Author's Note: Hi everyone! I'm sorry this chapter took so long to upload, I have been so busy with work this week. This chapter isn't as long as my first two, as this is just a filler chapter. Please excuse any grammatical or spelling mistakes and I'd love if you could provide feedback for my work! I've left a question of the week on my profile in case anyone is interested in answering :) Thank you all for your support and views!

Please note: I don't own Percy Jackson or any of the characters!

Chapter 3: An Unexpected Friendship

Annabeth made her final checks. Bow strung tight enough for tension and elasticity but loose enough to pull back with an arrow? Check. Arrows ready? Check. Bracer on? Check. Nerves calm? Check. She was surprisingly calm even though it was her most competitive event yet. She passed the qualifying round with flying colors, and she hoped to win the championship round of the Junior Olympics in the same way. Hopefully her arrows will be flying rather than colors in her case.

Her fingers worked on their own accord, fidgeting with her bracer. She was ready. She had been preparing since the beginning of high school, and all the hours she sacrificed had better pay off. There was a hint of wind, just enough to blow the arrow off of bulls eye and into the concentric circle next to it. Annabeth remembered all of the techniques Artemis taught her and knew that this was it. Go big or go home.

Annabeth watched her fellow competitors compete. They were obviously excellent at archery or else they wouldn't have made it to this point of competition. Soon, they all finished their round.

"Annabeth Chase, please step up to the white line." (A/N: I don't know anything about archery, so I'm hoping this is correct? No hate comments because of my lack of knowledge please :))

Annabeth took a deep breath and stepped up to the white line. She mentally assessed her conditions. Perfect. She was ready. Her arrow was already in her hand from her quiver, and her hand was resting on the bow, with the arrow in laugh position. Her grey eyes saw nothing but the target. She took a count of 1…2…3.

Thud. That satisfying sound and the roar of the crowd meant that she had hit her target dead center. Bulls eye, they called it. Annabeth never used the term "bulls eye" because she preferred using "target" from her fateful incident with the Minotaur ride in the local amusement park. She got into the rhythm of positioning her bow and sinking the arrow into the target. After she used up all the ten arrows in her quiver, her calculating grey eyes scanned around the crowd. Flashes were going off, and she knew she had hit the target all ten times. Beaming at the crowd, she swept her eyes until they landed on him. She narrowed her eyes, just to make sure that she wasn't hallucinating from the excitement of the competition. Nope. It was really him. Annabeth immediately turned around and looked at the scoreboard.

Annabeth Chase

Reyna Ramírez-Arellano

Katherine Smith

Haileigh Patterson

Ella Brance

Her eyes glazed over the top five, but her gaze was fixated at number one. She did it. She won! The pride in her chest swelled like a balloon suddenly being filled. After all her years of hard work, determination, sleepless nights, and practice, it finally paid off. Annabeth Chase, the gold medalist for women's archery at the Junior Olympics! She broke into a smile, a smile so wide that the power of that smile could power New York City for a day. She looked around at her fellow competitors, some of whom looked extremely happy, and some who looked like they were on the verge of crying.

"Congratulations Annabeth."

Annabeth turn around so fast that she got whiplash in her neck. A tall, lean young woman, about the same age as Annabeth congratulated her.

"Thanks. What's your name?" Annabeth responded, trying to mask her slight nervousness under a facade of friendliness.

"Reyna. Nice to meet you, Annabeth."

Reyna. A powerful name for a powerful person. No doubt, she was beautiful, with a beautiful Hispanic face, glossy, long black hair tied into an intricate braid, and black eyes that seemed ready to take down the person in front of her. Annabeth was not intimidated by many people, but Reyna was definitely one person she would never pick a fight with. She noticed that Reyna introduced herself with only her first name, but then again, most people do that. She didn't ask further. Instead, she decided to ask what school she attended, and so their small talk began.

To both of them, their conversation was more about knowing the other person's strengths and weaknesses, though neither admitted any of their weaknesses. Both were very prideful in what they did, Annabeth is archery and Reyna in fencing. Annabeth learned that Reyna had won various fencing tournaments and was skilled at wielding a sword, a skill she picked up on while fencing.

What neither of them knew was that their friendly conversation was the start of a bond, a friendship so strong that the choices they made would change the future as they saw it.