Work Text:
Timothy Mears
My last period of the day was elective. I had chosen “Combat” because it looked like we would get to fight. I liked fighting. I walked through the open gym doors, shoving aside a boy in glasses. He yelped.
After changing into gym clothes, Coach Hedge ordered us all to sit on the bleachers. There was a wooden box in the corner of the gym.
“Okay Cupcakes, listen up. As you know, this is combat class, which means: fighting people!” He seemed way too excited about that. “For this I am bringing in an old friend, Mr Brunner. He teaches combat lessons and will be helping us for this unit.” Coach gestured toward his office door.
A man in a wheelchair rolled out of the office. A boy behind me coughed. I turned around to see Percy Jackson, my archenemy. I used to be the sportiest, most liked, coolest boy in the school. Then Jackson started going here. When he came back, he became the best in every sport I did, plus Swim Team. I didn’t think he was human.
“What?” I hissed, “you scared of a guy in a wheelchair?’
He grinned, “You should be scared.”
I snorted.
“Hello, I’m Mr Brunner. Today we are going to be learning about sword fighting. However, as you can see, I am in a wheelchair. So, I have an assistant. She should be here,” he checked his watch, “right about now.”
On cue, the Gym doors burst open and a blonde girl came running in.
“Chiron, I got your IM. What do you need?” The girl was talking to Mr. Brunner. She had tanned skin and looked decently strong. She was wearing blue-and-white shorts and a silver tank top. Her hair was in a ponytail. She was hot.
“Remember that class I asked you to help teach?” Mr. Brunner/Chiron said, “Jason got busy and you were the only one in the area.”
“You know I was working on my… project,” the girl put her hands on her hips.
“Yes, I know. Now help me teach the class.”
“Fine.” She sighed and turned toward the bleachers where the class was sitting. “Well, I’m Annabeth. As Ch- Mr Brunner said, I apparently will be helping teach this combat class.”
I raised my hand, and then spoke before I was called on, “What are we doing today?”
Annabeth turned to Mr. Brunner.
“Sword fighting.” Mr. Brunner was suppressing a smile.
“Sounds easy. Who’re we going up against, this chick?” I said, gesturing to Annabeth.
I heard more coughing behind me. Turning, I saw Percy Jackson laughing into his hand. His eyes were glistening with tears.
“What?” I asked him.
“Nothing,” he choked out.
During our exchange Annabeth had walked to the box in the corner. Flipping the lid open, she pulled out two wooden swords. “Who wants to go first? Against me, of course.”
Almost everyone in the class raised their hands except a couple of girls. I was excited to crush this chick.
Mr. Brunner pointed to a boy with glasses, the same one I shoved earlier. I think. They all look the same to me. He stood up and swaggered over to Annabeth. She handed him one of the swords and a helmet. She wasn’t wearing one.
“Try not to hit each other very hard. Begin!” Mr. Brunner shouted.
I honestly didn’t know who would win. Blondie (as I had decided to call her) looked stronger, but she was a girl. There was no way a girl would win. Then they started. Glasses immediately lashed out but Blondie blocked easily. Then she flicked the hilt and the sword skittered across the floor. He was disarmed.
Annabeth flipped her hair back and used her toe to flick the fallen weapon into her hand. “Who’s next?”
Only a few people raised their hands, me included. Coach smiled and pointed at me. “Tim,” he bellowed. I grinned. Blondie was going down. Maybe she had beaten Glasses, but he was weak. I would win.
“Begin!” Mr. Brunner shouted.
“Hey hottie,” I muttered.
“Hey Timmy. It’s Timmy, right?” She smirked.
I smiled, “If I win, can I get a kiss?” I knew she would agree.
“One, you’re not going to win. Two, I have a boyfriend, so, no. Like I would kiss a thing like you anyway.”
“One, no, you’re a girl, you can’t win. Two, that’s cute, playing hard to get.”
She rolled her eyes, “Let’s get this over with.” Then she took a swipe at my legs. I blocked, but then realized it had been a distraction. She punched my jaw. Hard. I staggered back, but I would not give up. I stepped forward again and she grabbed my wrist, judo flipping me over her shoulder. I fell hard on the ground, the wind knocked out of me. I tried to grab her ankle, but she stomped on my forearm. Then she held her sword over my heart, pressing gently into my chest.
“Winner: Annabeth!” Coach cheered.
She stepped away from me and put her hand out to help me up. I ignored it. My arm throbbed, but I pretended that I was fine.
“I was going easy on you,” I said.
“Riiight. Timmy, go sit back down now.” I brushed myself off and walked toward the bleachers. “Wonderful, so now that I’ve shown you what I can do, we can start-” She was cut off by Percy Jackson.
“I want a turn,” he said.
Annabeth really looked at the class for the first time. At Percy Jackson. Her eyes filled with something like recognition and she looked at Mr Brunner. She probably recognized him from the times he had been in the news for being the fastest teenage swimmer and such.
“NO! You two will NOT be dueling!” Coach interjected.
“Actually, I think that would be a good learning experience,” Mr. Brunner said.
Jackson smiled and hopped down from the bleachers. Annabeth unfroze and tossed him the other sword. He caught it and tossed it up and down to test its weight.
“You gonna go easy on me, Seaweed Brain?” Yep, she definitely knew him from the news.
“You wish, Wise Girl,” he said. He probably called her that because she was being a smart aleck.
“Begin!” Mr. Brunner bellowed.
The moment he shouted, the two began slashing and hacking at each other. They were moving so fast it seemed as if they had been doing this for years. The most surprising thing was, it looked easy for them. Neither was even sweating. My brain couldn't even process all the movement happening. It was amazing. Everyone was leaning forward in their seats to see who would win.
After a couple minutes Mr. Brunner checked his watch, “Annabeth, Percy, nice demonstration, but I know this could go on for hours.”
Just then, Jackson twisted his sword and Annabeth’s went flying across the room. I was about to applaud (that’s how amazed I was) when Annabeth grabbed Percy’s wrist and judo flipped him.
“Annabeth, martial arts wasn’t part of this lesson, so I’m going to say Percy won,” Mr. Brunner said.
“I’m not as good with swords!” She mumbled.
Jackson stood up, “Good match, Miss…?”
Annabeth playfully slapped him. I wondered why.
“I’m sorry, did I do something-”
Then Annabeth did something that I wasn’t expecting. She reached up, put her arms around his neck, and kissed him. It was just a peck, but I was shocked. He put his arms around her and held her a tight hug.
“I missed you Seaweed Brain.”
“I missed you too Wise Girl.”
Well, guess I won’t be getting that kiss….