5 years
It's been 5 years since Percy or Annabeth have talked to each other.
And the entire time, Annabeth hated him more every day. He did leave her after all, the boy who was supposed to be her best friend.
When Percy returns to their small tow...
"Percy! use your level to ensure everything is even!" Annabeth called to me, running a hand through her matted hair, "We need to be done. This is our last day doing this."
About a month ago, when they announced the SPQR games, training had become vigorous.
On the bright side, anybody participating in the games could miss classes so they could train with coach Hedge. However that did leave a influx of backlog which only Annabeth seemed to be able to expertly navigate.
Her homework had become practically become a new currency in our high school.
"And that....is my final brick," I took a bow as Annabeth applauded, throwing her hands up in celebration.
"Pretty much. We can patch up the rest of the places later," she said.
"By the way, I had to ask. I heard there's gonna be a final dance or something?" I asked her, trying to pack up.
"Yeah. The student council's been planning our graduation.We were thinking a dance,a couple of games and lunch or dinner," She grinned, "I'm so excited. It's going to be amazing!"
"Then why wait now?" I asked, taking a bow, "We can dance right now."
She laughed, "you got to be kidding me."
"I'm not!" I protested," Come on! It's been a while since we've had some fun! Especially with all the training Coach has been putting us through."
"I suppose I did have a lot of fun during Piper's party," Annabeth bowed, picking up the hems of her invisible gown.
I matched her smile, pulling her closer to me. I interloped her hand through mine, a electrifying sensation passing through me as I did so.
The patches of the archery shed which were uncovered cast the light on us, making Annabeth's eyes glow, her hair now a glittering gold.
She was gorgeous. She was my bestfriend. She was....she was everything to me.
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"Remember that bet we made at Piper's party?" I asked, "I think I finally have an idea."
"What do you mean?"
"Tell me what you want first, if there's a slight chance you might win."
"Oh I'm definitely going to win," her she played with the hair at the nape of my neck, causing me to have an internal attack.
"Then tell me what you want."
"I don't know....throw me a party," she laughed.
"Done."
"Okay," she lifted her eyebrow, "what do you want then?"
"Well....if you win, I'll throw you a party. If I win...go on a date with me?" I asked, a lump in my throat. I was on the verge of slapping myself before she spoke.
"Oh," Annabeth stopped for a second, stepping on my feet, "O..okay. Yeah. Sure."
My heart skipped a beat, her being so close wasn't helping things.
"I mean only if you don't want I don't want-" I stuttered, trying to calm myself down. She agreed. Time to double down on working out.
"I said alright, seaweed brain," she smiled, moving away, "Come on, let's go. We have after school practice," she said, taking me by the hand for a day of gruelling practices and a lot of sweat.
But I didn't mind
Annabeth agreed.
That was enough to get me through the day.
We had an extra swim team meet and coach Hedge was blowing his fuse when Annabeth was called to Vice-Principal Chiron's office with no explanation.
Later, she pulled the Coach aside explaining something to him which just made him scream at us to do more laps.
"Here's what just happened," Annabeth said, momentarily stopping us all in our tracks," I won't be able to participate in the swimming competition. The Stolls both did something stupid and broke their toes, so they will not be able to participate in throwball and Chiron asked me to fill in for them because their team needs a minimum amount of players and I've played before. So between this and Archery, I won't be able to swim with you guys. Both the competitions are going to be happening at the same time so...you'll have to make do without me," she sighed, "You can still reach out to me if you need anything but Frank can manage the team in my absence. He's good," she smiled at him.
"And...." Coach Hedge promoted
"Right...Coach asked me to choose a Co-captain for the team to help Frank while I'm not there. So...I'm picking Percy," she cut her gaze towards him, a minuscule smile on her face, He's an excellent swimmer. I'm sure he'll do his best to help as well."
I felt everyone's eyes on me. And though I'm not the to shy away from attention, this time it made me look at my feet, trying to keep the grin from my face. Annabeth thought I was a good swimmer. No, excellent swimmer.
I was definitely going to tease her about that later.
Annabeth's departure left everyone groaning. She was one of the best swimmers we had. Maybe not as excellent as me, but amazing anyway.
Annabeth ushered me over as she turned to exit, "About the bet...how about you just take the win already?"
"What? no!" I protested, immediately regretting it. Why was I ruining my own chances?! Idiot!
"We can alter it to something else later, don't worry," I told her, "But you're not dropping it."
"Are you...sure you don't want to just accept victory? Do you want to change your prize?" she asked, fiddling with her bead necklace.
"Nope. Still the same," I shook my head, "I just don't want you to drop out."
"I won't," she smiled, waving goodbye to somebody behind me, "I need to go. Already late for practice. And I'll probably need a lot of it."
I bid her goodbye as she walked out the door, practically spiriting to her the field to throwball practice, which must have already began given the noise.
I made my way back into the water, letting it's coolness calm the feeling I had in the pit of my stomach. Why would Annabeth just hand me the victory?She would never do that. She loved winning.....unless....what if she actually wanted to go on a date with me?
"Snap out of your thoughts Jackson! Get moving!" Coach Hedge bellowed, jump starting my system as I began my lap.
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Late chapter! But at-least it's here! (Posted 1:04am- 13/04/22)
