Twenty-Two

By: xXxDaughteroftheKingxXx

AN: Ha, I knew I had to write a story on this.

Well... this is crap. I haven't had good inspiration really, and I'm just in a rut when it comes to writing. I've got a lot of time on my hand, but I also have a lot of stuff I should be paying attention to. Leading worship, pulling my algebra grade up, memorizing my parts. Not to mention finding time to keep my social life and my relationship in tact. :P So, yeah, I just rambled about my life to random strangers because I just can't find the inspiration to write.

Not including now.

So, this is a story based off of a conversation with my friend. There's this hot senior... And... well, you'll see. Let's just say, I'm Reyna, and she's Hazel. :)

This is slightly AU, as we don't know about who these people are yet, at least totally.

Hope you enjoy, and sorry if it's crap. :/

Disclaimer: I don't own HoO.

News spread pretty quickly around Camp Jupiter, thanks to the Venus girls, of course.

The Tenth Legion kept everyone in the camp updated on the latest drama, whether they wanted to hear it or not. So, naturally, when Percy Jackson, the hottest hunk since Jason Grace(who, by the way, was MIA, but who really cared when you had Percy Jackson), came around to camp knowing pretty much nothing about himself, the Venus girls gossiped about him like crazy.

Everyone in the camp was caught up about Percy Jackson, and nearly all of the girls who didn't have boyfriends were after him. He was the next Jason, except this time, he wasn't anyone's only. Jason had Reyna, but Percy had no one that they knew of.

He was fair game.

"So, what do you think of this Percy guy, Rey?" Hazel asked curiously, tying her frizzy brown hair back into a high ponytail.

The praetor stiffened visibly, and replied in a careful, controlled voice, "He's okay, I guess. I'm not sure what to think of him yet."

Hazel glanced back at her friend, whose arms were clenching and unclenching into fists every few seconds. "Reyna," she asked cautiously, "do you know something about Percy that I don't?"

If it were possible, Reyna stiffened even more, taking a momentary pause, before quickly replying, "What? No, of course not!"

As a daughter of Mercury, Hazel could tell that Reyna was lying. First, she hesitated, like she was deciding whether or not she should lie. Second, Hazel knew Reyna. She'd known Reyna since they both were little kids, and she could easily tell when Reyna wasn't telling the truth.

"Aw, come on, Reyna," Hazel said whiningly. "Tell me!"

"There's nothing to tell, Hazel,"

"Bu—"

"Enough," Reyna said firmly. "I don't want to talk about it. Just... change the subject please," Her voice was almost... pleading, which was strange, because Reyna hardly begged. Hey, when you have two metal guard dogs, people tend to do what you wanted them to. The only two exceptions were Jason and Hazel.

Hazel sighed, shoulders slumping. "Fine, whatever you say, Rey," she muttered. Once again, there was a momentary pause, until an idea popped into Hazel's mind. "What would you rate him?"

"Excuse me?" Reyna stopped in her tracks, turning around to stare at her friend.

"What," Hazel repeated, "would you rate him?"

"Rate who?" the other girl asked suspiciously.

"Percy, duh."

"What kind of question is that?"

"Just answer it, Reyna!" Hazel said, exasperated. "Please!"

Reyna rolled her brown eyes and sighed. "On a scale of what?"

"One to ten, I guess,"

"...Seven, maybe eight?" Reyna shrugged. "What would you rate him?"

Hazel hesitated. "On a scale of what?"

"Ten."

"Twenty-two," the daughter of Mercury muttered, turning away, embarrassed.

"Whoa."

"Yeah."

Reyna's sing-song voice rang across the amphitheater, and Hazel nearly groaned as she turned to look at her friend cautiously.

The brunette girl smiled, dogs at heel. "Twenty-two!"

Hazel glanced towards Percy, who was sparring with Frank, and obviously winning, and let out a quiet Latin curse. Of course, ever since she'd said that, Reyna hadn't let go of it. Ever since Jason and Reyna had gotten together a few months prior to the war, Jason's goofiness had rubbed off on Reyna, and despite the circumstances, it still showed occasionally.

Just Hazel's luck.

"Let it go, will you?" she groaned, tugging at her dark brown hair, frustrated.

Reyna walked towards her friend, a grin on her face. "Sorry, Hazel," she laughed, "it was right there."

"You've been doing that for a week now!"

"It's funny, you've got to admit," Reyna said, glancing to Percy. "Really funny."

"Har, har, hardee, har. Very funny."

Of course, no one at Camp Jupiter really knew what the two girls were talking about at first. Eventually, though, they all began to figure it out, and it became a joke for everyone at camp. Whenever someone saw Percy and Hazel was around, they'd yell out, "Twenty-two!"

Long story short, Hazel never heard the end of it.

Now, there was one person at camp who never really caught on to the 'twenty-two' joke, and that was Percy himself. He was totally and completely clueless to Hazel's feelings of attraction towards him, despite her(and the rest of the camp) making it pretty obvious.

Some things never change.

AN: Told you it was crap.

The true story went like this:

Me: What would you rate him?

My friend: On a scale of what?

Me: 10.

My friend: 22

And we've been talking about it ever since. It's kinda a joke between us only, but my other friends know about it. *shrugs* I just find it funny, and I randomly wanted to write that.

Well, I'll see you all later! :]