"You sure Chiron'll be cool with this?"
"Man, you just came back from the dead, you need this."
"Can't argue with that." I grabbed a Coke and popped it open. "Tonight we are gonna blow it up!" I threw my head back and chugged down the soda as the entire Hermes cabin cheered.
If you have ever been to a Hermes party, any other party doesn't count. In the morning, everybody is dead and the entire cabin has to be in ruin, otherwise, the night wasn't worthwhile. There was silly string flying all over the place, people were falling off their beds, and fifteen seconds in, there was a thin layer of soda on the floor.
"Well," I slapped a hand on Connor's shoulder. "What are we waiting for?"
I whipped out a whipped cream can and sprayed him directly in the face. Connor sputtered and laughed, before hitting me in the face with a pillow and sending me toppling into a couple other people. Everyone stood silently contemplating the situation. Connor had just initiated a Hermes cabin pillow fight.
The rules were simple. No one leaves unscathed, no one leaves without a fight, no stopping.
Everyone scrambled for a pillow as the rain of feathers began.
________________________________________________________________________________
"Looks like the Hermes kids are partying again."
"Oh gods." I buried my face into my pillow. I knew what that meant. I didn't think two hours of sleep would be good enough though. "I'm going to go talk to them."
"They aren't gonna listen."
"Doesn't matter." I stormed out and made my way over to the source of noise. I slammed open the door. "You guys have been going at it for hours. Some of us are trying to-"
A flying pillow caught me in the face. Something creamy was smeared on one side of it. Whipped cream? I licked it experimentally and recoiled. Yep. I chucked it behind me and glared at the partygoers still going strong.
"Hey!" I shouted. The whole cabin went silent for around two seconds. I took a deep breath, but before I could say anything...
"We got an Apollo kid in the house!"
The cheering returned and the chaos ensued. It just so happened at that moment that Brandon slammed into the wall and spotted me. "Oh hey," he said, dusting himself off and looking at me like we just randomly met up somewhere.
"Can you tell your siblings to keep it down? It's hard for anyone to sleep around here."
"Well," he said, with a wicked smile on his face. "If you can't sleep, join the party!"
I looked at him cautiously. He continued to smile, gesturing for me to come in. "Come on. It'll be awesome. Besides, you can't sleep, so you might as well have a little fun."
"We'll regret it in the morning."
"That's the point! Here." He plucked a Coke from a bowl. "Chug! Chug! Chug!"
Everyone else seemed to immediately catch on. Soon, dozens of kids of all ages were urging me to join them. I couldn't resist. I popped it open and took a long drink. Cheers followed.
"Here's some whipped cream." He tossed a carton at me. "Come on. Let's get the Stolls."
We made out way towards the brothers, who were busy shooting other kids with silly string. Together, we sprayed them so much they slipped and fell on each other. They retaliated by getting the two of us back. We were all laughing like crazy.
So this was the rush of being a Hermes kid. This was how they released their pent up energy. It was wonderful. I looked at Brandon, who still flashed his wicked smile.
I kissed him, in front of everyone. His eyes went wide and the whole cabin went silent. When we pulled away from one another, everyone began clapping and hollering twice as crazy as before. Brandon was getting all of these compliments from the guys and all of the girls were badgering me. My cheeks flushed and I could see some color on Brandon's face as well.
Finally, at seven in the morning, I went back to the cabin exhausted from that night. I changed into fresh night clothes and sank into my bed. About thirty minutes later, the sound of shuffling came around me. Everyone was getting dressed for the day, and I was not looking forward to it.
At breakfast, there was a giant portion of the camp missing, although nobody gave it more than two looks. Everyone had heard the party last night and didn't expect any of them to be up for breakfast. However, because I was not a daughter of Hermes, no excuse for me.
Finally, about two and a half hours later, the cabin filed into the dining room noisily with Brandon hoisted on their shoulders. Everyone just rolled their eyes and carried on with their conversations.
Brandon locked eyes with me. His thoughts were clear. Talk later.
After breakfast, he pulled me aside. "Uh, how was last night?"
"It was fun."
"You feeling alright? You look dead."
"I am fully dead right now."
"Good. You've officially been to a party."
"I've partied before!"
"Sure you have." He stalked off to join the rest of his cabin for some last minute bacon. "I'll see you around."
I felt my cheeks grow hot. "I have partied before, you know."
"No, no. I believe you. You're a real party girl and I can respect that."
I puffed up my lips and stomped away as the entire cabin laughed.
