Welcome

[Paige Avery]

Paige was lying on her back looking up at the blue sky. It was always blue, and the sun was always shining. What was wrong with a little rain sometimes? Or some clouds. Or a little unpredictability. Something? Camp Half-Blood sucked. She hated it. Though she had to admit she liked how the sweet smell of strawberries invaded her nose lying among the plants. So, that was something. Not much. But something.

She missed her friends. It wasn't like she had a ton but she did. She missed her folks. And here, everyone was a demi-god. Which was kind of cool she supposed. Even had half-sibling. But she still preferred being different. She never minded being the oddball. A bit of a freak. Here everyone was different, so much so it got lost in sameness. The tiny brunette wasn't stupid, at least in her humble estimation. She knew why she had to be here. It only took nearly getting eaten by something truly grotesque once to understand that she was here because, now that she had been 'found out', she'd die out there before too long. So for now, she deal with the being here.

It was sort of nice right here. Lying on her back looking at the sky in the middle of a big field of strawberries that went on forever. Paige giggled out loud and then began to sing, none too quietly and slightly off key because she was a particularly good singer, not the she cared, "Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields. Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about. Strawberry Fields forever" than laughed out loud.

Hey, she'd find amusement where she could around here. Something had to make this place worthwhile being at, other than the not dying. That made it useful. but it certainly didn't make it enjoyable.

[Brandon Sterh]

Brandon sighed as he made his way through camp, completely bored and having nothing at all to do. He'd already been at camp several weeks and had successfully made one enemy, a few half-friends, and zero real ones. Kicking at the dirt as he walked, he finally veered his way down to the strawberry fields. His grey shoes ended up caked in dry dust by the time the first brilliant green leaf came into sight.

The son of Ares slowly lumbered through the endless rows of strawberry plants. Suddenly, a slightly off key song reached his ears and he stopped in his tracks. Who would be singing out here, Brandon wondered. No one that he knew. His dark eyebrows knit together as he searched for the singer. It was definitely a female voice, that was for sure, but not one that Brandon knew. Tilting his head to the left, he cautiously took a few steps to another row, towards the wafting voice.

Brandon couldn't physically see anyone out here, but he was determined to find the source of the singing. The short song ended and Brandon found a, rather pretty, brunette girl, looking about his age, at his feet. If he hadn't have stopped, he would have trampled her. Mouth turning downwards into a half frown, Brandon looked at the girl. She wasn't familiar in any way, so he figured she was most likely new to camp.

Was he supposed to greet her? Had she seen him yet? Should he just walk away as if he hadn't heard her singing? Deciding that it would seem kinda rude to just leave, Brandon coughed and said to her, "Erm... Hi there." Well. Awkward.

[Paige Avery]

Had Paige been paying attention, she might have heard someone coming. But she so completely wasn't and had no idea that they boy had approached until he was looking right down at her. She heard the voice, but the bright sun created a halo effect around his head, making his face dark. Neat. Like angel from above. Bringing up an arm and hand in front of her face to help obscure some of the light. Paige now could see his face now. It was a boy, as she could tell from the voice, and appeared to be around her own age. He was kind of cute too. Helped the scenery at least. She smiled widely and sat up. "Oh, hey!" She beamed in response to his rather awkwrad greeting with some enthusiasm as she shook out her long straight brown hair hanging loosely around her shoulders.

Bringing her knees up toward her chest and hooking her arms around them, looked at the boy more closely and decided her first judgement had been correct. "I'm Paige." the brown haired girl introduced herself. "The new kid." he giggled. "And you are...?" she asked the boy. He seemed maybe a bit shy? Nervous? But she could someone to talk to, since she knew exactly nobody.

Paige looked around for a second. "You can have a seat, if you'd like." She offered with a smile. Wouldn't hurt. I mean, she could use some friends. And this guy happened to be about the first person she'd happened upon, one-on-one, since she arrived earlier today.

This post has been edited by Paige Avery on Apr 2 2012, 06:27 PM

[Brandon Sterh]

Brandon glanced around to see if the girl was talking to someone else. Realizing that the fields were vacant, he replied, "I'm Brandon. New, eh? Camp is... pretty... interesting..." adding emphasis on the adjective, implying that camp was not the most sane, or normal, place in the world. Not that he didn't like it, it was just that, in his first few days there, he didn't exactly love it. Hated it, actually. Now that it'd been a month or so, the son of Ares had come to genuinely enjoy the place. He was never lonely, even if he wanted to be. He always had food and free time, not to mention excellent lessons lead by a cabin leader instead of some adult that didn't care how terribly boring they were. No, camp was pretty cool.

Looking around him once more to see if the girl, now known as Paige, was meaning someone else, sure that she wouldn't be willingly offering him a seat, Brandon plopped down in a criss-cross-applesauce position. "Thanks," he said quickly with a shadow of a smile, pleased to have something to do other than aimlessly kick dirt up.

Staring at his dirty tennis shoes, Brandon absentmindedly drew in the dry dirt covering the ground. If his mother saw him now, sitting in the dirt, in 'nice' clothes, with a girl no less, he'd never hear the end of it. That was one of the best things about camp. No parents, or step-parents for that matter, breathing down your back twenty-four-seven. Now then. Awkward silence. Tilting his head slightly, Brandon decided to speak up. "Who's your godly parent?" He asked. That was a simple question. The same question everyone asked everyone. Nothing wrong with it, right?

[Paige Avery]

Poor boy seemed confused. He was looking around like the girl might be talking to someone else. There was no one else here. Paige giggled softly. He didn't seem like the most talkative sort. But that was ok too. She could fill up a lot of gaps in conversation if need be. Maybe he's just a bit shy. Shy was alright. Nothing wrong with cute shy guys. The dark haired girl laughed lightly at the by, now known as Brandon, described the camp. 'Interesting' huh? "Interesting good or interesting scary?" she asked him, with a light air and a little grin. Couldn't be as scary as nearly being killed by some beastie that wasn't even supposed to be real. Could it?

Again, Brandon was looking around confused that she was inviting him to sit with her. Paige brought he hand to her mouth, giggled softly again. Why wouldn't she want him to sit with her? She didn't know anyone here yet and here was someone. Plus, she was used to being around boys. Tom was a boy. Ok, it turned out he wasn't a human boy, but still. She'd spent a lot of time around Tom growing up. Paige shifted herself her position and lay down on her stomach with her legs bent upwards at the knees, rested her elbows on the ground and propped her head up on her hands by the chin. She didn't seem to care about getting some dirt on herself. She was just in a pair of dark green shorts and a plain purple sleeveless t-shirt and a pair of running shoes with ankle socks with little green fuzzy balls at the back. If she was wearing something nice, then she'd care, but sitting in a strawberry field she wasn't going to worry about. She kicked her legs back and forth gently, very relaxed. Her eyes looked slightly up into the boys face. Her smile was really a small grin. Nothing too 'gee golly wiz happy', just relaxed, like it was the natural state of being. Very chill.

There was a bit of silence. She studied the boy as he looked down at the ground and traced something into the dirt. Then Brandon spoke and Paige's eyes perked up just a tad and offered a smile. "Ooo, my mom's Demeter." she answered freely, yay demi-gods! Whatever. She giggled to herself "Who's yours?" She asked. Her voice was girlish, even if Paige didn't exactly radiate 'girly' in her mannerisms or behaviour.

[Brandon Sterh]

Now she was laughing at him. Brandon looked at the girl sharply as she uttered a giggle, but then realized that it was good natured, not rude. Shrugging slightly at Paige's question, he replied, "Good interesting. Definitely. Well, as long as you like fighting giant monsters and slicing foam dummies heads off, then totally goo," he ended with a small smirk. He didn't know why it was so easy to talk to this girl. With everyone else her met at camp, he was his old, reserved self, but here with this stranger, he was as close to comfortable as he could without actually calling her his friend; which he didn't want to do quite yet, because who knows? Maybe she'll change her mind about hanging out with a random son of Ares.

Brandon watched as Paige flipped over onto her stomach and giggled again. This time, he passed it off as if he hadn't noticed it. As she began kicking her feet back and forth, he noticed that her ankle socks had small puff balls of fluff on the back. Smirking gently, he watched them bobble to and fro, almost mesmerized by the peace and quiet he was getting. The son of Ares leaned back on the palms of his hands, his dark eyes squinting into the sun. Brandon looked down as Paige looked up, their eyes meeting while she grinned. Brandon allowed a small grin to form onto his face while looking into the pretty sapphire eyes of his companion.

Brandon blinked as Paige enthusiastically told him her parentage, and he nodded. Demeter. Goddess of the Harvest. That was pretty interesting, he guessed. He'd never really met a child of Demeter, to be honest, and wasn't totally sure how they would act around someone with his parentage. Apparently, though, they were getting along pretty well, so there shouldn't be any conflicts, but 'ya never know. Most people turned right around at the mention of his father's name. Oh. Yeah. The one Paige was asking for. Brandon shrugged slightly, yet again, and said in a soft voice, "My dad's Ares." The boy glanced away so that she couldn't see the rare hopefulness in his eyes that she wouldn't turn him away.

[Paige Avery]

The boy's look made Paige's eyes widen just slightly. 'Oh no', she thought. Does he think I'm laughing at him? No. No. Wait. I've never cared if my giggling meant someone though I was giggled AT them. Why do I care now? That didn't make any sense. She listened as Brandon talked. She smiled as he did. "Sounds like it could be fun. I don't know about fighting monsters. One monster was enough." Really. She did not want to think about that ever again. She thought she was going to die. She probably nearly did.

There was a moment of silence between them But it didn't seem awkward at all. Considering she just met this boy...it was weird. As Paige looked up, Brandon looked downward. Their eyes met. They were deep and dark. Almost like they were sad. But wonderful. She smiled even more when he smiled at her. It was just a small grin. But it was nice. What was wrong with her? She had no idea. Suddenly all she could see was the handsome face of the boy seated close to her.

Paige watched Brandon turn his face away when he said his father was Ares, like he was ashamed or something. Even being here for such a short time, she had already heard that Ares kids weren't exactly the most...popular. That didn't matter to page. She lifted her head from his hands as he did. She gave a little sad frown. Then gave a small gentle grin. She didn't know what came over her than but she sat back up and slid closer to Brandon, lifted her knees up wrapped her arms around them. "That doen't bother me Brandon. Everyone's different. We might be demi-gods, but we're still people." she said quietly and very gently.

The brown haired girl sat very still and waited for Brandon to say something.

This post has been edited by Paige Avery on Apr 15 2012, 12:50 PM

[Brandon Sterh]

Cocking his head to the side slightly, Brandon wondered why the girl he'd just met looked like she cared wether he was offended of not. No one ever cared that Brandon was offended as far as he was concerned, especially people he barely knew. And this girl seemed like the type to be 'care-free', too. That was odd, but he had to admit that it was kinda nice. Wait, no. Not nice. What was he thinking? Shaking his head quickly as if to clear it, the son of Ares turned his attention back to the conversation. He smirked lightly, he replied, "I know what 'ya mean. I almost got a claw permanently stuck in my back..." Brandon winced at the memory.

The moment of silence that passed didn't seem awkward at all. Just comfortable. How that type of silence happened to two people that hardly knew each other, only Zeus knew. Or maybe he didn't. Hmm. But anyway, Brandon noticed something in the electrifying moment where the two pairs of eyes met. There was something deep between them.

Wait, what?! Brandon thought to himself. She didn't care. Paige did not care who his dad was. And that surprised his to no end. Most people tried to keep their space from the war god's children, and Brandon was expecting Paige to be one of them. This time, Brandon actually broke in to a real smile. Not just a smirk or grin, but one of his unique smiles where the right side of his lips rose slightly higher than the left. Now she was close. Like really close. Brandon blinked and replied in a breathless voice, "Really?" It was a simple sentence, but he said it with so much meaning, that it seemed to mean more. And it meant so much to him. She meant something to him, he realized, even if he didn't want to.

[Trevor Omark]

Ignore this...Pfft.

This post has been edited by Trevor Omark on Apr 18 2012, 01:57 PM

[Paige Avery]

It wasn't like Paige ever tried to offend people, it was just sometimes she did. Usually with an ill timed giggle or saying something that maybe she shouldn't have. It usually didn't bother her, or register for that matter. But when she thought she might have upset Brandon, it mattered. She couldn't say why other than it did. The girl's face scrunched up a bit at the boy's comment. She gave a rueful grin , "Yeah, I think I almost got eaten, or squashed or something...." her voice trailed off. It was not a good memory at all. Paige could find some humour, black or otherwise, if almost everything in life, just not that experience. It was too terrible. Also terrible was the thought of Brandon getting hurt by something. In fact, it was too horrible. She didn't know why.

Paige's heard leapt to somewhere it never went before when Brandon's face broke into a genuine smile. It lit up his already very handsome face. Slightly crooked, making it that much special and unique. It was wonderful. They were sitting very close now, closer than the fourteen year had intended to be, but she didn't mind. It felt good to be close to Brandon. Again, she didn't have a clue why. They'd just met...but it felt like she'd known him forever. Paige smiled back sweetly and almost a bit shyly, at least as shy as she'd even be liable to appear, and let out a very quiet, giggle. Defiantly not laugh at him, but...girlish, which normally would have disgusted Paige, but if felt ok to do right this moment. "Really, really." She answered back quietly. Paige looked upward into Brandon's face, looking at the smile, that look of surprise too. She looked into his wonderfully dark eyes again. They were nice. She realized that making him smile made her happier than she ever was, and she was usually pretty darn happy. Why did making the boy smile mean so much to her? Why did he suddenly mean so much to her? She had no clue. But she knew it to be true. And suddenly she hoped that the boy would maybe...hold her hand or something. Yeah, that would be nice. Maybe I should try holding his? This was all rather new and confusing.

[Brandon Sterh]

Close. Really close. About a half foot away. Brandon blinked hard and his breath caught into his throat. He'd never been this close to a girl before, even his mother. He hardly hugged his mother; he didn't trust her much. Though for some reason, Brandon seemed to trust Paige. Why? He had no idea. But he did. The smile melted off his face slowly until it ended into a small and shy grin. Brandon looked into her gorgeous sapphire eyes that sparkled in the intense moment.

This was something Brandon had never experienced. Never had he felt this way about a girl, especially about one he just met. The electrifying eye contact was totally scary in Brandon's mind, but he liked every second of it. The silver tints in his eyes chose this time to shine bright, letting the girl before him see a side of him that no one else had ever seen.

Letting his instincts take over, Brandon leaned forward slowly, allowing his pink lips to press onto Paige's in a soft kiss. Holding the position for a second, Brandon pulled away with a light red tint to his cheeks. Shutting his eyes lightly, Brandon replayed the feel of Paige's lips on his. Grinning slightly, he reopened his dark eyes and found the beautiful blue eyes that belonged to Paige. Taking in a deep breath, he muttered something he'd never asked before. "Would you... like to maybe... go on a date? Ya know... sometime soon?" He asked in a quite, hopeful voice, slightly awkwardly. Smiling again in a very shy way, he watched the brunette before him closely.

[Paige Avery]

There was a thudding in Paige's chest as she sat there, so close to Brandon. She could feel her breathing quicken. If she didn't know better, she say she about to be sick, or something, but she knew that was not the case here. Nope. She'd never felt this before, let alone for a boy that she had just met. But she could not deny that it was he making her heart beat fast. She only ever hugged one boy before, and he turned out to not even be a real boy, not that it mattered to her. Tom was like a big brother to her. He was four years older. Sometimes they hugged. This was so completely and utterly different. His small little grin, so shy, and so wonderful and amazingly cute.

Brandon's eyes seemed to shine and Paige's deep blue eyes sparkled in the sunlight. It really was breath taking. Why..how.. was this happening? She didn't know, and she didn't care. This girl just went with the flow, so she wasn't about to question her feelings.

Then the boy sitting next to her leaned forward. Paige knew what was about to happen. She didn't even think of moving. She'd never kissed a boy before, but she knew she wanted Brandon to kiss her. The fourteen year old let her eyes fluttered closed and a moment later felt Brandon's lips touch hers. It was very brief, but it might as well have lasted forever and ever. As he pulled away, Paige opened her eyes and all she could see was his amazingly dark but yet glittering ones. Then the girl remembered to breath. He wore a small grin and his cheeks were pink. Paige smiled sweetly her cheeks also a light rose colour. Then her face broke into a wider grin. OMIGOSH! Her brain screamed. SAY YES! SAY YES! GIRL! SAY YES! "Yes!" Paige said, a lot too enthusiastically than she'd have liked. But too late. She giggled lightly. "I'd love to." She said, more calmly but grinning from ear to ear.

Then Paige went with the wind, as she always did. She leaned toward Brandon letting her eyes close and kissed him this time. She slid a bit closer to him and curled her hands around behind his neck, letting her fingers run along his short cropped on the back of his head and the fine hairs on this back of his neck. She let it linger for just a few second before backing her face away, opening her eyes and smiling at the boy. I could get used to that, she thought to herself.

This post has been edited by Paige Avery on Apr 18 2012, 06:04 PM

[Brandon Sterh]

The feel of Paige's soft lips on his own almost drove Brandon insane. Why? He didn't know. All he knew was that there was something drawing him towards this beautiful girl beside him. The son of the war god was delighted when Paige didn't pull back from his spur-of-the-moment kiss and instead kissed him back. He grinned slightly into the kiss.

As they pulled apart, Brandon's heart skipped a beat as she agreed to date him. This was a whole new experience for him. He hadn't woken up that morning and said to himself, "I think I'm going to kiss a pretty girl today!" No, that wasn't his plan, but he sure was OK with it now being on his schedule.

Blinking quickly, not wanting to miss any move Paige made, the smitten Brandon didn't exactly know what to say next. Luckily, Paige took matters into her own hands and wrapped her arms around Brandon's neck, kissing him lightly. Brandon willingly kissed her back while twisting his surprisingly soft hands around her waist until they met on her lower back. Enjoying the feeling of Paige's slender fingers playing with his hair, Brandon pulled her into a hug as soon as she pulled back.

Grinning slightly, Brandon released his girlfriend (Gods, how he liked that word for her) and looked down at her as her smile lit up her face. He graced Paige with another rare, true smile and looked into her deep blue eyes.

[Trevor Omark]

I am really bad at this. XD

This post has been edited by Trevor Omark on Apr 19 2012, 10:05 PM

[Paige Avery]

Paige had no idea why Brandon made her feel so good. So safe. So ... special. But the girl didn't like to hide her emotions. She let them out. She certainly never thought she'd meet a wonderful handsome boy today. But that's what happened. And he kissed her. And then she kissed him.

She could feel his arms wrap around her small waist. They felt gentle, but somehow strong to the tiny daughter of Demeter. As they ended their kiss, Brandon hugged her. Paige tightened her hold on him as he did so. She was smiling happily. He released her and the boy's beautiful smile was there again. Lighting up his face and making those dark eyes shine.

They didn't need to share a single word together. Paige knew of course they had to eventually end this, for now of course. They couldn't sit there all day, not that it wasn't very tempting, but, she wasn't ready yet.

The pretty brunette rested her head on Brandon's shoulder and chest. It was nice and cozy. "So...tell me more about you. I want to hear more about Brandon...Like, what is his last name?" Paige giggled lightly.

Does this make Brandon my boyfriend? Paige thought to herself. She wasn't quite sure, since she'd never had herself one of those, but the thought of Brandon being her boyfriend, sounded wonderful.