Chances

Stroke by stroke, Percy inched closer to the pool's wall before diving under the water to preform a back-flip push off and repeat the patterned stroke, not forgetting to breathe every few strokes. After five times doing this, he stopped at the edge closest to the entrance doors.

"Time?" Percy managed to ask through his breaths.

"Six minutes, thirty-seven seconds."

Percy groaned. "How is it that I'm getting slower?"

"Maybe because you've been doing this for the past hour. C'mon, Perce, your body is tired. Take a rest." Rachel said and walked over to the edge and squatted near Percy.

"Tryouts are in a few days." Percy said nervously.

"And you'll do amazing. You were the best surfer on Oahu, remember?" Rachel said, shaking her head and chuckled.

"Yeah, that was surfing."

"You have to master swimming to surf." Rachel rolled her eyes.

"Not really." Percy said under his breath.

"Fine. Whatever you say, Percy. But you're not going to swim another foot," she said firmly.

Percy smirked and pushed himself off the wall into the deeper part of the pool. "Who's going to stop me?" He teased.

Rachel stepped closer to the edge, still low in her squat position. "C'mon, Percy," she reached out her hand, "get out."

"I hope you have extra clothes." Percy swam closer to her.

Rachel's eyes widen. "Don't you dare –"

Then a shutter went off near the entrance. Rachel gasped. "Did you hear that?" She asked Percy.

Percy, also caught off guard, nodded his head. "Must be the ghost of Goode High." He whispered in a longing voice.

Rachel turned her head to look at Percy, rolling her eyes. Percy raised his eyebrows and grinned before pulling Rachel into the chlorine-filled water.

Annabeth ran her hand through her hair in frustration. Next to her was a stacked pile of textbooks covering physics. One-by-one, she took each book, opened up the page that had a sticky on it, and started reading. Then she'd look away and talk to herself, then glance back down at the page where she followed with either a groan or a sigh. She's been groaning a lot for the past hour.

"Wait, is this real? What I'm seeing? Ah, yes. This is Annabeth actually frustrated over studying."

Recognizing the voice, Annabeth replied in annoyance. "Let me see you try to maintain an A grade in Advanced Physics, Thalia."

Thalia took a seat across from Annabeth. "The owl strikes again." She mocked.

Annabeth looked up to glare at her best friend. "And why are you here?" Annabeth said with no emotion.

"Well, it's good to see you again." Thalia smiled back, but then she stopped and laid her hand on Annabeth's open page.

"Thalia –" she warned.

"It's about Luke." Annabeth froze. All information about physics left her mind and was replaced by the images of Luke. The one image that stood out was on the street – crippled, bleeding, and crying out Annabeth's name. She cringed at the thought.

"How is he?" Annabeth asked quietly.

"Doing fine. It won't be a couple weeks until he can be released from the hospital." Thalia said, her eyes wandering.

"That's great," Annabeth replied, eyes also avoiding contact.

A few moments of silence passed.

Annabeth struggled to find the words to tell Thalia about Luke and everything she found out about him. But her lips were sealed shut.

But when she could, her words came out as a murmur. "Luke – Percy – uh – "

"I know what Luke did." Thalia said barely loud enough to hear.

Annabeth took a good look at Thalia. "You do?"

"He told me."

Annabeth stayed silent, not knowing what to say.

Thalia continued. "He also told me about what can happen to him after he's out of the hospital," she sighed, "we're talking jail, Annabeth."

"That's only if Percy presses charges on him, which he can't since he's not of age yet," Annabeth said.

"Yes, but Sally can. And considering their relationship together, she'll want Percy's intake on the situation."

Annabeth massaged her temples. "Well then, it should be Percy's choice. What are we supposed to do about it?"

Thalia paused before looking at Annabeth dead in the eye. "Not we. But what you can do."

Annabeth scrunched up her eyebrows. "And what am I supposed to do? My friendship with Percy has been on a very tight line for the past four years. I can't go messing things up between us again."

Thalia was taken back. "Annabeth, this is Luke. May I remind you that he saved us." She said with a little anger in her tone.

Annabeth sighed as the memories flooded her mind. "I know, I know. But Percy – "

Thalia cut in. "All I'm asking is is for you to talk to him. See if he can forgive Luke or just try not to put him in jail. We can't let him stay in a place where there are real criminals. We owe him, Annabeth."

Although Annabeth tried to find reasons to say "no" to her, she couldn't help but admit that Thalia was right. She did owe Luke. After all, he's the one that got Annabeth out of her personal prison. With a deep sigh, she nodded her head.

"Fine. I'll talk to Percy." Annabeth promised.

Thalia smiled in relief. Seeing Annabeth's hesitation and fear in her expression, she reached over to lay her hand on Annabeth's shoulder.

"Hey, Annie. Luke made some stupid decisions. But he's not such a bad person. He still cares for you and me. Give him a chance, will ya?"

Annabeth, in response, nodded her head. It was a good enough confirmation for Thalia and so she left Annabeth on the table thinking, questioning, and most importantly, worrying.

"You're such a jerk." Rachel said lowly when exiting the locker room and into the hallway where Percy waited.

"How many times do I have to say sorry?" Percy asked in frustration.

"How many times have you said it already?"

"Like twenty times!" He exclaimed.

"Double that. Subtract ten. Add two. Divide by eight. Take the square root of that. Multiply that by infinite – that's how much times you have to apologize."

Percy gazed into the air and tried to calculate what Rachel said in his head. Rachel giggled when she saw his facial expression. She found it cute. Percy assisted Rachel down the hall and to her locker. She grabbed her belongings and shut the metal locker door.

"I got to head on home now. You need a ride?" Rachel asked.

"Nah. I'm going to go check up on Annabeth. Thanks though," Percy replied. The last time he saw Annabeth, she had her nose stuck in a bunch of textbooks.

Rachel shrugged. "Alright then. Your lost on a free ride. I'll see you tomorrow." Percy waved goodbye to her when she reached the end of the hallway and out the exit doors. Then, he continued his way to the entrance of the main building and outside to meet Annabeth. He shook his head when he saw her in the same position that she was a couple hours ago. As a kind gesture, he snuck up behind Annabeth and laid his hands on her fragile shoulders and massaged her. Annabeth sighed and relaxed into his touch as the tension between her shoulders and neck began to relieve.

"I think you're done for the day," Percy told her calmly.

"And I think you should shut up and continue to massage me," Annabeth retorted.

Percy took his hands off her shoulders and placed them on his hip. "You know it's an attitude like that which explains why I don't do nice things for you."

"Oh relax, Seaweed Brain." She closed her Physics book and turned her body to face Percy. "Can you give me a ride?"

"I would if I had a car," Percy paused, "and a license."

Annabeth gave Percy a look. "Seriously?"

Percy shrugged shamelessly.

"How about a permit?"

Percy didn't reply.

"Really? Not even your permit?"

"You know how I am. I can barely pay attention in class, let alone on the road." Percy admitted. He had a point. Not having his pass to drive was probably the best for other innocent people on the road.

"Well, we should get walking then. My step-mother is going to be home soon and I need to be there when she is." Annabeth mumbled curses under her breath.

Percy helped her carry her books. "Everything alright between you two?"

Annabeth scowled. "Still the same old evil woman from before." Instead of replying, Percy helped pick up her textbooks. He has never met Annabeth's stepmom before. The first time he heard about her is when they were nine. Annabeth came running into his room crying because her step-mom tore up her homework over leaving rubbish on the couch. Since then, Annabeth would always complain to Percy about other instances that involved her stepmother.

The walk home was a bore to Percy. Annabeth asked him to help her study and although he didn't want to, he knew never to refuse her. Before they reached the corner of the apartment, Annabeth sighed.

"You okay?" Percy asked, slightly relieved that the study session was over.

Annabeth was in a stutter. She couldn't find the words to convince Percy to let Luke have another chance. She even struggled to say Luke's name in front of him. "About L-l, look – I" she started.

Percy felt uncomfortable. "Um, Wise Girl?"

Annabeth took a deep breath. "I-If I were to do something really horrible to you. Like really really horrible. Would you ever forgive me?"

Without a thought, Percy replied, "Of course. I mean, look what we've been through so far. And look at us now." He smiled down at her and she couldn't help that feeling on the bottom of her stomach. "You're not planning on doing something really horrible to me, are you?"

Annabeth forced out a laugh. "You're a good guy, Percy."

He chuckled. "What can I say? I'm a man of second chances."