honestly, when i sat down to write a dumb crossover between these two series, i had something completely different in mind, but i got stuck on the idea of 'goode high hosts their swim meets at st. xavier's bc they don't have a pool' and this was the godawful result. set post HoO and simon's ascension, so percy and annabeth are 17, and i made kirk the year below simon school so simon/isabelle/clary are all 18/19ish so kirk can be a senior.

"I still don't understand why I have to be here," the guy sitting behind Annabeth complained for what felt like the eight millionth time in a row. She supposed it was her own fault for getting stuck on the wrong side of the bleachers in front of a chatty group of what had to be older siblings - the eldest ones looked about twenty, there was no way they were friends with a high schooler - because Piper kept telling her to set an alarm so she wouldn't get completely sucked in by SAT prep, but that didn't mean she lost the right to complain about it. It was a high school swim meet for gods' sake, not a nightclub; she had a half mind to tell them all to slink back to whatever college campus they'd come from if they couldn't be quiet. "I have no idea who this guy is. The only member of that godforsaken band I can actually name is Simon, and that's only because he left a big fat homoerotic scar on my neck."

"Please don't say the word homoerotic," the guy who Annabeth had identified to be the voice of reason in this group said. He was her favourite, because he kept telling everyone to shut up and had the least grating voice. "Not only does it give me flashbacks of Hodge trying to tell us that Achilles and Patroclus were just deeply devoted bros, the thought of you and Simon is enough to make me homophobic, which is slightly problematic seeing as I'm the only gay one here."

"Family therapy isn't 'til Thursday, knock it off," one of the girls said. "And for the last time, Jace, you don't have to be here. It's not my fault you confused 'Simon has to give Kirk a ride to his swim meet before the concert so I'm coming with him' with 'Simon and I are having a hot pool house orgy that everyone should come crash'. At least, I'm assuming that's what you conflated it with, otherwise it really would be insane that you're complaining about a swim meet that you insisted on coming to."

There was probably some law about sucker-punching innocent mortals in the face, Annabeth thought. Or at least, innocent in the not-the-Hellenic-brand-of-evil way, because so far they were a hundred percent guilty of ruining her day. Annabeth clenched her fists beside her, and tried to comfort herself with the thought that these people were exactly the brand of annoying that would land them in the Fields of Punishment; there was no need to exact her own form of vigilante punishment and ruin Percy's first meet of the year. She tried to focus on the current under-16s freestyle length that was taking place instead, and the fact that Percy's cohort would be up next. In a way, it was a dose of normalcy; obviously Percy wouldn't be able to swim at his full pace - and Piper had made a joke about that, some kind of kids' movie reference - but they'd agreed beforehand that it wouldn't be too suspicious if he won his races today, seeing as he purposely threw his heats last year. Annabeth had been looking forward to this date all week, and she wasn't going to let some snotty college kids ruin it.

"Where is Simon, anyway?" another of the girls behind Annabeth asked, shouting to be heard over all the cheering. "I haven't seen him since he went to get his wallet from the minivan."

"Maybe he got attacked by demons," the one directly behind Annabeth - Jace? - suggested cheerfully. "We should go check."

"That's only a half-stupid idea," the first girl admitted. "I'll go with Clary to make sure he's alright. You two can save the seats."

"Actually, I meant-"

"I know what you meant, and I know you were just looking for an excuse to make out with Clary," she said. "Why waste a perfectly good brick wall, et cetera et cetera, another iconic piece of advice from yours truly. But if you think I'm letting you do that after crashing my date with my boyfriend, maybe you really are a natural blond after all."

Unable to control herself any longer, Annabeth twisted around in her seat, furious.

"Excuse me," she said, over-enunciating each word with rage, "some of us are actually here to support our friends and family instead of acting like a bunch of degenerates. I'd like it if you didn't associate my hair colour with your friend's idiocy, thanks."

They stared at her blankly. There was four of them in all - a dark-haired girl and boy, ostensibly siblings given that they had the same colouring and haughty tilt to their mouths and eyebrows, a pretty redhead whose striking resemblance to Rachel only made Annabeth's blood boil even further, and, true to form, the blond guy (definitely Jace), whose smug smirk was faltering under the force of Annabeth's glare. She almost hated them more after getting a proper look at them. Really, they were old enough to know better.

The siblings recovered first, the boy's expression immediately morphing into apology. "You're right," he said, and Annabeth was pleased to note that his voice was the one she'd anointed as the most sensible. He elbowed his sister. "Isabelle, apologise."
"You're kidding," Isabelle said. "This is nowhere near my fault. It's so far away from being my fault that it's hanging out in England with Tessa and the hot Silent Brother. This-" she waved vaguely in Annabeth's direction, "-is all on Jace."

"I don't care whose fault it is," Annabeth snapped. "Just shut up."

It was good timing - she faced the front just as Percy approached the edge of the pool, and she felt herself grin as he caught her eye, all anger dissipating. When he smiled back at her, it was electric. She could almost forget about the idiots behind her.

"Whoa," Isabelle said, and let out a low whistle. "What group is this again?"

"The juniors," the redhead girl replied. "Kirk and the rest of the seniors aren't up for a while yet."

Isabelle continued whispering, but Annabeth wasn't paying attention to her anymore. Instead, she fixed her gaze on Percy. He had shifted his attention to the rippling surface of the pool now, sea-green eyes narrowed in concentration, and Annabeth silently prayed to her mother that he would have the foresight to remember to get himself wet and come up to breathe. He hadn't forgotten yet, but she wasn't about to take any chances now.

As soon as the faint 'beep' sounded, Percy was off. Even starting, he seemed quicker than everyone else - his dive into the pool was seamless, near silent, and he got almost halfway across the pool before he came back up for air. His hair almost glittered with water droplets, the muscles of his shoulders tensing as he pushed himself back up the water's surface. He needed a little more restraint, Annabeth thought desperately; he would have to slow a little when he made the turn in order for him to not to accidentally break a record. And it wouldn't be some measly school record at the rate he was going, either - she had a feeling people would be throwing around the word 'Olympic', and not in reference to citizens of the Greek city. "C'mon," she mumbled to herself, blocking out the roar coming from the Goode High stands where she should've been sitting. "Don't blow it-"

Then came the turn, and she let out the breath she'd been holding the whole time as Percy imperceptibly paused at the wall. Nobody else would've been able to pick up on it, but she knew he was manipulating the water to make it look as if he was moving while he stayed still, in an attempt to tack a few more precious seconds onto his record. When the guy in second place got half a stroke in front of him, Percy set off again, considerably slower than usual but still fast enough to catch up and overtake. This time, Annabeth joined in with the victorious screaming as Percy hauled himself out of the pool, split seconds after the announcer hollered, "First place goes to Percy Jackson, from Goode High!"

She stood up to applaud as Percy winked at her, a towel looped around his neck, and she almost didn't hear Jace say, "He held back."

"Don't be ridiculous," Isabelle's brother retorted. "He had a healthy lead nearly all the way through."
"And there's college recruiters here," pitched in the non-Isabelle girl. "He could get a full ride somewhere. I don't see why he'd sabotage that."

"Okay, seriously," Isabelle interrupted. "Where's Simon?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes. The sooner she could get out of here, the better.