I made you wait too long for this one didn't I?
Consider this your late new year gift! And I'm truly sorry for the wait. My granny died in October due to covid and since then I lost my writing spirit. Hopefully, 2021 is a better year for us all.
...
[Note the time skip. Back to morning of July 2nd.]
(Haha yes, my play is to NOT tell you what happens to Percy because hey, have you met me?)
Calypso knew the competition wasn't going to be easy. She also knew that Annabeth wasn't particularly happy with what happened that morning with Prince Percy. She knew she had irritated the Prince's 'best friend'.
So, yes, she expected Annabeth to show off in the tournament.
What she didn't expect was her to pull strings and stand right next to her for the swimming race.
They had twenty girls in total so they had split into two teams. Drakons and Centaurs went together first and Hydras and Chimeras went after them. Everyone's time would be recorded and the one with the shortest time would get the most points (technique, posture is also noted). The pool was 7 feet deep which made the competition fair: none of the girls could stand on its floor and have their head outside. Some girls like Drew still had the height advantage though.
Calypso was a Chimera. She stood in between Annabeth and Amber - both, by the looks of it, highly competitive. Annabeth stretched her fingers, arms and legs intimidatingly. The whistle blew.
The 10 girls all jumped in at once without hesitation. Calypso did her best to maintain her performance to her training level. She knew she couldn't be the first but she could be the 4th or 5th at her best. Thankfully, none of the royals were there yet so she didn't feel too pressured.
Without worrying about anyone, Calypso plunged forward in the cold water. When she was about 10 feet from the target, cheers erupted.
Someone must have finished the race.
In no time, she finished her part, climbed up the wall and sat on the wet floor. She closed her eyes and took heavy breaths. When she looked around, Annabeth draped her towel over her upper torso and glared at someone in the crowd.
Chiron announced. "Least time: 42 seconds. Most time: 180 seconds. Lady Billie did not finish the race. Order: Zoe, Amber, Calypso, Annabeth, Piper..."
Calypso was surprised. I was third? Wow. Wait, Annabeth was fourth? How?
She changed her clothes in the locker rooms and went in to sit with the other Selected. (Privileged.) Drew Tanaka was talking to a few girls. They didn't see her approaching.
Drew said. "Next, we apply little grease over her shoes. Wait and watch how she slips up when she tries to punch you."
Billie asked. "What did you do this time?"
Drew smirked. "Nothing much. Just small holes in her swimsuit. Just enough for it to tear open and distract her." She laughed coldly. "Think simple."
Calypso had heard enough to understand. These girls were cheating. They were messing up with someone's game.
She had to tell Chiron.
Then again, her mind said, should I? None of my business, isn't it?
Calypso turned around to leave. Drew turned to her. "Where do you think you're going?"
"I'm just taking my seat. I never heard anything you said."
Drew came face to face with Calypso. "Good because if you think of complaining, we'll tell everyone that it was your idea."
Calypso glared at her. "I'm not as insecure as you."
"Hmm.. whatever."
Lavinia asked. "Who are we tricking anyway?"
Drew smirked more. "Wise Girl." She mocked.
Calypso raised her eyebrows at that. So that is why she came in 4th.
"And" Billie said, "we don't care who comes first. We just care that Annabeth doesn't."
Calypso thought about Annabeth's overwhelming pride. She thought about how Annabeth made everyone insecure throughout the training. She pictured Annabeth's face when she saw her with the Prince. She knew it was wrong but she felt thrilled.
Calypso chuckled and put one arm over Drew. "Tell me more about this... plan."
...
Annabeth's fatal flaw was excessive pride.
She was good at everything she had interest in. The entire tournament was her idea of showing off. No one could beat her in the overalls and she knew it.
So yes, it was a straight hit to her pride when Zoe came in first for the very first event but she didn't think too much of it. She knew Zoe had more swimming experience than her so she was expecting it.
What Annabeth wasn't expecting was falling down in climbing walls, messing up hand to hand combat and losing terribly in upside down walking.
At first she thought it was just a bad day for her. However, when she fell down halfway through the running race and found her shoe sole loosely hanging, she was starting to think if she was being framed. Her suspicions only increased every time a girl smirked at her. Unfortunately, she couldn't say if they were just satisfied that she was losing for once or if they were plotting against her.
There was still one thing no one could beat her in.
They had the Sword fighting Championship in the evening. It was already 5 by the time the pre-finalists were announced. Annabeth was randomly assigned to fight with Lady Jade and Lady Katie.
Too bad for them, she thought.
Chiron announced the order of matches and she waited for her turn. She was wearing the sports dress that showed her lower belly and wasn't one bit shy in it. No, she felt confident and intimidatingly so. She also kept stretching every once in a while to exert her dominance. Her eyes bore through every one of her opponents' less confident ones.
That is how you win a match even before it starts.
Although, she had to admit, she was slightly looking forward to Percy's reaction to her. She usually puts on a loose t-shirt or a purple night gown over her sports dresses when inside the palace and it has been a while since she's been in form.
Not like he hasn't seen me in lesser but that was before the Selection.
That said, she wasn't particularly keen to look where the royals were sitting.
The whole tournament happened in Camp Half Blood. They had constructed a ring for sword fighting. The Selected faced it from the east. The trainers from south and the Royals from north. They had to enter the ring from west.
To her right, where the royals sat, there was a black sheep in the crowd.
Rachel.
Rachel Elizabeth Dare had conveniently assigned herself out of the Championship. Percy had given her a 'relaxation' after her injury and she was using that non-existent oh-so-unfortunate injury to her benefit. Over the past few weeks, Drew had pointed out to many incidences where Rachel's behavior suggested hints to how cunning she could be. Annabeth thought most of them were not worth the detailed analysis but this one even she couldn't deny.
Rachel was perfectly fine. She should be playing against me and getting a few hits.
Instead, Dare was using this time to *cough* unsuccessfully *cough* get close to the royals and that genuinely irritated Annabeth. Thankfully, Percy wasn't here. They had the best unplanned date the day before. She wanted to savor that feeling.
Daedalus called her out and she stepped in the ring with Katie on the other side. She swayed her sword and stood in a classic posture - one leg bent, other one stretched behind it and her hands intimidatingly clenched the sword in front. Katie didn't look intimidated but she did look wary.
She swung; their swords clashed. Katie used her momentum and threw Annabeth to the ground. Annabeth flipped in the air and stood back up. This time when they clashed, she faked falling down and got behind Katie. In a swing, she used her legs to meet Katie but Katie jumped, avoiding it. Annabeth got back up and they clashed again. Somewhere in between the match, Annabeth clutched Katie by her shoulder and judo flipped her down. She kept her legs over Katie's torso and pointed the sword to her neck.
One down, one more to go.
Lady Jade walked into the ring next. When the match started, Annabeth gave her a clear fake opening and took in an attack but as Jade's sword touched her left hip, she jumped in and kept her sword to Jade's neck. Chiron blew a whistle and they got back into formation. This time, Annabeth fooled her by giving the same opening but she stood with her legs bent and far enough apart for a jump. As Jade swung her sword, she jumped next to her, hit the back of her sword to Jade's hand and grabbed her sword.
Jade, still in shock, didn't think of defending. She stood there stunned as Annabeth crossed swords next to Jade's neck.
It was a clean win for Annabeth. She had defeated both her opponents under 50 seconds.
The crowd broke into applause. Certain people's cheers were more genuine than the rest. The other 6 girls standing next to the ring looked at Annabeth warily.
As Annabeth walked back to where the other Selected were seated, Estelle and Tyson ran to her.
Tyson said. "Wow! You were AMAZING!"
Annabeth laughed and took Estelle up in her arms. "Was I?"
"Ew..." Estelle said. "And sweaty." She cringed.
Annabeth laughed more and hugged Estelle as she protested. They reached the chairs put up for the Selected. Piper beamed at her.
"I think you can debut as a stuntman." She said.
Tyson frowned. "Stuntwoman, right?"
Annabeth passed Estelle over to Piper. "I think I should change before the rest of them finish."
Piper nodded and started talking to Tyson. Annabeth walked over to the temporary rooms for the Selected and found Drew inside, typing away. She looked up when Annabeth opened the door. Drew only had a lace bra and black shorts on. It made Annabeth self conscious.
Drew definitely had typical model like figure- beautiful, fit, attractive and - even Annabeth had to admit - hot. Her hips were thin without any stray fat. She had the starting of abs and smooth flawless skin. Her dark hair came down to her hips, all perfectly straight, poise and Lady like - which was a complete contrast to how she was dressed.
The fact that she was texting someone made Annabeth uncomfortable and maybe little jealous.
Drew smirked at her and pointed to her phone. "Interesting reply."
Annabeth rolled her eyes. She quickly grabbed her second dress and went into a small room to change. She couldn't help her thoughts.
Was it Percy?
She shook her head: No, Percy doesn't have a phone, remember?
It couldn't be.
Once naked, Annabeth looked at the second dress which would just cover her hips more.
So much for seeing Percy's reaction.
She sighed, used the wet wipes to get some sweat off her skin and put on the dress. When she walked out, Drew was still sitting and texting in her almost half naked form. Annabeth huffed. "Would you at least cover yourself? The door isn't locked, you know?"
Drew smiled sarcastically. "Why princess? Hard to take your eyes off, isn't it?" Annabeth clenched her teeth. Drew got up and it pushed her dark hair back to reveal more perfect skin. "It should be. Not everyone has this." Drew looked down to hint her chest. "Jealous?"
Annabeth decided to not waste her time more, grabbed few glucose drinks and walked out. When she reached back, Estelle came to her willingly.
"Do you know why Percy isn't here yet?" She asked.
Annabeth glanced at the Royals to see that indeed, Percy wasn't present.
Was he skipping the whole thing?
She looked at Estelle's pouting face. "Hey, your brother is busy yeah? What do you do when people are busy?" She sat down in the chair next to Piper and Tyson stood in front of her.
Tyson grinned. "Disturb them."
Annabeth glared and hit him on the arm to which he gave an exaggerated hurt expression. The Selected glared at Annabeth.
Estelle thought about it. "We tell them to hurry so they'll be free!"
Piper laughed. "No, we let them be so they'll be free sooner!"
Annabeth frowned. "Sooner? Not a word Pipes."
"Yeah and Pipes is not a person!"
Tyson leaned closer to Annabeth. "Look at their reaction! Oh I love being a Prince!"
Annabeth glared at him again. "Tyson! This is Percy's Selection."
To her consternation, Tyson said, "Yeah yeah. You're too old for me anyway. But hey, I have eyes."
She looked at him like he just quoted Shakespeare. "You! My Gods, when did you - You know what, no, I'm gonna pretend I never heard that."
Tyson shrugged and turned to Lady Valentina who looked at him skeptically. "As for my dear brother, he could be swimming, eating blue pancakes, torturing the council or just thinking about random stuff. He is weird like that."
They all laughed.
Valentina said. "When you say swimming... I mean we all had a small competition..."
Tyson cringed. "Point taken. I hope he is not swimming."
They all laughed again. Estelle shifted in Annabeth's arm and out of habit she looked at where the royals were sitting.
Immediately, her senses spiked. Percy - now magically back from wherever he was - was laughing at something and Annabeth felt a weird current of happiness in her because he was looking like that - full of mirth.
Must be the after effects of yesterday's date, she thought.
Naturally, that made her senses curious about what he was looking at.
Unfortunately, that something was Rachel.
He smiled, shifting his hands on the armrest and that is when she noticed.
They were holding hands.
Now she knew.
She knew exactly what jealousy felt like.
It flows like a hot poison through your chest. It bubbles up anger, resentment, hatred like you've never felt before. Failing feels sad, rejection feels hurting, ignorance makes you feel betrayed but jealousy, real jealousy, makes you want to inflict all those feelings on someone.
Nothing quite as dangerous and poisonous as it.
Again, nothing quite as motivating to slap someone's face.
Lady Amber, Lady Reyna and Lady Zoe got up for the finals and Annabeth placed Estelle on Tyson's lap. Tyson looked warily at her but she didn't CARE.
She didn't care about whatever the PRINCE'S BROTHER thought about her when THE PRINCE HIMSELF was way too too too busy to even notice that Annabeth was there in the crowd.
As Annabeth put her safety armour on, she saw Percy smiling at her while STILL holding Rachel's hand. He mouthed something that could have been 'go easy'. Annabeth rolled her eyes openly.
Has he ever held hands with ME this long?
And dam Rachel's goddamn expression!
She looked so so so so smug with herself. Her expression didn't waver one bit when Annabeth glared at her. If possible, she looked even more pleased.
Annabeth HATED it. She HATED how Rachel looked at her like she was no competition.
Oh, I'll show you competition.
Chiron addressed them. "Your rules will be a little different for the finals. If you manage to hold down an opponent for at least 15 seconds in whatever way that does NOT include punches, then you'll win the game. Anyone finding themselves in a compromised position can shout out their safe word or if not able to, can slap your opponent three times or raise your hand and the game will end without waiting for that 15 seconds. My advice, if you feel any pain then do it. Don't wait for the timer. Clear?"
They all nodded.
She zoned out of the first few matches. Reyna and Zoe fought; Zoe won. Zoe and Amber fought; Amber won. Reyna and Amber fought; Reyna won. Reyna called her time out.
Annabeth went in with Amber.
While the other girls had fought, she had tried her best to count to whatever numbers, look at pretty things like the sky or the gardens but every minute that passed just increased her anger. Annabeth stepped into the ring and closed her eyes for a second trying to remind herself of what was going on.
But even her mind knew.
It was either anger or tears and Annabeth wasn't going to be petty like that.
Annabeth didn't particularly like her thoughts or her mind right then so although it told her to wait for Amber to attack, she went in for the first strike. Amber dodged and used her chance to go around Annabeth and hit her in her blind spot. Unfortunately for her, Annabeth was too mad with herself, with the universe and with what-else-not to take in a LITERAL backstabbing attack like that.
As Amber swung her sword, Annabeth leaned forward, rolled and stood in another karate pose. Amber looked confused like she didn't know how to proceed but Annabeth didn't give her much time to think. She jumped as if attacking from above and when Amber moved her sword up to defend, she hit her on the ribs with her legs in a swing motion. Amber fell face down to Annabeth's left. She tried to get up but Annabeth grabbed both her hands, sat on Amber's back and pointed her sword to Amber's neck from above.
Amber mumbled 'water' and Annabeth let go immediately.
As she walked out of the ring, Annabeth got the weirdest feeling like she wanted to press Amber further into her helpless position.
There was no way anyone else heard the safe word. I could have just pretended that I didn't either.
The thought scared her.
Next Zoe came in and stood her stand.
The timer started.
Zoe went in for a strike and Annabeth dodged it expertly. For some reason, it angered her more. She cried out a UGHHH, pushed Zoe back with her sword, forced her to kneel and glared heavily at her. Zoe looked shocked like she didn't know what to do. This wasn't something they were thought. Annabeth paused, realizing her mistake and looked away.
What she just did - her little show of dominance - was a cop-out. The game should be won by using physical strength. This was kind of a mental manipulation.
If technique was counted then Chiron had the right to call out Annabeth on a foul then and there. Fortunately for her, the finals were about who won and by how much they won; not how they won.
Annabeth agreed with that. EVERY competition was about winning.
Even if it was something as small as Capture the Flag...
Or... something as life changing as a Selection.
No one remembers the ones who come in second.
Annabeth frowned and backed out. Zoe glared at her like: What the-. Annabeth bowed her head slightly and managed an obviously insincere sorry.
They stepped back into their initial stand again and Annabeth waited for Zoe's attack. They circled around each other a few times before Zoe ran towards Annabeth. Annabeth's mind focused on defense to whatever attack Zoe planned. They were at it for a while. When Annabeth finally got an opening, she kicked Zoe's arm. Zoe's already tired arm (from all that offense earlier) let go of the sword. Annabeth reached behind Zoe's back before she could reach for it again and tacked her torso down using her momentum. She held Zoe's neck between her left arm and bicep, locked her legs with Zoe's so she couldn't move and then pointed the blunt face of her sword to Zoe's neck.
Zoe hit her three times on her forearm and she let go. Lady Zoe walked away without saying anything and Annabeth leaned on the ring railings.
She had just won two matches. Everyone else won only one. Yet, since Reyna and Annabeth hadn't fought, she wasn't the title holder.
Not yet, anyway.
All the finalists must battle with every other finalist at least once. If Reyna wins this time, Annabeth and Reyna will be tied with two matches won each. Moreover, since they both defeated both their opponents in the pre-finals, they will be tied for the title.
If Reyna wins, they will have to fight again. If Annabeth wins, she would have a clear dominance with three wins in her hand.
Annabeth requested for a 10-minute break just in case. She had to admit, she felt breathless and slightly tired. Everyone but Coach Hedge accepted it. Annabeth sipped water kept next to the ring as she waited for Reyna to come up.
Her mind, being the fool it was, dared to look at Percy and the Selected.
Oh well... one particular Selected.
What she saw made her blood boil.
Rachel was talking to Sally and Tyson. Tyson was sitting on his mother's lap and he held some electronic device between him and Rachel. Tyson clicked on the screen, smirked and looked at Rachel expectantly. Rachel pouted.
Wait a minute...
Were they playing a game?
In the MIDDLE OF A CHAMPIONSHIP?
That wasn't the worst part.
The worst part was Percy had his arms around Rachel's shoulders. He laughed and tried to make the move for her. Tyson pushed his hands away and said something.
Annabeth clenched her teeth and made a fist to force her anger away.
Truth be told though, what she felt wasn't anger. It was a combination of jealousy and rejection.
Looking at the four of them, they looked like...
Annabeth's tongue felt like sand just thinking about it...
They looked like a family.
And this was Annabeth's non-blood family she was talking about. It felt like Rachel had filled in right where Annabeth was this whole time. Only difference is, Annabeth never realised just how close they all were and Rachel... she came, she saw, she conquered.
Thankfully, she didn't get enough time for all that anger to convert into tears. Reyna walked into the ring.
Annabeth could feel the atmosphere inside the ring change as she walked in. So far, whoever she fought with were wary of her. They had all felt intimidated by Annabeth and they had previously set in a mental block that they would or could lose.
Not Reyna though.
Reyna walked in with such dominance that Annabeth felt like she met her real opponent for the first time since the Selected started sword-fighting. Annabeth scrutinized Reyna with the same glare she gave everyone but Reyna didn't even bother to look up.
She tried to remember any of her previous matches with Lady Reyna and the only thing that came up was when Reyna and Annabeth fought on the first day of Camp classes as a 'demo' - back when they hadn't started real training yet. They had never fought after that. Annabeth frowned. She had previously thought that she had fought with every Selected beforehand. There was a huge disadvantage to a new opponent: If Reyna was as clever as she looked, then she would know all of Annabeth's moves.
As if to confirm her worries, Reyna stood in a perfect mirror of Annabeth's pre-sword fighting stand. She kept her left leg bent in front, right stretched back, left arm stretched forward and right arm raised in a curve to point her sword's tip to her left hand.
Did Reyna purposefully avoid me the whole time?
Annabeth was so proud of herself that she hadn't bothered to see through Reyna's moves beforehand.
Pride, she chuckled mentally, fatal flaw, eh?
When Reyna looked up at her, Annabeth saw vengeance. It mixed with other emotions like anger and dominance.
Annabeth's opponent was no joke.
She was in it to win it.
Suddenly, Annabeth remembered what had happened the day before when Reyna caught her and Percy in between their kisses.
Percy had told her that he had rejected Reyna.
That is when Annabeth knew exactly what Reyna felt. It was pain, jealousy, anger and a kind of helplessness that gives way for revenge.
How did she know this?
Those were the exact emotions she felt everytime she laid her eyes on Lady Rachel Elizabeth Dare.
PLEASE READ THIS, I INSIST:
Guys I know many of you are very disappointed that I went MIA for 3 months and you have every right to be. That said, I also wanna explain my situation from my side. Truth be told, my maternal granny died in October. It's a very big story and I'm gonna cry if I start writing it but the jist is that she suffered for 45 whole days, was on ventilator support for over 30 days, had sepsis and finally reached God's feet with a very weakened body and mind.
My mom is a doctor and she stayed by my granny's side and did her EVERYTHING from day 1 to make ABSOLUTELY sure that the 6 people who got the virus will be okay. The whole of my cousin's family got the virus. Everyone else got back to their normal with just quarentine but the grandparents had to be hospitalised. GRANDPA IS OKAY NOW ALTHOUGH HIS BODY IS WEAK.
My mom was literally away from me and dad for a whole month during August-September time to just make sure we don't get the disease (just in case) and to take care of granny. She and her brother spent many sleepless nights next to my granny and man, the part which hurts me the most is when I imagine my mom's face when she used to talk about granny and how she cried during the funeral...
Gods, look, I'm already tearing up.
Then, I got covid and was in quarentine for 14 days. This was in November. Thankfully, I isolated immediately after noticing fever symptoms and MY PARENTS DID NOT GET THE DISEASE BECAUSE OF ME.
I don't know where you are from, I don't know which religion you belong to and I know it's 2021 and we want new hope but please COVID IS NOT OVER. Please take ALL the precautions that you can think of. Keep your grandparents safe. Keep the people with heath risks safe and be safe yourself.
I DON'T GIVE A FUCK TO IF YOU BELIEVE IN YOUR IMMUNITY, YOU CAN STILL SPREAD TO OTHERS AND KILL SOMEONE ELSE IN SOME OTHER FAMILY.
That is the one thing I am proud about myself. I isolated the minute I had any doubt and the fact that my mom - who is the closest to me - did not get it proves that I did not spread it AT ALL. I did not even step out of my room during a major festival (where I live) during November and I can only imagine how many more lives can be saved if everyone did this.
I admit I only had the mental strength to keep myself locked up because my family had already suffered enough and I knew first hand how the sudden loss of a otherwise COMPLETELY HEALTHY person feels like. But still, if you have any soul in you, PLEASE, and this is a command, PLEASE, keep you and your neighbourhood safe.
I am sorry if this has offended you but I'm just gonna get more offensive here. If you think it's over just because everyone else says it's over, you're the biggest idiot reading this. Please analyze what is going on in your locality because I cannot speak for you. Just know that your decision is gonna make and break families, families like mine.
Thank you if you read this far.
So I'm sorry for not posting and for not informing you guys. I just can't find it in me to write happy sweet romantic things when I see my mom in pain and IF YOU HAVE A SOUL, you will understand this. I'm still sorry for disappointing you - which I know I obviously have.
It still shakes me to say that my granny's death hit us like a train but there is no better way to put it. I last saw her smiling in August. What would I not do to go see that again?
...
So, *wiping tears, *faking joy, *putting a smile on my face*
Will Annabeth win?
Woo-hoo. That was a emotional rollercoaster for me. Oh wait, I'm saying that because I wrote the next chapter too. But... I honestly think this chapter was a roller coaster too?... it just REALLY intensifies in the next one.
Leave a like!
P.S: If you've come this far, please read the next chapter. I can bet all of Percy's blue cookies and Annabeth's spider killing sprays that you won't see it coming.
Thoughts?
