Cabin #23: Nemesis

Lara was super excited. Ever since that night with Matt almost a week before, she had been working on her blueprints nonstop. Earlier that day she had finally finished them, and had set off to get them approved by Chiron. After pouring over them for ten minutes, he had approved them and ordered her to get working on it as fast as she could. She was currently headed over to the construction site, and hoped Matt would be waiting there for her.

Before heading out to go to the Big House, Lara had looked for Matt in the Hermes Cabin. She didn't see him, so she had left a message for him on his bunk telling him to go and meet her at the construction site. However, upon arriving, Lara found the construction site abandoned. No one was there.

For a moment, Lara felt extremely sad. Immediately though, she brightened upon the fact that Matt should be there soon. Thinking it'd be best if she started, Lara laid the blueprints on a flat rock nearby, and set smaller stone around the edges to keep it from moving. She surveyed the site and the surrounding areas once more to check for approaching figures, but all was still. Sighing softly, Lara began to haul the wooden beams around to make the beginning structure for her cabin.

This had been a hell of a week for Matthew Lee. Drawing blueprints, deciding what would the layout looked like in 3-dimensional maquette, the drew more blueprints for adjusments and such… It was a bit overwhelming, to tell the truth. But Matt enjoyed every single day he spent on it. At least now he had work to do than just following lessons everyday in this camp. He had no intention to went home even though the school year had started. Why should he do that anyway? His whole life was a lie. This camp, this place… is where he truly belongs.

So, with a handful of blueprint in his hands, Matt quickly paced himself towards the constructing site. Lara had already gone there, probably to supervise the construction. Matt was still racking his stuff at that time, so he let the daughter of Nemesis to head out first. But now he was ready. However, when the boy arrived… there was nobody in sight but Lara, hauling the beams by herself.

Now, Matt was never an angry person. But seeing this view, he was steamed. How come everybody decided to ditch this very important job? Was it because she’s a daughter of Nemesis? Chiron already approved the plans, and Matthew had spent days to ask help from the Hermes Cabin for manpower, Hephaestus cabin and Athena’s kids for construction and planning (even though the first blueprint was Matt’s idea, he wasn’t that good with the foundation and such. Hence that’s why he seek Athena’s kids help), and some other cabins to help Lara enforced her cabin with anything she wanted: magic, sturdy branches, spiked traps and whatnot… However, how come they ditch her when they were suppose to actually build the cabin??

Dropping everything he had on his hands and shoulder, Matt walked passed the beams and helped Lara with that oversized log. “Hi, Lara. I’m… so sorry.” Yes, he might not be the one who should get the blame, but still… he felt guilty. Guilty for not persuasive enough towards their fellow campers. “I didn’t know that they won’t come. It’s just… It’s almost impossible to do this on our own.” He gave out the concern look to the girl, afraid that she might actually disappointed in him. “I’m really sorry, Lara. Can you forgive me?”

Lara was hot and sweaty within lifting a few beams. She'd had no idea how heavy those things really were. She'd been aiming to try and build the foundation, or at least get part of the skeleton laid out. The cement, or foundation, had been laid down the moment Chiron had approved the plan, but nothing else had been done.

Lara scanned the horizon once more, but she saw nobody. She sighed. She hadn't really expected anyone to come and help. After all, to them it probably looked like she had just arrived, even though she'd been there for almost three years. Lara also figured that people wouldn't come because she was a daughter of Nemesis. For some reason, that goddess seemed to have a bad reputation around the camp. Still, even though she had never really expected anyone to show up anyways, it stung a bit.

Am I really that un-liked? Lara thought, taking a quick break. The thought brought her down a bit. She knew she hadn't been that social, well, she hadn't been social at all, but did that really get kids to not like her? To dislike her enough to ditch her when she needed all the help she could get? She began to life a particularly heavy beam.

Her dark thoughts were broken through by a ray of sunlight: Lara spotted Matt coming down towards the cabin. At least there's one person who remembered. Lara thought, not feeling quite as sad as before. However, when Matt saw the construction site, he seemed almost....angry. Lara looked confused. Why was he mad?

He dropped whatever he had been carrying and walked over to her. He then helped Lara carry the beam over to where it belonged.

“Hi, Lara. I’m… so sorry." Matt said, looking really down. “I didn’t know that they won’t come. It’s just… It’s almost impossible to do this on our own.”

"That's OK. I really didn't expect them to come anyways," Lara said. "As I'm sure you've probably noticed, I don't get along well with society. I'm basically an outcast. I mean, I've been here since I was thirteen, and you're the first friend I've had. It doesn't surprise me that no one came..." she said, looking down. She hadn't wanted Matt to know just how much of an outcast she really was, but it had just all come out.

“I’m really sorry, Lara. Can you forgive me?” Matt said, a look of concern on his face. Lara almost laughed. Forgive him? For what? For not getting the campers to come?

"There's nothing to forgive. You've come to help, so I'm the one who should be asking forgiveness for taking time out of your day," Lara said. "And it's not impossible. We can do it. Some of the other cabins have been put up in a day, and that was with only a few people as well."

Lara began to arrange more of the smaller beams, then stopped for a moment. She looked back at Matt.

"We can do this," Lara said again, adding more conviction to it. "Come on, this beam over here needs to be cut in half," she said, and began to work again.

When Matt realized that Lara was telling him her past, the boy felt a little bit guilty. Three years ago, when she was struggling for the first time in this camp, Matt was back with his ‘family’, having the time of their life. It was one of a few highlights on his life: winning the taekwondo championship, getting straight-A’s, being an honor student… It was perfect. But Lara had to learn on fitting in at this queer place. Matt bit his lips, afraid that what might come next would not be any pleasant either. He still felt guilty on not being persuasive enough. It was one of his weakness… besides archery, that is.

Thankfully, she said that there was nothing to forgive. Lara made peace with the fact that there’s no one to help them now, but Matt knew she was still determined to finish her cabin even if she had to build it brick by brick with just the two of them. “Gotcha.” Matt responded when grabbing a saw to cut the beam in half. Yeah, they still got a lot of work to do. Just being sad and glum won’t finish it, it will only make the work even more heavier. Sawing the beam, Matt tried to ignore the sweat that started to form and trickled down his forehead. He didn’t want to bring up the past, but he had to admit, Matt didn’t know much about Lara before. Sure, he was offering her help, but it was spontaneous. The unclaimed still didn’t know everyhting about the girl… yet.

Clearing his throat, Matt tried to start the conversation while still working on the beam. “By the way… how did you get here? I mean, to Camp Half-Blood?” He tilted his head with a curious look towards Lara, wondering how she would respond on this particular yet private question. He could only hope that she won’t take it in the wrong way. If they would work together for the entire day, it would be best to know each other a little bit better.

Lara was glad that he didn't seem to think she was a total loser for not having any friends. The two demigods worked side by side, sawing beams in half and starting to place them in the proper layout. Lara was content with the silence, but it seemed as though Matt was not. After a bit, Matt cleared his throat, and turned to her.

“By the way… how did you get here? I mean, to Camp Half-Blood?” Matt asked. Lara froze for a moment. No one had ever asked about her history before. Of course, she supposed that would be the natural thing to do, if trying to make a friend or deepen an acquaintance to a friendship. Lara didn't know much about that subject. Lara debated with herself for a second, trying to figure out whether she should divulge into her past. She made her decision, and took a deep breath.

"I lived in an orphanage, and attended a school nearby. Right after my 13th birthday, I was revealed as a half-blood by a satyr who went by the name of Mike. He immediately brought me here, and here I've been since. There's really not much to my background before then," Lara said, sensing that Matt wanted to know more about her,

"When I was about six months old the adoption agency found me outside of their door with a note informing them of my name and birth date. I was raised in that orphanage, but I was never adopted, or even ever got close to being adopted. No parent wanted a troubled child with a history of being kicked out of schools. I gave up on being adopted when I was about nine, I think. But, that's pretty much it. I faced the same challenges any demi-god faces; the monster attacks, dyslexia, ADHD, the weird accidents that get you kicked out of school. All of that. So, there's nothing special about me, I guess," Lara said, trying not to delve too deep into her troubled past.

After finished listening to her story, Matt felt a lump of guilt in his heart the size of a soccer ball. No, a size of the largest watermelon one could ever found. Lara never had any parents. Matthew Lee could be considered lucky, having both mother and father, plus a sister that adored her. But he threw them all away when he found out that he was just an adoptive child. A tear almost trickled out from his eye, but he tried his best to hide it. While he wiped them, Matt scoffed and said, “Dust from this beam. Man, it could be very annoying.” Then he let out a stiff laugh.

How can I be so obnoxious and demanding? That was his first thought after hearing Lara’s history. She didn’t had any parents and got kicked out from almost every school she attended, when Matt was having the time of his life: getting straight A’s, winning competition, hanging out with friends… Compared to her, his problems was teeny-tiny and unimportant. But it would not be fair if he didn’t tell her… Lara was very open about her past, after all.

Taking a deep breath, Matt gave her a subtle warning first. Still sawing the beam, Matt managed to stare at the girl with a concerned face. “First of all, let me just say… I’m sorry.” He gulped down his insecurity, and the spoke again. “No kid should ever gone through what you had gone through, and compare to you… my problems were nothing.” Matt scoffed, and with another thrust, the beam was splitted to two. Brushing the dust, the unclaimed bit his lips, a little bit worried about how Lara would react to his stories. But he would tell them anyway, so it will be fair between them.

“I have a perfect family. Well, had would be the most suitable word.” He reminiscenced back to those days. Back when Matthew Lee was nothing but a gorgoeus child of Christopher and Marie Lee, and a perfect brother of Hillary Lee. “I was not this… glum, I guess. I mean, I laugh all the time, getting good grades, winning taekwondo’s competitions… And I did them to make my parents proud. But when they finally told me that I’m not their real child, I felt cheated. I feel that my whole life was a lie. That happened when Bernie suddenly found me and implied that I’m a demigod…” Matt suddenly realized that he was rambling. He gave an apologetic smile to Lara. “Yeah. I’m rambling, I know. And I’m shallow too, I guess. My problems were unimportant compared to you.” He sighed. “And now I know that I’m wrong.” His eyes shot a hopeful look to Lara. “Do you know how to contact people outside of Camp? I think… I want to apologize to them.”

((YAAAAY you made Matt felt guilty! XD Do decide what to do next. Sawing some beams, stacking bricks… your choice. ^^ ))

She glanced over out of the corner of her eye, and saw Matt wiping something from his eye. Was he...crying? That shocked Lara more than anything. She'd told her story to maybe one or two people, and their response had been what she had been expecting from Matt: get over it, it's happened to all of us. She'd never had someone actually feel sorry for her.

“Dust from this beam. Man, it could be very annoying.” Matt said, and it almost made Lara smile to hear that. However, she could tell something else was bothering her friend. She began to saw another beam, patiently awaiting for Matt to tell her what was wrong. She didn't have to wait long.

“First of all, let me just say… I’m sorry.” Lara looked over at Matt, wondering what he was about to tell her. He seemed to be struggling against himself, and Lara got the feeling that whatever he was going to tell her was going to be something important, or at least lead to something important. “No kid should ever gone through what you had gone through, and compare to you… my problems were nothing.” Matt said, and with a final thrust, split the beam. He stopped to brush the dust of his hands, and then went on. “I have a perfect family. Well, had would be the most suitable word.” Lara stopped sawing, and gave Matt her full attention.

“I was not this… glum, I guess. I mean, I laugh all the time, getting good grades, winning taekwondo’s competitions… And I did them to make my parents proud. But when they finally told me that I’m not their real child, I felt cheated. I feel that my whole life was a lie. That happened when Bernie suddenly found me and implied that I’m a demigod…” Matt rambled, then gave her an apologetic smile. Lara returned it with an encouraging one. “Yeah. I’m rambling, I know. And I’m shallow too, I guess. My problems were unimportant compared to you.” He sighed. “And now I know that I’m wrong.” His eyes looked at Lara, a hopeful expression in them. "Do you know how to contact people outside of Camp? I think… I want to apologize to them.”

There was a moment of silence as Lara digested what he'd told her. Then, she turned to Matt with a smile.

"We don't have phones, but most people find that letters are a great way to start." Lara said. She set down her saw and walked over to Matt. "You may have been shallow or a jerk or whatever back in that life, but the truth? I don't care what your past was like. You could be the president's kid for all I care. What matters is who you are now, and that's not a shallow kid who has unimportant problems. Now your Matt, the nicest guy I've ever met; someone who's gonna be big someday," Lara said, hoping she was saying all the right words. She wasn't good at taking what was in her head and putting it into her mouth. With that little inspirational speech, Lara began to saw again, secretly glancing over at Matt to see what he thought of her small speech.

((Sweet; once we wrap up this thread and finish her cabin, maybe we could do one with Matt's family coming to the borders of CHB to visit? Just an idea))

Upon hearing Lara's response, Matthew Lee raised his eyebrows. Letters, huh? He scoffed while imagining his parents and Hillary, all huddle up in the kitchen with tears in their eyes, reading the heartfelt letter that he would write to them. Well, better than nothing. Matt quickly make a mental note to himself that he would do that as soon as he finished the cabin. Which, by the way... could take a long time. But when Lara said some encouraging words, Matt couldn’t help but smile. She could dissed him, or worse, tease his annoying yet childish problems. But her sentences calmed him down. Yes, people did have they own problems and different ways to handle it. But how Lara handle Matt’s saying… it was priceless for him. So all he could say next was, “Thank you.”

However, Matt still didn’t feel fair for Lara upon the building on this cabin. How could people can be so ignorant? Smiling once again at Lara, Matt decided to change his topic to something much more crucial: how to built the Nemesis cabin with just the two of them. But as he opened his mouth, Matt suddenly heard footsteps coming towards them. Tilting his head, he turned around and finally found two people walking up. He frowned at first, but then he remembered them. Two kids that he asked for help in Hermes cabin. No, Matt didn’t recall their name, sadly. But he let out a small smirk of relief: turned out his plea didn’t got wasted on nothing after all. “Sorry.” The first boy spoke, a guilty smile plastered on his face. He even brought some heavy equipment: saws, hammer, a box of nail… and the younger one had a bag of cement powder on his shoulder. Matt eye’s widened when he saw it. He just hoped that they didn’t stole that from a construction site. “We kinda late. Still need help?”

And the surprises just kept on coming. In a few seconds, the cabin site was full with at least 10 more people, probably more. Matt recognize some of them, but the names blurred in his head… He just asked them for help after all, and never did any introduction. But his grin was very wide seeing this turn of event. Matt immediately yelling orders, telling what they should do, reminding them to wear safety goggles and such. And after a quick round, he finally reached Lara again, with a divine smile still hangs on his face.

“So? Apparently everybody didn’t forget, do they?” He nudge her lightly.

((I hope I’m allowed to do this, since the reply is very laggy >.< And I think it describes how Camp Half-Blood should be: helping each other out no matter what their heritage might be. Haha. But if I’m not allowed, I’ll be happy to edit this. ))

((Dude, yes!! I love it!))

Lara was glad that her mini speech had helped Matt, and she hoped that he would write the letter to his family. She could tell from the way he talked about them that they were nice people who really seemed to care about him. For a moment Lara wished that she had a family who cared about her like that, but he swallowed down her remorse. Nothing could change that.

However, Lara was cheered up after a few minutes. Suddenly, two demigods, from he Hermes Cabin most likely, showed up hauling supplies. When they asked if they could still help, Lara couldn't believe it. People were actually showing up. In a matter of minutes, the whole construction site was ablaze in action. Athena kids walked around, giving out instructions and gesturing to the blueprint Lara had lad out earlier. Ares' kids were helping as well, lifting heavy beams and teaming up with the Hephaetus Cabin.

Lara stared at everyone in amazement and shock. Never in her whole life could she have imagined everyone coming together and helping her build her cabin. But then again, she guessed that was what Camp Half-Blood was all about; coming together to help one another. She glanced over at Matt, and then ran strait towards him and wrapped her arms around him in a huge hug.

"Thank you, thank you so, so much," she said, and realized that she was crying. She quickly wiped at her eyes, hoping Matt hadn't seen. However, she then realized she didn't care if Matt saw her. Lara was the happiest she'd ever been.

To tell the truth, Matt didn’t think that Lara would do that: hug him on the spot. Not that he hated it, but after talking to her for a few days now… Matt didn’t see Lara as a hugging type of person. But then again, this had been a surprise to Matthew Lee as well. After almost an hour late, he didn’t think that any of the campers would show up. But eventually they come to their senses and helped. A lot of them, in fact. The Athenians, Ares’ kids, the Hermes’ campers… some carried beams, construction equipments, cements… The artistic campers quickly worked on outlier decoration, the Hephaestus kids worked together with the Athena’s to build the pillars and set the doors and windows. Seeing that they have so much worked to do, Matt could only patted Lara lightly on the back and say, “You’re welcome.” With the most sincere tone he could do, since he did feel that way.

The rest of the day was blurry for him, and might be foggy for Lara as well. Campers come and go, some built by hand, others were helping by magic… Matt’s voice getting hoarse from yelling orders and warnings. He had to drink tons of water just to keep up, not forgetting to work some jobs as well: placing the beams, adjusting and figuring out where and how he should put the windows and doors… It was a lot of work, but at the end of the day, precisely after dinner, they’ve finished the Nemesis cabin. It was not a normal construction though; they are in Camp Half-Blood after all. Mr. D and Chiron occasionally visited during the process, but they just smile and walked by… Well, Mr. D sometimes grumble, but that’s beside the point. Eventually the campers dispersed, while Matt could only say thank you and hoped they can repay them someday. This might not be his cabin, but everyone knew that he was one of the guys that contribute first-hand. So in a way, he was proud of himself. Too bad his godly parent didn’t acknowledge what he’d done… He could even be happier. But Matt quickly shook his head. Don’t be like that, Matthew. Enjoy the moment.

Standing in front of the doors with Lara, Matt put his hand on the hip then smile, still wiping sweats from his face occasionally. “So? It’s finished.” He grinned. “What do you think?”

((LAST POST. XD Will tell you if I’ve put my next thread in the Hill. ))

((Alright, this is the last post from me as well!!))

Lara was surprised at her sudden hug, and Matt seemed to be surprised as well. His simple "You're welcome," was all she needed to hear, and then she was back into the action. All day under the sun they worked, Lara and Matt both constructing everything. It seemed to go by in a blur, every moment blending into the one after it.

Hour after hour, putting bricks here and beams there and finally, paint here and trim there. Right after dinner, the cabin is finished. Exhausted, the working campers stumble back to their cabins. Lara and Matt remained, and Lara gazed at her cabin as the sun set behind it. She couldn't believe it was finally finished. The white door stood out against the black-blue star sapphire walls, and the Nemesis emblem glowed from the door. Lara couldn't wait to stay there, but it wouldn't be completely furnished until the next day.

“So? It’s finished.” Matt said, and grinned. “What do you think?”

"It's more than I could ever have imagined. Again, thank you," Lara said, and then, looking up into the fading sky, said almost too quietly for her own ears to hear, "Thank you Mom."