Chapter 22 - New Year's Eve
published: Monday, 3 December 2018
"Gather round, children!" Travis hollered through a megaphone. "Gather round!"
Annabeth winced and silently cursed Will for choosing a megaphone, of all things, for Travis' Secret Santa present.
"If he does that one more time..." Clarisse trailed off threateningly, shaking her spear at the son of Hermes.
Travis ignored he death threats and cheerily flailed his arms in the air to get everyone's attention. "As it's almost night time, Camp Half-Blood's annual New Year's Eve's events are about to begin!"
Cheers erupted from the Hermes cabin, which caused a wave of excited chatter to ripple across the demigods' ranks.
"Wonder what they have planned," Annabeth murmured to Percy out of her corner of her mouth. Christmas last week by the Aphrodite cabin had been eventful enough; Annabeth and Percy had been each other's Secret Santa's, and some magic mistletoe had severely messed with her head.
"It's Hermes," Percy said nervously. "I'd be surprised if an explosion wasn't involved."
"For the first half of our six-hour event," Travis announced. "Everyone is welcome to play with our newly-built temporary arcade!"
The Hermes campers ripped grey cloths off the odd-sized objects, revealing machines upon machines of traditional mortal fun.
"Most of these were built by the Hephaestus cabin – Kudos to them! – and are also filled with prizes Connor and I stole–I mean, bought from a mortal store in preparation for today," Travis declared. "Every camper will have a bag of 20 tokens, and each game will require a certain number of tokens to play a round."
"What if we run out of tokens?" someone shouted.
Travis pointed at them and beamed as if he was a game show operator. "I'm glad you asked! If you need more tokens, don't hesitate to trade in chores, favours, and drachmas with the nearest Hermes camper!"
"I am so ready for this," Percy whispered to her. "I spent half my childhood in the arcade avoiding school."
Annabeth snorted. "Please, you think you can beat me? I'm a daughter of Athena, I'm the queen of video games."
"My pac-man high score from when I was 7 is still in the arcade machine," Percy challenged. "No one ever beat it."
Annabeth smirked at him. "Oh, we'll see, Jackson."
A Hermes camper came by with a red velvet bag of shimmering golden tokens.
When everyone was given a bag, Travis raised his hands. "Let the games begin!"
Annabeth grabbed Percy by the hand and they weaved between campers as they made a beeline for her favourite game – the can toss.
As it turned out, they didn't need to run, because Hermes had installed more than enough games for everyone.
The words "Please insert one token" were displayed on the game's headboard, and prizes dangled from it.
Annabeth grinned at Percy. "Take your pick, and I'll win it."
Percy snorted. He pointed to the largest stuffed penguin. "That one." It needed all the cans to be knocked down, three times in a row.
Annabeth stretches her wrists and rolled her shoulders. She picked up the red ball from the bowl and aimed for the can.
It was all about the logic.
Assuming the game wasn't rigged – she knew it wasn't, because Chiron was supervisor – the quickest way to knock down all the cans was to knock out the base. To knock out the base, the ball had to hit the exact centre off the can and hit it off the ledge.
All that needed was good aim and an excellent eye, both of which Annabeth had.
She squinted and angled her arm, then threw the ball, knocking the can in the centre of the lowest row. The hit knocked down two cans in the base, and the rest toppled down.
Since she had two throws per pyramid, Annabeth used her second one to take out the last can.
She repeated this with the other two pyramids, and sure enough, the giant penguin was released from the headboard and fell straight into Percy's arms.
A passing Hermes camper started rearranging the cans.
Percy was staring at her with an impressed, but also kind of astounded expression. "Woah."
Annabeth laughed. "And that's how it's done." She raised an eyebrow. "Also, keep the penguin. It'll be a reminder of how much better than you I am."
"You're so competitive it's actually kind of mean," Percy muttered, though he hoisted the penguin in his arms.
"I thought you were the "master of games"," Annabeth mocked.
Percy grinned. "I am. Not at can tosses, but I'm a boss at shooting games."
He dragged her over to the nearest machine – with balloons on the shelf, and guns at the counter.
Percy dropped a token in, and the game activated. He lifted the gun into his arms and started aiming for the balloons. "Start thinking about what prize you want."
Annabeth glanced up. The prizes were, again, stuffed toys. They were significantly smaller than those at the can toss game, but these were more detailed.
Percy pulled the trigger, and his first bullet struck the balloon dead-on.
Annabeth wondered how he could be so good at this, but so incredibly bad at archery.
Percy proceeded to shoot all the balloons off the shelf but one, and the nearest Hermes camper told him to take a pick of any stuffed toy.
"I'm a legend," Percy declared. He gestured to the array of prizes.
Annabeth thought for a moment before standing on her tiptoes and retrieving a cute stuffed owl.
"Well, we've each got one now," Percy told her.
"The one I won was bigger," Annabeth pointed out, prodding his penguin in the side.
"Don't touch him!" Percy yelped, and pulled it away in fake horror.
A small grin started to grow across Annabeth's face as an idea slipped into her head. "How do you feel about a bet?"
Percy tried to hide his interest, but she could see his curiosity peaked. "What kind of bet?"
"To see who's better at arcade games," Annabeth said obviously. "Whoever wins the most prizes for the other person wins."
Percy chewed on his lower lip. "What does the winner – obviously me – get?"
Annabeth smirked. "Pride. Gloating rights"
"Fair enough." Percy catches his penguin in one arm and extended the other. Annabeth knew he was a sucker for floating rights.
Annabeth shook it firmly. "May the best demigod win."
For the next few hours, Percy and Annabeth rushed from game to game, trying to win as many prizes for the other.
Each of them won some and lost some, and they were soon out of tickets.
"I'll wash your dishes!" Percy promised Travis and Connor, who were manning the stall. "One month for another thirty tokens!"
"Sold!" Connor said in delight, pouring 30 tokens into Percy's bag.
Annabeth gasped. "Unfair! You've got more tokens than me!"
Percy stuck out his tongue.
"Real mature," Annabeth muttered and rolled her eyes. She turned back to Travis. "30 tokens for me...and I'll do both your holiday homework for January."
Travis and Connor exchanged a look.
"Done!" Connor yelled, dumping the tokens into Annabeth's bag.
"What?" Percy demanded. Annabeth stuck her tongue out back at him and ran off to another game.
They'd had their arms full of stuffed toys, so the Hermes campers provided them with a wagon each to place all their prizes. So far, Percy was ahead with a total count of 13 prizes for Annabeth, while Annabeth was close behind, and had won him 11.
"I choose this one!" Annabeth shouted, slamming her hands down on the grabber claw machine.
A camper at the machine next to her glanced back with a terrified look.
"She gets very competitive," Percy told him.
"I'm a boss at grabber claw games," Annabeth assured Percy.
Percy snorted. "How? No one can. These games are rigged – honestly, you're just wasting your tokens. No one ever wins them."
The machine was filled with unicorn merchandise – hats, scarves, bags and stuffed animals.
Annabeth decided that the hat with the golden horn sticking out of it would look best on Percy.
"Watch and learn," she sing-songed. Annabeth slid in a token and started rotating the joystick. She moved the claw slight to the left of the hat and pressed the button.
The claw descended and opened slowly, its metal sticks reaching around the hat, and miraculously, picking it up.
"What?" Percy spluttered. "How?"
Annabeth retrieved the hat, and she couldn't stop laughing. "It looks even worse in person!"
Percy seemed to get over his astonishment and grabbed the hat from her. He slid it over his head and tied the string around his neck. "What do you mean?" He twirled around. "I look amazing."
Annabeth choked with laughter.
Percy gestured to an enclosed box. "Let's go there."
Annabeth read the headboard. "Photo booth."
Each of them put in a token and spent the whole time taking ridiculous pictures.
Percy insisted on keeping the unicorn hat on, and he even added in a "I'm with stupid" sign that pointed to himself.
Annabeth wore three pairs of glasses and stuck a golden crown on her head.
When they stumbled round the back of the box to find their pictures, clutching their stomachs from laughing, Percy grabbed the two series of pictures.
Each strip had four pictures, and all eight were different.
Percy furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "How the hell do you still manage to look amazing in these?"
Annabeth blushed. "It's a natural talent," she joked. She stared at the hilarious pictures of them. "Well, I've got a new bookmark."
She pulled the unicorn hat off his head and tossed it into his wagon. They'd have so many memories of tonight, and Annabeth wasn't sure she could fit all of these into her sleeping area.
"I need the toilet, I'll be right back," Percy promised. He dumped his wagon at her side and raced back to his cabin.
Annabeth leaned against her wagon and tapped her foot impatiently. She still had to catch up to him if she wanted to win this bet.
"Hey, Annabeth!"
She winced at the familiar voice. "Daryl?"
The familiar son of Apollo who had joined camp just a few weeks ago was jogging over to her with a smile on his face.
Annabeth had to admit that he was good-looking. He had windswept brown hair and kind brown eyes, a dazzling grin and was one of the nicest people she had ever met.
He slowed to a stop at her side and grinned. "I haven't seen you all night."
Annabeth shrugged. "Percy and I have a bet. I'm in it to win."
Daryl shoved his hands in his pockets nervously. "Well, see, I haven't seen you in weeks, actually."
Annabeth felt her cheeks turn red. She's been avoiding Daryl since Christmas Eve, when he'd asked her out and she'd rejected his offer.
"I was busy," Annabeth lied.
Daryl looked disappointed. "Right." He stared at his feet. "I've just wanted to ask you...why did you say 'no'?"
Annabeth froze up. "Uh..." She had completely forgotten that he had been trying to find her all week to ask her that.
She sighed. "Look, Daryl. I honestly don't know why."
"Then why don't you say 'yes'?" Daryl asked.
Annabeth shrugged helplessly. "I-I-I don't know." She groaned. "Daryl, you're a great guy, and absolutely perfect. I just don't know why I'm not attracted to you."
"Harsh," Daryl murmured.
Annabeth sent him an apologetic look. "I'm really sorry."
"Is there another guy?" Daryl wondered aloud.
Annabeth shook her head. "I'd love to be friends with you. I just don't like you that way." She really was disappointed that she wasn't attracted to him. Daryl was nice, and smart, unlike some other people.
"Annabeth!" Percy yelled as he raced towards her, grinning wildly. "Ready to continue?"
His face fell as his gaze landed on Daryl. Percy stopped beside Annabeth and waved in a friendly fashion. "Hi." Annabeth mentally noted that Percy had become much more welcoming to Daryl since he had first arrived.
"I'll leave you guys to it," Daryl told her. He smiled. "See you."
Percy dragged the wagon and beckoned for Annabeth to follow him.
Annabeth waved him away. "You go first. I'll catch up."
Percy glanced between Daryl and her, but slowly continued to the next machine anyway.
Annabeth turned to Daryl. "I really am sorry. I don't know why, but I just don't." She turned away and followed Percy with her wagon wheeled behind her.
She thought she heard Daryl say softly, "Yeah, I think I know why."
The competition continued till midnight, and Annabeth had never had so much fun playing games in her entire life.
Somewhere along the way, Annabeth had piled more prizes into Percy's wagon, and the final score was 22 to 21, in Annabeth's favour.
"Everyone to the beach!" Travis hollered. "The countdown is starting!"
The demigods cheered as they rushed towards the coast.
"Oh, come on!" Percy groaned in frustration. "I can't believe you won by one!"
"In your face!" Annabeth yelled, smirking ceaselessly.
Percy rolled his eyes. "Oh, shut up already."
They ditched their wagons in the pavilion and ran to the beach, where the fireworks were taking place.
Percy got them each an orange juice and they sat down in the sand and stared at the sky.
Demigods around them were chatting and laughing together, waiting for the new year to begin.
"ONE MINUTE!" came Travis' voice in a loudspeaker.
"That's it," Annabeth heard Clarisse growl as she drew her electric spear and charged the son of Hermes.
Percy chuckled. "Nowhere more like home."
Annabeth glanced at him. "I can't believe it's almost over. In a week, you'll be gone."
She shied away from his gaze, horrified at herself for saying that.
Her friendship with Percy was practically built on ignoring their true feelings. Why had she said that?
Fortunately, Percy didn't seem to be embarrassed by her sincerity. "I know. I'll miss you, you know."
"At least you'll have Rachel," Annabeth muttered bitterly.
Percy looked at her in surprise. "You can't be serious."
Annabeth traced circles in the sand.
"I'd rather be with my Wise Girl than her," Percy said quietly. "Any day."
Annabeth felt her heart skip a beat.
She shook it out of her head. What is wrong with you, Annabeth? This is Percy.
"Mhm," Annabeth hummed.
"10!" Travis shouted.
"9!"
Annabeth glanced up at the stars. "The countdown's starting."
"6!"
"5!"
Percy grinned. "I had fun tonight."
Annabeth laughed. "Yeah, we destroyed those machines."
"3!"
"2!"
"1!"
"HAPPY NEW YEAR!" Shouts if excitement erupted across the coast of Long Island Sound.
Annabeth smiled. "Happy New Year, Seaweed Brain."
She looked up at him.
He was looking at her with a vacant gaze in his sea-green eyes and a lopsided grin.
Everyone around her was embracing, kissing, or finding the person they wanted to spend the new year with.
In that moment, Annabeth knew that the only person she wanted for that was Percy Jackson.
They were so close. Annabeth felt compelled to lean forward and close the gap between them. She wondered, would it be so bad? Kissing Percy Jackson?
She was so close, so close to mustering up enough courage to just press her lips to his with a sigh of relief.
Percy laced his fingers in hers, never glancing away for a second. "Happy New Year, Wise Girl," he whispered.