Olympian

12: Camping

Percy POV

I am tired today. Giving my full 100% energy to swimming drains me from the other aspects of my life. The only silver lining is that my times were improving, and I was headed in the right direction.

Practice on Friday ended at 6:30 pm, the standard ending time.

Chiron and Lupa told me to enjoy my weekend before I left Olympia. It was weird that they wished me a good weekend like I wouldn't see them tomorrow. After all, I see them every day because I swim/train almost every day. It's just a little weird, or maybe, I'm just overthinking it.

"Hey mom, I'm home," I shouted as soon as I entered my apartment.

"Honey, go to your bedroom. You better hurry because it's late enoguh already," mom's voice echoed through the home.

"What am I late for?" I asked.

I walked into the kitchen where my mom was cooking dinner. However, she only had two plates and a kiddy bowl on the counter rather than three plates.

Going to my mom, I kissed her cheek to say hi. I had t seen her since yesterday night. I rarely even have full conversations with my mom these days. I was definitely missing spending time with mom, Paul, Estelle. Of course, Stella is a baby, so playing with her was pretty easy (even at the end of a long day).

I just sit on the ground and chase her around. She giggles happily while stumbling into my arms. My baby sister is too cute.

"What am I late for?" I asked again. "Also, where is my plate of food?"

"You're not having dinner here. Jason and Leo are waiting for you in your room," mom informed me with a smile.

"Okay..."

It wasn't a surprise to know that Jason and Leo were in my room even when I'm not there. First of all, Jason's my best friend. Secondly, it's pretty normal for my friends to barge into my apartment and feel at home. It was pretty standard.

I rushed through my apartment and barged into my room. I could've smacked Leo so hard for what he was doing.

Leo was sitting on the floor with a stack of all my trophies. He had taken them from the closet, and he was building a tower (as if, my awards were Lego's).

"WHAT THE HELL?" I shouted.

"Percy, this wasn't my idea. Jason made me do it," Leo protested quickly. It was obviously a lie, proven by the fact that Jason was rolling his eyes.

"I told him it was a bad idea. Go beat him up if you want to, bro," Jason encouraged.

Leo glared at Jason before turning to me with fear in his eyes. I stared at the tower of awards that he had built. Of course, it was impressive, but Leo had to be kidding me right now.

"What are y'all doing here?" I asked. I was too tied to fight at this point.

Leo breathed out in relief. "We came to pick you up, Aquaman. The gang is going camping, and they agreed to let me make the fires."

I stared at them in shock. No one told me that we were planning a camping trip. Now, it made sense why Chiron and Lipa were being so nice to me about the upcoming weekend.

"I still have swimming," I said.

"We already got permission from your coaches. They said that you deserved a weekend off for how much work you're doing. We got you covered, bro," Jason informed me.

I smiled while staring at the bags near my desk. They had already packed for me too.

"Why didn't anyone tell me ahead of time?" I asked.