Girl Meets the Underworld *HOLD*

-Paint Balloon Dodgeball-

Maya's POV

We sparred(and yes, I mean we actually sparred) for a little bit longer, but Lucas could tell something was up. I just couldn't concentrate. I think what gave it away was that he was hitting me with moves I could've easily dodged. He's winning without trying that hard! I just feel so confused. I'm not supposed to be confused! I'm not in school; this isn't math class!
     After he threw me onto the mat for the fifth time, I just laid there, thinking. Like, what did that kiss mean? Are we a couple now? Does he think the kiss was bad? Do I like him like that? We haven't even gone on a date. Didn't we have to go on a date first? Does the kiss make him my boyfriend? But what if I was just kissing practice or something? Does he want nothing to do with me now that we've kissed? Did he just like the challenge? Is he drunk or something? Was it a dare? Will he start avoiding me now that we've kissed? Did that kiss ruin the friendship that we have? It's like my brain likes torturing me with these thoughts. I need to figure this out. I don't know how I'm supposed to feel. Why is this so difficult!?
     I'm snapped out of my thoughts when I'm pulled up. "Maya," he lets go of my hand. "What's wrong?"
     I look at him and shake my head, "Nothing. I'm fine." I offer him a smile, but he doesn't look convinced. "Listen, thanks for your help today. Maybe we could train again later." I give him a look, "But we'll have to focus more on sparring." I see him blush as I bend to pick up my stuff.
     I start to walk towards the doors when he grabs my arm, stopping me dead in my tracks. "Are you sure everything's fine?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Because you picked up my shirt." Lucas points at my other hand and I see that he's right. Well, this just got awkward...
     I awkwardly hold his shirt for him to take, but he doesn't accept it. "Don't worry about it, you can keep it."
"You sure?"
He takes it from me. "Arms up." I do as I'm told. He pulls it over my head so I'm wearing it.   This looked smaller before he put it on me... The thing practically covers my shorts! "Yup. It's official. You look better in my clothes than I do."
I blush and look down. "Well, I can't just let you leave without a shirt or something." Drew wouldn't be able to control herself, not that she really could to begin with. I throw the hoodie at him. "Your turn."
"What? You don't wanna put it on me?" he pouts.
"No."
"So you like seeing me shirtless?" He starts wiggling his eyebrows.
"Not the point. Just put the dang thing on." He chuckles and tries putting it on, but his head gets stuck. How hard is it to put on a hoodie? I watch him struggle and start giggling.
     "Uhh... Maya?" I kept on laughing. "Maya, come on."
"Unbelievable," I mutter. "You need some help?"
He sighs, "Yeah." How is it that he was able beat me? I try to walk him through on how to put the sweatshirt on, but I eventually have to put it on him myself. It was even backwards! I turn it around while it was still on him and guide his arms into the sleeves. When I can finally see his face, his hair all messy from the hoodie and he's grinning. It finally dawns on me; that jerk! I punch his arm and he starts laughing. "Hey! I tried asking." He puts his hands up in surrender.
I pull the strings from the hood so it closes over his face, "You know, sometimes I really don't like you."

_____________________________

Leo's POV

"Everybody know the rules?" We all nod. "Good, because I forgot most of them. Go!" Missy blows the whistle. We all take off running. You may be wondering what we're doing. Well, it's a little tradition we do. When we come back from a quest, we play paint-balloon dodgeball. Basically, we fill a whole bunch of water balloons with paint. The paint color represents the team. This time, there's four teams, two people on each one:
Blue Team: Lucas and Farkle
Orange Team: Maya and yours truly
Purple Team: Jason and Piper
Green Team: Annabeth and Percy
We start out with a blanket race. One person on the team will pull the other on a blanket on an outlined course. At the finish line, there's a tub of balloons. Maya quickly sits on the blanket and I start pulling her. I am so happy she's light. I sprint through the trees, but it isn't long before I see Lucas and Farkle catching up. "You're going down pretty boy," I yell to Lucas.
"In your dreams Valdez."
"Don't you mean hot stuff?" Maya whistles.
He looks at us, giving us a confused look before running face-first into a tree. It works every time. I hear Maya cracking up along with everyone else who witnessed that. Even Farkle's laughing, and they're on the same team. Annabeth and Percy sprint to the finish line, everyone right on their tail. I pull Maya up and quickly run to the tub filled with empty water balloons. We start filling up as many as we can with orange paint, putting it in a bucket for our team. It doesn't matter how many you fill up, but you definitely want the most. We all have to wear white with our team color shorts so it'll show the paint better. Whichever team has splattered their color on the other teams the most wins. The loosing teams get glitter bombed and have to walk around camp like that for the rest of the day. And yes, that means three teams will get glitter dumped on them. Let me tell you, it's like having walking disco balls; every room's a party!
     Everyone else has already caught up with us. They start filling up their balloons and soon, all the balloons are gone. We have 10 seconds after all the balloons are filled to hide. That way it's fair(and less fun). Maya and I take off, away from the others. "Alright, use the trees as camouflage," I instruct.
     "We can't, we're wearing white."
     "Right... Use them for cover then! Just try and blend in." She nods and we start scouting for everyone else. She taps my shoulder and points. I shake my head and she gives me a look. She picks up a rock and throws it at the tree she was pointing at. I see people! I knew they were there the whole time... We throw our balloons and I hit Piper's leg whereas Maya hits Jason square in the chest. They throw their balloons at us and my arm starts to bleed purple. I've been shot!
     We all start laughing until Maya gets hit in the back. She stumbles forward and I see she got hit with green. We all scatter and I throw one at Percy. I'm just gonna say he got lucky this time. Annabeth throws one and hits my back. I see Percy chasing Maya. He throws one, hitting her leg. Fortunately, she runs out of view and Percy can't find her, so he turns his attention to Piper. Aww, Jason can't be left out. Don't worry buddy, I got you. I start chasing Jason while Annabeth is still chasing me. I take a chance and turn to throw a balloon at her, but she's not there. What the heck? I shrug and turn back around.
     "Surprise," she smirks. She slams the balloon into my chest.
     "Fudgeballs!" I throw one as she runs away, hearing her say a wonderful word shortly afterwards. Ha! Leo is back in the game!
     "Maya! Come on!" We hear someone yell. Maya runs into view, laughing her head off. Lucas and Farkle appear a few seconds later, their hair soaked with orange paint. "Maya, this isn't funny!" Farkle scolds.
     "I beg to differ, I find this hilarious," she laughs. Man, this is not their game.
     "Yeah?" Lucas asks. She nods, still laughing. "Good to know." While she's catching her breath from all the laughing, Lucas grabs a balloon and throws it at her, hitting her cheek. With a loud smack, she falls to the ground. You can tell he didn't mean to hit her face by the look on his face. She props herself up on her elbows. She lip starts quivering, so she bites it to stop, but we already noticed.
     We all stand there, speechless as Lucas rushes over to her. "Maya?"
     She shakes her head, "I-I'm fine."
     Lucas kneels next to her, "Maya, please tell me you're okay. I didn't mean to!" He helps her up. Then there's another Smack!
     "You're dead Huckleberry." She starts laughing again and runs off. We process what just happened. Dang, she's good. Lucas wipes the fresh paint from his neck as it starts dripping down his torso.
     "I have got to stop falling for her tricks," he says in disbelief. He looks at Farkle, who doesn't look surprised.
     "She always got an A in drama class," he shrugs. I want this girl on my team every game. Well, all is far in love and war. We all nod to each other and take the chance to throw balloons at them. Sorry, but last time I got lost, that glitter got everywhere. I was finding glitter in places for a week.
     We throw the balloons. You'd think that they were aiming at Lucas and Farkle, right? Well, I thought that too. Mine was the only one that hit them! Those traitors! "Jason!"
"Hey, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do."
"Then why'd you do that?" I slick back my hair with the fresh paint. I throw one at him, hitting his chin. "And that's for abandoning me."
"I didn't abandon you."
I point to Piper, "You abandoned me for her, man."
"Then throw one at her!" Good point. I throw one at her too.
"Jason!"
"Sorry!"
"He made a good point, I'm just evening things up," I shrug.
     The game starts winding down with green team winning. Is it too late to join their team? I do not want to get glitter bombed again. And where's Maya? She's supposed to be helping me! She needs to be taking some of the hits! You know, I take that back, I think I pick Annabeth as my next teammate. Jason and Piper are catching up fast. If Percy and Annabeth aren't careful, they'll be the ones cleaning glitter out of... certain places. Piper was chasing me, trying to hit me with a balloon, but I hid behind Lucas, so he got hit instead. "Not today, McLean!" I regret nothing.
     "That's okay," she shrugs. What's she up to? Has she been replaced by an alien or something. My leg starts to sting a bit. "I was the distraction," she winks.
     I turn around, "You're next Jason." When we're finally out of balloons, I approach Lucas. "Hey Lucas, where's Maya?"
     "I thought she came back here." I shake my head. This isn't good. I can't face the glitter alone! I mean, we have to find her... Jason stumbles backwards. We all look at his direction, seeing fresh orange paint. Everyone looks at me. I hold my hands up in surrender, "Don't look at me. I'm out. Besides, I'd let you guys know if I threw that." Percy stumbles back this time. Same thing as Jason: fresh paint. We hear rustling and turn our attention to the bushes.
     Annabeth motions for us to quietly follow. They follow her, but I get yanked aside. I'm pulled behind a tree as a hand slaps over my mouth. I look up and see that it's Maya. I smile. She puts a finger to her lips and I nod. She removes her hand, motioning me to follow. "I made a sling shot. I have 4 balloons left. Wanna join?"
     I nod. "Where have you been?"
     "Hiding," she says, in a duh tone. "Follow me." She starts climbing up a tree. So that's where she's been. We position ourselves so we can see them through the leaves.
     "I don't see anything," Piper says.
     "Hey, where's Leo?" Jason asks.
     "Right he— he was just here," Annabeth furrows her eyebrows.
     Shoot. Smash. Piper's shoulder.
Shoot. Smash. Farkle's stomach.
     Shoot. Smash. Percy's leg.
"Would you care to do the honors," I ask in a bad British accent. I offer her the slingshot.
"I would. Thank you kind sir," she says in an equally terrible British accent. I love her. She takes it and loads the last one.
"Payback," she smirks.
Shoot. Smash. Lucas' cheek. Aww man, this is awesome! I take it back now, I have dibs on Maya. And that's it for orange team. We climb down from the tree. We decide to sneak up on them. While their backs are turned, we get real close to them. She hovers her head over Annabeth's shoulder and I do the same to Jason. We count to three, "I think we won."
     "Ah!" Everyone jumps back. Aww man this is awesome. Missy blows her whistle, signaling game over. "Alright ladies, line up!" She orders.
We laugh and do as we're told. "Blue Team, I expected better from you. I'm looking at you Lucas," she gives him a fake glare, before she bursts out laughing. "Purple Team, third. Green Team," she pauses for dramatic effect. I've counted to five. That's five seconds too long!
     "Spit it out woman!" I yell.
     "Green Team, I'm sorry, but," she sighs, "you got first. Orange, you got second." NO! I can't go back to the glitter! It changes a man.
     Percy and Annabeth cheer before Percy leaps into her arms. She manages to catch him, but drops him shortly afterward. "I think it's the other way around Seaweed Brain," she laughs.
     "Well, what if I wanted to be the one to jump into your arms?" He crosses his arms and pouts.
     "Well then I'd say you're gonna have to settle for this." She unfolds his arms and stands on her toes, giving him a quick peck on his lips. He busts out a goofy grin.
     "I like that better."
     "No PDA!" I tease.
     "Oh? You mean like this?" Percy dips Annabeth like they just finished the tango. He leans in while she cups a hand on his cheek. They start kissing. Gross!
     "Great example. Now quit demonstrating!" They break apart, smiling.
     "Alright, losers, follow me." We follow Missy out of the forest. Did I forget to mention the little "glitter coronation" happens in front of the whole camp? Yeah? It does. People already start gathering to watch it go down. Yeah, I'm kind of a celebrity.
We make our way to the dining pavilion, where everyone can watch. They already have everything set up, with buckets filled with our team color glitter and everything. How'd they know who'd lose!? Not fair, they could've given me a heads up.
     We stand under the buckets, waiting. I feel Maya grab my hand and I give it a squeeze. I forgot she's new, so she hasn't done this before.
     "3!" The camp chants, "2! 1!" I tilt my head down as they start dumping the glitter. I feel the glitter already sticking to my paint and sweat. It gets under my shirt, and I can already tell this is gonna take a while to clean off.
I shake my head a bit so the glitter doesn't try and fall into my eyes. I look around and see people laughing. Jason and Piper are covered in purple and same with Lucas and Farkle in blue. Poor Farkle, I already see him coughing sparkles. "How long does the glitter stay on?" Maya asks me.
"A couple of days."
"Well, now it won't be too hard to find me in the dark. I feel like a sparkly traffic cone," she laughs. She makes her way over to Lucas, glitter stuck to the paint on his face and hair.
"Well Huckleberry, good game." She holds out her hand to shake. Huckleberry? Why does he let her call him nicknames? Man, when I try, it's mean. When she does it it's cute. Not fair. I thought I was being cute.
"Oh no, I think this deserves a hug." He holds his arms out.
"No thanks. I have enough glitter."
"You can never have enough glitter." He smirks and slowly starts walking towards her. Her eyes widen.
"Huckleberry, don't do it," she warns. He ignores her and keeps approaching as she starts backing away. "Lucas, I'm serious!"
"I wonder what happens when you mix blue and orange together," he smirks.
     She stops. "You know, I wanna know too." He looks taken aback. He lowers his arms and stops, giving her a curious look. She takes a step closer to him. Everyone starts oo-ing Great. Now they're gonna kiss.
     She gets close to him and smiles. He smiles back at her. She sneezes right on him, sending orange glitter flying out and onto the front of his shirt. "Huh. Well there's our answer," she says, nonchalantly. She takes off running, the crowd parting a way for her.
     He wipes the bit that got on his face, "It's on Hart!" He sprints after her.
I walk over to Jason, Piper, Annabeth, Percy and Farkle, "Just so we're clear, I call being his best man at their wedding."