The Ambassador of Athena

I spent my days in the sickbay, waiting for Johanna to wake up. Rachel was there most of the time, and Jessy of course. He still had to recover from multiple fractures, internal injuries and of course half his body was covered in bruises. At first it was strange being in the same room as the jerk that has stabbed me and also caused so much trouble on our quest.
But after the second day of dead silent and after Rachel whispered for more than an hour with Jessy he called me over to his bed. After a second of hesitation I pulled my chair over to his bed and looked him straight in the eyes.
“What do you want?”
Ok, I might have been a bit harsh, but he tried to stab me less than 3 days ago.
Jessy looked miserable, he clenched his hands, cleared his throat and finally started to talk:
“Look, Florian, I… I am sorry. You know, for being such a jerk.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“Oh, obviously being a jerk includes trying to stab someone.”
Now Jessy looked even worse.
“I… I don’t know what to say about that. I can’t expect you to forgive me or just forget what happened, but… It’s just the fact that I, the “Star” at camp, the good-looking guy whit fangirls, didn’t lead that quest, at first I thought it would turn out that you were the wrong one to lead that quest and I could take over, but when you turned out to be a better leader than me I was just… so angry, I couldn’t stop myself.”
His voice faded and he looked down.
I was speechless. I mean, what was I supposed to say after such a speech?
“Jessy… I thought you are what I hated for more than half my life: The popular, cool dude with girls chasing after him and good-looking too… But you are different, in a certain way: You admitted that you were wrong and apologized, and I would be the real jerk if I could not accept your apology.”
I smiled, and when he looked up he smiled too.
“Thank you. I don’t expect that we are friends now, but it’s good to know you are more than you look like.”
I grinned.
“What do I look like?” I asked him
“Like a geek: Tall, big brains and no chance with woman.”
I laughed.
“Maybe we can be friends after all.”
Jessy looked relieved.
“Then I have to tell you something to destroy your image about me completely: I never had a girlfriend.”
“And I sucked at German.”
“But aren’t you from German?”
“Austria, but they speak German there as well. But I failed my final exam in German and had to retake it.”
“Tell me more about Austria; I always wanted to visit Europe.”
And so the rest of the day went on.
I learned that Jessy and Rachel arrived at the same day at camp, why Jessy was chased by the girls at camp and how he once stole Chiron’s whole collection of CDs just to prove that he was more than his good looks.
When I told him about the skiing areas, the school system and my studies at Austria Rachel came back to the room. When she saw that we were talking she smiled, and when Jessy winked at her she blushed and turned around.
“You know, she likes you.” I said with a big grin.
I could swear Jessy blushed when he said:
“No, she isn’t one of the girls chasing me, definitely not.” And after a second he added:
“But she is definitely a pretty girl, intelligent, sometimes sassy…”
He caught my look at him and turned bright red.
“Anyway, what’s that story with you and Johanna? I tried to get something from her on the plane to Denver, but all she told me is that you know each other from home.”
So I told him the story from the beginning. I have to say it was easier to talk about it now, a few years ago it was almost impossible for me to talk about the story without becoming depressed and getting sick.
But Jessy was a good listener and in the end he had to say only one thing:
“Dude, if she doesn’t take you back after you literally went through hell for her she must be really dumb.”
And I laughed and smiled.

But the problem was: She didn’t wake up. Meanwhile I got a pack of cards from my house and taught Rachel, Jessy and Will some card games from Austria, but 5 days after the solstice she was still unconscious. We fed her soup and she drank water, that was no problem, but Will looked still worried.
“She should have woken up already. Nico said it shouldn’t take her that long.”
So all that was left for me is sitting next to her bed, looking at her face and hoping she would wake up.
And one day, exactly 7 days after we came back to the surface she opened her eyes, blinked and said:
“I am alive”

Notes

Sorry, I couldn't leave without a major cliffhanger, so here you go, a bonus for your patience :P