The Seven In High School

Leo Gets The Bucket

PERCY

Sparks lit up the blue sky, spelling out: WE'RE BACK! And what Percy thought was them, except the one with curly hair and tool belt was significantly taller.

Fireworks? Leo hadn't said anything about fireworks!

Behind him, Leo was whooping crazily. All the campers were staring up at the fireworks, then they spotted them. A wild cheer started spreading like crazy.

But then, because Leo was, well, Leo, something happened.

Leo set himself on fire.

That itself would've been okay, since Leo was fireproof and all, but he also set the banner he was holding on fire. The WASSUP :) banner blazed up immediately.

Leo didn't notice, because he didn't feel the heat of the flames. But the campers certainly did. Two of them ran off and returned with a bucket of water.

The pegasi touched down on the ground. Percy and Annabeth leaped off their pegasi and were immediately engulfed by the campers. Piper and Jason received the same treatment too.

As soon as Leo's feet made contact with the ground, the two campers ran up. They doused him with the water instantly. Leo shook his head like a wet dog, and droplets of icy cold water flew everywhere. No one, not even the Aphrodite campers ducked to avoid it, because they were too busy hugging all of them.

Finally, they got free. Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Piper and Leo stepped back a little from the campers.

A tall, hulking figure emerged from the campers. It was Clarisse. Her face was set in a wide grin. She didn't even try her normal scowl, she was that happy.

"Jackson! Way to leave us, then save the entire freaking world!" Clarisse bellowed.

"Well, Hera didn't give me much choice! And I save the world, like, every year. No biggie." Percy said.

Clarisse looked like she was going to say something, but started laughing instead. Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Piper and Leo stared, a little shocked. Clarisse had laughed at Percy, but she'd never laughed because of Percy.

"I'm kinda glad you're back, Prissy Jackson."

"We missed the you guys. A lot." Will Solace said, stepping forward.

"Whaaat?" asked Annabeth.

"After you guys....you know, left on the quest to close the Doors of Death, defeat Gaia and fulfill the Second Great Prophecy we had a special campfire. To remember you guys and wish you luck." Jake Mason explained.

"Basically, you had a shroud-burning ceremony without the shroud-burning." said Annabeth.

"Sounds about right." Clarisse said, shrugging.

A galloping noise could be heard. The campers parted to admit Chiron.

"Chiron!" Annabeth cried. She dashed forward to hug their trainer. His kindly face seemed to light up at he gamely hugged Annabeth back. Percy didn't know why he did it, but he hugged Chiron too.

"Percy! Annabeth! I'm glad you're back." said Chiron. His horse half cantered back and forth, swishing his tail.

Annabeth and Percy broke away and smiled at their mentor. Then Annabeth's face turned serious.

"Chiron, can we have a, um, meeting in the rec room?"

***

"So, wait, what?" Travis snorted.

"Yeah. You heard right." Jason said wearily.

They had explained over 3 times, but apparently it hadn't sunk in yet.

"You're going to HIGH SCHOOL." said Will.

"On Monday." Leo said helpfully.

"That is fine. But you are all coming back for the summer holidays, right?" Chiron said camly.

"Yeah. If we survive." Percy said.

"Come on, Percy. High school can't be all that bad, right?" asked Frank.

Frank, as the praetor of Camp Jupiter was the Roman representative/ambassador. Judging by the looks he was getting, Romans were not fully trusted yet.

Leo laughed out loud. "Worse that Tartarus, Zhang!" He looked nervously at Percy and Annabeth. "Sorry."

"It's good. " Percy said.

"But that was a bit overstated. Tartarus is worse." Annabeth said.

***

The meeting dragged on.

"You all have the weekend to pack up and do whatever you want. Go crazy!" Chiron said.

"But not literally!" Piper said.

"First things first. Let's make a list!" Leo announced grandly.

They all stared at Leo.

"Um, Leo? You feeling okay? Feverish?" asked Piper.

"I'm okay. Just overcome by a responsibility surge for a while." Leo said.

"Leo's....right. We should make a list."

"Let's go!" Leo cheered.

Leo started smoking, and flames leaped from his hair.

"Someone, get a bucket!" Piper cried.