Woodside Academy (Percabeth AU)

Chapter 32 - The Events Leading Up

This chapter is going to be pretty much a month worth of stuff crammed into one chapter.

Percy's POV

November 30

Coach Hedge was getting more and more aggressive with us. If we messed up, he would give the whole team an extra 20 minutes of practice.

It was 7:30 when we finally finished. An extra 2 hours of practice.

"He needs to loosen up," Jason said behind me as we left the locker room.

We were all dripping in sweat, bright red and winded. The cold was making it hard for me to breathe as we walked back to the dorms.

     "I need food now," I said, pulling Jason and Leo off of our route to the dorm and away to the dining hall.

     Dinner had started 30 minutes ago, so we probably had another 25 minutes left. The three of us ran as fast as we could, not even caring that it would only drain us even more. Will and Nico and Frank were running behind us, but we were faster on any normal day. And even if we were normally faster, we were even faster now, because we wanted food.

We burst into the dining hall then raced over to the table, crashing down very 'gracefully' on the benches.

Rachel wrinkled her nose as I plopped down beside her. "You stink."

Piper made the same face at Jason, but didn't say anything. "Where have you boys been?" She asked as Leo joined a split second later, sitting down beside Annabeth.

"Practice," we all gasped, already gathering as much food as possible onto our plates. Mashed potatoes, steak, broccoli, bread rolls, a slice of pizza, spinach, and some cheese.

We all tore through the food like we hadn't eaten in years.

"I want to see who finishes first," Piper whispered to Annabeth.

"I bet on Percy," Annabeth whispered back.

Piper smirked. "Five bucks says Leo."

They shook on it while everybody else watched the three of us continue eating.

     I finished first, much to Piper's dismay as she handed five dollars to Annabeth once we'd gotten back to the common room.

***
December 2

     Rachel and I walked hand in hand down the trail on the side of the mountain. We weren't going into town, just a short walk. We would walk down, then come back up.

     "So, how's tutoring going?" Rachel asked me.

     I smiled, happy that she'd settled into the fact that Annabeth was my tutor. Once again I was grateful for the sudden change in attitude in Rachel.

"It's going pretty good. My grades have really improved." I replied, swinging our hands back and forth as we walked.

Rachel smiled. "I'm happy to hear that. Annabeth must be a good tutor, then."

      I nodded. "Yeah, she's pretty good."

     "Did you ever show her the 100 you made on Mr. Brunners last test?" She asked me as we made it to the bottom of the mountain.

When we turned around and began going back up, I said, "Yeah, she was excited. She's only being stricter on me for history, though, now that she knows I can make a perfect score."

Rachel laughed, and we walked for a few minutes in silence.

"I'm glad you're doing better in your classes," Rachel said suddenly. "I wish it could be me that was making it happen, though."