Hazel's POV

"You made it!" Leo Valdez exclaims while throwing bright blue confetti at my face. "I always knew that you would."

"Why is the confetti blue?" I ask while spitting some of it out.

"Oh. Er, so that if you didn't make it, you could drown in you sadness. It was a win win either way! At least it is for the confetti."

"So much for always knowing that I would make it," I laugh. "Where's Piper? And Jason, for that matter."

"I dunno. They got in some fight earlier. I may or may not have heard it while passing by her room. They were pretty loud. Anyways, I thought just the two of us could celebrate!"

"In Jason's room?" I ask, trying not to laugh at the blue and gold decorations everywhere.

"Hey, it's also my room. If Jason ever shows up, he can join the party. It's an open invitation to all."

"Considering it's just us two, I think that's a good idea."

"Thank you, I get one every century," he says with a deep bow. I laugh when his party hat falls off due to his excessive bowing.

"Would you like any cake, my lady?" he asks. I notice an unevenly baked cake on Jason's bed, slathered with green frosting.

"I hate to ask this, but why is the frosting green?"

"Because all of the blue food coloring was being used to make someone's cookies. I don't know who's, but they need to learn to share," Leo pouts. "So I used green."

"Makes sense," I laugh.

Leo cuts into the cake and hands me a slice, showing that even the cake is green. It's surprisingly very good. As I reach for another slice, the door opens.

"What are you doing, Valdez?" A voice asks gruffly. I turn and see the same guard that I helped prank earlier. I feel a blush creeping onto my cheeks as I look down at the ground, staring at the fallen confetti.

"Celebrating Hazel becoming an Elite," Leo says without missing a beat. "Want some cake, Zhang? It wouldn't kill you to have some fun."

"No, but I may end up killing you," he grumbles.

"Hmm, it seems that I forgot the punch," Leo says, ignoring Zhang's insult. "I'll be right back, Hazel. After all, it's not a party without punch!"

Leo goes out of the door quickly, leaving just me and Officer Zhang. We stand in silence for one second, two, then three.

"I'm sorry," I blurt out. "For what I did earlier. I had no idea what Leo was going to do."

"It's alright," Zhang says while blushing. "You get used to Leo's pranks after a while. Though I don't think I'll get used to the flour. It's still all over me, even after a shower."

I laugh, then notice that he's looking at the cake wistfully. "Would you like a slice? I would hate for any of it to go to waste."

"Er, if that's alright with you," he says, still blushing.

"Please, I couldn't eat all of this even if I tried," I say while cutting a slice for him. "Leo baked it."

He lowers the forkful of cake that was almost to his mouth. "That explains why it's green, then. It's probably not safe to eat."

"Actually, it's really good. And it's green because there was no more blue food dye left, whatever that's supposed to mean."

"It means," Leo's voice says from the hallway, "That you have a caring friend that's pretend to either celebrate or mourn your Selection status."

Leo comes into view, carrying a very large punch bowl that is almost overflowing with punch. The liquid sloshes over the side and spills onto the carpet.

"Oops. Oh well, we'll just say that it was Jason's time of the month," Leo shrugs.

"Leo!" I exclaim. I start to fan myself to kill the blush that is already spreading.

"What?" He demands. "Would you rather me say it's mine? No, that makes no sense. Jason, on the other hand..."

"Why is there so much punch?" I ask, trying to change the subject before things got even more awkward.

"Oh. Well, I may or may not have made the recipe for 75 people. But that's not my fault!" he adds quickly after seeing me roll my eyes at him. "They didn't tell me that until I finished making the punch! Who puts how much it serves at the very bottom? Pfft, losers, that's who."

"This is why everyone thinks you're an idiot, Valdez," Officer Zhang says.

"Wait, why does the Zhang have my cake?" Leo demands.

"Because I said he could have a slice. We can't eat an entire cake by ourselves, Leo."

"That sounds like a challenge, Levesque," Leo says while cutting another slice of cake for himself. "Bring it on! I will out-cake all of you!"

"Is that even a word?" Officer Zhang asks doubtfully.

"I just said it, so yes, yes it is a word."

"Would you two stop being such boys?" I ask. "Why can't you just get along?"

"Because of this," Leo says before flicking a bite of cake onto Officer Zhang's forehead. "Whoops, my bad. I'm so clumsy some times."

Officer Zhang blinks before shoving the rest of his slice onto Leo's face. The green frosting spreads into his hair, making it look green.

"Oh, it's so on, Frank!" Leo shouts before filling a cup with punch and spilling it on Frank.

"What are you two even doing?" I shout before standing in between them. That was my first mistake. I receive both cake and punch on my dress from both of them.

"Oh my gods, I'm so sorry, Hazel," Frank says, looking horrified. Leo freezes in place, his hand halfway in the punch bowl. I smile at both of them before darting to where Leo stands and shoving his head into the punch.

Frank smiles and cheers, but that stops quickly. I pick up a part of the cake with my hands and throw it at him, the frosting still on me. I smear it all over his face with my hands.

I feel something hit my back. It's Leo, throwing little chunks of pineapple from the punch at me. I laugh and dunk, making the next one hit Frank.

Soon, we're all spread out, armed with plates of cake and cups of punch. We're throwing them like mad, trying to hit each other with our dessert.

"You're dead meat, Frank Zhang!" I scream after he gets an entire slice of cake tangled into my hair. "You're so dead! Leo, let's get him!"

"You can't team up like that!" Frank protests as Leo and I advance towards him. However, I wink at Frank before pointing at Leo. He nods and lets Leo attack him with chunks of frosting. I head over to the halfway empty punch bowl and lift it up, ignoring the punch that sloshes onto my dress. It's already ruined beyond belief already. My maids are so going to hate me after this is over.

I lift the punch bowl up and dump it all on Leo. He stands there, totally covered with the punch.

"I didn't want to do this, Hazel. However, you leave me no choice."

"What is he doing?" Frank asks as Leo turns from us and goes to his bed. Leo bends down and gets something from under it. Leo shows us another green cake that looks identical to the first.

"Why do you have an extra cake under your bed?" I giggle, unable to stop laughing.

"In case I dropped the first one, duh. Then I would be that klutz who dropped your one and only cake. You're very much welcome. But now, I have to seek my revenge on you two."

"Frank, it's you and me against him. Think we can do it?"

"Most definitely," Frank says before picking up part of a slice of cake and throwing it at the already very messy Leo.

After half an hour, we've run out of cake and punch to throw and dump on each other. I collapse on Leo's bed, unable to stop giggling. "Truce! Truce! I think we've run out of weapons."

"I think that you're right," Frank agrees before collapsing on the bed next to me. "I'm covered with cake and punch."

I sit back up and take a look at my reflection in the cake covered mirror. There's frosting in my hair and punch running down my arms. My dress is stained with red and green, making it look like a poorly decorated gingerbread house. I laugh at how I look.

"What are you going to tell Jason when he gets back?" I ask Leo, who's busy polishing a small bedside table.

"That Frank did it, of course."

"Hey!" Frank protests. "It wasn't all my fault!"

"Tell him that Percy's cousin had a crazy party in here," I say, trying to avoid a Leo and Frank fight. "That way, we don't get blamed."

"Good idea, my evil little genius. He won't suspect a thing."

"Except for when he heard you three discussing what to tell me happened," Jason says from in the hallway.

The three of us freeze and look at each other. "What do we do?" Frank asks, looking alarmed.

"Do what we always do when trouble finds us. We run!" Leo says before running out of the door. I follow him, racing past a very confused looking Jason. Frank is right behind me.

We run up the stairs. "Faster, he's gaining on us," Frank says. I have short legs that don't help me run very fast.

"I'm trying," I pant. "I can't go any faster."

Without a word, I feel my feet being lifted off of the ground. Frank swings me onto his back and I'm clinging on for my life, my feet digging into his sides. Jason is right behind us, looking very angry. I kick sideways and hit a vase that fall right in front of Jason. It shatters and he stops in surprise, leaving us with just enough time to make it to my bedroom

The three of us dart inside and collapse on my bed, not caring that the sheets are getting stained with cake and punch.

"Miss...?" One of my maids ask with surprise.

"If an angry blonde haired guard comes by, tell him that we're not here," I giggle.
"Quick, we have to hide in the bathroom!"

"You have your own bathroom in your bedroom?" Leo asks with surprise.

"Yeah, it's weird for me too," I say, shrugging off the memories of how life was like back when I was a Six. "Let's go before Jason shows up!"

I sit down in the large bathtub while Leo sits on the toilet and Frank on the floor. We look at each other and laugh.

Sure enough, there's a knock at the door. I hear my maids answering it. Time to see if they'll listen to me or him.

"Excuse me, ladies, but have you seen Miss Hazel Levesque and two guards? I could've sworn that I saw them enter here, and I need their help with something rather important."

Why does he have to sound so sincere all the time?

"They were in here, but they left mere moments ago. Something about seeing over the castle walls...?"

"Thank you, ladies," Jason says before leaving. The bathroom door opens and I see one of my maids standing there with her arms crossed.

"Thank you," I say sheepishly. "For everything."

"What happened to your dress?" she demands. "I made that for a special occasion, and now it's ruined!"

"Oh, er, it's a very long story. And I'm horribly sorry about it. It was a very lovely dress that I adored."

My maid sighs, but she's smiling. "Am I allowed to ask what all of that was about?"

"No," Leo says. "Like Hazel said, it was a very long story. Maybe we'll tell it sometime."

My maid smiles. "I'll find you another dress, dear. And you may want to take a bath before you get dressed. Just a thought." She leaves the now cake stained bathroom.

"Well, Frank and I have to go and try to explain everything to Officer Grace. See you later, Hazel," Leo says.

"Bye, Leo," I say before giving him a kiss on the cheek. He looks stunned and a little bit dazed. He stumbles out of the bathroom, running into the door on the way out.

"Bye Hazel," Frank grumbles, apparently back to his grouchy self.

I lean in to kiss his cheek as well, but he turns at the wrong time. Our lips brush against each other. I stand on my tip toes to reach, and our lips connect.

He tastes sweet, just like cake, which may be since he just had a cake war. I no longer feel as if I'm covered in cake and punch, or that my dress is ruined. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that I felt like a princess.

Frank steps back quickly. "Er, um, sorry about, er, you, um, know. I'll see you, er, later. At some point. I don't know. Bye."

He exits the bathroom very quickly, leaving me alone with the startling conclusion I've just reached. Well, two conclusions.

I just kissed a boy.

And the more alarming: It was with a guard.

I'm in the Selection, and I just kissed a guard. The same thing happened with Silena, and she was almost killed because of it. What's going to happen to me? And more importantly, what's going to happen to Frank?

A/N
Double update! There you go, have an adorable chapter. This was so much fun for me to write! Of course it gets a little bit more depressing towards the end, but whatever.

One more chapter is left in this book! That's kind of bittersweet for me. But I'm so glad that there will be a sequel! I'm going to go back and rewrite some of the earlier chapters that I wrote more than a year ago. Until next time, my faithful demigods.