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Reyna was not a happy camper. Literally.

She held in another sigh as she stepped up in line, a heavy bag weighing down her shoulder. There were only a few more people in front of her, though she couldn’t decide if getting to the front of the line would be better or worse than standing in it. Because getting to the front meant checking in, which then meant getting assigned to a cabin and meeting the girls she’d be sharing a place with for the next two months. 

She would’ve preferred to be quite literally anywhere else. Of all the summers her father could’ve decided to ship her off to a camp, it had to be the summer before her senior year. She had homecoming to worry about - or rather, how she was going to finally get a certain idiot to ask her to homecoming. But no. She was stuck here in the middle of the woods, with probably little to no service. The only solace was that the minimum age for this camp was 16, so at least there weren’t any kids around. Still, she couldn’t stop herself from holding in a sigh this time.

The line moved too slow and too fast all at once, and before she knew it, she was standing in front of a counselor with a clipboard. “Name?”

The woman sounded much more cheerful than Reyna would’ve anticipated for a discipline camp. “Reyna Ramirez-Arellano,” she replied. The girl skimmed over the page on her board before letting out a quiet hum.

“There you are!” she said. “Okay, first time here, I see. You’re going to be in cabin six.”

The cheery counselor pointed her in the direction of the cabins, and Reyna nodded once before trekking off. She hadn’t been sure what to expect, but she was surprised by how few people she saw. A summer camp that was advertised as a way to discipline children in New York - she thought it would be a little more packed than this. Then again, perhaps others were already in their cabins or she’d arrived earlier than most. 

She found cabin six almost immediately. It was a super tiny log house, with a small porch and everything. She desperately hoped it wasn’t meant to house several girls because there was no way she was going to survive being cramped in there with so many people. 

She walked up the steps and heard laughter already coming from inside. Reyna took a deep breath before swinging the door open. Two pairs of eyes snapped over to her, residual smiles still on their faces. Reyna gave them an awkward grin in return and stepped inside, letting the door swing shut behind her. The two girls were already sitting on beds, so she walked over to one of the empty ones. There were no objections as she dropped her heavy bag onto the mattress, so she figured she was safe.

“Hey!” One of the girls said after only a few seconds of silence. 

Reyna looked over at her. Wild blonde curls and sharp gray eyes. “Hi,” Reyna replied.

“You don’t look familiar, is this your first year?” she asked. Reyna only nodded, and the girl smiled. “Well, nice to meet you! I’m Annabeth.”

“Reyna.”

“I’m Piper.”

Reyna turned to look at the other girl. Her hair looked like she’d cut it herself in the dark, uneven layers stacked in her thick hair. Weirdly, Reyna thought she kind of pulled it off. 

“Nice to meet you,” Reyna replied, glancing at Annabeth before unzipping her bag. There was another unoccupied bed in the room, each one taking up its own corner. There were also nightstands next to the beds, and tiny dressers at the end of each footboard. It was a tight squeeze, but it left the middle of the room fairly open. 

“So, how did you get shipped off to the terrifying Camp Jupiter?” Piper asked. Annabeth chuckled.

Reyna looked up again, eyebrows drawing together. “What?”

“Oh, you know, the scary camp that will surely whip your kids into shape,” Annabeth explained unhelpfully. Reyna only grew more confused when Piper cackled. When she didn’t respond, Annabeth shook her head. “This whole discipline camp thing is fake.”

Reyna blinked. “Fake?”

“Total bullshit.”

“I don’t… get it.”

“It’s marketed as a discipline camp, somewhere for bad, ungrateful kids to get sent away to for a couple months and then they go back home as perfect angels, right?” Piper said, finally beginning to explain, though it didn’t ease Reyna’s confusion.

She nodded. That was why her father had sent her here. She was, in his words, spoiled and unruly and needed to be taught a lesson. Reyna had all but begged him not to send her here, but he didn’t listen. 

“The whole thing is a facade, though,” Piper said, a smile beginning to grow on her face. “It’s really just… a camp. We can do just about whatever we want.”

“Not whatever we want,” Annabeth corrected. “There are still rules. But we do get to be ourselves here.”

“And they haven’t been… caught? Or shut down?” Reyna asked, her bag completely forgotten. 

“No kid is gonna rat this place out,” Annabeth laughed. “It’s more fun for us this way. And, in a way, it works.”

Piper picked up from where Annabeth left off. “Even though they don’t whip us into shape or whatever the hell they’re telling our parents they do,” she said, “these two months of freedom give us a lot of time to be ourselves and unwind. When we go back home, we’re significantly happier and more relaxed. At least, that’s how most of the kids here feel.”

“Uh huh,” Reyna said slowly. If this was how these next couple of months were going to go, maybe Reyna wouldn’t have the worst summer of her life. She would still much prefer a summer of hanging out with her friends and laughing with them over her and Jason’s awkward attempts at flirting, but this was still better than the borderline military camp she had thought she was going to experience. “Good to know. Thanks.”

“It’s my second year here,” Annabeth said. “Piper’s third.”

“And our last as campers,” Piper groaned. “Don’t remind me.”

“As campers?” Reyna asked. 

“Beth and I have both decided that we’re coming back as counselors next year,” she said. “Just about all of the counselors are old campers.”

“Right,” Reyna nodded. That would explain the cheeriness of the girl who had checked her in. She turned back to her bag and continued unpacking. 

“Rey, whenever you’re done, we’ll give you a tour, and then lunch should start by then.”

Reyna was shocked by the nickname Piper had just given her, but she didn’t let it show. She hated nicknames. No one at school was allowed to call her anything other than Reyna. The only person she’d ever let call her a nickname was Jason, and even then, she’d secretly hated it. Rolling off Piper’s tongue, though… it wasn’t the worst thing in the world. Hopefully it wouldn’t become a regular thing, though.

“Okay,” she replied, before pulling open the top drawer of her nightstand. 

-

It only took Reyna about fifteen minutes to unpack, and then she followed Annabeth and Piper around. 

“We have a couple obstacle courses throughout the trees over here, and then the archery range is just down this path,” Annabeth pointed as they walked along the grass. She’d pulled her massive curls into a ponytail, a few stray ones falling out around her face. 

“Archery?” Reyna asked. 

“Oh yeah, it’s super fun,” Piper said. “It’s one of the only places where you aren’t actually allowed to do whatever you want, though.”

“For obvious reasons,” Annabeth chuckled.

“I still don’t understand how this is all… possible. Like, how it’s been years and no parents have caught on.”

Annabeth shrugged her shoulders. “Like I said, kids don’t tell. Some don’t come back and when that happens, I assume their parents didn’t think it disciplined them enough so they send them off to a different camp. But as a whole, we all understand that this is a safe space from strict parents so it’s just a thing - you don’t rat the camp out.”

Reyna supposed that made enough sense. If this camp was really as fun as her cabinmates were making it out to be, she could understand everyone’s desire to escape from their parents here.

“Down that path is the lake,” Piper said, pointing to a gravel walkway winding through the trees. “Don’t go there at night, you run the risk of seeing people skinny dip.”

“Or don’t skinny dip. You run the risk of being caught by others,” Annabeth interjected. “Piper and I speak from experience.”

Reyna smiled. “Is there a curfew?” she asked.

“Technically, 1 am. But they don’t do much to enforce it.”

“That seems… dangerous,” Reyna said. “That’s another thing. All these kids, all of which are unruly and whatever, and no one gets hurt? No parents have to be called?”

“No, that happens,” Annabeth shook her head. “Usually it’s not that bad because there’s kinda an unspoken agreement between the kids here. The fewer injuries, the fewer parents have to be called, the fewer chances of us getting exposed.”

“But when it does happen,” Piper continued, “the counselors handle it really well. They were campers too, they understand that the secret can’t be uncovered.”

Reyna nodded slowly. “This whole thing is really weird. You know that, right?”

Piper and Annabeth both laughed. “Kind of, but it works,” Annabeth replied. “I think you’ll like it here.”

Reyna certainly hoped so. Off in the distance, a bell sounded. “That would be lunch,” Piper said, excitement evident in her voice. “Thank god, I’m starving.”

The rest of the tour was quick as they made their way to the dining pavilion. The food there was served buffet-style, with a few different options out. Everything reminded her of school food, so Reyna went with the best-looking option - pasta in red sauce. She sat down at a table with her cabinmates. “Is it always this empty?” she asked, looking around. There were only about twenty other people there, all about fifteen or older.

Annabeth shook her head. “Most people show up later, but this is still a little smaller than it was last year.”

“A lot of people last year were 17, I think,” Piper said. “But we always get new campers, too.”

“Grover!” Annabeth called suddenly, lifting a hand to wave at someone with a grin. Piper perked up too, a dazzling smile pulling at her lips. Reyna looked over to see a boy with a pair of crutches walking over towards them, red curls squished down by a baseball hat.

“Hey guys,” the guy said, dropping into the seat next to Annabeth. Piper scoffed.

“Must you crowd us,” she complained, picking up her tray and moving to sit beside Reyna. “Anyway, Grover, this is Reyna, our other roommate. This is Grover, it’s his third year too.”

“Nice to meet you,” he said kindly. 

Reyna smiled. “You too.” 

She sat quietly, picking at her lunch as the three of them caught up on Grover’s life. She spoke only when directly spoken to, which was more than she expected. Piper seemed to be trying to include her, which Reyna was grateful for.

Lunch only lasted about thirty minutes, and then they finished up the last of the tour, ending with the bathrooms which were just a few yards from the cabins. “There’s nothing to do today until dinner and the campfire,” Annabeth said as they walked up the steps into their cabin. Reyna had half expected someone else to have taken up that other bed by now, but it was still empty. 

Reyna checked her phone, seeing only one bar of service and she held in a sigh. She was supposed to have a text from Hazel or Nico by now, but she doubted it would come through here. She listened to Annabeth and Piper talk about some girl at one of their schools.

“Do you guys live near each other?” Reyna asked when the conversation had died down enough for her to interrupt. Piper shook her head. 

“I’m over in Glendale, Annabeth is up in Westchester. What about you?”

“Forest Hills.”

“Oh, shit,” Piper laughed, “you’re like fifteen minutes from me.”

Reyna smiled again, nodding. “Yeah, that’s cool,” she said, hoping it sounded enthusiastic enough. She liked Piper, but she didn’t know how well they would get along once the initial politeness of meeting new people wore off. 

Annabeth flopped back in her bed dramatically. “Ugh, you guys can hang out after we’re home and I’m 45 whole minutes away.”

“You’re fine up there with your amazing boyfriend, aren’t you?” Piper shot back, rolling her eyes playful.

They couldn’t see her face, but the smile was evident in Annabeth’s voice as she dreamily said, “Yeah.”

“How is he? Are you guys madly in love? Have you hooked up yet?”

“Piper!” 

A pillow sailed across the room, nailing a cackling Piper in the face. Annabeth was no longer laying on her bed, she was sitting straight up looking at her friend in shock. Reyna pursed her lips to hold back a smile, but it broke through anyways when Piper said, “So that’s a yes.”

Piper tossed the pillow back to Annabeth, who caught it. 

“It’s not a yes,” Annabeth defended weakly. Even from across the room, Reyna could see her cheeks on fire. “Not yet, anyways.”

This time, Piper was chucking her pillow across the room. “Um, hello? Details?”

“I’m not scarring Reyna so early on!” Annabeth threw the pillow back. Reyna finally allowed herself to laugh. A big point of anxiety for her about this summer was that she’d get stuck with annoying or rude roommates - so far, it was safe to say she was lucky in that aspect. 

“I’m getting it out of you later,” Piper said, deadly serious. Reyna leaned against the wall, watching in amusement. In a much more innocent fashion, Annabeth told Reyna a little more about her boyfriend. Percy was his name, and he’d transferred to her school junior year. She babbled on about him, her voice going soft and dreamy. Despite all of her teasing, Piper watched Annabeth talk with a small smile on her face. Then her eyes flicked over to Reyna, whose eyes flicked away. 

“Enough about me, though,” Annabeth said, though Reyna got the impression that she could’ve gone on about Percy for another lifetime. She looked at Piper. “What about you and Shel? How are you?”

Reyna watched as Piper’s shoulders tensed. “Oh, uh, we broke up last month.”

A beat of silence. “Wait, what?” Annabeth asked.

Reyna watched as Piper shrugged. “Yeah, it’s okay. I mean, we were only together for a few months.”

Annabeth frowned. “I’m sorry, Pipes.”

Piper put on a smile and shook her head. “No worries, it’s okay,” she said. “I’m good, really.”

She turned her attention to Reyna. “What about you? You dating anyone?”

Now it was Reyna’s turn to blush. A familiar pair of electric blue eyes came to mind. She didn’t feel right gushing over Jason after Piper had talked about breaking up with her boyfriend, but she was probably asking to turn the attention away from her, so Reyna took the bait.

“Uh, no,” she shook her head. “I mean, there’s this… guy that I like. But we aren’t together.”

“What’s his name?” Piper asked. “Does he like you?”

Reyna thought back to all of Jason’s shy smiles and the way he’d blush whenever she’d try to tease him or flirt. “I, uh, I think so,” she said. “His name is Jason.”

“Ooooooh,” Piper and Annabeth both sang, making Reyna’s cheeks flush darker. Piper continued, “Well, I hope it all works out for you.”

“Yeah,” Reyna nodded, “me too.”

They talked for a while before Annabeth had the idea to play a few rounds of volleyball at the nets in the field they’d passed earlier. They’d found another one of their friends along the way, a boy named Connor, who immediately joined Annabeth’s team, leaving Piper to side with Reyna. It became clear very quickly who was going to win - Piper and Reyna were absolutely dominating, scoring point after point. 

Connor got yelled at by Annabeth more than once and at some point, Piper leaned over towards Reyna. “He has the biggest crush on her, and I think he’s hoping she’ll leave Percy for him.”

Reyna snorted. “Judging by how happy she sounded talking about Percy earlier, I doubt it.”

“That’s what I’m saying,” Piper laughed. She tossed the ball in the air and hit it over the net. “Heads up!”

Annabeth dropped the conversation with Connor in a second and slammed her hand into the ball, sailing it back towards Reyna. 

They played a couple of rounds before a few strangers joined them. Well, strangers to Reyna. Annabeth and Piper recognized just about everyone, but they were all kind to Reyna too, so she didn’t feel very out of place.

“Wait, we’re down a player now!” Piper objected as she caught the ball when Annabeth hit it over the net after one of their teammates left. 

“I got you!” A voice called. A boy with blonde hair jogged onto their side of the net. Reyna stared at him.

“I know you,” she said, unsure of where she’d seen him. He squinted back at her.

“Oh, you’re… Nico’s friend, right?” 

It clicked in her head then. This was Nico’s boyfriend whom she had yet to meet. “Yeah, Reyna. You must be Will, I’ve heard a bunch about you from Nico.”

“Reyna, right!” He snapped his fingers, nodding. “I’ve heard a lot about you too.”

“Are you guys finished over there?” Annabeth called, a smile on her face. Reyna’s cheeks flushed as she realized they were holding up the game.

“Serve it, Chase!” Piper called. The ball sailed over the net and they resumed playing. 

They hadn’t meant to play for so long, but before they knew it, the bell for dinner was ringing across the camp. 

Dinner was more crowded than lunch had been, about 50 or so campers spread out across the pavilion. There were more options for dinner than there had been earlier, too. Each picnic table was probably only meant to hold about 6 people, but they managed to fit 9 at theirs, with Reyna squished between Piper and Annabeth. 

As the meal went on, Reyna found it easier and easier to include herself in the conversation and talk to people, even though she was obviously the newest person there. She noticed that Piper continually made an effort to talk to her, which made Reyna’s chest warm. Maybe this summer wouldn’t be so terrible after all. 

-

So far, Reyna had survived the first two weeks at camp. But she wasn’t entirely sure that would last after she heard about tonight’s activities.

“Capture the flag?” she asked as she left the pavilion with Annabeth and Piper after lunch. She had also really grown to like her roommates. That fourth bed had stayed empty, leaving the cabin to just the three of them. Piper nodded.

“Mhm,” she hummed. “We do it every Friday night, aside from last week since we had that assembly thing. The teams change around sometimes. Usually it’s odd cabins versus even, but we occasionally do boys against girls or pick teams ourselves.”

“They’ll explain the rules later,” Annabeth said. “But as long as you’re with us, you’ll win.”

Reyna smiled. She certainly enjoyed winning. Her phone buzzed in her back pocket and she pulled it out. Pictures from Hazel of herself, Nico, and Leo in Philadelphia. She sighed quietly, putting it away without responding. She missed her friends more than anything. Her new friends here were nice, but they were different.

Reyna followed her roommates until they reached the arena. They’d only been here once, during her unofficial tour, and they hadn’t gone inside. It reminded Reyna of a baseball stadium, only much smaller. According to Piper and Annabeth, it was mainly used for games and storage. 

Piper nudged Reyna’s arm with her own, looking up at her with a gleam in her eye. “You ever shot a gun?”

The expression on her face must’ve been funny, because Piper burst into laughter. She locked arms with Reyna and tugged her across the fields. 

Piper McLean was a special type of person Reyna had never encountered before. Reyna didn’t think she’d ever clicked with someone quite so fast. Piper was so outgoing and friendly, one of the most genuine people Reyna had ever met.  She was glad she and Piper lived close enough together, hopefully they would stay close friends after camp ended.

They entered a separate part of the arena that contained loads of equipment. Along a far wall was a giant target set up covered in paint splatters.

“And by that,” Piper said, stealing Reyna’s attention back, “I mean a paintball gun.”

Annabeth picked up one of the paintball guns on a large rack and aimed it at the target. A beat passed, and then she fired the shot. Red paint splattered across the target. 

Bullseye. She tossed her curls over her shoulder and smiled at Reyna. “Like I said, you’ll win with us.”

“I see that,” Reyna laughed. “I’ve never shot one, though.”

“Here, let me show you,” Piper said, taking the gun from Annabeth. She held it out, showing it off and explaining the basics of how it worked, then how to aim and shoot. “Try.”

Reyna held the gun, trying to mimic the way Annabeth and Piper had done it. She barely got started before Piper was reaching up to tilt Reyna’s head a different way, her fingers gentle on her face. “Like that,” she murmured. “Then look, aim, fire.”

Piper took a small step back, and Reyna focused on the target. She took a small breath in, exhaled, and pressed down on the trigger. It wasn’t perfect, but she’d hit the second inner ring of the target. Reyna’s jaw dropped and she felt Piper’s hands on her shoulders. “Damn, girl!”

“That was good!” Annabeth beamed. Reyna chuckled, a little shocked.

“Okay, that was definitely beginner’s luck.”

“Nah, that was just you,” Piper said, squeezing her shoulders once more before dropping her hands. Reyna’s chest felt warm as she put the gun back up on the rack. 

“Well, no promises that I’ll be able to do it again later.”

Annabeth and Piper laughed, and Piper locked arms with Reyna again. As they walked around camp towards the lake, Annabeth told a story about one of the capture the flag games last year where someone had set up a trap that had left someone dangling from a tree by their foot. Piper was laughing so hard that she was leaning against Reyna’s side as they walked.

Dinner was called a few hours later, and then after that, everyone stayed in their seats at the pavilion. The camp director, one of the few adults over the age of 25 that Reyna had seen at camp this entire time, explained the rules. 

Two teams, split by odd and even cabins, with the objective of finding the opposing team’s flag and bringing it back to their side of the creek, which acted as the dividing line of the battleground. If someone was shot with a paintball of the other team’s color, they were out. When shooting, aim for the chest where everyone would be wearing safety vests. Traps were allowed to be set as long as they didn’t maim an enemy, only captured them. 

Reyna glanced around at the people at her table to see all of them sporting wide smiles. Piper met her eyes beside her, reaching over to squeeze Reyna’s knee once before returning her hand to her own thigh. “Nervous?” she whispered.

“A little,” Reyna admitted. 

“Don’t worry,” Piper said. “We always win. I’ll stick by you the whole time.”

-

Reyna felt a little stupid in this gear, but she knew she would be grateful for it later when she was definitely shot with a paintball. It was just a vest and a red helmet, but Piper had also advised Reyna to layer up with leggings and jeans just in case.

“Will this even help if I get shot?” Reyna had asked as she struggled to pull her jeans up. “I feel like I’ll just be sweaty.”

“It’ll hurt either way,” Piper had replied, pulling her dark purple leggings on. “But this is way better than it hitting bare thigh.”

Reyna remembered the way the paintball had splattered against the target, the sound that had echoed when it hit the board. Yeah, she was certainly grateful for the armor. They were on their side of the forest, huddled in a circle. Reyna only knew a handful of her teammates’ names, so she stuck by Piper who seemed to know everyone. Annabeth was relaying a plan, though Reyna didn’t really understand. Her orders were essentially to stick with Piper, who was on defense.

An air horn sounded in the distance and they all broke apart quickly. Piper locked hands with Reyna and they bolted off. “Annabeth’s plans always win,” Piper said. 

“So what are we doing?” Reyna asked. 

“Protecting the flag,” she explained. “It’s hidden really well, so we only have four guards. The other two are going around to the other side.”

“What’s the rest of the plan?” 

“Something about a decoy, a trap they set up, and Annabeth getting the flag herself. That girl is like a mouse, she’s so quiet,” Piper chuckled. “I never pay a ton of attention to the plan because I’m almost always on defense. I’m kinda ass at offense.”

They stopped walking, ducking behind a wall of bushes. Reyna looked around at what she could see. “So where’s the flag?”

Piper’s lips pulled into a smile, and she nodded upwards. “A few areas in the forest, the trees have these pretty blue flowers that grow.” Above them was one of those trees. Then Piper pointed outwards. It took a second to spot it, but hanging on one of the flowery branches was their blue flag.

“Holy shit,” Reyna whispered. The flag was brighter than the flowers, but unless you were really looking, it was still hard to see. Piper’s smile grew. 

“It’s a little predictable,” she said. “Blue flag in the blue flowers. But there are so many of these trees, and it blends in so well, so we do it anyway. It was my idea last year and we’ve won ever since, as long we’re blue, obviously.”

“No, it’s smart,” Reyna said. “I barely even saw it when you were pointing right at it.”

“And we’re facing this way, so we have the east and south covered. I think it’s Silena and Travis that are on the other side, which covers the north and west. Foolproof.”

“You’re a genius,” Reyna said honestly. “I can see why you guys win.”

“Yeah well,” Piper shrugged, a little modest now. “Annabeth’s offense plans are always what kills.”

In the distance, they heard shouts and the sounds of paintball guns going off. Piper immediately looked more alert, even if the sounds weren’t near them. “You remember how to shoot, right?”

“Pull the trigger?”

Piper rolled her eyes, but she smiled. “Smartass. I mean with aiming and everything?”

“Oh, hell yeah.”

That wasn’t technically a lie, she did remember how to do it. That didn’t mean she was good at it - a fact that became very apparent later in the game.

She and Piper were whispering about something that had happened last year at camp, when Piper cut herself off midstory, eyes scanning the area around them. “I saw one of them,” she whispered. “They definitely know where the flag is.”

“What do we do?” Reyna replied, suddenly very nervous.

“Wait. Whenever you see them, you shoot. If you need to duck further into the bushes when they shoot back, do it,” she replied, so serious, it was almost laughable.

They waited, and Reyna’s eyes scanned the woods. She saw nothing for the longest time until…

“Rey, right there,” Piper murmured.

“There’s four of them, and two of us.”

Before either of them could make a move, gunshots were coming from very close by. “Maybe more, if that was Silena and Travis,” Piper whispered. Then she fell silent and aimed her gun. “Come on, Rey.”

“Oh, duh,” Reyna said, aiming her gun as well. The four enemy campers they could see were zigzagging through the trees, constantly looking up at the flag. 

Reyna waited for Piper, who seemed to be waiting for them to be closer. “Ready…” she whispered, more to herself than to Reyna. “Fire.”

Blue paint splattered across the vest of one of the campers, Piper hitting them straight on. Reyna’s paintball landed elsewhere, hitting no one. But Piper quickly turned her gun on the other campers, shooting at them. They were all disoriented from their first teammate getting hit, but they were sound enough to duck behind trees. Blue paint covered the bark of a tree one of them had jumped behind just in time.

Reyna had been so focused on them, she hadn’t noticed the two campers climbing the branches of the tree that held their flag.

“Fuck, Piper,” Reyna said. “The flag.”

Her head snapped over, and she quickly aimed her gun that way. Both she and Reyna squished further into the bushes to conceal their bodies from the other campers. “Sorry, dude,” Piper whispered before shooting both of the opponents in the tree. One of them had managed to keep their balance, hugging the tree trunk, but the other kid fell to the ground, landing on his feet briefly before rolling onto their back. He’d only fallen a few feet, so Piper didn’t seem too concerned as she turned back to the other enemy campers, who had vanished.

“Wait for it,” Piper whispered. Then, out of nowhere, two of them began running through the trees. Piper and Reyna decorated the forest in blue paintballs, but none of them seem to land. 

“They’re not getting any closer,” Reyna noted. They were just sprinting back and forth, not even bothering to waste ammo on Piper or Reyna. “And weren't there three of them?”

Before Piper could answer or either of them could process what that meant, someone jumped from the tree, landing on two feet and then sprinting off. All Reyna saw was a flash of tied-back red curls. “Rachel!” Piper shouted. “Let’s go!”

Piper and Reyna bolted from their bushy protection, chasing after Rachel. Or rather, they tried to. Not even two seconds after leaving their little base, Reyna’s foot caught on an uncovered tree root, sending her sprawling to the ground with an “ Oof! ”

Piper whipped her head back, a short cackle escaping her mouth. “What the hell am I gonna do with you, babe?” she asked, hauling Reyna up. “Let’s go.”

Those other two red team campers that had been distracting them were nowhere to be seen, probably following Rachel. They had no idea where their enemies had gone, but Piper guessed the creek, and Reyna could do nothing but follow. They somehow found the red campers again, Rachel’s hair sticking out almost as much as their bright blue flag. 

Piper tried shooting and running, but the paintballs didn’t hit since they were still so far away, so she gave up quickly. They were gaining on their enemies, and both Piper and Reyna started shooting again. Miraculously, Reyna hit one of the campers, but it wasn’t Rachel, who didn’t bat an eye at her teammate going down. 

Rachel reached the clearing first, with Piper and Reyna entering it just in time. They were still several yards from the creek when they watched Annabeth jump over the shallow creek, a red flag in hand.

“Are you kidding me?” Rachel shouted, but it was drowned out by all the cheering of the blue team. Most of them had been following Annabeth, and several had been waiting by the creek with red paint splattered across their vest or legs.

“Fuck yes,” Piper shouted, immediately dropping her gun and pulling Reyna into a breathless hug.

“That was insane,” she laughed, pulling back. Piper had hair sticking to her forehead with sweat and, oddly, a swipe of dirt across her cheek, but she looked happier than ever, a wide smile taking over her face. A counselor in a neon orange vest entered the battlefield. “And the winner is,” he announced, grabbing Annabeth’s wrist and holding up her hand with the red flag, “blue team!”

-

In the hour they were allotted to all shower and change, Reyna found herself on one of the benches by the campfire after she was clean. There were only a handful of people there, including a few of her teammates, but she sat by herself for now. She pulled her phone out, going through the texts she’d received today. A few from Hazel and Nico, one from Frank and Thalia, and one from… Jason? 

Reyna stared at it for a second, a strange nervousness bubbling up inside of her. Which was odd, because normally she would be excited to see a text from Jason - she didn’t get them very often. It wasn’t much, just a simple, Hey Reyna! How’s your summer going?

She cracked her knuckles slowly before replying to a text from Hazel first. Then she opened the chat with Jason again. She shook her head, brushing off whatever she was feeling. 

hey! it’s good, actually. a lot better than i expected lol
how’s yours?

Reyna slipped her phone away. Whatever uneasiness she’d been feeling was probably the cause of her and Jason not texting often. She silently observed the people around her for a while before a few familiar faces came and joined her. She didn’t know any of them super well, but she recognized them as Annabeth and Piper’s friends. Aside from Will, who actually greeted her, most of them just gave her polite smiles and sat in the seats around her. Silena and Charlie were in their own world, which Reyna had quickly learned was their norm since they’d started dating last summer. Grover and Rachel were talking about what sounded like a protest that was coming up in the fall. Will just sat a foot away from Reyna and pulled out his phone. Judging by the smile on his face, Reyna assumed he was talking to Nico.

It was only a few more moments before Annabeth and Piper, followed by Connor and Travis Stoll, joined them. Piper sat next to Reyna without hesitation, throwing an arm around her shoulders. “You did good out there, girlie.”

“I almost died, but thank you.”

“Oh, you tripped over a branch, drama queen.”

“Near death experience, if you ask me.”

Piper laughed, dropping her arm. Reyna almost missed the pressure of it, the comfort it brought in this sea of mostly unknown people. It was hard to believe she’d known Piper for the same amount of time as anyone else here. It felt like she’d known her for years. 

In her back pocket, her phone buzzed and that weird feeling sunk in her stomach again. It could’ve been Hazel, but it also might have been Jason… either way, she shouldn’t have felt so nervous. She brushed it off again, tuning into the debate between at least five people on which cheese was superior. 

“It’s literally provolone?” Piper argued before whipping around to face Reyna. “Provolone or cheddar?”

Reyna’s eyes flicked to Connor, who was very much against Piper’s point, before she looked back at the girl next to her and smiled. “Provolone.”

“HA!” Piper whirled back around and flipped Connor off.

“What the hell did I just tune back into?” Will asked as he put his phone in the pocket of his hoodie, making everyone laugh.

“An important debate,” Piper deadpanned. “Maybe if you weren’t all in love, you could pay attention more.”

Will’s cheeks flushed, but he didn’t shy away. “Sorry you’re bitter and alone?”

Reyna made a mental note of the fact that he didn’t deny the part about being in love, tucking that information away for the next time she talked to Nico. 

Across the fire, two girls were holding guitars as they sat down on a bench. Reyna nudged Piper, who dropped whatever she was saying to Connor immediately and turned to her. Reyna pointed. “Why do they have those?”

Piper chuckled. “Oh babe, there’s a sing-along every other week.”

“You’re lying.”

“Nope.”

“Going to end my life.”

Piper laughed, leaning her head against Reyna’s shoulder. “Well, you can’t do that,” she said. “It’ll be fun, we do fun songs.”

“Mhm.”

As much as Reyna hated to admit it, Piper was right. Reyna did have fun. The songs they sang were an odd mix of 22 by Taylor Swift, which came with all of its little adlibs, Sweet Caroline; TikTok; and Take Me Home, Country Roads. There were a few others in there that Reyna didn’t know, but she enjoyed them all the same. 

Piper, Reyna learned, got very into sing-along night. She knew every word to every song, and danced to every lyric. More than once, she’d slung her arm around Reyna’s shoulders and locked their hands together to make Reyna dance too. Oddly enough, she didn’t mind it. The energy here was so light and fun, Reyna enjoyed being a part of it. 

When they were walking back to their cabins, Piper kept her fingers intertwined with Reyna’s. “See what I told you?” she said, smiling widely. “It was fun.”

“I guess it was kind of fun,” Reyna conceded. A little lie - it was very fun. Ahead of them, Connor was trying to convince Annabeth to let him give her a piggyback ride, though she was adamantly refusing. Reyna watched them in amusement. “Not going to lie, I’m becoming less and less mad about being shipped off to this camp.”

Piper looked up at her, a softer grin on her face now. In the faint light of the pathway lamps, her eyes looked dark brown. Reyna had found that Piper’s eye color tended to shift from time to time, and it was stupidly mesmerizing. “I’m glad too,” Piper said gently. 

Reyna looked away then, the direct eye contact making this moment a little too deep. She was happy she was here, but she didn’t want to start crying or anything. Maybe Piper understood that, because she squeezed Reyna’s hand. They walked up the steps of the cabin, only letting each other go at the very last second.

-

“I’m not tired,” Annabeth complained just two seconds after they’d laid down in their beds. Surprisingly, even after a game of capture the flag and a sing-along, Reyna agreed. She wasn’t tired either. 

“Me too,” Piper chimed in. 

“Get over here,” Annabeth said, sitting up. “Reyna, you joining us?”

Reyna didn’t think twice about pulling her covers off. They all sat on Annabeth’s twin bed, Piper’s knee brushing against Reyna’s. 

“How’s the boyfriend?” Piper asked, looking at Annabeth. As if on its own accord, a smile lit up Annabeth’s face. 

“Good,” she said, twisting her fingers together. “Busy. He’s working a lot this summer.”

“He better take you on a nice date, then,” Reyna joked. 

Piper laughed and nodded, “She has a point.” Then she reached over and flicked Annabeth’s knee. “All this in love shit, and y’all still haven’t fu-”

“Don’t even!” Annabeth said, reaching over to slap her hand over Piper’s mouth. Reyna laughed when Annabeth pulled her hand away quickly, looking at Piper in disgust. “Ew, did you just lick me?”

“Maybe.” A beat of silence, then much softer and more serious, “You’re not denying the in love thing…”

Even in the dim light of her side table lamp, Reyna could see the flush on Annabeth’s cheeks. “I know,” she said. “I think… I am.”

Piper gasped quietly, shifting to lean against Reyna. “Oh my, she’s in love!”

“They grow up so fast,” Reyna sniffled, leaning her head against Piper’s shoulder. 

“Shut up,” Annabeth laughed. “I don’t know, I never have been. Have either of you?”

Reyna couldn’t see Piper’s face because she was still leaning on her shoulder, but she felt Piper shake her head. “I think I could’ve been in love with Shel if we hadn’t broken up… the potential was there.”

In the week of knowing her, Reyna had never heard Piper’s voice as small as it did whenever she talked about this Shel guy. It gave her the inexplicable urge to wrap her up in a hug until she was smiling again. Annabeth nodded sympathetically, and her eyes shifted to Reyna. Piper shrugged once lightly. “What about you, Rey?”

Reyna lifted her head, glancing over at Piper, who was much closer than she had been before. She leaned back, putting a little more space between them before shaking her head. “No, I’ve never even had a boyfriend or anything,” she admitted, dropping her eyes, a little embarrassed. It was obviously nothing to actually be ashamed of, but she just felt out of her element. She had never really paid much attention to boys until Jason. Both of her friends sitting here at least had some experience with boys.

“What about that guy you were telling us about, Jason? Do you think you could fall in love with him if you start dating?” Annabeth asked, tilting her head.

Reyna considered it. She liked Jason, but love was another story. As much as she hated it, the weird pit of anxiety crawled its way back into her stomach as she thought about it. She looked over at Piper, who was already looking at her.

Reyna shrugged,  deciding not to get into this internal discussion right now. “Maybe. We’re friends, so maybe.”

“I would think it’s easier falling in love with someone who’s a friend first,” Piper said, not looking away from Reyna. “Like, you already have a foundation there.”

“Probably,” Reyna agreed. Without even realizing it, that feeling in her stomach disappeared. She felt more relaxed. Leaning against Piper’s shoulder, she listened to Annabeth talk about her first boyfriend, if they could call him that - they’d dated for six whole days in fifth grade. The epitome of romance, in Reyna’s opinion.

Not even 45 minutes later, Annabeth yawned for the millionth time. “I’m not tired,” Piper mocked, making Reyna laugh. They had shifted so that Reyna’s back was against the wall and Piper was laying with her feet by Annabeth’s shoulders and her head in Reyna’s lap. 

“Shut up,” Annabeth said, the end of her words interrupted by a yawn. “Get out of my bed.”

“I’m still not even tired,” Reyna said, though she slid off the bed after Piper did. Instead of returning to her bed, Piper smiled and slipped her hand into Reyna’s. 

“We’re gonna go sit outside because we aren’t losers who are going to bed,” Piper said, tugging Reyna towards the door.

“Whatever,” Annabeth grumbled, pulling her covers up to her chin and rolling over. Reyna laughed quietly as Piper unlocked their front door. They sat together on the second step, knees bumping.

“Are we allowed to be out here at night?” Reyna asked.

Piper shook her head. “Technically no, but they’ll just tell us to go inside, if anyone even catches us.”

“You seem to know all the secrets about this place, hm?”

“Oh, yeah. I’ll have to take you to this part of the roof of the arena. We watch the sunset or sunrise from there at least a dozen times every summer.”

“That sounds nice,” Reyna replied, placing her elbows on her knees and her chin in her palm. 

A beat of silence passed before Piper nudged their shoulders together. “You okay? You seemed a little off earlier. Like at the campfire.”

Reyna felt her face get hot. She hadn’t realized Piper had been paying attention so much. “Yeah, I got a text from Jason. Nothing special, he was just asking how my summer was going. But it just made me feel… weird? Like anxious. For no reason.”

Piper hummed. “Have you ever felt that way around him?” she asked. Reyna shook her head. 

“Not really,” she said. “Were… you and Shel friends before you started dating?”

She felt hesitant bringing Piper’s ex up, but she wanted a little insight into if this was something only she felt. Piper nodded. “Yeah. Not for long before we started dating, but yeah.”

“Did you feel that way with him at all?”

Piper cocked her head suddenly, blinking. “Uh… Shel’s a girl.”

Reyna blanked, embarrassment flushing her from head to toe. She quickly ran through all the times Piper had mentioned her ex and it occurred to Reyna then that she never had mentioned it being a boy. Reyna had only assumed. 

“I- oh.”

Piper let out a little laugh. “You thought she was a boy? That’s kinda funny.”

“Sorry, I just assumed because we were talking about Annabeth’s boyfriend, so…”

“It’s a fair assumption but no, definitely no boys for me,” Piper said with another short laugh. A moment passed when Reyna didn’t know what to say or how to recover from this embarrassment. And then Piper’s expression turned a little more guarded and she angled her body away from Reyna. “That’s not an issue, is it?”

Her voice sounded a little colder than it had a moment ago. 

“No, no!” Reyna said suddenly. Her silence had been widely misinterpreted and she felt even worse now. “Sorry, no. I just didn’t know what to say. Definitely no issue, sorry,” she rambled. Piper became more relaxed instantly, letting down that guard she’d been prepared to put up. 

“It’s okay,” Piper said softly. “But to answer your question… it never felt like that with her. Everything felt really natural. Easy.”

Reyna nodded slowly. “I don’t know why I felt that way. I only replied to him once and I haven’t checked his texts since. I don’t know.”

“Maybe he just makes you all nervous,” Piper sang, bumping shoulders with her. “I’m sure it’ll pass when you see him again.”

“Yeah,” Reyna whispered. “Feeling this way has made me a lot less excited to go back, though. Well, that and the idea of leaving this place, to be honest.”

“Aw, you like us that much?” Piper slipped her hand into Reyna’s, shaking her arm lightly and making her laugh. She looked over at Piper, who was smiling. Her eyes looked so dark in the dim porch light, but Reyna could still see the greens and browns laced together. Her eyes were so pretty in the light, and somehow just as mesmerizing in the dark.

“I guess you guys are okay,” Reyna said. She paused for a few seconds. “Actually, can I ask you something?”

“Anything,” Piper replied earnestly.

“Will we- this might sound so stupid to ask, but will we stay friends after the summer is over?”

The smile on Piper’s face only grew. “Obviously,” she replied, like it was the simplest thing in the world. “Why wouldn’t we?”

“Well, I don’t know,” Reyna shrugged, her face heating up as she averted her eyes. “I didn’t know if you’d want to.”

Piper rested her head against Reyna’s shoulder. “You little dummy. Of course I want to keep you around.”

-

Reyna was apparently very bad at archery. Which hadn’t been a complete shock to her, but she would’ve thought she’d have improved at least a little in the last two weeks. Piper was still trying and failing to help her line up her shot, her chest pressed against Reyna’s back and her hands carefully covering hers as they held the bow. 

“You literally just aim and release,” Piper said, quietly as to not disturb anyone else shooting. The almost whisper right beside her ear made Reyna’s mouth run dry. She couldn’t pinpoint why, but Piper had begun to have that effect on Reyna in the last week. She just chalked it up to Piper being more touchy than most of her friends at home, though.

“What do you think I’m doing, Pipes?” Reyna complained. She focused on her target, the only one in the lineup that didn’t have a single arrow in it, and let go of the arrow. It sailed straight but went right past the target. 

“This sucks.”

“I think you suck, actually.”

“You’re supposed to be supporting me, Piper.”

“I have been supporting you, Reyna. For twenty minutes.”

“I’m doing my best,” Reyna pouted, leaning down for another arrow. Before she could line it up on the bow, Piper’s hands dropped to her hips.

“Here, wait. Move this foot forward a little more,” she tapped her left leg, “and point this one,” she tapped her right leg now, “out more.”

Reyna stalled for a brief second, the foreign feeling of someone’s hands on her hips making her mind go blank. But then she followed Piper’s instructions. “Like that?” she asked.

Piper tapped her left thigh again. “A little straighter.”

“Like you know what straight is,” Reyna muttered. Piper pinched her side, and Reyna had to stop herself from letting out a yelp. “Hey!” she whispered, a smile on her face.

“Oh, you deserved that,” Piper replied, the smile just as evident in her voice too. Ever since Piper had essentially come out to Reyna, the jokes around her sexuality were coming a lot more frequently now. At first, it had only been Piper making them, but Reyna had started making a few of her own in the last few days. She had been a little hesitant the first time, but Piper had laughed which had made it worth it.

Reyna straightened her foot, and Piper moved her hands back up to hover over Reyna’s wrists gently. “Now aim and shoot,” she said. Just like before, Reyna aimed for the center of the target and let go of the arrow. Somehow, it hit the target. Nowhere near the center, but it did just barely touch the outer ring.

Both Reyna and Piper gasped at the same time. “Okay Katniss Everdeen?” Piper said, before immediately realizing how loud that was and lowering her voice. She stepped back, releasing Reyna, who turned around to stare at Piper in shock. “You’re literally a professional.”

“That’s literally my highest accomplishment ever,” Reyna said. Piper held up one hand and Reyna high-fived her, only to lock their fingers together and drop them while still intertwined. Before either of them could say anything else, a bell sounded in the distance. Reyna grinned. “Just in time for dinner.”

“Well, let’s go Miss Everdeen,” Piper teased, tugging Reyna over towards the storage area to put up the bow and arrows. Oddly enough, neither of them dropped each other’s hands as they made their way to the pavilion. Only when they grabbed their plates did they let go of each other, and even then, they were close enough to bump shoulders. 

Reyna didn’t think she’d ever been so touchy with someone in her life. Hazel was definitely a hugger, but she was never one for such casual intimacy. Holding hands, leaning on each other’s shoulders, bumping knees - none of those things were stuff she did with anyone other than Piper. Admittedly, she didn’t mind it.

They sat down side by side at their usual table, which was already half full with their friends. There was a conversation going on about the worst zodiac signs, and Piper didn’t hesitate to jump right in. Reyna wasn’t big on astrology, but she was more than happy to listen to Piper’s opinions. All Reyna knew was that she was a Leo, and according to Piper, Leos were ranked third on her list. Annabeth sat on the other side of Reyna and listened to what was happening for all of ten seconds before leaning over. “I have no fucking clue what’s happening.”

“Oh, me neither.”

Dinner passed quickly in a flurry of several different conversations. All of which Piper had opinions about, most of which Reyna was quiet during. The only time she jumped in was when she backed Annabeth or Piper up in a debate - like watermelon definitely being a better candy flavor than strawberry.

Afterward, Piper slung an arm around Reyna’s waist and led her towards the campfire. Reyna furrowed her eyebrows, but wrapped her arm around Piper’s shoulders. “Don’t we have thirty minutes?”

“Babe, we’ve been over this. It’s smores night.”

“Ah, and we get to smores night early,” Reyna remembered. “I don’t keep track of these days. They all blend together.”

“What day is it?”

Reyna thought for a moment. “Thursday?”

“Close. Wednesday. Smores night is in the middle of the week.”

“Right, right.”

Piper shook her head, leading her over to the benches closest to the smores station. Annabeth and some of their other friends followed closely behind, filling in the spots around them. There were several other campers already sitting down too, but Piper and Reyna were the closest to the table where ingredients would soon be laid out. For 25 minutes, they all sat there, chatting about more nonsense, and then the counselors finally started to fill the table. One of them pointed at Piper. “I see you inching closer, McLean.”

“I have no idea what you mean,” Piper replied, but she did scoot back towards Reyna again. They were practically squished together.

“You act like people are going to get there before us,” Reyna whispered, leaning her head even closer. Piper followed her lead until their foreheads were almost touching.

“It’s a cut-throat world out there, babe. You gotta fend for yourself.”

“For yourself?” Reyna asked. “You gonna leave me behind?”

Something flickered in Piper’s eyes, the color warmer than normal from the firelight, and she smiled. “Definitely not. I was fighting for both of our smore’s rights.”

“Ugh, my savior.”

Piper studied Reyna for only a few seconds longer before turning her head to look at the table. It was full of individual plates with a marshmallow on a skewer, a piece of chocolate, and two graham crackers. There were a few counselors behind the table, with a stack of plates, and bags or boxes of the ingredients. By now, the benches were full of people and one of the counselors pointed at the first bench. “Alright you heathens, come grab a plate.”

Piper leaped to her feet, pulling Reyna with her. They grabbed their plates before anyone else and then Piper was pulling Reyna over to the fire. “This is the real reason we go first,” she explained. “It gets crowded around the fire too quickly if we wait.”

“You’re also just impatient.”

“Oh, very.”

Reyna laughed, taking the skewer between her fingers and putting the marshmallow into the fire. Every time they did this, Piper was appalled by the way Reyna roasted her marshmallow - by letting it set on fire multiple times, blowing it out each time only to let it catch again. Today was no different as Reyna lifted it from the fire to blow it out before putting back in. “Literally what is wrong with you?” Piper shook her head.

“It’s good like this,” Reyna shrugged. 

“Annabeth does that, too,” Piper said and they both looked over in time to see Annabeth’s marshmallow catch fire. “It’s weird.”

“You’re weird.”

“Am not.”

“Are too.”

At this point, Piper was looking up at her and not watching her marshmallow, and Reyna smiled when she glanced over. She tilted her head. “You’re definitely weird now, then.” Piper’s head snapped towards the fire and yelped as she realized the end of her skewer was a little ball of flames. She blew it out immediately, glaring at Reyna. Hers had just caught fire for the fourth time, which, in Reyna’s opinion, was the perfect number of times. They both retreated to their bench, sitting with their plates on their laps. They made their smores, and Piper held hers up. “Cheers, even though this is going to taste burnt as all hell.”

“Cheers,” Reyna replied, tapping their graham crackers together gently. “And that’s how they should taste, thank you.”

“Freak.”

Conversation ceased for the most part among campers as everyone enjoyed their food, though Reyna heard quite a few complaints of things being messy and sticky. Her fingers, too, were covered in a little bit of melted marshmallow.

Piper took both hers and Reyna’s paper plates and tossed them into the trash. Instead of sitting back down on the bench, she stopped in front of Reyna. “Wanna run to the bathroom with me?” she asked, but the way the smile on her face curved, Reyna had a feeling there was another meaning to her question.

“Sure,” Reyna said, standing. She raised an eyebrow but Piper just smiled wider.

They locked hands like normal, and Piper threw a casual, “We’ll be right back,” over her shoulder to anyone who was listening. They stopped by the counselor’s bench to let them know where they were headed, and then they left the firepit. They were walking towards the bathrooms at first… and then they walked right past them.

“Are you taking me somewhere to kill me?” Reyna asked. 

“No, but we do have to hurry,” Piper said, picking up her pace. It only took Reyna a moment to figure out where they were going - the arena. She looked up at the sky where the sun was setting, casting a dark orangey-pink color above them. Piper had mentioned a couple of weeks ago a rooftop that she and Annabeth had watched the sunrise or sunset from.

They entered the arena and immediately started up the stairs. They only went up one floor before they stopped though. “I thought you said the roof?” Reyna asked. There was still one floor above them. Piper smiled, leaning Reyna around the corridor. 

Much like her first impressions of the arena, it was a lot like a smaller scale baseball stadium. The outer ring of the building was a circular corridor for people to get to the seats surrounding the empty circle in the center. Over the last few weeks, Reyna had seen it used for soccer and volleyball games, as well as vicious games of tag.

“It’s the roof of the storage area, which is only one floor,” she explained. She led them to a red door that seemed inconspicuous, but when Piper pushed through it, there was nothing but sky in front of them. 

“Woah,” Reyna said quietly. She’d always admired the sky at Camp Jupiter, the sunsets were inexplicably more beautiful here, but she’d never seen it so clearly.

Piper squeezed her hand gently, pulling Reyna’s attention back down to the girl next to her. Piper’s skin glowed under the orange sky, making her radiate warmth.

“Here, sit,” she said softly. They both sat side by side on the concrete, knees touching. “My first summer here, I was looking for a bathroom. Opened the wrong door, and found this.”

“Lucky find,” Reyna said, eyes flicking back up to the sky. 

“I snuck away a lot,” she continued. “The first few weeks, no one really noticed because I didn’t have many friends. I was rooming with two rising seniors and a junior and that seemed like the closest knit friendship possible, so they obviously didn’t have room for a rising sophomore.”

The sky had lost Reyna’s interest, which was solely on Piper now. Their intertwined hands rested on her knee. “One night, though,” Piper continued, “Grover invited me to hang out with him, Rachel, the Stoll brothers… whoever else, I don’t remember. I opened up for the first time, then, and actually made close friends.”

“That was nice of him,” Reyna said, a small smile making her lips curve upwards. 

“Last year, I roomed with Rachel, Annabeth, and another new girl who didn’t come back this year, and Rachel and I made sure to include them in everything we did. I didn’t want them to feel the way I felt my first year.”

Reyna felt her smile widening, but she stifled it. Piper saw right through her, though. “And that’s why I’ve made sure to include you in everything,” she said, confirming Reyna’s thoughts. “I wanted to be sure you never felt alone or out of place.”

Reyna’s face flushed and she looked down. “I’ll admit, I was intimidated by you and Annabeth at first because you guys seemed so close,” Reyna said. “I’ve never been too great at making friends.”

“Which is weird, because you’re like the best person ever,” Piper said, completely honest. Reyna chuckled, shaking her head and finally looking up from her lap. Piper seemed closer than she was before.

“You might be the only person who thinks that.”

“Well, I’m right,” she replied simply with a small shrug. 

There was a beat of silence as they stared at each other. Even as the sun sunk down, Piper still radiated a warmth Reyna had never known she needed. Piper let go of her hand and only when she placed her fingers under Reyna’s chin did she realize what was happening. And she was powerless to stop it.

Well, no. Reyna was fully aware that she could stop Piper. She could’ve said something when Piper touched her jaw, or when Piper’s eyes flicked down to her lips, or when Piper began to lean in. But the tiniest, most hidden part of Reyna’s brain didn’t want to stop her and the fear that came along with that little voice froze Reyna, rendering her powerless.

Piper’s lips touched Reyna’s, almost as featherlight as the fingers under her chin. For a blissful few seconds, Reyna’s eyes fluttered shut and she felt weightless. And then that fear crashed down on her, and she snapped away from Piper, whose hand was still in midair even though Reyna was out of reach now.

“No,” was the first thing out of Reyna’s mouth, followed by the stumbling mess of incoherent, incomplete sentences. “No, I don’t- I’m not. Sorry, I can’t- I’m not- I-” she shook her head.

“I’m not-” she tried again, but she couldn’t finish that sentence. For some reason, I’m not gay would not leave her mouth, even if it was the truth. 

“I’m sorry,” Piper said, the hand that had just been touching Reyna’s jaw now outstretched in surrender. “I’m sorry. I just… misread the room, I guess.”

Reyna was shocked into silence, shaking her head. For the first time since meeting Piper, Reyna wanted to get as far away from her as possible. She wanted to sort out whatever mess of emotions was going on inside her away from Piper’s worried gaze. 

Reyna pulled her knees up to her chest, unsure of what to say, if she even could say anything. Her tongue felt like lead in her mouth, physically incapable of forming words. Piper studied her silently for a few seconds, before offering a small, apologetic smile. “Do you wanna go back to the campfire?” she offered. 

Reyna cleared her throat. “You can,” she said, her voice finally beginning to work. “I think I’m gonna head to our cabin.”

Piper looked like she wanted to object, but she just nodded. Without any other words, they both stood and left the rooftop. When they walked side by side, Reyna was careful to keep her arms wrapped around her torso and keep enough distance between them so there was no chance of accidentally brushing arms. Piper seemed to sense that Reyna wanted space and made no move to touch her like she normally would have. Before they split paths, though, Piper reached out and touched Reyna’s arm gently. “I’m sorry again,” Piper said. “I shouldn’t have done that. I hope I didn’t… ruin anything.”

Reyna swallowed hard and put on an unconvincing smile that she knew looked fake. “It didn’t. It’s okay.” Reyna wasn’t sure if that was a lie or not.

Piper didn’t look like she believed her, but she nodded once. “See you later,” she whispered before turning away. Reyna turned too, walking quickly towards their cabin. She made it there in just a few minutes and shut the door behind her. 

She let out a quiet, shaky breath as her fingers came up to touch her lips. She couldn’t get the feeling of that kiss out of her head, even if it had only lasted a few seconds. She dropped her hand from her mouth, pushing the thoughts away as best as she could. Quickly, she changed into pajamas and ducked under her covers.

It didn’t take very long for those thoughts to start floating around in her head again.

-

In the next three days, Reyna hadn’t directly spoken to Piper at all. Only occasionally in a joint conversation with Annabeth - who definitely knew something was up - and at the table during meals. It was becoming a little ridiculous and incredibly upsetting, but Reyna couldn’t even look at her without their kiss coming to mind. 

Even when she wasn’t around Piper, all she could think about was that stupid kiss. 

After dinner tonight, Reyna quietly announced to her roommates that she was going to shower, and grabbed her towel and pajamas before bolting to the communal restrooms. She stepped into the shower stall, stripping out of her clothes, kicking them off to the side where they would stay dry. She hung her towel on the hook and turned on the water. For a moment, she avoided the freezing spray until it was warm enough to stand under.

For a moment, she allowed all of her issues to wash down the drain with all of the dirt and grime that had built up over the day. Then those thoughts crept back in - not just thoughts of the kiss, but of how her and Piper’s friendship had almost vanished in the past few days.

Reyna lifted her fingers to her lips again, and in the privacy of her shower stall, just out of curiosity, she allowed herself to reimagine that kiss in a better scenario. One where she had been prepared and willing, one where she hadn’t pulled away. 

She hated that for a moment, she liked the thought of it. She liked the idea of Piper’s lips on hers. Reyna bit her lip, squeezing her eyes shut as she felt tears building behind her eyes. Fear took over her mind and she dropped her hand like she’d been burned. She stepped forward and turned up the heat of the water, as if she could cleanse these ideas from her head. 

She forced herself to think of anything else - home, her friends, Jason. Jason - the thought of him somehow made her stomach twist even worse. She shook her head, resigning herself to thinking of her friends back at home. That was a safe topic. Shopping with Hazel, getting lunch with Nico, teaming up with Frank to tease Leo. All things she missed. 

She kept her eyes closed because any time she opened them, Piper managed to wiggle her way back into Reyna’s head. And Reyna really didn’t feel like crying anymore.

-

It was Thursday night, and Reyna was beginning to miss her friend. A lot. She had barely spoken to Piper since last Wednesday, over a week ago. She was slightly surprised Piper hadn’t said anything to her yet, either, but she must’ve sensed Reyna wanted space from her and she was giving it to her. Part of Reyna wished Piper would be the braver one between them and just talk to her again, but that wasn’t a fair thought. Reyna was also pretty sure just about everyone in their friend group had noticed, judging by the looks she had seen them giving her and Piper. No one had said anything about it until now, though.

Piper had just left their cabin to go shower, and Annabeth shut her book as soon as the door had shut.

“Hey.”

Reyna looked up from her phone from where she was texting Hazel. She hadn’t told Hazel anything, which was a very rare occurrence between them, but Reyna wasn’t even sure how to put any of these thoughts into words. Judging by the look on Annabeth’s face, though, Reyna knew she was going to have to figure it out quickly.

“Hey,” Reyna replied, locking her phone. Annabeth pulled her legs together, sitting cross-legged, and she patted the space on her bed that her legs had just occupied. Reyna swallowed as she got up, crossing the room to sit on Annabeth’s bed.

They weren’t as close as she and Piper, but Reyna still considered Annabeth a very good friend. She tilted her head, giving Reyna a small smile. Annabeth didn’t see any point in wasting time. “Is everything okay?” she asked. “Like… with you and Piper?”

Reyna dug her nails into her palm. “Did she tell you anything?” she asked quietly.

Annabeth shook her head. “I haven’t asked yet either, I was waiting for her to come to me. But I don’t think she’s going to. And I knew you weren’t going to either, so I’m biting the bullet and asking.”

“Me before her?”

Annabeth’s cheeks flushed. “Something’s telling me she did something. If you had done something, I think she would’ve told me by now.”

Reyna hoped the guilt didn’t show on her face. She had been the one to pull away. She had been the one avoiding any kind of conversation with Piper. Reyna knew she couldn’t avoid this forever and Annabeth was probably one of the wisest people she’d ever met, so Reyna was hopeful she’d be able to offer a perspective from the outside.

She cleared her throat quietly, looking down at her hands. “Piper kissed me. During the campfire on Wednesday, we went to the arena and she kissed me.”

She had never said the words out loud, and it all suddenly felt much more real. She couldn’t look at Annabeth as she waited for a response.

“Okay…”

Reyna looked up then to see Annabeth’s eyebrows drawn together and her head tilted. “You didn’t want her to?”

Reyna felt her throat run dry as she tried to figure out the implications of the question, and how to answer it. Instead of delving into how she really felt about that kiss, she shook her head, a little too quickly. “I mean, I’m not… no.” 

Annabeth’s eyes softened, and she nodded slowly. “Right,” she said. There was a pause and then Annabeth cleared her throat softly. “Did you know I’m bi?”

Reyna blinked. “What?”

“I’m bi. But I never realized it until last summer. I had a crush on Piper.”

Reyna didn’t know how to respond. She didn’t know where this conversation was going, and she was almost scared to find out. Annabeth smiled slowly. “She has this thing about her, this warmth that I’ve never felt with anyone else. She’s so open and caring, you just automatically want to trust her, you know?”

“Yeah,” Reyna whispered. “I know.”

“She brings out the best in people,” Annabeth said. Her smile faded a little as she bit her lip. “It was kind of terrifying when I realized everything I was feeling for her went a little deeper than friendship.”

Reyna just listened silently. Her nails were definitely carving indents into her palms by now. She wouldn’t be surprised if she drew blood. “I never told her about my crush on her, but I did tell her that I thought I had feelings for a girl. She made me feel so accepted and normal, like I had nothing to be scared of.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Reyna whispered. “I’m not…” Gay seemed like a hard word to say, but she knew it was tacked on at the end. Annabeth looked at her, considered her next words carefully.

“I’m not saying you’re anything,” Annabeth said. “I’m just saying Piper has this thing about her that draws people to her, and it made me realize something about myself. Something that was really scary, until it wasn’t.”

Scary was one word for it, Reyna decided. Whatever she felt for Piper was maybe the most terrifying thing she’d ever experienced. 

“And I’m saying that Piper is one of the best people in the world. I wouldn’t let a kiss stop you from being her friend. Everyone needs a Piper in their life,” Annabeth said. “If you’re straight and feel nothing for her, she’ll be okay and get over whatever compelled her to kiss you. Don’t let her slip out of your life because of that.”

Reyna nodded slowly, realizing for the first time the worst possible outcome of this - that she’d lose Piper altogether. As awkward as things were now, that was the last thing she wanted. There was also a stab to her heart when Annabeth mentioned Piper getting over her. That was what Reyna should want, right? To put all of this behind her?

“Thank you,” Reyna said. She had been right about Annabeth being able to offer insight. “I needed to hear that.”

Annabeth smiled, reaching for her book again. “Anytime.”

Reyna got up from her bed, beginning to cross the room again. “Hey Reyna?” Annabeth said. Reyna turned to see Annabeth, book open in her lap, but with a contemplative look on her face.

“Piper and I will love you no matter what,” she said softly. “I hope you know that.”

It wasn’t hard to figure out exactly what Annabeth was trying to say. If Reyna wasn’t straight, she had people on her side. Reyna wasn’t sure what to say, so she just nodded slowly before turning away. Instead of crawling into her bed, though, she paused. 

“I’m gonna step outside for a minute,” Reyna said, not waiting for Annabeth’s response as she left, taking a seat on the porch. She put her head in her hands as Annabeth’s words floated around in her head.

No matter what. 

Reyna took slow, deep breaths as she tried not to cry. It was becoming increasingly clear that these feelings for Piper were more than platonic, and Reyna hated it a little. She hated it even more because she knew those feelings were at least somewhat reciprocated. There was a strong chance she was hurting Piper by rejecting her, and she was hurting herself with how unsure she was.

“Hey…”

Reyna’s head snapped up at Piper’s voice, who was returning from her shower. There was obvious concern in her eyes and hesitation in her voice. “Are you okay?”

Even now, when Reyna had been avoiding her for almost a week, Piper still cared. Even after Reyna had rejected her, she still cared. Annabeth was right - everyone needed a Piper in their life. 

Reyna cleared her throat. “Yeah,” she lied. “Just needed some air.”

Piper looked like she didn’t believe her, which was fair, but she nodded slowly. “Okay,” she said. She walked up the stairs and for a second, Reyna almost asked her to join her. She almost reached out and took Piper’s hand and pulled her into a hug. She had never missed someone’s touch so much. 

But she didn’t. She let Piper go inside and Reyna returned her chin to her palm. She thought about how touchy Piper was, all of the times they’d held hands, hugged, leaned into each other. Things Reyna had never really cared for with her other friends, but something she wanted to do every time she was around Piper. 

One tear slipped down her cheek and she wiped it away immediately. She shouldn’t be crying when she could reach out to Piper at any point. This distance between them was Reyna’s fault. 

-

“I got it!” Will shouted as he dove for the volleyball. He missed it by just a few inches though, and it crashed against the ground. 

“Fuck yes!” Reyna shouted, high-fiving Rachel. That was their winning point, meaning they’d beat Will and Connor twice now. “You guys suck.”

“Why is Nico friends with you, you’re so mean?” Will called, though he was smiling widely.

“Because Nico is also mean?”

“Okay, fair.” Will served the ball, but Rachel caught it with her hands. 

“Sorry to bail, but I have to meet Annabeth at the archery range in, like, two minutes.”

“Boo,” Connor called. “You suck.”

“You’re just jealous I’m going to hang out with Annabeth,” Rachel said, tossing the ball to Reyna. “Catch you later.”

Rachel ran off. “Think you can handle a two v one?” Connor taunted. 

Reyna was about to tell him he was going to have his ass handed to him, but before she got the chance, another voice called out, “I can play.”

Piper. 

“Oh, fuck no,” Will shouted. “You’re the best player here.”

“Scared, William?” Piper teased. She joined Reyna on her side, offering her a small smile. Her voice was much softer when she asked, “Can I play?”

A little part of Reyna wanted to say no, but she remembered what Annabeth said a few days ago about losing Piper altogether. “Yeah,” Reyna replied, returning her smile, albeit a little more awkwardly. She tossed her the ball. “You serve.”

Piper looked genuinely relieved and she nodded, her smile growing. She served the ball and the game began. It quickly became clear that Will was right - Piper was one of the best players here. They scored three points before Will and Connor scored one.

The tension was beginning to loosen from Reyna’s shoulders as whatever awkwardness she felt wore off for now. She could play a game with her. Maybe this would be good.

It was currently seven to two, with Piper and Reyna obviously winning. “How are you so good?” Connor asked as he passed the ball to Piper to serve.

“I played my freshman and sophomore year.”

“Well shit, why did you quit?” he asked. Reyna turned her attention to Piper, too, curious about the answer.

Piper chuckled humorlessly, shaking her head. “They fucked with our uniform, making the shorts even shorter. As if we weren’t literal fifteen year olds.”

Well… that was certainly an image immediately ingrained into Reyna’s mind. She tried to push those thoughts away immediately, but it was useless. Piper in little shorts running around a volleyball court was something she would never be able to get out of her head.

“Ew,” Will said, wrinkling his nose.

“Yeah, that’s fucked up,” Connor said.

And Reyna agreed, truly. It was fucked up that they’d shorten the uniforms of the team. But it was still an image that she would maybe never be able to erase from her head.

“Yeah, well,” Piper shrugged. “Can’t expect much else, honestly.”

With that, she served the ball and the conversation was dropped. The game continued, except now - Reyna was painfully distracted. The ball was coming towards them and-

“I got it!”

“I got it.”

Neither of them had it. Piper and Reyna crashed into each other and the ball hit the ground. 

“I had it!” Piper said, sitting up.

“So did I!”

“I said it first!”

Reyna couldn’t argue with that, and her shoulders deflated. Thankfully, Piper laughed. She stood up and offered Reyna a hand. Reyna only hesitated for a brief second before reaching up and taking it. Piper hauled her up and their hands lingered for a moment before Reyna let go. 

The game resumed. Even with Reyna the tiniest bit distracted, they still won, easily. They were only playing to fifteen points and by the time they won, the boys had only scored six. When the ball hit their side of the court for the final time, both Piper and Reyna let out a few cheers. 

Reyna had the urge to wrap her arms around Piper, but she feared she may never let her go. So instead, she held up both of her hands and Piper gave her two high fives. 

“We didn’t even stand a chance,” Connor shook his head. 

“Good games,” Reyna called. “I’m done, though.”

“Yeah, same,” Piper said. 

“Rematch sometime soon,” Connor pointed at them.

“Start practicing now then,” Piper replied, making Reyna laugh. She kicked the ball across the court and turned. Piper walked with her. “Heading to the cabin, right?”

Now that they were alone, Reyna felt that awkwardness seep back in. “Yep,” she nodded. Piper didn’t reply, only walking alongside her.

Reyna knew she should say something, she just had no clue where to start. Maybe with an apology, maybe with something that didn’t relate at all. Maybe they could just put it all behind them. In the two-minute walk to their cabin, she failed to come up with anything. Piper’s lips lifted into a small smile as she held the door open for Reyna.

“Thanks,” she muttered, walking past her. The first thing she did was check her phone. One text from Hazel, one from her father. Nothing worth replying to. 

Piper was shuffling through her bag for something as Reyna climbed onto her bed. She looked over, watching the way Piper’s arms and shoulders moved. Watching the way she twisted at the waist as she set something down on the bed and then moved the bag to the floor. She turned with a small box in her hand and Reyna dropped her eyes instantly.

“I’ll catch you at dinner,” she said quietly. Reyna almost let her go, but her curiosity got the best of her. She nodded towards the small, flat box.

“What’s that?”

If Piper was surprised at the question, she didn’t show it, only smiling a little. “A bracelet for Annabeth. You didn’t hear this from me, because she hates people knowing, but her birthday is tomorrow.”

“Oh shit, really?”

“Mhm,” Piper hummed. “Only a handful of people know and we’ve been planning a little thing over the last couple days. I was going to tell you, but…” she trailed off.

But we haven’t been talking. Piper looked guilty for mentioning it, even if she did it indirectly. Reyna nodded, hoping her face didn’t feel as pink as it looked. “Right. When is it?”

“Tomorrow night after the campfire,” she said. “In the arena.”

“I’ll be there if… I’m welcome?”

Piper blinked, her eyebrows briefly drawing together. “Why wouldn’t you be?”

Reyna didn’t know how to answer without saying if you want me there. Somehow, Piper knew what she meant as her expression softened and her eyes dropped. “You’re definitely welcome. She’d want you there,” she said. Then she looked up. “We all would.”

There was something unsaid in that expression. Something that Reyna hoped sounded like I want you there.

- 

Somehow, that brief chat she’d had with Piper earlier gave Reyna enough courage to seek her out before dinner. She found her walking with Annabeth, and she joined Piper just as she split off from Annabeth.

“Hey.”

Piper’s head snapped over to her, shock written all over her face. “Hey.”

“Can I walk with you?” Reyna was hesitant, but Piper was as open as ever.

“Yeah, of course.”

They walked side by side, their pace slowing substantially. “Um, I wanted to talk to you,” Reyna started quietly. “About, like, the last week or so, you know.”

“Okay,” Piper replied, just as soft. Things were so painfully awkward between them, Reyna almost wasn’t sure how to continue. She cleared her throat. 

Easiest to just start from the top. “I know I’ve been kind of avoiding you, and I’m sorry,” she said, the words taking more effort to get out than she would’ve liked. “It just caught me off guard, I guess, when you…” she trailed off. Piper understood.

“Yeah, I get it. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that,” she said. It seemed she had trouble talking about it too. Or perhaps she understood Reyna’s hesitancy to talk about it, and she was just matching that.

“It’s okay,” Reyna whispered. She didn’t voice how that single kiss had caused her to spiral for over a week. 

“I just,” Reyna swallowed hard. “I miss you. You became one of my best friends so quickly and I want that back.”

Piper stopped walking, her brows furrowing together. “Wait, really?”

Reyna stopped too. “Yes?”

Piper cleared her throat, blinking a few times. “I’m gonna be honest with you, Rey. I thought you were going to tell me you didn’t want to be friends at all anymore.”

That just confused Reyna even more, and she stepped closer to Piper. “Why would I want that?” she whispered. Piper looked up from her feet, more vulnerable than she’d ever seemed. 

She shrugged once, softly. “I just thought I messed everything up.”

Reyna couldn’t stand it anymore - the hint of fear in Piper’s voice, the way she looked so small and nervous. She stepped closer again and threw her arms around Piper’s shoulders, pulling her into a hug. With no hesitation, Piper’s arms wound around her waist in return.

They must’ve looked weird, standing in the middle of the camp, holding each other in death grips. But Reyna didn’t care. Her cheek pressed against Piper’s hair, breathing her in. Piper was becoming much less tense by the second as they hugged. 

All this time, Piper had thought Reyna was done with her, and that made Reyna’s stomach twist painfully. The last thing she ever wanted was to rid her life of Piper. 

“You didn’t mess anything up,” Reyna promised. “We’re okay.” 

Piper nodded into her shoulder, pulling back. There was a hint of blush on her cheeks, just barely peeking through her tan skin. Her eyes looked a little watery, and Reyna wished she could take this past week back. She wished they could’ve skipped that awkward phase where they’d both been hurting and just made up.

A bell sounded for dinner and they both looked towards the pavilion for a moment, then back at each other. Reyna held out her hand. “Shall we?” she asked, jokingly posh.

Piper smiled, and God, had Reyna missed that. Their hands locked together. “We shall,” Piper replied, the same preppy accent in her tone.

They made their way to the dining pavilion, only dropping hands when they picked up plates to get food. Everything felt completely right when they sat down next to each other, knees bumping together lightly. When Annabeth joined them a moment later, she gave Reyna a sly smile as she glanced between the two of them.

A few days of tension had built up in Reyna’s chest and made her painfully uncomfortable, and after one conversation with Piper, she felt freer than she had in a while. Piper went back to including Reyna in on conversations, though Reyna was confident enough now to speak out on her own without needing an invitation. She actually got into a pretty intense argument with Travis Stoll about whether or not there needed to be another season of a show they all watched, though a majority of the table was on her side.

Missing Piper had made Reyna clingy, and as soon as they got up from the table, Reyna was slipping her hand into Piper’s. After she did, though, she felt a moment of hesitation. Piper clearly felt something for her, otherwise she never would’ve kissed Reyna. And the last thing Reyna wanted to do was make it harder for her or hurt her. Would being so touchy, despite not reciprocating Piper’s feelings, only hurt her further?

Reyna only had a few seconds to overthink it because Piper was squeezing her hand and pulling her along. They had about 30 minutes until the campfire, but their friends tended to resort to hanging out at the benches for that time anyway. Piper plopped onto the bench, and Reyna sat next to her. Annabeth took her spot on the other side of her, and threw her arm around Reyna’s shoulders. “All good now?” she breathed.

Reyna glanced over at Piper, who still had her fingers intertwined with Reyna’s even though she was deep in conversation with Clarisse and Silena. Warmth filled her as she watched her chat animatedly with the other two, and she was once again glad she’d taken Annabeth’s advice of not letting Piper slip away altogether. Reyna smiled over at Annabeth. “All good.”

-

After their reconciliation, Reyna and Piper were attached at the hip again. They rarely left each other’s side. Which was both a blessing and a curse.

A blessing because Piper was Reyna’s best friend. There was no question about it. She had known Hazel and Nico for years now, but neither of them came close to the level of comfort she felt around Piper. There was a sense of security that came with knowing Piper McLean and it was something that made Reyna feel like she could be invincible if she had Piper by her side.

But it was also a curse because being friends with Piper opened a door Reyna had never known was there. A door she’d never acknowledged and now that she knew it was there, begging to be opened, she wished she could go back to being blissfully ignorant. She couldn’t admit it yet, but she felt something for Piper that ran much deeper than friendship. 

It was a terrifying thing to realize, which is exactly why Reyna was not thinking about it. She was not thinking about her heart skipping a beat whenever Piper laughed or how there was a flutter in her stomach every time Piper smiled at her. She wasn’t thinking about whenever Piper would tell her a secret or tell her something about herself that Reyna hadn’t previously known, her heart leaped out of her chest at the opportunity to learn anything new about Piper.

She wasn’t. Because she was actually staring at her phone screen, thinking about how to reply to Jason. She hadn’t thought about him in weeks, since the last time they very briefly texted. And all she really remembered of that exchange was the uneasy feeling swirling in her stomach, which had somehow increased tenfold this time around.

Jason
one month till school starts up again! weirdly, I’m actually excited? or maybe I’m just excited to see you again haha

She bit her lip. Two months ago, she would’ve been blowing up Hazel’s phone if Jason had said he was excited to see her again. Now, she just felt dread. Guilt. And she wasn’t an idiot - she could take a guess as to what had changed in the last month and a half here. 

Reyna looked up from her phone over towards Piper’s bed, which was currently empty as Piper was in the shower. She glanced over at Annabeth, who was turned towards her wall. Reyna could hear her quietly talking, so she must’ve been on the phone with someone. Then she looked back down at her phone.

Maybe she couldn’t run from this anymore. She couldn’t go home to Jason, who was very obviously still into her. She wouldn’t be able to look him in the face and act like she felt anything for him anymore when all she felt was dread. Her eyes flicked up to Piper’s bed for a split second before she opened her camera roll. She found the selfies of her and Piper they’d taken the other day in the golden sunlight. A little bit of ease and comfort washed over her instantly, only to be replaced with anxiety. 

This meant something.

Reyna was so lost in thought, she didn’t even notice Piper coming back into their room until she was tossing herself onto Reyna’s bed. She snapped out of her trance immediately, nearly jumping out of her skin. Piper noticed instantly, her eyebrows furrowing. “You okay?”

“Yeah, just thinking, sorry.”

“What’s up?”

“Uh,” Reyna floundered for a second. “Jason texted me.”

Piper’s eyes flicked to the phone in Reyna’s hand, and she scooted closer. Reyna swiped away from the open pictures of her and Piper immediately. “What’d he say?”

Reyna just reopened the text and showed Piper the screen, watching her reaction closely. Her face was unreadable for a moment, and then it lifted into a smile. “Oooo,” she sang, though her smile faded a little when she looked up at Reyna. “You… don’t seem happy about this text?”

Reyna’s shoulders dropped a little. “I don’t know. I think… I’m just not into him anymore. I don’t know.” She left it at that. Piper didn’t need to know the extent of her internal breakdown just yet. 

“Are you gonna tell him?” Piper asked softly. 

“I mean I have to.”

“I meant, like, now.”

“Oh,” Reyna said, tilting her head. “I don’t know. I feel like it’s more of a conversation to have in person. Right?” She looked over at Piper, who was right there. The closest thing she’d had to a talk about a relationship with someone was with Piper, after they’d kissed. And that wasn’t exactly the same thing, not to mention talking to Piper was a million times easier than talking to Jason.

“Probably,” Piper offered. “Especially if you guys have been friends for a long time.”

Reyna blinked. She hadn’t even considered what this would do to her friendship with Jason - though she supposed the friendship was always going to change in some way, no matter what. If she still had feelings for him, they would’ve eventually dated and that would’ve changed their dynamic even more than her losing interest altogether. She sighed quietly. Jason was a friend above anything - she didn’t want to lose him. 

“Yeah,” Reyna said, tucking her phone under her leg. “That’s an issue for another time, then.”

“You don’t want to talk about it anymore?” Piper asked, already on the same page as Reyna, who shook her head immediately. Piper’s lips lifted into a soft, understanding smile. “Alright.”

Without another word, Piper glanced over at Annabeth before moving to swipe a t-shirt off the floor. Then it was being launched across the room, nailing Annabeth in the back of the head. She cut herself off from whatever she was saying to yell, “What the fuck, Piper?”

“Come join us, we miss you.”

Annabeth sighed, but they heard her say her goodbyes and hang up. She sat up and chucked the shirt back at Piper’s face before crossing the room to join them on Reyna’s bed.

As hard as she tried, though, Reyna’s mind was perpetually stuck on Jason and every anxiety-inducing thought that came along with him. 

She thought maybe a night of sleep would’ve pushed the thoughts from her mind, but they were stuck swirling around inside her head for the next two days. Today alone, Piper had to shake Reyna from her thoughts several times, mostly in front of others, which was incredibly embarrassing. Piper didn’t bring it up again, but Reyna could tell she was concerned.

Joining Jason in her mind were many, many thoughts of Piper. More than she’d care to admit. 

It wasn’t until that night in the shower, that Reyna finally snapped, all of those thoughts and feelings coming out in the form of tears. Two very important friendships were on the line as she came to some conclusions in her head.

The first being she felt nothing for Jason. Nothing beyond platonic friendship, at least. She was already fearing the look of disappointment and hurt he would give her when she told him. All she could hope was that he’d understand and they’d make it out okay on the other side - though she was certainly preparing for a plausible outcome of the opposite happening.

The second realization was nothing shocking, but it was significantly more terrifying than the first: Reyna felt a lot for Piper. Much more than anything she’d ever felt for Jason - the only other person she’d ever had feelings for. She didn’t dare call it love, not consciously, but somewhere, deep down, she knew it was. Piper had managed to break down any wall Reyna had ever put up around herself, and she’d done it all by being the most caring and wonderful person in the world. 

Something about Piper screamed you can trust me, and in such a short amount of time, Reyna did wholeheartedly. Her mind drifted back to their kiss, which felt like a million years ago and yesterday all at once. She almost wished she hadn’t pulled back so quickly so she could more clearly remember the feeling of Piper’s lips. She wished she could kiss her again, but Reyna remembered what Annabeth had told her. Piper would get over it, and Reyna was sure she had by now.

Reyna took a breath, shut her eyes and tilted her face up into the stream of the water. For just a moment, she pushed the thoughts of everything else away. Annabeth had also told Reyna that no matter what, she and Piper would love her. Reyna had known immediately what she was saying then, and it was all coming to the surface now. 

Just to herself, covered by the stream of the water and the commotion of the girls chatting by the mirrors, Reyna swallowed hard and whispered, “I’m-”

The word got stuck in her throat. She removed her face from the water to take a heavy breath, wiping the water away from her eyes, along with the tears that were still coming. 

We love you no matter what.

Nearly silent, the words finally fell from her lips. “I’m gay.”

Her shoulders tensed like she expected to get reprimanded for that. But nothing happened. She was still the same girl she’d been two seconds ago. 

“I’m gay,” she repeated softly, trying the word out again. Miraculously, the label didn’t feel uncomfortable. She’d never cared all that much for boys until Jason, and even then, something had always felt the tiniest bit off about it, like she’d been digging too deep. Like she’d been forcing feelings to be there. 

The feelings she felt for Piper had come along so naturally, Reyna wouldn’t have been able to stop them, no matter how hard she’d tried.

She covered her face with her hands, the tiniest trace of a smile threatening to break through as she came to terms with the two little words she’d finally said. The tears that were falling now felt like relief. 

-

Being attached at the hip with Piper was a great thing until it wasn’t. The only time they weren’t with each other was when one of them was showering, and in the last few days, the one time Piper had gone to shower, Annabeth had gone too. Reyna didn’t see any opportunities to get Annabeth alone until the campfire, four nights after Reyna’s not-so-shocking revelation. Annabeth stood, telling them she was going to run to the bathroom and Reyna jumped up.

“Me too,” she said. Piper was well into a conversation with Silena, so she just gave them a thumbs up. Reyna let out a quiet breath. They walked side by side for a second before Reyna felt like she was about to physically burst at the seams.

“Can I talk to you?” she asked.

Annabeth’s head turned towards her, confused by the sudden outburst. “Yeah, of course.”

Now was the part she’d been practicing. She could say the words to herself, but to someone else… that might pose a challenge. “I realized something the other day, and I wanted to tell you.”

“Okay,” Annabeth said softly. Part of Reyna told her Annabeth knew exactly what was coming, but she was patient and let Reyna get the words out on her own. 

It took her a few seconds and a lot of repeating the words in her head, before she finally stopped walking and looked at Annabeth. “I’m gay,” she breathed. “Well, like 90% sure. Definitely not straight, but you know. Gay works for now.” Just like that, with a little rambling included, the words were out in the world and someone else had heard them. And with no hesitation, Annabeth smiled - she had definitely expected that, but Reyna was grateful for her patience nonetheless.

“I’m proud of you, Reyna,” Annabeth said softly, reaching a hand out to take hers. “Although I really do have to pee, so let’s keep walking.”

A laugh bubbled out of Reyna and they finished their walk to the bathroom, which was mercifully empty. “How are you?” Annabeth asked as she stepped into a stall. “Like after realizing it and telling me and everything.”

Reyna leaned against the wall, looking at her sneakers. “It was hard,” she admitted. “Thought a lot. Cried a lot.”

“Felt that,” Annabeth said, making Reyna chuckle.

“I’m… glad, though. Like, I never realized it before, but there was this heaviness on my shoulders for my whole life and for once, I don’t feel it.” 

Annabeth rejoined Reyna outside of the stalls, a smile still gracing her features. They both walked to the sinks. “That’s really good,” Annabeth said. “Did you tell Piper?”

Reyna’s heart fluttered. “Not yet,” she whispered. “That’s the other thing.”

Annabeth’s features softened immediately, and she tilted her head as she looked at Reyna. She dried her hands off, once again waiting for Reyna to say whatever she needed, even though Annabeth definitely knew what was coming again.

“I really like Piper,” Reyna whispered. Another big confession that felt like a weight off her chest, even though telling Annabeth did nothing about the issue that she also needed to tell Piper.

“Are you going to tell her that too?” Annabeth asked softly, nodding her head towards the door. “Come on. If we take too long, she’s gonna come looking for us.”

Reyna chuckled, following Annabeth out of the door. They walked slowly back towards the campfire. “I don’t know if I can,” Reyna said. “I mean, you said she’d get over whatever she felt for me and she probably did, so how can I tell her now?”

Annabeth considered this for a few seconds. “She’s never said anything to me, but if I’m going off instinct, I don’t think she got over it. Not completely, at least.”

“Why do you think that?”

Annabeth’s lips quirked up. “She’s different around you. I mean, Piper is an open book. Caring, warm, easy to get along with. But around you, she’d got this softness about her I’ve never seen. She talks about you a lot. I heard her on the phone with someone the other day, I’m not sure who, but she was going on and on about you. Even when she was talking about other things, she would bring you up.”

Reyna could hardly believe what Annabeth was saying. Part of her refused to believe it. “Yeah, but we’re friends.”

“Piper has a lot of friends here,” Annabeth said, which was the truth. Piper got along with just about everyone at camp. “But you’re the one she can’t shut up about.”

“But what if you’re wrong?” Reyna whispered, fear bubbling up inside her again. If she told Piper how she felt and things went south again, Reyna wasn’t sure how she’d handle it. 

“Have I literally ever been wrong?” Annabeth asked, raising an eyebrow. She was teasing, but Reyna genuinely couldn’t think of any instances where Annabeth had been wrong. Annabeth chuckled, continuing, “But even if I was, you guys are best friends. I think you guys could get through it.”

“I’m not sure if I could get over these feelings for her.”

They were almost at the fire again, sounds of laughter ringing through the air. Annabeth stopped, turning to Reyna. “Maybe not,” she said. “But I’m willing to bet you won’t need to. We only have a little over three weeks of camp left. I’d take the risk, Rey. I think it’ll work out.”

“Don’t call me Rey,” Reyna said distractedly, eyes flicking over to Piper for a moment. When Annabeth didn’t reply, Reyna looked back over at her to see a wide grin. “What?”

“You let Piper call you Rey.”

Reyna crossed her arms at that, unable to deny it. “Yeah, well,” Reyna said, eyes flicking back over. This time, Piper was looking at her and immediately waved her over when their eyes locked. “Piper’s different.”

-

Regardless of whether or not Reyna was going to listen to Annabeth’s advice about telling Piper the extent of her feelings for her, Reyna was going to get Piper on the roof of the arena to tell her everything else. 

The sun was meant to rise at 6:20 am today, so at six, Reyna crawled out of bed and shook Piper awake. “Wuh?” she groaned. 

“Shh,” Reyna hushed her quietly. “Come with me.”

In the darkness of their cabin, Reyna could just barely see Piper blink a few times. “Rey?” she whispered. 

“Come on, McLean. We have a sunrise to watch.”

Piper hummed, finally sitting up. “Could’ve told me about this last night,” she whispered, words still slightly slurred. She slipped on some sandals and then they were quietly making their way out of the cabin. Piper yawned, waiting until they were a few feet away from the cabins to speak again. “Why’re we doing this today?”

“I wanted to tell you something,” Reyna said, shoving her hands into the pockets of her sweatpants. “And I like the sunrise.”

Piper didn’t question it any further, just yawning again. They walked quickly towards the arena, racing up the steps and pushing the roof door open. The sky was starting to lighten, but the sun was still hidden beneath the horizon. They sat on the ground, side by side, with backs against the walls and facing the east. Piper didn’t hesitate to press her body against Reyna’s arm, curling her face into her shoulder.

“You can’t fall asleep on me,” Reyna said, hoping her voice didn’t sound as nervous as she felt.

“You’re so comfy, though,” Piper murmured. 

“How am I gonna tell you my super important information if you fall asleep?”

That woke Piper back up, though sluggishly. She sat up, stretching her arms above her head. “Okay, I’m all ears,” Piper said. “What’s on your mind?”

Ironically, Reyna’s mind went blank immediately. Telling Annabeth had seemed hard at the time, but the idea of saying those words in front of Piper seemed impossible. She had told Annabeth almost a week ago, taking time to build up the courage to tell Piper next, but she wasn’t going to be able to do it. Almost instantly, Piper realized something was wrong, concern taking over her beautiful features.

“Hey, what’s up?” she asked, much softer. She reached out, pulling one of Reyna’s hands into her lap where she laced their fingers together. Reyna opened her mouth, then shut it. She blinked a couple of times and unbidden, tears started to well up.

Piper scooted closer, letting go of Reyna’s hand to wipe the tear that slipped out. “Rey, what’s wrong?” Piper whispered, ever so gently.

Reyna swallowed hard, taking a shaky breath. Piper looked worried, but there was still something warm about the expression. Something soft and caring. The very thing about Piper that had made Reyna trust her so easily in the first place.

“I’m gay,” Reyna breathed. 

Piper blinked and her shoulders sagged a little, a small breath of relief escaping her mouth. “Oh. God, you scared me,” Piper whispered, before taking Reyna’s hand again. “Rey, that’s okay. Why were you so scared to tell me that?”

Reyna swallowed, shaking her head a little. “I don’t know,” she lied. Oddly enough, she’d been worried things would change between them. Piper would look at her differently and nothing would be the same. A stupid thought, really. As if Piper would ever do such a thing. 

Piper smiled, reaching forward to tug Reyna into a strong hug. The sun peeked over the horizon, bathing them in light. The sky was a beautiful mix of light pink and orange. Reyna turned her head to look at the sun, which was slowly making its way into the sky. The start of a new day. Reyna almost found it symbolic, for she was starting a new chapter of her life, too.

She made the decision in a split second. 

“That’s not all,” she whispered before she could back out. No going back now.

“Oh?” Piper said softly, leaning back from the hug but staying close. She pressed her palms to Reyna’s cheeks, framing her face in warmth. “What else?”

For a second, she took Piper’s face in. The softness of her smile - that same softness Annabeth may have been talking about. The pride and adoration in her eyes, the glow of her skin, the few hairs that fell into her face, the gentle slope of her nose and the freckles that dotted it. Up close, there was nothing as beautiful as Piper McLean. Reyna was positive about that.

Talking seemed so much easier now.

“Almost a month ago, on this roof, you kissed me,” Reyna whispered. Piper’s smile faltered slightly and confusion flickered over her face. Reyna pushed forward, though. “At the time, I pushed you away because I was scared and thought I didn’t want it. I thought I didn’t like you… like that.”

Reyna took a shaky breath, closing her eyes for a second. “But I do,” she whispered. Her eyes fluttered open to find Piper’s again. “I really, really like you. If you’ll have me.”

Piper studied her for what could’ve only been two seconds, but they felt like the longest two seconds of her life. But finally, her lips started to curve up into that smile again. Reyna already began to feel like she could breathe easier, and then Piper swiped her thumb over Reyna’s cheekbone.

“Do I need to ask this time to kiss you?” Piper whispered.

Reyna shook her head. “No. You don’t need to ask,” she breathed. Piper’s smile only lasted another second before she was leaning in and closing the gap between them. This time, the last thing Reyna was going to do was pull away. She savored it, using her hands to cup Piper’s jaw gently. 

Piper seemed to sense that Reyna had almost no experience, keeping it to a simple press of their lips together. Just like everything else about Piper, her lips were warm and soft and felt like a sense of comfort Reyna found only in her.

Piper was the one to pull back, and everything crashed over Reyna at once. She pressed her forehead to Piper’s, shutting her eyes tight so no tears could escape. “God, I was so scared that I was going to ruin everything,” she whispered, her words coming out in a jumbled rush. Piper pulled Reyna into a hug, tracing the french braid in her hair with a light touch.

“You didn’t ruin anything, babe,” Piper murmured. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Reyna tilted her head up to look at Piper, who wiped tears away before they even had the chance to fall. Her eyes looked amber under the pinky golden sky, and Reyna thought she’d be able to stare into them forever. She never got the chance to, though, because Piper was using a few fingers to lift her chin, and then they were kissing again. It was everything Reyna had expected, and then some.

-

When they returned to the cabin later that morning, Annabeth was already awake and her eyes locked with Reyna’s as soon as she and Piper entered the room. A smile crept onto her face as she looked at their joined hands and flushed cheeks. 

Piper let go of Reyna’s hand to shuffle through her dresser, while Reyna stood there, still looking at Annabeth. 

Thank you, Reyna mouthed, offering her a genuine smile that Annabeth immediately returned.

Anytime, she replied.

-

Two and a half months ago, Reyna had been dreading coming to this camp. Now, she didn’t want to leave it. She stood with Piper and Annabeth, huddled together as they waited to be picked up by their parents. Reyna’s fingers were intertwined tightly with Piper’s, unwilling to let go for even a second, despite the fact that they had already made plans to see each other next weekend.

“I will literally come kidnap you,” Piper told Annabeth, completely serious. 

“I’ve heard that’s illegal,” Reyna tilted her head. 

“You’re no fun,” Piper replied.

“I’m also not a kid,” Annabeth said. “I turned 18. You were both there.”

“I will come adult-nap you.”

“Probably still illegal.”

“Babe, you’re supposed to be on my side,” Piper sighed. Reyna shrugged. Before they got the chance to bicker more, a car horn honked and they all looked over. A man with tightly kept blonde hair was standing in the open door of his car, waving towards them. Annabeth sighed.

“Alright, back to hell,” she muttered. Without a word, they all wrapped their arms around each other. They repeated their promises of keeping in touch, something they’d already said a million times in the past day. Annabeth’s father honked again and she pulled back. “Love you guys. I’ll see you soon.”

“See you.”

“We love you,” Piper said softly, frowning as Annabeth walked away. She turned to Reyna then, wrapping her arms around her waist. Even with the sadness she felt about Annabeth leaving, Reyna couldn’t help the smile that made its way onto her face. 

“You’re gonna see me in a week, you know?” she murmured. 

“That’s so long,” Piper said, voice muffled by Reyna’s shirt. Admittedly, Reyna agreed. She already missed Piper, even if she was right there in her arms.

They stood there until something forced them apart. That something being Reyna’s father.

He called her name as he walked toward them, and Reyna felt the uneasiness settle in as she broke apart from Piper. 

“Hi, dad,” she said. 

“How was your summer here?” he asked, eyes flicking around them at the camp. 

“Not as bad as I was expecting, actually,” she said, clearing her throat. “Dad, this is Piper. We were roommates this summer.”

Not a lie, but not the full truth. They’d had one discussion about what to tell Reyna’s dad and she’d made that decision fairly easily: she’d hide it all for now. She had no idea how he would react to having a gay daughter, let alone one with an almost-girlfriend of a week and a half.

“It’s nice to meet you, sir,” Piper smiled, reaching her hand out to shake his. “You’ve raised an amazing daughter.”

He lifted his chin slightly, always one to love compliments. Reyna resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “Well, thank you.” He turned his attention back to his daughter. “We should get going.”

“Okay,” Reyna said, turning to Piper again. Their arms wrapped around each other.

“I’ll see you soon, babe,” Piper murmured, quiet enough for only their ears. 

“Okay,” Reyna smiled, pulling back reluctantly. Her father was an impatient man and she didn’t want to anger him so soon. “Bye Pipes.”

“Bye Rey.”

Reyna readjusted the bag on her shoulder, following her father to their car which was parked in the lineup of other parents. She tossed her bag into the back seat, sparing Piper one more glance. Unsurprisingly, she was already looking. They gave each other one more wave, one more smile, and then Reyna climbed into the passenger seat. Their summer was over.

-

As much as she missed camp, hanging out in her bedroom with Piper was a lot better. No fear of interruption, no scheduled meals to bother them, no other roommates. There were, of course, her parents, but they were oftentimes too busy to check on their daughter. 

Over the last month, even into the start of the school year, they’d managed to go no more than a few days at a time without seeing each other. If Reyna’s parents suspected anything, they probably would’ve said something by now or attempted to prevent her from seeing Piper.

Seeing as Piper was currently sprawled out on her bed for the third time that week, Reyna sensed there were no issues.

She propped herself up on her elbows, reaching over to tuck a lock of hair behind Piper’s ear. “We could go see a scary movie,” she suggested.

“You hate scary movies.”

“I have you to protect me, though,” she said, a cheeky smile taking over her face. Piper laughed, reaching for her phone. 

“Let me check what times they have.”

Piper tapped away on her phone, while Reyna stayed above her, twirling her fingers in the flowy locks of hair covering her pillows. They had never explicitly talked about it, but it was clear to Reyna that Piper was letting her take the reins for every step of their relationship. Reyna was still coming to terms with liking girls, which was easier some days than others. 

“There’s 6:30?” Piper offered. “Or 7. We could get dinner first.”

“Seven sounds good,” Reyna replied.

Piper continued tapping on her screen for another moment before locking her phone. “Can’t believe I get to take you out on a date, I am so lucky.”

“You say that every time we go out.”

Piper turned her head towards Reyna, smiling. “Because it’s true.”

Reyna shook her head, letting her eyes flit over Piper’s face. “I was thinking the other day,” she said quietly. She’d been thinking about this a lot, actually. 

“Mm, what about?”

Reyna bit her lip. “Would you wanna come to my homecoming with me?” she asked quietly. “I could introduce you to my friends as… as my girlfriend?”

Piper’s smile faltered a little, but her eyes glittered. Just the same as everything else, Piper hadn’t pushed Reyna into a label yet. She had been waiting patiently, letting Reyna decide whenever they would take that step.

“Your girlfriend?” Piper asked, the smile beginning to find its way back onto her face. A matching one grew on Reyna’s lips too as she nodded. 

“My girlfriend.”

“I’d like that,” Piper whispered. Reyna felt a ridiculous amount of relief course through her, as if Piper would say no to that. She felt giddy as she leaned down, connecting their lips. Piper took Reyna’s face in her hands, thumbs pressing against her cheekbones. 

When they pulled back, they were both still smiling. “I can’t believe I get to take my girlfriend out on a date,” Piper said, amending her earlier statement. “I’m so lucky.”

-

Reyna hadn’t been avoiding Jason, but she’d certainly made it a point to not be alone with him. They hung out in their group setting, and even then, she found it hard to look at him. If he noticed, he hadn’t called her out on it yet. 

They’d always been on eggshells around each other because of their mutual crushes, but it had never been this bad. Before, they could talk and occasionally include a flirty comment here or there. Jason was too shy for more than that. 

Now, Reyna would avoid his eyes when they all hung out and duck her head whenever she saw him in the halls. She was now sure that Jason hadn’t caught on, as he had seemingly sought her out at her locker.

“Reyna,” he said, the smile already present in his voice. Reyna tensed, turning to him. He looked the same as ever. That same white and dark purple varsity jacket on him, even though it was hot as hell outside. His short blonde hair pushed up and styled into place, the little scar on his lip he’d gotten when he’d fallen that time they’d all gone ice skating two years ago. 

“Hey, Jason,” Reyna said, putting the last of her books into her locker before shutting it. She wrapped her arms around her middle, offering what she hoped seemed like a real smile. He looked nervous.

“Hey, so, I was wondering,” he started, cheeks already flushing pink. “Um, well, homecoming is coming up. I was thinking we could… go together? If you wanted.”

A few months ago, this would’ve been all she wanted. Now, she just felt guilt curl in on her. She should’ve told him sooner. The only people who knew about Piper were Hazel and Nico, but she should’ve told Jason too. And she knew that, she’d just never known how. Reyna swallowed, preparing herself to watch his face fall and forcing the words out.

“Actually, I… have a date,” she said quietly, curling her fingers into the t-shirt she was wearing. She wished she could compact herself into a little ball and hide away from this moment, from his gaze. Just as she expected, the hopeful look on his face began to fall apart. She pushed herself to explain a little, knowing he at least deserved that. 

“It’s someone I met this summer, and we’ve been seeing each other for about a month and a half now,” she said. Fear won out, and she couldn’t force herself to tell him who it was. She couldn’t tell him that she had a girlfriend. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

Jason blinked a few times before shaking his head. “No, no,” he said, taking a small step back. “It’s- don’t worry about it, it’s okay. I’m happy for you.”

“I wanted to mention it sooner, I just wasn’t sure how to,” she said, feeling painfully close to crying. She wasn’t going to, though. She couldn’t cry to him when she was the one hurting him.

“Reyna, it’s okay,” he said softly. “If you’re happy, that’s what matters.”

“I am,” she whispered, nodding once. Jason, always too good, smiled then.

“Good,” he said, and it sounded like he meant it. “I’ll be okay then.”

Reyna nodded slowly. Jason had always been one of the kindest people she’d known, sometimes even to those who didn’t deserve it. It had always been something she liked about him. He offered her one last smile before turning and walking away. Reyna leaned up against her locker, tucking her chin down to her chest.

She still felt guilt eating at her, but she supposed she would’ve felt it no matter how she’d ended up telling him. She was at least comforted knowing he didn’t hate her, even if she thought she deserved it a little bit.

-

Reyna wasn’t entirely convinced that Piper and Hazel weren’t about to ditch her. She was more than happy her girlfriend got along with her best friend, but she was beginning to regret ever introducing them to each other because now, they would just team up on teasing her. 

“You literally can’t be mean to me today,” Reyna frowned, squeezing Piper’s hand. “You’re meeting my friends, so you can’t be mean to me.”

“Mean is a strong word,” Piper shook her head, curls bouncing with the movement. “And even if I was mean, Hazel still likes me.”

“True,” Hazel called from the back seat. “Nico’s gonna love you.”

Despite her false annoyance, Reyna smiled. She was hopeful that Piper and Nico would get along. Up until she’d met Piper, Nico and Hazel had been the most important people in Reyna’s life, and they still were, so their approval meant everything to her. 

Reyna parked at the restaurant they were meeting her friends at and Hazel bolted from the car with a, “I’m gonna go find Frank!” Reyna chuckled, getting out too. She took Piper’s hand as they walked, much slower than Hazel’s pace, towards the restaurant.

“Okay, I’ll admit it now. I’m nervous,” Piper said quietly. Reyna smiled over at her. She had never seen her girlfriend so fancy, but the makeup and half-updo suited her well. Her tight, dark green dress was also something Reyna struggled to keep her hands and eyes away from. 

Before they even reached the front of the restaurant, Reyna could hear her friends talking and laughing. She squeezed Piper’s hand before turning the corner, seeing her friends just up ahead. 

She caught Jason’s eye first, and he caught on almost immediately as his eyes drifted to Piper. His head tilted and he blinked a couple of times. Beside her, Piper took a small, shaky breath. They finally reached the group, most of whose attention was on them. Reyna smiled, gripping Piper’s hand.

“Hey guys,” she said. “This is Piper. My girlfriend.”

A silence fell over the group for a few seconds, and it was almost comical to see everyone’s expressions. Hazel was the one to break the silence, though, and she walked over and looped her arm with Piper’s. “I’ve already claimed her as my new best friend, but I’m sure she’ll like you guys, too.”

Just like that, the shock was broken. Nico was the next to say something to her, stepping forward to shake her hand. “I’ve heard a lot about you,” he said, a small smile on his lips. Beside him was Will, who Reyna wrapped her arms around. Aside from Piper, she hadn’t seen anyone else from camp since it ended.

Introductions went by easily, and by the end of dinner, Piper seemed to fit right in. That didn’t surprise Reyna in the slightest because no one in their right mind would dislike Piper. By the time they got to their school, there were already people on the floor dancing away.

Piper held out her hand, grinning up at Reyna. “May I have this dance?”

Reyna slipped her hand into Piper’s, the touch familiar and warm. “You may,” she laughed. Piper pulled her along, and Reyna knew then that she would follow her anywhere.