PERCY JACKSON SWORE up and down that he did not announce how lovely Mirabelle Barone's hair looked when it was kept down. However, Mirabelle Barone swore up and down that he did infact pronounce his admiration toward the way her hair fell over her shoulders and down the length of her back.

      When Mira turned to roast her marshmallow, her back toward Percy, she heard him, in a small, almost inaudible voice, mutter, "Mirabelle should wear her hair down more, it looks nice."

  "Excuse me?" Mirabelle immediately spun back around, the smore in her hand long forgotten. For some reason, Percy's words angered her. He was joking, obviously. What was so special about the mess of frizz she was unfortunately burdened with? "What'd you say about my hair, Sea Prawn?"

    For a second, Percy appeared taken aback. He resembled a cornered animal, one caught in headlights, with his wide eyes and slightly agape mouth. Then, he said, "Nothing. I didn't say anything."

  The daughter of Athena cocked an eyebrow suspiciously, "I heard you."

   Percy's pleading gaze drifted from Mira to a confused Annabeth, who sat beside her sister, too working on charring her marshmallow. "Belle, he didn't say anything."

  Mirabelle shook her head, intent on the words Percy had clearly spoken mere seconds ago. Why were both Annabeth and Percy gaslighting her?

"Annie, I heard him," Mira persisted, "He said—'Mirabelle should wear her hair down more, it looks nice."

Percy only stared at Mira in shock for a second, before admitting, "I didn't say that. Not out loud— at least..."

Mirabelle allowed her scrutinizing pupils to scan the many Campers gathered around the dancing embers, singing along to old show tunes and devouring smores, perhaps it was not Percy, but someone else who had mastered a very convincing Percy impression. Though, nobody looked concerned with the trio who sat on a log several feet away from the crowd. They were all doing their own thing, Mira couldn't imagine any of them taking time to mock Percy.

"But—" Mira shook her head, confusion taking hold of her, "I could've sworn I heard you say something about my hair."

  "No," Percy narrowed his eyes, "I think you might finally be losing it, Belle."

   Mira subtly glared at the boy, hoping to not alarm Annabeth, she muttered, "If you don't stop talking you'll be loosing your life."

  "Is that a threat, Barone?" Percy quiered, a silent challenge dancing within his irises.

  "No, it's a promise."

Annabeth watched the two in horror, "Gods, what kind of couple are you guys?" She scooted further down the log, furrowing her eyebrows.

   Mira ignored her sister, not desperate to anwser any questions surrounding her and Percy's faux relationship. She shoved the stick she was holding further into the fire, watching as the flames engulfed her poor marshmallow.

"A great one," Percy anwsered, though he was snarling. "We love eachother alot."

  "Seems like it," Annabeth huffed sarcastically.

   Then she and Percy went back to discussing something Mirabelle weilded no care towards, the whereabouts of Percy's cyclops brother. At that, Mira took it upon herself to exit that area of the pavilion, on a search for her best friend; Silena.

Silena was a year rounder, but Mira was not. She'd be leaving the next morning, though it was only for a few weeks until Mirabelle's school went on Christmas break. And both of the girl's were very distraught about this. They hated being apart, as every pair of best friends did.

The daughter of Athena weaved around throngs of Camper's weilding gooey smores and toward the possey of Aphrodite children Mirabelle knew she'd find her friend in.

As she suspected, Silena was admist the small group, chatting with her half-siblings. Drew stood on one side of Silena, while one of her brothers stood on the other. They seemed very caught up in the conversation, so caught up in fact, that they didn't seem to notice Mira until she spoke up.

"Leena," Mirabelle hummed, observing the way the aforementioned girl perked up at her voice. "Hi!"

"Mira!" Silena threw herself onto the girl as if she'd not seen her in ages, when in reality, it had been less than an hour. "What are you doing over here?"

"Had to get away from Jackson. He was driving me crazy."

Mirabelle didn't seem to catch her own slip up until Silena's face contorted into one of confusion.

Why would she be seeking proximity from her own boyfriend. More importantly, why would he be driving her crazy.

"He's so hot," Mirabelle continued frantically, "that it's driving me crazy!"

Close one.

"Oh," Silena nodded in understanding, so did her nosey little siblings. "You guys are so cute!"

"Sure," Mira sighed, still reeling from having to call Percy hot. She didn't think he was actually hot! She'd only said that to convince her friend.

"It's lucky the both of you live in New York," Silena began, "You guys can easily see eachother whenever."

Mirabelle scoffed, but covered it up with a faux lovesick giggle. She found it very unfortunate they both lived in New York. There wasn't enough distance between them. "Yeah. Soo lucky!"

Mira stuffed her gloved hands into the pockets of her pink coat, forming a rigid fist with her fingers.

Fake dating Percy was the hardest thing she'd ever had to do. And it had only been a day.

The Athena Cabin, per usual on days of importance, was bubbling with chaos. The part time campers, the one's with lifes in the mortal world, were set to return home that day. Mirabelle, being one of them, hurriedly crammed her luggage into the spacious bag she'd brought to camp. Around her, her siblings shouted back and forth, arguing over custody of scrolls and other things of hardly any importance.

Annabeth stood above the crouching girl, watching her pack. "You'll still Iris message me twice a week, right?"

"Yeah, Annie," Mira confirmed offhandedly, busy with her luggage. She zipped her bag and turned to her younger sister. "I will. I promise."

Annabeth pulled her into a breif hug. The sisters embraced for a split second, before Annabeth pulled away and ruffled Mirabelle's hair, but it did nothing because she was sporting two dutch braids.

"Let me walk you to the camp borders," Annabeth requested, earning a nod from her sister.

After a round of goodbye's around the cabin, the girl's left. Underfoot, snow crunched as they walked, acting as a backtrack to their intelligent conversation.

"We've gotta stop by the Aphrodite cabin," Mirabelle told Annabeth, earning a groan. Annabeth wasn't very fond of the Aphrodite kids. Mira didn't understand why. Most of them were kind.

Most.

However, Drew Tanaka, who anwsered cabin ten's door when they knocked, was not very kind. She swung the wooden, pink door open, and airly sighed in annoyance upon spotting the Athena children.

"Is Silena in?" Mira questioned, shifting on her feet akwardly benath Drew's gaze. Although the girl was younger, she was very intimidating. The way she studied Mirabelle, as if she were nothing, made her feel very insecure. "I'm leaving and just wanted to tell—"

"Silena!" Drew cut the girl off, glancing back into the chaotic cabin. "Your girlfriend is here!"

A chorus of scuffling noises erupted, then Silena's head popped up from behind a pile of frilly clothes. She grinned at the sight of Mira, whose hand was raised in greeting.

The Beaguard girl rushed forward, toward the door, nudging Drew out of the way to embrace her friend. As her arms wrapped around Mira's frame snugly, the comforting scent of roses washed over the shorter girl in tides, engulfing her in admiration. Silena was her favorite person, moments like these reminded her of that. She'd be absolutely lost without the frivolous girl.

"Are you leaving?" Silena asked, though from the steeliness of her grip, it was clear she already knew the anwser.

"Yeah," Mirabelle confirmed, hugging the girl with just as much ferocity.

"Oh, I'll miss you so much!"

"You'll see me in like, a month," Mira chuckled as the girl pulled away, pressing a kiss to her cold cheek.

"So?" Silena asked, tugging on the brim of Mira's hat, playfully pulling it over her eyes. "Promise you'll iris message me three times a day?"

Though to anyone else, three times a day did seem quite bizzare, it didn't to Silena and Mirabelle. Talking to eachother was of the only things that helped them stay sane.

"Three times a day," Mira nodded in confirmation.

  Silena smiled and pulled her into a final hug. Then she quickly hugged Annabeth, before the sisters departed.

  Annabeth and Mira made their way down the hill, walking slowly to delay the latters departure.

  "Don't you wanna say goodbye to Percy?"

  Mirabelle groaned internally, turning away to hide her obnoxious eye roll. That was the last thing she wanted. So, she said; "We already said our goodbyes."

  Annabeth nodded in understanding as they descended down the hil, through clusters of trees. At the crest of the hill, a dozen campers stood, waiting for their rides. And of course, because Mirabelle had never been lucky, Percy was upon them.

   He was leaning against a tall tree, his arms crossed, along with his legs. He was a distance away from the other campers, though that didn't stop them from oogiling over him, as always.

  "Percy!" Annabeth called, approaching the aforementioned boy, who seemed enthralled by her presence. He quickly deflated though, when he realized her elder sister was trailing behind her.

  "Annabeth," He nodded in greeting, "Bar— Mira."

  Another almost slip up. This time from Percy's end. What sort of boyfriend called his girlfriend by her last name?

"Percy," Mirabelle greeted, trying to keep her tone steady, making sure it didn't waver in disgust, revealing her true feelings. "Hi."

If all of the camper's weren't already paying attention to Percy Jackson, they were now. The budding romance between the once rivals seemed to be a very hot topic around camp.

For a while, Mira stood by, pretending to be intruiged in the conversation happening between her sister and Percy, while silently praying for her mom to arrive and rescue her from the annoyance that was Percy's presence. Then, a familiar red minivan cruised along the nearby road, approaching the gaggle of children gathered around the trees.

She was saved! Her mom had arrived!

The girl pulled her sister into another fleeting hug, before attempting to make her way towards the car.

"Wait," Percy called, stopping her mid-strut toward the car. She turned back around to see Percy grinning smugly. "Don't I get a goodbye?"

Mirabelle grit her teeth, attempting the subconsciously untangle the seering bundle of neveres that had knit themselves together within her chest. She pushed down the cruel words pawing themselves up her throat.

"We already said our goodbyes. Earlier, at the cabin—"

"Okay, and?" Percy tilted his head, analyzing the girl's reaction. She didn't seem too pleased. "Another goodbye won't hurt. Right?"

All of the campers were watching them, studying them intently. If either of them made one wrong move, the facade that was their romance would come crumbiling down, the ruins destroying her dreams of angering her mother.

With that being said, Mira hesitantly moved toward the boy, her footfall heavy as she went. She stopped infront of Percy, so close to him that she could count each speck of blue littering his otherwise green irises. She could decipher the salty aroma, not unpleasant, but more mingled with sweetness, like carmel, lingering on his scrawny joints.

"Bye, Sea-Prawn."

Then, she pushed herself up onto her tiptoes, still aware of the dozen eyes trained upon her, and pressed her lips breifly against his smooth cheek. The touch was featherlight, yet her organs still felt suddenly heavy. The feeling of his cheek beneath her mouth made her stomach catch fire, searing every vital nerve end past repair.

Mirabelle Barone really hated Percy Jackson.

She pulled her mouth away slightly, letting it brush against his flushed flesh, dragging it towards his ear. Quiet enough for no one to hear but him, she whispered into his ear, her breathe hot against his tingiling skin, a contrast from the harsh air.

"Fuck you, Jackson." She whispered. Then she pat his chest once and set toward her car again.

LYNNIE SAYS / YO?????????? Rare sotb update for the one and only laciesrot because she's been begging me relentlessly. Tbh I didn't plan on touching this fuck ass book ever again BUT here I am in 2024 😭😭 writing for mirapercy?!? not edited at all and wrote in like 10 minutes, but i hope this satisfies the sotb cravings!