(A/N: Sorry this took so long. I've had a busy week. As always, thanks for reading, and don't forget to review/fav/follow!)

"Looks like you're a little out of shape," Reyna said.

It had been one week since the rain that turned the back field into a lake. It was the first practice since the flooding subsided, and Annabeth was really wishing she had just stayed in bed. They were running four laps around the track as a warm-up, and Annabeth wanted to curl up in the grass and go to sleep.

"Shut up. I'm sick," Annabeth said, her voice thick with congestion.

"I can tell. You look awful," Reyna said, pulling ahead. Regardless of her present condition, Annabeth was not going to be left behind. She willed her legs to go a little faster, even though her whole body ached.

Reyna looked at Annabeth out of the corner of her eye, then angled her vision forward again. "You sound like you're about to pass out," she said.

"It's just a little cold," Annabeth wheezed.

"Right," Reyna said. She rolled her eyes. "Why didn't you stay home and take care of yourself?" Her voice was a bit softer than before. Then she tried to recover by adding, "At least then I wouldn't have to put up with your constant wheezing. It's annoying as shit."

"And miss the first practice in forever? Not a chance," Annabeth said, laughing.

"You could at least pace yourself better."

"You mean go slow? You'd never let me live it down," Annabeth said, inhaling sharply as a stitch formed in her side. She placed one hand on her ribs and kept running.

Reyna cracked a smile. "You're right about that," she said.

In the next moment, two things happened at once:

The first was that Coach called out, "Chase, Arellano, slow down. You'll wipe yourselves out before warm-up ends."

The second was that Annabeth's foot caught in the ridge between the track and the grass surrounding it.

Annabeth went down fast, landing on top of her ankle in a puddle. Mud splattered everywhere—her hair, her eyes, and all over her clothes. She swore under her breath. Reyna stood over her, still on the track, like she wasn't sure whether she should keep running or wait for Annabeth. Annabeth kept swearing, spitting curses like an R-rated movie.

"Watch your mouth, Chase," Coach shouted, jogging over from the opposite side of the track. "Are you hurt?"

"It's my ankle," Annabeth muttered, spitting mud into the grass beside her and trying to stand up. "I'm fine. It's probably just bruised." She took a few hesitant steps, and each one sent knives of pain up her leg.

"Arellano, take Chase to the nurse," Coach said, as if Annabeth's injury was a personal annoyance.

"But I'm fine!" Annabeth insisted.

"Why me?" Reyna said. Annabeth glared at her.

"Because you clearly are not fine," Coach said, pointing to Annabeth, "And it's your duty as team captain to make sure your teammates are okay," she said, jabbing a finger at Reyna. "When the nurse tells you you're okay to keep running, you can come back out. You can clean up in one of the locker room showers if you need to," she continued.

Reyna tensed up her jaw like she wanted to argue, but kept her mouth shut. She looped her arm underneath Annabeth's shoulders so suddenly Annabeth forgot to be embarrassed about it.

"I don't need help," Annabeth said, which she realized after the fact was a stupid thing to say when a cute girl had her arm around you.

"Yes, you do. Come on," Reyna said, sighing in exasperation. Annabeth awkwardly shifted her weight against Reyna and hobbled towards the school.

When they were a safe distance away and the team could be heard running again, Reyna spoke.

"Did you have to go and make such a scene back there?" she said.

"Excuse me for falling and hurting myself. I'm sorry for being such a drama queen," Annabeth said, rolling her eyes.

Reyna let loose a smile—it was the genuine kind that Annabeth so rarely got to see. "Maybe you shouldn't have fallen then," Reyna said. She looked up at Annabeth out of the corners of her eyes, then quickly looked away when Annabeth met her eyes.

"You okay?" Annabeth said.

"I probably caught whatever you have," Reyna said, and although she tried to sound annoyed, Annabeth felt a smug satisfaction in the way she sounded almost embarrassed.

Annabeth's ankle wasn't throbbing quite so hard by the time they got into the locker room, but she still had to clean the mud off of herself. Reyna helped her over to her locker.

Annabeth opened up her locker and cursed. "I don't have a change of clothes," she said. "I mean, I could change back into my school clothes, but I wouldn't be able to run again."

"You can't run anyway unless you get the nurse's permission," Reyna pointed out.

Annabeth waved her off. "I'm fine. We'll just say that the nurse said I was good to go."

"Who says I'm going to back you up? I'm the team captain. I'm not supposed to lie," Reyna teased.

"You're not going to actually make me go see the nurse, are you?" Annabeth said, slamming her locker shut.

Reyna shrugged. "We'll see," she said. Reyna stepped across the locker room to her own locker and pulled out an extra t-shirt and a pair of shorts. "You can wear these," she said, tossing them to Annabeth, "I always keep extras."

"Thanks," Annabeth said, catching them and walking over to the line of showers. Something about wearing Reyna's clothes felt wrong, but also kind of thrilling. She set them down outside a shower stall and shut herself inside. Reyna's sneakers squeaked against the floor tiles, and Annabeth watched through the crack in the stall as Reyna sat down a few feet away. She faced away from the stall, which Annabeth was grateful for. The last thing she needed was Reyna catching a glimpse of her naked body. Or maybe it was exactly what she needed. Annabeth couldn't tell anymore.

The only time Annabeth had used one of the school showers was during the swimming unit in gym, to wash off the chlorine before her next class. Then, she'd been able to leave her swimsuit on while she cleaned up. This time, there was no swimsuit to leave on, and she couldn't very well leave her bra and panties on unless she wanted to be soaked for the rest of the day. Stripping down in the locker room, with Reyna humming to herself just outside the stall, seemed obscene. It made Annabeth sick to her stomach, but she didn't exactly have a choice. So she peeled every last muddied piece of fabric from her body and tossed it over top of the stall.

Once she was mostly clean and a lot less muddy, she shut off the water. "Don't look," Annabeth ordered Reyna.

"I won't," Reyna said. Annabeth could practically hear the eyeroll in her voice.

Annabeth slowly opened the door and crept out, butt-naked, to grab the clean clothes Reyna had given her from the floor next to the stall. Reyna, as promised, was still looking in the other direction. Annabeth swiftly returned the stall and shut the door behind her.

"You almost done?" Reyna asked, as Annabeth pulled her sports bra over her head.

"Mm hm," Annabeth mumbled, cautiously taking Reyna's shirt in her hands. It smelled like the fancy kind of laundry detergent Annabeth's dad was too cheap to buy. It felt weird putting it on, but it fit okay. It had the logo of some band Annabeth had never heard of printed on the front.

"Hurry up," Reyna said, exasperated. Annabeth quickly pulled on the shorts and stepped out of the stall.

"Thanks for letting me borrow these," Annabeth said, tugging at the edge of the t-shirt.

"Yeah, whatever. Is your ankle doing better?" Reyna said.

Annabeth lifted up her hurt leg and rolled her foot in a circle. "I can walk on it, at least," she said.

"But can you run?" Reyna said.

"That might prove to be a bit of a problem," Annabeth conceded.

"Then you're not going back out," Reyna decided. She sat down on the bench nearest her locker and crossed her arms.

"Excuse me?" Annabeth said, "Since when do you get to make decisions for me?" Reyna was probably right, of course, but that didn't mean Annabeth had to like it.

"Since I'm team captain. I'm making an executive decision," Reyna said.

"Coach said that if the nurse told me I was okay to go out, I could go out," Annabeth said.

"And I'm saying, you're not going back out today. You're already sick, you don't need a twisted ankle too," Reyna said.

"You're not my mother."

"No, but I'm your friend."

Annabeth's mouth gaped open and her eyebrows shot up. She quickly tried to return to a normal expression so she didn't look completely stupid. "Friend?" she said, "Is that so?"

Reyna rolled her eyes. "Don't be stupid," she said, her smile disappearing.

Annabeth smiled and sat down on the bench across from Reyna's, propping her feet up next to the other girl. "You've never called me a friend before." Annabeth wasn't sure where this newfound confidence was coming from, but she hoped it would never leave.

"What exactly are you getting at, Chase?"

"I'm just saying, it's uncharacteristic of you."

"Then I guess you've still got a lot to learn about me," Reyna said.

It was then that Annabeth noticed that she had been leaning closer to Reyna, and Reyna closer to her. Annabeth knew that she should have backed up. She should have stopped what she knew was happening before it could even begin.

But Annabeth didn't want to stop.

"I guess I do," Annabeth said, near a whisper. Reyna leaned forward the last few inches until their foreheads were resting against each other. Reyna was wearing that smile that Annabeth found so irresistible, and her hair was tickling Annabeth's nose, and—

Percy.

Annabeth shot to her feet, her chin connecting painfully with Reyna's forehead. She swore and stumbled backwards, away from Reyna. Annabeth had a boyfriend. Annabeth was not a cheater. It was the mantra she had been repeating to herself for weeks, and today it had almost failed her.

Reyna looked surprised, then hurt, then embarrassed, all in the span of five seconds. She stood up and brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. "I should get going," she said, stoic and businesslike.

"Reyna, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to lead you on, or make you think something was going to happen, or…" Annabeth trailed off, not really sure what to say. She didn't want to make it worse.

Reyna was already heading for the door. "It's fine. Forget it ever happened," she said.

Annabeth sat alone in the locker room for the rest of practice, searching for the words that would make things okay again.