Percy had finally met his greatest adversary: the off-season.
He hated it with a fire that lit every part of his insides. His coaches pressed him to do another sport to stay in shape for football, so he decided to do swimming.
It was either that, basketball, or wrestling. He used to play basketball when he was a little kid, and he quickly stopped after he took the ball and scored in the wrong hoop.
He was only ten, and he still remembered how angry some of those parents had been.
And as for wrestling...he had seen some of the workouts they did and the injuries they received, and he wanted no part of it.
Swimming seemed natural. He spent practically every moment of free time during the summer on the beach, and he knew swimming was great for staying in shape. Plus, once he got Jason to join him, it was easy.
He talked to Rachel about his decision while they were doing homework at his kitchen table, she just grinned and shook her head.
"I won't mind seeing you shirtless," she admitted with a shrug, never raising her eyes from her laptop.
He was glad about that though, because she couldn't see the blood rushing to his face as he continued struggling through his calculus homework.
What they had together was still new, and he felt flustered with every slightly flirty word she said or whenever she made a flirty comment.
God, he wasn't good with girls.
He had practice every day after school, which he didn't mind. It kept him busy, kept his mind off the other stressors in his life.
Between lifting, swim practices and meets, and homework, he didn't have much time for anything else.
Well…except Rachel.
The two of them became inseparable after a short time. When Percy thought about it, he wondered if he was using Rachel to fill the gap Annabeth used to occupy, but he'd quickly brush past it and consider other topics.
Like…well, Rachel.
The two of them had made a verbal agreement to take things slow. After Percy's most recent exploits, he knew it was the correct thing to do. It made it easier, less messy, less complicated.
So, that's what they did.
Study sessions at the Delphi Coffee Shop she'd shown him on their first real date, drives around the city at night, even a weekend trip out to Montauk when he didn't have a swim meet.
She started waiting for him to get out of swim practice, spending her time in the art room working on her paintings, or the media room working on stuff for the school paper.
She didn't have a car, so he'd either take her home or she'd come over to his place and hang out.
Which confused him, if he was being honest. He didn't know much about her family, but whenever he did drop her off, she was in one of those sections of the city where the buildings had security and everything seemed to be a penthouse.
The only information he'd gotten out of her was that she "Didn't want to give in to societal standards," and that was that.
Anyway.
It was one of those days, a Thursday afternoon to be exact, and he exited the doors that led to the pool. It was mid January, peak swim season.
He'd actually been doing decent, with the small amount of meets they'd had. They'd just finished up Christmas break, so they'd begin to get into the real grit and grind of the season, and he was excited.
He could forget a lot while he was in the pool, pushing his body to limits he'd previously considered impossible.
He exited into the cool of the hallway (cool compared to the heat and humidity of the pool area) and his hair was damp and had begun to curl at the nape of his neck and by his ears. He had his backpack slung over his shoulders.
Like clockwork, he turned to see Rachel coming down the hall, a warm smile on her face as she approached him. "Hey, handsome." She leaned up to kiss his cheek, and he found himself smiling.
"Hey yourself. Ready to go?" he asked her, his fingers fiddling with the straps of his backpack. She nodded and as they began their trek out to the parking lot, she reached up and took his hand, to which she simply smiled once again.
He parked his car right outside the gym doors, so as they began to walk through, he noticed there was someone at the half they were walking through.
Goode had a large gym, with two full sized basketball courts separated by a thin strip of flooring where the benches and scorers tables usually were for whatever game was being played.
While the other half was set up for basketball practices, there was a volleyball net set up, and the half of the court nearest to them was littered with a dozen volleyballs.
Percy almost knew who was there before he raised his head, but when he did, he saw a mane of curly blonde hair tied back into a ponytail.
She was practicing her serve, nailing spots on the opposite side with precision. Her brow was furrowed, her face flush. After she served a few, she'd drop to her knees and do push-ups before jumping right back up and continuing to serve.
Rachel seemed transfixed on the girl, before she shifted her gaze to Percy, almost questioning what was going on. Percy hesitated before reaching into the pocket of his sweatpants and withdrawing his car keys, handing them to Rachel with a smile.
"Here. I'll be out in just a second."
He quelled the look on her face with a gentle kiss to her forehead, and she was all smiles as she exited the gym.
Percy walked over to Annabeth, and it felt like a mile and a half worth of distance.
Whack.
Thump.
The only sounds were her hand hitting the ball, and the ball slamming into the court on the opposite side.
Whack.
Thump.
She was running out of balls, he noticed. She'd used up one full cart and almost completed another.
Whack.
Thump.
As he approached her, she'd just gotten done watching the ball slam down.
"Annabeth…"
She looked up at him, removing the earbuds she'd jammed in, that furrow in her brow never ceasing, and the color of her eyes looking like a storm had just rolled in.
"Are you okay?"
His voice was soft, his brow furrowed, a feeling churning in his stomach he chalked up to being anxiety.
"I know I'm not supposed to really talk to you anymore, and I'm sorry. I know Luke is…kinda crazy about that. And I wanted to talk to you at the state finals game but he was there and I didn't want to cause a scene. That was your big moment, and I'd been meaning to text you and tell you how amazing you did and you were but I just…couldn't bring myself to do it."
The furrow began to lessen, her brow raising slightly as she listened to him. The glow in her cheeks hadn't faded yet, though.
It had been months since that finals game, and beyond a "merry Christmas" text he'd sent last month, there had been little to no communication between the two.
"I just didn't know what to do. There's no handbook for this kind of thing, y'know? Plus I figured if I stayed away, Luke wouldn't be mad at you anymore. I know you love him, so I just…didn't want to mess it up anymore. I messed it up so much. I messed up everything."
He continued to ramble, his own cheeks alight with embarrassment and uncertainty. His fingers went up to grab his hair, his gaze shifting downwards. He couldn't look her in the eyes anymore.
"I just hope you're alright, I guess. I feel bad I haven't checked in."
He wondered how far he could go, how much information he could provide without having her either running or sending one of those volleyballs into his face.
"I can't…I just can't turn off how much I cared about you. Do you know how bad I want to go back to sitting at your kitchen table and having Bobby and Matthew drag me away to play video games? Or throwing straw wrappers at you? Or having you teach me how to do the same math problem for an hour and a half before giving up and we'd go on a walk through your neighborhood?"
The hint of a smile began to creep onto her face, and he noticed the color of her cheeks growing more red.
"But we can't go back to that, can we? It's just…too far removed…" He trailed off and groaned, dropping his face into his hands.
"I've been talking way too much. You talk now," he muttered, his voice muffled by his hands.
To his surprise, she began to laugh.
It was controlled at first, just a little chuckle, but soon it let way to loud laughter, one of her hands coming to rest on her forehead.
He lifted his head from his hands and looked at her, and his heart squeezed inside his chest, like someone had reached in Mola Ram style and just gripped it instead of going all out.
He found himself smiling, his lips pursing as he tried to hide it.
"Oh, God, Percy," she chuckled through a grin as her laughter died down. "I'm the one that messed all this up, not you."
He cocked his head and was about to ask her to clarify, when her fingers rested on his forearm. "Luke…was a mistake. We broke up over break," she admitted softly. "It just…wasn't working out."
He frowned and rested his fingers over hers on his arm, trying to somehow comfort her. "I'm sorry," he mumbled. "I can't imagine…"
He was interrupted by another one of her smiles, this one more sad and wistful. "It's okay. It wasn't meant to be, y'know? And that's fine. It…showed me some perspective," she admitted with a shrug.
They both stood in a semi-comfortable silence for a moment before he glanced down at his watch. "Ah, shit, I have to go," he mumbled as he backed away, his fingers taking refuge around the straps of his backpack once again. "But…hey, you should come to a swim meet sometime," he told her with a smile.
Her grin widened and she chuckled. "Yeah, Piper's been trying to get me to go. I'll make you a deal," she said, holding up one finger. "I'll go to a meet if you come to one of mine and Piper's travel league games."
He found himself nodding before he could even consider his answer. "You got it, Wise Girl," he said with a smirk before he turned and jogged out of the gym to join Rachel, leaving the blonde smiling and staring wistfully at the two and a half dozen volleyballs she had to pick up.
