Percy's POV

Water was my element.

I had known how to swim since I was five. My mother had brought me to the beach every summer. Every one of my birthday cakes were ocean themed. And whenever I needed to relax or calm my nerves, or simply to stop and think, the nearest source of water was where I went to.

So why was I so nervous, standing in front of the school pool?

Maybe because this was crucial for me getting on Half Blood University swim team. Or maybe because Coach Triton was scrutinizing me, the way a shark looks at its prey.

Coach Triton was quite young, probably in the early twenties, and was handsome and muscular, with tattoos snaking over his chest onto his shoulder like green vines. He was probably the reason so many girls were gathered in the stands. He marked something on his clipboard and waved me up.

"You're next, Jackson. Don't disappoint me."

I took a deep breath, adjusted my swimming goggles one last time, and dived into the pool. Once I was fully emerged in water, my body relaxed immediately, sending signals to my brain. This is familiar territory, you're right at home. Nothing to worry about.

I kicked the edge of the pool with foot, shooting off with momentum. I didn't think about what I had to do, after all it was imprinted into my brain. Swimming is the one thing that that came naturally to me.

Yeah, I got this.

I toweled off my hair.

The locker room was filled ten other guys, not including the original six on the team. Coach was looking for two new members to complete the team of eight as well as some substitutes.

I didn't know how I performed or if my speed was fast enough. All I knew was the combination of the strokes of my arm and kicking my legs propelled me forward, and it felt amazing.

Sure enough, Coach Triton walked in just as I slipped on a pair of boxers (otherwise it was going to get quite embarrassing). He looked around and walked over.

"Hiya coach." I waved, which was quite stupid now that I think about it. Oh well, at least it broke the tension. "How did I do?"

He glanced down at his clipboard, I've never actually seen him put the board down. Maybe it was glued onto his hand?

"Still some areas that could be improved. Practice every Thursday and Tuesday at three, I trust you'll be here?" With that said and done, Coach Triton turned on his heels and left. I froze as the meaning of the words dawned on me.

"Wait! So I'm in the team?" I called out asking. Triton stopped in his track.

"Took you long enough to figure out." He said with his back to me.

"Yeah, I'm a little slow sometimes." I rubbed the back of my neck sheepishly. "Woo! I could hug you right now! I can't believe it!"

"I'd rather you not, considering how you're dressed."

I turned red remembering the fact that I was still clad in boxers. So I did the logical thing and put on clothes while Coach went to tell the other guys who made the team. A junior nearby congratulated me but I didn't hear anything but white noise. My brain has finally processed the simple information. I got into the team. Mom would be so happy.

I practically skipped out of the gym with my duffel bag in tow, only going back to properly hug my coach who was no doubt regretting his decision of letting me on the team. But did I care? Nope.

On my way back, I noticed a new poster pinned on various bulletin board around campus. There was the big one in front of the the gym and the main office, one in front of the central green, and several scattered all over campus (next to coffee store, library...).

The poster was black and had blue blocked words on it, probably the only reason that it caught my attention. I walked closer to examine the poster. Below the poster was a bunch of small information leaflets/guide thingie in a transparent mailbox-like thing.

HBU Fall Music Competition

Open to All Students

Grand Prize for winning team

Contact STUGO for more info

This was out of the question for me. My Led Zeppelin performance was enough to have Annabeth and Alice look at me in fear (Frank just cracked up whenever he saw my face. I don't look that funny!) for a week.

Actually...I did know somebody who play music.

I grabbed a leaflet and walked back to the dorm, still bouncing with excitement.

"What did you do." Kat asked with her hand on her hips, though the question sounded more like a demand.

"What didya mean? We didn't do anything." Sirius looked confused although deep down he prayed to Merlin and Morgana, hoping that Kat hadn't discover the missing sodas from under her bed.

"Lily spend her whole lunch break venting to me about how Bighead McLameass, that's you James, and Sirius ruined her future."

Sirius sighed in relief, so she didn't know about the soda thing yet. Besides, if Lily was mentioned, the blame was most likely on James. Silently wishing his best mate luck, he slipped off to join Remus on his armchair, against the latter's protests. (A/N- Wolfstar! Eeeeeeep! I can't be the only one that ships them? Sadly in this fic they were just best friends. Otherwise imagine James and Kat's discomfort)Remus just continued to work on his paper(after he realized no amount of shoving will get rid of Sirius). There was no way he would of done something wrong, he always followed the rules.

James' reaction was different from what they had all expected, even Remus and Sirius who had known him for years.

"Heeyyy, I didn't realize Evans and I were on nickname terms already."

James Potter had really taken the bigheadedness to a whole new level.

Kat raised her arm as if to smack him. Maybe she would've if not for Percy saving James' face (quite literally) by poking his head in, excitedly waving a piece of paper.

Will's POV

"Will! We have a code red, I repeat code red. This calls for an emergency meeting. Grab Michael and meet me in the common room, ASAP."

"Will do. Twenty minutes til it's over. Wait for me." I whispered back to Kat. She decided to call me suddenly in the middle of my mental and physical health class. Luckily Professor Asclepius was too busy droning on about how mental illness can affect the brain and body to notice.

That is how I found myself ducking down in my seat, phone pressed to my ears with barest minimum sound on, making a call. It was only a little over a month of classes and I did not want to be caught not paying attention. But since it was an emergency, I suppose I could spare Kat from my wrath.

Only if it was a proper emergency.

I swear, if Kat called me because her drumsticks broke again...

Leaving that threat hanging, I quickly finished jotting down a few more notes before stuffing everything in my bag, running out the minute bell rang.

Michael, my surrogate big brother slash bandmate, was in the gym for physical education class.

In HBU, most of the classes you take were based on your major and/or the subject you are minoring in. But once a week, there was a day where all your classes were based on core subjects (math, nature sciences, humanities, social sciences, art or physical education). The freshmen's were on Wednesday. It was a good catch up day and allowed friends with different majors to see each other in class.

Apparently it was the archery unit (A/N-my sister who actually went to college said that there actually is archery...huh, who knew?). I found that out a moment too late by nearly getting decapitated. Since class was over, most students were gone. As predicted, Michael stayed behind to practice a little more with his friends.

"Hey, Will. What's up? Nice seeing you here." Kayla called out to me as she nocked another arrow.

"Nice to see you too." While they were all two years older than me, I knew them pretty well. The plus side of being Michael's 'younger bro'. "Michael, Kat called with a code red. Said to meet her at Common room ASAP."

A tall boy with a surfer tan, brown eyes, and tousled dirty blonde hair set down his bow. "Alright, let's go then. Kay, Lee, Aus, I'll see you later." That's what I loved most about Michael, his chill and relaxed attitude. He never panicked, not even during emergencies. I looked up to him for that. He has lots friends, no doubt because of his easygoing personality.

We found Kat pacing in the red and gold common room. Come to think of it, red and gold seemed to be the theme of Gryffindor Dorm- red carpets, light yellow walls, beige couches, and strips of gold everywhere (window sil, cushions on the couch, the shelf above the computers..).

When she saw us, she made her way over wordlessly, shoving a piece of paper in my hand and stared at me expectantly.

I scanned the words quickly with Michael reading over my shoulder.

After a moment of silence, Kat decided we were probably done reading. "Well?"

"We join of course." Michael answered before pointing to the bottom of the paper. "We need to get a demo ready by October 10 and submit it in the auditorium. We don't know who would be judging, how they'll judge us, or what other bands or individuals would be participating. One thing's for sure- we need to be at the top of our game. I trust that the mention of the prize alone would have a bunch of people participating. I'll book the band room B tomorrow and we'll go through our songs we wrote in the past and the recordings. Pick one to submit as our demo and decide whether or not we need to record it again."

We all nodded in agreement. Being the oldest, there was an unspoken agreement that Michael is the one who make most of the decisions for the band. Although he protests and says that they're all in it together(A/N-crap, now I have We're all in this together stuck in my head), me and Kat still thought of him as, in Kat's word, the 'big boss'.

"Both of you are free this Saturday right? We need to get our instruments in pish posh conditions." I said.

"Which instrument are you talking about?" Michael joked. It wasn't a secret that he was a music wiz and played almost ten instruments, going from drums to piano to guitar to clarinet.

"Very funny Mike. The one you always play for performances." Kat shook her head at his antics.

"Ohhh, the black Les Paul? Got it, Katlyn." Michael ruffled her hair, knowing fully well that she hates her full name. Kat ducked away so he settled on ruffling my hair.

"Oi, keep your hand to yourself." I swatted him away.

The three of us met at a band camp, having been sorted into the same cabin. Later we found that we all lived in the same neighborhood, with Kat just across the street. The irony. I went to the same high school as Michael while Kat went to Goode. But each summer in the past four years, we all went to the band camp. During our second year there, we started Demigod Rocks, even getting second place in end of the summer music competition.

It seemed like Michael could read my thoughts. "Yeah, we're gonna crush them like we did that summer."

Too lazy for author's note.

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