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Annabeth was exhausted and sweaty and sore, but she was happy. She had just beat her best friend Percy in training for the second time that week, and the look on his face alone had made all the effort (and the smell) worth it. She refreshed her curls in the shower, donned a new outfit, and went in search of someone to brag to.
The camp was buzzing with activity, being just after lunch time. Arts and Crafts was going swimmingly (literally, the tent was floating in the air atop a geiser when Annabeth passed it), Blackjack appeared to be enjoying the attentions of several younger campers, the strawberry fields were full of pan-piping satyrs, and the counselors had a huge game of volleyball going. Annabeth considered going to join them after she tracked down Piper.
Piper Mclean was the most beautiful child of Aphrodite Annabeth had ever seen, and that was saying a lot. Her choppy hair and big brown eyes always made Annabeth's heart trip all over itself. Under normal circumstances, Annabeth would've asked her out weeks ago. The only problem? Piper was having some sort of situationship/summer fling with the visiting ambassador from the Roman camp, a son of Jupiter named Jason. He seemed like a nice enough guy when she met him, but Annabeth had since decided she didn't like him. On principle.
But hey, they could still be friends, couldn't they? Even if they couldn't go out, Annabeth had every right, as her friend, to spend all her free time with Piper if she wanted to. Which was why she was so excited to see Piper now, because everyone knew Percy was the best swordfighter in the camp. Piper would surely be impressed that Annabeth had beaten him not once, but twice. Piper seemed to appreciate the athletic fighter type, if that Jason kid was any indication.
Annabeth wanted to be her type.
But as Annabeth circled the camp, eyes watchful for her friend, she began to wonder if Piper was in conference with Chiron or something. She wasn't in her cabin, wasn't hanging out with the dryads like she often did, wasn't playing volleyball with the other counselors. Where could she be?
Annabeth was halfway up the Big House's porch stairs, ready to ask Chiron if he'd seen Piper recently, when the sound of quiet sniffling met her ears. She froze mid-step. Was someone crying?
Annabeth considered her options. On the one hand, someone could be hurt and too embarrassed to go see Will in the infirmary. That happened sometimes if a person - coughcoughPercy - hurt themselves on their own spear. If that were the case, Annabeth ought to step in and encourage the person to get treated. On the other hand, maybe the cryer wasn't physically hurt at all; it could just be someone having a bad day and wanting to be alone. In that scenario, Annabeth should probably just leave them alone.
Annabeth decided she would just peak around the corner of the porch and see who was there and if they were hurt. She would not reveal herself unless necessary.
Mind made up, she tiptoed to the corner and stuck her head out at an angle that hopefully wouldn't get her spotted. And there was Piper, sitting with her back against the blue siding and her knees pulled up to her chest. Leo was kneeling on her left side and Nico sat cross-legged on her right, and they both seemed to be making sympathetic faces. Alarm bells went off in Annabeth's head. What was wrong? Was Piper okay? Whoever had made her cry was going to pay.
Before Annabeth could storm around the corner and demand to know who she needed to punch, Nico spoke.
"Do you want to tell us about it?" he asked softly, placing a hand on her shoulder.
Piper sniffed again and lifted her head, and Annabeth's heart squeezed at her trembling lower lip and swollen eyes. "I broke up with Jason," she whispered, and all three of them - Leo, Nico, and Annabeth - froze.
Leo spoke first, plucking the word straight from Annabeth's brain: "Why?"
Piper looked down at the floorboards beneath her feet. "Because... I don't think I like him anymore." Leo and Nico exchanged a glance over Piper's head, but she kept talking, oblivious. "He was so sweet and charming when he came here, but he's always so busy with ambassador stuff. He never has time for me. And... I think I like someone else, too." Piper drew the back of her arm over her eyes, and Leo offered her a tissue he'd seemingly pulled from thin air.
"If you don't have feelings for him anymore," Nico asked, "then why are you crying?"
Piper gave a half shrug, still dabbing her eyes with the tissue. "Breakup conversations are never fun, and Jason didn't think I was being fair." Piper paused, hesitated, and added "Plus, I think the girl I like likes someone else. So its not like I can just ask her out to make myself feel better."
"Who's this mystery girl?" Leo asked, again reading Annabeth's mind.
Piper ducked her head so she wouldn't have to meet their eyes. "Annabeth Chase," she whispered.
Annabeth's heart stopped working. There was absolutely no way-
"That pretty black girl with the huge curls? The genius one?" Leo asked. Piper nodded sheepishly, and Annabeth's whole face lit on fire. Piper thought she was pretty? And smart?
"Hold on," Nico cut in. "Annabeth's not dating anyone. Who did you think-"
"Doesn't she have a thing with that Ares girl, Clarisse?" Piper asked, brow furrowed in confusion. Her expression morphed to shock when both boys burst into laughter. "What? They're always flirting."
"Oh, Piper," Leo said, still grinning. "Just because Nico flirts by arguing doesn't mean everyone does. Annabeth and Clarisse just fight a lot."
Piper looked back and forth between the boys, looking like she thought this information was too good to be true (Annabeth knew the feeling). "Are you sure? I really thought-"
"Trust us," Nico said, sliding an arm around her shoulders and giving her a gentle squeeze. "Maybe you should go talk to her?"
"Or maybe she'll come to you, who knows?" Leo suggested, and in that moment, his mischievously twinkling eyes landed right on Annabeth's face. Crap.
But Leo didn't rat her out, and the others didn't seem to have noticed her. Nico promised Piper a milkshake if his tip about talking to Annabeth turned out to be bad, and Leo kept patting her knee and offering more tissues. As the little group began to stand, Annabeth slipped away into the Big House - Piper didn't need to know she'd been overheard. But Annabeth planned to find her later.
They had so much to talk about.