(A/N: I haven't done a multichapter fic in like a year and a half, and I really wanted to write Reynabeth, so here we are! Also, the doc uploader is being a pain in the ass today so I think some of my paragraph breaks have indents and some don't. C'est la vie.)

Annabeth didn't like to lose. She especially didn't like to lose to Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano.

"Try harder next time, Chase," Reyna said, pushing past Annabeth into the locker room. The rest of the team had already left. Coach had been holding Annabeth and Reyna late to get ready for the first meet of the season, the two girls being the best runners on the team.

"Please. It was just one race. I could outrun you in my sleep," Annabeth said, wrenching her locker open and relishing in the satisfying clang as the door collided with the next locker over.

"Whatever keeps your ego satisfied," Reyna said, propping one leg on the bench and bending over to untie her shoe, exposing a thin strip of tan skin at her lower back between the hem of her t-shirt and her shorts.

"This isn't about ego," Annabeth said, "It's the truth."

They were silent as they changed out of their gym clothes, each staring in opposite directions.

"Prove it," Reyna said, just as Annabeth kneeled down to lace up her shoes. She tilted her chin upwards to find Reyna standing over her, smirking. It made Annabeth feel far more vulnerable than she cared to be, so she stood up and took solace in the fact that she was several inches taller than Reyna.

"Prove what?" Annabeth said, momentarily forgetting what they'd been talking about. It made her feel stupid. She hated feeling stupid. She especially hated feeling stupid in front of pretty girls, girls whose appearances she shouldn't be taking note of at all. Annabeth had a boyfriend, and Annabeth was not a cheater.

"Prove it's the truth. If you're going to accuse me of being slower than you, then I want to see some proof, seeing as you certainly didn't show it during practice today. Race me out to the parking lot," Reyna said, with the competitive spark in her eyes Annabeth had grown to know so well. Reyna pulled her hair out of the braid she kept it up in during practice, letting her dark brown locks cascaded in waves down her shoulders. Not wanting to be upstaged, Annabeth pulled her hair out of its ponytail and let her blonde princess curls bounce and fall to rest on her shoulders. Reyna wanted to have great hair game? Fine. But Annabeth's would be better.

"All right. If you really think you're up to it," Annabeth said, though she was a little doubtful of her ability to run in a beat up pair of Converses versus Reyna's Nikes.

Reyna shouldered her gym bag. "Well? What are we waiting for?" she said, and with that she took off, hurdling over the locker room benches and charging through the door into the hallway.

Annabeth decided she'd complain about Reyna's unfair head start later, when the difference between a win and a loss wasn't still hanging in the balance. Annabeth took off after her, pulling her backpack onto her shoulders as she dashed out of the locker room. She could hear Reyna's sneakers squeaking on the linoleum floor just out of sight, so Annabeth sped up.

Annabeth almost collided with a terrified looking freshman boy with a fifty-pound stack of books, and she mercilessly pushed past him. What was he going to do, fight her on it? She could take him out with one swing. Not that she ever would, but still. Annabeth was normally a very nice person. She'd make up for this later by holding a door for an old lady or something.

Rounding a corner, Annabeth caught a flash of dark skin and even darker hair before Reyna darted out of sight once more.

"Not today," Annabeth hissed, pushing herself harder. She hardly ever ran this fast in practice.

"Hey Chase," Reyna said, halting in the middle of the hallway to gloat as Annabeth rounded another corner. She had a competitive gleam in her eyes and her hair was sticking to her face. "Try to keep up," she said, and once again pushed towards the exit. The momentary pause was all Annabeth needed to catch up with Reyna, and the two ran side by side for a few intense seconds before Annabeth broke ahead and escaped to the parking lot.

Annabeth let her momentum take her into a patch of grass between the school building and the pavement, where she turned her face up to the sun and laughed, spinning once and spreading her arms wide.

"Nice victory dance," Reyna snorted, "You should quit running and take up ballet."

"You're just bitter because I'm faster than you," Annabeth said.

"I would have won if I hadn't stopped to let you catch up," Reyna said.

"Like I said, bitter," Annabeth said, "And, for the record, I would have destroyed you if you didn't have a head start.

Reyna leaned up against the brick wall to catch her breath. Annabeth realized she was so close, she could smell the perfume Reyna had put on after practice (which, by the way, smelled like roses). Annabeth remembered that she hadn't even bothered with deodorant after practice, and probably still smelled like sweat, so she backed up. "Next time. Next time, I will absolutely crush you," she said.

"Is that a promise or a threat?"

"Both."

Annabeth pretended that the reason she relentlessly picked fights with Reyna was because Reyna got on her nerves, but that was only half the truth.

The other half was the slow smirk that spread across Reyna's face every once in a while when Annabeth teased her. The one that sent forbidden butterflies flitting around Annabeth's insides. It was terrible and wonderful and confusing all at the same time.

Annabeth was not supposed to feel this way about another girl.

Annabeth had a boyfriend.

And yet…

Reyna ran her hand through her hair, pulling it back from where it stuck to the sweat on her forehead and chest. She dug around in her duffel bag and pulled out a pair of aviator sunglasses. She could have been a picture straight out of a magazine, a candid of an unintentionally dazzling celebrity on her way home from the gym.

Reyna made Annabeth feel self conscious. Annabeth didn't have nice sunglasses, and the only thing her hair did when it was sweaty was frizz up around her temples. She didn't have pretty-smelling perfume, she had bags under her eyes, and she was too lazy to even apply makeup most mornings. Even in the three years she'd been dating Percy, Annabeth had never cared about what she looked like. Or in the very least, she'd never cared enough to do anything about it. But now, she wished she could rewind the day to the morning and take the extra ten minutes to look cute. She made a mental note to pick up some eyeliner and hairspray on her way home.

"Not too bad, Chase," Reyna said, starting towards her car. Annabeth followed a safe distance behind. "Not as good as me, of course. But not bad," Reyna said.

"How humble of you."

"My humility is one of my greatest qualities."

"And what might the others be?"

"My intellect. My charm." Reyna paused and turned to look at Annabeth. Annabeth had only ever heard of blue, gray, and green eyes being described as piercing, but Reyna's mahogany brown eyes could impale solid rock. "Not to mention how irresistible I am," she added slowly, letting each syllable roll of her tongue with the languidity of an afternoon in July.

Annabeth had never believed the old saying that the eyes are the windows to the soul. Eyes were just eyes. But when Annabeth made eye-contact with Reyna, she could have sworn Reyna knew exactly what she was thinking. Irresistible, indeed. Annabeth looked away, suddenly finding interest in a wad of gum baking in the sunshine of early spring, the first real warm day of the year.

"Rung Earl," Reyna said, interrupting the silence that had lasted far longer than was comfortable.

Annabeth was grateful for anything that could take her mind off her unfortunate and decidedly un-heterosexual guilt, even if it meant trading it in for confusion. "Rung Earl?" she repeated.

Reyna nodded towards the back license plate of Annabeth's dark blue 2007 Honda minivan. Annabeth had been so caught up in her conversation with Reyna, she hadn't even realized their cars were parked right next to each other. It was then that Annabeth realized Reyna was saying "Rung irl", as in RUNGIRL, the combo on the back license plate of Annabeth's car.

"Run Girl. So much for that intellect," Annabeth said.

Reyna shrugged. "I dunno, Chase. It looks an awful lot like RUNG IRL to me. Just a bunch of nonsense letters."

Annabeth glowered. "It was a gift from my father."

"Vanity plates? How personal. What a wonderful surprise that must have been on Christmas morning. 'Oh Dad, you know me so well. I am, in fact, a girl who runs! I love you so much!'". Reyna said, in a poor imitation of Annabeth's voice.

"I don't sound like that," Annabeth said, "And I thought it was sweet."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night."

There was a moment wherein Reyna stared at Annabeth and Annabeth tried to divert her eyes away from Reyna. Annabeth felt like Reyna was waiting for her to say something, but she wasn't quite sure what it was.

"I have to get going," Reyna said finally, "Try not to crash those pretty little vanity plates of yours in the meantime, RUNG IRL."

"I won't, QPY 2497," Annabeth said, sneaking a look at the boring standard plates on Reyna's old Nissan. Annabeth walked around to the driver's side of her car and climbed inside. She watched as Reyna's car pulled out of the parking lot and drove away. She tried to ignore how badly she wished they could have stayed together in the parking lot for just a little bit longer.

(A/N: Please review and follow if you liked! More chapters coming soon!)