Chapter 23
-Annabeth-
"Oh boy," Piper sighs and shakes her head, but a smile pulls at the corners of her lips.
"What's "oh boy?'" Annabeth asks her. She puts a couple books into her locker and pulls out her laptop, tucking it under her arm.
"Jason just texted me and said he and Percy are officially at war again," Piper says, turning her phone so Annabeth can read the texts.
"At war? Again?" she asks with bewilderment.
"I bet it's over their Mythology classes. I think this semester it's over the Roman gods and such."
"Oh no," Annabeth sighs. "First we had a "Greek" army and now we're going to have a "Roman" one, too?"
Piper laughs. "God, I hope not. But hey, I thought you enjoyed that fight during Halloween."
"I'm not saying I didn't like it, but I don't think I can handle someone yelling something in Latin," Annabeth says, shutting her locker.
"We'll hear shouting in Latin. That's guaranteed," Piper said. "But if Jason comes to school dressed as a Roman soldier, I'm going to smack him in the behind with his own sword."
"I have a feeling Percy would pay you to do it, too."
"Oh no, I'd smack him next!" Piper vows.
"Then I'll distract him while you do it," Annabeth suggests, a playful tone in her voice.
"Oooh, I like that idea," Piper agrees.
"So change of topic, what do you have first hour?" Annabeth asks then.
"Chemistry. What about you?"
"Trigonometry," Annabeth replies.
"Oh fun," Piper teases.
"Oh hush." Annabeth lightly shoves Piper's shoulder and she laughs. "I need this for architecture."
"Don't you already know this stuff?" Piper asks.
"I still need to be able to prove that I know this stuff. And besides, I'm not an architect yet, right? There's still going to be a lot for me to learn."
"Alright, that's true. What second hour?"
"Chemistry."
"Dang, we're so close," Piper sighs.
"Doesn't mean I can't help you with that," Annabeth says.
"It's fine. I have a computer class that basically becomes like a second free hour for me anyway," Piper says. "Gives me time to figure something out."
"That's good at least. What about third?"
"Math with Jason."
Annabeth notices the smile on her face. "You're not going to able to focus, are you?"
"I will too focus!" Piper objects.
Annabeth gives her a knowing smile and shrugs. "Alright, but if I see you slipping up..."
"You won't," Piper smirks. "So what's your third hour?"
"PE," Annabeth replies.
"Do you know what Percy has?" Piper asks, this time she puts a playful tone in her voice.
"No, I do not," Annabeth says. "As a matter of fact, I never asked him about his schedule. I was too busy getting my computer to work."
"Uh huh, sure."
"It's true!"
"Okay, I believe you," Piper says, smiling like she knows something.
Annabeth stares at her friend. "Okay, what's going on?"
"Nothing's going on. What are you talking about?"
"You look like you know something I don't and you're usually really good at secrets."
"I could be doing this on purpose to mess with that architect mind of yours," Piper says, poking Annabeth's forehead.
Annabeth wipes her finger off. "How does Percy read you so easily?"
"I don't know. I always thought I was a closed book," Piper says.
"Not closed enough, I guess?"
"Hmm, maybe he just got lucky about me and Jason."
"That's possible."
The bell rings again, signaling the start of classes. "Gotta go. I'll see you at lunch!"
...
The first two classes went on as they normally do; the teacher's explaining the class to new students and handing out a practice test to see what everyone already knows. Of course it wasn't something normally covered in other classes except for some geometry and algebra equations. Trigonometry questions came later in the practice test, some of which Annabeth knew and others she really worked to figure out. In the end she had the highest score, but it was only a 75%. Still, she wasn't going to let a practice test bring her down. The lower grade was expected.
Second hour was her second semester with this class so it started smoothly. Standard practice test like in Trigonometry, but this one was to refresh everyone's memory after the long break. Of course, Annabeth never forgot the information so she aced it fairly easily.
Third hour was one she was also looking forward to. She longed to get some good exercise since she'd put that off a little since Christmas. What she was pleasantly surprised to see when she entered the gym was Percy wearing black gym shorts, a grey, sleeveless shirt, and playing basketball with a couple other guys, Grover included.
"Oh hey Annabeth!" Grover calls just as Percy was making a shot. The ball bounces off the rim and the other guy snatches it.
"Hey Grover," she replies, standing by the sidelines. "Who's winning?"
"We were until he shouted," Percy says, shoving his elbow into Grover's ribs.
"Ow, sorry!" Grover yelps.
"Perce! We still playing or what?" the guy with the ball shouts.
"Yeah, we're still playing!" Percy calls, turning back around to face him. The guy throws the ball to Percy, who then throws it back and they continue their game.
Annabeth smiles and goes off to change in the girls locker room. She puts on a pair of black gym shorts with a double white stripe down the side and a plain white T shirt. She puts her hair up in a ponytail and checks herself in the mirror. Feeling satisfied, she leaves the locker room and sits on the bleachers, continuing to watch Percy and Grover play basketball. She has to admit that he's pretty good at that, too. He's almost able to dunk the ball, but the guys opposing him don't give him the room for it.
About five more minutes pass before the gym teacher walks in and blows his whistle.
"Alright, that's enough horsing around!" he barks. "Everyone get in line against this wall while I take attendance!"
Annabeth gets up off the bleachers and moves to the wall. Grover stands by her right side while one of the guys Percy was playing against takes her left. Percy is a few paces down the line, but he's hunched over, hands on his knees as if he's trying to catch his breath.
Coach Hedge slowly paces in front of them, calling out names of students that should be there.
"Connor Stoll!"
"Not here, Coach!"
"Uh huh. Travis Stoll!"
"Me neither, Coach!"
"That's five laps for the both of you. Move it!"
"Aww Coach! Can't you take a joke for once?" one of them, (Travis?), complains.
"Keep griping and you'll run five more laps. Move it!"
The twins start their laps while Coach keeps reading down the list. Drew Tanaka and a few others Annabeth doesn't really know.
"Jackson!"
"Here, Coach!"
"Alright, that's everyone. You know the drill. Do your stretches and run five laps around the basketball court."
Annabeth is about to start her stretches when she hears her name being called by the coach. She looks over and sees him wave her over.
What does he want?
She approaches him and notices Percy standing next to him as well.
"I'm going to make this quick," Coach Hedge begins. "I don't want you two sneaking off for some magic wonderland, you hear?"
Annabeth's face burns hot and when she sees Percy's face, he looks just like she feels.
"Um, yes coach," she says.
If there's one thing she's learned being in Hedge's gym, you never argue with him, never make excuses, and always be on time for class. Just say "yes coach" and be done with it. Otherwise he'll be screaming at everyone until the end of next week.
When Hedge walks off, Percy nudges Annabeth's shoulder.
"You okay?"
"Yeah," she breathes. "That was just..."
"Out of nowhere?"
"I was going to say sudden," she says.
"Same thing," Percy replies. He coughs and clears his throat. "No idea where it came from. Anyway, you going to stretch first?"
"Yeah. I could use a workout buddy, though," she says.
Percy smiles and starts stretching with her. It felt like a long time had passed, but when Annabeth checks the time on her watch, only five minutes had passed.
"Okay, I'm feeling pretty loose. What about you?" she asks Percy.
He gets up from his last stretch and hops a few times as if he's warming up for a big race. "Yeah, I'm feeling good."
"Race ya," she says with a grin.
"Oh okay, you want to play that?"
"Maybe I'll win this time," Annabeth says confidently, but inwardly she know she doesn't stand much of a chance against his speed, not that she isn't determined to try anyway.
"You're on," Percy agrees.
"HEY! YOU TWO CUPCAKES GOING TO START YOUR LAPS? WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? THE EASTER BUNNY? GET GOING!"
"Ready..." Percy begins, but Annabeth ignores him and takes off running.
When she turns at the corner of the basketball court, she glances over her shoulder and finds Percy hot on her heels. A few other students that were stretching had started running after them as well.
"No fair!" Percy yells. "False start!"
Annabeth laughs and keeps running, turning away from Percy in time to make the second turn. She maintains her lead over Percy for the first lap and a half, but he overtakes her and speeds off, spouting out a "See ya!" as he does. Annabeth just pokes her tongue out at him and keeps running.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she finishes her fifth and final lap.
"It's about time you've finished," Percy teases. "I could've taken a nap."
"Hey, I'm not that slow," she objects.
Percy laughs and she can't help but smile. After a couple minutes, everyone's run their laps and Hedge barks orders for their next exercise.
"Rope climbing?" Travis asks the coach with an exasperated tone.
"You have a problem with that, you can run some more laps," Coach offers.
Travis raises his hands in surrender. "I'll take the rope..."
"Good. Now then, who should go first?" Hedge says, staring at his clipboard.
"I volunteer Percy for the rope!" Connor calls.
"Connor Stoll! Thank you for volunteering!" Hegde announces.
"What? No I was just joking!"
"Climb the rope or run-"
"Alright, alright, I'm climbing," Connor grumbles. He walks up to the rope and grabs it, giving it a few firm tugs. He grips it with both hands and starts pulling himself up.
Despite his relatively smaller frame, he gets about halfway up the long rope before sliding down. He seems disappointed in himself but Percy says a few things to him that seems to brighten his mood.
"Alright, next!" Hedge calls.
"I think Percy goes now," Connor says.
"Alright then," Percy says, walking up to the rope. Annabeth watches him closely as he starts pulling himself up the rope. As he climbs, a few students start talking. Some about just random topics while others question the purpose of this exercise.
"Right? What, are we expected to climb a rope in every day life?" one of the girls asks Travis.
"I hope not," he replies. "What about you, Annabeth?"
"Well... there are some jobs or hobbies that would have a lot of this," Annabeth says.
"I mean, yeah but I still don't get why this has to be a gym class thing," Connor says. A half second later, a bell rings and Annabeth looks up. Percy had rung the bell at the top and is making his way back down.
"Well done, Jackson. Who's next?" Hedge says once Percy's feet is back on solid ground. He walks up to Annabeth and gives her a tired smile.
"What's wrong? Too much work for you?" she teases.
"Nah. Just a little tired," he replies.
"Uh huh. Anyway, who should go next?"
She hopes he doesn't pick her next. She doesn't want to climb the rope just yet. She'd rather watch everyone else and see how they do things. So far, Percy's the only one who could climb properly, but even he's tired from the effort.
"Travis!" he calls. "Your turn!"
Travis groans but approaches the rope, then starts climbing once Hedge tells him to. Annabeth gets her chance to watch a couple more students climb the rope. A few manage to ring the bell, but most fall short. Soon it's finally her turn and she approaches the rope and grips it with both hands, looking over at Coach Hedge for the go ahead. Once she has it, she starts climbing. She manages to reach the bell and rings it and she starts descending. Once her feet is back on the ground, she stands next to the rest of the students while Hedge starts talking about the next thing.
There's lots of stretching, some running, more strength exercises and so on. Annabeth's legs and arms soon feel like noodles and her lungs burn, but she's pretty happy.
"Alright cupcakes!" Hedge begins. "Class is almost over- I know, it's tragic. Anyway, get yourselves cleaned up and ready for your next class."
"Enchiladas," Grover says with a dreamy expression.
"Dude, what's your obsession with enchiladas?" Percy asks. "I've never understood it."
"Enchiladas are the greatest food in the history of the world," Grover says. "You wouldn't understand it."
"What about enchiladas?" Annabeth asks.
"It's one of the food choices for today's lunch," Grover replies. "You like them, don't you?"
"I've had them a few times with Thalia," Annabeth replies. "Are the school's enchiladas even that good?"
"You can't mess up an enchilada," Grover says.
"Yes you can," Percy argues. "The school's enchiladas are disgusting."
"I think they're okay," Grover. "But still, they're my favorite food!"
"Speaking of food," Annabeth interrupts. "I'm going to get cleaned up before we eat. Both of you should do the same." She wrinkles her nose at Percy.
"Hey, are you saying I smell bad?" Percy asks.
"I'm saying you've been sweating and you should shower," Annabeth replies. "I'll see you two at lunch."
She walks off towards the girls locker room and occupies an empty stall. She locks the door, strips off her clothes, then takes a quick shower. Once that's finished, she dries off as quickly as she can and gets dressed in her normal clothes, packing her gym clothes in her gym bag to take home.
"Have a good shower?"
Annabeth looks over her shoulder from her gym locker and sees Drew Tanaka watching her.
"Yeah, I guess," she replies, eyeing her with suspicion. "Can I help you with something?"
"Yeah, I'd appreciate if you stay away from Luke from now on," Drew says, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes at Annabeth.
Annabeth stares at Drew for a moment, not sure if she heard her correctly. "I'm sorry, can you say that again? You want me to stay away from Luke?"
Drew scoffs. "Uh yeah. Don't be dumb."
Annabeth starts laughing and leans against her locker. "Yeah you don't need to worry about that. If you haven't noticed, which I assume you haven't because you're talking to me about it, I'm already staying as far away as I can from Luke."
"Then why is he always looking at you?"
"Because he's a creep and I don't want him looking at me. I have no control over where he looks so don't blame me about it."
"How could you call him a creep?! He's like the most popular guy in school!" Drew exclaims in outrage.
"Yeah but in my experience it's a miracle he's not in prison. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go," Annabeth says as she closes her locker and walks past Drew. When she exits the locker room, Percy and Grover are playing 1v1 with a basketball. The bell hasn't rung yet so Annabeth sits on the bleachers and opens her laptop to work more on her architecture project. Somebody stands next to her, but she tries not to pay them any attention.
"I wasn't done talking to you, ya know."
Annabeth rolls her eyes and looks up at Drew. She's staring back at her with crossed arms and narrowed eyes.
"And I lost interest in the conversation, so I left."
"Hasn't anyone ever told you that's rude to just walk out when somebody's talking to you?"
"Uh huh, like you never do that, either," Annabeth says, looking back to her computer.
Drew snatches at Annabeth's laptop, but Annabeth catches her wrist and keeps her hands away.
"Hasn't anyone ever told you that it's rude to grab at people's belongings?" Annabeth asks calmly.
Drew pulls her hand away and glares at Annabeth. "You're a bitch."
"Yup. Now can you please leave me alone? I really need to work on this."
Drew scoffs and storms away, muttering something to herself. Annabeth breathes a sigh of relief and turns back to her project when another voice catches her attention.
"Everything okay over here?"
She smiles softly. "Yup. Nothing I couldn't handle."
Percy sits next to her and drinks some water. "The bell should ring any minute now and you're sitting here with an open laptop?"
"Is that a problem?"
"A huge problem," Percy replies. "You're too focused on working and won't have any fun."
"What if I think this is fun?" Annabeth asks him, turning her screen to show Percy what she's doing.
"Then you are a lost cause," he replies. "There's no bringing Annabeth Chase back from the abyss."
Annabeth rolls her eyes and lightly elbows him in the ribs, making him laugh.
"This is my favorite thing in the whole world, Percy," she says. "There's no lost cause."
"Ouch, I thought I was your favorite thing."
"You have yet to earn that title," she teases, enjoying the way he juts out his bottom lip in an obviously fake, yet still adorable, pout. "But if it keeps your ego from hurting too much, you're my second favorite."
"Only your second?"
"Either be happy with being number two or I could put you lower down the list. There are other things I happen to enjoy, you know."
"I'm happy with second place. You know the saying: First is worst and second is the best."
"Then I want to be the worst architect in the world with that logic in mind," Annabeth says.
The bell finally rings and Annabeth saves her progress and closes her laptop. She jumps to her feet and walks with Percy towards the cafeteria, laughing as Grover rushes passed them with an angry Couch Hedge shouting at him to slow down.
...
A/N: As always, thanks to all of you for your patience. To explain where I've been, I've gone back to school and got a new job so most of my time has been taken up with those two but I have never forgotten about this story nor my others. I will update stories whenever I can but it will take a bit of time between each chapter. With both school and work, which are both connected with the field I'm going into, I'm basically working 12 hours with hardly any time off. No excuses from me, so I will keep writing new chapters whenever I can find the time to do so. Once again, thank you for your patience.