Guest: Very good start look forward to more keep up the work

Thank you!

Just a fan of fics: It's definitely a good start and definitely a lot of potential, really cool how Percy wants nothing to do with the gods after the titan war most of these fics usually take place after the giant war so nice to see some variety for once. The only question I really have is if there are going to be any pairings in this since Percabeth most likely won't happen after Anabeth's reaction to Luke's death.

There will be a pairing! No, it won't be a Percabeth story. However, there will be a face to face confrontation later on. Thank you for your review!

Now, on to the chapter!

BEEP! BEEP! BEE-"

I turned off my alarm, hopping from bed. I jumped in the shower, letting it wake me up. I stood in front of my closet for a second, wondering what to wear. With my new and improved Athena made brain, I was actually excited for school. I was scratching my neck, confused. There was a ruffling from the clothes in my closet. Suddenly, clothes flew out of my closet and landed on my bed, along with a pair of shoes.

I walked over to my bed and smiled, making a guess that this would probably be Aphrodite's doing. A brown leather jacket, a white v-neck, the Calvin klein jeans, and white Nike Blazers with a black check. I quickly got dressed, walking into the kitchen with a skip in my step.

"Good morning, mom."

I pulled her into a hug and kissed her on the head, "How're you doing today?"

She gave me a confused smile, "Good morning to you too, Percy. What's got you so excited?"

I shrugged, "School, surprisingly. Now that I don't have to deal with Dyslexia, I'm actually looking forward to it."

"Well, I never thought I'd see the day. Well, your protein shake is on the table, if you want to take it to school to get set up, feel free. Your lunch is in the fridge. I'm heading out to get the groceries. Love you."

"Love you too, mom. I'll see you after tryouts."

She left the apartment and I poured my shake into a bottle, before grabbing my duffel bag that I had packed for the Cross Country team tryouts. I locked the door and hustled to the parking garage and rumbling my way to school.

I pulled into the parking lot, quickly locking my bike and walked into school, grabbing my schedule from the front desk and dropping my duffel in my locker.

"Percy!"

I spun around, confused, before I felt a body slam into my chest, nearly knocking the wind out of me. I looked down and saw a frizz of red hair in my chest.

I hugged her back, "Hey, Rachel. What's up?"

She pulled back, "Just excited to see you. Is that a duffel? You're playing a sport?"

I nodded, "Yeah, I'm doing Cross Country. Side question, why are people staring at me?"

Rachel just rolled her eyes, "You hit puberty over the summer. The curse of Achilles probably helped."

"What?"

"You're hot now. I mean, you were cute before, but you're like, more now. You grew like four inches, and you definitely put on a bit of muscle. You're what, 6'3? 6'4?"

I rubbed my neck, a blush on my face. "6'4. I'm average looking, yeah, but hot? No way. I'm the dork. Not the hot kid."

I closed my locker and she pulled my schedule from my hand, "You're too modest. You could pass as a model. Now, let me see this. We have first, second, and third period together. First is Algebra 2. Let's go!"

I blushed harder, deciding to remain silent and just follow her.

Rachel handed me my schedule back and I decided to actually look at it for once.

1st Hour…. Algebra 2

2nd Hour….Geography

3rd Hour…..English year 2

4th Hour…..Weight lifting

Lunch

5th Hour…..Marine Biology

6th Hour…..Greek language

7th Hour…..Gym

We reached class and I dropped into a desk next to Rachel, who promptly propped her feet up on mine, pulling out her phone.

"Percy?"

"What's up?"

"Do you have social media?"

"No, why?"

"Oh, I'll make you an Instagram. Download Snapchat, just make an account."

I shrugged, downloading it, "Why do I need them?"

"Popularity? I don't really know, but it's fun. Try it."

"Good enough for me."

I had just made my account when the bell rang. The teacher came into the classroom and closed the door behind her.

"Good morning, class. I'm your Algebra 2 teacher, Mrs. DeStaffino, but you can just call me Mrs. D. I'm looking forward to a good school year with you! We'll start with introductions, please."

She walked over to the front left desk, "Just stand up, state your name, age, and something about yourself!"

The guy whose desk she was at stood up, "I'm Jeremy Renolds, I'm 15, and I like to skate."

The girl next to him stood, "I'm Jenna Brennan, I'm 15, and I do cheer!"

"Mike King, 15, I game."

"Chad Young, 15, Lacrosse."

"Brad Hernandez, 15, Lacrosse."

"Olivia Hughes, 16, I do cheer."

"Abigail Gonzalez, 15, I play football."

The list went on until Rachel. "I'm Rachel Dare, I'm 15, and I'm an Artist."

I stood up, "Percy Jackson, I'm 16, and I like to run."

The last few people went through and Mrs. D spoke again, "Great! Well, I don't have anything planned today, so just get to know each other!"

Rachel propped her feet back up, pulling out her phone again, "I made your account. Give me your phone, I'll log you in and log out in my phone."

I shrugged, tossing her my phone, "Cool, thanks."

The class went by quickly, along with the next few classes. I had just been following Rachel around, basically. We parted ways after third period, when I headed to weight lifting.

Our teacher walked in, "Hey, guys. I'm Coach Jamal. Just call me Coach J. First day, we got work to do. We're gon' get your height and weight then max out our workout today. I'm gonna have one person come forward at a time and I'll find your max bench and tomorrow I'll find your max squat and we'll do that until next week, where I'll get you into workout levels, so you'll have a designated plan for each day."

I got in line and waited, until it was my turn. "Name?"

"Percy Jackson."

"Do you know your max?"

I shook my head. "Height?"

"6'3."

"Weight?"

"201 pounds."

He looked me up and down, "I'm gonna start you at 180 pounds. You ready?"

I stretched my chest out and dropped to the bench. I pulled the bar and pushed out, being way easier than I was expecting. Coach got back up, "How'd that feel?"

"Easy. I can do more."

"How much more, do you think?"

"Add another 45 per side."

His eyes widened, "If you think you can, okay."

He stood over me again, spotting me, "270 pounds, hit it."

I felt some serious strain, but I knew I could do more. I pushed it back to the bar. "I can do a bit more. 15 more on each side, I think."

"If you say so. 300 pounds, hit it."

I felt some real strain and I knew I wasn't going any higher than this. With a grunt, I managed to thrust it the rest of the way up. I sat up and coach spoke again, "You want to try for the weight lifting team?"

I shook my head, "Nah, I'm a runner."

"Track isn't until next semester, weight lifting is this semester."

"I'm trying for Cross Country. Tryouts are today. Sorry."

He just sighed, "Okay. Well, you're done, you can go for lunch early."

"Thanks, coach. I'll see you tomorrow."

I grabbed my backpack, walked to my locker, grabbing my lunch and sitting at the table I used to sit at with Rachel last year at lunch. The bell rang and people flooded in. My phone buzzed. I looked down and checked what it was. It was a text from Rachel.

[R] Hey, sorry. I won't be there for lunch, I have stuff for art I need to do

[P] Yeah, no problem

[R] You want to come here?

[P] Sure, omw

I got up from the table and walked towards the art room. I pushed open the door and Rachel was sitting there with a girl across from her. When I got in, I got a better look at the girl. She was tan, with really curly honey brown hair, and bright blue eyes. She was pretty short, only 5'4 or 5'5.

Rachel introduced us, "Percy this is Ava, Ava this is Percy."

We shook hands, "It's nice to meet you, Percy."

"You too."

We sat in silence while Rachel did something involving clay, before Ava spoke again. "So, are you playing any sports?"

"Yeah, actually. Cross Country and Track. What about you?"

Her eyes brightened, "Yes! I'm a sophomore, so this is going to be my second year."

"Oh, I'm a sophomore too. I just didn't want to run on a team last year."

"Run with a team? Did you run alone?"

I nodded, "Yeah. I trained alone and all that, I just didn't go to races."

"Cool. Well, we have tryouts after school today, I can't wait. Last year it was raining, it sucked."

I laughed, "I like running in the rain, if it's not too cold."

"You've got to be kidding me."

"Why?"

"Running in the rain sucks! My shoes get soaked, I almost always fall over, half the time I can't even see where I'm going."

"Touche. I'll give you that."

I opened my lunch and her eyes widened again, "Jeez, you eat a lot."

I shrugged, "I'm a big guy. Burn a lot of calories, eat a lot of calories."

We kept talking for a while, before the bell rang for the end of lunch. "So, what class do you have fifth period?"

"Marine biology. You?"

I smiled, "Same. Want to walk over together?"

Rachel came back in from the room off to the side she was in. "Hey, guys. I'm heading to my next class. Bye."

Ava slung her backpack onto her back, "Sure. Let's go."

We walked out of the room, "So, tell me a bit about yourself."

She gave a shy smile, "Well, I was born in New York, this is my third year of running, I live with my mom in Harlem, and my dad left when I was six. Now, tell me a bit about yourself."

"Well, I've been running since I was twelve, so four years, I live by the Queensboro bridge and I met my dad when I was twelve."

We shook hands again, "It's a pleasure to meet you, miss."

She laughed, "You as well, good sir. So, why are you taking Marine Biology? You like the ocean?"

I nodded, "I love it. The ocean is mostly unexplored, which is honestly just insane."

She nodded, "Right? I just want to explore, you know?"

We sat down, just in time for the bell to ring. A teacher walked in, "Good afternoon, class. I'm Mr. Bruun, and we'll be doing a knowledge check today. Please be honest, because I'll be tailoring our class to this. Don't try to make it easy by failing, since if we have to go over too much, we'll miss out on some of our field trips."

He passed out a packet to everyone, "You'll be turning it in at the end of class. You can listen to music or talk with friends, just don't be too loud."

I pulled a pencil out of my bag and looked at the first question.

What order do dolphins belong to?

This'll be easy, Cetacea. I flipped through the book, finding that there were 150 questions. I shrugged, knowing I could breeze through most of this. I continued writing and had just finished and flipped it back over.

I raised my hand, "Mr. Bruun? What should I do when I'm done?"

He raised an eyebrow, "Did you actually fill it out?"

"Yes."

"Bring it to my desk, you're free to leave if you want."

I said goodbye to Ava, who quickly took my phone and added her contact. "Bye, I'll see you at tryouts."

"See you then."

I slung my bag over my shoulder and handed off my packet, leaving the classroom and waiting on one of the benches, listening to music and scrolling on my phone. The bell rang and I walked to Greek language.

I was the first person in the classroom and she smiled, "Good afternoon. What's your name?"

"Percy Jackson, ma'am."

"Ah, Mr. Blofis' stepson?"

"Yes ma'am."

She stood up and started setting up the whiteboard, "I'm under the impression that you already knew a bit of Greek?"

I nodded, "I'm fluent, actually."

She raised an eyebrow, "You are?"

"Yes, I am. I have been learning since I was twelve."

"I'm impressed. Why did you choose Greek?"

"My father is Greek. I met him when I was twelve and he started teaching me. I liked it so I took it upon myself to learn."

She shook her head, "Incredible. Well, welcome to the class. Why are you here? Why not learn another language?"

"I know conversational Greek, I want to perfect the grammar."

She nodded, "Smart. Well, I'm sorry to inform you this, but since you're conversationally fluent in Greek, You can't take this class. One of the school rules is that it has to be a new language, not one you're already familiar with."

I groaned, "Seriously?"

She nodded again, "Seriously. Sorry, it's not my rule. However, you're free to stop by whenever you want to brush up on something or other."

"Thanks, I guess."

"Well, you can stay here for today, but I'll set you an appointment with guidance to find your next language."

The class was here now and she closed the door. "Good afternoon, class. I'm your Greek language and history teacher, Mrs. Rhodes. Today, we'll be going over the syllabus. After today, I expect you to keep up with it yourself. If you'll be absent, talk to me and I'll try to accomodate you."

I followed along, and before I knew it, the hour was up and the bell rang. "Have a good afternoon, class. You're dismissed."

I hopped up, walking to the Gym. When I got there, The coach just told us to go outside and do whatever, he didn't really care today and that he was busy. I shrugged, changing into running gear and stretching and decided to do warmups for the tryouts after school.

School finished and I changed out of the gym uniform to my running shorts and a tank top. I headed back to the track where people were starting to congregate.

A guy noticed me and walked over, "Hey, you here for cross country tryouts?"

I nodded, "Yeah, you?"

He nodded, "Yeah. What grade are you in?"

"I'm a sophomore. What about you?"

"I'm a senior this year. What do you plan on running?"

I shrugged, "I mean, I'm hoping to run around a 15:30, I'm not sure though, since I ran during gym last period."

He raised an eyebrow, "That's pretty damn fast. I haven't managed to run a sub 18 before."

"I've done it before, I just want to do it again."

He shrugged, "Okay, good luck man."

I dropped my bag and just waited. A few minutes later, A bag dropped next to mine. I looked up from my phone and saw Ava there.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Just nervous for tryouts, what about you?"

"Not much, just waiting it out."

"Cool. You want to stretch out?"

I did it once already, but that was something like an hour and a half ago, so I should probably do it again. "Sure. Let's go."

We stretched and talked for a few minutes until a man with a clipboard walked up. "Hey guys. For those of you who don't know me, I'm coach Scott. I'm the head coach and the coach for the varsity boys and girls teams."

A woman next to him stepped forward, "I'm coach Vera, the JV coach."

Coach Scott continued, "Now, we have so few people actually trying out this year that everyone is on the team just for showing up. We'll be having two heats for the time trials, for Varsity or JV. There are 7 places for boys and girls Varsity. You should've stretched out already, so we'll get right to the races. You'll be following the 4 wheeler, so the course will be easy. A lot of the run will be on concrete, so don't wear your spikes. The timings won't be exact, but we'll be judging by place."

The crowd broke apart, the girls walking over towards the back of the 4 wheeler. I wished Ava good luck and she jogged off, joining the girls.

"Hey! New kid!"

I turned around to see who called me and saw the same guy from earlier waving me over. "What's your name?"

"Percy. You?"

"Anthony, call me Ant. Percy, these are some of last year's varsity runners, Mitch, Isaac, and Ben. Guys, this is Percy."

Ben gave me an upwards nod, "Hey. You're planning on running a 15:30?"

"Yeah. What about you?"

"No one on the team this year can run that fast. I'm shooting for a 16:10."

"That's a pretty fast time, still."

We kept talking until the girls came around for the first mile lap. After basically yelling motivation at them to run faster, we went back to talking.

Issac put his hands out in a stop motion, "Wait, so let me get this straight. You've never ran for a team, but you've been training since you were 12 to be a runner?"

"Yeah, that's about right."

"And you've already proven to yourself that you can run a 15:30 using a stopwatch?"

"Yeah."

He shook his head, "You're crazy, you know that?"

I nodded, a grin on my face, "Believe me, I'm aware."

"Boys, get on the line!"

We jogged over to the line, where we were lined up as told. "If you're going faster than the 4 wheeler, just hit the back and call out to go faster, and coach Vera will pick up the pace. On your mark."

I got ready, crouching slightly, hovering my hand over my watch to start the pace tracker.

"Get ready."

I took a deep breath.

"Go!"

I took off, the gap in the two hundred yards already becoming obvious. I let my mind wander back to my late night runs around camp halfblood, pacing my breathing with my steps. In. In. Out. Out. There was a definite cadence with my breathing. I slapped the back of the 4 wheeler and coach Vera jumped a bit, before picking up the speed. I took the first lap, and checked my watch. I was on target, so it wasn't a problem.

I lifted my shirt, wiping my face of the sweat before speeding up next to the cart, "Coach, same loop?"

She nodded, "Yeah, two more times."

I nodded, falling back again. I let my mind blank, my entire mind focusing on placing one foot in front of the other. I knew I wasn't running as hard as I possibly could, but I wasn't trying to. I ran the second mile and checked my watch. I was doing good, 5 minute splits. No problem.

Mile three came around and I didn't drop pace, keeping onto the same pace as before. I came flying off the tail of the mile down the track, where I ran the .1 mile after the final third.

I ran across the line, where coach clicked a stopwatch. "15:32.04! That's the fastest time this year, congratulations. If you can keep this up, we might have a chance at states! You've definitely ran a Varsity pace."

I nodded , holding my hands on top of my head to help open my lungs a bit, "Thanks, coach."

"Have you been running before this? Why didn't you run last year?"

I nodded, getting a water bottle, "Yeah, I've been running since I was twelve. I've had a lot on my plate last year but I dropped basketball and decided to finally pursue running."

He clapped me on the back, the others coming in by now. "Well, it's good to have you on the team."

Coach Scott walked back over to the finish line and I followed, but was pushed slightly. I looked to the side and saw Ava there. "That was crazy! Why didn't you tell me you could run like that?"

I shrugged, blood flowing up to my face. "I mean, it's not that crazy. There are people running in like the 13s…"

She just rolled her eyes, "Gonna be all humble after that? I shouldn't be surprised by that."

"What does that mean?"

She shook her head, "Nothing. Lets go over, coach is giving out positions and he's gonna announce this year's team captain."

We joined the rest of the team, where everyone was sitting and stretching on the grass, facing the coach. "Great job, everyone! We didn't have a single runner on the boys team run over a 7:30 pace or a runner on the girls team to run over an 8:30 pace. This is great! We'll have a better JV team than last year. What we need to do now, is announce our Varsity members and their team numbers. We'll start with the girl's team. Coach Vera, if you will?"

She stepped forward, holding up Varsity jackets. "You all did amazing! Now, we have seven varsity spots. In seventh with a time of 21:47 we have Margret Jones. In sixth, with a time of 21:16, we have Harper Brown. In fifth, we have 19:58, Mia Wilson. In fourth place, with a time of 19:44, we have Ava Hill. In third place, 19:31, we have Madison Wood. In second, with 19:30, we have Layla Baker. First, with 19:15, is Victoria Campbell. Congrats to all of you!"

We all clapped, giving them our congratulations. She flipped her clipboard, "Now, onto the boys team. Also, a 7 person team, we have the best of the boys. In seventh, with a time of 19:28, is Elijah Cox. Sixth, with 19:19, is Joshua Howard. Fifth, with 19:02 is Iasac Turner. In fourth, with 18:48 is Ben Lewis. In third, with a 17:33 is Mitch Rodriguez. In second, with a time of 16:10 is Anthony Roberts. In first place, with a time of 15:32, is Percy Jackson."

Coach Scott spoke up again, "Well, now, it's time to announce our team captain. This is his fourth season with us here at Goode XC, and he's always been a key member in team morale, Anthony Roberts!"

The team clapped, and Ant had a full blown smile on his face. Coach Scott continued, "Now, JV teams, please follow Coach Vera to the portable to pick up your uniforms. Varsity, come with me. We're getting your uniforms."

We followed the coach back to his classroom and I bumped Ava. "Does the XC team not have a locker room?"

She shook her head, "No, the school doesn't fund us well enough for them."

"Doesn't the football team get their locker room renovated every four years or something like that?"

She nodded, "It's pretty screwed up."

"Why doesn't the XC team get more funding?"

"People just don't value running as much as football. Cross country has been on the verge of being shut down for the last two or three years. The only reason track and field is still here is since it's what the football players do in the off season."

"That's stupid."

"Believe me, I agree."

We sat down at some of the desks in coach Scott's classroom and waited for him to get the uniforms. He pulled out two cardboard boxes. "Raise your hand if you're a womens' small."

He tossed out the appropriate uniforms, everyone raising their hands at the appropriate size. He tossed me a large and I looked it over. The top was all white, with a big maroon 'G' in the center of the chest for Goode. The bottoms were xc running shorts, which were just solid black with white piping.

Coach tossed the empty boxes towards the recycling bin, "I know there aren't many shoes that match our school colors, but if you could find shoes that don't clash that badly, like black, white, or gray it would be much appreciated. Please try to avoid blue, green, yellow, or colors that just wouldn't match. If you can't find shoes that match the uniform and also fit you as a runner, get the shoes that fit you as a runner."

We gave nods of understanding, "Great. I'll get your phone numbers from your school file and I'll make a Varsity group chat. You're released, have a good rest of your day."

We walked to the gym locker rooms and promptly showered and left again. As it turns out, Ava and I had left at the same time.

We said our goodbyes and left, Ava and I walked to a section of the parking lot. "I'll see you tomorrow."

She stopped me, "Wait a sec, give me your phone."

I raised an eyebrow but did it anyways. She started typing and doing stuff. When she handed it back, I slipped it in my pocket. "What did you do on my phone?"

She blushed slightly, "You added me on Snapchat, instagram, and I gave you my phone number."

I nodded, "Well, thanks. I guess."

She hit my shoulder slightly, You're gonna be my study buddy for marine biology."

"I am? This is news to me"

She nodded, seemingly very assured of it. "Yes. I just decided."

"Well, I guess I am then."

I tied my duffel bag down to the back of my motorcycle. "You ride a motorcycle?"

I nodded, "Yeah. My dad got it for me, like, two days ago."

"Sweet! Well, I have to get home, so I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you then!"

I swung my leg over my motorcycle and revved. I waved goodbye to Ava, before tearing out of the parking lot at what must've been way over the parking lot speed limit.

"Mom! I'm home!"

"Hey, sweetie. Will you come to the living room?"

"Yeah, sure. What's up?"

"Sit down first, please."

I hesitantly sat down, seeing the pensive looks on mom and Paul's faces. "What's up? Is everything alright?"

Mom nodded, "Yeah, nothing's wrong. This is just really important for me to share."

She took a deep breath and Paul put a hand over her stomach. "I'm pregnant."

I sat in a shocked silence, before leaping out of my seat and pulling mom and Paul into a huge hug, "I'm gonna be a big brother!"

Mom laughed, "Yes, you are."

I fell back on the couch, sprawling out, my brain reeling from what I had learned. I was going to have a little sibling. I was going to be a big brother.

Paul took one of mom's hands in his own, "We have a reservation at a nice restaurant tonight. I hope you'll be able to join us?"

I nodded, "Yeah! I don't have any homework, so I don't have any reason not to."

Mom smiled, "Wonderful! We leave at 5, so we have an hour to get ready. Please dress nicely."

"Will do, mom."

"Oh, by the way, how did tryouts go?"

"I'm on Varsity."

"Congrats, sweetie! I'm so proud of you."

"Thanks, mom."

I walked back to go get showered, before getting dressed in a pair of jeans, a button down shirt, and my brown leather jacket. I plopped back down on the couch and looked across at Paul, who was reading a book. "Hey, Paul? Where are we going tonight?"

"There's this stea-"

DING DONG.

Paul and I looked at each other, confused. I stood up, "I'll grab the door."

I did as I said and when I opened the door, I came face to face with Argus, who was wearing a suit, he handed me a note and stepped back from the door, waving at me to go back inside. I did as he gestured and walked into the living room.

I opened the note and read aloud, "Good evening, Jackson-Blofis family. Consider this a thank you from me and a congratulations to the addition to your family. Signed, Hera."

As soon as I finished reading, Paul and I glowed gold slightly and our clothes were magically replaced with black suits and bowties. We heard a muffled yelp from the mom and Paul's bedroom, where mom came out with a confused look on her face and a modest, knee length dress. "What just happened?"

I handed her the note and she just nodded, "Okay, our evening has been blessed by the goddess. Not the weirdest thing that's happened to me. How do we say thank you?"

"I mean, usually we just give a small sacrifice. I'm not sure about the queen of the gods, though."

"I mean, Argus is waiting for us, so we should probably go, huh?"

"Yes, I guess so."

We all got up and filed out the door, where we were led by Argus to a blacked out Phantom stretch 300 limousine. He opened the rear door, and we entered an equally luxurious interior. We talked and laughed, going wherever we were being taken.

We came to a stop and were let out in front of a restaurant. Mom and Paul's eyes bulged. I furrowed my eyebrows, "What's so special about this place? Is it super expensive?"

Mom nodded, "The most expensive place in New York City. Per Se, over $300 per person."

My eyes bulged, just like theirs did. "Holy shit."

Mom hit me with her purse.

"Sorry mom."

2 weeks later

"Percy!"

I groaned, "What Ava?"

She kicked my leg, "We're here."

I groaned, sitting up. We had taken the bus to our first cross country meet, which was at one of our neighboring schools. I pulled myself out of the bus seat I had laid across.

"Come on, we're setting up the tent. Mitch's mom brought bagels and cream cheese."

That got me out of the bench. I slung my backpack over my shoulder and grabbed one of the tarps, slinging it over my shoulder.

"So, what's this course like?"

She fell into step next to me. "It's mostly flat, all concrete, basically. Not much grass, but we're in New York City, you get what you get."

"You like it?"

She nodded, "For a concrete run, yeah. A lot of people PR on this course."

I gave a slow nod, "Nice. Thanks."

"No problem. Hurry up, slowpoke I want a bagel."

"You run in like an hour. Don't eat too much."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever."

I rolled out the tarp as a couple other kids set up the tent on top of it. It was like clockwork, and soon we were sitting on the tarp, eating bagels with cream cheese.

"You know the morning schedule?"

Ava shook her head, "Nah. Hey, Ant!"

He rolled over, chewing on a bagel. "Wassup?"

"Do you know the schedule?"

He nodded, "Yeah. Uh, the girls Varsity runs at 7:30, the girls JV runs at 8:00, the Varsity guys run at 8:30 and the guys JV runs at 9:00. We're going for a warm up jog in, like, ten minutes. We're gonna do an easy lap, so like a super slow mile jog."

I looked around at the lazy attitude of the other tents, "Are all meets this chill?"

He shook his head, "Nah. Don't worry, it won't stay like this. Around 7:00 this shit will turn into a military camp, practically. The entire mood will be way more serious."

He paused, "Except for the JV boys. They're always gonna do some stupid shit. You just kinda ignore them."

Ava just nodded in agreement. "It can get kinda annoying."

I leaned back on my backpack, "So, Ant, you're a senior, right?"

"Yeah."

"What do you want to do after high school?"

He smiled, "I have my contract signed, I'm going to the Air Force academy. I'm gonna be an A-10 pilot."

I nodded, "Sweet, bro."

"I know you're only a sophomore, but what about you?"

"I want to be a Marine Biologist. I mean, if running professionally doesn't work out."

Ava kicked her feet up onto my lap, "If you can whittle down your times, you could definitely at least get into a D-1 college."

I shrugged, "That's the dream. What about you, Ava?"

"Animal Science. I want to be a Veterinarian physician."

"You like animals?"

"Oh yeah. Dogs, cats, hamsters, horses, you name it, I like it."

She hesitated, "Except snakes. I fucking hate snakes."

We laughed, "Fair enough. Snakes are kinda creepy."

Ant got up and held his hands out, pulling us up. "Change your shoes real quick, we're gonna do the warm up."

We did as asked and we did a light jog. Since it was a Saturday, there weren't a lot of people at the school, other than a few clubs. Up a small hill, first right along the back of the Tennis courts, take the left and run down the football field, and take a left and run along the sidewalk between the school and the parking lot. Run around the front of the school and run along the bus loop, before running around the pool and back towards the start line.

Simple, just follow the lines. I wasn't gonna bother memorizing such a short course. The run was really slow, by cross country standard. The mile took ten minutes and we soon backed off the course, the girl's varsity team lining up.

I gave Ava a high five, "Good luck. Get going, you don't want to be DQed."

She gave me a couple finger guns before pulling off her sweats, pinning her bib, and lacing the timing chip that was given to her into her shoe. She jogged off, her hair in a ponytail swinging behind her.

As promised by Ant, the tents were filled with a slightly nervous silence, the meet about to kick off. A heard the starting gun fire and the girls took off. Ant and I watched the race, cheering on the girls team. Ava came across the finish line, at 19:28.57.

I met up with her over at the water table, where she was basically pouring water over herself and chugging it by the cup. "Good job, Ava! I saw your race, you finished in 10th. You ran a 19:28 and some change."

She nodded, still gasping for breath. "Sweet. That's a PR."

We clapped her on the back and left her be, while she recuperated from her run.

"So, Percy, you ready for the race?"

I nodded, "You bet."

"Gonna win?"

"I'm either gonna win or I'm gonna die and there's no inbetween."

He laughed, "You push yourself way too hard, even at practice."

I shrugged, "I don't half ass anything, I guess. I either win now or I'll train hard enough to win later."

Ant shook his head, "I'm just happy you're on our team."

We watched the JV girls go out and finish and we lined up for the start of the race. I slipped on my running shoes and pinned my running number on my chest.

Ant jumped up, bouncing on his heels, flexing his calves. "Come on, guys. We run in five."

"I'm gonna smoke the shit outta you Ant!"

"You can try it Mikey."

The team laughed and we filed up to our running block, where we got into position. Each team has a block that they get ready in. Two runners up front, and the others fall into line behind those two. The two in the very front are supposed to be the best runners, the fastest out of the block to help keep the runners from bunching up.

I was in the front left position, next to me, was Ant. the others filed behind us depending on their PR. I set up my watch to start and cracked my neck, shaking out my legs.

A man with a starter pistol and megaphone in his hand walked out to the front of the race. "Good morning, runners! You will obey all New York High School Running Association rules, including but not limited to, no shoving, hitting, bad sportsmanship, purposely injuring other athletes, or giving a false start. If you run off the block before I fire this gun, you will be DQed. Our starting procedure will be On your marks, get set, and I will fire. This gun is a starter pistol. It does not fire real rounds, only blanks. You will not be in any danger from being hit by a stray projectile off of the start."

He stood back, "Runners, on your mark!"

The entire group took one step back from the line.

"Get set!"

We set our lead leg forward, like we were about to sprint. The entire race was silent.

BANG.

We took off with abandon, sprinting off the blocks, hoping to get in higher positions before the race gets to spread out. I knew I was going to be running faster than I was during the time trials, since I was in a proper race with other runners who had been running since they were kids as well. The first mile in and I started paying attention to my surroundings. I was in what I think was the front pack, since I didn't see anyone in front of us. I stepped around the guy in front of me, a tall and lanky guy in a green uniform. I'll call him Green.

I sped up slightly, knowing I was the new pace setter, he didn't seem to like that. He tried speeding up to a ridiculous speed, as if he was making a statement that he would be in the front no matter what. I laughed internally, this asshole was gonna burn himself out if he kept this on.

Why the hell not? I jogged forward, knowing I could keep this pace, since I had ran faster in the Labyrinth. I kept the heat on his ass, tearing around him, building up the pace I was running until I was close to sixty or seventy yards ahead of them when I relaxed a bit to a more comfortable pace, but still well ahead of the rest of the pack. I came around for the end of the first lap, the teams cheering on and I heard an awfully familiar voice and I looked a bit to the side. I saw Ava jumping up and down while waving at me. I grinned and waved my hand slightly.

Mile two was just as easy, barely feeling the strain and knowing I could run faster than this. I looked at my watch and raised my eyebrows. I was at a 4:50 pace and I knew I wouldn't need to slow down. This wasn't that hard, at least for a trained runner. I glanced over my shoulder and saw Green, who had somehow covered the distance. He was gasping and having trouble running, but he was keeping pace.

I mentally nodded in approval. This guy has heart. I didn't bother with the pace, knowing that he'd either fall off within the next mile or I could kick harder in the last couple hundred than him. The second mile went by, with Green clinging on. I came by at another lap and I didn't change my pace, seeing as Green kept on falling back before surging forward. Within half a mile, he had fallen off, the gap between us slowly growing. I kept the last half mile, before flying down the 160 meter stretch that was an offshoot of the mile loop. I blew past the finish line, not doing much other than breathing heavily and sweating. I felt I could do the entire thing over again!

Coach Scott pulled me into a hug, "That was amazing! You just ran a 15:01!"

I grinned, "It's only the first race of the season, that was way too easy. I can drop that time."

He clapped me on the shoulder as we walked over to the water table. "You damn well better, I'm expecting some great times from you."

I stopped at the water table, where Ava practically body slammed into me, pulling me into a hug. "That was awesome, Percy!"

I laughed, pouring a cup of water over my head, "Thank you, Ava."

"You're most welcome. By the way, the award ceremony is in, like, an hour. Oh, wait, the rest of the runners are coming in!"

I turned around and saw Green stumble across the finish line before throwing up in the grass. He was picked up by the medics and taken over to an air conditioned first aid tent. A little bit later, I wasn't keeping track, I saw Ant come across the finish line, before stumbling his way over to the water table.

"Hey, Ant! Good run, what was your time?"

He dumped a cup of water down his back, "Like 15:58, I think. You?"

"I think I ran a 15:01."

"First?"

"First."

"Sweet. What place was I?"

"I think you were fifth or sixth. I'm not too sure, though."

"Great. I'll meet you over at the team area, I'm gonna get an ice pack from the med tent."

We waited for a while, before the award ceremony. Being the first meet of the season, it wasn't that big, since a lot of people were still getting back into the swing of things.

The girls Varsity did their podium, then JV, then it got to the boys Varsity. "In third place, with a time of 15:54.11, of Belmont High School, is Grant Reynolds!"

His school cheered and we clapped, and he climbed up to the third place spot on the podium. "In second place, with a time of 15:51.34, of Bronxdale High School, is Markus Smith!"

It was his school's turn to cheer, and we clapped again. "First, with a whopping 14:59.58, of Goode High School, is Percy Jackson!"

I climbed the podium, a grin on my face. We were given our medals and our pictures taken for the small, local paper.

We got off the podium and the announcer continued. "We have our official placings."

He started off with fifteen and worked his way up to the top three, when I started paying attention again. "In third place overall, we have Long Island High School. In second place, we have Oak Hill High School. Now, in first, taking positions 1st, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 11th, is Goode High School!"

We cheered and we went up to the stage getting our trophy. The teams dispersed soon afterwards and we got back on our bus to drive the hour back to Goode.

Ava laid in the seat across from me, propping her feet up on my lap. I huffed and started flicking her feet and screwing with her shoe laces.

"Ugh, Perrrcyyyy! You're gonna screw up my shoes."

"That's the plan."

"Well stop, or I'll… I'll…"

"You'll what?"

She just huffed, crossing her arms. "I don't know, but I'll do something."

"Sure you will. Sure you will."

The ride was silent in the back of the bus. Despite the win, everyone was tired and wanted to sleep. I could fall asleep, I mean, I'm a teenager. Of course I can sleep. I just didn't feel exhausted, like I should have. 3.1 miles just didn't cut it for me.

I thought about how far I had ran in the past, running for hours on end through the labyrinth, running across Manhattan during the war, running across half of the United States, I just knew I could do bigger.

10K? Half Marathon? Hell no. Go big or go home.

I'm gonna run a Marathon.

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