𝙸 𝙲𝚊𝚗'𝚝 𝙲𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚜

𝚂𝟸𝙴𝟽: 𝙰𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜, 𝙱𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜, 𝙲𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚜, 𝙳𝚛𝚞𝚐𝚜

CW: This chapter references food insecurity/poverty and some implied meal-skipping (but no disordered eating)

Inspired by Community S2E13: "Celebrity Pharmacology 212"

Annabeth POV

Here's the number one reason why Annabeth should have read the fine print when she enrolled at New Rome Community College: There's a 'relevant community service project' required for students with criminal records.

Unfortunately, Annabeth is a student with a criminal record.

Fortunately, she isn't dressed in a squirrel onesie about to make a fool of herself in front of a bunch of middle schoolers at the 'anti-drug play.'

No, that's Hazel and Frank's job. Actually, they were supposed to be bumblebees. It's a lot easier to write bee puns than squirrel puns, but it was cheaper to buy squirrel costumes.

"You look super duper cute, Hazel!" Annabeth compliments.

"Thanks!" she says. "Leo says my T-pose is on point." She spreads her arms out and sure enough, her squirrel wings spread with them.

Listen, the sugar glider onesie was the closest thing to a squirrel costume in Hazel's size. It's an anti-drug play for a bunch of kids. Does it matter?

Frank throws a beachball decorated like an acorn to Jason, who throws it back. In his attempt to catch the ball, Frank trips over his squirrel tail and wipes out on the floor.

"You okay, Frank?" Jason lowers his tacky sunglasses.

"Yep!"

Piper takes a green highlighter and circles a line on her script. "Annabeth, is Wolf Number Two supposed to be sad at Wolf Number One's funeral? Or is she still addicted to drugs at this point?"

Annabeth looks over her shoulder at the script she wrote over a case of beer last week. "I mean, it's a funeral. You'd be sad, wouldn't you?"

Piper adjusts her wolf ears. "I guess you're right."

"Hey, kids," says Leo, "want some drugs?" He opens his trenchcoat, revealing a wide array of bottles filled with PEZ candies and Pixy Stix dust because that's the closest thing to drugs without actually buying drugs. Annabeth lost her list of potential drug hookups when her ex-boyfriend Luke dumped her.

"Hey, Leo, not so funny, okay?" Annabeth says. "We have to make sure we're getting across the right message."

And then she sees way more of Percy Jackson than she would like to see. Well, more of Percy than she would ever want to see again. Fortunately, the others notice it too.

"Oh my god, Percy, put that away!" Piper yells. "You're gonna scar Hazel for life."

"What?" Percy looks down at his diving suit. "Oh."

"Remember when we talked about swim trunks?" Annabeth asks.

Percy turns around and leaves, hopefully, to put some pants on over his tight diving suit.

"Nico!" Hazel runs to greet her half-brother. "What are you doing here?"

Nico, who is also dressed in a squirrel costume, says, "Oh, not much. Dean D asked me to check in on the play."

"Did you... did you want to be in the play?" Annabeth asks. Why else would Nico be wearing a squirrel costume?

"No thanks. I appreciate the offer, but theater isn't my thing. And besides, I'm clearly busy at the moment," Nico says.