Chapter 15! I hope you all enjoy it (and stay safe everyone).
Disclaimer: I'd be a much more talented author if I was Rick Riordan.
Percy wasn't sure what he and Rachel were. If they were together, or if the entire thing was open. He could never be sure with Rachel. And what sucked about all of this, was that now, he would have no chance with Annabeth.
He wasn't sure why he'd said yes. It was dumb, on his part, and he was regretting. it He felt bad about saying yes to someone he didn't really like. And now they were having conversations over text all the time. It felt weird, all of this made no damn sense.
He wished he'd had the guts to tell her he wasn't interested, and that he didn't think dating her was a good idea. It was kind of pathetic, as Percy thought about it. Most people would be able to give a polite rejection, but he couldn't.
He groaned, and clocked out, heading to the gym.
Upon his arrival, he nodded at Clarisse, and walked through the doors, going to the pool to start teaching lessons to the kids.
A group of people were clustered on the opposite side of the food, and several people were in the free lanes, swimming or playing with each other. Percy recognized the kids in his group, and walked over, smiling.
"Are you guys ready to get wet?" Percy winced at the sexual connotation, but they were kids, they didn't understand.
The kids replied all at different times. "Yes Mr. Jackson!" Percy smiled. They were cute.
"Alright, let's jump in already, right?" He clapped his hands together enthusiastically, and jumped into the pool, water splashing all around him as the kids followed suit. "So," Percy started, "Today, we're going to do some relay-races. Freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, even some random funny stuff."
The kids held onto the side of the pool, and smiled, screaming a chorus of "yay's" and "awesome's!"
Percy smiled at them. "All right, let's get started, why don't we?" He said. "First, we're going to do some warm-up, breaststroke to the middle, tread water for ten seconds, and then swim the rest of the way."
The kids nodded, and got into lines, as they started their activities. Percy grinned down at them, as much as he'd rather be swimming at the olympics or competitively, he loved teaching the little kids.
He got out of the pool, and brushed his hair out of his face, as drops of water dripped down his face. He walked the length of the pool, making sure each kid's form was good. He was close enough to jump in if someone was drowning, but far enough to see each kid's stroke from a distance.
He continued walking the length of the pool, and turned the corner to meet up with the group, making sure he didn't slip and fall. As he was about to jump in, he slammed into someone, a person.
That person being, as he quickly identified her, Annabeth. "Sorry, I'm clumsy," She said, "I wasn't looking where I was-" She stopped speaking as soon as she saw who he was. "You have got to be kidding me." She pushed her hair out of her face, and rearranged the paper's she was holding.
Percy grimaced. "What are you doing here?"
Annabeth ignored him, adjusted her papers again, and walked past him quickly, shaking her head, as her shoes clacked against the floor. Percy turned back to the kids, and then peeked over his shoulder a final time, seeing she was gone.
"Sorry kids," Percy laughed nervously, "Let's get back to the warm ups."
The kids stared up at him, waiting for instruction. "Practice pushing off the wall," Percy said, "and turning around by flipping in the water." Although these kids were young, Percy had taught them harder stuff- he believed starting off early and intense was good.
The group complied, and one at a time, practiced pushing off the wall and beginning their strokes. Percy smiled, they were getting good. "Nice warm up guys," He said, "Now let's move to the relay races."
He continued to teach them, and began the relay races, but despite the happiness he got out of teaching kids to swim, the thought of Annabeth was still stuck in his mind.
He wasn't surprised she had ignored him, but weirdly hurt by it, in a way he wished he wasn't. It was unfair to Rachel, he told himself, and he had said that he would try. To do the whole relationship thing, to be in one without Annabeth.
Percy had always been a genuine person, and although he hadn't made any promises to Rachel, it would be a dick move if he did something like that to her. She was his friend- now girlfriend, he guessed. Loyalty was key, and he wasn't being loyal by even thinking about Annabeth.
He turned back to the kids, sighing. He would have to get a heavy drink tonight if he wanted to sort all this out. He felt queasy, so he rubbed his head, and then put on a mask of happiness, one he had used every day for the past couple of years.
It was time to be Percy Jackson, swim coach, friend, girl's man. Not Percy Jackson, a sad, lonely kid who's never going to be over his ex. He looked back to where Annabeth had been standing, half ashamed, half resigned.
He sighed, and smiled, looking back at the kids, who hadn't paid attention to his little space out. "Alright guys, let's get back to the relay races," You're here to have fun, Percy thought to himself, not to see me mope around.
He knew it would be a long day, and he knew he would need a drink after it. Everything, in his mind just seemed to blurry, and he needed to blur for real- maybe just stop living for a couple of minutes. Nothing big. He'd come back and everything would be normal.
He just needed a break.
Eh… I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter. What do you guys think? I hope you enjoyed it, and thanks so much for reading. Be sure to leave a review, I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Anyway, stay safe and healthy everyone! I hope you all are doing well.
TheLil'Lion
Replies:
Booklover: Don't worry about it! I'm not offended, and thanks so much for all of your complements!
RandomFanAuthor: Very true, it's essential for the perfect gym
Leoisthebadboysupreme: Yeah! I love Beckendorf, and I hadn't added him in any of my other stories, so I decided to add him here!
, Thanks so much! Sorry I didn't get to your review of the last chapter! But I really appreciate all the complements!