Chapter Text
“Don’t look now.”
“Here she comes.”
“Jesus, she looks like she's gonna eat you alive.” Piper swore, nudging her best friend.
“God, I hope so.” Annabeth mumbled huskily, biting her lip, watching the approaching figure saunder through the cafeteria, heading straight for their table.
Piper froze for a moment, and then her expression shifted to a humored one as she fully took in the innuendo, “Did you really just---?” she started, but Annabeth gave her a warning nudge as Reyna finally stood across the table from them. Her stance was strong and she had a hand on her hip. All of which was accompanied by a dangerous look, know to cut down most of her foes with a single glance, a sharpened steel blade.
Meeting her gaze unabashedly, Annabeth bit back a full on smirk, “Oh are you lost? I think you passed the tennis courts on your way over here.”
Reyna’s scowl deepened, and the hand which was not on her hips revealed a piece of paper that had been crumpled in her fist. She splayed it out on the table, smoothing out a few of the wrinkles, “I came here because of this.”
It was Annabeth’s campaign flyer for next year’s student body president, with aesthetically pleasing black text on bright orange paper, “Do you like it? Piper managed to whip it up for me the other day.”
Annabeth flashed a grin at her friend, who gulped nervously, and stuttered, “Uh… I think I forgot my… in the design lab…” She stood up in a hurry, taking her empty plate to the trash and making a quick exit before Reyna could shift her anger away from Annabeth. Reyna didn’t take heed of Piper’s departure, although her tennis lackies, twin girls known ominously as Argentum and Aurum, tracked Piper’s progress with impassive expressions as she scurried away towards the art building.
“I thought it was established I would be running for student body president.” she paused for emphasis, “Uncontested.”
Annabeth shrugged and her ponytail of curls bounced off of her shoulder, “I never said I wasn’t going to run, I’ve just been very busy lately.”
“You’re captain of both the Lacrosse and Debate teams. The school requires someone who will not be dividing their attention between so many extracurriculars.”
“And you're the Tennis Queen, and fairly involved in mock trial, as I do recall.”
“The school’s presidency and the captainship of a single sports team is reasonably manageable to juggle, if our current student body president is anything to stand by.”
She was of course, referring to Zoë Nightshade, archery captain extraordinaire. It was a well established fact that Zoë was firmly backing Reyna for the next student body president. As well as her tennis career and dabbling in mock trial, Reyna was the current no-nonsense student body treasurer. Annabeth herself was this year’s secretary, unable to keep her nose out of the council’s mechanisms, even with her heavy course load and her dual captainship.
“I’ve actually decided to train Drew Tanaka this semester to take my position on the debate team, as she’s done exceptionally well this year. As for Lacrosse, as I’m sure you’re aware, I’m merely a co-captain, just as you are.”
Reyna’s co-captain was Argentum---or was it Aurum? It was impossible to remember, and by all means Reyna essentially managed the tennis players herself, Annabeth thought it was less challenging to do so in a sport that required less teamwork.
“So you’ve decided to run against me? I understand you’re eager to compete, but I don’t know if you’re prepared for the challenge.”
“When I failed voice my interest earlier this year, it was because I hadn't yet decided whether Drew was ready. Now that I have time opened up, you’ll see that I’ll be filling it as our next student body president.” With that, she gracefully stood up, grabbed her tray and stepped out from the table, off to dispose her lunch without a backward glance at the steely gaze of Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano.
Annabeth decided she would join Piper in the design lab. The lab was a sanctuary on rainy days like today where the weather drove everyone inside and muddied up the track and field. It was also a sure way to find Piper, who likely had been truthful in naming where she was running off to with her tail between her legs. As per usual the design lab was empty with the exception of Piper, who seemed to take up permanent residence in the far corner. At this point, Piper herself was practically a part of the design lab.
Piper looked up from whatever ridiculous gif she was fooling around with on photoshop when she heard Annabeth come in, “How the fuck did you make it out of there alive?”
“Easily.”
“Jesus, Annabeth,” Piper started, when Annabeth sat down beside her, looking all sorts of causal and unaffected, “we should have known putting up those flyers would have conjured up a storm.”
Annabeth sat back on the comfy computer chair languidly, waiting for her computer to load, “Mmmh. But she’s so hot when she’s angry.”
Piper gave Annabeth an incredulous look, the second this lunch period, “You mean you’re riling her up on purpose?”
“This was the fastest way. More effective than I expected.”
“You’re getting off on this? That’s the reason you're running against the ice queen?” Piper’s voice was quickly rising in volume.
Annabeth realized she had to defuse the situation, once her computer was ready, she loaded up her favorite program---okay, second favorite, next to the one she used for her more serious architecture projects---and logged onto Minecraft before saying, “It’s not the only reason,” she drawled, as if it was obvious. “Drew,” Piper flinched at the name of the future debate team president---Annabeth suspected it was always the aftershocks of an unrequited crush she had harbored in middle school, “has been vying for a leadership role all year. And she’s actually improved a lot. She’ll be a great replacement. As I’ve explained before, I only counted myself out of the running because I thought I’d still have running debate team on my plate. With Drew taking over, I can instead focus on the presidency.”
“And get all hot and bothered fighting Reyna for it.”
“That is an added benefit.”
The biggest obstacle would be the election debate. While Annabeth was an excellent debater and her skills might have appeared to make her the obvious victor, she knew it would be silly to underestimate Reyna. Annabeth remembered freshman year when Reyna had made both the debate team and mock trial. Time constraints had made her choose between the two clubs, and while Reyna was a skilled orator and fierce in supporting her points, ultimately she had chosen to stick with mock trial instead of debate team, looking for something a little more flexible and unstructured.
Annabeth had mud splashed across her uniform and was dripping with sweat from lacrosse practice. Nothing sounded better than the perfect hot shower. Instead of rushing into the locker rooms like the rest of their sweaty team, for the last twenty minutes she and the team’s not-to-be-fucked-with senior co-captain, Clarisse LaRue, had been discussing strategies and the other teammate’s improvements. Well at least Annabeth had been discussing strategy, Clarisse had mostly nodded along to whatever she proposed. Annabeth prefered this level of engagement from her co-captain because it meant for less unnecessary squabbling, and what she lacked in strategy, Clarisse made up for in skill; she had a finely honed ability in sizing up opponents and other teammates. The lacrosse team was looking forward to a good finish, likely to place in the top three. Their defense was always solid, something Annabeth prided herself in as the team goalie. While many teams didn’t choose a goalie as a captain, Annabeth proved skillful at organizing the defense from the back, letting Clarisse lead the charge as a forward.
The extra goalie padding was also part of why Annabeth was such a desperate need of a shower; summer was fast approaching and no one envied her for the extra gear. The helmet always seriously matted her usually effortless golden curls. She could smell her uniform too, it was not pretty. Luckily, her favorite shower would definitely be open by now. Annabeth swore by it’s water pressure, which was a necessity after she had gathered all the grime of the practice. Wrapped up in a towel she headed over, only to face down the last person she expected to see in the locker room: Reyna.
Annabeth was so struck with surprise that she let Reyna have the first word, a horrible mistake as Reyna was terribly straight to the point and always tended to win their spitting matches that way, “Excuse me, that would be my shower.” Reyna said, a hint of the usual steel in her voice.
“Um, no. It’s my shower.” Annabeth reached for the handle, but Reyna was already holding it. Their hands briefly brushed before Annabeth's shot back like she had been burned.
“Actually, my stuff is already inside. I’m afraid you’ll have to find a new one.” Reyna said matter of factly, while Annabeth was still reeling from their slight touch.
“But... but, this is my shower. I always use it! Every practice and home game, ask anyone!” She was practically spluttering at this point, but there was Reyna in a towel and this was completely inappropriate and for fuck’s sake, it was her shower!
“Well I don’t see your name on it.” Reyna said smoothly, opening the door slightly.
Damn, Annabeth was sure Reyna had just been aching to use that one. One upped, she was about to respond with some half assed comeback, something to salvage a small portion of her dignity, when Reyna really sank it home: “You can join me if you want.”
She delivered it with a smirk. It was so obviously a joke, but Annabeth flushed bright red. She could even feel her chest heating up and the towel was probably doing nothing to hide it. Hell she could feel it hit her down below---thankfully something the towel did cover. Instead of looking smug, Reyna noticed the effect of her words and seemed a bit taken aback, as if she hadn’t predicted the full blown assault her words did on Annabeth's system. A little too quickly, she retreated into the shower. The door slammed a little too hard. Annabeth was furious with her body. Not waiting to hear the water turn on in her favorite shower---the one Reyna was currently naked in---oh God, she quickly stormed off to the farthest shower possible. She may have rendered Reyna speechless and surprised with her reaction, but Annabeth knew she had lost that round. She turned on the shower, quickly twisting the nozzle to cold.
The next day Annabeth made a beeline to the design lab, where she knew Piper would be holed away. Instead of fooling around on photoshop, Piper was excitedly messaging with her pen pal, Calypso.
“Hows your hot european girlfriend doing?” Annabeth said casually, leaning over Piper’s shoulder as if she was going to read the chat message log.
She actually didn’t care to pry, but Piper was always so sensitive about these things. Just as she predicted, as soon as Annabeth spoke, Piper frantically closed the window---and a few others to Annabeth’s chagrin. She spun around in her chair and made every effort to cover up the screen---oh God, Piper’s desktop image was actually a screenshot of a google hangout with Calypso, complete with drawn on mustaches and sparkles.
“She's not my girlfriend!” Piper blustered.
“Not yet she isn’t. God, this summer is going to be steamy.” Calypso was going to stay with Piper’s family this summer and with Piper’s dad pretty much nonexistent, thanks to his red-carpet movie-star career, the two of them would have a lot of time unsupervised. Or a at least Annabeth had a fun time implying that whatever Calypso was brought up.
Piper blushed and looked slightly put out, “What do you want.” she whined. “Why are you targeting me. Where’s tall, hot, and tennis? Why can’t you frustrate her”
“That's the problem, she got the better of me yesterday. I need to one up her.” Piper raised an eyebrow, recovered from Annabeth’s previous assault, “She got the better of you?”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“Oh this I need to hear.” Thankfully a ping from the computer caught Piper’s attention.
Calypso was sending a few messages and Piper’s full attention was quickly drawn back to the computer. Annabeth let Piper type out a few more replies, crossing her arms, slightly annoyed that not even the juicy yet highly embarrassing story of her previous evening was enough for Piper’s short attention span.
“So?”
Piper suddenly remembered Annabeth was there again, but her attention was still clearly divided, “Oh yeah, I dunno. Sorry, Calypso doesn't have much time this week. Maybe you should go talk to Thalia about it.”
“I suppose that's a good idea, she’ll be more helpful than you.”
Piper didn’t even notice the jab at her expense. Annabeth sighed, Piper’s infatuation was sort of adorable, if not sickeningly sweet. Annabeth much prefered her hate-mance with Reyna. People always had told her opposites attract, and Annabeth had tried that before. For a while during freshman year she had dated a boy, Percy, from the neighboring school. Unfortunately for her, opposite seemed to mean incredibly stupid and boring. She had enjoyed the balance of their abilities for an entire week before his poor humor proved not to be banter worthy. No, Annabeth had decided then, it wasn’t someone who was completely antithetical in personality that lead to great romance, but someone who was your opposite in that they opposed you. Opposite teams; enemies in short. That dynamic was what Annabeth felt was exhilarating: a challenge, someone who was her equal---or at least near enough to it.
Her current rivalry courtship had been going on for over a year. After Thalia had come out at the end of freshman year, Annabeth had been exploring her interest in girls. Reyna had always been a competitor: she matched Annabeth academically, shared an intense athletic ability---albeit in a different sport, as well as a similar interest in clubs and school leadership. It was natural that they should either become friends or staunch competitors, and Annabeth was quite happy it became the latter.
Before Anna left, Piper made an additional aside, not even looking away from the computer, “Oh, by the way, I helped the school newspaper with their formatting yesterday---as per usual. There's some stuff about the election, you might want to read it.” Annabeth smiled, of course Piper was always helpful---in her own way. Finding Thalia would require checking a few of her favorite hidey-holes, so Annabeth made sure to grab a newspaper from one of the racks as she headed up the stairs. It was easy to find what Piper was talking about, there was a large profile for both of the presidential candidates, Annabeth and Reyna, as well as for the vice president---only a single candidate was running, a girl named Hazel. Annabeth didn’t know Hazel very well, but rumor was she was smart enough that, had she been in the same year as Reyna and Annabeth, she would have given them both a run for their money.
After making sure her profile checked out to be exactly what she had submitted, the cover photo being one of her at the last debate championships, looking very snazzy in her professional attire, Annabeth skimmed Reyna’s. It was pretty much what she had expected, holding up well against what she herself had written. The image for Reyna was one of her looking commanding at the podium of a mock trial match. God, Reyna looked hot in that suit. Hazel’s vice president profile provided to be a bit more interesting, given that Annabeth was unfamiliar with the her---she had after all, transferred into the school only at the beginning of this year. She was currently a sophomore, which wasn’t that surprising, and had apparently won some science fair honor or something at the national level. Impressive. What caught Annabeth’s eye most though, was that the newspaper listed at the bottom that they had gotten Hazel to write an op-ed piece on the presidential candidates, seeing as she was the only candidate for vice president.
Turning to the page it listed, Annabeth read furiously, stopping in the middle of the stairs and confusing some freshmen who were coming down from the third story. Hazel gave a decent outline of the two of them, but seemed to be leaning for Reyna. Annabeth wanted to believe it was mostly because she had been late in putting her name on the ballot, but Hazel had made a few good points, especially acknowledging that even stepping down as captain of the debate team, she would have a bit less time than Reyna. Made grumbly by the article, Annabeth stormed up the last of the steps, on to the third floor. Then she made for the roof access ladder, which was supposed to be behind lock and key, but was always mysteriously open. Honestly, it was probably thanks to that forgetful janitor, Bob.
Thalia was of course, up on the roof, but sitting on a metal box in the center. It lended to her cool kid vibe, which was completed by her lack of attention to the school dress code. While Annabeth had always thought Thalia would have been better suited to dramatically sitting on the edge of the roof, last year, in a rare moment of vulnerability the two hadn’t shared since middle school, Thalia had admitted she had an entirely serious fear of heights. While she could still manage escaping to the roof---a real necessity when she decided to smoke pot on campus, Thalia could never be found within a few feet of the edge, even with it’s protective ledge. Of course, as she was on the roof, Thalia was smoking a small joint, looking dramatically off into the distance over the campus.
Annabeth went to join her, deliberately avoiding glancing at the tennis courts, which she could just barely make out from her vantage point. While the pot smell was annoying, and Annabeth was very cautious to stay upwind of her friend, it was a large improvement from the nicotine cigarettes Thalia had smoked in their early years of school, which Annabeth attributed to Luke, an ex-friend of theirs who had gone bad before high school.
“Hey.” was all Thalia said.
Annabeth returned it with a quick “Hey.”
Thalia was one of her closest friends or at least had been her friend for the longest time, since the beginning of middle school where they first met. While Thalia was from Los Angeles and Annabeth’s father and stepmother had moved to San Francisco with her step-brothers before her first year in middle school, the two of them spent most of their summers together with extended visits---either for Annabeth to escape from her hectic step-family, or for Thalia to avoid her negligent mother.
“How’s it going,” Annabeth asked. It had been a while since she had seen Thalia, with her election campaign starting she had decided it was easier to hang out with Thalia when she wasn’t breaking the rules. Which was like, never. That, plus Thalia’s steady girlfriend, Bianca, who was a fellow member of the school’s infamous archery club, meant Annabeth hadn’t been spending as much time with her old friend.
“Pretty good, Bianca will be up with some snacks any time now.”
Bianca DiAngelo was the sweetheart of the archery team, and could weedle snacks out of anyone, including the cafeteria staff, if she put her mind to it. Even openly dating Thalia, who was infamous for disregarding school rules, had yet to dampen her charm.
“Good, good. I just left Piper frantically messaging her hot european girlfriend. God, if that doesn’t work out, I don't know what we’re going to do.”
“It’s cute. Reminds me of my first serious crush on a girl.”
“Well lets hope it turns out just as well.” Annabeth said, just as Bianca, also known as Thalia’s first serious girl crush, came through the roof hatch.
“I’ve got pretzels!” she said cheerfully, “The lunch ladies were very friendly today. Also I caught Selena with a contraband diet coke, and she gave me a can to buy my silence.”
Thalia put out her joint and they passed the diet coke and bag of pretzels around.
“How’s the campaign going, Annabeth?” Bianca asked cheerfully, “Zoë was very surprised to learn you wanted to run. But we tried to put in a good word for you.”
“That's actually why I came up here today.”
“Not for the pleasure of my company?” Thalia gasped dramatically, putting a hand to her chest with mock offense.
“It’s true. For some reason I didn’t actually come and lug my sorry ass up here, risking suspension for being caught in your degenerate roof-top drug den, just to see you Thalia” Annabeth returned with equal theatrics.
“‘Drug den’ is a little strong wording.” Bianca said, giggling slightly.
“Anyway, I need to consult you on how to get the edge on Reyna, she totally one upped yesterday. Plus this article in the newspaper totally paints the election in her favor.” Annabeth waved the paper in front of their faces.
Thalia read the article thoroughly before passing it to Bianca so she could do the same, “How much damage control do we need to do for yesterday then?”
“Well… none really. It was just between the two of us.” Annabeth couldn’t help the slight flush of her cheeks.
“Sweet jesus, don’t tell me you still have a crush on Reyna. Especially now that you're running against her.”
“It’s not a crush… It's just an... An incredibly sexy rivalry.”
Bianca laughed as Thalia’s eyes rolled to high heaven, “Jesus, Mary, Joseph! You’re the worst at this. What's the next thing then, the debate?”
“Yeah.”
“Come on let's go over your points.”
They sat around on the roof discussing Annabeth’s campaign until the pretzels were gone and the diet coke was finished.
Thalia crushed the can with both hands, “I think the best thing you got here is that new schedule proposition. I can’t believe Reyna wants to push the six period one. Nobody wants six periods in a day.”
“Well two of the days are block periods. She has a lot of support with some of the staff on this, I heard Zoë was on board as well.”
“Actually, I don't think she is.” Bianca piped up, having been mostly silent for the duration of the discussion.
“Really?”
“It turns out it interferes with club meeting times. That includes archery, because it isn’t technically a part of the athletics program.”
“Perfect, thank you Bianca!” Annabeth left, promising to hang out a little more frequently---on the condition it was on parts of the school ground that weren’t restricted---and even considered visiting their practice a little later, as it often started before lacrosse practice.
Sneaking back down to the main level of the art building, Annabeth formulated a plan. First step: Drew Tanaka.
Drew was a bit of a gossip, mostly harmless things, but she did enjoy spreading information. So when they started talking and the conversation lead into the student body presidential campaign, Annabeth mentioned Zoë’s stance on the new schedule. At worst, if Bianca was misinformed, it was merely a rumor. At best, if it was true, someone might get Zoë, the current student body president to confirm, and that would be a plus in her favor.
“Really? I thought she was behind it?”
Annabeth repeated what Bianca had said about it affecting club meetings. While Drew’s soon to be appointed position as captain of the debate team wouldn’t be affected, it would certainly mess up the fashion and design club she was very invested in.
“Thats awful. My club already faces budget cutbacks every year. I can’t believe they would cut back our time as well.”
“Yep, even Zoë knows the archery club can’t afford that.”
“Dammit, I need to warn Selena!” Selena was a senior and current club president of the fashion and design club. She was also popular in many of the school social circles. Perfect.
Feeling a little smug about how well her plan was going, Annabeth went of to the rest of her day, eager to visit archery club after classes, to see if the rumor would reach Zoë by then. By the time Annabeth arrived on the field used by the archery club, Reyna was already there, in a heated discussion with Zoë. Annabeth was quickly waved over by Bianca and Thalia, who were near the arguing pair, so she could get a better listen.
“You know I support your campaign Reyna, but the new schedule is one of the points I just can’t agree with. Even if I won't be here next year, the continuing success of this club is in my best interest.”
Reyna was hard to hear, as a few other members started to arrive and were talking loudly, but it sounded something like she said: “I thought you weren’t going to tell anyone.”
“I wasn’t the one who started it Reyna, but I certainly wasn’t going to lie about my stance when someone asked me today.”
Reyna looked upset, but there was little else she could say, “Fine, I need to go to practice. See you tomorrow.”
Just as she was leaving Reyna noticed Annabeth nearby and gave her a deadly glare. Annabeth felt herself get a little tingly.
Thalia took one look at her shit eating grin and gave Annabeth a rough nudge, “Jesus, don’t you have practice as well?” Annabeth was practically skipping by the time she left, passing the willowy archery club supervisor, Artemis, on her way out.