're pretty good friends, and..." he paused, recollecting his thoughts. "He's told me before how much girls like Maria and Lily get on his nerves."

He must have seen my blank expression, because he backtracked. "They're daughters of Aphrodite."

I nodded slowly, trying to form a coherent sentence. "Well, thanks Percy.... but my freak-out earlier was no big deal. I really don't care if Marcus dates Lily or Margaret or any other girl. It's none of my business." I bit my lip as I finished, hoping it seemed at least slightly convincing.

Percy's eyes flickered and I could have sworn he was about to laugh, but it was gone almost immediately. "Right. I'm glad you're over it then." He gave a supportive smile, but the corners of his mouth suggested mischief. "But just as a heads up, Marcus has been here for three years and he hasn't dated anyone." He turned around and started back up towards the cabins, but a second later he stopped and faced me again. "Come to think of it, I don't think he's ever invited someone to the Athena table either." Then he was gone.