Percy pov-
Staying with the Grey-Joys for a few days turned into a few weeks. I was surprised at how fast they accepted me into their family and it felt great. They even let me wear anything that Yara left when she went to college.
I had forgotten what it felt like to have my mother there to support me through everything. Mrs. Grey-Joy was just like my mom and even though she wasn't my mom, she was close enough.
"Hey, Holly, Tom and I are both working tonight, but Theon wants to have a few friends stay the night. Can you keep an eye on them?" Mrs. Grey-Joy rarely worked nights, but when she did, she worked from 7pm to 7am. She was a nurse and she took her job very seriously. Tom also wouldn't be back til around 3 am.
"Of course, Mrs. Grey-Joy." I smile.
"Oh thank you, Holly." She paused. "Call me Katherine. I tell you this every day. They'll be here in an hour and I'll be leaving in three. I can make dinner before I go."
"Just let me know when you're leaving and I'll make sure to start looking after the boys. How many are coming over?"
"Only four. There's Robb, Tyler, Noah, and of course Charlie. Tyler has a peanut allergy. I'll leave a note with everything you'll need to know." She starts rambling.
"I'm going to go get in the shower. I'll be in my room, if I'm not down here when you leave." I tell her.
"Okay." She walks off into the kitchen and I go upstairs. Once I have my change of clothes and a towel, I go to their bathroom and lock the door (I learned to lock it after Theon walked in on me once). I turned the water on hot and climbed in, letting myself get wet.
I quickly washed my body and shaved. Then, I moved to my hair. I poured the shampoo into my hands and lathered it through my hair. Suddenly, I felt dizzy and black spots appeared in my eyes. I put my weight against the wall, so I didn't fall over. After the world stopped spinning, I rinsed the shampoo our of my hair and quickly conditioned it.
I get out and wrap my towel around me. I sit on the edge of the tub and breathe for a second, but my stomach flips and I can't keep my lunch down. As i hold my hair back, I lift the toilet seat and throw up. Once I finish, I cup my hands at the sink and rinse my mouth from the vile taste in my mouth. I spit out the water in the toilet and flush.
After drying off and getting dressed, I leave the bathroom and go back to my room. I lay on my bed (it's really Yara's bed) and nearly fall asleep when I hear a knock on my door. "Holly, it's Theon. Mom wanted me to let you know that dinner is pizza and she's leaving for work."
"I'll be down in a minute." I say.
I get up and ignore the protest in my stomach at the thought of eating.
Once I'm downstairs, I see the kids I'll be babysitting. The only two I know are Charlie and Theon, so I don't know who the others are.
"Okay. So, who is Noah, who is Tyler, and who is Robb?" I ask
"I'm Robb." A red haired boy with pale skin said.
"I'm Noah." A boy with tan skin and brown hair said.
The last boy, Tyler, had hair that was between black and dark brown. "I'm Holly."
"We know. Theon is always talking about how hot you are." Robb said. Theon blushed and I chuckled.
"Pizza will be here soon. Until then, what do you want to do?" I ask
"Video games." Robb said at the same time as Charlie and Theon.
"It's only 4 players and there are 5 of us." Noah whined.
"I don't like video games that much anyway." Tyler spoke for the first time that night.
"Well what do you want to do? If you want, you and I can do that while they play video games?" I tell the shy boy.
"Okay." His voice was three octaves higher. "Can we...?" He didn't know what he wanted to do.
"Prank calls? Play Kiss Marry Kill?" I suggest. All the boys looked at me. "Sorry, I don't know what guys do at sleepovers."
"You were right about Prank calls, but what's Kiss Marry Kill?" Robb asks
"It's a game that guys used to play in school when I was your age. Girls played it too." I tell them. "It's when someone names three boys and you have to pick who you would Kiss, Marry, and Kill. You would obviously name girls."
"Let's play that." Robb says.
The other boys nodded. "Holly, show us how to play." Theon said.
"Okay. So, first I'll name three girls. I'll say; Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, and Selena Gomez. Now, each of you have to tell me who you'd kiss, who you'd marry, and who you'd kill."
"I'd kill Taylor, kiss Selena, and Marry Ariana." Robb says.
"I'd kiss Ariana, kill Selena, and Marry Taylor." Noah says.
All of them started playing and the doorbell sounded.
"That's probably the pizza." I say, getting up to answer it.
"Hey. I have your pizza and a new phone from your ex boyfriend." It's Hermes.
"Hey, Hermes. Which ex?" I ask
"Valdez. Everyone's numbers are in it. They found a way to make phones without monsters noticing you. Give me a call if you need anything. All of Olympus owes you. Things are a lot better with Hestia and Hades on the council." He tells me.
"That's great." I say, taking the phone and the pizza from him. "How much is it?"
"On the house."
"Thanks. I'll see you around?" He nods. "Someone come take the pizza."
All 5 boys come barreling to the door and I hand the pizza to Theon.
"Oh, and Percy?" Hermes says "Give Leo a call. He's a mess."
"It's his own fault."
"Why'd he call you 'Percy'?" Theon asks
"Um... Styx." I couldn't think of an explanation.
"It's her middle name, Priscilla. She used to go by it at camp, but I guess not anymore." Hermes winked at me.
"What were you at her camp for?" Charlie asked
He looked at me and I answered. "He wasn't. He is Travis and Connor's dad."
"He looks a bit young to be a dad." Noah said
"It's a family thing, looking younger that you are. Right cuz?" He ruffled my hair. "She looks like she could be 17."
"You're cousins?" Theon asked.
"Yeah."
"You should come in. This is getting interesting."
"Okay, but I want a slice of pizza." Hermes said. "I'm Hermes by the way."
"I'm Theon and this is Charlie, Robb, Noah, and Tyler." He pointed to each friend as he said their name.
"So, why are you really here, Hermes?" I asked. "I know you aren't here for the pizza."
"You caught me. Camp is really going downhill. Half of the camp hates you for leaving and the other half hates Leo for driving you away. Everyone thinks you should come back. Kids are just walking out on camp and we can't stop them. They might stay if you come back."
"I'm not." I told him. "I'm done with camp."
"C'mon, Percy. We need you." He pleaded.
"I'm not coming back to Camp. Deal with it and leave." He stood up and walked to the door. "Just, come back when you come to your senses."
"Don't tell anyone where I'm staying."
"I wont." He left.
"Sorry about him." I say to the kids. "My family is a bit weird."
"It's fine. You're cooler than Yara." They all laugh at Charlie's comment.
"Did you all eat?" I ask and they nod. "What time is it?" I ask.
"9" Noah says, looking at his phone.
"So, now what do you want to do?" I ask.
They just shrug. "How about a board game or something?"
"Nah. They're called bored games because they're boring." Noah says.
"I don't know what you usually do at these slumber parties." I say.
"We usually talk about girls and stuff." Tyler says
"Okay. Then I can go upstairs and you guys can talk about girls." I tell them
"Okay. Bye Holly!" Theon says.
"I'll be down to check on you in like an hour. If you get hungry, eat pizza. If you need anything or something happens, come get me."
I go upstairs and lay on my bed. I wake up to frantic knocking on the door.
"What's up?" I ask, getting up.
"We need help!" I think it's Charlie, but all the kids sound the same abd I don't know the difference.
"Okay." I open the door and am immediately pelted with something. "Ah!" I was surprised, so I put my hands up to protect my face. When I realized it was Nerf bullets, I laughed.
"Give me a gun." I take the one Theon had and I started shooting back at them. Eventually Charlie joined my team and started shooting back at them. After about five minutes, they're out of bullets and Charlie has all the extras. We high five.
"We have an idea of what to do." Robb says
"Nerf war?" I ask
"Yeah!" He exclaims. We have to pick teams, set boundaries, and split up the bullets evenly."
"Who're the captains?" I ask
"Theon and Charlie."
"Alright, so we pick teams, then we set up our bases and split the weapons." Theon says
"Okay. Let's get started."
The teams were:
Red team:
Robb
Noah
Tyler
Blue team:
Theon
Charlie
Me
After splitting up the ammo and guns, we chose where our base would be. Ours was in my room and their's was the kitchen. We have to wear blue, so I pulled on a blue jacket that Yara had in her wardrobe.
"If you get hit in a nonfatal place, you have to come back here to heal. If they hit you in a fatal place, you have to play dead. Whoever gets the other team's flag wins. Their flag is a literal red flag. Or is the same, but blue and it's supposed to be hidden." Charlie started explaining
"Alright. What's the plan?" I asked
"What plan?" Theon asked
"The one we will stick to, so we aren't just charging without any idea of what we're doing." I say
"Oh. We don't usually make a plan." Charlie scratches the back of his neck. I couldnt help but remember that Leo used to do that when he was embarrassed or nervous.
"Here's the plan. We'll have one person stay back here while two others go out and hide. Then the two hiding will attack the people who come out. Any who get past will be shot down by whoever hangs back. Once they're all down, we raid the kitchen and find their flag."
"I'll stay back." Theon volunteered.
"That means it's you and me, Charlie. We should also have cool code names." I say "Do you have walkie talkies?"
"Yeah. They're in my room. I'll get them while you think of cool names." Theon says
"Let's be shades of blue. It'll be cool because we are the blue team." Charlie suggests.
"Great idea. I'll be Navy." I say.
"I'll be like Saphire or sky-"
"Or cobalt!" I say, nearly shouting.
"Yes! Like the element! That's an awesome name! I love science!" He agrees. "Theon can be saphire because it's his birthstone."
"Perfect! The enemies should be shades of red." I say
"Tyler can be Blush because he's so shy." He says
"Yes. And, Robb can be Crimson because from what I've seen he's very bold." I suggest
"He totally is and Noah can be Lava because he's so hot headed!" We both laugh at that one.
We high five and Theon comes out with two walkie talkies. "Sorry, there's only two. What are our names?"
"I'm Navy, Charlie is Cobalt, you are Saphire, Tyler is Blush, Robb is Crimson, and Noah is Lava." I explain
"Saphire sounds girly. I want to be Hawkeye or something." Theon whines
"You can't mess up our pattern. You have to be a shade of blue." Charlie explains.
"Then I want to be... Admiral."
"That's not a shade of blue, stupid" Charlie says.
"It is." I say "and it works for me. When do we start?"
"As soon as you are downstairs." Theon says.
"Wait. Let's keep the flag with us. They'll never think that one of us is carrying the flag." Charlie decides. "I'll take it. If I die, you'll need to take the flag from me."
I nod and grab my gun, the walkie twalkie, and ammo. "Let's go."
He grabs his things and we both sneak down the steps. Our flag hidden in his hoodie pocket. Stay low and hide next to the book case. Cobalt crawls over to behind the arm of the couch where they won't be able to see him.
After about three minutes, Cobalt starts shooting reds. I move slightly, so I can shoot them, but they have shields made of pot lids.
I still shoot their exposed parts. I hit Blush in the knee and he falls to the ground, faking the injury. He dropped his 'shield', so I shoot him in the head while he's down. Lava is the next to get hit, with an 'arm injury'. Together, they drag Blush back to the kitchen.
Cobalt looks at me and grips his arm. He was hit. He starts coming over and I cover him.
"Send down Admiral. Go upstairs and trade places. I'll get a closer spot, so they don't expect it." I tell him.
"Okay, but Blush is alive. Your shot was illegal because he was down. He won't be able to walk, but he's still in." He takes off up the stairs, slipping the flag into my hands.
I take the hair tie out of my hair and tie the flag around my wrist, before pulling my sleeve to cover it up. Silently, I move to behind the open closet door. I hear Admiral come down the stairs and he joins me behind the door.
I put a finger to my lips. He gets it and tiptoes to where Cobalt was earlier. When Lava and Crimson come back out, they pass me and aim for where I was before and where Admiral is. I turn and hit Crimson in the back of the head and Lava in the back of the knee.
They both turn around and see me. Admiral comes out of his spot and steps toward Lava, who shoots him in the head.
"No!" I shout. I use the walkie talkie to ask for help from Cobalt, but Lava points his gun toward me.
"You cant kill me. I'm injured and I haven't returned to base, but I can kill you. Put the gun down and put your hands above your head." I do as he commanded and he stands up with all pressure on his 'uninjured' leg. "Go to our base." I start walking, he hops to the kitchen with his gun aimed at me.
We enter the kitchen and immediately, Blush shoots at me. I duck, but it came close to hitting me.
"You 'killed' Robb?" Blush asks.
"Your buddy 'killed' Admiral." I reply
"Whose Admiral?"
"Admiral is Admiral. We all have names." I tell him.
"What's yours? What's Charlie's? What's ours'?"
Just then the walkie talkie comes to life in Lava's hand.
"Navy? Come in Navy. Are you and Admiral alright? I heard a shout."
"Navy?" Lava spoke "That's your code name. What're ours'?"
"The one I 'killed' was Crimson. The one you killed was Admiral. That's all I'm telling." I say.
"I've got a gun pointed at you, so you'll answer." Blush says. I just notice that he hasn't stood because he's injured. Lava doesn't sit, but instead leans against a wall.
Just then we see red in the doorway. Cobalt is using Crimson as a shield. I look him in the eyes and pull out the small hidden gun that I had in my pocket and use that to shoot Blush between the eyes. Lava points his gun at me, but doesn't shoot yet.
"That was stupid of you." He pulls the trigger and I toss our flag to Cobalt, who grabs it out of the air and shoots Lava. Lava's bullet hits me in the chest and I fall out of the chair dramatically. Cobalt let's go of Crimson, but Crimson remains standing.
I nearly laugh at the sounds of Cobalt rummaging through the cabinets until he finds the flag in the freezer.
"BLUE WINS!" He shouts. We all get up from where we were 'dead'.
We all meet in the living room where I high five Theon and Charlie.
"What were our code names?" Tyler asks.
"We were all shades of blue and you were red." I say "I was Navy, Charlie was Cobalt, Theon was Admiral, Robb was Crimson, Noah was Lava, and you were Blush."
"Awe man. We should have thought of code names." Robb whines.
"Whatever. How did you beat us so quickly?" Noah asks
"Holly, thought that it would be smart to have a plan, so we made one and stuck to it." Theon says.
"Awesome! We should have done that too!" Tyler exclaims.
"What time is it?" I ask
"Like midnight." Noah says, looking at his phone. "Why?"
"What time do you usually go to bed when you have a sleepover?" I ask
"We don't have a bedtime. Mom let's us stay up as long as we want when we sleep down here." Theon says.
"Well, I suggest you set up your bed on the floor or couches or whatever and put on a movie. Your dad will be back in about three hours and we will have to clean up all these Nerf bullets still."
-------------------
After cleaning up everything, the boys set up blankets on the floor and put on a movie. I think it was called The Fantastic Four or something. I layed on the couch and started watching it, but fell asleep when the guy caught on fire. It made me think of Leo.
Sleepily, I mumble to myself "I miss Leo."