hold onto the feeling and don't let it go [private]

Caleb still couldn't believe how he had gotten roped into this.

Maybe he had been too tired that night to process June's request. Too tired to figure out the consequences behind their decision to meet once more. Sleepily, Caleb brought a hand up to rub his still sleepy eyes. He promised himself that he won't ever keep himself up until around three in the morning again. Not that he wasn't used to staying up late, but he could count on one hand how many times he kept his eyes open until after twelve. Grumbling something about being an early bird in the mornings, Caleb tensed his jaw as he limped to the supposed party, nose already wrinkling at the prospect of a social gathering. He already knew that something bad was about to happen here. He got a feeling in his bones. He had briefly considered not going, but the thought of leaving the daughter of Ares all alone in there was too much to bear. Not to mention that June would probably kick his ass if he stood her up. Due to the circumstances, Caleb couldn't deny that he'd be helpless if that ever happened.

Just as he neared the site, Caleb paused to lean against the post in the volleyball pits. He gripped his crutch tightly, barely registering the hollow sort of numbness and pain coming from his lower extremities. He got the casts taken off, even if it was still way early for that. Ambrosia and nectar can work wonders, and he had persuaded some of the older Apollo kids to give him more of the standard dosage. The risk paid off in the end, and Caleb could've sworn that disappointed looks plagued the healers' faces when he didn't burst into flames from overdose. Caleb allowed his lips to twist into a smug smirk at the thought.

He could hear music blaring from the party site and frowned. Why did people like that kind of noise? Caleb had yet to understand how having to shout at the top of your lungs to make yourself heard amidst the music equated to fun. Heaving a deep sigh, he proceeded to draw circles on the dirt using his only crutch to distract himself. He had no intention of searching for June in the crowd. The action would only bring forth harm to either of them, especially with the war god spawns prowling about. No, he best stay here in the volleyball pit, hoping that she at least had some sense to look for him in the area surrounding the pig roast. As if he would ever join the party crowd anyway.

The son of Momus tuned out the whispering and laughing behind his back as demigods passed. He recognized some of the faces to be ones he had wronged before, and now they were paying back the favor in kind. A few took the trouble of shouting scathing insults at him as they walked by. Caleb only replied to these with a smug smirk, unnerving them because of how eerily calm he seemed despite his current situation. They knew nothing.

"Come on, Prenston," he muttered to himself, looking up to scan his nearly bare surroundings. He grew restless, wanting to just enter the party and look for the girl himself. Agitatedly brushing some of his hair away from his eyes, Caleb sucked in a deep breath of air and dug the stick in the dirt, propelling himself to move towards the party. Come what may, he thought. Ares could send all his demented children raging at him if he liked. He just needed to find the daughter of Ares asap.

The whispers intensified as more knowing looks got thrown his way as he entered the outer circle of the ongoing party. They were just insignificant little ants with nothing better to talk about, he told himself. He would've loved to give each of them a smirk but he knew that he should focus on the task at hand. He must find June. His resolve strengthened even more as he took every limping step, eyes darting around for any sign of the wavy-haired girl. Where was she? Knowing her, he knew that she must be weaving in and out of the crowd, looking for him too. Caleb gritted his teeth. At this rate, the night will end without any of them catching even a glimpse of the other. Was this perhaps another of Ares' plans?

As he neared the snack bar, Caleb suddenly stopped in his tracks, growing aware of the gaze of a muscular boy gazing intently at him. As soon as their eyes met, the boy turned white-faced and his features contorted into a scowl. Not knowing whether to attribute his paleness to fear or sheer anger, Caleb smirked at him, having some sort of inkling on who the guy was. Seething, the brawny boy walked over to him, all the while cracking his knuckles and making the muscles on his arms bulge through the fabric of his shirt. "Looking for my sister, huh, punk?" the kid said, eyes narrowing dangerously. "She's not here. Why doncha scram, before I give you much more to worry about than a pair of useless legs?"

Unfazed, Caleb tilted his head to the side and gave him a challenging look. He knew better than to believe his words. "Still haven't changed, Peter? Why don't you go home and kiss your daddy's feet while you're at it?" Caleb's fingers hovered dangerously close to the hilt of his trusted knife as he observed the boy's face turn scarlet under the colorful party lights. Great, barely five minutes in and he already got himself into some trouble. Never letting his eyes leave the son of Ares, Caleb stood his ground and hoped that June wasn't anywhere nearby. The last thing he needed was to get the girl involved in this.

Someone up there must really hate Caleb to give him the very thing that he hoped wouldn't happen. Oh wait, someone already did. While he was relieved to have finally found the person he was looking for, he certainly wasn't pleased with the fact that she had to come at that very moment. Luckily for him too, considering how he almost did something he would regret later.

Caleb's fingers danced around his knife a few seconds more before he let his hand drop to hook around his pants pocket. With the other hand wrapped around the handle of his crutch, he half-heartedly listened to June as he continued to stare at the son of Ares. The way Peter carried himself seemed almost as if he was waiting for Caleb to make the first move. Before he can act on the impulse, the son of Momus took a deep breath to calm himself. June was right. If he continued on this path, hordes of people would come at him. As much as a scandal would be of some thrill to him, he figured that he shouldn't put both his and June's lives in danger all because of a single careless action on his part. "Drunk or not drunk, it'd be pretty easy for him to fall off a cliff," he muttered under his breath, but with some luck, no one else but June would be able to hear it. Okay, so he couldn't help himself. Perhaps now June can see why he quickly got on her family's and other people's bad sides.

"Got lucky this time around, didn't ya?" Caleb managed to taunt, keeping a smirk up as he reveled in Peter's obvious discomfort. He played a dangerous game here. One slip-up and he might as well be digging his own grave. But then, hadn't that been the whole situation from the start? Before Peter can respond with something less witty, Caleb half-turned to face June, taking a wobbly crutch-supported step to the direction she led him to. "Let's go - "

He cut off as his eyes flickered to the angry blotch of red on June's wrist. "What happened?" he asked urgently, looking up to meet her gaze. Caleb's voice took on an emotionless edge, but he didn't seem to be as good at controlling it than before. It shook a little when he spoke, which was quite uncharacteristic. Because for some reason, Caleb felt angry. Angry that June's wrists bore bright red marks. "Who did this to you?"

For the time being, Caleb forgot that he walked with a limp and a crutch. He forgot that he had just left the infirmary and would be coming back to it before the night was over. Forgot that he was physically inferior to the Ares boy. Hot inexplicable rage flowed through his veins, almost enough to make him see red. He didn't know where this newfound anger came from, just that it was there and ready to fuel him into action. With dangerously narrowed eyes,the son of Momus slowly directed his gaze to the boy currently pigging out in the snack table. You are going down.

"Feeling so cocky now, are we?" he said, the words forced out through gritted teeth. He barely registered June holding his arms down, his fingers finding the rubberized hilt of his electrifying knife. Peter just had enough gall to meet his gaze with a challenging one of his own. The older boy was daring him, and blinded by rage, Caleb almost gave him the exact response he was hoping for. Almost.

Caleb could hear the pleading note in June's voice and he faltered slightly. Didn't she understand? It was wrong for Peter to do that to her. Caleb would make him pay for it. Whoa, since when did he have some straight sense of morality? At that train of thought, the more logical side of the son of Momus awakened, rushing to calm him down. Just in time too. Inhaling deeply as he counted from one to ten in his thoughts, Caleb relaxed his stance and let his hand move away from his weapon. Yes, he was still furious, but that didn't mean that he would act the way Peter wanted him to. That would have been plain foolishness on his part, and Caleb never let himself get away with doing unwise things.

"Count yourself lucky this time, brainless," Caleb muttered venomously, still glaring daggers at the Ares boy. He had himself under control now. No way was he going to let himself respond to Peter's childish antics, no matter how he was provoked. "We're going," he told June, turning away from the scene, walking away as the bigger man.

But Peter had other ideas. Disappointed by how the situation hadn't escalated into a full-blown fight, the son of Ares let out a harsh laugh, before sneering, "What's the matter, Limp Wimp? Too much of a coward to come and fight? Is Cripples so scared?" Peter broke into a fit of hysteria, doubling over when suddenly, a bright red apple came flying at him and connected with his jaw. Snarling, he looked up and saw Caleb, half-turned with his hand outstretched, his lips curled up into his signature smirk.

No, maybe Caleb didn't have as much control on himself than he first thought.

Caleb noted how June seemed to shiver slightly, most likely from an earlier memory. Frowning, the son of Momus raised his eyebrows at her, wordlessly demanding for answers, but the son of Ares was going way too far. That was when he chucked an apple at the kid's jaw. His aim was a little off though - Caleb meant to hit his eye.

It took Caleb a brief moment to realize the magnitude of what he'd done, and it took more than the beefy son of Ares charging at him to know it. "Oh? I think I've already sentenced myself to death since day one," he said, a little amused at how much June resembled a ghost at the moment. Before he could say anything else, a flash of silver gleamed past but a sudden tug made him turn away before he could see where it landed. Caleb moved as quick as his limp could permit him, thinking it a wise a move to get out of the scene before the son of Ares could retaliate. He did doubt how much time it'd take before he did, maybe as soon as he stopped screaming in pain.

"Kind of big coming from someone who threw a knife at his foot," he responded snarkily. At the compliment, the son of Momus's lips turned up in a half-grin. "Why thank you. I'd say the same to you."

As Peter's voice slowly began to fade, Caleb risked a glance back to see that quite a few people huddled around him. Imagining the blood pooling around his feet from June's attack felt oddly satisfying. Caleb shook his head, only feeling a little disgusted at the turn his thoughts had taken, before shifting his attention back to June. "Why'd you look so scared?" he asked without as much as a second thought. "Peter's only a chip off the old block. You of all people should be able to handle that."

Caleb held back a scoff. "You think? I'm actually a little surprised at how we managed to get away without exchanging real blows." Well, Peter did end up having a bloody foot and a bruised chin, but the two of them, June and Caleb, left the scene unscathed. While the son of Momus felt incredibly smug at the thought, a little part of him wondered if this was going to be the rest of their lives. Could they enter a sociable scene and walk away without anyone getting hurt, physically or emotionally? No, he thought firmly, convincing himself. This is the path we chose.

The sudden mood shift caused Caleb to tense, but he at least figured that it was a product of June's psychological disorder and anger issues as an Ares child. Or, well, he had heard that teenage girls had very frequent mood changes, so that was a possible reason too. "That's why I have glasses," he tapped the rim of it with two of his fingers. "Haven't you noticed? Maybe you're the blind one here," he drawled sarcastically, an amused glint in his eyes.

Caleb threw June a weird look. "Peter? Are you serious? Haven't you forgotten that he's as dumb as a bag of nails?" True, Caleb might be exaggerating, but still. "You and your imagination never cease to amaze me, Prenston." He breathed a light laugh, shaking his head. June was becoming too paranoid for all of this, he assumed. Caleb refused to believe any other reason. He didn't know how he was shunning every other thing aside, didn't know that June's accusation might just hold true. That he was becoming blind.

"Fine," he muttered under his breath, letting the girl lead him anyway. It was quite hard to keep up (Damn legs couldn't move any faster, he thought), but he at least managed to avoid bumping into every demigod in the way. Well, that part was kind of easy, seeing as most people hastened to move aside as they passed. "I never understand why they find this kind of noise enjoyable. I can barely tolerate it as it is."

ooc: I just saw Isabelle Fuhrman throwing knives in The Hunger Games again and my brain was like 'JUNE JUNE JUNE JUNE JUNE' xD

Cabin leader? Did June actually say that she was a cabin leader? Caleb didn't notice that she had already let go of his hand. In fact, the boy was stunned enough to actually stop in his tracks. Somehow, cabin leader and June didn't quite mix, and they were the last things that he expected to be in the same sentence. Well, who would vote for her anyway? Caleb knew that her siblings seemed quite averse to the girl and couldn't imagine how they would put her in that kind of position. Unless of course she intimidated them, but still. His jaw clenched and he felt put off all of a sudden, but he continued to follow the girl albeit keeping a short distance from her. He barely caught her next words but he didn't retort as he usually would've done, as his mind was still preoccupied with previous matters. June. Cabin leader. Caleb scowled slightly. This was going to take some getting used to.

Caleb quickened his pace, slightly distracted by June's comment on Peter. A wide smirk played on his lips and he made no move to stop the next words that came tumbling out of his obnoxious mouth. "Sure, your father isn't a dumbass. He's just an ass." He was really pushing the war god's buttons, he knew. He wouldn't be surprised if a pack of mutts suddenly leapt out of the shadows to attack him or something. "'You're right, Wright.' I'm liking the sound of that," he added under his breath, still feeling smug.

Being a keen observer, the son of Momus noticed the difference in June's tone and how she didn't want to meet his gaze but refused to point them out. Doing so would only mean the return of the serious conversations he had honestly grown tired of. Well, he understood that they needed those kinds of talks every once in a while, but he wasn't exactly keen on making it a regular routine. June's shift in mood had no doubt been implanted in his mind though, and he would certainly bring them up when the time was right. If the time will ever be right, anyway.

Caleb bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing as June became mean to the kids who were only innocently playing volleyball. "You're worse than I am," he mused as he once more quickened his pace, but jogging was hard with a crutch and a pair of legs that hadn't fully healed. The running didn't take long thankfully, for soon enough the sight of the barren field met his gaze. His eyes disdainfully swept over the place that had nothing but grass, grass and more grass. He had nothing against grass, but too much of something can get a little irritating. Caleb closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Heck, he was getting annoyed by grass, of all things. He needed to get a grip on himself. Badly.

"Sit or not, I don't care," he said wryly. It took him a few more moments to sit down himself, plopping next to June and holding back a wince as his legs protested. They were a lot better than before, but they still couldn't stand sudden movements. Carefully stretching his legs and placing the crutch across his thighs, Caleb grinned crookedly at the daughter of Ares. "Ah, well, I asked for a bit more ambrosia than what was prescribed. And some more nectar too. It worked wonders! The healers were probably giving me less than the supposed prescription," he shrugged, not voicing the other alternative. Perhaps the healers were playing safe, administering the required amount, when he played the game of chance. Caleb chuckled, flipping back some of the hair that got in his eyes. "Well, they looked disappointed when I didn't overdose. Quite funny actually. You should've seen their faces."

Caleb's face turned sour the moment June brought up the cabin leader business. He looked away, frowning. His hands busied themselves by forcefully pulling some blades of grass out of the ground. Caleb wasn't sure if it was his ADHD kicking in or if it was a psychological attempt to vent out his frustrations. "I'm not setting foot in Cabin 5 even if you paid me," he said bitterly, disgusted by the mere suggestion. Caleb wasn't about to make himself an easy target for all the offsprings of the god that hated him, even if June became one of their leaders now. June. Cabin leader. No, they still don't mix.

"How'd you become a cabin leader?" Caleb asked, not even bothering to remove the suspicious edge to his voice. "No one in their right mind would actually - never mind," he quickly caught himself before he could continue on. June was his... friend. There was no reason to question just how she got the position. In fact, shouldn't he be congratulating her or something? Why did he keep acting like it was the worst thing in the world? "Forget what I said. I'm sure they have their reasons." Caleb snuck a glance at her, only meeting her eyes for a split-second before turning away once more. "Congratulations, anyhow."

"Try both?" Caleb innocently suggested with a smirk to rival June's big smile. It was true. He didn't know whether to admire June for her guts or tell her off for it. Well, what she did wasn't something he would really do, he thought. He preferred using the power of words, though the occasional physical violence sounded welcome in some cases, like Peter for instance.

Caleb chuckled slightly at June's display of sass. "Nor was I giving you one," he shot back, not minding her attitude. He was glad for it, actually. Call him crazy for wanting people to actually respond in a sassy manner, but he enjoyed it a little more than people losing their temper. It was just how Caleb rolls. However, if there was something he enjoyed more than that, it was being seated there with June. He had never enjoyed this privilege before, or maybe he did at some point in his life the first time he became friends with the daughter of Ares. Either way, he knew that this could certainly be something he could get used to.

Barely feeling June smack his shoulder, Caleb couldn't help but laugh at her reaction. "But I didn't," he said, smirking. The idea of June throwing knives at scared campers strangely brought him amusement. "I'm not quite sure about that. I think they're more in the lines of being plain terrified than happy." He wouldn't have been surprised if the campers had fled the scene in terror just when June started to throw knives. While others felt differently, he seemed almost immune to her intimidating aura. Nevertheless, it struck him as rather peculiar at how at ease and happy he felt being around her, considering that other people ran from the opportunity of being in the same room as someone who used to have sociopathic tendencies.

The change in topic brought about a drastic change in Caleb's mood. He didn't want to hear about June being cabin leader and having all of the privileges that came with it, no matter how bad it made him sound. Growing annoyed with all the nudging, Caleb caught June's wrist as she pushed his shoulder and looked at her darkly. "Quit it," he simply ordered, before letting go of her wrist and firmly planting his palm back to a grass-free patch of ground. Blades of grass he had pulled out lay scattered around him, and at this rate, he will soon find the surrounding area bare of any plant life.

Caleb had expected June to respond in an angry manner that when she could only mutter bleakly in response, the son of Momus twisted his neck to throw her a confused look only to see that she was staring off into the opposite direction. Caleb shifted on his seat, feeling no more comfortable than June with the sudden turn the conversation took. "Forget what I said. It's nothing. I'm sure you're more than capable for the job," he said, but it did nothing to take back the ease they both felt with each other before. Why couldn't he have kept his opinions to himself? Why did he have to question June's newfound power? The situation only worsened because of that. As Caleb bridged the gap between him and envy, June's spirits swooped down the depths of misery. He let his eyes flicker to the crutch laying across his lap, too ashamed of himself to meet June's gaze (not that she was even looking at him, but still).

Noticing that both their moods hadn't improved even if June attempted to open up a new topic, Caleb let an exasperated sigh escape his lips and focused his energy on not letting any form of negativity creep into his voice. "I have no interest in neither," he said, his tone becoming a little too formal from too much effort of controlling his emotions. Angry at himself, Caleb wrenched even more grass off the ground, crumpling the weeds in his hand before hurling them away from him. "A bore, I'd say. Nothing important happened, not that I can recall any." He paused, quickly exhaling to keep his cool. "Neither am I."