Swimming Lessons
a Percy Jackson and the Olympians story
By: Emily Helene
"Annabeth!" Malcolm tossed a pillow at me, his half-sister. I opened my eyes, which were extraordinarily heavy from lack of sleep. I was so not ready to get up.
"Just ten more minutes." I groaned. I turned over and stared at him. His blond hair was messed up and he had a No. 2 pencil tucked behind his left ear. He shook his head.
"Don't think so." Malcolm tossed another pillow my way but i deflected it with my elbow. I kicked off the covers and looked at the clock by my beside. It read 9:52. How could it be almost 10 already? I jumped out of bed, slipped my feet into a pair of pink converse and raced out the door.
"What's the rush?" He called out the door. I stopped just long enough to call over my shoulder,
"I was supposed to meet Percy an hour ago!" He laughed.
"Annabeth Chase forgot something?"
"Shut up!" I yelled, but I got the impression that he didn't hear me because I was already halfway to the arena.
Percy stood lashing a practice dummy in the empty arena. His camp shirt was drenched in sweat. "You're late." He remarked, tossing me a practice sword that he had probably fetched from the armory earlier.
"Yeah yeah." I sighed, catching it. I longed for my dagger, but sadly, I couldn't bear to use it. Especially not against Percy. "Don't remind me."
He rolled his eyes. "Take your stance." I instructed.
"Hey! Who's leading this fight, anyway?" He demanded. I stared him straight in the eyes.
"Who do you think?" I countered. Then I lunged. He deflected my first strike easily. But my second strike hit its mark and sliced through the skin of his left forearm. I didn't feel satisfied, though because seconds later it sealed itself back like it never happened. Percy's invulnerability was slowly but surely weakening which had me both relieved and terrified. Sometimes, like now, I really hated that stupid invulnerability thing. All that it had done (besides save his life countless times) was aggravate me and increase his already over sized ego. Wonderful.
He struck a blow that would have severed my thigh had I not seen it coming and deflected it with all my will power. We fought for hours in the arena, stopping only once to go down to the lake to cool off around noon.
Percy and I sat on the dock, dipping our toes into the water. I had rolled up my track pants so that they wouldn't get wet. But Percy didn't bother. I guess being a son of Poseidon had its perks. I made a figure 8 with my toes in and watched the ripples in admiration.
"You did good today, Wise Girl." He said. I looked over at him.
"Well, Seaweed Brain." I corrected. "Well." He stuck his tongue out at me and dipped his hands into the water, pulling up a miniature sphere of clear liquid. It spun and little droplets flew off, leaving water prints on my pants. Then he threw it at me and I pushed him off the dock. But much to my dismay he didn't get wet. Stupid Poseidon perks.
I'll admit that I did actually like getting blasted with the water. It was refreshing and after two hours of sword fighting I probably smelled worse than the stables. But I wouldn't tell Percy that.
He climbed back up the ladder and sat down beside me again. He kissed me on the cheek softly.
It was weird thinking of myself as Seaweed Brain's girlfriend because between you and me, other than the kissing, nothing had changed. I still beat the crap out of him in almost everything. Except stuff that had to do with sword fighting (I preferred my knife), water and swimming (for obvious reasons). He was about to push me in when I froze and my battle instincts kicked in. Water to a daughter of Athena, even me, was bad. Very bad. I tensed and he stopped.
"Hey, no fair!" He complained, smiling. "You got to push me in!"
I looked at him. His black hair flopped casually into one of his striking emerald eyes. I almost forgot what we were talking about. "You can swim."
He stared at me incredulously, "You can't? But what about when we were in the Siren's Bay?" I knew he was going to ask me that.
I shook my head. "I don't know. Survival instinct, maybe. All that I know is that I can't. Mae and Charlie from Hermes took me canoing in Zephynos Creek a little while ago and when I fell out my brain seemed to shut down and..." I could have droned on and on but he stopped me.
"I get it." He grinned. "Well I'll just have to teach you, then." Fear rippled through me and I felt faint.
"No. Way." I cried, trying not to let Percy see how scared I was. I was the smarter one of us and rarely admitted defeat. Not that Percy was dumb exactly but sometimes he just didn't use his head. This was one of those times and I told him so.
"Why not?" He asked. This time it was my turn to stare in disbelief.
"Seaweed Brain, are you really that dense?" I implored. His gaze remained blank. I touched the small of his back applying pressure. He cried out in pain. I realized that it hurt a lot more than I had intended. I apologized quickly.
"What was that for?" He demanded.
I didn't bother answering. "Does the rivalry between Athena and Poseidon mean anything to you? Its just like with you not being able to go into the air. Zeus would kill you."
He nodded like he understood what I was getting at. Nevertheless, I continued. "Percy. If I set foot in the ocean-" I paused, thinking, "or any water actually, Poseidon will kill me." He grinned. "Why are you smiling?" I demanded. "If i go in water to swim, I will die!"
"You called me Percy." I rolled my eyes at him. Such a pathetic little Seaweed Brain. My pathetic little Seaweed Brain.
"Don't get used to it, kelp head." He raised his eyebrows at me.
"Kelp head." He paused. "That's a new one."
I elbowed him in the shoulder. But he was used to my antics. Also, the whole invulnerability thing helped. I was just glad it was beginning to wear off a little.
"I could teach you." He suggested. I shook my head vigorously.
"Uh-uh."
"Why not?"
"Did you not hear what I said?" I asked.
"So I'll just Iris-Message him and ask him to let you swim for a couple hours." He shrugged. "How's Wednesday around dawn?"
"Whoa!" I teased. "Seaweed Brain will get up at dawn? I'd like to see that." He grinned and I grinned right back.
"So see you then?" Although, it was more of a statement than a question.
"Uh. No." I answered. But I would go anyway and he knew it. Besides, I had a thing for getting up early. Hell, it was the perfect time of day for thinking.
"Cool. I've got to go. Archery practice with Chiron." He smiled. "Bring a swimsuit." I smiled back as he ran off to find the old centaur. Then I was hit with the reality of the situation. Being a daughter of Athena, I very rarely swam, with the exception of Siren's Bay, and that was only when Seaweed Brain or Clarisse pushed me in. Only, the thing was that I'd never really had to swim before.
Whenever I accidentally (or in the case of Clarisse, who usually pushed me in against my will) came in contact with water I was always going down with them and they were usually holding me. When they weren't I was holding onto whatever was nearby. It wasn't really all that surprising that Percy didn't know I couldn't swim very well because I didn't advertise it. Why would I? And all of these times, I was fully clothed.
I needed a swimsuit. And fast. I could ask one of the Aphrodite girls to help me out, but they weren't really all that great of friends with me. My abhorrence to make-up didn't exactly buy me any brownie points. But that left me only one choice.
I ran over to the cabins and spotted exactly the person I wanted to talk to.
"Hey Nico!" I hollered. He had been sitting outside the Hades cabin toying with his Stygian iron sword. At the sound of his name, Nico looked up.
"Hey, Annabeth." He put down his sword and stood up. Nico di Angelo, at 14 and a half was already beginning to look like the hero he was. The little boy playing with MythoMagic cards in a crowded gymnasium was gone and in his place stood a young man who could raise the dead and knew how to execute half of the battle positions on the deck of MythoMagic cards. "Whats up?" I tossed him a bag of McDonald's food that Allie from the Hermes cabin had brought me from out of the boundaries for lunch. I thought that this would be a better use than consumption.
"I need to talk to Silena." I stated. He nodded like bring back the dead for about fifteen minutes was no big deal. Because for Nico, it wasn't.
"Sure." He took the bag from me and retrieved a fry.
"Hey! Don't eat that." I exclaimed. "Its for the offering!"
"Oh. Right." He popped the fry in his mouth. I glared at him. "What? I already touched it!"
I shrugged it off and sealed the bag in his hands. "Why do you need to talk to her?" He asked.
"No reason." I bit my lip.
"Well I can't call back the dead for 'no reason'" He interjected. I sighed. "Fine. But you have to tell me why you need her and it had better be good. These things take a lot of energy you know."
"Fine." I grumbled. "Percy is teaching me to swim and I need a bathing suit." He looked confused.
"Two things." He made the number two with his fingers.
"I'm listening."
"One. You don't know how to swim?" Way to rub it in, Nico. Thanks for that.
"Rivalry. Poseidon vs. Athena. I'll get destroyed if I set foot in anything other than pool water." He nodded.
"Two. Why do you need Silena's advice. Why not just ask Jasmin?" I shuddered. Jasmin Leona, daughter of Aphrodite. Hellbent on making my life well, Hell. I told her to leave that to Hades but clearly it hadn't made things any better. She also strongly disliked me for dating Percy whom she also had a thing for. But Percy was mine.
"Jasmin hates me and Silena knows clothes."
"Okay then." Nico shrugged. "Not involved."
"Meet me after dinner behind the Mess Hall."
"Okay."
"Deal?" He asked, extending his arm.
I grabbed his hand and shook it. "Deal."
* * *
"Nico." I whispered. "Nico! Where are you?" I stood directly beside the Mess Hall where we had decided to meet and the mosquitoes were having a heyday. Fantastic. I swatted them away and ventured closer to the woods. In the distance between a grove of trees I could make out a small figure and a translucent but incredibly beautiful, even from a distance, girl standing before him. Nico and Silena, I decided. I broke into a run.
When I reached them, I stared wide-eyed at Silena and began to tear up.
"Silena." My breath caught in my throat and I felt faint. "I'm sorry."
She shook her head. "You have nothing to be sorry about." She smiled. "How's Percy?"
I blushed. "He's great." She eyed me knowingly.
"You two going out yet?" I nodded, blushing harder.
She uttered something under her breath that sounded like "About time." I ran to hug her but instead my arms went right through her.
"Annabeth!" Nico called. I almost forgot he was there. "Don't jostle it around too much or the signal will disconnect."
"Right. Sorry. Nico?" I asked. "Can you give us a minute."
He nodded and jogged off. "Sure thing."
After he left, I had Silena's full attention.
"Percy's teaching me how to swim." I said.
"You don't know how to swim?" Would everyone just quit asking me that already? It was frustrating.
"No but thats not the point. I need your help."
"You do, do you?" She raised her eyebrows.
"I don't own a bathing suit." I admitted, shrugging my shoulders.
She closed her eyes. "This will be more fun than Christmas!" She shrieked. "Follow me." Her filmy figure began to glide in the direction of the cabins. To be honest, I didn't know that spirits could do that. But apparently, they could.
"Silena!" I pleaded. "Please be quiet. I'm not really supposed to have Nico bring back the dead for me." She winced at the 'dead' part.
"Sorry." I apologized.
"Its okay." She said quietly. "Now come with me."
She led me through the woods until we reached the circle of cabins. Aphrodite's was the tenth cabin so it was near where the new cabins were being constructed. Everyone else was at campfire so we didn't have to worry much about anyone seeing us once we got inside.
It smelled like rose petals and designer perfume. A grin spread across Silena's dazzling face. "Its good to be home." She cooed. "Come on, Annabeth."
She led me over to a pink door with black hardware and got me to open it since she herself, could not. After opening it, I realized that it was a closet. A massive monstrosity of a closet. At the entrance there was actually a map and Silena beckoned me over to Swimsuit Aisle. It was so organized I felt out of place in my jeans, Camp t-shirt and sneakers.
Silena appeared behind me pointing at several shiny suits. Blue ones, green ones, purple ones, pink ones (no thank-you) and many other colors I couldn't name.
"Lets see, tan skin, gray eyes, blond hair." She was studying an option. She shook her head. "No her hair is curly. Wouldn't work."
I grabbed a navy blue one piece suit off a nearby hanger. It was plain and perfect. "This one's nice." I said. Silena looked like she was in pain. She tried to snatch it away from me but being a ghost had its disadvantages, too.
"Annabeth. No." She instructed. "Put it back. This is a date. Not a swimming lesson, okay?" I furrowed my brow.
"It is a swimming lesson." I pointed out. She smiled.
"With Percy." She added. I raised my arms in defeat.
"Fine. Which one?" I asked. Silena pointed to four different suits. I groaned. Then she ushered me to a changing room. I slipped behind the curtain and tried on the first number.
Lets just say that it was a highlighter orange and less than flattering but Silena liked the fit and the style so I set it aside.
The second suit was much better but still not to my liking. The green material was skintight (as it should be according to Silena) and kept riding up.
The third one was a bikini and even though I protested like crazy, Silena wouldn't budge an inch. It had turquoise ties on the hips and a trident in the corner of the cup on the top.
"Oh yes. Yay!" She squealed in delight.
"No. Way." I shook my head. But in truth, I really like it and it fit really well. If the fourth one didn't fit I would go with the one I was wearing.
The fourth bathing suit was a sleek silver halter style one piece. I loved it. And I mean loved it.
"Annabeth!" Silena sighed. She tried to slap my butt but her hand went right through me. "Its hot."
"I love it." I gushed.
"And so will Percy." She added. I blushed again. She studied my face and said that I follow her over to a vanity mirror. I sat down and she showed me what products to grab. Strawberry lip gloss, black water proof mascara and two shimmery silver hair ties. "You will wear your hair in pig tails."
"Um okay?"
"You do know how to apply mascara and lip gloss, right?" She asked.
"Of course. Even I can do that." I lied. I'd get Devon to help me with it later. "But if you don't mind my asking, whats with the make-up? Won't it come off in the water anyway?"
"Annabeth, Annabeth, Annabeth." She tsked. "Its waterproof mascara and your lip gloss will be gone as soon as he kisses you."
"I guess."
"Good." She nodded once. "My work here is done." And with that Silena Beauregard vanished before my eyes as I made my way back to my cabin. Then it hit me. I didn't have any shoes. I sprinted back to the Aphrodite cabin and grabbed a nearby pair of silver flip flops and ran.
"Annabeth you can do this." I said to my reflection in the mirror of the Athena cabin bathroom.
I was attempting to apply mascara to my eyelashes for the fifth time. I was convinced that I was getting the hang of it until Ava walked in and told me otherwise.
"Annabeth, what are you doing?" She came and sat down beside me.
"I'm putting on mascara." I tried so hard to fight the tears that threatened to stream down my cheeks.
"Do you want some help?"
"No!" I snapped. Then I felt bad.
"Okay." She powered up her computer and began to type.
"Well, actually I do." I admitted. "Sorry for snapping."
She shut her computer. "I thought so." She told me to look up as she applied make up to my bottom lashes and then my top lashes as well. I swiped on the gloss and then checked the time on my watch. It was after 10 and the campers would be returning to their cabins soon. I looked in the mirror and stared at my reflection. The mascara brought out my eyes and the lip gloss made my lips shiny. I looked pretty good.
"Thanks, Ava." I smiled.
"Anytime." She answered before returning to her laptop. I walked into the bathroom and changed into my swimsuit, carefully pulling my pajamas over top. I threw the elastics on the sink and slipped into bed. Tomorrow Percy was going to teach me how to swim. I tried very hard to stop myself from laughing.
* * *
Dawn came earlier than I expected it to and I slipped out of bed and tip-toed into the bathroom as not to wake anyone. The first bits of sunlight streamed in through the windows of the cabin as I reapplied my mascara the way that Ava had showed me and threw on another coat of gloss. I threw on jeans and my camp shirt before tying my hair into two pigtails and brushing my teeth for at least five minutes.
I slipped out of the cabin unnoticed and tore over to the Poseidon Cabin. Tyson was visiting the sea god in his undersea palace so the only person inside was Percy. I knocked quietly before letting myself in.
"Percy." I whispered. "Percy!" He sat on the edge of his bunk sifting the blue silk sheets through his fingers. He looked at me and I could tell he noticed the make up.
"Wow. You look...nice."
"What?" I felt hurt. "I've never looked nice before?"
"No, I didn't mean it like that." He tried. "I mean you look really nice."
"Ah not the best thing you could have said but I'll take it." I winked. "I guess." I got up and he followed me to the door.
"Come on, Seaweed Brain." And we raced to the dock. I won by quite a lot but it was still fun for him I guess. I stared out over the water and gulped. Sensing my discomfort Percy wrapped an arm around my shoulders. Then he took off his shirt, got a running start and dove off the dock. I stared after him enviously.
"Come on in." He called. "The water's great."
I slipped out of my jeans, t-shirt and flip flops until all that I was wearing was my borrowed swimsuit. I blushed as Percy's jaw dropped and I stepped onto the ladder.
"Are you planning on coming in?" He asked. I clutched the ladder, hanging on for dear life. I shook my head.
"No. I'm scared." I felt like such a wuss admitting it but I was really truly scared to death of water.
"Its okay." He soothed. "I got you." He swam over and pulled me into the water. I squealed. It was cold and wet. Obviously. Gods, I could be so stupid sometimes. He pulled something out from underneath the dock.
"Really?" I asked staring at the inflatable dolphin in his hands. I was 16 and half! Floaties were used by four year olds! "Seriously?" He nodded.
If those things look easy to get onto please hear me when I say that they are not. It took me 6 minutes to be able to stay on the stupid dolphin. But when I got on, I refused to get off.
We swam out a little bit (well he swam, I paddled out on my inflatable dolphin) and he talk me the breast stroke and the side stroke. According to him I was a quick study. But I didn't need him to tell me something I had been told countless times before. Still, it was nice.
"Lie on your back." He told me once we were out far enough.
"It's really deep, Percy." I shivered. "And I'm getting cold."
"Trust me." So I did. Laying on my back I looked up at the stars in the sky. It was breathtaking and for the second time in my life. I was calm in the water.
"Wasn't it worth it?" He asked. I reached for the rope on my floatie.
"Yeah." I agreed. "It was."
"Race you back?"
"What? No! PERCY!" But it was too late, he already began to swim back. Super. I turned to my left and saw that land was closer than I had first thought. I swam like a maniac without medication to shore. From there I sprinted back to the dock. Seaweed Brain who was swimming nice and slowly expecting me to swim up behind him didn't even notice me running by.
When he finally reached the dock I was sitting, with my jeans and t-shirt on waiting for him. I had taken my hair out of their pigtails and it was a wet, curly mess cascading down my back.
"You really are a Seaweed Brain."
He looked up. "How did you get...Wait, what?"
"Yup." I nodded, completely satisfied. "Definitely a Seaweed Brain."
He pushed himself up and onto the dock, completely dry. As always. "And you're a Wise Girl." He stated.
"Wise Girl?" I teased. "Wise Girl is the best you have been able to come up with over the course of five years?"
"Yes." He smiled and leaned in close towards my face.
"And Percy." I said.
"Mmm."
"You're the best swim teacher ever."
He laughed and we jumped into the water where we shared yet another supremely fantastic underwater kiss.