I, uh... oops? I am incredibly sorry for disappearing off the face of the Earth for a year and a half. School got busy, and coupled with me pretty much not liking this chapter at all and struggling to find a direction to take this in, I pretty much gave up on writing for a long while. It took me a while to get back into writing. I started with little writing prompts to sort of warm myself up, and then I finished writing this chapter (I had finished about half of it before my hiatus). I'm not particularly happy with this chapter in its current state, but I hope that it's sufficient enough for you guys to enjoy it, and I hope I'm able to figure out where I want this story to go after this chapter. If you guys have any requests for the story, feel free to let me know!

Percy

It feels very, very surreal.

The moment I come to school on Monday morning, my friends practically attack me in happiness. They keep yelling and screaming and jumping and there's a huge smile plastered on my face that I really can't hide. Even though our first place hasn't really registered in my brain quite yet, my chest lifts in giddiness.

Hazel literally squeals in my ear. "Percy, I can't believe it! I can't believe you did it! Oh my gods!"

Juniper wraps her arms around me. "Well, I did! Nobody can do anything better than Percy can."

"False statement," Grover says. "Anybody can play the pipes better than Percy can."

"Or dance," Frank adds. I chuckle.

Frank literally lifts me off the ground with his hug, and when I get to Nico, it's slightly awkward. It's like one of those hugs where the other person doesn't really want to touch you, so it's just you doing the work. It's no big deal, though.

"Congratulations, Percy," he says. "You just single-handedly brought Goode up from a disappointment to a slightly more successful disappointment."

"Hey," Frank complains. "Come on! Be more spirited, Nico."

"Double-handedly, Nico," I correct. "I couldn't have done it without Annabeth."

Juniper wraps a garland of sorts around my neck, which she insists I wear for the entire day, and Hazel's made a mini-poster for me, and it's honestly so overwhelming that I tear up.

"You didn't have to do this for me, guys," I say. "This is too much."

"But we wanted to do it," Hazel states. "It's not every day somebody from our invisible little group gets first place in the Zeus' Cup!"

Grover pats me on the back. "Nice job, Percy. You make us proud."

I would be lying if I said I didn't feel a teensy bit proud as well.

The bell rings, and I keep looking for Annabeth to see what kind of stuff her friends have made for her, but I can't see a head of blonde anywhere. Shaking my head, I move on to English.

The moment I walk in the class, they all applaud. A couple hoots in the background. I smile politely and sit towards the back of the classroom.

The announcements turn on first thing, and, of course, it mentions our win. I pretend to doodle in my notebook all the while, but I can feel the stares burning across my skin.

The loudspeaker crackles into silence. I gulp nervously. It's just, this attention. I've lived my high school career nearly invisible. I mean, sure, people probably knew who I was because Annabeth hated me, but other than that, nobody paid any attention to me. And now?

It feels foreign. Strange. But honestly, I could get used to it.

That is, until the ending bell rings and we file out the door.

"It bothers me how he's wearing those flowers, though," a guy behind me whispers. "Like, who does he think he is?"

"I feel sorry for Annabeth," another girl replies. "He's literally getting all the glory for her hard work."

What?

I turn around to look at them, but they immediately shut up and look away, pretending that they hadn't just been talking about me.

My eyes flit to the other people exiting the room. Nobody else seems to care. They're all happy, swept up in the excitement of my school winning Zeus' Cup.

At least it's only these two idiots who think I mooched off of Annabeth. I can deal with that.

My classes track on. The morning, other than the periodic congratulations, is pretty uneventful. There's history, where we learn about the escapades of Andrew Jackson (who seems like a jerk - it's a disgrace that he stole my last name), followed by math (which I nearly fall asleep in).

After math, I walk to my locker to put my textbook away. But for some reason, there's a group of people gathered around it.

What? Did something happen? Is some bully harassing somebody person in front of my locker?

I stand on my tiptoes to look past the mini-crowd.

Shit.

Because, as if it's come out of a Disney movie, my locker is decorated with a large poster that simply reads, "Thanks for stealing Annabeth's glory, asshole."

A rock forms in my throat. Anger flares across my skin. I feel like yelling, screaming, pounding on the lockers to get everybody away and tear that poster down, bit by bit, shred by shred, until you can't see a single damn piece. Because it's so untrue and it's so insulting and undermines the hours I put into this goddamn competition and...

I rush out of the hallway, in a beeline for the nearest restroom.

"Percy?" somebody calls.

I don't look back to see who it is, but it sounds like Nico.

I slam the door open to the handicapped restroom and lock myself inside. Take a deep breath, deep breaths, one, two, three… goddamnit.

"Percy!" Rapping on the door. "Percy, open the door!"

I rip the garland off my neck and throw it in the trash. No, but that's not enough. It's still staring at me, mocking me, because I'm never going to get credit for what I do, EVER.

I grab it out of the trash can and pull it apart in anguish. The string snaps open with a pop.

My skin prickles with anger, but I try to calm it. Before I know it, I've already opened the door for Nico.

"Percy." He drops his backpack and grabs my wrists.

"I HATE people," I complain. "I mean, I know I'm not the smartest in the school or anything, and I'm partnered with a literal genius, so I kinda get why they would say such crappy stuff, but what I don't understand is why they think I'm such a crappy person! I would never do such a thing in my life!"

"I know," Nico says. His voice is calm, stable. It soothes my nerves a little bit. "People can be jerks, I know. They assume whatever fits their narrative."

"But why?" I whine. "Do they have nothing better to do? What did I ever do to them?"

"I don't know," Nico shrugs. "They seem to get a kick out of kicking people down."

I sink to the ground, ignoring how unsanitary it probably is. I lean my head against the wall. "Now I guess I'm famous for all the wrong reasons. I don't know how to fix this."

"Don't worry," Nico squats in front of me. "People want a reaction from you. I know this isn't the first time you've been bullied." He's got a point. "You know they only do it to make themselves feel more powerful. So what do you do?"

"You show them that they aren't powerful," I reply. "That you are stronger than they are."

"Yeah," Nico says. He holds his hand out for me to grab onto. "Just show them that it's not affecting you."

Nodding, I take his hand, and he pulls me up. "Gods, Percy," he remarks, stretching his arm as if it pains him. "How much have you eaten these past few days?"

"Shut up," I reply.

We exit the bathroom (not together, because if someone saw us, that'd be suspicious), and we walk to the lunch tables, crossing our fingers that people don't stare at us. By the time I cross my locker again, the crowd is gone, and the poster has been taken off. I'm glad, but I'm also kinda sad that I won't be able to tear it up.

Nico drags me through the cafeteria, and I shield my eyes, trying to avoid seeing any stares - sympathetic or accusatory. As Nico and I approach our lunch table, I hear Hazel saying, "...believe the things they're saying about Percy?"

Juniper replies, "I mean, he doesn't have a reputation for being the smartest kid in school."

Grover shrugs. "Still. It is kinda messed-up that they think that. They just need a scapegoat for whatever resentment they're feeling."

Then they see me. Grover runs/limps over to me. "Hey! How was your day?"

I half-heartedly shrug, and Nico shoots him a warning glance.

Juniper greets me as well. She evidently notices that I'm not wearing the garland, but she doesn't say anything. Nico sits down last. Nobody continues the previous conversation.

"Ok," I finally say, to break the silence. "The math test kinda sucked."

Grover replies, "Yeah! I know right!" and then he goes on to talk about what he got for question 13, but his enthusiasm feels forced, as if he's trying to act like nothing's wrong. Juniper leaves somewhere in the middle of lunch, using the excuse that she has to go talk to a teacher, but her face is flushed red in anger when she comes back, so I'm questioning if that's what she really did. Frank just sits there, beside Nico, acting as a huge, giant wall between me and the rest of the world.

We're well into lunch when it happens. When Annabeth stands on top of her popular-group table, smooths down her jeans, and yells out into the cafeteria, "HEY!"

Half the people shut up and stare at her, but the other half keeps talking.

"Hey, guys! Attention!" she calls. Some of the former half go back to talking.

Suddenly, her friend Piper gets up on the table beside her and literally screams. "You ASSHOLES better shut up and listen to Annabeth NOW!"

Immediate silence.

Gods dammit, it's like Piper has charmspeak or something. She's kinda scary.

I look around the cafeteria, half-expecting some supervisor to come running and yell at them to get down. Nothing happens.

As soon as the cafeteria finally quiets down, Annabeth begins, "I've noticed some pretty crappy things being said around here today."

Some people look at her quizzically, while others seem slightly guilty. But is she really going to talk about…

"Some really crappy things about what happened at Zeus' Cup this weekend. And I just want to clarify EXACTLY what happened this Saturday.

"The test was written, and I know it's not cool of me to spill that to everybody, but I don't care. What matters is, we split the test in half. I did one half, Percy did the other half. We both answered an equal amount of questions, ALL of which ended up being correct. Actually, I think he answered one more than me. The one incorrect answer we had was a question that neither of us knew, and neither of us answered."

Piper butts in, "So for all of you assholes who are talking shit about Percy, saying that he's dumb and that Annabeth did all the work, shame on you! You don't deserve to be part of Goode High, to have him or Annabeth representing you for Zeus' Cup!"

My jaw drops.

"Can I get a cheer for Percy?" Annabeth asks.

I cover my mouth in shock.

"CAN I GET A CHEER FOR PERCY?" she yells louder. Then she begins, "PERCY! PERCY! PERCY!"

Her entire table starts echoing her. "PERCY! PERCY!" And more, and more, until the entire cafeteria is screaming my name and it's bouncing off the walls and it doesn't even sound like a word anymore but the feeling is thundering through my veins. It's like an army of drums, growing louder and louder, until it finally collapses into a cascade of cheers and clapping. And before I know it, I'm standing and Annabeth is standing next to me and lifting my right hand in the air.

I grin, and I wrap my arms around her.

I cannot believe she just did that for me.

She clings to me tightly. Her hair smells like lemon shampoo.

"You're amazing," I murmur. "Did I mention that?"

She pulls her head back, but her arms are still around my torso. She gives me a huge grin. "It was only right."

I pull her back into the hug, and before I know it, a couple tears spill out of my eyes. The emotions come over me like a breaking wave, and I laugh.

Annabeth, my former enemy (frenemy?) of five years, stood up to a school full of people for me. Gods. If I told my sophomore self that, he would think I was psycho.

Pretty soon, she pulls away. My friends all high-five her and give her fist bumps, and Nico even hugs her. When she returns to her table, Piper ruffles her hair. Annabeth shoots me a thumbs up.

The lunch period proceeds pretty quickly after that. My friends finally realize that they don't need to be cautious around me, and they start shit-talking every person they heard diss me. Because "Clarisse can't even get her own life together" and "Holly Victor has nothing better to do than judge other people."

Once lunch ends, I immediately search for Annabeth, because we have bio next. I scan the sea of heads, many of whom are patting me on the back and congratulating me.

Somebody tugs on my sleeve. I look down.

Annabeth's smirking at me. "Who are you looking for?"

I roll my eyes. "Ha ha. You ready to go?"

She gives me an answering grin, and we walk to bio side-by-side. Mr. Hayes congratulates us as we walk in, side-eying the fact that we're not trying to kill each other, but saying nothing. To be fair, I would be just as surprised as he is. If you told me about this a couple days ago, I would have thought you were insane. It's funny how things change.

And it's funny how I never noticed before how fun Annabeth is to hang out with, and how kind she can be. Yes, she has her flaws, but I let those flaws get the best of me. I let them cloud my vision of who she truly is. I prevented myself from looking past the bad and into the good.

All I can do is thank the gods that I've recognized that now.

Annabeth

It used to get on my nerves, how Percy's constantly tapping his pencil or shifting his feet or doodling in his notebook. Now, it doesn't seem to have as much of an effect on me. Almost like I've accepted it.

Of the three things I mentioned, he's doing the last one right now. He's drawing a stick figure doing a cartwheel across a tightrope that's balanced over a pit of sharks. His imagination is wild, I'll give him that.

The rest of that notebook page is probably populated by only, like, three bullet points. Surrounding his "notes" are more stick figures doing wild and crazy things, as well as many, many, many empty Hangman puzzles.

I swallow down my guilt. All of those Hangman drawings were done in an attempt to play with me. And I refused. I wish I could blame it on my willingness to pay attention to Mr. Hayes' lecture, but that was probably only half of it. The other half was me not wanting to engage myself with Percy in any way.

I tear out a page from my notebook.

Percy doesn't notice. He's still focused on shading in the sharks underneath the tightrope.

I grab a pen out of my pouch and I draw a Hangman puzzle. I'll make it...hmmm… 8 letters.

I tap Percy's shoulder. He looks up, around, at me, and then down at the paper when I gesture there. His eyes widen as he takes in what I've drawn. A smile snakes across his face.

His eyes meet mine. His eyebrows are raised. For me?

I nod.

He silently claps his hands and twirls his pencil around his fingers. His lower lip is tucked under his teeth.

His dimples deepen as he writes an A on my paper. Begrudgingly, I put an A on the seventh dash. He then goes on a vowel guessing spree, leaving the hanging man with a head and a limbless body.

U _ _ O _ _ A _

Percy whispers, "You're cheating."

"What? No?"

"You have to use real words. You can't use texting slang or whatever that is."

"Ugh. Doesn't matter. Can you just answer it?"

He nibbles on the end of his pencil. "The first word is a 'Ur'...I'm gonna guess a T."

I add in a T after the O. "N?" I add it in before the O.

He grins. "'I'm not' hmmm...I'm not bad?"

I roll my eyes. "Don't inflate your ego."

The bells rings as Percy clicks his tongue. "Too late."

After school, I head to my locker to get out my cross country gear. Except, on my way, I bump into a certain seaweed brain in… a speedo?

"Ugh, Percy, I did not need to see that."

He awkwardly covers himself with his hands. "Uh, sorry." The tips of his ears turn pink as he rushes off to the pool. Squeezing my eyes, shut, I head into the girls' locker room and grab my stuff.

On my way out, I take a peek into the pool area, in search of what Percy's doing there. Water polo usually has practice around this time, but for some reason, their team is nowhere to be found. Instead, I see Percy in the pool, goggles wrapped around his head, looking up at an older woman with long, flowing black hair. She's dressed in bermuda shorts and a Goode High swim T-shirt, a whistle hangs around her neck. She seems to be miming some sort of swimming stroke, perhaps demonstrating good form or something.

Percy nods and slips his goggles back on. He disappears underwater, with nothing more than a line of bubbles forming on the surface of the pool. When he emerges, he does so with little sound, rather like a dolphin breaching the water's surface. Every subsequent stroke is fluid, moving in sync with the water, and he reaches the other end of the pool in no time. I slip out of the pool area by the time he flips and switches directions.

I have a little time left before cross country begins, so I decide to touch base with Luke. He told me he usually is free around this time, since his Ethnographic Research Methods course ends about 15 minutes before. I click his number on my contacts and call, but for some reason, it goes straight to his voicemail. Hm. He probably has a club commitment or something and forgot to tell me.

Shrugging to myself, I jog to the stadium to begin stretches.

Thank you all sosososo much for all your support and patience. I hope you are all doing well amid today's, uh, situation, and I wish you best of luck as we all navigate this relative confusion. I would really appreciate in any ideas or feedback as I start to write the upcoming chapters!

Btw, the song is New Crowned King by Cody Simpson, sorta to reflect how Percy feels with the recognition he's getting.