𝙸 𝙲𝚊𝚗'𝚝 𝙲𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚜

𝚂𝟸𝙴𝟷𝟻: 𝙿𝚒𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚜 𝚃𝚞𝚛𝚗𝚜 𝙸𝚗𝚝𝚘 𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚛 𝚆𝚊𝚛𝚜

Part III of The Post-Finals Paintball Crisis

Inspired by Community S2E24: "For A Few Paintballs More."

Piper POV

Piper McLean should have sent her headshots to that modeling agency when her mother pressured her last year. "Why don't you take some time off since you still don't know what to major in?" she suggested. "You're too pretty to go to college and not join a sorority!" Something tells her that her mother would be even more appalled if she found out that the only sororities at New Rome Community College frown upon dating.

It's time to stop thinking like that. Piper made her choice, and now she's at New Rome in the middle of a paintball battle to the death. What does she need one hundred thousand dollars and a year's supply of Flex Seal products for anyway? Her dad is Tristan McLean, an A-List actor and darling of the tabloids!

Time to count some blessings; that always makes her feel better. At the very least, it'll prevent the panic attack she feels coming on.

Okay, okay. First, when Fort Levesque collapsed, Piper and her study group—sans Hazel, who is missing in action—set up a camp in the mythology classroom. For once, Piper wishes she were listening to some boring lecture from Mr. Brunner. It's not the ideal situation, but she's at least thankful to have a haven.

Something else to be thankful for: Piper's pirate costume is still intact. Yes, a poofy skirt and heeled boots weren't the best choice for an impromptu paintball game but granted, it's impromptu. Annabeth's outfit is still intact too, surprisingly. She had a couple of not-so-nice complaints about it when she put it on about twelve or so hours ago, but she looks hot in fishnet tights and thigh-high boots. Damn, that girl has a set of legs.

Piper needs a third thing; have you ever noticed how these anxiety prevention exercises always come in threes? Alright, for her third thing, she probably shouldn't bring up how amazing Jason was earlier because that'll only make her feel guilty about staring at Annabeth a little longer than best friends do on a platonic level.

Oops. Too late.

That might not even be a problem soon enough. Annabeth and Frank volunteered to go to Phil Swift's Flex Seal RV to find out what's going on, and if the paintball game is even still happening. They should be back any minute now—that is unless they were intercepted by enemies.

No. Piper can't think about that now. She needs to make like DJ Khalid and stay focused.

"You okay, Pipes?" Jason asks.

She should be. It's just a friendly end-of-finals celebration. "I'm not even sure anymore," she admits. There's a lot of stuff she isn't sure of, like why she has a thing for blondes, for example.

"Can I get you anything?" Jason offers, maintaining that sweet nonjudgemental demeanor. Piper doesn't even need to do that anti-anxiety exercise because her sweet situationship would be here to support her if she had a panic attack.

"No, but thanks anyway."

"Okay, just let me know if that changes."

Leo zooms over on a swivel chair, interrupting what had 'intimate moment' potential. "Please take one of Percy's Kool-Aid Jammers. They're starting to attract bugs."

"How is that?" Piper asks even though she doesn't want to know the answer.

Percy dumps some papers from his backpack into a wastebasket. "I must have sat on them or something, and now they've leaked through my mythology midterm exam. I was going to put that on my mom's fridge next to my little sister's color-by-number drawings!"