Percy

"Jason... You are going to get yourself, and by extension me, killed."

I leaned back in my chair in the Goode lunch room. Jason had been seeing Piper a lot lately, and I mean a lot. They were nearly inseparable. Jason was with Piper before school, during class, in between classes, before practice, at... you get the point.

It was getting bad enough that Coach Hedge noticed. He had sat me down and had this long talk about how the season was almost underway, and how I had a responsibility to focus on academics and school. He said my responsibility was to also keep my teammates on the 'straight and narrow'.

"I'm sorry Perce, it's just Piper is so amazing. I've never felt like this before."

Leo laughed, " That's what you said about Drew, and Reyna, and Jess, and-"

"No, it is different from that, from them. This feels real."

I scoffed, "Well no matter how you feel, tone it down man. You know what Hedge said, 'straight and narrow'"

" I'll try, but I'm not going to sacrifice this for Hedge."

That caused me to roll my eyes. Jason Grace's refusing an authority figure was not commonplace. He may have been the type to mess around with a lot of girls, but he wasn't a rule-breaker. When we ran laps in the gym, he ran the whole lap; when we did 100 pushups, he didn't do 98 or 99. He did 100. That's the type of guy he was.

So, maybe Piper did mean a lot to him.

Regardless I had still had Hedge on my ass, and the first game was tonight. So if we lost I'd only hear it more from him.

"So boys... We have to win tonight. I know it's against Fairmont North, and they are back-to-back state champs-"

"They have the Russian twins, how can we stop those two?" Leo squawked.

"We will just have to find a way, use the three. Move the ball around, shit like that." I replied.

I could understand their fear. The Russian twins were 7'0 feet tall, mean, and good at basketball. The tallest guy we had on our team was a 6'6 senior, and he wasn't all that talented. Jason and I were the starting guards, and we were both just above 6 feet. Jason was a little taller, but it is not like that was much use against some 7-foot Russian dude(s).

I was thinking about saying something else to get the boys buzzin' but was interrupted by my labored thought process by Piper and Annabeth.

" Hey guys! Annabeth and I wanted to come and wish you all luck." Piper said while staring at Jason. Subtle, I know.

"It was your idea, not mine," Annabeth grumbled under her breath.

I couldn't help but smile. My relationship with Annabeth had gotten a lot better. She seemed to tolerate me again, and I could stand being around her as long as she wasn't with Luke.

"So Annabeth, are you coming to the game tonight?"

"Piper is making me come along, so yes, I will be there."

"Is your dog coming too?"

"You know Percy, you probably wouldn't say that to his face."

I smiled. "I may not have before Thanksgiving, but I would know Annabeth."

Just after I said that, which in hindsight I probably shouldn't have, Rachel approached our table.

Annabeth had been around Rachel and me before. It wasn't a pretty sight... and I kind of liked that. Each time they were near each other, one of the two was acting rude.

Rachel joined the table to a chorus of heys and hellos, " Did everything with Dr. Brunner go alright, Rachel?" Leo asked.

Rachel and I had shown up late to the first hour. It caught the attention of all of our friends and . It wasn't my fault, Rachel was the one who wanted to stop her car and watch the sunrise. I cared more about the McDonald's breakfast she promised me than the sunrise. The sun rises every day, and I don't get McGriddles every day, obviously one is more important.

"Yeah, he kept trying to ask who and what made me late. Suppose it had anything to do with Percy or anyone else. I just acted dumb."

Annabeth butted in, "Was it hard?"

Rachel retorted back, " Is it hard to be with a guy that the entire 2017 class has been with?"

I should break this up, but it's so fun to watch. Why break up the entertainment?

Annabeth got visibly mad, her face turning into tomato levels of red. "Luke and I aren't together anymore, so I appreciate the nice words Rachel."

Rachel immediately looked down, slightly embarrassed and not sure what to say. Annabeth turned on her heels and stormed away. Piper yelled after her. Before she left she turned to Rachel.

"Great job Dare, putting down other women is such a great thing to do."

As Piper left Rachel turned to the table, clearly distraught. "I swear I didn't know, I wouldn't have said that if I knew."

I felt bad for both of them. I wanted to run after Annabeth, and ask if she was okay. I wanted to be there for her. But I couldn't. I knew I should be by Rachel's side. We still weren't dating, but she had trusted me enough to tell me things she didn't tell other people. Staying here with her was the right thing.

For the rest of the school day, no matter how much I tried to focus on Rachel or the basketball game, my mind kept drifting. I wondered why Annabeth had broken up with Luke, or more likely why Luke had broken up with her. I thought about her eyes, how stormy and full of hurt they were. I thought about how her smile had faded when Rachel brought up Luke like she had been used to this pain. She was used to being lied to and hurt.

I promised myself I would never hurt Annabeth Chase.

As soon as I put up my first shot, I knew the game wasn't going to go well. Kyle, our tallest player and only true center, had run the pick and roll with me and gotten one of the Russian twins to switch onto me. It was the opening sequence of the first quarter, and I figured that I could show this oaf the razzle-dazzle.

I brought him out about 3 feet from the three-point line, and crossed the ball between my legs a couple of times to get a sense of his movement. With about ten seconds on the play clock, I crossed it behind my back and pushed hard to my right. He came with me. After about three steps I pulled it back to my left and stepped back, leaving him standing four feet in front of me.

The crowd erupted, and normally I would drain a shot straight in the defender's face. But this wasn't a normal high schooler. As I shot the ball, I saw him jump with incredible speed. He must have covered two feet both on the ground and in the air. At the height of my shot's arch, he swatted it into the crowd. The Goode crowd fell silent, while the traveling supporters erupted in cheers.

Of course, the ball landed directly in Rachel's arms. She grimaced and threw the ball back to the ref. I looked at Jason and we knew it was going to be a long night.

Somehow we were only down by 5 going into the 4th quarter. That in itself should be seen as a win. Jason had taken over the 2nd quarter, scoring 12 points while I grabbed 5 rebounds and 3 assists. However, we had cooled down in the 3rd.

Coach Hedge gathered us into a huddle.

"Poor 3rd quarter boys. We need to pick it up. Jason and Percy, you are going to pick up the twins while we have a rotating center come help you out."

"Coach," Jason never talked back but this seemed crazy, " are you trying to get us killed? There's no way we can man-mark them."

"We want to get their guards shooting, just try to get some boards."

Like good soldiers being sent to slaughter, we did what we were told. For the first two minutes, it went about as well as you can expect. The two 7-footers put shot and shot over us. But eventually, their guards started shooting more, seeing the space they were giving. They were bricking shot after shot.

We started to get some rebounds and quick transitions. The score started to level out. It was 76-76 going into the last minute. Jason had just stolen the ball out of one of the oaf's hands and taken it coast to coast when one of their guards threw all his weight into Jason while he was in the air. The crowd gasped as Jason went down hard on his back, failing to turn and catch himself.

It didn't look good at all. The ref called for a tech, but I could tell Jason was done for the game. I shot the two free throws and made neither. The nerves had gotten to me, my legs felt like jelly and my arms like lead. Luckily, Joe, our sophomore center, made a stop on defense. The shot clock matched the game clock, showing 25 seconds left.

Coach Hedge called out, "Percy! Hold it and take the final shot."

I brought the ball up slowly, crossing it in between my legs as I went up the court. One of the twins picked me up a couple of feet from the three.

15 seconds I was left.

I had practiced these moments so much before. As a kid, I used to dream about moments like this.

12 seconds.

I looked into the crowd and saw Rachel sitting. About three rows below her I saw Annabeth standing with a smile across her face. That smile made my heart skip a beat.

8 seconds.

I crossed behind my back, shifting my weight trying to get a feel for my defender like I had the first time. I was stronger with my right, but he knew that. He wanted me to go that way.

5 seconds.

I pushed the ball out to my right, taking a hard step with my left foot. The Russian came with me trying to block the way. I stepped again, but this time I spun to the left using my right foot.

2 seconds.

I stepped back beyond the arch, a good 5 feet of separation between us now. There was no way he could block the shot. I launched the shot, hoping it would hit.

BZZ

The buzzer sounded just before the ball rippled through the bucket.

The crowd screamed as my shot sunk in. My teammates ran onto the court while I stood there in disbelief. That disbelief only lasted for a second before I turned to look at Annabeth in the crowd. She had the biggest smile on her face, Piper was jumping up and down next to her. That smile made me feel like I had made another buzzer beater all over again.

Everything after that was a blur.

Jason hadn't been injured too badly and had arguably the best game. My mom and Paul were there to congratulate me. Coach Hedge seemed happier than ever, and decided to give us the weekend of practices off.

That meant only one thing.

A party at Piper's house tonight.

Author's note:

Hey all, I hope you didn't get bored with the basketball scene. I tried my best to make that scene intense. I am trying to stray away from the tropes that every fanfic experiences, but obviously that isn't very easy.

This was the longest chapter yet, and I think I will do some editing before I start the next chapter. But you can look for it next week or maybe even this weekend.

As always, thank you so much for reading!

Love you all,

Ciao