The Morning Show: Percabeth edition

Chapter 9: Annabeth's POV

"What's everyone's idea for a fundraiser?" Hazel asked us.

We were discussing the Morning Show's annual wildlife preservation event that was to be held next Saturday, at my mansion. The three of us were in charge of this event this year, and so far it was Tuesday evening and we had just begun planning.

"A dunk tank?" Piper asked.

"We did that the first year I was on the show," I cut in. "Got any other ideas girls?"

"I got it." Piper slammed her notebook down, her eyes dead serious. "The Kissing Booth."

"What now?" Hazel asked.

"I cannot believe you just asked that Hazel. The Kissing Booth is ICONIC," Piper replied.

Hazel took out her phone and appeared to be googling it. "You kiss random people blindfolded. That's very ew. Speaking of which, how's that going to get a large audience?"

I nodded and continued for Hazel. "I don't know Piper. That's a pretty neat idea but I don't know if our colleagues would like being set up like this."

"I'll text everyone to ask them if they want to do this.  Maybe even do a poll or two. Don't worry, this is going to work girls!" she said as she sneaked a chef's kiss as she exited the room.

I smiled. I was glad the Piper I knew was back.

...
Wednesday

"We are SO doing this!" Piper declared.

Hazel and I groaned. Apparently Piper had done a poll on our show's official Twitter account and 93% of our followers said yes to the Kissing Booth idea, and our colleagues were quite excited about this. I was secretly dreading it.

"We set up at seven thirty, correct? "And the news coverage comes over at eight?" Hazel asked.

"You got it!" Piper popped a munchkin into her mouth, "we're ahead of schedule so we can do whatever we want for the next two hours."

"Pipes, please stop hogging the munchkins rat." I reached over to snatch the box from her lap but Hazel threw her pillow at me before I could take anything and the three of us started a fight to see who could get the most munchkins in the end.

In the end, we decided to split the box. I was fine by that but I could tell Piper wasn't. She stuck her tongue at me but I just returned her classic chef's kiss and looked through the stack of movie disks that I had in front of me. Good Will Hunting jumped out at me, so I inserted that into the DVD player.

For the next two hours, we all had our eyes glued to the screen as young Ben Affleck continued to grace the screen for the millionth time.

...
Next Saturday, at the fundraiser event

"Now this is what I call hard work," Grover was saying, "you guys are an amazing team! Have fun tonight," he said.

I went backstage as I would go on live first and address how our funds were all going to wildlife preservation. Once we tweeted that we were doing a Kissing Booth, people immediately started commenting that they would be there and help support our cause. I really wanted this to be successful, not just for the network, but to save all of those adorable animals in the wild.

Our theme this year was 'in the jungle,' so all around me were animal prints on green camouflage that looked pretty real. We had a grass carpet laid out along with jungle noises in the background. I had to admit Piper, Hazel, and I made a great team.

I was glad though that I wasn't going to participate in kissing anyone, although I would announce names. Kissing people for fun just wasn't my thing, but I had to admit Piper's idea was interesting.