Chapter 25: Summer Lovin' (In the Spring)

A/N: Hello, my darlings! Sorry I'm late – busy, busy, week, between world history notes and chemistry study guides, I haven't had the time or energy to write. But it's Saturday. I slept in this morning. So here I am.

Okay, this chapter is a time-lapse to spring break (April-ish). I know I'm skipping around, but this must be done to fit a proper timeline. Between last chapter's Christmas break and this spring break, I don't have any major events, so we're gonna go ahead to this big deal.

THIS IS MY SECOND BIG PLOT TWIST!

Again, it's nothing super dramatic, and a lot of you probably saw it coming, but I'm proud of it. I haven't seen this character used this way in other stories. And even though this character will be here this chapter and next (moreso next chapter) and won't have a major impact on the whole story, this character will temporarily mess up another character and trigger some thoughts and feelings.

Disclaimer: I do not own PJO.

Hope you enjoy!

Percy's POV

"Percy! Come on! We don't want to miss our flight!"

"We have, like, an hour, Mom, calm down."

We had just arrived at the airport, where we'd board our plane to Hawaii for a spring break vacation, and I was excited.

I've always loved the beach, especially surfing, and Hawaii was the perfect place for that. And now, with all the craziness and tension and girl problems I'd been having, vacation sounded great. I needed to breathe, to think, and clear my head. It would be a lot easier without said girls breathing down my neck. In Hawaii, I could be on my own and not be near a girl that made everything complicated.

"I know, sweetheart, but the way you're walking, it'll take us an hour to get to the gate."

We had already done all of our check-ins and now were waiting for our flight to be called. I was waiting for my friends, who would arrive any minute to say good-bye and keep me company.

"Percy!"

Grover was hurrying over. Thalia and Nico were at his heels. Luke lagged behind a little bit. We were still a little shaky.

And behind them was Annabeth.

My heart skipped a beat. I forced it to settle down. We hadn't talked much in a long time and I missed her.

"Hey, Perce! When do you leave?" Thalia asked, looking around excitedly.

"In about an hour."

Thalia smirked and took out her iPhone. She held down the home button until there was a soft ding-ding.

"Siri," she said, "Remind me in an hour that I'm free from my idiot cousin for a whole week."

I stuck my tongue out at her.

Here is your reminder. Shall I create it?

"Yes."

OK, I will remind you.

She smirked at me again as I punched her arm lightly. "Thanks, Siri."

"You're mean."

"Not that I needed the reminder – how could I forgot something that great?"

I shoved her. We chatted for a while. Well, I chatted with Thalia and Grover. Nico has always been kind of quiet so he pushed in his headphones and zoned out. Luke and Annabeth awkwardly stood to the side. I felt bad, but what was I supposed to do?

The real problem, though, started when someone else showed up.

"Percy! There you are! I've been looking all over for you!"

Crap.

Rachel was running over to me. She beamed. I caught Annabeth scowl out of the corner of my eye.

"Hey, Rachel," I let her hug me.

"Are you excited? I would be. I love Hawaii. What's funny is my family almost planned a vacation there this week, too! But, we're going to the Caribbean instead."

I was half-expecting Annabeth to pull out her own phone and ask Siri to remind her that she had a week free, too. She didn't, though, and part of me wondered if it was because it was 'too good to forget'.

"So! We all got you gifts for your trip, right? Thalia, you texted me?"

Thalia sighed. "Yeah, we did… It was supposed to be a surprise until just before he left, though."

Rachel clasped her hands over her mouth. "Oops! Oh, well, we can just do it now!"

Annabeth made a face.

We all plopped down onto the floor. My friends opened whatever backpack or purse they brought and took out bags and boxes.

"I'll go first," Thalia volunteered. She produced a box from her knapsack and handed it to me. I unwrapped the green paper. When I saw what she got me, I glared at her.

"I don't need this! I can swim just fine, thank you very much!" I said indignantly as I waved around the box containing the yellow duck floatie.

Thalia laughed. "Aww, but it's cute!"

"And too small," I grumbled. Oh, well. Maybe I'd find a little kid in Hawaii who wanted it.

"Here, open mine," Grover handed me another box. In it, I found a pair of swim trunks – the same blue, ocean-patterned pair I'd been eyeing when I was wandering around the mall with Grover.

"Oh, thanks, man!"

Grover smiled. "Thought you'd like it."

From Nico, I got a beach ball and coconut-scented sunblock so that 'my scent blended in'. Luke got me a beach towel and a pair of flip-flops. Annabeth's present was next. Without a word, she passed a bag over to me.

In the bag, I found what appeared to be a Yankees cap, only a few shades of blue lighter. But when I took it out and inspected the front, right where the NY should've been, there was something else.

It was a picture of seaweed, swaying in the water. That was it. And that was all I needed to understand.

"Oh, I get it!" Thalia exclaimed, "It's seaweed, and you wear it on your head – seaweed brain!"

Annabeth's nod told me Thalia was right. I smiled at Annabeth, a genuine smile. I really liked how personal her gift was, and how hopeful it made me feel about our friendship.

"Thank you."

She blushed. "You're welcome."

I almost didn't hear her.

"My turn!" Rachel cried out in a sing-songy voice. She handed me two small boxes. The first shocked me completely.

She had gotten me a pair of Ray Ban sunglasses.

"Rachel… I-I can't accept this."

"Oh, don't worry about it," she waved her hand dismissively, "It was nothing, really. In my terms, those were about as expensive as a baseball cap."

Annabeth had a murderous look in her eyes. So did everyone else. Including me.

Truth be told, Annabeth's gift meant so much more to me. It ran deeper than $200 sunglasses.

"Open the other one!"

I did. And what I found was just as surpising.

A digital camera.

"Take pictures of everything! And send them to me!"

I wanted to protest, but the loudspeaker announced our flight and my mom pressed me to gather the gifts and say good-bye. Since our suitcases had already been taken, Thalia would put all the presents in a box and send them to Hawaii overnight.

I helped her clean up the gift wrapping.

"Show-off," she snorted under her breath as she stuffed Rahcel's presents in her bag, "I could've gotten you Ray Bans, too, but they were well out of our set price range and I knew you liked heart-felt stuff. My duck was so much cooler."

She picked up Annabeth's gift to put it in her bag, too, but I stopped her.

"Wait. I… I don't want to wait for that one. I want it to take it now."

She smiled. "Now here's someone who knows something about valuable gifts. It was a clever one."

I carefully placed the cap into my carry-on. As I did, I noticed the back was labeled Property of PJ (SB)'. I smiled. I made a mental note to get her something special, too.

I turned to my friends. I gave Thalia a hug and ruffled Nico's hair (which he hated – that's why I did it). Grover and I did the guy-hug thing. When I turned to Luke, we just shook hands awkwardly.

Then, I hugged Annabeth. She offered me her hand for a shake, but I took her wrist and pulled her to me. She seemed taken aback, but she relaxed in the embrace.

"I liked your present the best," I whispered.

I wanted to say more, but she stepped away. I was going to protest, but suddenly my arms were full of someone else.

"I'll miss you, Percy!" Rachel cried dramatically as she threw her arms around me, "Stay in touch!"

"He's going on vacation for a week, not moving to Switzerland," Annabeth muttered.

Part of me felt bad for Rachel, but a bigger part of me was grateful to her for pointing that out.

Rachel ignored the snickers. I tried to pull away, but she clung to me like I seriously was moving to Switzerland and she'd never see me again. Thankfully, Grover helped pry her off of me as the loudspeaker announced it was boarding time.

…

"Aloha! Welcome to Hawaii!"

The doorman sure was friendly. He greeted us cheerfully. He was decked out in khaki shorts, flip-flops, a loud Hawaiian T-shirt, a few colorful leis, and a one of those Hawaiian bird's nest hats.

"Thank you," my mom said politely and the guy handed us each a leis.

After checking out our hotel room, we decided to explore. It was so different from New York. We walked to the nearest beach and took a walk along the shore. I collected some seashells I found. There were a few shops in the area.

I started looking for souvenirs to bring back to my friends. The first thing I saw was absolutely perfect for Thalia.

"How much is this?" I showed the clerk what I wanted.

"Um, sir, I'm not sure that will fit you…"

"Oh, no, it's for a friend. Who this will definitely fit."

"Oh, alright, sorry. Well, that'll be…"

She rung it up. I paid and left the shop with the bright pink flamingo floatie.

We continued to look around the stores until dinnertime. For Nico, I found a tiki necklace, the thing he'd asked me to get him. For Grover, I got a book of the Hawaiian wilderness. Why he wanted that, I had no idea. For Luke, the best I could think of was a T-shirt. I considered a Hawaiian shirt, but I didn't really think it was Luke's style. The last item I purchased was a jewelry box encrusted with seashells. I was going to give it to Annabeth, but it wasn't as meaningful as her gift to me. So I decided I'd give it to Rachel.

We had dinner at a local fish-and-chips place. I wasn't sure why, but I felt a little uncomfortable eating fish. I'd always been wary about seafood, maybe because I loved sea creatures so much.

My parents and I returned to the hotel room. They shared a bed and I got the one closer to the window. I took a shower and headed to bed.

…

"Percy! It's for you!"

I groaned. It was so early… Who was calling me at this unreasonable hour of the morning?

I took the phone from my mom.

"Why are you calling me so early?" I grumbled.

"It's ten o'clock in the morning, son," there was a chuckle on the other end of the line.

"D-dad?" I sat straight up.

"Did I ever tell you I had a place down here? Well, I do, and I want you to come stay with me for a few days!"

"Uh… I don't-"

"I haven't seen you in so long and while we're both here, I'm off work and you're off school, I thought we could get in some quality father-son time."

"Um…"

"I'll come by tomorrow to pick you up, so pack what you need! Oh, and… Amphitrite and Triton are here. See you tomorrow!"

He hung up.

I sat there, stunned.

"What did he want, Percy?"

"He wants me to stay with him for a few days."

"Oh, that's nice."

"Except his wife is there with her son."

"Oh…" She sat next to me, "Sweetie, you don't have to go if you're not comfortable"

"No, no, it's alright. I want to see him."

"Okay," she said softly, "Pack some things."

…

"Percy, son, it's great to see you!"

It was awkward, seeing my dad after so long. I don't talk to him much. He was sporting his own Hawaii-wear – he looked a lot like the hotel doorman.

"Hi, Dad."

"You remember Amphitrite, Triton?"

"Uh-huh."

Behind my dad stood a young woman and a guy around my age; Dad's wife and her son.

We didn't get along. She hated me because I was the son of a different relationship. And since she hated me, Triton did, too. That was really all there was to it.

I wasn't sure how we'd live in the same cabin for three days. My dad took the bag I'd packed for my stay with him and loaded it onto the car he'd rented.

"You're gonna stay with me. At my private residence."

"Private residence?"

As it turned out, my dad owned a part of the beach. It was secluded, a private section just for him and his guests. He'd even hired a private surf instructor for me.

I was grateful and everything, but it was a little unsettling. I decided I wanted to be on my own. I hadn't had a chance to myself yet. My parents and I had filled our schedules with activities, so right now, I wanted to just lay on the beach and close my eyes.

Along the shore, I found a little rowboat. Out of curiosity, I stepped in and started to row away from the beach. I tried to go in a straight line – I didn't want to get lost out there. As I moved my arms in swift, circular motions, I saw a small land mass in the distance, not too far from the beach I'd come from.

It was another little island. I rowed to shore. I didn't see anyone, so I decided to hang out there for a little while.

"Who are you?"

I jumped and whirled around. Apparently, I wasn't alone after all.

A girl was staring at me. Her caramel-colored curls swayed freely in the wind. She was wearing a white dress and no shoes. She stared at me intently.

"Um, I… I didn't know anyone was here. I was just-"

She smiled. "It's alright."

She sat next to where I stood and motioned for me to sit as well.

"I'm escaping, too. I like to come here and be alone sometimes."

I nodded. There was something about this girl that caught my attention. Something about her smile, the look in her eyes – it intrigued me.

I stayed until just before it was too dark to see. We had spent the day just staring out over the water, not talking much. I felt like I'd known her for a long time, though. It was so easy to talk to her.

Before I got in the rowboat to head back to my dad's place, something occurred me.

"Hey!"

She turned, "Yeah?"

"I never got your name."

She tilted her head to the side, her hair falling off her shoulder.

"Calypso."

A/N: So what'd ya think?

I know the title isn't completely appropriate because they're not desperately in love and in this chapter there wasn't any 'lovin', but I liked the title so I kept it.

R&R!

- Promise

P.S. With Thalia and Siri, what I had Siri say is what she would actually respond to that request. I checked.