Everyone was saying that Thursday was supposed to be the hottest day this week. I really hoped that they were wrong, but of course they had to be right.

I was tossing and turning all night long. I finally had to get an ice pack from the freezer to keep me cool, because Gabe was too much of a cheapskate to pay for air conditioning. I could say that I got a couple hours of sleep and no more. It turned out to be way worse than what I had imagined.

I was one hundred and five, one hundred and five freaking degrees! You would think they'd have to cancel school at that temperature, but no. I was going to have to wear a sweatshirt in this heat. Is that even possible? Won't I die or something?

I started to sweat again right when I walked out of my apartment. People were giving me odd stares the whole way to school. Nico asked if I was crazy, so I decided to play along with it. I told him that I was challenging myself to see if I could go the whole day wearing a sweatshirt without fainting. He called me a lunatic, but believed me and wished me luck. I used to pull a lot of daring yet stupid stunts in elementary school, so this was just a typical Percyish thing to do. It's a good thing Nico knows me so well, but it might be harder to explain to everyone else, especially Annabeth.

When Grover saw me, he gave me the crazy eyes. Good thing Nico quickly interrupted him by saying,

"Percy Jackson, sweatshirt challenge." Grover quickly understood and began to settle down.

"Oh. Well, good luck Percy. You might need this though." Grover handed me a blue bandana with neon orange letters that said "Camp Half Blood". There was something wrapped inside. I unfolded it and found a necklace with clay beads.

"Grover, I haven't seen this since the last time we went to summer camp! Where did you find it?" Grover shrugged

"It was in my old backpack; you've must of given it to me and forgot to take it. Here's this too." Grover tossed me my old, orange camp T-shirt that probably still fit.

"Just in case you bail out, or hallucinate."

As I walked through the halls, I realized it might as well have been a beach party, without the 'party' and 'beach', part. Teachers wore dresses and skirts that were a little too short for my liking. The girls wore tank tops, jean shorts, and flip flops, which would normally be against dress code if it weren't over a hundred degrees. What appalled me the most, however, was that some guys were completely shirtless. This included the 7th grade bunch that Annabeth and Thalia hung out with. Luke was also one of them. He looked okay. He had his arm around Annabeth, pulling her closely to him, and laughing. I saw from a mile away that she was blushing furiously, which greatly amused me. I pulled out my iPhone, zoomed in, and took a snapshot of both of them. They looked cute together, and I think Thalia would think so too. Take that, Annabeth.

I mean, I can see why Annabeth likes him. He's got the blue eyes and the sandy short-cropped hair that most girls love. He seemed nice, especially to her, unlike me. Thalia told me that people call him "Three C Castellan". This is because he's the captain of three sports: flag football, basketball, and swimming. "C" stands for captain, and it's the letter of his last name. I kind of found that impressive. Emphasize, kind of. You see, I'm very hard to impress when it comes to athleticism like Annabeth is about academics, especially when it comes to water sports. I'm the king of that department for sure.

I really shouldn't be talking right now though, because I on the other hand was the dork wearing a sweatshirt. When everyone else looked like they were ready to cross the Sahara desert. I walked quickly avoiding the stares of others to the nearest water fountain. I soaked my blue bandana in the cold water, and tied it around my forehead under my bangs. It felt so good. The best I felt all morning. I also took a long drink and tied my camp half-blood necklace around my neck. When I headed to math class, my not-so-lovely math teacher, Mrs. Dodds, told me to take my sweatshirt off immediately. The class was asking a bunch of questions, because no one even had the guts to bring a sweatshirt today. Then I explained to them about the "Percy Jackson sweatshirt challenge". In the meantime Mrs. Dodds kept persisting that I'd take the sweatshirt off, but the class actually begged her to let me wear it. She eventually let me keep it on, probably because she wanted to see me faint, like everyone else did.

I continued to soak my bandana before every class, but I was starting to feel dizzy, and really, really hot. I ran into a few walls here and there, and I remembered I still had my swim trunks in my bag. I knew I had to get to the pool today. So I decided to skip lunch entirely. Annabeth usually showed up in the pool center around 15 minutes before the next class starts. That gave me forty minutes to cool off.

I entered the pool center and this time it was completely empty. I went to the boy's locker room and got dressed quickly. The chlorine-filled water was tempting me, glistening on the ceiling and the walls. Forty minutes, that's it. I jumped right in.

Did I mention how much I just love water? I could stay in it for days, if no one stopped me. It gave me some sort of power, and it was the only place I could go to that made me feel at peace. I started doing laps, racing back and forth and not getting tired doing it. I felt a lot better now, I even forgot about the bad spot on my back. For a moment I just floated, enjoying the refreshing feeling of cold water running through my scalp, but then I heard footsteps.

What? I glanced at my watch, it read 11:45. Class started in 15 minutes. I over-swam. I didn't know what to do, so I ducked under while holding my breath. I sat on the bottom and opened my eyes.

I saw a blurry figure of what appeared to be Annabeth. I saw she had a large book tucked under her arm. She was walking towards the pool bleachers. Then she stopped and looked at the pool, appearing to be studying it. Crap, I think she sees me. I didn't move a muscle. She may see something, but she might not know it's me. Besides, I was sitting underwater 10ft deep, and the pressure wasn't affecting me. She could think I'm just some random object. Plus, I couldn't let her see my arm, or my back. I knew I could hold my breath for at least two and a half minutes. Past that though, I didn't know. Despite my hopes, she came on the side of the pool and sat down, staring right at me. I knew I would have to come up eventually, I just didn't want too. I glanced at my watch, it read 11:48. I've been under for three minutes and was starting to feel the need for air. After a few more seconds I couldn't take it anymore, and swam up.

I got to the surface and gasped for air, and I saw her still looking at me, studying me. She was wearing running shorts and a grey tank top that matched her eyes. She was also wearing owl earrings.

"Thank the gods, I was just about to jump in and rescue you. You looked dead under there." She said. I clutched my heart with my right hand, hiding my left behind my back.

"Oh, really?" I said with a high pitched voice. "My hero! My knight in shining armor! My-" She interrupted me by splashing water in my face, which I expected.

"So, now that I see that you're alive, get out." She said firmly.

"What?"

"You heard me. I need to read, and I need to be alone. Now get out of here." I forgot about my wrist for a moment, and replied

"Why should I get out just so you can read some dumb book about architecture?" I almost regretted it as soon as I said it. Her eyes filled with hate.

"It's not dumb. Don't ever, ever insult any of my books again. Or you will deeply regret it." It may not sound like much of a threat, but if you could see her eyes right now, you would see why I was afraid. They were like storm clouds, forming a hurricane right before me. I quickly nodded in confirmation, and she smirked at the fear plastered on my face. I was getting out of the pool, and she hurried the process by grabbing my clothes from the bench. She shoved them on my bare chest. I was embarrassed for some reason. I wanted to cover my blush by pulling my t-shirt over my head, and then my sweatshirt. I was just about to leave, but then I spotted Annabeth's face. Her grey eyes were wide, and they looked like they were filled with confusion, fear, and worry? She slowly walked over to me. I was really confused.

"What is it?" She didn't answer me. Instead her eyes focused on the sleeve of my sweatshirt. She quickly grabbed my left wrist, which was still really sore. I jumped back instantly when she was about to roll my sleeve up to expose my cuts. I panicked, and curse my ADHD, I ran away from her, ignoring the calls of my name.

She knows.