Clang.Our blades clashed, sparks flying at the impact. I quickly performed the disarming maneuver that I had learned approximately four years ago. It worked well. The other camper's blade was knocked out of his hands before he had time to react, and clattered to the ground.

"Good, Percy. Does anyone else want to challenge him?" asked Chiron.

Challenge him. I liked the sound of that. It made me sound better a swordsman than I actually was. Believe me, I wasn't the best sword fighter at Camp Half Blood. So many others were so much more skilled than me. But today, I got to duel a lot of kids from the Aphrodite cabin, so it made me look good. (No offense to Aphrodite's kids, of course. They're just better at looking at themselves than fighting.)

"I'll challenge him."

A girl with silky blonde hair and startling gray eyes stood up. Annabeth. She had her hair down, and she was wearing her favorite owl earrings. Like everyone else at camp, she wore on a bright orange tee with the words 'Camp Half Blood' printed on it in bold, black letters. I don't know why I was taking in Annabeth's appearance. I snapped out of it as she strode up to the ring.

She was smirking. "You planning to win, Seaweed Brain?" I raised an eyebrow at her question.

"Well, yeah." I replied. Smooth, Percy. Real smooth.

"Well you know what? Change of plans." Her eyes glinted with mischief, and I found myself staring into them, thoughts no longer coherent as a they swirled in my mind.

"Wow, I'm scared." I shot back sarcastically, managing to pull myself together.

"You should be." She said confidently.

"Hey!" Someone shouted from the crowd of campers. "I know you guys love talking to each other, but you better start fighting. We're not getting any younger."

I frowned. Who was this guy? He sure had a lot of nerve, I thought, scowling at the crowd. But I didn't really have time to figure out.

"Get on your lines," said Chiron. "On your mark... get set... DUEL!"

We began to battle. Annabeth blocked every move of mine with a swift flick of her wrist. I decided to fake going left and leapt in the other direction. She fell for the ruse, but only for a moment. She spun around and swung her sword. It missed me by an inch, my face feeling the wind as the sword swished by me. My face turned a light shade of red as I flushed with in embarrassment.. She was right in front of me. Her face was just a millimeter away from mine. The breeze was tousling her golden hair. The sunlight made her eyes sparkle. Or maybe her eyes were always like that. For some strange reason, I was noting down everything about her. Again. All in the speed of the battle. I could've stood there forever, staring at her, but then I would be sliced up by the blade of Annabeth's sword. Didn't sound too fun. So I v-stepped away.

She backed up, obviously formulating another plan. Athena always had a plan, like she always said. But I didn't want to give her the chance to contemplate on how to beat me. I lunged forward, thinking that I was definitely going to win. Boy, was I wrong.

As I jumped forward, I stepped on my shoelace. Great. I forgot to tie my shoes. How come it only affects me now? You know, when I'm about to win.Okay. So I was going to lose. Big deal. I could always have a rematch. But it was worse than that.

I stumbled, tripped and lost my balance. And then...

I fell. But the most embarrassing part?

I fell on Annabeth.

Fantastic, I thought dryly as we went crashing down.

As I went down, I instinctively put out my hands. But they ended up going around Annabeth. Way to make situations better, Percy, I thought, groaning inwardly. We landed down on the grass. Her gray eyes were as large as dinner plates. Her cheeks were bright pink, and her face was directly below mine. I could've kissed her if I wanted to.

Whoa. That was a weird thought.

As if she'd read my mind, she narrowed her eyes and hissed, "Don't even think about it."

"I wasn't planning to." I shot back. That was a lie. Or... maybe it... wasn't?

We got up and dusted ourselves off awkwardly, avoiding each other's gazes. Chiron declared our little duel a draw. And then he winked at me. The campers were snickering and whistling, causing my face to heat up in embarrassment... again. Clarisse blew a mock kiss at me. I groaned. Great. Just great.