Percy's POV

"Crap." I say aloud.

I watch the girl walk into the lunch room and my gut tells me to run, so I do.

I sprint to the school swimming pool that resides all the way in the basement. I run into the locker room and quickly rip off my clothes, changing into my swim trunks. I am panicking and finding it hard to take in a breath. I run back out to the pool and dive into the water.

Immediately, all of my muscles relax. I sink to the bottom and let the water surround me. I close my eyes and breathe out, sinking to the bottom of the pool. I lay there for a while until I realize that it might be suspicious for a not terribly athletic kid to be at the bottom of the swimming pool for a long period of time, so I swim up to the surface only to be met with two pure, grey eyes swimming with curiosity.

Annabeth

After a long morning of classes, I finally go to lunch only to see Percy sprinting away from the cafeteria, face looking as if he had just seen a ghost. I go dashing after him, but by the time I turn down the corner I saw him run around, he is nowhere in sight. I walk down the hall and think about how Percy could possibly run so fast.

He is such an awkward person and really isn't that athletic. He always wears hoodies, so it is impossible to tell his physique, but its not like he can be totally ripped, especially since he can barely manage one pull up. (From what Piper tells me Jason told her.) Jason says that Percy even wears a hoodie during gym class and that somehow the gym teacher is totally fine with it, so he must be self conscious about his body or something along those lines. 

I have seen him in a t-shirt only once, when I was at his apartment, but with all the things I had been through at that time, I wasn't really paying attention to his body.

As I continue down the hall, opening random doors looking for Percy, I let my thoughts run wild, allowing random thought to come and pass, such as: "I am the most fit girl in school and I can't even keep up with one of the less athletic guys?"

"Why am I being so mean to Percy right now?"

"Why can't I know everything?"

"Why aren't iPhone chargers called apple juice?"

"Why aren't toasters clear so we can see how toasted our toast is?"

"Why does being awake make us want to sleep more?

"Why am I asking so many questions that start with why?"

"Why is English so weird?"

"Γιατί σκέφτομαι στα Ελληνικά τώρα;"

Finally, after a long time of asking questions with virtually no answers, I reach the door to the pool. I open it and look in, immediately feeling the warmth of the room and smelling the chlorine scent in the air. 

I step in and look around, Percy nowhere to be found. (I'm a poet and I didn't even know it.)

"Percy!" I call out and hear my voice bounce off the walls of the room. No answer. I look at the water and suddenly see a dark shape at the bottom of the deep end. It looks like a person! Oh my gods! Is someone dead?! I rush over to that side of the pool. (Not running, because I can't break the rules!) 

I look in and see a dark head of hair. How long have they been down there? I've been here for at least a minute, how have they not come up for air? 

Suddenly, the figure pushes off the bottom of the pool towards the top, causing me to jump back. I creep forward and look at the figure coming towards me. Seconds later, my eyes are met with a pair of beautiful-umm... what? Uh... bright, yeah, bright sea green eyes looking into mine, filled with shock, wariness, and uncertainty.

"Percy?"

"Annabeth?"

We say at the same time, making it sound like we are saying one word, Percabeth.

"You go first," Percy says, ever the gentleman.

"Percy, what are you doing here? How long have you been in the water? Why did you run off at lunchtime?" I ask, firing off things that come to my mind.

Each question seems to hit him like a blow, him wincing by the end of my tirade. "I ran off at lunch because I saw someone there that I didn't want to see." He says, electing to ignore my first two questions... for now...

"Who? Was it Rachel?!" I ask.

He smiles and pulls himself out of the water next to me. "No, it wasn't Rachel. It was an old friend of mine, her name is Calypso."

"Oh." I say. I turn to look at him, "What was she to you?"

"What?" Percy says, clearly caught off guard.

"Well, if you're anything like me, what people do, say, or how they act doesn't affect you unless you care about them. You're obviously quite distraught, so she must have mattered a lot to you." I say.

"Yeah. She was...very important to me." He fidgets with his hands and stares into the water. "Calypso... was my... soulmate."

I drop my jaw in shock and my eyes dart to the location where his tattoo should be. Conveniently, he has his arm rested there, covering any sign of a tattoo. Though I know he is purposely covering it due to the fact that he just revealed that he has a soulmate, it seems to be almost a natural position for him, as if he covers that location on his arm often.

My eyes drift to his back, where I see his muscles, glistening with water droplets. Wait, Percy has muscles? That doesn't make sense. I start to look at his arms and-

"Annabeth?" Percy's voice takes me out of my thoughts. "What are you thinking about right now?"

"Ummm..." I start, flustered, "Just... uh, you said she was your soulmate? What do you mean by that?"

"Well, it was all very confusing. The two of us were so tight knit. We were friends and soulmates, then one day, our tattoos started fading. It felt like a scalpel was scraping at our arms. The pain would wake us up at night and make us cry out in the middle of the day of class. People thought we were insane, we were only seven. Calypso and I went to our doctor who told us that she had never seen anything like this. She told us to never tell anybody about it and to keep our tattoos hidden, saying that we may be ostracized by our classmates and the rest of society if we don't." Percy pauses, staring at the water intently. I let him talk as it seems like he has been transported back into his memory.

He continues, "After that came the arguing. We had never fought before and suddenly, we were bickering everyday. She would accuse me of causing this, saying that I stopped loving her or . I would come back with some dumb retort like, 'no I didn't, you did.' We were so young, so confused, and we didn't know who to blame for what was happening. One time, Calypso even blamed it on this girl we met at the beach the day our tattoos started disappearing. In reality, it was a pain I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. Not only were we in a constant agony with our arms, but it also felt like someone was slowly snipping the thread that ties our souls together. It was terrible and at that time, I was with an abusive stepfather, so when my tattoo was fully gone, my mom and I decided to leave and start anew in a different place. Then when it didn't go too well there, we went to another place and another place and so forth until we ended up here. It's been 10 years. I don't know that I can face her again, especially now that I ... never mind."

He shakes his head as if he is waking up from a trance. He turns to look at me and says, "Sorry, Annabeth, I shouldn't have made you listen to that. I don't know why I even shared that, I haven't said a word about this to anybody in ten years."

"It's okay, Percy, I'm glad I could be here for you to open up to. I found someone who I trust to open up to as well." I say.

"Really? Who would that be?" he asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Umm..." I blush, "The Savior of Olympus, actually."

He smiles, "Good for you."

The bell signaling the end of lunch rings. He stands up and reaches out a hand for me to grab.

"You know," I say smirking, "You aren't the ill-mannered, immature jerk face I thought you were when we met."

"And you aren't the scary, stuck up princess I thought you were, either." He says, returning the smirk. "Sorry I made you miss lunch."

"Don't worry about it. I had a good time talking with you." I say, accepting his hand.

We split ways and go to our classes for the remainder of the day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~Time skip to end of the school day brought to you by Jason's brick~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Picture does not belong to me ~Leah)

Percy

I step out of the classroom of my supervised free period (AKA my last class of the day) to be met with a girl who I know all too well.

I plaster a smile on my face, "Hi, Calypso."

Calypso sighs, "Percy, we need to talk." 

(Sorry this took so long!! I will have another chapter out ASAP. I am going on vacation which could mean one of two things. Either a lot of time for writing or very little time to write which could lead to a slow update. As always, I love you all so much and hope you are having a great summer or winter depending on where you live. Until next time!

Love,

Leah