A/N: So I never expected to do a Truth or Dare chapter, because I feel like it is almost over done, however, I have had quite a few requests that I have a chapter with that theme. Therefore, I'm throwing my own little weird twist on it. Like I always do.
I went through an entire bar of Hershey's chocolate for this chapter, so it's kind of more than ridiculous. I hope it's funny though!
Set August after Percy comes back from the Roman Camp – two months after "More than a Fight," and a few days before, "17 and 1 Year."This chapter is a little pointless, but it entertains me. And involves fluff. In both ways.
Thank you guys for all the reviews. It makes my day each time I get another one!
Read, review, enjoy!
"Drew, I am not playing Truth or Dare with you."
"Yes you are," she said, taking my wrist and dragging me along. I tried to shake her off, alas, I was incapable of twisting away as her grip was maddeningly tight.
I turned back to Percy. "A little help, here?" I asked.
"What's the point?" Percy asked Drew. "It's a small camp. We already know everything about everybody."
Her gaze flitted between Percy and me, leaving in its wake a curious smirk. "Not everything."
She took Percy and my moment of astonishment as prime time to drag me away and leave Percy where he stood.
"Do I have to?"
Drew nodded. "Of course you do. It will be fun!"
"Drew, no."
"Annabeth, yes."
"Who's even going to be there?"
Drew shot me one of her absolutely terrifying grins that nine times out of ten makes me want to run for the hills. "Just us girls," she said with a grin. "Well, except for daughters of Hypnos. They're already asleep. At 8:30, can you believe it?"
I shrugged.
"Anyway," she continued, "It's like an end of the summer tradition."
"Drew, we've never done anything like this before…"
She rolled her eyes and dropped my wrist, placing her hands on her hips. "Fine, then, Chase, we're STARTING a tradition. Come on, don't you just want to be a normal sixteen year old for once in your life?"
Well then. If that's how she put it. I sighed. "Fine."
"Great! Everyone's already in the Aphrodite Cabin."
"How'd you get this past the adults?"
"Charm speaking."
"Of course…"
I felt like I was punched in the fact with the color and…glitter of the room as I stepped in, Drew closing the door quietly behind me. "Okay, girls!" she said to what looked like nearly the entire female population of Camp Half Blood that was over the age of fourteen. "Shall we?"
"No," Piper muttered under her breath from her top bunk. I forced back a chuckle. Her dark hair was falling over the side of her bed as she lay with her head upside down off the bed.
"Piper, shut up," said Drew. "Now, we have a few rules. You can turn down a truth or a dare, but you have to run around camp screaming 'Chiron is a horse's ass' if you choose to opt out."
"That's horrifying," said Nyssa. "We'd get our butt kicked."
"Exactly. No one can come up with a dare that would get you in less trouble, so you're pretty much going to have to be guaranteed to take the truth or dare. So who goes first?"
"I will!" piped up Katie, who was sitting on the floor next to her sister Miranda. "Piper, truth or dare?"
Piper grinned. "Dare."
"I dare you to eat an entire jar of marshmallow fluff."
I swear that sticking out my tongue in disgust was a completely instinctual reaction.
"Okay!" said Piper. "Does anyone HAVE fluff?"
"Right here."
"Darn you people and your preparation. Fine. Get me a spoon."
Drew pulled out a spoon and the container of fluff and handed it with a grin to Piper. "I honestly can say I never expected someone to take this dare."
"Dude," said Piper, digging the spoon into the white mush, "have you met me? I'll take any dare." She put the fluff in her mouth and a giddy little smile spread across her face. "Yum."
"You're weird."
Piper grinned at me, and tried to speak, but the fluff effectively muted her.
"You realized it's your turn to dare someone, right?" I said with a grin. She nodded. "And that you can't exactly speak with that in your mouth." She nodded again, and her eyebrows furrowed.
"Grufuffnum."
"Eloquent."
The room burst into laughter as Piper struggled to swallow the massive ball of marshmallow currently clogging her mouth, and she herself began to giggle a little bit. Everyone within a five foot radius rapidly backed up to avoid getting spat on by fluff.
"Oh, okay, wow, that was difficult. Next time I'm definitely taking smaller bites. Can I eat this throughout the game or do I have to cram it all down my throat right now?"
"THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID!" shouted Katie with the most ridiculous grin on her face.
"WHY did anyone let you date Travis?" I asked her.
"No, Piper, you can eat it as we play. Who are you asking next?"
Piper closed her eyes and waved her spoon around like a wand, pointing it at random people. "I choose…YOU!" Her spoon was pointed directly at Kayla, a daughter of Apollo who was sitting next to Clarisse as they talked about different battle strategies.
"Me?"
"Yes. Truth or dare?" asked Piper as she dug for another spoonful of fluff.
"Dare."
"I dare you to run over to the Hypnos cabin and yell something into their window."
"They'll kill me!"
Piper shook her head. "Nah, they'll just wake up, yell at you for a moment, then pass out again. Were you wondering why girls from their cabin are the only ones not here right now?"
Kayla stood up and took a deep breath. "If I get killed because of this, it's all your fault, Piper."
"You don't die," said Piper after swallowing a big spoonful. "Just run really fast back to this cabin and they can't catch you."
"Gee that doesn't worry me or anything."
She walked out the door and all the girls in the Aphrodite cabin stuck their heads out to watch. I gave Kayla a thumbs up as she arrived at the cabin's window.
"I AM SCREAMING IN YOUR WINDOW BECAUSE PIPER MCLEAN DARED ME TO!"
Piper nearly dropped her spoon. "I did not expect her to sell me out like that."
"Pipes," I said, halfway between laughing hysterically and diving back into the cabin, "they're going to kill you."
"At least my last meal is nutritious…"
Kayla sprinted towards us with a truly impressive speed and we all ducked into the cabin and shut the door behind her, ignoring the yells from the Hypnos cabin.
"Okay," said Kayla, "Drew, truth or dare?"
"Dare."
Kayla, innocent love that she was, thought about it for a minute. As she sat there pondering her question, I walked over to Piper's bunk and climbed up next to her, wincing a little at the unsettling creak. "Hi, Pipes."
"So," said Piper as she ate another spoonful. "I bet Drew literally dragged you here for this lovely soiree, didn't she?"
"Yup," I replied, nodding towards where Drew leaned against the side of the bed she shared with Lacy. "Percy was extremely uncomfortable with the fact that she literally dragged me away. I have a feeling he knows she's going to ask some horribly personal detail about the two of us."
"This is absolutely ridiculous," said Piper. "I think she's just doing this to try and figure out personal details of everyone's love lives so she can completely interrupt them and sabotage any chance."
I looked over at her. "And you wouldn't in any way be referencing your not-relationship with Jason, would you?"
"No, of course not." She shoved another spoonful into her mouth. "I just have a feeling she's going to ask someone why Jason won't go out with anyone here."
"Well it was kind of uncomfortable when everyone could tell that the two of you are in love with each other and neither of you made a move and wouldn't tell us why."
"Shut up, Owl Face."
I grinned at her and cuddled down onto her pillow.
"Okay! I have it! Drew, who do you think is the hottest guy at Camp Half Blood?"
"Jason Grace, easy."
I could almost feel the anger pouring off of Piper's shoulders. "Cool it, dude," I said under my breath. "Homicides are not tolerated here."
"I'm going to kill her."
"Refer back to my previous statement."
"I'll tell you where she can shove that statement."
"Shut up."
Drew began looking around the room, and her gaze went on Piper and me. I barely caught it though, as I realized at that moment that my entire left leg was falling into the crack between the wall and the bed. "Can you move over?" I asked Piper, "I'm stuck." Trying to cram two teenage girls onto a twin bed was never an easy feat, but make it a top bunk and you've got yourself a serious challenge.
"Ow, that's my foot."
"Yeah, which is in my face."
"Get off me!"
"Ow!"
The room went silent. "Um…What are you two doing up there?" Drew asked, folding her arms across her chest. I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only one who realized she does this only to make her chest seem bigger which, I can assure you, doesn't work.
"Annabeth's foot is in my face."
I sat up and hit her with her own pillow. "Oh, blah. Your face was in my foot."
"Can you two shut up? Besides," said Drew with a grin. "It's my turn, and I want to ask Annabeth something that might interest us a little bit."
I froze. I could see Piper's eyebrows, from the corner of my eye, shooting up into her hair.
"Fine," I said, "truth."
"How far have you gone with Percy?"
I should have seen that coming. I really should have. Unfortunately, I did not. "Um…I don't think Percy wants me to talk about our relationship with other people. It's private for a reason."
"Come on, Annabeth," said Drew, "it's truth or dare, and you chose truth."
"Leave her alone, Drew," said Rachel, rolling her eyes.
"Whoa!" said Piper. "When did you get here?"
"I've been in here the whole time," said Rachel with a small grin. "I've just gotten really good at blending in."
"It's Annabeth's turn after this to ask anyone any question she wants. All she has to do is answer, and she's in the clear."
I sighed. It was probably the last thing I wanted to do, explain certain things with them. But I knew that, as long as I answered this, I would probably be able to avoid all other questions in the future. And, of course, they won't ask me how I got Percy to remember me.
Granted, they might be able to guess, but that wasn't important at the moment. I decided to just get it out – it's not like they wouldn't guess eventually.
Piper knocked me out of my reverie. "Annabeth, you're blushing, just answer."
"Oh, great friend you are," I said, rolling my eyes.
Piper shrugged. "Impatient more like. Now answer."
I mumbled something that sounded vaguely like an alien language, a garbled jumble of nonsense that I hoped someone would interpret as an answer.
"YOU TWO DID WHAT?" Drew shouted.
"Huh?"
"Wait, what did they do?"
My eyes darted around the room, and I almost punched Drew. Of course she would do that. I knew she had just pretended to know what I'd said in hopes that other people would interpret the worst. She was quite the demon, but I had to give it to her: she was pretty good at convincing people of things even without charm speak. Or yelling, like I usually invoked.
"FINE," I said. "We've barely done anything, I'll have you know. We've just, uh, second base, okay? Which I'm sure is a lot less than some of you in here and there is no reason that any of you people can be all up in arms about this. We've been dating for almost a year. So all of you better watch it if you decide to make any comments!"
Piper and Rachel both covered their mouths with their hands, avoiding my eyes, but that didn't do much to make it look like they weren't laughing. "Oh, shut up, you two," I muttered.
"Well congrats to Percy." said Drew with a snarky little grin. I was going to get her back for this. "So, now –"
"Nope," I said with a grin towards her. "Darling, it's MY turn. So, Drew, truth or dare?"
"I already went!"
"So? Anyone have a problem with me asking Drew?"
The entire room shook their heads. I had a feeling they knew exactly how annoyed I was at the moment. Drew would get the brunt of it since Drew was the one who instigated it.
"So, truth or dare?"
Drew sighed and sat down on her bed across the room. "Fine. Dare."
"Yes?"
"Shut up, Rachel," said Piper with a laugh, chucking a pillow over at the Oracle who had moved to sit in Piper's desk chair.
"Okay," I said, grabbing the bedpost and swinging down to stand in front of Drew. "I dare you to put on a really horrible bathing suit, run around the camp, and then jump into the lake. After that, go to where we usually have our camp fire and sing the Goofy Goober song from the Spongebob movie as loud as you can. I can provide music."
Drew's mouth dropped open. "How do you come up with these things?"
"She reads a lot," interjected Piper. "And she watches too much Spongebob."
"I thought a daughter of Athena would be too smart for something like Spongebob," said Drew with an uncomfortable look on her face.
"Do not insult Spongebob. It's true genius."
Drew gave me a look that I wish I got less than I did, the one that makes me think that they are convinced I belong in a loony bin. "Are you sure you haven't gone completely insane?"
"No."
Piper looked down at me from her top bunk. "At least she's honest."
"Are you going to do it?" I asked. "Otherwise you just have to go run around outside and risk getting in trouble."
"I made that rule, Chase, I know what I have to do."
"Does anyone have an awful bathing suit?"
Everyone's eyes darted over to Lacy, who grinned. "Oh, yes I do."
"Lacy," said Drew nervously. "You're younger than I am. It won't fit me."
"You'll fit in, Drew."
Lacy walked over to her dresser and pulled out the most hideous two piece tankini with brown and yellow splotches as a design all over it. It was baggy and loose in all the wrong places and the style could never look good on anyone.
"Lacy," said Piper, horrified. "Where did you even GET that?"
"My aunt's fashion challenged," she said with a shrug.
When Drew walked out in the bathing suit, we all burst into laughter. It was just barely too small on the top so that it began to pull at her shoulders.
"Annabeth, this is the most horrible dare I've ever gotten."
"You can't say I'm not creative, though."
Drew gave me a small smile, which worried me.
"Okay. Here I go."
Just like we did with Kayla, all of us piled out the door and watched Drew sprint – silently – around the camp. Unfortunately, no one other than those in the Aphrodite cabin noticed.
When Drew ran into the water, she shrieked. "Oh my gods!" she yelled. "Quick, help!"
Like a flash, Piper and I sprinted towards her, worried she was getting bitten by a snake or something.
Nope.
"Suckers!" she shouted as we reached where she sat. Piper and I exchanged a look as he sprinted back towards the cabin, both of us kicking ourselves for not seeing this coming. Piper and I ran after her, hot on her heels. Unfortunately I stumbled for a split second over a branch, leaving me maybe two seconds behind the two of them. Piper darted into the door before Drew, but my little trip gave Drew time to lock me out of the cabin.
"Guys!" I said, pounding on the door. "Oh, Drew, I'm going to feed you to Cerberus…"
I leaned against the door and glared into the darkness, and my eye turned to the light pouring from the window of the Poseidon cabin. "Or maybe I'll just bail and confuse them all."
I walked over to the Poseidon cabin, keeping my hand on my invisibility cap just in case, and knocked on the door.
"Hi!" I said when Percy opened the door.
"Hey, Annabeth. How'd you get here?" I walked into his cabin and leaned against the wall.
"They're playing truth or dare and – yeah. Drew locked me out."
"Oh dear."
I nodded and he walked over to me, taking my hand in his. "Yeah. They were asking weird things."
"Did they ask about us?"
I rolled my eyes. "Of course they did. They can't keep their minds to themselves, can they?"
Percy laughed and shook his head. "So what are you doing here then, Annabeth?"
"I figured we could play truth or dare ourselves."
"Did you now?"
I nodded. "So truth or dare?"
"Dare."
I smiled and used his shirt to pull him closer to me. "I dare you to kiss me."
Percy grinned down at me, pressing his forehead against mine. "Now that's a dare I could get behind." He leaned towards me and pressed his lips to mine. "Now for you: truth or dare?"
"Truth."
"What's the stupidest thing you've ever done?"
"Not realize that Drew was going to trick me."
Percy laughed. "You just trust people a little more than you should. It's endearing."
I cuddled into his arms, and he wrapped his arms around my waist. "Love you," he muttered.
"Love you too."
