You Belong to my Heart: A Percabeth FF

3. Percy

Chapter 3: Percy

The day later, I came back from my swim practice. Today, it had gone much better, and my coach said he was really impressed with my improvements from the day before. It's not like I had changed anything, though. Jason told me that life was like that, where some days were amazing and others were horrible, but the important part was to wait and live and appreciate the good days. I laughed it off and told him he was speaking too much philosophy for me.

I shuffled through my swim bag before finding the keys and opening the door to my house. I found my mom rolling out cookies for Tyson in the kitchen.

She wiped her sweaty brow filled with flour, when she saw me and smiled. "How was swim today?"

"Oh, you know. The usual. I did better than yesterday, though, so my coach was proud of me."

Her eyes sparkled. "Oh good. I am glad you had fun. Hey! By the way, something came up today, and Mr. D won't be having the lesson today. You can take the early afternoon off," my mother said cheerfully.

"Really? Yes! Oh, hey mom, about the math class..."

"What's wrong? Are you failing? Do you need help?" she persisted.

"No mom, it's not like that. It's just some of the problems are confusing, but Mr. D won't answer them." I could feel my rage from the day before coursing through my veins.

"Oh, sweetie," my mom came closer to me and gave me a big hug.

"Look, what I am trying to say is that -"

"You'll drop the class?" Her face dropped.

"No! Will you please let me finish?" She nodded. "Mr. D says that they have a high school homework help club thing, and he said I should go there for help. Their next meeting is tomorrow, so..."

"Oh honey! Yes, of course you can go! I am so proud of you for asking for help and all that. And maybe this will help you make new friends."

I internally face-palmed. My mom was always pushing me towards meeting new people, but I was perfectly fine with my friendship with Jason and Leo, my two best friends. Plus, I had a bunch of other friends in other classes.

"Hey, Tyson has been missing you. He feels like he doesn't see you anymore. Maybe you want to go pick him up from camp?"

I smiled wider. "Sure thing, ma." I couldn't wait to see Tyson. A couple years ago, my mom had adopted Tyson, after she divorced my previous father, Smelly Gabe. He was, of course, smelly. I loved hanging out with my brother, even though he was almost seven years younger than me.

I grabbed a ball, in case he wanted to play at the park after his summer camp.

I reached the camp and upon seeing that Tyson had not yet finished, I started juggling the soccer ball I had brought. I had never actually played soccer on a team, but I loved to juggle on my own. I loved the sound of the soft thump-thump of the ball, whenever it bounced against my feet.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see this small gray figure running straight towards me. I smiled, and gave the ball one last kick in the air. I jumped up and hit it with my head, just in time before Tyson came and swept me in for a big hug.

"Percy!" he cried ecstatically. "You came!"

I ruffled his head, "Of course I did!" Tyson was very tall for his height, and the top of his head already reached a little below my neckline.

"Hey! You hit my camp counselor in the head." He pointed towards a figure sprawled on the grass. Sure enough my ball was a couple feet away. I ran towards the figure. Did I really hit someone in the head?

As I neared the figure, I realized I had hit a girl, of about my age. I kneeled down next to her and checked for breath and pulse. Both were present. I sighed in relief. So I hadn't killed someone, just knocked them unconscious.

"Hey Tyson, go fill your water bottle up with cold water, okay? Oh, and call another one of your other counselors," I called out to him.

I looked at the young lady again. Her blonde hair came past her shoulders in ringlets. Princess ringlets.

"Hey! What happened?" called out another girl. Tyson must have called her. Her choppy brown hair and Native American features seemed oddly familiar to me.

"Well, I think I might have hit her in the head with a soccer ball." I smiled sheepishly. It's not like I did it on purpose.

"You what?" she screeched.

"I'm sorry, okay? It was an accident."

"Right. Hey can you go call the head counselor, Thalia over here? We might need an ambulance."

"No because first off, this is my fault. And second, I don't even know where they are. I am not leaving."

"Fine. Oh, look here's Tyson." He came closer with the bottle. "Hey buddy!"

"Hi Ms. Piper," he smiled. Piper. Suddenly her ski jacket and hiking boots made sense.

"Hey Tyson, can you do another favor for me? I need you to go get Thalia." He nodded and rushed off.

"Piper McLean, aren't you?" She went to my high school, and was probably one of the prettiest girls there, though she didn't try to show it.

"Percy?" she tried. I was surprised she knew my name. Jason, Leo and I were not the "standing out" type of people, on the other hand, we liked to keep to ourselves.

"Yeah. Okay can you pass me the bottle?"

"What are you going to do, splash her?" she laughed.

"Yup," I replied seriously.

"Are you out of your mind?"

"Nope." I didn't even wait for her to stop screaming as I splashed the cool water on her forehead.

The girl gasped and opened her eyes. Stormy grey eyes. I immediately released my hand from her wrist, that I had been using to monitor her heart beat.

"What the hell did you do to me?" she coughed and rasped.

"I saved you," I replied.

"Oh, Annabeth! Thank the gods you're alive!" Piper interrupted and hugged her friend.

"You also hit me," she growled.

"Yeah, but not on purpose." I stood up and offered her my hand. She didn't even glance at me. She hoisted herself up and dusted off her knees.

"Is everything okay here?" asked another girl, running up to us. Tyson emerged from behind her shadow.

"Yeah, we're good."

"Oh Annabeth!" she hugged her friend, while her electric blue eyes glared at me. I shivered a little. This girl was not to be messed with. "Oh, and Piper, I need your help. One of the counselors had a headache and left, so I need you to help me take the afternoon shift." Her face remained stony the entire time.

Piper nodded and smiled, and together they ran back towards the camp.

Which left me and Annabeth alone. "I didn't quite catch your name, but, look, I am sorry for hitting you in the head. I really didn't mean it."

She glared at me. "My name's Annabeth. Annabeth Chase."

"Percy Jackson." I extended my hand, and she took it with a firm handshake. Her stormy eyes stayed on mine the whole time. "And I really am sorry for hitting you." She didn't respond.

I looked back at Tyson, who was looking at us with wonder. "Come on buddy. Let's go." I walked towards him and placed my arm around his neck. "Let's go home."

"Okay! Bye Annabeth!" he called out. Annabeth gave him a quick wave. I smiled. My mom had taught him some good manners.