My day passed pretty quickly as I was anxiously waiting for school to end. A smile grew on my face as the bell rang, indicating that school was finally over.
I dashed out of the classroom after waving goodbye to Grover. The familiar scent of the pool washed over me as I went to get changed for the swim competition.
I peered over to the pool, checking to see if anyone was there.
A man with a hat and a bright red shirt was squatting over one of the diving boards, rubbing something on it.
I heard that there would be extra precautions for the diving boards, and the school hired some special people to wash the boards for safety.
I didn't buy it. Especially since I only had heard of these "cleaning people" from Luke.
It didn't seem like they made it yet, so I decided to warm up a little in the pool.
I was on my 25th lap when Jason showed up on his phone. He waved at me with a kind smile and left to change in the boy's locker room.
Not long after Jason arrived, Hedge stormed in with his clipboard and left for the fitness office without even looking at me.
Now, we just had to wait for Luke.
The man finally finished with "washing" the diving board and left the building. It looked like there was some sort of film on it, but I ignored it.
A few moments after the mysterious man left, Luke walked in with an annoying grin on his face.
"Practicing, huh, Jackson? There's no need to practice for a terrible defeat," he taunted.
Jason walked out of the locker room at that exact time and was going to say something but I stopped him.
I smiled. "You're so confident in yourself, huh, Castellan? I found out that last year-"
I walked up and whispered into his ear, "I was chosen the correct way, and you weren't. I decided to help out and babysit my sister. I feel so bad for my teammates." I paused and looked him up and down in disgust. "They were led by such a self-absorbed piece of scum."
Luke huffed like his poor feelings got hurt. He snuck a glare at me before leaving to change in the locker room.
Jason walked to me and held his fist up for a fist bump. I returned the bump and muttered quietly, "Pound it."
What have you done to me, Estelle, I sighed.
Coach Hedge finally walked over to us and wrote a few things down. He waved us over to the locker rooms and we followed behind him silently.
"Okay, all the competitors are here so I guess I will-"
Luke walked over with his arms open. "Hey Coach! How's your day?" He turned to give Jason and me as harsh of a glare as he could without Hedge noticing. "I'm your favorite right?"
Hedge swatted his arms away, thankfully, and turned to glare at him. "First of all, don't interrupt me, Castellan. To answer your question, I don't have favorites."
He savored the word "favorites" like it was such an absurd and exotic concept before turning around and giving me a small wink.
"As I said before," he glared over at Luke, "We have quite an audience waiting outside to watch you guys. I will let them in shortly."
Audience? My eyes widened as I watched a few hundred people pour into the room and take their spots on the bleachers.
Jason saw my confused expression and nudged me. "You didn't know? Everyone wants to watch."
I scanned the audience looking for familiar faces. My eyes lit up with every person.
"Reyna? Thalia? Mom? Estelle?" I murmured.
A familiar blonde ran after Estelle and held her hand. "Annabeth?"