Pip felt like crying. Or throwing up. Or just both... at the same time. She wanted to believe that it was a mistake. She wasn't the daughter of Aphrodite, she couldn't be. She had never been in a relationship and she certainly had never been in love. How could her mom possibly be Aphrodite? But deep down, something told her that it made perfect sense. It explained everything: the ring, the natural beauty, everyone loving her. But there it was again: that feeling when the only person who didn't care about her love life was Pip herself. Now her own mother, who she never even met, cared.

Pip spent most of the rest of the day exploring the camp... and avoiding the cabin. Not only did she not want to accept her new parentage but she hated her new siblings. They all were all snobby and obsessed with makeup, like every girl Pip had ever met. Pip was popular, sure, but there's no rule saying you have to be snobby. And yes, Pip wore makeup, but she didn't carry around a makeup bag and fix every little mistake. She was a teenage girl, but she was not at their level of teenage girl. What Pip hated most of all was their boy-obsession. All 16 of them were dating a boy but they all had plans to break their hearts. They expected Pip to do the same: make a guy fall in love with her and break his heart. It was some Aphrodite cabin rite of passage or something. Pip refused.

Pip sat on a wooden lawn chair in the middle of the cabins. She fiddled with her white dress, wishing it would just disappear. The dress brought out her biggest fear: she was just like the other kids in Cabin 10; she was just like her mother. Pip thought back to the story of Paris that her teacher read them before they started reading The Odyssey. The story of how Aphrodite just had to win the golden apple because she was thought she deserved it. She went so far as to offer Paris somebody else's wife. She quite literally was the reason for the start of the Trojan War. Pip didn't want to be like that.

A girl sat down in the chair next to her. She was tall and slim and looked around my age, maybe a year younger. Her long black hair was kept perfectly, there wasn't a hair of our place.

"Hey, you're Pip, right?" She asked. Her voice was sweet and smooth like honey.

Pip nodded.

"I'm Silena," The girl continued, "I'm the head counselor of Cabin 10. I'm sorry I wasn't there when you were claimed. Emergency Head Counselor meeting, y'know."

Pip sighed. She didn't want to talk to any more of the Aphrodite kids. Why would Silena be different than the rest.

"Okay, I get it. Cabin 10 is intense. They have all these rules that they made up, but I promise you, only my rules count," Silena gave Pip a look of sympathy, "And I promise you, not everyone in there is an asshole. Did you meet Valentina? She's really nice once you get to know her.

"And Drew and Mitchell are just jealous. Deep down they're just lonely souls that fear commitment. Lacy's a lot to take in, she's gorgeous and smart and basically our mom's favorite. At least that's what everyone assumes. But in real life she's shallow and just another rich kid."

Pip laughed. Going to a private school in Manhattan, she had met her fair share of snobby rich kids. Lacy definitely was one.

"I don't feel like a daughter of Aphrodite," Pip finally spoke up.

"That's okay, it's hard to feel like a daughter of someone you've never met."

"It's not just that, I've never had a boyfriend, I've never actually even really liked a boy," Pip admitted, "How can I be the daughter of the goddess of love when I've never been in love?"

"You'll find someone, maybe you're just not looking for the right people."

"What does that mean?"

"Just think about it."

❥❥❥

Dinner rolled around sooner than expected. Pip sat next to Silena at the Aphrodite table. She picked at her food. It smelled amazing but she wasn't hungry. After the day she just had, it somehow felt wrong to eat. Nobody seemed to judge her, though. She just assumed everyone felt this way when they first got there.

Suddenly Pip saw Silena stand up and walk over to the bonfire. Everyone else seemed to follow, forming a line near the fire. One by one, each camper scraped a portion of their dinner into the fire.

"Silena, why is everyone burning their food?"

"Offering to the gods. They like the smell," The head counselor explained, "You can say a little prayer if you want."

Pip reached the front of the line and stared quietly at the flame. She took her fork and pushed nearly her entire plate into the embers.

"Aphrodite... er, Mom, I guess. Can you just send a sign, a sign that I'm actually your daughter. This still doesn't feel right," She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, hoping her prayer would reach her mother. She watched as the smoke turned a light pink as she walked back towards the table. Deep inside, part of her knew it had made it to Aphrodite.

❥❥❥

sorry this took so long to write. i've been very stressed with colorguard and my guard captain causing like five mental breakdowns a week. plus school and shit so yeah :) enjoy 😊

ALSO thanks for 1.7k views!!!

first published: march 3, 2024 • 939 words