Unforgiven: Chapter Four

"Get up, Punk!" screamed Clarisse. "It's your first day of wrestling and I want to see you get creamed!" I groaned.

"I feel sick," I complained.

"Too bad, sunshine-twerp," she snarled. Great, I thought sarcastically, a new nickname. I got out of bed and pulled on an orange Camp-Half Blood shirt and a pair of jeans. The jeans were too big and too long. I sighed. I pulled a brush through my untidy long, black hair. As soon as I found a pair of scissors, I promised myself, I would chop it to a more reasonable length. I took a quick glance in a mirror and frowned.

"Come ON, Punk!" screamed Clarisse. I followed the Ares kids out of the cabin. In the short walk to the Amphitheatre, I was pushed, shoved, punched, and tripped. My new clothes were muddy and torn. I did my best to keep myself from crying.

I don't even want to go into the details of wrestling. I was punched, pummeled, and squashed. Limping and breathing heavily, I followed my new cabinmates to the armory where we carried dozens of javelins for us to throw. I was pretty good at javelin throwing since it was a no-contact sport, (except for when I had to dodge Sherman's spear that was about to go through my head).

Lunch was embarrassing. Our table was right next to Apollo's, but the Ares kids beat me to the table first to make sure that I couldn't sit near my siblings. They also helped themselves to anything from my plate. I guess it had gotten around that I had kitchen duty that night, or else they always ate like pigs, but they dirtied as many plates as was humanly demigodly possible.

Besides an occasional glance of sympathy to me, Michael seemed to be having a good time with our siblings. Other campers ignored me or stared curiously. I caught Annabeth looking at me, but she quickly looked away and struck up eager conversation with one of her sisters.

I was even glad glad when we broke off for our activities. Rock climbing went well until both my feet slipped. I was left dangling as the kids below laughed. My limbs were too small to reach far-off rocks.

Finally, I had what I'd been waiting for. It was free time. I walked to the woods, hoping to see Thalia there. She wasn't. Looking around cautiously, I sat on the border line of camp. The smell of the grass, and