Chapter 9: Fill and Spill
Everyone was up and ready for breakfast the next morning. Chiron came in expecting a few people to be missing as usual, but everyone was waiting on him for once.
He led everyone out to the shore where another jungle-gym looking thing was floating. Then Chiron started to explain.
"Today's challenge is called fill and spill. One person from each team will go stand on your team platform and hang on to the ski rope handle above their head. Your team-mate will be on shore with a bucket. They will scoop water out of their team colored barrel on the shore, run up the ramp, and pour the water into the other barrel hanging from the opposite end of your partner's rope. Continue filling the barrel until it pulls your partner up in the air. Once they're in the air, you'll hang there until there's only one person left. Understand?"
They all nodded in agreement.
"Great. Decide who's doing what, and then get in position. Oh, and Percy? Tricia?" They looked at him. "No cheating" he said with a wink. They laughed and nodded before going to join their partner's.
After briefly talking, the teams were ready to go. All the guys had decided to be the ones hanging onto the ropes, while the girls would scoop the water into the barrels.
On the count of three, Chiron blew the air horn and the competition began. Water flew everywhere! All the girls were soaked and sliding all over the place as they scooped water as fast as they could. Well, everyone except Faith. She had slowed down, and no one knew why until everyone was up in the air, but Leo was still partly on the platform.
"Hurry up! My arms are burning!"Connor complained.
"Chiron is that even fair? He's not even hanging yet!" Percy yelled. Chiron shrugged as he laughed, which sparked even more complaints. Faith smirked, but sped it up a little.
The others were in the air for five more minutes before Leo's feet left the platform. By that time, the rest of the guy's were exhausted, so it didn't take long for Will to fall first. Charlie was trying to get a better grip when he slipped and fell too.
Travis was just tired when he let go. He must've realized how stupid that was on the way down, because he managed to grab Jason's foot on the way down.
"Dude?" Jason yelled as the two surfaced. Travis smirked, than swam back to the shore, with Jason following behind him.
"Hey Connor?" Leo asked. He hadn't even broken a sweat yet. Connor looked over at him. "If you drop now I won't send you to temple."
Connor didn't even give it much thought before he started to swing himself back and forth. After a few more swings, he let go and sacked Percy on the way down. Leo laughed as the two boys hit the water, then followed their example and jumped in.
"Congratulations Leo and Faith. You guys know the drill by now, so just let me know by dinner. Lunch is ready, so you all can go."
Leo and Faith high-fived before walking towards the lunch area. Chiron walked off, followed by Percy and Jason, who were trying to convince him to do a rematch. Travis was raving to Connor about how awesome the sack was, and Tricia and Lauren were walking behind them, listening and laughing. The rest of the group followed.
Chiron came back a little before lunch was over.
"Do you need more time to think it over? I know you two haven't had much time alone to think about who to send, but the earlier we start the bet-"
"Nope" Leo cut him off, his mouth full of food. He looked over at Faith, who nodded her agreement at who he was thinking.
"Blue" Faith said.
Percy and Annabeth looked at her in disbelief. "What?" Annabeth screamed.
"Tricia did it!" Faith yelled on instinct.
"What the heck, Faith?" Tricia said as she chuckled. "Percy, would I ever do that to you?"
"I-"he started.
"Of course not. So Lauren did it." Tricia smirked.
"Nu-uh!" Lauren said. "Travis did it!"
Travis stood up on his chair, hands raised to quiet the group. "Yup, I did it" he said seriously.
"Really?" Percy asked. Travis scoffed.
"Heck no! It was totally Connor" he said as he jumped off his chair.
Connor was spaced out as usual. "What?" he asked when he realized everyone was staring at him. When no on answered, he sighed, stood up, and looked around the room quietly (as all great speakers do) before admitting that…"Chiron did it!"
Everyone started talking at once.
"Okay enough!" Chiron yelled. "I don't care who did or said what. No more blame game. Blue and orange teams, meet me at the trailhead in fifteen minutes."
He trotted away before they could start arguing again.
A/N: Well, the quarter is over and it's finally spring break! Sorry it took so long to update, but we've had a lot going on. Hopefully (as I say every time) we'll be able to update soon! We're halfway y done writing the last chapter, so now it's just a matter of typing and posting it (which is no small task haha). Thanks for reading! Review and spread the word please :D xo