All's Fair In Love And War

Assumptions

After a few hours of sleep and a bowl of soup from Piper, I was feeling better. Not great, but better.

"Reyna! You're back!" Lou leapt off her bed. "I was so bored!"

"I'm sure you were." I rolled my eyes and flopped onto my bed.

"What happened? Did you get some alone time with Nico?" Gwen asked, winking at me.

"How old are you again?" I asked her.

"14, why?"

"You have a nasty mind." I informed her.

"No, I have a grown up mind." Gwen smirked. "So, did you and Nico have some fun?"

"No. We sparred and he almost gave me a concussion, then Apollo found out I had a fever so I spent the rest of the day in Piper and Thalia's room."

"You're not still contagious are you?" Gwen asked, whispering like it was a big secret.

"No." I rolled my eyes at her.

"Great!" She pulled me into a huge hug.

"Gwen, get off!" I grunted.

"Why?"

"Because you're weird and you're squishing me."

She let go, pouting. "I'm not wierd!"

"What are you then? Deranged?" Lou teased.

"No. I prefer interesting." Gwen informed us with a haughty tone.

"Whatever floats your boat." Lou said.

"You two are so strange." I told them.

"Thanks, darling." Gwen winked at me.

"Have you had caffeine?" Lou asked.

"No...." The daughter of Arcus smiled innocently. It didn't convince either of us.

"Hey, Reyna, you missed an intense game of tennis." Rachel called as she walked past.

"Who played?" I asked.

"Rach and Annabeth." Lou said. "Rach took her out."

"Speaking of Annabeth," Gwen scowled over my shoulder. "She's been spreading rumors about why you were gone all day."

"Wonderful." I scowled as well. "Let's hear it then."

"Well, there's you and Nico doing the dirty, or you going to see your secret 'sugar daddy,' as she puts it." Lou made sarcastic air quotes.

"Anything else?" I sighed.

"Oh there's no shortage. She's got idea after idea." Gwen shrugged.

"Of course she does." I dropped onto my back and slung my hand over my eyes.

"You feeling down?" Lou asked.

"I'm just....ugh." I groaned. "Everything is screwed up. I don't want to be here, I'm still sick to some extent, I have to deal with Annabeth constantly because she can't keep her nose out of other peoples' businesses."

"Ain't that the truth." Rachel plopped down, wearing different clothes from before. Her hair was damp and left a wet spot on the back of her shirt. She pulled the red curls forward and began to weave them into one long, thick braid.

"So you play tennis?" I asked.

"Yep. I like to spread myself out. Tennis, art, protesting, et cetera." Rachel grinned.

"Protesting?"

"I'm an environmentalist." She explained.

"Ah."

"Well, nothing else is going on today and Reyna's supposed to rest...." Lou trailed off when I moved my arm to glare at her.

"I rested all day. I'm bored. We should do something."

"Like what?" Gwen sat up.

"I dunno. Something."

"Well...." Rachel's face morphed into a smirk.

"Oh, that's a devious look if I ever saw it." Gwen grinned.

"Of course it is, I have a devious plan."

"Alright, let's hear it." Lou said.

Rachel motioned for us to lean in. "We should get Thalia in on this too, but here's what we'll do..."

--------------------------------------

Rachel and I crouched in the bushes, waiting for the signal.

Bianca and Nico were talking quietly. They seemed to do this often, Nico had been waiting for Bianca when she had showed up.

"Well, you should go." Nico said.

"You're sure?" Bianca asked.

"Yes. I can deal with the nightmares. Jason helps with them sometimes, he's a cool guy, for a son of Jupiter."

Bianca laughed. "Alright. Well, have fun on your date tomorrow."

"What if people think I'm weird?"

"They won't." Bianca hugged him.

I frowned. "They're having a heart to heart, Rach. Should we do this?"

Rachel was frowning too. "Probably not. I thought it was going to be Annabeth and some random guy. Sneak around and get the other three."

I slunk through the shadows. "Lou?"

"What's up?"

"Rach and I think we shouldn't do it."

"Why not?" Thalia asked.

"They're having brother-sister bonding time."

"Eh, all the more reason." Thalia grinned.

"I don't know, Thalia...." Lou frowned.

"Fine, back out. I'm going through with it." Thalia snuck off to get the supplies.

"Get Gwen and go back to the dorm." I whispered to Lou. "I'm going back to Rachel."

We quickly packed up our things and started to run.

A scream echoed from behind us.

"THALIA!"

[A/N so pranks stopped. What do you think Nico and Bianca were talking about?]