Meeting New People [OPEN]

Even with her numb foot, Taylor managed to pull Stephen up the hill. Breathing heavily, Taylor sat with her back leaning against a tree trunk. She took her rest as she waited for Stephen to settle down. She had one goal: by the end of day, Stephen must have talked to a few people and made friends. Taylor turned to Stephen, saying, "So, you ready?"

Stephen shrugged. "I guess so" he said, trying to sound upbeat. He might as well try to make a few friends. No sense in being pessimistic all the time.

"Hey, Alex!" Taylor greeted him cheerfully with a smile. "Not much. It's been a while, hasn't it? Well at least now, I didn't roll down the hill," she added with a laugh.

Taylor glanced at Stephen while rubbing the back of her head. She nudged him playfully with her elbow. "This is Stephen," Taylor told Alex, grinning as she gestured towards the guy. "Stephen, Alex."

Stephen said "I came from Florida, but I've been here at camp for a while. Where you come from?" He prepared himself for the basic half-blood questions: 'Who's your godly parent, do have any powers' ect.

Stephen suppressed a grin at the accuracy of his guess. "My mother is Macaria, not many have heard of her. She's an underworld goddess. What about you?"

Stephen couldn't help but chuckle a little. "Son of Aphrodite....nice. Bet you have no problem with the ladies, right Taylor?" He shot her a questioning look and then started laughing at his own joke. Probably rude, but oh well. "I'm sorry, I couldn't pass that up. But anyway, yeah Persephone is an underworld goddess, but there are a few lesser known ones. Hecate is an underworld goddess, as well as goddess of magic. Then there's Melinoe, who rules the ghosts, and my mother Macaria, goddess of the blessed dead." Feeling awkward for becoming the encyclopedia on underworld goddesses, he added "I spend a lot of time reading."

Taylor rolled her eyes. "I didn't know you were such a know-it-all," she teased. "If I recall correctly, it wasn't exactly me who got into fights," Taylor said with a smirk as she turned to Alex. She smiled, knowing that her plan was working.

Stephen laughed. "I beg to differ on that one Taylor, fights tend to happen around you. Remember the harpy and the minotaur?"

Taylor scoffed. "That's different! It was against monsters!" she said defensively, punching Stephen on the shoulder. "That's what they train us for, don't they?" She huffed, crossing her arms over chest. Okay, so she didn't have a decent argument. Screw Stephen and his logic, she thought.

Stephen laughed and rubbed the spot where Taylor had punched him. "That will probably bruise!" he joked. He was actually have fun. He thought So this is what it's like to be a normal kid.

Taylor chuckled lightly as she leaned against the tree. "Quite a long story," she said with a grin. "Let's just say we were caught after curfew by a harpy, and it didn't end well...for the harpy."

She glanced at Stephen, a cue for him to continue.

Stephen laughed. "It sure didn't. But the minotaur that found us when we were running from a cop was a bit trickier than the harpy. What's the world coming to when a couple half bloods can't even get a burger without being attacked?" He sat against the tree. "So what's the deal with rolling down a hill or whatever it was?"

Taylor laughed at the memory. "It was because of this boy--Zach," she grinned wider. "He probably thought it would be fun to slide down the hill. So when he fell, he dragged me with him," she finished, still laughing. "Then Alex here came and... it's a long story."

Stephen laughed at the story. "Leave it to the Ares kids to start a fight" he said. "I sure wouldn't want to get on the bad side of one of those guys." He laughed again. Slightly bored, he pulled out of his pocket the iPod he snuck into camp a long time ago. He started searching through the songs. "What kind of music y'all listen to?"

Taylor laughed along with him. "They might like to start fights, but that doesn't mean they're good at it," she said, nodding her head. "I bet loads of them are just big talk."

Taylor looked at Stephen's iPod, noting that it was quite different than hers. "Rock," she replied, grinning. "Linkin Park? Or Paramore, because I just love Paramore." Taylor started to "scream" at an invisible microphone and did some headbangs. Afterwards, she cleared her throat and ran a hand through her hair to somewhat fix it. "Yeah, I'm weird. Ignore that."

Stephen laughed and said "Sorry, no Paramore. But I think I got some Linkin Park, let me check. What about you Alex, what do you listen to?" He continued searching through the songs, most of which would never be played on the radio, although there were a few popular songs. When an iPod can hold thousands of songs, some mainstream is inevitable which is why Stephen was sure he had some Linkin Park.

"Ah-ha" Stephen said and stopped searching through the songs. "It's not Linkin Park, but I think you'll like it anyway Taylor". He pressed play and 'Break Stuff' by Limp Bizkit began to blare from the speakers. He already knew what song he would play next. Alex said he liked hip-hop, and Stephen had a lot of underground rap on the iPod. Though hip-hop and rap were not the same, they might be similar enough. He chose the song 'Turn it up' By Haystak to play next