Volleyball Watching

"Eh, she knew I was a trouble child," Eric shrugged, "I had already been to juvi twice. Playing football really turned this around for me."

She nodded. She knew what it felt like to be trouble. "What happened?" she asked curiously. And, she really was interested.

"I had a run in with a local school gang," Eric said nonchalantly, "Just some rich kids playing tough. Sent half of them to the hospital, the other half went home and whined to their daddies and got me arrested." This didn't embarrass him. Why should it? He didn't do anything wrong, those punks jumped him. Eric just put them in their place.

Myka smiled warily. "I'm sure they lasted a minute before they realized what they were up against." She suddenly wanted to tell him very badly of her uncle and aunt, but vetoed the idea. Too personal.

Eric let out a small laugh, "Thanks. So, do you have any interesting stories or such before you came to camp.?" He was starting to like this girl. As a friend, though she was pretty.

She raked her brain for stories- other than the ones she had been keeping of her Aunt and Uncle. As badly has she wanted to tell him, she couldn't think of any way to say it. She imagined the conversation in her head. When I was little my aunt and uncle beat the crap out of me everyday. Does that count? "Well," she said softly, "When I was 15 I stole some money form this restaurant in New Jersey. Lets just say that the cops aren't fast enough to keep up with a daughter of Ares."

Eric smiled at her story. Sure he got into trouble, but he never did anything like stealing. Mainly just got into fights. But he didn't judge Myka, it wasn't necessary. He nodded, "So, what about family? You know the mortal ones." This was a somewhat normal conversation at Camp. Who your mortal parent was and why the god would fall in love.

"Oh, um...." She sighed, and decided it was time to at least tell one person at camp about her past. Rolling up her other sleeve, she tried not to look at all her cuts and bruises- that were defenitly too small to have formed from training. "I lived with my, uh, aunt and uncle..." She hoped the bruises were enough to explain.

Eric saw the bruises and grimaced, "They did this to you?" He voice got filled with anger. "No one should ever go through abuse from relatives." Eric grabbed her hand, "Tell me they at least got what they deserve."

Myka gripped his hand with hers, and put the other on his cheek. "Calm down, Eric." She held her hand on his cheek for another moment, and put her hand down. "Yeah, trust me, they did. When I ran away, they found me, only once- in Texas. My uncle grabbed me, and try to throw me into his truck. We were in front of a gas station, at the time- so people heard me screaming. This guy came out of no where, and whacked my uncle in the head with a lid of a trash can. My aunt and uncle both went to jail. Hopefully, they're still there." She looked down. "Does that make you feel better?"

Eric kept a hard look on his face, even with her hand on his. What kind of people, no they didn't deserve to be grouped with the good. What kind of monsters would hurt there relatives? Eric, being a demigod, had met actual monsters and would put those people in the same group.

"Not really. They got off easy." His shoulders tensed. "People like them should be sentenced early to the fields of punishment."

"You don't know how badly I wish that were possible, Eric." She choked back a sob. God, she hated to cry. And she surely did not want to cry in front of a nice guy like Eric. Against her wishes, a tear traveled down her cheek, and she quickly wiped it. She didn't like to think of what her aunt and uncle did.

People crying was one of the things that Eric could not stand to see. And to see a friend start, that just broke him. He gingerly put arm around her shoulders and said quietly and calmly, "It's alright. No need to cry. Let's just talk about something else." He pondered a moment. "How about we go join the volleyball game."

Myka sighed, grateful for Eric's kindness. She looked up at him, and smiled. "Sure." She nodded, and stood up, but not before putting her headphones and IPod into her black- leather bag.