PJO/HoO Around the Campfire

The Kiss

Kayla knew what she wanted to say so everyone died down quickly after that. "Never have I ever challenged an animal to a fight." The majority of the group looked confused but she meant this for Cecil. He put a finger down along with Percy and Nico. The rest of the group asked for stories so Percy started.

"I was swimming in the lake and this fish swam up- wait Frank counts right?"

"Ya, my story was also with Frank." Nico supplies.

"As long as Frank was in 'animal mode' when you challenged him, then I'd say it counts." Leo said, emphasizing his made up term for when Frank changes form. "Cecil, does your story also have to do with Frank?"

"Um... no? I was in the woods, I thought there was a monster, so I 'challenged it to a fight'," he puts the last bit in air quotes. "Anyway, it turned out to be a squirrel, and Kayla could not stop laughing all the way back to the infirmary."

"She told me that story when she got there too." Will interjected.

After he had given everyone some time to stop laughing before he continued, "So I'll go now then, never have I ever been struck by lightning." He didn't really know if anyone had, he thought he might have heard something like that happening to one of the campers. Percy, Nico and Jason put a finger down, the first two grimaced at the memory but Jason didn't seem fazed.

"The lightning went through me so I didn't get hurt, but it did hit me." Jason explained.

Percy sighed and explained his story, "I don't really want to go into too much detail but, Thalia and I got into a fight. I'm sure a few of you remember, it was after Annabeth was taken."

Most of the group had witnessed this fight, so they did not question Percy further, instead they just focused on Nico. He didn't like being the center of attention, especially while talking about his past, but he told the story anyway. " I don't want to go into too much detail but, I was doing something for my dad and accidentally did something to offend Jupiter, so I was shot by lightning, it was just a little shock. I'm fine."

Cecil smirked at Will, "Okay, on that note. Never have I ever been in the infirmary, without an injury, for more than three hours straight." Will and Kayla put a finger down because they work in the infirmary. After a moment of calculation Nico also put a finger down, he only had five fingers left so he put one hand down as well. No one asked why he spent the time in infirmary if he was not injured because they all knew he was in there to keep Will company and they did not want him to feel embarrassed. Annabeth and Piper shared a knowing look.

Now it was Lou Ellen's turn, "Never have I ever forgotten what a word was in the only language the person I was talking to knew." Almost everyone put a finger, everyone knew Greek, Jason knew Latin, Leo knew Spanish, Piper and Drew knew French and Nico knew Italian, so you can imagine how easy it would be to forget some words sometimes. Travis and Connor were the only ones to not put a finger down. At that Jason, Percy, Annabeth, Katie, Kayla, Will and Cecil, all put one of their hands down. Now Leo, Malcolm, Travis, Connor, Lou Ellen, Clarisse and Rachel were the only left with both hands up.

"Never have I ever eaten more than two s'mores at campfire." Clarisse didn't know what to say so she said something she knew at least half of them have done. Jason, Leo, Percy, Malcolm, Travis and Connor each put a finger down. Leo and Malcolm now only had one hand.

Drew wanted to target Piper so she stared straight at her. "Never have I ever kissed a child of the Big Three." No one was surprised when Piper and Annabeth put a finger down. Jason and Percy each put a finger down too, it took everyone a minute before they realized what that meant. Rachel also put a finger so now she only has five fingers left.

Rachel, Percy, Jason, we need some stories here." Leo said almost too excitedly.

"Okay, I'll start. Percy and I kissed once, because of a dare." Jason said calming.

Percy didn't need to explain his story so Rachel reluctantly told her story. "Percy, I don't know if you told anybody," she paused and glanced at a furious Annabeth, so Rachel guessed he didn't tell her. "Would you like to tell the story?" She finally said.

"Sure," his palms were sweating, he didn't know how Annabeth would take this. "So it was the summer before the titan war, about a week before my sixteenth birthday, we were going for a short drive. She had to go on vacation with her family. I was considering it but I kind of knew that I wouldn't be able to go, because you guys might have needed me to help. Anyway, we were just talking in the car when blackjack landed on the roof with Charles on his back. He told me that it was time, we had to save the world, you guys know what happened."

He took a moment to collect himself, it had a few years but he was still sad. "So, I asked Rachel to tell my mom and Paul that I had left, she assured me she would and then kissed me. As Charles and I were flying he asked me if he should not tell you," now he was speaking only to Annabeth, "and, I said he shouldn't tell you." Annabeth looked a little upset that he hadn't told her but she realized that they weren't together at that point so she couldn't really hold anything against him.

Annabeth whispered something in his ear so that no one else could hear her, "I don't hold anything against you." It was comforting for Percy to hear that, that was exactly what he was afraid of so now he didn't have to worry.

"Wait, Percy, didn't you say that Annabeth was your first kiss? You guys got together after the titan war, right?"

This time Annabeth shared the story, "Yes, actually I kissed him before that, so I don't know how he didn't know I liked him."

"If my memory serves me right, I thought you were going to punch me."

"Well, that was my other option. You were pretty much saying you were going to sacrifice yourself."

"Okay, this is all really sweet but shouldn't continue on with the game?" Leo asked the group.

"Alright, it's my turn. Never have I ever been claimed by a god as one of my parents." To that, everyone put a finger down because everybody there except Rachel was a demigod. Now everyone only had one hand.

"Okay, I'll go then." Nico didn't know what to say, he was a bit nervous. He was getting more comfortable being around these people but at times, when all the attention was on him, he still felt nervous. "Never have I ever fallen off the climbing wall." Almost everybody put a finger down when he said that, the only campers that never fell off the climbing wall were Jason, Leo, and Rachel who didn't participate in the camp activities.

Now everybody had said one, these are how many fingers each person has left: Jason- 2, Piper- 1, Leo- 4, Percy- 1, Annabeth- 2, Malcolm- 3, Katie- 3, Travis- 4, Connor- 4, Kayla- 3, Will- 3, Cecil- 3, Lou Ellen- 4, Clarisse- 4, Drew- 2, Rachel- 4, Nico- 3.

They had gone around the circle once so it was Jason's turn again. "I have the power to end this, so if more than one person runs out of fingers on the same turn, so they both get a dare?"

"Yes, should it be a dare together or do they each get a dare?" Leo asked.

"They could both get the same dare." Rachel interjected. Everybody agreed with Rachel so they continued the game.

"Okay, let's see. Never have I ever been slapped in the face?" Jason said it as more of a question. He was happy that he had guessed right because both Percy and Piper put their last fingers down. Along with Leo, Travis, Connor, Will, Cecil, Drew and Nico put one of their fingers down as well.

The group knew that this could be a touchy subject for some of the campers so they did not ask for stories this time. Now that the game was over the only thing left to do was come up with a dare for Percy and Piper.

"How should we do this? Should we get Percy and Piper to leave, so they don't hear what we are doing?" Leo asked the rest of the group.

"Yes, that sounds good, they can go to one of the cabins for a bit." Annabeth agreed.

"Okay, Piper and I can go to my Cabin." Percy said, almost reluctant to leave, but they did anyway.