Chapter 2

Percy decided to lay low and persuaded himself that Annabeth wouldn't recognize him without the super dorky sweater he had been wearing when they met earlier; he hunched over to try and hide his facial features for good measure.

"Who wants to go first, sweethearts?" Coach Virile said in a dramatically gruff voice, "You wanna go, Mikey?" he raised an eyebrow at Michael's raised hand. Michael rolled his eyes at the Coach's nickname and came to the edge of the pool. "Alright, you're going to swim from-"

"I've been on the team for 3 years; I know how to swim a lap." Michael said bluntly and signaled for Virile to start his stopwatch before jumping in the pool. He swam his lap, making use of a few different strokes and made the team.

The rest of the group followed suit, everyone had made the team except Jenna Mishear and Henry Baker, and only two people were left: Jason and Annabeth. Jason was Percy's cousin, they were only about 2 months apart, and Percy had been training him over the summer because he had finally agreed to try out for swim team. Percy leaned forward, excited for his cousin who had volunteered to go next, as he leaned, he realized Annabeth was staring at him.

"Hi!" she mouthed, waving, before returning her attention to Coach Virile.

She recognized you, Percy! Stupid, stupid, stupid. Percy shook his head, why did this kind of thing always happen when he met girls?

Jason jumped in the pool.

Annabeth's POV (A/N- sorry about the change in perspective, but I felt it was sort of necessary, I'll try not to change POVs in the middle of a chapter in the future.)

Crap. Annabeth thought to herself, why am I doing this again? She watched as one of the boys, Matt, swam, she knew perfectly well why she was here, "leave no extra-curricular activity untouched" Annabeth didn't care what it was, any activity where she learned something, and got to stay at school longer, was an activity she wanted to be a part of. As a very smart girl, Annabeth had to find things she couldn't do well, like swimming, and approach them as intellectually-stimulating challenges; so here she was.

As Annabeth recalled all of this, she watched the people before her swim, each one doing something she couldn't, which frustrated her-she was very competitive. She tried to compute the trajectory and force of their arms and legs in the water so she might try and replicate the system, but swimming just didn't seem like something you could do that with. As the line ahead of her slowly dwindled Annabeth stole a glance at the boy who had gone first and was sitting on the benches, Percy –something? How had he done it? When she looked, however, she recognized him-her locker buddy! She internally laughed, recalling when they had first met, earlier that day. "Hi!" she mouthed, and waved at him; she knew she had recognized that name.

"Annie?" Couch Virile called, "you're up!" he winked at her, obviously trying to be reassuring, but she found it a bit creepy.

She gave the coach a weak smile before practically falling into the pool during what was supposed to be a graceful dive. She flung her arms and legs about, internally scolding herself for not studying swimming technique books before coming. Eventually, she made in around the pool and hit her head on the wall before dragging herself out of the water.

Coach Virile helped her up and handed her a towel.

"Did I make it?" Annabeth said with a little too much doubt in her voice.

"Well…" the coach dragged his words out, "You could, uhh, use a little work."

Annabeth fought back the sudden urge to cry, she hated not being able to do things.

Coach Virile sighed, giving in at her water filled eyes, "Alright, why don't I pair you with a team member and you can practice for a few weeks then try again, okay?"

Annabeth shrugged, "Okay, thanks." She sighed; working with other people wasn't her forte. As long as it wasn't with that kid, Percy-

"Let's go introduce you to Percy Jackson." The coach interrupted her thoughts, smiling as though Percy was his own son. "He's excellent; I think you can learn a lot from him!"

Coach Virile led her to where Percy was high-fiving Jason.

"Good job, bro!"

Jason laughed, "You too, man!"

"Percy!" the coach interrupted. "I have a project for you."

Great, thought Annabeth, now I'm a project.