Sitting underneath

Kayleigh had been practicing her water jets all morning starting to get a little better at them. She finally decided to go and take a break under the pavilion. Sighing she picked up her water bottle and walked over to the pavilion sitting beneath it's shades. She sat her trusted water bottle down next to her pulling her legs to her chest resting her head on her arms.

She was wearing boots with her dagger strapped to the side of them just in case the camp decides on a surprise attack game or something. She wasn't sure she just made sure she was always prepared. She wasn't tired but she was very bored. She started thinking about her dad wondering when she would actually meet him. She knew she would soon, just a feeling she had deep inside.

James looked up from his book. The girl who had been shooting water jets earlier was now sitting in the Pavilion. He didn't think that she saw him, sitting just outside the structure, reading beneath a tree. He quietly closed his book and looked at the girl. She was pretty, Brown curlyish hair and blue eyes...

'Well then go talk to her stupid' Said the voice in his head. But that was the problem. His mother may be Aphrodite, But he wasn't too good when it came to talking to girls.....

He pulled himself up and leaned against the tree for a second before limping (only slightly) over to the Pavilion. "Hello" He greeted her.

Kayleigh looked up as someone, a boy, approached her saying hello. He had a very slight limp and Kayleigh wondered what happened to him. He looked like a nerd with his glasses but he was cute otherwise. She always did seem to like guys with brown hair but then again she hadn't really talked to much guys besides her friend Thomas.

"Hi" She said back to him. She looked him up and down taking note of his appearance. "It's a bit boring right now is it not?" She asked assuming she might as well start up a conversation with him. She wondered what god was his parent. She straightened out her legs picking her water bottle out and made the water inside ripple.

James adjusted his glasses and nodded. "quite boring. May I?" He asked nodding to the seat next to her. (He had been raised to be polite to ladies, his father made sure he had nice enough manners.... at least to girls.)

He was quiet for a moment, deciding if he should say anything else. He was always pretty quiet.. He only really talked to Colby. And that's because she was his best friend... 'Talk to her. Come on, be a man' The voice in his head told him. It sounded suspiciously like Colby...

So he decided to listen to the voice. "I'm going to take a guess and say... Poseidon?" He asked "Unless of course everyone but me can control water" He grinned. "I'm James" H said, holding a hand out. "James Holt"

Kayleigh looked at him and nodded back "Sure I don't mind" She said as he pretty much asked to seat down with her. She looked out to the sky wondering if he would talk again, he seemed to be the bit of the quiet type though her mom always told her not to judge a book by their color. She decided to listen to her mom's advice and see if the boy would talk more then he was.

She looked up at him and smiled "Oh yes, Your correct Poseidon is my dad. I just haven't met him just yet. I was told I would soon though." She said sighing hoping she would. "I'm Kayleigh Smyth. It's nice to meet you James, son of?" She said shaking his hand as he offered it.

She looked out to the lake and waved her hand around making small subtle but good waves form. "That must be pathetic compared to my Dad but I am working on it." She said shrugging.

James sat next to her and put his feet up on the bench next to theirs. He thought for a moment. Kayleigh. It was a pretty name, not one he'd heard before.

When she asked who his parent was, he adjusted his glasses again, a nervous habit of his. "Aphrodite" He said with a light shrug. He wasn't much like his siblings. Yeah he was a bit egocentric and he cared about how he looked, but not too much. He didn't talk every much either.... "But with a slight Athena influence" He smiled slightly. That was Colby. Always dropping off books for him to read, and making him think more than usual...

"Yeah" he said, smiling slightly, "You'll get there someday" he reassured her.

He moved his feet slightly, as to reposition them, but his bad foot slipped off, hitting the ground with a thump. He winced slightly and moved it back up, then looked back at this new girl. Kayleigh.

Kayleigh put her water bottle back down as James sat down next to her. "Aphrodite... I don't see it honestly. Your pretty quiet if you don't mind me saying. Hmm Athena influence... that might be why though." She said catching herself late on what she was saying. "Oh, I'm sorry I was rambling and..." She went quiet.

She nodded as he said she would get there someday. She sure hope so, she didn't want to be bad compared to her dad she wanted to be someone he would be proud of.

She watched him as he fixed his feet and noticed the expression on his face as one foot hit slipped and hit the ground. "Is your leg injured?" She asked him raising an eyebrow.

He nodded "I'm quieter than the rest of them. I don't really hang out with them though, So I don't know them very well. I spend most of my time down here." he said holding up his book "It's a great reading spot" he smiled and set the book on the table.

He nodded slightly when she asked about his leg "Nothing to worry about though. Childhood injury. I found out the hard way that I'm terrible at climbing trees. " He smirked. "I never was too good at sports. Then I did this," He nodded to his leg, "I got out of gym class back before I came here. But my father made me exercise still. I'm glad he did. If he hadn't, I probably wouldn't be able to fight at all." He said, then realized that he too, had been rambling. "Sorry.." He was surprised with himself. He hardly ever talked this much, and when he did, it was to Colby or his father. Not to girls he'd only just met....

Kayleigh listen to him talk trying not to smile. She would have to write her mom and tell her she was right about not judging a book by their covers, James did seem to talk when you found the right subject. "Is it? I'll have to read here sometime then." She said smiling at him genuinely.

She listened again as he spoke about his leg. She nodded occasionally to show she was listening, her mom had showed her to be a good listener and never talk when someone is talking. "It's alright, your speaking more then I expected you too so that is good" She said giving him another smiling. She was a bit glad he was speaking more then he was at first, she hadn't wanted to be sitting there awkwardly.

He grinned crookedly. "Under that tree is the best." he pointed to where he had been seated earlier. "you can see the Pavilion, and the lake, but it's shady and people don't notice you."

He blushed slightly when she said that. He wasn't much of a talker... maybe it was just when he found the right person, then he could talk.... But he had never talked so much to someone he barely knew...

"Tell me about you then?" He asked, trying to stay polite. "I told you about me. So now tell me about you." He grinned at her.

Kayleigh looked at the tree he pointed at seeing it was pretty shady and she wouldn't be able to see if someone was there if they were or not. "I shall try it out one day promise" She said nodding. She just would need to get a book from somewhere while she was at it to read under there, or maybe she would just sit there and throw random water jets at people. She liked her second idea better, it sounded like loads of fun.

Kayleigh smiled seeing he blushed a little. "Oh I am boring but I shall tell you the less boring details" She said laughing. She thought about it for a second before going on. "Well let's see, I have a ferret called Carrot-Top, he should be around here in the trees maybe." She said shrugging. "I like looking at the stars, thinking in quiet places but I can't stand being around a bunch of people talking at all. Drives me crackers." Kayleigh said picking up her water bottle and opening it.

"I can also do this slightly, I am working on it everyday." She said using her hands and manipulating the water to come out of the water bottle and sent three jets at a passing bug flying in the air and watched it drop to the ground. "I hit it!" She said her eyes widening in surprise but honestly she was ecstatic. "Finally!" She finished off. She looked at James smiling her blue eyes looked like the were sparkling with happiness.

James smiled "You're more exciting than me. I have a lizard named Rocky, and my dad and I traveled a lot. And I've been kicked out of 10 schools. wait........... 11. And I hardly ever talk." he said at the end then shrugged. He smiled when she said 'Drives me crackers' He'd never heard anyone say that before.......

He watched her as she made the water form in too little jets and hit a bug. he smiled, it was pretty cool. She looked over at him, her eyes were really blue.... "T-that was really cool!" he stuttered a bit at the beginning, lost for a second.. "I can't do anything like that. I can't charm speak either. I'm just a normal old demigod." He smiled wishfully "you're lucky."

Kayleigh smiled at him listening. "Thanks, I wouldn't call myself anything but complicated. but your compliment works for me." She said. Lizard named Rocky... She knew someone who named a rock rocky once, it was very interesting to see that pet when the friend came over before she started coming to the camp that is. "Wow... eleven schools, that's a lot. Sometimes one who doesn't talk... is the best player in the game. Well at least that's what my mum told me one time." She said but she completely believed it.

"Thanks! I have been practicing it a lot. One day I hope to be able to do the ones my dad can do" She said grinning at his reaction. He seemed to be pretty impressed by what she could do. "Well... have you tried to practice charm speak? I couldn't do the water jets at first until I started practicing them. Maybe you could try to charm speak and practice it?" She suggested.

"I've never heard that before" He smiled at the quote/advice. It was... well... true. maybe. "Better than the loud. They don't pay attention to the details." He grinned. He always (tried) to get the details, paying attention to the smallest things. His dad used to say he had a critical mind. He never really looked for the big picture....

"I..." He thought for a moment "I don't even know how to charm speak. or how to even go about trying to charm speak..." He blushed slightly "I don't know if I want to anyway. More talking. and influencing people.... It's... " He sighed "I don't know. It's just weird, thinking about it. or.." trailed off, "I just..." He got this way sometimes. Forgetting how to put words together, how to express what he was thinking so people knew what he was talking about. He shrugged again.

Kay laughed "My mom told me it because I was complaining about how sometimes people are just way too quiet and she said it was better that way sometimes." She said shrugging. She nodded agreeing with him, while she liked people to talk, she could not stand people being so loud. "Much better, they seem to be the ones who tend to fail much faster then the quiet ones do." She said nodding again.

She listened to him as he stuttered, he was right though. Influencing people probably wasn't always a good thing while alas sometimes it was in dire situations. "It's alright I understand. I like you better this way anyhow." She said smiling blushing slightly.

James nodded and smiled. He looked at his hands while listening to her and wondered why he was so talkative around her. Maybe it was because she reminded him a little bit of someone else. Someone who, at the moment, he couldn't place....

He looked back up at her and nodded again. He didn't want to manipulate people, or influence them... He smiled when she blushed. It was cute. "I think I like you better this way too" he said with a bit of a grin "but I haven't seen you any other way yet. So who knows?"

Kayleigh looked out to the lake and sighed, it was a good day the lake look as well as ever and there were some birds behind them chirping. It was a bit quiet and Kayleigh was running out of things to talk about now. She blushed a little more when he said he liked her better this way. "Th-thank you" She said continuing to look out at the lake. "Well I don't change much besides how I act when we battle" She said shrugging slightly. She played with her water bottles lid unscrewing it and screwing it back on absentmindedly. "You were reading when you came over here right? What were you reading?" She asked wondering. She wasn't big on books but sometimes she liked to read them every once in a while.