A/N: Chapters are getting much tougher to write now that I'm trying to work in some sort of build up to a conflict and such to make the story have more of a point than funny things happening at Goode, got the last important OC introduced now though, which is good.

Jay

Meeting Percy had turned out to be a major plus for the Goode High Swim team, because while he had no intentions to join the team, he'd taken to visiting me at the pool every free block, and my other swim team friends that had the same block off came with me, meeting him.

He'd give us advice and help with improving our times. Lately, his girlfriend Annabeth had been joining us, usually with a book to read while she relaxed with Percy by the pool. He never actually got in the pool with us, though. I wanted to change that, surely some injury wouldn't get aggravated by an hour of swimming.

Today he was sitting with his feet in the water, Annabeth resting her head in his lap with her eyes closed. Apparently she was recovering from a cold and overtired, so we tried to be a little quieter for her sake. It wasn't just that she could be really scary, it was also that she had her fair share of advice for swimming too, just from time spent watching Percy swim in the past. Besides, she helped the guys out with homework on occasion, we considered her a friend just like Percy.

"Hey Terry, outstretch your arms more in your strokes." Percy called out absently, watching everyone in the pool with a smile.

I'd seen Percy multiple times now in other parts of the school, and no matter where I saw him, he always looked a little different than he did here at the pool. He was always happier here, but calmer. The water had some weird effect on him that just dulled down his ADD, it didn't make much sense, but he just said that he loved the water, and left it at that.

I waded my way over to the edge of the pool where Percy was sitting, "Hey, do you ever swim anymore? Like even casually?"

He glanced down at Annabeth, whose eyes were still closed, and then shrugged, looking back to me.

"Sometimes, why?" I grinned, having the attention of the rest of the guys, along with some of the other people who had shown up at the pool, either to swim or to watch and talk. We'd apparently turned it into a social spot.

"Well, you have all this talk about swimming, but none of us have ever seen you swim." I pointed out with a sly smile, "Seems rather odd." There were some whispers of agreement from the group, and Percy rolled his eyes, glancing between all of us.

"Well, not really a good idea to push my luck." He states, about to say more when Annabeth shushes him. "Just go, Seaweed Brain. One time won't do anything." She then raised her head from his lap and sat up, stretching.

Percy's face turned into a wild grin, and I reminded myself to go thank Annabeth later for her part in getting him in the water. She flashed me a wry smile as she watched Percy shredding his clothes and stumbling around in an excited stupor.

"Jeez, Percy, if you keep fumbling around you'll fall in the pool before you get your pants off."

He got his shirt off and revealed an evil grin, and I knew he was about to say something to set Annabeth off. He undid he belt and pulled off his jeans, laughing lightly. "Yea well, usually you're the one taking my clothes off, Wise Girl." He then got his socks off and ran to the other side of the pool, Annabeth's yells drowned out by laughter, though her face was easily visible, and a bright shade of red.

Percy got to the diving board, and I could see some of the girls in the pool area admiring him dreamily. Even Annabeth, despite his embarrassing her, was checking her boyfriend out. He dove into the water flawlessly before surfacing near me, grinning.

"Well, what now Jay? You've got me in here." Percy laughed, backstroking around lazily.

I smirked, wading over to the end of the pool, "We could have a race." I suggested, causing Percy to stop in his tracks and glance at Annabeth once again. She just scoffed, "Seriously? Just do it, you'll be fine."

He swam over to the end with me, as did a few other guys on the swim team who wanted to be a part of this race.

I heard Annabeth call my name, and turned to face her. She just grinned, "He's going to kick your asses." She said, before holding up her phone to indicate she'd time it for us. I guess she knew we'd want to know what Percy's time ended up as, so we could compare to our own times.

"Marks." Annabeth called out, "Set." We all readied ourselves. "Go!" the five of us shot off the edge of the pool, slicing through the water. Annabeth had set the bar at three times to the end and back.

I could catch glimpses of Percy gliding through the water ahead of me, his boasting about swimming had not been empty, as he was easily a few feet ahead of the rest of us, and showing no signs of weakness. By the time we finished, he was already sitting on the edge of the pool, grinning wildly. Definitely a solid five to ten seconds ahead on our times.

Gripping the edge with my arms, I took a deep breath. "How are you that fast?" I asked him, trying to get over the fatigue.

Percy shrugged in a nonchalant way, "I'm just good in the water and spent a whole lot of time in it. Came naturally." Annabeth had made her way over and draped a towel over his shoulders, leaning in quickly to peck him on the lips before she retreated to avoid getting wet. As she sat down, she laughed at our astonished faces over Percy. "I don't call him Seaweed Brain for nothing, guys. He would probably live in the water, if people let him."

Percy grinned shamelessly, "Nah, maybe when I was younger." He joked, "But now I just want to live wherever you are." He flashed a smile at Annabeth, which she returned gladly, and some of the girls in the room could be heard giggling and cooing at the couple's behavior. Apparently the majority of Goode's female population had adjusted to the fact that Percy, and his cousin Jason, and their other guy friends, were taken or not interested, and gotten over their little crushes. Once they'd gotten past that, suddenly Percy and Annabeth were the 'cutest couple to ever exist' instead of Percy and that blonde girl that they all wanted to skewer.

The two ignored the attention though, like they were used to it. They seemed just happy to be together, and to make me and the rest of the swim team look bad in the pool, apparently.

Grover

I was hanging out with Frank and Hazel today at lunch, because they thought they might've found our Demigod. A girl a year older than Hazel, fifteen, named Mariah Ambridge.

Hazel pointed her out at one of the lunch tables to me, she had long, blondish brown hair and what looked like greyish blue eyes.

Going off that, Athena was a possibility, though I wasn't going to call it a done deal, since her eyes and hair were both a mixture instead of straight up blonde with grey eyes. Like Annabeth and most of the other Athena campers.

We sat down, and Mariah's eyes flitted over Hazel and Frank before fixing themselves on me quizzically.

"Hey" Hazel said, smiling, "This is our friend, Grover. He wanted to sit with us today" she informed her, and Mariah nodded, accepting the reasoning before putting a hand across the table, "Mariah Ambridge" I nodded, smiling, even though I knew her name already, "Grover Underwood" I replied in return.

We ate mostly in science, but Hazel managed to keep a quiet conversation going, letting me get to know Mariah a little more. At one point she admitted she wanted to learn more about gardening, so she would have something to do other than sit around studying all the time, and I perked up, "I love gardening" I exclaimed, grinning, "I could totally help you out with that. My friend Katie could too, she's crazy about it" I added, pointing out Katie over at Percy's table, where they were all guffawing together about something.

She looked up where I was pointing, smiling faintly, "I don't know, she probably wouldn't want to hang out with me, she's part of their big group." She pointed out all the demigods, at their table. I waved her off, "They aren't like that, trust me. She'd probably love you."

She let it pass, eating a little more of her chicken burger, "So you're friends with all of them, too?" she said, before adding, "Like Frank and Hazel are… even though they sit with me at lunch." I smiled at her and pointed out Percy and Annabeth, "I've known Annabeth since we were seven, and I've been Percy's best friend since grade six. The rest of them I've known different amounts, but don't know them as well as I know those two."

I just grinned at her hesitance, taking another piece of celery from my lunch and chomping down on it, "No worries, you can think about it for as long as you need, the offer will still be there"

Frank jumped into the conversation, changing the subject for us, "What does everybody have after Lunch?" he sent me a subtle smile and then answered his own question, "I've got Biology"

Catching on to the need for a new topic, Hazel answered as well, "I'm gonna be stuck in Math, it's horrible." She said with a sly grin.

I shrugged, answering for myself, "Economics with the Stolls." Frank gave a surprised look, "It's not too bad, honest. Besides, you'd never believe how good the Stolls are with numbers when they represent money."

Hazel, still looking suspicious, turned on Mariah, "What do you have?"

Mariah glanced up for a second, "Architecture" she said plainly.

I frowned, "Isn't that only an elective for Juniors and Seniors?" I wondered aloud. Mariah just shrugged, "They allow some exceptions if you prove you can handle it and want to be there. I wouldn't call Architecture super important, but it was better than any of the electives for the rest of us." I nodded thoughtfully, Mariah was definitely looking more and more like an Athena kid.

"Which are you in? The Junior class or Senior?" Mariah smirked, looking smug, "They put us all in the Junior course, but the teacher got them to bump me into the Senior block, this is going to be my first class there."

Hazel grinned at me, while speaking with mock thoughtfulness, "Say, doesn't Annabeth have Architecture next period?"

I laughed a little, admiring the young demigod's antics, "I don't know, Hazel, perhaps we should ask her" I said, before turning and shouting out Annabeth's name towards her table. She looked around before noticing me waving her over, and got up, making her way to where we'd sat.

Mariah seemed to shrink a little as she approached, I could sense the intimidation rolling around in her.

I resisted the urge to get used to it, because she'd likely be sharing a cabin with Annabeth at camp one day.

"What's up?" she asked me, putting her hands on her hips casually, one eyebrow raised. "Well we just found out that Mariah here" I gestured and Mariah waved meekly, getting a quick smile from Annabeth in return, "Is switching into the Senior's class for Architecture, starting, oh you know, next period." Annabeth's eyebrows went up, slightly impressed, and definitely intrigued now. I could see the gears turning in her head, concluding that Mariah could be her half-sibling. "We were wondering if that was when you have it, too"

Annabeth looked at Mariah momentarily, taking her in, before shifting her eyes to me and nodding, "Yea, I do." She replied, and then glanced again at Mariah, "If you need someone to sit with there or anything, feel free to join me." She offered, thinking for a moment and getting a devilish smile on her face, "I don't bite" she promised, winking jokingly at us and heading back to her table with Percy and the others.

"Well" Mariah mumbled, "She's scary."

The three of us laughed, before I said, "She's not so bad" and Hazel added, "As long as you're on her good side."

"I'd hate to be on her bad side." She said in return, and Frank grinned, "I think you have nothing to worry about, she seems to like you, at least at first glance. She's great to have as a friend, too."

Mariah snorted, regaining some composure, "You guys say that about all of your friends over there." I grinned, looking over at the group, before saying, "One day we'll give you the run down on why we say it about them all, don't even worry about it."

A/N: And Now to try and work out Chapter 28...