Hey guys! This was a contest submission for Rise of Heroes group on deviantart. I decided I might as well post it here! OC's you need to know:

Micah Reed (referred to as Reed)- He'll be used a lot in later one-shots

Elaney Balm (reffered to as Ella)- She'll also be used often

Remy Sole- She wasn't in this much, but she will be. She's Reed's girlfriend! What would there couple name be?

Andrew Reed- Not mine, sadly. He's Threeskies' on deviantart. Don't know if she has an account here.

Takes place in the Hermes cabin, then on Half-blood hill.

Here it was. The time of year Ella was dreading. The time everyone was dreading.

Closing day.

Groaning, she flopped back down on her bed, not wanting to pack the rest of her stuff into her bags. If she did, it would be like admitting that it was really over. She'd have to go back to reality.

Not that she had anything against reality. But, reality was just so…real. She didn't know about the rest of the camp, but she did not want to have to deal with her real world problems. Weren't the monsters enough? She sat up, pulled her mane of curls into a pony, and then moodily shoving her stuff into her bags, save for a few important things. She then popped the mattress off the bunk and dragged it to the middle of the floor. The Hermes cabin had agreed that their last night together would be a sort of normal sleepover. At least, the girls had. When Ella asked Reed to join earlier, he had replied:

"I'm a man, Ells. Manly men do not participate in such girly affairs," then smartly hurried away before she could pounce on all the ways that comment could backfire.

She laughed at the memory, and then proceeded to smooth her blankets over the mattress, so that they were crisp and perfect.

"I see someone's still as OCD as ever," said an annoyingly familiar voice. She turned around to see Reed's scarred face grinning at her mischievously, a mattress clasped in his good hand. She threw her pillow at his face.

"I am not OCD! That's Remy," He nodded, like, 'good point'. "Besides, I thought you weren't participating in "such girly affairs."" She made quotation marks in the air with her fingers. He sighed dramatically and pulled his mattress next to hers, before flopping down on it in a flurry of blankets and limbs.

"Well, it's my last night, so I figured I might as well spend it with my favorite little sister." He ruffled her already messy curls. She stuck her tongue out. "…And our plans fell through. Chiron found out about them."

"I knew there was a catch," she muttered, shaking her head.

"There's always a catch, my dear,"

"Alright everyone," another one of the older campers, Andrew Reed (he was Reed's cousin, which made things a little awkward between them) "It's time to get this… er, what are you girls calling it?"

"Sleepover-palooza!" they all sang in unison, enjoying ever minute on the boys' awkwardness.

"Um, right…well, it's time to get started!" he sat down on his mattress. "Any ideas?" Slowly, the Stoll brothers raised their hands. Probably not a good thing. Scratch that. Definitely not a good thing.

"We've got an idea."

Ella didn't like the look on their faces.

*.*.*.*.*.*

"Truth or dare, Reed?"

"This is probably a really bad idea, but…dare." Travis grinned, like 'you'll be sooorry!'

"I dare you to…" he tapped his chin thoughtfully. Suddenly, a sly smile slid across his features, and Reed knew he was in big trouble. "I dare you to strip down to your boxers, barge into the Aphrodite cabin and sing a love song as loudly as you can." Reed's made a choking sound and everyone burst into hysterical laughter at the look on his face.

"You want me to what?" he cried incredulously, his face still screwed up. Giggles scattered throughout the group.

"You heard me," Travis said calmly, though his face was bright red from holding in laughter. Reed blinked disbelievingly.

"I know but…" he turned to Ella, who was nearly choking on her laughter. "You're not going along with this, are you?"

"Are you kidding?" she gasped, holding her chest. "This is pure gold, dude. I'll have blackmail on you for a lifetime!" then promptly collapsed in another fit of laughter. Everywhere he looked, people were nodding their head. They all enjoyed his misery and embarrassment! (He wasn't surprised; this was the Hermes cabin)

Desperately, he turned to his cousin. "C'mon, dude! Help me out here!"

Andrew smirked. "It's never been like you to turn down a challenge, Reed."

Reed's face hardened. He pulled himself up off his mattress. "Fine, you win. I'll do it." Cheers burst out throughout the group. Reed turned his head, glaring at Travis and Connor.

"I hate you."

"I know," Connor grinned.

"Remy's going to kill me,"

"I'll be sure to say something nice at your funeral, bro," Travis said, grinning for all he was worth. Reed grunted. He opened his mouth, as if to say something else, but Connor cut him off.

"C'mon, boy! Strip 'em!"

*.*.*.*.*

Sometime later, Reed stumbled through the door, breathing hard. He was quite a sight to see. His knee brace and shoulder bandage were covered with little doodles and cut pink hearts, his finger nails were painted a shimmery light pink, his light brown hair was a mess, and lipstick stains crowded his face. He threw himself onto the mattress (everyone chose to ignore his hardly masked gasp of pain as his injuries hit the bed), with a tired groan.

"My gods," He gasped into his pillow, "Those girls are like piranhas! Piranhas with lip gloss and designer shoes." He grunted and banged his head on his pillow a few times. The laughter was nearly defining. Andrew grinned at his cousin, his eyes teary from laughing too hard.

"On the bright side, it's Travis and Connor's turn!" He said cheerfully. Reed's head shot up, and the Stolls exchanged alarmed glances.

"Connor and Travis," he smirked slyly, an evil glint in his light blue eyes (even the blind one, which Travis found creepy). "Truth or Dare?"

"Um…Dare?" Connor squeaked.

"Oh, this is gonna be good," Andrew grinned.

*.*.*.*.*

The rest of the night was a happy blur. They played more games, watched a couple movies, pigged out on illegal junk food, joked around and even pulled a few pranks. Reed had gotten the Stolls back pretty good, though what he dared them to do is between the Hermes cabin only ("What happens in the cabin, stays in the cabin," Andrew had reminded them). The morning was a series of tearful goodbyes all around. Ella sat at the top of the hill, now, feeling ready to cry. She wasn't ready to go home, not yet.

"Hey, munchkin," A voice said from behind. Ella turned to see Reed grinning up at her, a bag hanging off his good shoulder, the other hand in his pocket. Ella usually got angry when he called her that, but today, she didn't mind.

"Hey Reed," She said faintly, staring up at the sky. He took a seat next to her, under Thalia's Pine. Ella turned to look at him, to seem him staring off into to the distance. Curious, Ella followed his gaze to a minuscule Remy running towards a slender woman that looked just like her. Ella could see the love in his eyes as he watched her hug her mother tightly. Reed and Remy had spent the duration of the day making out in the forest, something Ella found disgusting and adorable at the same time. Remy turned and waved at Reed animatedly. Reed waved back, smiling faintly, and blew a kiss in her direction. She blew one back.

"So," he said after a while. "It's really the end. Time for reality."

"Yeah," she muttered. "What're your plans for the rest of the year?"

"Going back to school, for the first time since the accident. Senior year," he sighed and set his chin on his knees, which were pulled to his chest. "Gods, I'm so scared."

Ella wanted to say something then, she really did. But she couldn't think of anything to say. Reed never admitted to being scared about anything. At all. Instead, Ella stared off into space again, and spotted a figure running up the hill. She had Reed's soft brown hair and light blue eyes.

"Micah!" Katie Reed screamed. Reed stood, that same old grin plastered back on his face. The grin he gave so feely before the accident. Ella stood as well.

"Well, guess that's my cue." He started down the hill, then spun on his heel and wrapped her in tight hug she was not expecting.

"See ya next year, munchkin," he whispered. She gave him one last squeezed, and let go. He met his mom near the middle of the hill, and was nearly knocked over by the force of her hug. Ella grinned, shouldering her bag. Squinting, she spotted a familiar blue van parked in the grassy field. Smiling, Ella started down the hill.

She was ready to go home.

This was fun to write Especially the dare. Till next time!

Love,

TUC