Hazel

Sometimes, Hazel really missed her phone.

She just wanted some easy contact with Sammy. Letters weren't the same as calling and facetime and texting and stuff like that. Hazel just missed all of the closeness with Sammy and long-distance wasn't all it was cracked up to be. She still didn't know how olden day couples managed when they were far apart.

Of course, her friends were amazing and Leo reminded her a lot like Sammy. In fact, they were almost identical. Except, Hazel wouldn't date Leo. Definitely not. He wasn't that much alike to Sammy.

And secretly? She wondered if she had made the right choice in agreeing to become his girlfriend. Their relationship wasn't progressing while she was at C.B.S.T.T. No growth was happening to it and it was really getting on her nerves.

But she had friends to fill up her time. So her relationship woes were cast aside in favor of hanging out with her friends.

"Hazel! We're going swimming with the guys," Piper said, walking into the room. "Did you bring a swimsuit?"

"No," Hazel said. "I didn't think I'd need one."

"Borrow one of mine," Calypso said. "We're about the same size."

"Thanks, Callie," Hazel said happily.

Annabeth walked out of the bathroom in a gray and blue striped halter top bikini. She threw on an oversized t-shirt over it and Piper grabbed her own swimsuit and walked inside. Calypso handed Hazel a one-piece black, white, and green three-striped swimsuit.

Hazel thanked her again when Piper walked out of the bathroom in her red and black bikini and then Calypso went in.

"So the deepest part of the pool is eight feet," Piper mused. "I can dive that. The shallowest is three feet."

"Do you know how to dive?" Hazel asked.

"We had a pool at home," Piper said. "I used to swim with my dad a lot. We went to the ocean together a couple of times as well. So I've been swimming just about my entire life. What else are you going to do in scorching California heat?"

"Well I don't know about California heat," Hazel said. "But I had to deal with New Orleans heat. And we have humidity and mosquitos."

"Preach, sister," Annabeth said. "In Virginia, we had so many mosquitos. It was insane."

Calypso walked out in her purple swimsuit and Hazel walked into the bathroom and changed into her black, white, and green one. The swimsuit fit her alright, despite it belonging to Calypso who was an inch taller than her.

Being shorter than everyone except Leo was extremely pathetic in Hazel's opinion but it was her cross to bear.

"You look really nice," Calypso said when Haze walked out. "Green looks really pretty on you."

"Thank you," Hazel said.

The four of them walked downstairs, Calypso choosing to put throw her sundress over her swimsuit before they left.

"The boys said they'd meet us out at the pool," Annabeth said as she put her hair in a braid and then wrapped her swimming goggles around her wrist. "So we don't need to wait for them."

Annabeth slid down the banister with Piper behind her while Calypso and Hazel were absolutely fine with walking. When they reached the bottom, they ran out of the back door where the pool was.

They spotted the boys sitting by the pool and Leo yelled, "They're here, Jason! Now can we go in the water?"

"Aw, did you make them wait for us?" Piper asked Jason with a grin.

"Yes and it was torture," Percy said. He wriggled off the side of the pool into the water and came up again.

Leo cannonballed and Frank laughed. He also jumped in with Jason behind him. Piper walked over to the deep end of the pool and dived off the edge while Annabeth sunk in slowly, testing the water.

Calypso jumped in after Leo while Hazel sat on the edge next to Frank. "You don't like swimming?" Hazel asked.

"Well, it's not really my favorite thing," Frank said. "The outdoor pools in Canada are always cold so swimming in New York is comparatively better."

Hazel swished her legs in the water. "I'm sure the pools in New Orleans were nice and refreshing, but I didn't go often. My mom wouldn't take me when I was younger and my boyfriend, Sammy, only went to the pool or the lake with me occasionally. And I don't like swimming alone."

"Me neither. I don't even like doing homework alone. I would always do it at the kitchen table while my grandma read and knitted and such," Frank said.

"You're lucky you know you're grandma," Hazel said. "I don't know any of my grandparents."

Before Frank could respond, Hazel felt Annabeth grab her hand and pull her in.

"Annabeth!" Hazel said when she popped out of the water.

"We're at the pool for a reason, swim!" Annabeth said with a smirk.

Perhaps it was Hazel's annoyance at Annabeth for pulling her in. But because of something, she didn't tell Annabeth about Percy who was swimming behind her and promptly yanked her underwater by her ankles.

With that karma out of the way, Hazel pushed herself back onto the side of the pool and sat back down next to Frank, wringing out her hair as she did it.

"You have to admit, that was funny," Frank said.

"It might've been for you," Hazel said, splashing him on the leg with a teasing smile.

Frank splashed her right back and the two of them engaged in a harrowing splash battle. Hazel shoved Frank into the water and jumped in after him so she could splash him more easily. He already towered over her while they were sitting on the concrete. At least in the water, they were on equal footing.

After a while, Leo and Piper joined in their splash creating an every-man-for-themself-free-for all. The echoes of their laughter could be heard for miles around.