A/N- Hi guys! It's smartone101, back with another story. I'm not abandoning any of my other stories. I just had this idea rattling around my head. Enjoy!

Disclaimer- Come on people. You really think I own PJO?

Chapter 1: Meetings

Erin's POV

Another successful prank. I'll have to IM Travis and Connor tonight. They like to know what's happening at camp while they're away at college. Since I'm the biggest (and only, I might add) prankster left at camp, it's my job to let them know what's up at camp. As reimbursement for my time, the Stolls told me where their pranking supplies are. Apparently, there's a hidden second floor to the Hermes cabin that only the Stolls know about. It's really messy up there, but there's a lot of pranking stuff. I've been up there before. I'm working on cleaning it up. Well, not really. I'm just kind of making it messier. Children of Hermes just aren't that good at cleaning.

Anyways, I had just pulled a successful prank on Ares and Aphrodite. It had taken a lot of time and work, but I completely switched their cabins. Bunks, clothes, everything. I couldn't wait to see the looks on their faces. "Erin?" somebody asked.

I turned to see my accomplice, Matthew. He's in the Hephaestus cabin, but is a lot more like a Hermes kid, except for the fact that he develops bombs. Paint bombs, mini bombs, Greek fire bombs, safety fire bombs, you name it, he's made it. And probably has it somewhere in his coat. "What is it, Matt?" He looked nervous. His face was slightly smudged, and his red hair was sticking up everywhere, like he'd been running his hands through it, like he usually did when he was nervous.

"Well, the Ares cabin just came back. They saw me hanging around and told me to tell you that we have sixty seconds. Right now we have-" he checked his watch, "-forty seconds."

"Okay. Matt, you know where to go. I'll hold them off."

"We've been through this before, Erin. I always stick around to help you out. Plus, I don't like the second floor of your cabin. It's too messy and the dust makes me sneeze. I'm staying."

"Okay then. Plan B." Matt's grin grew wider. He loved Plan B.

"Great."

"Matt, you know what to do. I'll meet you in the usual spot."

"You're on."

"GO!"

Matt was off like the Ares cabin was already after him. I snuck away to the maple tree behind the Hephaestus cabin. Scaling it quickly, I dropped onto the roof and sat down to watch and wait. A minute or so later, Matt was back, his crocodile grin even wider then usual. "Mission accomplished. They're arming themselves right now. I'd say we have thirty seconds before the action starts."

Thirty seconds later, the Ares cabin came charging out. Matt pressed a button on his watch and the first line of bombs exploded, showering the Ares cabin in designer clothes, makeup, and pink glitter. Let's just say that Matt has a lot of knowledge of what bugs each cabin the most. The Ares cabin looked a lot less scary covered in glitter. I snapped a picture. Blackmail.

The Ares cabin didn't stop charging. Matt set off his second line of bombs. Safety fire flooded the area. The catch? This safety fire was pink. Another picture. More blackmail.

When the Ares cabin still didn't stop, I turned to Matt. "Plan C?"

"You bet, sister." He flicked his Minnesota Twins cap and its customary wheel of blades popped out. Taking a spray bottle out of his pocket, he dulled the blades with some concoction made by Hecate. I took the spray and did the same with my long flickering knife that I had just pulled out of its sheath. Matt had given me the knife last year. It looked suspiciously like it was made out of flickering flames. By using the spray, we ensured that nobody got hurt. Not that I really cared. Matt, however, was a bit more ethical.

The Ares cabin had spread out to search the area. Matt and I stood up on the roof and shouted, giving away our position. A small army of pink sparkly fire-covered Ares campers swarmed towards us. Once they had almost reached the Hephaestus cabin, we walked to the edge. "Matt?" I asked.

"What?"

"Do you still have the-"

"Yeah. Should we use it?"

"It'll make one heck of an impression." He pulled another spray bottle out of a pocket. Don't ask me how the kid fits so much stuff in there. I took the bottle and sprayed him down. After a few seconds, black flames began to flicker over him. They were made of safety fire, so they wouldn't hurt him, but they sure looked cool. Matt did the same for me. In our customary black pranking clothes and covered in black flames tipped with green and blue, I'm sure we looked quite the sight. And that was just what we wanted. Most of the Ares cabin stopped to stare at us. This gave just the opportunity we needed.

"One." Matt started.

"Two." I continued.

"Three!" We finished together, jumping off the roof with synchronized flips we had acquired over a long practice time. We landed in the midst of the Ares campers and immediately stood back-to-back. Matt threw his wheel, hitting a random kid in the gut before the wheel came back to him like a boomerang. Digging in his pocket for a moment, he produced a very small black package, which he held to the safety fire for a moment while I held off the Ares campers that were intent on killing us. He threw it into the group.

"How long?" I asked.

"Count of three." Which I knew meant count of one. It confuses people most of the time.

"Run?" I asked.

"You bet." We ran as fast as we could. The Ares cabin did not follow, most likely because they were being chased by giant glowing caterpillars. Once we reached the door of the Hephaestus cabin and dashed inside, we paused for a moment.

"Caterpillars? Really?" I asked.

"Hey, don't insult them. It worked, okay?"

"Whatever. They won't keep that mob occupied for long. Where to next, Detonator?" It was an old nickname I used once in a while, obviously based on Matthew's skill with anything explosive.

"The cave."

"No. You know I hate being underground."

"And you know I hate being in the second floor of your cabin. Yet you make me go there anyways."

"Fine."

"Bunk 27b, please." Matt commanded.

"Password?"

"A monkey's uncle is my mother's brother." The bunk flipped down. Matt flopped down at the head while I gingerly sat at the foot. "Downstairs, please." The bed started moving down. Once we reached the bottom (Matt's private room) I turned to him.

"You really need a more creative password."

"Nobody has guessed it yet." I looked around the room. It was as neat as a pin and filled with a lot of supplies, most of which looked pretty dangerous.

"And you feel safe down here?" I asked.

"Well, yeah. None of these hurt anybody unless I put them in a bomb." He grinned, somewhat evilly. We waited until the noise from above subsided, using Matt's system of bugs, which he has planted everywhere. You could hear what was going on pretty much anywhere from down in Matt's room. I heard a conch horn blow.

"Time for dinner."

"Think it's safe to go up?" Matt asked from where he was tinkering with some stuff.

"Yeah. The Ares cabin will be too busy stuffing their faces to pay us any heed." We went back up using Matt's elevator/bed thingy and headed for the pavilion. The safety fire on our suits had burned out, leaving us in our simple black clothes. We (probably) wouldn't create a stir if we showed up late.

Lief's POV

I skipped dinner. I wasn't really that hungry. Anyways, most of dinner would probably be an argument between the Aphrodite and Ares cabins vs. Erin and Matt. Erin and Matt would be accused of pranking the two cabins. They would vigorously deny it. It would go on and on. The two would probably end up washing dishes for a week. It had happened too often for me to be interested.

I flopped down on my bed with an ipod and a book. I had learned a long time ago to always keep myself busy. That way, I wouldn't have to remember. It was too painful to dwell on. Forget the past, I reminded myself. I've never really fit in with the other Apollo campers anyways. They're always so…optimistic. It drives me crazy. The one Apollo person I'd kind of liked had been Michael Yew. He'd been more of a pessimist like me. Of course, now he was dead. Or at least presumed so. So, I was the only pessimist left in the Apollo cabin. And probably the one with the most painful past. The other campers had never- Stop, I reminded myself. Don't dwell on the past. It's best if you don't even think about it.

"Hey." Will Solace stood at the door. He was the cabin leader and a couple years older then me.

"What?" I asked.

"You missed dinner again. That's three days in a row, Lief. You have to eat. You'll starve yourself to death if you keep it up like this."

"I'm not hungry."

"Lief, you need to move on from what happened. Just because-"

I cut him off, "Don't talk about it. Just leave me alone."

"Okay, I'll leave you alone this time. One thing, though."

"What?" I asked irritably.

"You need to be at the campfire. I have a song planned out for you."

"Aw, man. You know I hate it when you do that."

"That's why I do it. You should really be a little more social, Lief. You need to come out of the hole you've dug yourself into thinking about-"

"I said: DON'T TALK ABOUT IT!"

"That's what I mean. You're always so defensive. You blow up at people. You're worse then one of Matt's bombs."

"Nothing, and I mean nothing, is worse then Matt's bombs." I growled.

"Really? I'll tell him you said that!" A voice from by the window said. I jumped up and looked out. Erin was standing there, a mischievous grin on her face. "Oh, gotta go!" She yelped, and turned to run. I reached out and grabbed the back of her shirt, making her stop and turn.

"What -exactly- were you doing here?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing. Let go of me!"

"Not until you tell me what you were doing."

"I told you, I wasn't doing anything!" Something hitting my sides made me jump. Erin pulled away and ran. I turned, angry, to face a grinning Will.

"What was that?"

"Um…jumper cables?" Will said, grinning sheepishly.

"Why'd you do that? You know what, don't answer that. Just leave me alone."

"Okay, I'll leave you alone. Just be on time for the campfire or I'll hire Erin to pull a prank on you." Will threatened.

"Fine. Whatever. Just go away." I heard Will moving to the door. He stopped for a moment.

"And Lief?"

"What?"

"Cheer up a little, would you? You're like Mr. Gloom and Doom."

"I'll cheer up when you grow up, Will. Life isn't all sunshine and lollipops like you and the rest of this stupid cabin seems to think."

"I know it isn't, Lief." Will's voice was tight. "But what we do is face it with a smile, a joke, and a laugh. You, on the other hand, face it with a permanent scowl, a bad temper, and a really loud voice. I'll see you at the campfire." He left, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

A/N- And there we go! How'd you like it? Should it be continued?

-smartoen101