11. Tutu

"Why are you wearing a tutu?" Will asked Nico.

Nico shrugged. "Because I want to be brave and fearless."

"That's awesome."

Percy ran up to them grabbing Nico's hand, also wearing a tutu. "Come on. We have to do the Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy, remember?"

Will snorted, finally getting it. "You lost the bet to Sherman, didn't you?"

Nico's expression got darker and darker.

"You guys look awesome," Will promised the two, kissing his boyfriend on the cheek. "Now get out there!"

As soon as Nico and Percy were in position, Will ordered Austin to get out the camera.

12. About Last Night

Sunny's face was burning as she faced Valentina in the too-small camp bunk. Both of their sets of clothes were on the ground somewhere, and Sunny had a nasty feeling that her siblings were still in the room. "Val," she hissed.

Valentina slowly opened her eyes and godsdammit how is she still seductive right now?! "Mmm?" she said, smiling slightly.

Val never looked that content around Sunny, and so Sunny just wanted to shut her mouth and let the moment last, but her siblings would be up soon and if Ilse saw the two of them they'd have to answer all sorts of questions and then Will and Shira would be pissed.

"Val...you have to...go?" It came out as question.

"Alright. Call me if you want to do it again."

That sounded weird. "Sit with us at breakfast today!"

Valentina made a face. "No. Why would I want to do that?"

"Oh. I just thought that since…"

"We're not dating, Sunny."

Sunny's heart plummeted. Don't cry. Don't cry. "Okay." At least her voice sounded upbeat. Just like everyone expected her voice to be. Apollos don't cry.

"I mean...last night was okay, I guess. But I'm not into commitment. Or girls."

"Excuse me?" Then why did you sleep with me?

"You're great, Sunny! But don't think that I actually like you that way."

Valentina got up and got dressed. Sunny watched her go.

I'm not going to cry.

13. Caltrain

Billie Ng lives in Palo Alto, where everything is small and where she feels alone and like she's too big for the town and much too small for the world. So sometimes after school, when her father and stepmother think that she's in robotics club, she hops on the Caltrain and takes it all the way from Palo Alto out to Oakland, to Gilroy, sometimes in the other way to San Francisco, and back again.

Hyun-Ki Pak lives in San Jose, and he loves being out in the city, and as he grows up, the boundaries keep stretching and stretching. But eventually there's not even enough freedom in the huge city that Hyun grew up in. At 14, as he's drowning in the expectations of his father that come from being an Athena kid, he cuts school for the first time and takes the Caltrain all the way to Gilroy, sometimes to San Francisco, and back again.

They get to know the people on their trains, there and back, and come up with excuses for their teachers and TAs and classmates and sometimes the parents and often the friends. They sit on the train and let it lull them, let it fill them with excitement. Sometimes they go hungry; sometimes they eat their lunch that they didn't eat at the right time or buy candy from a vendor. Once or twice they get on the exact same train, two kids from the New York Camp, strangers in a strange land, but never happen to run into each other.

Eden Bayard transfers to the Caltrain one day when her BART pass runs out, and she sees Hyun-Ki and Billie on the same train, same car, in the same hour. Only Hyun-Ki gets out in San Jose and Billie gets on in Santa Clara, two stops later. Eden thinks about calling out to each of them, but she's a child of Hecate and she's always been withdrawn and scared of people and she doesn't care too much about either of them anyway. She wishes them well in her mind, and continues on with her day.

14. The Zohan

Lou Ellen leaned into Mark slightly, hoping that she wouldn't make him uncomfortable. But no, Mark leaned into her, too. It was comfortable.

All of their siblings were watching the fireworks (they were redoing them in late August this year due to all of the fighting) and the pair had borrowed Lynn's laptop. The movie started playing, and Lou got a glimpse of the title. Don't Mess With the Zohan.

She groaned. "Come on, Mark!"

Mark reddened, but covered it up by looking offended. "What?"

"Isn't that an Adam Sandler movie?"

"You got a problem?"

"Do you not know about Adam Sandler movies?"

"I know the rumors. And I like this movie."

Lou had watched the movie before. She absolutely did not like it. She didn't like Adam Sandler, period.

But Mark looked like he was enjoying himself, and she knew that it was hard for him to let anyone in, so she tried to look like she was enjoying it.

Maybe it wasn't that bad.

15. Lick

Without warning, one of the newer campers, the ones that he had never noticed before because they stood in the gigantic huddle of unclaimed kids, came up to Mitchell and hugged him.

"Um, hey," Mitchell laughed. "I'm Mitchell. What's your name?"

The tiny kid hugged him even tighter. "I'm Keller. I'm seven."

"I'm fifteen," Mitchell told Keller. "So, what's up?"

If Keller had been any bigger, Mitchell supposed that he'd be in a bone-crushing hug. But no, tiny, adorable Keller was just giving him the tightest, probably best hug of his life. "My goal at camp is to lick seven people."

"Wha—Um, okay." Mitchell was quickly getting uncomfortable.

"I've already licked six."

"Gotta go!"

Mitchell was gone in a flash.

16. Soul Eater Style

Annabeth swung Percy in his knife-form, catching the ball of fire sent out by the witch, Kelli, on the handle and making it disperse before launching herself forward again.

"Left!" Percy ordered. Annabeth went left. "No! My left!"

"Our left is the same right now!"

Kelli brought down her sword, and it was all that Annabeth could do to make herself begin the change into her sword-form. It was painful to do it this slowly, but Annabeth shrunk out of the reach of Kelli's sword. Percy morphed back to his human shape, now weilding Annabeth.

"Feels great to be me again," he bantered as he fought Kelli.

"Block that blow!"

"Maybe if you'd let me be the meister more often…"

"Now is not the time, Percy!"

The sword cut through Percy's arm. He dropped Annabeth, screaming—

"Percy!" Annabeth yelled.

And suddenly, Kelli exploded.

Even through the blinding pain, Percy managed to groan. "Clarisse."

The intimidating meister glared at them. "You two need to get it together."

Her claymore, Chris, morphed to human, slightly out of breath. "Thanks for taking the heat off of us, though."

"Shut up," Clarisse growled. "They were being irresponsible. There's no place for a pair like them out in the real world, not with a performance like that."

"Clarisse—" Annabeth started, a whole speech planned out in her head.

"Shut up," Clarisse repeated. "Come on, Chris."

Percy glared at her retreating back. "I swear...someday, we'll beat them."

Annabeth sighed. "They're right." She started dressing his wound.

"No. I swear, Annabeth, someday we'll be the strongest pair out there."

"Okay, Percy."

The promise passed through the two of them like an electrical current.

17. Coke

"Pepsi!"

"Sprite!"

"Invalid," Mel told Shane. Apollo's kids considered themselves referees in all of the debates that the rest of Camp got into, but they could get super nitpicky and annoying. Sometimes Clor would throw things at people who's arguments she didn't like.

"Why?" Shane demanded.

"Not the same brand as Pepsi."

"Well, what is?"

"Mountain Dew, I guess."

Shane glared back at Nyssa. "Mountain Dew!"

"Dr. Pepper!" their little brother Cooper put in.

Shane glared at Melody. "Dr. Pepper isn't a Pepsi product either!"

"Yeah, but who the fuck likes Mr. Pibb?"

"That's a thing?"

Mel snorted. "Sadly."

"Pepsi," Nyssa reminded Shane.

"Mountain Dew."

"Dr. Pepper!"

"Root beer!"

"Blue Coke," Percy said as he walked by, effectively ending the argument.

18. Crown

"Lynn was crowned the Grand Queen Thingy of all the Apollo Cabin. She was a wise and just ruler, and—"

"Shut up, Jude!" Clorinda groaned.

Melody glared at her sister. "If you want to tell Jude to shut up, Clor, then you have to contribute. Like, actually contribute."

Clor threw a balled-up piece of paper at Mel, sitting up in her bunk. "Okay. Fine. Lynn was a terrible and unjust ruler, making many horrible decisions—"

"Stop insulting Lynn," Lucy put in.

"Aaaww!" Lynn said, eagerly watching the argument in front of her.

"—being irresponsible and generally annoying everyone," Clor continued. "And so she was executed."

"Jesus," Lynn groaned, face changing drastically.

"Wrong religion," Kayla put in, finally joining the fray.

"And she was replaced by Ilse, who everyone agreed was the best ruler ever."

The six girls all looked over at their six-year-old sister, who was currently drawing unicorns on the walls of the cabin.

"She totally was," Judith decided.

Clor got up, took the cardboard crown from Lynn's head, and placed it on Ilse.

Who promptly took it off and drew a unicorn on it.

Mel grinned. "Best. Queen. Ever."

19. Make Up

Shane breathed in. Breathed out.

And exploded.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" He demanded. "Why can you never admit that something was your fucking fault?! How hard would it be?"
He didn't regret the words, even as Julia's face crumpled slightly. She was such a bitch! He was just trying to be nice, trying to show that for once, he actually liked someone, and she made it so hard! And the words he had used—no. Julia wasn't like Nyssa, easily triggered by anything unkind. Her family back in Amsterdam loved her. They never sinned her for anything. No one ever did. So when he did...he wasn't compounding a problem!

Then the guilt started creeping up on him. He reddened, refusing to let himself cry. He shouldn't have let himself explode. But Julia shouldn't have dyed his hair pink, either. She knew that he was sensitive about his long hair, and she insisted on drawing attention to it. She was always like this. It was her fault!

Oh, fuck. Now it was his, too. Fuck his stupid fucking crush.

"I'm sorry," he muttered, and then repeated it louder.

Julia's face sprung back into a smile. "Good."

"Gah! Fuck you!"

"I'm sorry."

Shane had to wait a full second to register it. "I'm sorry," Julia repeated.

"Oh."

"Well?"

"It's…" Shane stopped himself. "No! It's not okay! You dyed my hair pink!"

"Well, I'm really sorry."

Shane kind of hated himself as he let Julia hug him. But he guessed that he liked Julia a little too much to actually hate her. He let Julia pull him into a kiss as fireworks exploded in his mind.

"About time!" Alice called.

20. Make Out

Alice and Nolan briefly separated from their face-sucking session in the makeout closet to take a few breaths. Alice couldn't stop herself from smiling. "Did you see?"

Nolan was at her neck, covering it with feather-light kisses. "Did you see?" Alice repeated.

Nolan straightened. "What?"

"Julia and Shane finally got together!"

Nolan groaned slightly, leaning in for another kiss. Alice pulled away. "What?"

"Al...can we just...not talk about your sister while we try to make out?"

Alice giggled, reattaching herself, and they continued.

Notes: I think that there are a lot of cute moments at Camp, but I hope to convey more of the sad ones, too, as I go on. Once we get to the Off Season, I think that'll become more apparent.

I admit that Nico in a tutu is one of my happy places. And I also have a lot of Soul Eater headcanons for Percy and Annabeth. It's an anime where people can turn into weapons, and where they fight demons, for anyone who doesn't know.

See you next update!