Annie's PoV

"The forges are over there, and... Leo get back here! We're supposed to be giving Annie a tour!" Hazel shouted. We had been walking around for a good half an hour, and we still only covered maybe half of the camp which did not include all of the woods. The woods stretched on to be a whole other world in itself. It was so beautiful here. The sun was shining warmly making it feel like it was spring instead of fall almost winter. The scent of the strawberry fields still lingered in the air even after we walked past them. The scent could also be coming from my pocket, however, because there may or may not be a few stolen strawberries there. I smiled slightly and secretly popped another, now slightly melted strawberry in my mouth.

"I'm sorry, Hazel, but I forgot I was making a surprise weapon for Calypso! We'll be playing Capture the Flag today, and she still doesn't have a weapon." Leo called back as he started to run away.

Before he could take more than a few steps, however, Calypso caught his arm and dragged him back. "Leo, I appreciate it and all, but we do need to finish giving her the tour. Also, I thought you were making it in Bunker 9." Calypso said with a slight frown of confusion.

"I am, but I needed to get a few more supplies," Leo explained.

"Then why don't you have one of your siblings take it there for you?" Hazel suggested.

Leo sighed and muttered something under his breath. "Fine, let me just pop my head in then and... Oh. Hi, Ryan," Leo said with a smile and a wave.

"Hey, bro. What's up?" Ryan asked as he walked over to our little group. He had black shaggy hair, sparkling blue-green eyes, tanned skin, toned muscles from working in the forges, and an amazing smile.

"Can you get me a few things from the forge and put it on the work table with the weapon in Bunker 9?" Leo asked while giving him a short list of supplies.

Ryan scanned the list quickly before folding it up and putting it in his pocket. "Yeah, I can get all of these for you," he said with a brilliant smile. He turned to me and stuck out his hand. "Hi pretty lady. My name is Ryan, son of Hephaestus. What's yours?"

I shook it in a slight daze and managed to stammer out, "I-I'm Annie. I h-haven't been c-claimed yet." Way to go, Annie! Keep sounding like an idiot why don't you?

"That's okay. You should be claimed soon. Probably at the campfire tonight actually. Most people are claimed around the campfire. I just hope you aren't my sister." He said with a wink. I blushed furiously. He then pointed to my pants pocket and asked in a concerned voice, "Oh my gods is that blood? We need to get you to the infirmary."

"What?" Hazel, Calypso, and Leo asked in shock.

"But we were just there!" Hazel exclaimed in confusion.

I looked down and examined the pocket Ryan was pointing to. I had completely forgotten I put the stolen strawberries there, and now their red juice was slowly making its way down my pants leg. I may have thought this was a good idea before, I could just change clothes later, but not anymore. "Oh, um... I'm not bleeding," I said shame facedly.

"Then why is your leg red?" Ryan asked skeptically, placing his hands on his hips.

"It's strawberries," I mumbled while looking down.

"What?" Everyone asked in confusion.

I looked up and took a deep breath. "I stole some strawberries from the strawberry fields. I figured I could change my clothes later if they melted too much."

Everyone stared at me in shock. Then they busted out laughing. I joined in too, realizing how ridiculous the situation was. I took out a half melted strawberry and offered it to Ryan. "Do you want one?" I asked through my fit of giggles.

Ryan nodded, still smiling, and tried to take the strawberry out of my hand. The new key word of the day here is tried. "What the? It's so sticky!" He exclaimed. No matter how many times he tried to grab the strawberry from me, it refused to leave my hand, and Ryan's fingers kept slipping off of the fruit. This caused another outbreak of giggles, and finally, he pried the strawberry off of my fingers. He held it in the air triumphantly before sticking it in his mouth. "Well I got to go now. See you around, Strawberry Girl." He gave me a wink and then left.

"Strawberry Girl, huh?" Hazel elbowed me with a smirk. I blushed slightly and rolled my eyes.

"Hey! Why is it that Ryan can be all smooth like that, but I've never gotten away with it?" Leo whined.

Hazel and Calypso rolled their eyes, and Calypso punched him on the arm. "You aren't smooth, Leo. You're annoying and a pain in the ass." She said with a smirk.

"Yeah, but I'm your annoying pain in the ass," Leo said smiling.

"Guys, can you stop cursing and being lovey dovey for two seconds? I swear Frank and I aren't that bad." Hazel complained.

We all started laughing again when a new voice came up behind us. "Annie, I wanted to say I'm- What happened to you leg?" Ari's voice exclaimed. We spun around to face her, laughing harder than we were before. "What's so funny? Annie you're bleeding! Did I do that?" She asked worriedly.

I calmed down enough for speech after a minute and took in huge gulps of air. "No, I'm not bleeding. They're just strawberries. What did you want to tell me?"

"Oh. Um... I wanted to say I was... I was..." She seemed to be struggling to get the words out. "I'm... Sorry. I'm sorry I tried to kill you earlier. I was really stressed, and I didn't mean to take it out on you." She mumbled.

I stared at her in shock for a second. "It's cool. Don't worry about it. I get it." I said reassuringly.

She nodded, but still, she didn't smile. Did that girl ever smile?

"Do you want to keep walking around with us, Ari? We still haven't finished giving Annie the tour." Hazel asked kindly.

Ari shook her head. "Thanks, sis, but I'm going to go get some food. See you guys." She walked off toward the dining pavilion, and we made our way back around camp.

Sorry this is later than usual. I needed to ask a friend a few things again, but they didn't answer this weekend. I'll have a couple of chapters up tonight hopefully. I hope you enjoyed this next chapter! Have a great night!