stollen things || c. stoll

2.1~ From Horse To Prisoner: Our Activities Director

SEA OF MONSTERS

June 9

The school year had gone great. No monster attacks. Like, at all. It was the last day of school and everyone was plugging away at the exams. My birthday was coming up; just four days after I'd get to summer camp. I didn't like to tell people about it. People celebrating me for just being me wasn't something I was comfortable with.

Anyway, I had my mythology exam today. I didn't study for it. Obviously. Between you and me, I didn't study for the other ones either. The ADHD didn't agree with it. I got to class and was the first one to finish the test, but I waited for another girl to hand it in first. I didn't want to be too good. It went the same with biology and ecology. I lucked out when it came to knowing stuff about plants and living things.

It was only 12 pm by now. So my roommate Sarah and I went back to our dorm and packed everything up.

As a half-blood —half god, half mortal. It's a long story — I spend my summers at Camp Half Blood, a safe place that all these demigods trained at. The monster attacks I mentioned earlier? Yeah, that happens to a lot of us. Only once has a monster breached our camp borders. That was last year, during our weekly game of armed capture the flag, when a son of one of the Big Three — Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades — showed up.

I was heading back tonight. The drive from Vermont to Long Island is about five to six hours, so my dad and I were going to leave right after school and hope we could get there in time for before curfew.

I bid Sarah goodbye and ran to my father's car.

"Hey, squirt!" He grinned, and tossed me a ziploc bag. "Cashews!"

I smiled. He thought that cashews were my favorite snack, when it was really walnuts, but it was sweet so I let it pass.

We drove all five hours, catching up with each other. I hadn't visited in a few weeks because I had to study for the exams. He'd made lots of money from the farm in the time I'd been gone, and he'd even met a woman. He was nervous to tell me, but I was thrilled. A single dad raising three kids couldn't be easy. He needed a break and distraction from the constant work.

And I'd met a boy. My friends and I went out to Waitsfield every now and then and there was a boy that worked at a local diner. He was really nice, and we had gone on a couple dates. Neither of us had discussed a relationship status. My father was delighted to hear this. The boy's name was Charles. He was disappointed to find out that I didn't have a cell phone, but he also thought it was funny that a sophomore didn't have a cell phone. No demigods could have phones, they were practically monster magnets. I'd told him that I would be away at a camp all summer, and he asked the mailing address. I told him there wasn't one. Can't have a mortal boy pushing his nose into our world.

He didn't understand, but he accepted it anyway. We agreed that we'd see each other before school started at the end of August. I was waiting for him to ask about a relationship. I wasn't sure yet. There was something holding me back. He couldn't know about my mother, Demeter, and he would definitely find out the closer he got to me.

At five o'clock, my dad drove through a McDonalds and we both got burgers for dinner. Just a couple hours left until I was at camp. I would finally see my half-siblings after a whole year without them. I was closest to Katie and Madge, but there was no way you couldn't be close with everyone. I had Julian, Mark, Noah, Harper, Julie, Anna, Alice, Theo, and a few newer kids that I hadn't really talked to yet. Terrible counselor, I know.

We sat in comfortable silence, eating our food, and finally arrived at Half Blood Hill.
"Thank you, Dad! I'll see you in August!" I hugged him sideways from my seat and hopped out.