Luke's POV

As I was walking in the hall, I suddenly knocked into someone. I immediately apologized, and she stood up and glared at me. I recognized her immediately. It was the girl that Chiron had told Lakyn and me to keep an eye on while we were here. I tried to remember her name while carrying on a polite conversation. To tell you the truth, Lakyn did the 'bulk' of the guarding. I was just here in case something went haywire, such as a monster appearing. I introduced myself, and finally asked her what her name was.
"Brianna Grace," she replied. I was surprised, but tried not to show it. See, I had a friend named Thalia Grace. She was a daughter of Zeus. You may be wondering why I'm talking about her in the past tense. Point being, she doesn't exist anymore. At least, not as a human. She is currently a tree. Yes, you read that right. You don't really want to know, so don't ask. Anyhow, I wondered if Brianna and Thalia were related, although Thalia had said nothing. As far as I knew, Thalia had been an only child. Obviously, I wasn't going to ask. That would blow my cover and Lakyn's, not to mention the heightened possibility of monsters. I decided to take this chance and ask her if she wanted to eat lunch with me. And no, it's not like I had a crush on her. Don't be like Lakyn, daughter of Aphrodite. Anyhow, Brianna accepted, and ran off to her next class, as I headed to study hall.

***

At lunch, I saw Lakyn and Brianna coming. I smiled to myself. I should've known Lakyn would tag along, which I had no problem with, as long as she didn't hint, once again, that I had 'feelings' for Brianna, or I was going to kill her. Daughters of Aphrodite tend to be too sappy, if you know what I mean. As we were talking, Lakyn and I had to pretend thay we only knew each other from summer camp, which was true, if you counted Camp Half-Blood as a 'camp'. Somehow, we got on the subject of why I was 'going' to camp this summer, and I accidentally let it slip that I have ADHD and dyslexia. I wasn't surprised to hear that Brianna had both too. They are common signs that you are a half-blood. When Brianna suggested that we should split up and meet back at a spot she found, I was going to take the chance the speak to Lakyn, but no such luck. She shot me a look that clearly said 'One of us has to be with her at all times, remember?' Sadly, I did. Chiron had pounded that in our heads before we left.
As Brianna and I searched for a spot to sit, I tried to think of something to talk about. Brianna spoken first.
"Have you heard about this year's talent show?" she asked me.
"Um, no, I didn't. Are you going to be in it?" I replied.
"Yeah. I'm singing, and Lakyn is accompanying on the guitar," she responded. I had to smile to myself. Lakyn didn't sound too good, although, she had gotten better with her lessons from Lee Fletcher, son of Apollo.
"You should come see it," she said.
"I probably will, since both of you will be in it," I replied. "And as long as there's no homework."
"Since when are you worried about homework?" Brianna asked, looking amused.
"Always!" I replied somewhat indignantly.
"You shouldn't have to worry about it, anyway. It's over Christmas break. Actually, it's on Christmas," she said. The way she said it made me think of the Athena kids at camp. That's when I began to wonder: Is Brianna a child of Athena? She was certainly smart enough to be. The only thing that I had an objection to about that, though, was the fact that she didn't have gray eyes. Hers were blue; crystal blue.
Brianna broke into my thoughts when she said, "Um, is this a good spot?" It took me a moment to figure out what she was talking about. I finally realized that she meant 'Is this a good spot to eat lunch at?' We were in front of an oak tree that spread its branches, like a canopy.
"Sure," I said. We sat down, and it wasn't long before we saw Lakyn.
"So," she said after we were all seated, "What do you want to talk about?"
"Luke and I were talking about the talent show," Brianna said.
"Oh, were you?" Lakyn asked in mock surprise. "I thought you were going to keep it a secret."
"Shut up," Brianna hissed, her face turning bright red. I think that something was going on, but I couldn't figure out what, and I decided that it was 'girl stuff', which is ALWAYS confusing. Even some of the Aphrodite boys thought so, and they were sons of the love goddess. Anyhow, that sort of killed the conversation, since Lakyn was trying not to mess up again, Brianna looked embarrassed, and I couldn't come up with anything. We finished lunch in silence, and then headed back to class.