The Swap

Chapter 2: Water

Percy POV

"PERCY, PERCY, PERCY," the crowd cheered and roared.

I stationed myself on the white diving board in front of my lane. As the audience cheered my name, I scanned my competitors. They were all good swimmers, but I decided to focus on myself rather than others.

In competitions, many athletes fell short because they cared about others. I only focused on the thing I loved to do, which is swimming.

"READY," the announcer exclaimed boldly.

I took a deep breath and crouched into a diving position. My back curved as my legs bent and I angled my outstretched arms towards the water. I breathed again and zoned out the crowd.

Everyone wanted and expected me to win.

I took on another deep breath and let the pressure wash out of me. I loved swimming and that's why I was doing it. Since when did I get to the point where I always have to remind myself of that fact before competing?

"SET."

My eyes closed as I envisioned my dive. I would glide into the water with a relatively small splash, and power through to win this heat.

The shot fired giving me the signal to swim.

My muscles stretched and strained as my body pushed through the water. The 100-meter swim felt like nothing as I flip-turned and returned to the deep end of the pool. 50 meters through and 50 meters back in 49.18 seconds.

"Congratulations Percy Jackson for another excellent time," the announcer spoke.

I launched myself out of the pool as the cheering caught up to me. I smiled as I walked back towards my team's benches.

I felt several pats on the back from my teammates.

Another successful competition, but I was used to this. Regionals Competition was in a couple of weeks, and I was ready for it.

Hell, my entire school and town were ready for it on my behalf, which put a lot of pressure.

I sighed as the Saturday competition continued. I was done with my swims for the day, so I was waiting for the last few heats to end. My teammates and friends also performed relatively well.

As captain of the swim team, I was happy.

As a teenager, I was stressed out. Can anyone relate?

***

Interacting with Annabeth Chase was a lot of fun. We didn't get along, so we bickered and that was always fun. She got riled up pretty easily.

I watched as Annabeth swerved into her biology class.

She didn't care that I was the superstar captain of the swim team. I wish everyone was like that. Of course, Annabeth didn't care about me at all.

I didn't mind though. There was no reason for her to care about me. We only argued due to our differences in personality. Her know-it-all persona was actually quite irksome.

I continued towards my first period but not before getting stopped yet again. This time it was my girlfriend who collided with my body.

My back pressed into the locker as her lips crashed into mine.

I smiled into the kiss as my hands moved across her slender waist. The kiss was sweet and seductive, so it took a few moments for my brain to realize that we were in the middle of the hallway.

I pulled away to look at my red-haired girlfriend.

"Rachel, why aren't you in class? Not that I mind," I asked slyly.