(Chapter updated: 12/19/19)

Chapter 1

Everything changed on a beautiful, albeit sweltering, summer day.

"Come on, Annabeth!" My best friend Rachel pleaded over the phone. "It's ninety-five degrees outside, and my AC is broken. I'm basically sweating to death over here! Only the pool can save me!"

I laughed at her dramatics. "Just come over! Mine is working just fine. Besides, the pool will be super crowded today. If you wanted to go, you should've called me this morning, so we could've gotten there early and grabbed some good chairs and a nice umbrella."

I could practically see Rachel frowning over the phone. "Please, Annabeth? I won't even make you swim - you can read that one architecture book you've been obsessing over for months that arrived... yesterday, right?"

I blushed. "I have not been obsessing over it for months! And yes, it did arrive yesterday."

"Sure you haven't," Rachel said dismissively. "Besides, Percy is working today..."

I could feel my blush deepen. "So?"

"Come on, Annabeth. Are you telling me you don't want to go to the pool and gaze at him, sitting in that chair, shirtless, muscular, hot…"

"Rachel! I don't just like him because he's ridiculously attractive!"

"I know, I know - I'm just trying to motivate you. Did it work?"

I shook my head, smiling. "Maybe."

Rachel whooped. "Yes! I'll be there in ten."

Five minutes later, I heard a honk from outside. Cursing, I finished packing my bag as quickly as I could, throwing my wayward sunscreen into my bag. I stepped quietly down the stairs, not wanting to run into the step-gremlin and explain where I was going. We'd been fighting a lot more recently, and the last thing I wanted to do was give her some sort of excuse to forbid me from going anywhere. Shutting the door behind me, I quickly locked the front door before striding to Rachel's used Honda, squinting at it in the mid-July heat. "What happened to 'I'll be there in 10?'" I asked, sliding in next to Rachel and heaving my bag into the backseat.

Rachel shrugged sheepishly. "I was getting impatient," she said, backing out of my driveway and roaring down the road.

"Clearly!" I said, hurriedly buckling my seatbelt. "You're going 40 when the speed limit is 25!"

Rachel shrugged again, her eyes fixed on the road. "Whatever," she said flippantly. "At least I don't drive 20 mph under the speed limit."

I glared at her. "I do not drive 20 mph under the speed limit!"

Rachel raised her eyebrows. "Yes, you do."

"Only once in a while!"

"Ha! You admit it!"

I frowned, crossing my arms. "I admit nothing."

She just laughed. "Keep telling yourself that."

We continued on like this until we reached the pool, and after parking the car some distance away, started our long trek to the main entrance. Rachel fanned her face. "It's way too hot outside! Why is it so hot?"

"Because it's summer, Rach," I said with a smile.

She rolled her eyes. "I know, but it should be against the laws of nature for it to be this hot. Plus, knowing my skin type I'm going to have a major sunburn by the time we even get to the entrance." She gestured to the heat visibly rising off of the pavement to our left. "It's like we're walking in an oven."

"Well, we're here," I said, tugging her into the shade of the public pool entrance. Rachel just rolled her eyes before glancing at the counter and stiffening suddenly. I looked at her. "What?"

She gestured subtly to the person standing behind the admittance counter. I turned towards it, and instantly I could see why Rachel had suddenly taken a defensive stance and crossed her arms in a somewhat threatening way – or at least, as threatening as you can be as a 5'7" red – haired teenage girl.

Standing behind the counter was none other than the girlfriend of the guy I've had a crush on since the summer of eighth grade: Calypso Jameson.

In addition to sounding like a Mediterranean goddess, she looked like one. Caramel hair braided to fall over one shoulder, and almond shape eyes that seemed to change color in the light. She was also nice to almost everyone. The only real reason why Rachel didn't like her? She thought Calypso was 'too good to be true', whatever that meant. I always felt horribly plain next to her.

"Hi Annabeth, hi Rachel," she said with a small smile. Rachel just huffed, grunting out a hello. I shot her a 'behave' glance, before turning to smile at Calypso in return.

"Hey Calypso," I said, trying to feel as effortlessly cool as she was.

"Just you two?" She asked, punching something into the cash register.

I nodded. "Just us," I said, and she rang us up.

We paid, changed, and headed out onto the pool deck. Fifteen minutes later, after the long and arduous task of finding some chairs and an umbrella so we didn't get horribly sunburned, I was finally reading my new book on Greek architecture. Becoming an architect had always been my dream, and so close to senior year, with perfect ACT and SAT scores sitting comfortably on my college applications, as well as a perfect GPA, it was time for me to just relax and enjoy the summer. Rachel was sitting next to me, rubbing sunscreen on her arms, before something caught her attention. "Annabeth!" she hissed, poking me.

"What?!" I glared at her from over the rim of my sunglasses, which were a bit big on me and had the bad habit of sliding down my nose. "Look!" she pointed at something directly in front of me.

"Rachel, it's not polite to –" I cut myself off, finally looking at what she was pointing at.

Percy Jackson.

Instantly, my heart rate picked up and I could feel my cheeks turn red. Rachel glanced at my facial expression and laughed softly. "You look starstruck."

Well, maybe I was. Percy Jackson was one of the most popular boys at Goode High School. Academically he was average, but he was captain of the swim team, and played a variety of other varsity sports. He was also devilishly handsome, with messy ink hair and startling sea-green eyes that sparkled when he was in a good mood, and looked dark emerald when he wasn't. He had this way of being suave without seeming to try, and it was hard not to stare, just a little, at his biceps.

Personality-wise, he was also every girl's dream. Loyal and true, but mischievous at times, with a dangerous smile…

"Annabeth! Annabeth!"

I jumped, almost falling out of my chair. "What?"

Rachel just smiled at me. "What was is you were saying earlier, about not gawking at him?" she said, going back to applying the sunscreen. I looked again at Percy, sitting up in his lifeguard's chair. He had sunglasses on as well, obscuring those eyes of his as he dutifully scanned the pool.

I looked back at Rachel, feeling sheepish for practically drooling. "I meant I wasn't just going to sit here doing that. I think I'm allowed one gawk per day, and now that the quota has been fulfilled, I'm going back to reading."

She laughed, lifting an eyebrow. "You're so cute when you're embarrassed. And anyways, you guys are gonna get together someday – may as well get the unnoticed gawking out of the way right now."

It was my turn to raise an eyebrow at her. "Right. When pigs fly."

Rachel just looked at me. "I'm serious! I have a feeling you will."

I glanced back up at the chair, and then back at Rachel. "He has Calypso, who's gorgeous, popular, smart – she's his perfect match. I can't compare to that."

She just sighed. "Annabeth, you underestimate yourself. You're much more than that. I don't know how to make you see it, but you're just going to have to trust me."

I just picked up my book again. We had this argument every couple of weeks, and I had just learned to let it go. Rachel was as stubborn as could be – there was no way to change her mind, and I knew the same thing was true about me. I was too prideful for my own good, and I had trouble admitting when I was wrong. That quality that often got me into trouble, but Rachel seemed to understand this about me and had gotten used to it. Now, she was just silently applying the sunscreen to her legs, not looking at me.

I grimaced. "I'm sorry," I muttered, and Rachel raised an eyebrow at me.

"I'll be right one day – apologize to me then," she said lightly.

I just shook my head. "Whatever you say."

It was ten minutes after that when I finally decided to give in to the heat and get into the pool.

I set my book down quietly on my chair, careful not to disturb Rachel, who was sunbathing quietly, eyes closed. I then sat by the edge of the pool, carefully dipping a toe in the water. Several lane lines stretched from one wall to the other, and a few of them were full of people swimming laps, their limbs moving in smooth, synchronized movements. I sighed, squinting in the afternoon sunlight, hands on my hips. I was going to have to walk around to the other side of the pool to get in without bumping into anyone. I turned, about to start walking, when Rachel came up behind me, a wicked gleam in her eye. It only took a second for me to guess what she was thinking about.

"Don't even think about it, Rachel!"

She grinned. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Annie."

I narrowed my eyes at her, glancing at my precarious perch at the edge of the pool. "Don't call me Annie," I said, brushing my hair away from my eyes. "And if you push me in the pool I swear to God -"

Rachel stepped forward then, cutting me off by giving me a good, hard shove that sent me tumbling back into the water. The last thing I remembered before hitting my head on something hard and plastic was Rachel's suddenly horrified face and the loud shriek of a whistle before I blacked out completely.