Chapter Text
Penny was starting to wish that she had just gone to arts and crafts.
She sifted through the small mountain of clothes on her bed, looking for something she knew for a fact she didn't have and something she did not have time to get, because a week passed awfully quickly and it was the night of the Summer Spin.
She heard the chattering of demigods outside, early-goers for the dance and felt another burst of panic. The black dress she would have worn for her long-gone date with Robert wouldn't work, and it would just be a bitter memory. Her mamá had given her an embroidered tunic that was too big for her, and belted, it looked enough like a dress. No, it was too precious. Maybe wear jeans and make a statement?
"Make an idiot of yourself, more likely," she said to herself, groaning and flopping down on her bed in defeat. Someone laughed on the common green, where many people had banded together before heading down to the beach, the location of the Spin. Maybe it was her secret admirer. Maybe it was Anderson. She scolded her heart for skipping beats at the thought of them.
Penny groaned and covered her face with her pillow. She had to find something. Anything. Maybe she should just swallow her pride yet again and go to the Aphrodite cabin, who would doubtless be busy, but find a way to whip an outfit up for the girl savior. She was turning the thought over in her head when a sharp knock sounded at the door.
She cautiously peeked out the cabin door and saw pink-streaked jet-black hair perfectly coiffed over a no-nonsense face. Good-looking in the way of a Victorian painting.
"Drew?" She opened the door a bit further. "What are you-"
The Japanese teen heaved a sigh and pushed past her "The things I do for my friends, you would not believe."
That confused Penny even more. She and Drew were civil at best. She didn't think she had ever had a conversation with them that lasted more than a few minutes.
They raised their immaculate eyebrow at Penny. "We're not friends, sweetie, so take another guess."
Who else knew that she didn't have anything in her cabin that wasn't ratty T-shirts and borrowed who-knows-what? The same person whom she had confided to about Robert's ghosting. The same person whom she told everything to.
"Who is he?" she blurted, sounding desperate, but she didn't care. She had to know.
Drew tsk-ed their tongue. "Impatient. You'll find out. And in the meantime, that boy owes me so many drachmas, he'll be paying up from Hades." They talked while examining Penny and took hold of her jaw, turning her face from side to side. She felt like a bug under a microscope.
"Well, at least there's something to work with." They put down a large black bag Penny hadn't noticed before and cracked it open, pulling out palettes and curlers and mirrors and sprays until Penny nearly shrunk under it.
Drew noticed how the girl was intimidated and softened the slightest bit. "Just relax. I don't agree to private makeovers for just anybody, you know. You're a good person, if a bit cocky at times. But all heroes are. He'll stop pining, at any rate. Now stop moving, this is going on your eye."
For the next fifteen minutes, Penny felt like a doll under all the scrutiny and the intense makeover Drew was giving her.
Finally, they stepped back and examined her. They gave a quick nod, shoved something into her hands, and gestured to the private bathroom. "Don't come out too early, I'm changing too," they called. She noticed a coral-pink tuxedo peeking out of the bag. They were feverishly applying mascara when she closed the door and changed into the dress.
She took a look at herself in the mirror and caught her breath. It was a starry ocean night, deep blue at the hem, and gauzy cup sleeves, working its way up, ever lighter, to a high waist, embedded with small gold pearls and embellishments at the sleeves, hem, and all across the dress, highlighting her brown skin and making it the perfect choice for an ocean night. She took a deep breath. She was ready.
Drew was fastening their cuff links when Penny walked in. They couldn't control the self-satisfied smirk on their face. "The gold was the perfect choice," they muttered, quieter than Penny could hear. They nodded briskly to her. "Good. Now for jewelry."
She stayed still while they layered gold jewelry at her neck and ears, giving her a thick gold bangle and a gold hairpin.
"I don't know how I can thank you," Penny said, and she meant it.
"Introduce me to Miles Gardiner and we're even. Now let's get going."
The night was deliciously warm, with a light wind brushing Penny’s thick black hair against her face. She had rarely seen the campers do decked out, and she couldn’t help smiling as Willa Solace kissed a furiously blushing Nika di Angelo's hand.
As Drew and Penny entered the common green, the latter caught the eye of a certain Demeter boy in kelp colors, which she personally found tasteful but judging by the look on Drew's face, was better kept to herself. She introduced the two quickly and made herself scarce. Miles didn’t seem to care; he was plenty busy with the vision in pink before him.
As Penny descended to the beach, her heartbeat grew more and more erratic, thumping with each step.
A or Anderson? A or Anderson? Someone’s heart would be soaring tonight and another’s breaking- if Anderson even likes you that way, she reminded herself furiously. And hadn’t she made her decision already? She wouldn’t spend more time hung up on words, a nameless, faceless person who didn’t even want to reveal himself.
But that was before he got a fashion genius to give you a private makeover, she thought miserably. A was passionate, a dream come to life; Anderson was real, a true future. But what's wrong with wanting both? Excitement and stability, present and future. If only they were the same person… hold that thought.
Asher had just caught sight of Penny and was walking towards her. She silently cursed her luck and swept her eyes over the crowd on the beach. Lights twinkled overhead, illuminating the space just enough so that individual faces were not visible. She caught a glimpse of blonde hair and her head snapped up.
"Hey, Penny," Asher said, smirking and positioning himself effortlessly slightly too close to the daughter of Poseidon.
"Hi, Asher," she replied a bit impatiently, scanning the crowd once more for that mop of blonde hair- almost too bright, as they joked.
"So, I've been thinking since our conversation earlier," he started, a strange gleam in his eye that was too reminiscent of that bloodthirsty glint to be comfortable.
She made a noncommittal noise and dropped her eyes; she had lost him. It didn’t matter. She'd find him later. She just had to find her secret admirer. It was welling hot inside of her; she had had no idea how desperate she was to know his identity until now. She didn’t think she could go another day without knowing who he was.
Asher adjusted his blue tie and continued. Penny couldn’t help but note the color and with a fresh wave of horror, prayed desperately that he wouldn’t be her beloved A.
"And I really like you, so what do you say to hanging out more." It wasn’t phrased like a question, more like a statement, with a hint of cockiness in it. Penny also hadn’t realized up until now that she preferred shy people. She briefly recalled her past crush on Charlene Beckendorf, a silent woman if there ever was one. And now here she was…
"Asher," she started, but abruptly cut off when when she saw the crowd murmuring and staring at someone in the middle. Asher twisted his head around and squinted.
"What is that?" he muttered, the corner of his mouth twisting up with a slight snarl.
All Penny saw was flashes of what looked like parchment, but just then the crowd parted and her breath left her.
His suit was designed to look like- well, writing on parchment, torn in some spots, splotches of gold and blue ink on others. Goosebumps pricked up on her arms. Gold splotches that looked identical to the embellishments on her dress. His head was ducked down do his face was hidden, but that bright gold hair… she would recognize it in her sleep. And she had, hadn’t she? she thought, dazed. All those nights staying up writing and reading and rereading letters, drifting off into sleep of ink splotches and camp beads and that same blonde hair. But what got her was the blue rose in his lapel.
She had always known. And when he looked up slowly, it only confirmed her… dreams.
"You," she breathed. Everyone looked on silently- they wouldn’t dare interrupt a moment so fragile, so hopeful.
"Me," he said a little hoarsely, the ghost of a laugh in his voice.
There was so much to say, so much flying through her head, but the loudest one was thank god I don’t have to choose.
She gave him a silent look and walked to the edge of the beach, where the woods started. The sky was bursting with stars, bright like jewels. The voices and laughter of the campers had faded, but Penny could have sworn she still heard Asher scoffing, "Him?"
She heard soft footsteps on the sand behind her. She hesitated before turning around. There Anderson Chase stood, all long limbs and sheepish glances. She could almost believe he was the same boy she had given an archery lesson to on that hill all those weeks ago, but there was something different now. He was more self-assured, more open. He stood taller than he had ever done. And she knew why.
"You listened to my advice."
"I did. And you listened to mine."
She was standing more relaxed, open in a different way. She wasn’t Penelope Jackson, savior of Olympus- she was just Penny, talking to her.. who knows?
She exhaled. "You didn’t tell me."
He scratched the back of his neck and stuttered. "Well, I-I didn’t know if you were going to run off, I didn’t want to shatter what we had-"
"Have."
Anderson looked up, gray eyes darker in the night. "What?" he breathed, as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
She stuck her chin up. "Have. Unless you don’t want it."
Anderson stared at her for a moment, then seemed to regain his thoughts. He crossed the feet between him, closer than Asher had been, but Penny didn’t want him to move, never wanted this moment to end.
"For you, anything."
And he leaned down, closing the space between them that had previously and in the future would be filled by words, but now, now, she wasn’t caring about the past or the future, there was only now, now, and Anderson, always and forever, under the summer sky.