I Get a Boy’s Attention, and He Gets Mine

**I Get a Boy’s Attention, and He Gets Mine** is the fifty-first chapter of The Gift of a Best Friend. It was first published on November 3rd, 2017.

## Chapter

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**Jasmine's POV**
It’s summer again, and Camp Half-Blood is full with hundreds of demigods coming to train, or even just hang out with other people like them.
Honestly, it’s like being at school, but the difference is, you actually get to kill the people that really piss you off with your own weapon.
I don’t mean “kill” literally, but sometimes I do. Like to the children of Ares, or Aphrodite, and some of Hermes, but Luke handles those.
We also train them with certain things. Like, Luke teaches sword-fighting, and Annabeth teaches other demigods how to speak Ancient Greek. I, on the other hand, don’t really teach anything specific. I can pretty much do all the things we do at camp easily, and I help any of the trainers when they need help, mostly Luke and Annabeth, and I’m usually more patient with the trainees than they were, except for when they’re being complete assholes, then I’m worse. But when they’re not and are really trying, I really enjoy it.
I help Annabeth the most because 1) she’s my best friend, and 2) she’s more likely to get impatient than anyone else. But right now, I’m helping Luke.
Emily and Toothless were with me, watching as he was training with a, so far, unclaimed demigod named Marcus, and was totally kicking his ass. After knocking him down for the third time, he gave up.
Luke offered Marcus his hand and pulled him up. “You’ll get the hang of it.”
Marcus nodded, then went to sit down on a bench.
“Who’s next?” Luke asked.
There were about twenty to thirty demigods in the arena with us. After watching Luke and Marcus sword-fight, I could read their minds, and they were all thinking that they didn’t stand a chance against him, which they probably didn’t, but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t try.
“Well,” I said, stepping forward while putting my hair in a ponytail. “I guess since no one else is volunteering, I will.”
Luke smiled. “Great. Someone actually worth fighting with.”
“Luke, do you have to be such an ass?”
“It’s the only thing he knows how to be,” Emily said.
I laughed, and so did everyone else in the room.
“Thanks, Emily,” Luke said sarcastically.
She smiled. “You’re welcome.”
“That was sarcasm.”
“I know.”
I laughed again.
God, I love them. Especially when they’re like this.
“Let’s just start,” Luke said.
“Finally,” I replied.
We both got into position. He unsheathed his sword and I unsheathed my dual blades.
“Don’t use your powers, Jasmine,” Luke said.
“I don’t have to,” I replied. “I can kick your ass just as easily without them.”
“We’ll see about that.” He readied his weapon.
I readied mine as well. “Oh, yes, we will.”
I charged at him.
I struck him with my right blade, but he quickly deflected it, then I struck him with my other blade, but he just managed to dodge it at the last second. He struck forward, but I held both my blades like a defensive X in front of me and he hit them.
He pushed against them, but he was pushing too much pressure that I couldn’t hold it. So I hopped a couple steps back, then did a few backflips to get even farther away from him.
I took a moment to breathe, then I charged at him again. I faked a strike to his chest, which he fell for, somersaulted to the right, and swung my right blade at him. I grazed his side.
Luke took a step back and examined it, now bleeding, but he was unfazed. He focused back on me.
I smirked. He didn’t like it.
Luke struck with his sword again, but I quickly deflected it and backed away. He struck at me again, but I kept dodging while dancing and struck him whenever I saw an opening.
It went on like that between us for a while, but not for too long, because I had the upper hand on him.
Once I finally saw an opportunity, I used my blades to knock his sword out of his hand and kick him in the chest and onto the ground, holding both my blades at his throat.
I smirked again. “I win.”
Luke wasn’t upset, especially when he’s against me.
He smiled. “So you did.”
I sheathed my dual blades, then offered him my hand.
He took it and I pulled him up. Then I gave him a hug. “I’ll let you beat me next time.”
He hugged me back. “Don’t. If I’m going to beat you, it’ll only be because we both did the best that we could.”
“Fine.”
I pulled away from the hug and picked up his sword. Then I looked at everyone who was watching us and held it up.
“That was for you guys,” I said.
They all cheered.
I smiled and looked at each one of them individually. But I stopped when I noticed a boy staring at me.
I mean, everyone’s looking at me, but this particular boy was watching me differently than the others. And I don’t mean in a bad way, but in an interested way. He looked familiar, but I couldn’t quite remember his name.
There were so many demigods here that it’s hard to remember all of their names. I know I’m probably the only person here who has a big family, and it’s hard to remember all of their names too, much less, their relation to me. Though here, it’s easier to remember their godly parentage than their names.
You know what that means. I smiled and turned away myself.
I gave Luke back his sword and he sheathed it.
“That’s enough for today, guys,” he said to everyone. “You all did great. We’ll try again tomorrow.”
They all nodded and cleared out of the arena. The boy looked at me one last time before he finally left.
Luke sat down on a bench, looking a little tired. Emily sat next to him and started treating the cuts I gave him.
I stood in front of him. “Who’s this boy?”
I summoned a holographic image of him in front of me.
“That’s Will Solace,” Luke replied. “He was just claimed as a son of Apollo.”
“Oh, that’s right.”
“Why?” Emily asked.
“He was looking at me.”
“Everyone was looking at you, Jasmine,” Luke said.
“I know,” I replied. “But he was looking at me differently. Kind of like the way you looked at Emily when you first met her.”
“Oh, really?” Emily asked.
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“Did it make you feel uncomfortable?” Luke asked.
“A little weird, yeah.”
“Do you want me to take care of it?”
My eyes widened and I clutched his arm. “Oh my God, no. I didn’t mean that kind of weird.”
“Do you like him?” Emily asked.
“Maybe. I don’t know. I don’t really know him that well.”
“You could get to know him. He is cute.”
“Most of the guys here are cute.”
“Even me?” Luke asked.
“Uh . . . sure.”
Luke looked a little offended, but Emily laughed. I did too.
I actually did think Luke is cute, even with that scar going down the side of his face, but I didn’t like him that way. Not like how Annabeth does. He’s too old for me, plus he’s dating Emily.
But speaking of Annabeth . . .
“I’m going to go find Annabeth,” I said.
“Ok,” Luke said.
“Good luck with Will,” Emily said.
“Uh, thanks,” I replied. “If I even try with him. But I’ll see you guys later. Come on, Toothless!”
He came to me.
I climbed onto his back, he ran out of the arena, and once we were out in the open, he took flight.

**Annabeth’s POV**
After spending most of the day teaching the demigods how to speak and write Ancient Greek, I like to take a break and read one of my many architecture books on the porch of the Big House.
But, of course, someone always interrupts me, and that someone was usually the same person. Jasmine just flew in on Toothless.
Jasmine just flew in on Toothless.
She came toward me.
“Hi, Annabeth,” she said.
“Hi,” I replied.
I tried not to be annoyed, though I did find it hypocritical of her.
Whenever she’s reading, especially when she’s really into it, she always wears a shirt that reads, “Shut up. Go away. I’m reading,” even though she has most of it covered by the book while she’s reading it.
She always glares at the person who’s bothering her without blinking, making that person uncomfortable enough to make them leave, then she goes back to what she was doing as if nothing happened. It’s funny to watch when you’re not the one she’s doing it to.
But right now, as she was interrupting my reading and me wanting to glare at her, even though I’ve read this book a million times, I couldn’t do it because Jasmine was acting unusual, awkward even.
Since she hasn’t already told me, I knew I had to ask. “What?”
Jasmine smiled sheepishly. “I think someone likes me.”
“Really? Who is brave enough to like you?”
She glared at me. I couldn’t help but smile back.
“Shut up,” Jasmine said. “I mean, you’re kind of right because I don’t like many people, but still, shut up. I’m likable only if you’re not an asshole.”
“Yeah, which most people are,” I replied.
“You’ve got that right. But shut up about that.”
“Fine. Who’s this guy that you think likes you? Is he an asshole?”
“I’ve had some contact with him before, and I never thought of him as one. But his name is Will Solace.”
“A son of Apollo?”
She nodded. “Yeah. I was in the arena, having a sword fight with Luke, which I won by the way.”
“You always win against him,” I said.
“I didn’t use to. He was kicking my ass for the first few years before I—”
“Finally got your powers?”
Jasmine glared at me again. “I don’t use my powers. I did at first because I was still learning to control them, but now I have control, and I’ve been kicking his ass even before my powers activated.”
“Whatever. Continue with what you were telling me about you and Will Solace in the arena.”
“Right. So after I beat Luke, I noticed Will looking at me differently from anyone else, like he was interested in me.”
“Are you interested in him?”
“I don’t know. I mean, I like the attention, but I don’t want to be those kinds of girls that go out with the first guy that asks them out. The best I can do is give him a chance and get to know him better. Plus, I want to have a relationship like the kind my parents have, and they got together when they were *eleven*. I’m twelve now so I’m behind one year, and I don’t want to be.”
“So you want to have a relationship *exactly* like your parents?”
“Yes.”
“So you want to have three break-ups with the same guy and have a child with him at the age of sixteen as well?”
“Well, ok, not *exactly* like my parents. But mostly.”
“Good, because nobody wants to repeat their parents mistakes when they were kids.”
Suddenly, Jasmine broke the rail on the porch with her bare hands.
“It was *not* a mistake,” she said through gritted teeth. “My parents having me as young as they were would only have been a mistake if it broke them up forever, but it didn’t. It did the exact opposite, which was bring them closer together as a family, and I am proud to be apart of the love they share for each other combined into a whole. And you know what, Annabeth? If my parents didn’t have me when they did, you and I probably never would’ve even met, and you probably would’ve had to deal with your father and your step-mother on your own, feeling like no one cares about me, then running away and coming all the way to Camp Half-Blood as a lonely, prideful, bitch.”
Everyone in camp could hear her and were gathering from far away to watch what was going on. Toothless was the closest and he was his covering his ears.
I wish I could too. But I stood paralyzed as Jasmine looked at me with complete anger in her eyes.
“Jasmine,” I said, sounding scared. “I didn’t mean—”
“Yes, you did,” she interrupted. “If you didn’t, you never would’ve said that. But it doesn’t matter. Unlike you and everybody else here, at least my parents—”
Toothless made a noise, interrupting her.
She turned toward him. “What is it, Toothless?”
He said something that I didn’t understand, looking out across camp toward Half-Blood Hill.
“There is?” Jasmine asked, looking in the same direction.
“What?” I asked.
“Someone’s coming this way. And . . . is that Grover?”
I turned toward that way. There was definitely someone coming our way, but too far away to see who exactly it was.
“How can you see that far away?” I asked.
“Well, of course, *you* can’t,” Jasmine replied. “You don’t have powers like mine that allow you to see so far away. But Grover needs help, now come on!”
She grabbed my arm and pulled me toward Toothless.
We climbed on his back and flew off to help Grover.

Grover was unconscious and being half-dragged, half-carried by a boy I didn’t recognize. They were halfway to the Big House when we reached them.
“Grover!” Jasmine called.
Toothless landed us in front of him and Jasmine and I ran the rest of the way to help.
The boy carrying Grover noticed us and stopped, looking so tired that he collapsed on the ground.
“Help,” he croaked.
Jasmine checked on the boy, who was trembling.
“He’s in shock,” she said.
“What happened?” I asked.
Jasmine shook her head. “I don’t know.”
She checked on Grover. There was blood trickling from the side of his mouth.
“We need to get them to the infirmary.”
“Agreed,” I said.
“Toothless!”
He came over to us. Jasmine and I lifted Grover and the boy onto Toothless’s back.
Jasmine had me climb on too to hold them while she was going to fly beside us to help. Toothless took flight and we flew to the infirmary.

We all know who that is! It's about time, too. I can't wait until the next chapter. How about you guys? And how was your Halloween?
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## Character Appearances

### Main Characters

* Jasmine Saturday
* Annabeth Chase

### Minor Characters

* Luke Castellan
* Emily Hollinger
* Will Solace
* Grover Underwood