Author's Note: The monthly update that is... The HANGOVER.
Okay, this is shorter than my other chapers (just over 3000+) and, in my opinion, perhaps not as funny as it should be. *never satisfied with my work* BUT however, I am going to inform you on how this story is going to go now that I got all the votes! :D
After this...
1. The Christmas Edition (1 chapter)
2. The New Year's Edition (1 chapter)
3. Valentine's Edition (1 chapter)
4. Game with Gods (2~3 chapters?)
5. Surprise twist+Traitie at long last
You people are AMAZING. 44 reviews for a chapter?! *proud owner of a well-liked story* And now, thanks to all of those who have read, reviewed, favorited, and alerted this story, we have now reached 32,208 views, 254 reviews, 3 communities, 115 favs, and 99 alerts! :3 Thank you so much for the support and love! I'm just kind of surprised at how many reviews I got and then the number of favs and alerts... Oh, well. I'm not complaining though, for all...this.
Also, an important announcement is that I'm setting a goal for myself and this story. I want to reach 1,000 reviews or more before I decide to end the story...if that is possible. What do you think?
Disclaimer: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HA, no.
"What did we DO?!" Leo groaned from the floor.
"Well, Reyna got drunk on Kool Aid. Thalia, you, and Dakota got drunk on Kool Aid. We played Truth or Dare and did unthinkable stuff. Now, we wallow in shame." Nico summed up dully.
"On the bright side, Octavian hasn't escaped from the alyssum!" Gwen pointed out brightly.
"Ever the optimist, Gwen." Annabeth shook her head with a smile, "The game was certainly entertaining to watch."
"Hey, you're the sanest last night and nothing REALLY embarrassing happened to you." Gwen shot back, thinking about how Dakota 'confessed his undying devotion' to her in Shakespearian talk.
"Speaking of REALLY embarrassing, what did I do night?" Leo asked suddenly and everyone else stared at him like he was a zombie coming to life.
Percy burst out laughing and Annabeth grinned evilly, "For starters, you and Percy became twins."
Percy stopped laughing and had the same insulted, shocked expression on Leo's face as they said at the same time, "What?"
"Like that." Gwen grinned.
"Then you got drunk and hyper- well, more hyper on the Kool Aid. And then got engaged with Reyna." Hazel recounted with a fit of giggles.
Leo slapped himself and had the widest eyes ever, "I got engaged to Reyna?! Me? With Reyna? She HATES me and won't admit she loes Jason!"
"And then you actually had the nerve to call One Direction gay," Gwen glared at him ferociously then smiled serenely, "So Reyna punched you and you two broke it off. And then you ranted on about some Sparkles Rainbows Skittles Fairy Unicorn Glitter Hippie Barbie Bob the Sparkles Rainbows Skittles Fairy Unicorn Glitter Hippie Barbie Elephant, fairies, how you found Narnia and hung out with your 'bro', Alsan, AND how you jumped off a in your underwear while screaming, 'HOGWARTS IS REAL!'."
Even Leo looked impressed, "Well, what can I say? I'm just awesome enough to be Alsan's bro."
"You were drunk." Frank reminded him.
"Still awesome!" Leo sang smugly.
"Oh, and you poured salsa sauce all over your head and danced like a ballerina while making siren noises, proclaiming you are Princess Twinkle Toes." Hazel said deviously.
Leo faltered, looking down, "Uh, not one of my best moments."
"I do hope we have a picture of Princess Twinkle Toes." Percy sniggered at the thought of a certain picture all over Facebook.
"And you kept trying to get Piper to kiss you!" Annabeth reminded Leo with a grin.
Leo said coolly, "Hey! I just wanted to annoy her! It always works."
"Oh, sure." Hazel snickered sarcastically.
Percy innocently hummed something along the lines of 'Leo and Piper sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!'
Leo looked glum, like Nico usually does, "Okay, what else did I do?"
"You called Piper 'Pipsqueak' and were hugging her for a long time."
"The nickname is brilliant, therefore I'm a genius. But did I really hug Piper for that long?" Leo cringed at the thought. Piper is his best gal pal. It'd be weird even though he admits she's beautiful and he liked their kiss (maybe more than he should) in one of their past games of Truth or Dare.
Everyone had Cheshire Cat smiles as they nodded certainly.
"And during the fireworks-"
"What fireworks?" Leo interrupted curiously. How can there be a celebration without him?
"Long story." Percy grinned happily as he remembered the reason why they were celebrating, "But you'd really want to hear what you did next." He was trying not to laugh with all his might and the rest were failing at that, too.
Hazel smothered her laughter enough to choke out, "You actually kissed-"
"ARGH! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT, LEO VALDEZ!" Piper stormed into the room in a huff, stumbling a bit on her high heels.
Wait, high heels on Piper?
Yes, it was her horrid punishment from a cruel, heartless goddess she calls 'Mom' for burping the alphabet because of a stupid dare.
Now, she was standing here in a fancy short dress that is feminine to the extreme and she had make up expertly put on her face. (She swears she put the clowns to shame in terms of who can where the most make up.) Not to mention, she was going to be sent off to some 'camp for proper ladies' in less than an hour. The thought made her want to thoroughly inspect what she ate for the past three months. Then she realized everyone was grinning at her while Leo stared in a mixture of wonder and interest…
Oh, gods. Don't mention anything about fireworks or The Lorax in front of her. She recently discovered she was allergic to such topics. (Or the wonderful people she calls 'friends' refuses to awknowledge the fact she is allergic to Leo Valdez.)
"Well, does the answer seem pretty clear?" Annabeth asked Leo.
Leo gulped and took another look at his best friend whom he recently kissed, "I kissed… Oh, gods."
"What answer?" Piper asked suspiciously. She really didn't want to make her friendship with Leo all awkward and uncomfortable. I mean, they were fine that last time she was dared to kiss him, right?
"Nothing." Everyone chorused unconvincingly.
"Right, back to what I'm here for." Piper turned to Leo with a terrifying face, "LEO VALDEZ! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU HAVE DONE TO ME?!"
"I…kissed you?" Leo squeaked out but then grinned, "It was great, wasn't it? C'mon, I'm a wonderful kisser and you know it!"
Piper had a look of fury on her face that's strangely mixed with an embarrassed blush, "NO! YOU GAVE ME THAT STUPID DARE AND NOW I'M FORCED TO GO TO A STUPID CAMP FOR 'PROPER LADIES' FOR A WHOLE WEEK WEARING PRETTY DRESSES!"
"Oh…I'm so AWESOME!" Leo laughed, congratulating himself for his brilliance. Besides, not only is that a pain for Piper, he gets to see her in pretty dresses for a whole week. (Which was more than the days he saw her wearing pretty dresses since he has known her.)
"One day, very soon in fact, I will kill you. And you will die a slow, painful death full of suffering." Piper told him with a murderous smile.
"Cool. DO I get a kiss first?" Leo grinned insolently.
Piper was about to strangle him before the door was flung open with a loud crack of thunder.
(Did I mention it was a perfectly sunny day?)
Percy, Leo, Jason, and Nico cowered in fear. BEHOLD!
Thalia Grace, freshly fired from the Hunters of Artmeis because of inappropriate behavior while being drunk and positively livid about it.
"Um, hi, Thals!" Percy squeaked out with a nervous glance at Annabeth. It has never ended well whenever Thalia was angry. He, unfortunately, is one of Thalia's favorite things to take her anger out on.
Thalia looked as scary as Sandy the Hurricane that hit the East Coast a few years ago. "Will someone kindly explain why I woke up with a letter from Lady Artemis saying that I'm fired from the Hunters of Artemis?"
Hazel and Frank shared a look before Hazel cleared her throat and explained, "Well, um, last night, you got drunk on Kool Aid."
"Kool Aid. I got drunk on Kool Aid." Thalia had a 'Seriously?' kind of look on her face.
Nico didn't want to think of what would happen to him when Hazel breaks the news to Thalia.
Leo smothered a snigger when he saw Nico's terrified expression. Sure, he did some unbelievable things (such as sharing an amazing kiss with his best friend) last night, but it wasn't as bad as getting a daughter of the Big Three fired from a single-girls-only organization that she loved ridiculously a lot.
Hazel winced and cast a sympathetic glance at her half-brother, "Sorry, I don't think I can say this."
Gwen stepped up instead, "Long story short, you flirted inappropriately with Nico the whole night through, got proposed by him with an onion ring and accepted because of his dare, and kissed him."
"WHAT?!" Thalia nearly choked on air as she turned to a beet-red Nico disbelievingly. Him, of all people? Itty Bitty Nico who has been like a little brother? (Okay, so what if Inner Thalia agrees that Nico may or may not have grown into the hot, suave Itlian stereotype looks-wise?)
"At least, that's what Olympus Weekly wrote." Gwen held up her magazine with a slight grimacing expression.
Thalia rounded on Nico with a blazing look in her electric blue eyes, "I. Am. Going to. FRY. You."
Nico ducked a miniature bolt as he ducked Thalia's lunge at him, "It's not my fault, okay?! I'm sorry! It was a stupid dare from Reyna! So blame her! Or Dakota, since he was the reason why so many of us were drunk! Yes, it's-"
"DO YOU KNOW HOW DAMAGED MY REPUTATION IS?! AND NOW I LOST MY CLOSEST COMPANIONS FOR ETERNITY! AND IT COST ME IMMORTALITY!" Thalia roared at him with all the fury of a lion whose tenderloin steak was stolen right under his nose.
Nico ducked another bolt of lightning that narrowly missed his head.
"Wait, since you two got engaged the last game…does that mean you're still engaged?" Frank suddenly asked to distract the fearsome ex-Hunter.
The ozone and mini-thunderclouds evaporated immediately and the electricity in the air lessened as Thalia stopped advancing towards Nico to look at Frank.
Thalia and Nico shared an awkward glance. "No, definitely no."
Piper protested immediately, "Why not?! You two are perfect for each other!"
Leo's sneeze oddly sounded like, "Aphrodite side!"
Piper glared at him then remembered that they kissed last night. So she turned away with a discreet blush and a loud huff.
Leo sniggered as if he knew what Piper was thinking of. He felt strangely okay about kissing her and doing it again in the future. Which means it is less of a deal to tease her about their kiss…
"I got dared by Reyna." Nico explained pleadingly, trying not to remember what happened exactly.
"And I was drunk." Thalia added with a poker face. She honestly just doesn't remember what happened. But she indistinctly remembers grabbing Nico into a closet and telling him that they MUST find Narnia…which can't be true. RIGHT?
"That's a shame." Gwen made a face.
Annabeth would never say this out loud but she thought Thalia and Nico would make a great couple.
Percy just looked back and forth at his cousins and cleared his throat, "Let's just all forget this-"
"I can not believe this!" For the third time, the poor door was flung open by an angry violent girl.
Reyna stormed in with full battle armor (She was training, relax!) on and a nearly crumpled newspaper in her hand.
Jason was following behind worriedly with a disturbed look on his face.
"Believe what?" Annabeth stood up with a frown as she caught the almost-ripped and very fragile newspaper.
"THAT." Reyna pointed at the newspaper cut-out with a venomous look as if it was responsible for stealing her precious jellybeans and holding them for ransom.
Curious, the other demigods read through the papers quickly:
PRAETORS CAUGHT ASLEEP TOGETHER ON THE ROOF OF NEW ROME TOWER! IS IT LOVE AT LONG LAST?
Percy tried. He really did. But it didn't stop him from bursting into laughter when he saw the title AND the picture AND the whole page on Jason and Reyna on top of the roof and their whole known relationship though the years.
"I got a whole bloody PAGE on how Jason is oh-so-perfect for me." Reyna glared at the laughing demigods.
Jason remained embarrassed and silent.
Gwen protested, "But it's true! You two are meant to be! Why do you think we always paired you Jason up for EVERYTHING?"
Jason came to his senses, "Wait, so you all actually did that on purpose?"
Gwen nodded proudly, "Of course! Everyone agreed you two will have gorgeous babies when we first saw you interact."
Hazel gagged, "Weren't they just twelve?"
Reyna looked even MORE red in the face, "So- so- when we were paired up for Latin class and Sword-fighting and Basic Med.-"
Jason soon continued with, "And History and Culinary and Swimming and Navy and Strategic Studies and Social Studies and even Dance. And I don't even know why we're supposed to learn how to waltz in Camp Jupiter! It's not like the monster is going curtsy when I bow and then there's an orchestra that-"
"The point is, you've been setting us up all along?" Reyna gawked at Gwen disbelievingly.
Annabeth thought it was pretty much a lost cause when both sides of a couple are clueless. But somehow, Jason and Reyna are probably going to succeed since so many matchmakers are setting them up. She mentally notes that she should also join in on their campaign later.
"Yup!" Gwen nodded with a happy grin.
"Great, HOW IN THE NAME OF FORTUNA DID I END UP FALLING ASLEEP ON HIM ON THE ROOFTOP WHERE EVRYONE IN NEW ROME COULD PLAINLY JUST SEE?!" Reyna suddenly exploded.
Percy winced as he rubbed his ear, "My EARS!"
Thalia still looked stormy, "You probably got drunk on Kool Aid, too."
Reyna frowned, "What do you mean 'too'?"
Thalia refused to tell by shutting her mouth shut and looking away with a stone face.
Piper coughed and stifled a giggle as she handed Reyna the latest edition of Olympus Weekly.
Jason and Reyna's eyes widened immediately at the included pictures. Jason wants to kill himself now for the mentally damaging images that were burned into his mind.
Reyna gulped at looked at her friend with a newfound respect. The fact that Thalia did something that insane was amazing…even if she was drunk at the time.
"What did I do?" Reyna then asked worriedly.
"You worshipped a Holy Coconut, got engaged to Leo, divorced when he called One Direction gay, proclaimed yourself married to Niall Horan, called Piper a 'pipermon', gave everyone Pokémon-related names, and announced that New Rome will be holding the annual Sparkle Games." Nico listed with a grin.
Reyna looked absolutely sick, "Kill me now."
"You can faint into Jason's arms if you like." Leo suggested helpfully with a wink at Jason.
"But I do know about the last one though," Reyna scowled.
Jason broke into an awkward, 'please don't bring THAT up' coughing fit.
"How?" Frank asked mildly.
Reyna's eyes darkened as she crossed her arms, "Well, I'd rather stop thinking about traumatizing events, you know."
"Oops, sorry."
"Where IS Dakota?" Leo wondered out loud.
Reyna's eye twitched.
"Probably training for the Sparkle Games," Jason answered casually.
Percy spewed out his drink, "What?! You're actually hosting this?"
"We don't have a choice." Jason grimaced slightly.
"Thankfully, we're cancelling our next week's game of Truth or Dare since it clashes with the Sparkle Games." Reyna added brightly.
Annabeth actually jumped up and punched the air, "Whoop! A quiet Friday of peace and normality at last!"
"I don't think the Sparkle Games can be counted as normal though…" Thalia burst her best friend's bubbly bluntly.
"Don't care as long as we aren't playing Truth or Dare with Leo!" Annabeth grinned happily.
Leo proceeded to burst out fake-sobbing.
"Piper, do something about this!" Percy pointed at Leo with a grin.
"I'm not kissing him." Piper said with a glare at Percy.
Leo looked up with a pout, "Shame, last night was amazing…" He winked at Piper just to creep her out.
"That's really disturbing, Valdez." Reyna coughed with a glare.
Piper blushed when she realized what Reyna meant and choked, "That is just plain gross, Reyna."
"That would be Jason's fault." Reyna glared at Jason casually, who just asked indignantly, "What?"
"You're a bad influence."
"Am not!"
Hazel eyed Annabeth with sudden interest, "Annabeth…are you wearing any jewelry?"
Annabeth looked very calm, "Only my earrings and camp necklace."
Hazel moved closer with narrowed eyes and said suspiciously like a bloodhound on the trail of a tasty prey, "Oh, really? Why do I sense a gem?"
"Um…you sensed wrong?" Annabeth replied a little TOO hastily.
"Are you hiding something?" Piper rounded on her friend with an interrogating glint in her eyes.
"N-no." Annabeth held her head high.
"Yeah! Why would she have anything to hide?" Percy defended his girlfriend as they exchanged a glance.
Frank joined the squad, "Perce, you're acting so weird now…"
"Look! Annabeth has a new necklace!" Reyna suddenly gasped.
"No!"
But it was too late already.
Gwen, who is probably a secret ninja, had already grasped the thin chain to reveal…
An elegant silver ring set with an aqua blue diamond in the middle and the word Always, Wise Girl and Seaweed Brain engraved inside it.
They looked back and forth between the very red Percy and Annabeth, trying to process the information.
Then, Nico spoke at long last, "You two are…engaged?"
"It's just a promise ring, I swear!" Annabeth explained desperately.
Then the group split into girls squealing and guys 'man-squealing' as they gathered around Annabeth and Percy, laughing, slapping backs, congratulating the couple, and starting to plan weddings! ("It's too early for that!" "No, it's NEVER to late to start planning!" "I call dibbs on being a godmother!")
Percy just grinned adorably with a blush and looked away towards the window awkwardly, shoving his hands into his pocket. He can't believe he had the guts to do that. He shouldn't have stressed too much but he knew Annabeth might think they're both too young... But she said yes. And that's really all that matters, isn't it?
"Dude, nice going!" Nico fist-bumped Percy.
"SO? How? When?" Hazel asked urgently with sparkling gold eyes. It must've been almost like a dream for her older friend.
"It was after the fireworks," Annabeth suddenly looked shy, "He took me to the lake…and, well, you can probably guessed what happened next." She felt like she just bult the greatest monument on Olympus at the moment. The feeling of the metal on her skin felt so...indescribable. It meant that they already had a future together, always.
"You know what? I'm going to act like a normal teenage girl for once and say, THAT IS SO ROMANTIC! I'M SO HAPPY FOR YOU!" Reyna suddenly burst out and grabbed Annabeth's hands excitedly, laughing normally. She felt so happy for her Greek counterpart. But it still stung a bit that one of her best friends is promised and she hasn't even had a real boyfriend yet.
Leo caught Jason staring at a certain praetor wistfully with a soft expression. He sniggered at the sight of his lovesick friend.
Thalia suddenly burst out laughing, "Oh, gods. Can you imagine how their parents will take it? Especially after what Percy did…"
Suddenly, realization dawned on Percy as he went as white as Nico usually is and gasped, "I can't believe it! I wished Athena Happy Bellybutton Appreciation Day! I'm DOOMED!"
Meanwhile…
Octavian woke up groggily, finding himself in an enclosed room that reminded him of the asylums he sees in TV shows. His eyes snapped open at once, "Wait, where am I? I'm sane. SANE, I TELL YOU!"
And no, no one is going to bail him out, of course.
The Most Important Lesson of LIFE For All Demigods:
Don't. Get. Drunk. On Kool Aid. EVER.
~The End...Until Christmas~
Author's Note: And...that's it for now! :D
Any suggestions of where they should spend Christmas? ;D
This is the last time Gwen and Dakota will be making an appearance until some time. :'(
Cookies given to those who answer:
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