stollen things || c. stoll

1.9 ~ The Fourth Of July

The Fourth of July, 7:43 a.m.

I was woken by the chatter of my half-siblings, who were all braiding each other's hair and putting on their makeup for the holiday.

Chiron had organized optional festivities for the day, mostly sports like canoeing, volleyball, racing, et cetera. However, he did ask for volunteers to do more decorating of the beach. I couldn't participate in any of this because of the damn camp store, but I was glad to be in the shade and out of the heat. I needed a rest from the stress and excitement of the day.

I sold some emergency toiletries, extra t-shirts, and sparklers, and by noon I'd made a fair amount of money. Not that any of it went to me, but it still felt good.

I caught the twins trying to steal more stuff in the afternoon, but I was prepared. I'd wrapped them in vines and left them on the floor to sort themselves out. Connor had said something weird along the lines of, "If you wanted me tied up, you could've just asked." So I got more vines to throw them out of the store and across all of camp.

Sometimes I hated that boy.

•

Finally the clock struck six and I locked up the store. I headed to Cabin Four to freshen up and put on some makeup for the night. The summer had hardly started, but it already felt like it was over.

I was hardly finished when Katie grabbed my hand and dragged me to the beach. We were about two hours early, but we had to double check the plants and other decorations.

We had to sit according to cabin to reduce chance of friskiness. So I set the very large Demeter cabin blanket up in between the Poseidon and Athena sections. The Poseidon section was just one blanket for Percy, the poor kid.

One hour later, everyone milled into the Mess Hall where we ate a quick dinner. Chiron announced what would be happening that night along with the rules.

I'd almost forgotten, but once we all started to move towards the fireworks beach, I held back. I dropped back to match the Hermes cabins over, grabbed Travis and Connor by their shirts, and dragged them aside behind the Mess Hall.

"If either of you even think about setting off those fireworks you stole yesterday, I won't hesitate to get the Aphrodite kids to curse you again. I'm sure you remember what happened when you crossed them last time."

Both boys cringed. A few years back, they'd tossed a Golden Mango with the words "FOR THE HOTTEST" written on it into the Aphrodite Cabin. As you can imagine, the kids tore each other apart trying to figure out who was the hottest.

Once they found out it was the Stolls, Travis ended up with permanent makeup on his face for a month and Connor was stuck with his clothes being two sizes too small no matter what.

They nodded, and Travis ran off to the cabin for 'a completely unrelated reason.'

I found myself still holding onto Connors shirt, dangerously close to him. I immediately stepped back and dropped my hand. I walked swiftly away and rushed up to meet Katie and Madge.

"Hi, sorry. I had to make a quick stop. Anything interesting happen yet?"

"Well," Katie huffed. "Harper already tried to sneak off to the Ares blanket, so Madge had to beat her ass — responsibly — to get her to stay." I didn't understand how someone could beat someone up responsibly, but I nodded away.