Percy's POV

"Percy! If you don't get up right now, I will personally come up and drag your sorry ass out of bed!" Nico, my roommate and (very annoying) friend, yells up the stairs.

I peel my eyes open, still heavy with sleep, and find my brain only able to process, Ugh, adhsdhaohjd. I glance at the clock, the florescent light blaring harshly in my eyes. When I see the flashing digits, I jump out of bed, flustered. It's 5:25am.

I never usually see this time of day, but unfortunately, when Coach bought our tickets to Rio, he decided to book the flight that leaves at 7:00. In the morning.

While I hastily pull on my custom USA sweats, I yell down the stairs, "Nico, make me some oatmeal!"

"No!"

"Fine. Then get me some cereal!" I command.

I can practically see Nico rolling his eyes.

I grab my bags and run down the stairs, tripping and falling the whole way down. Damn, I think, what did I pack in here? Thank God I live with Nico, though. Being the idiot I am, I would've probably slept well past the hour and missed my flight. As I turn into the kitchen, Nico grunts and hands me a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios.

"Thanks, man. Are you ready to leave?" I ask, ignoring his impatient foot-tapping and bored expression. He's probably been waiting for me for at least half an hour now.

"Yeah, come on. Let's go pick up Grover and Leo."

As we drag ourselves into the garage I realize that we have to be at the airport in 30 minutes if we want to be there an hour before the flight. As I do the math in my head, I'm suddenly filled with anxiety. It's almost physically impossible to be at the airport on time because we live around 40 minutes away.

Grover and Leo come running out as we pull up in front of their apartment building.

"Hey, guys. You planning on booking it? 'Cause we're probably going to be late," Grover points out as they scramble into the car.

28 minutes and one of the scariest car rides of my life later, we pull into the parking lot. All fout of us quickly grab our stuff and sprint towards the building. We burst through the doors and run towards the signs that point us towards Southwest Airlines. We quickly hand in our luggage and check in. Dashing through security, I imagine how we must look. It's most likely a pretty comical sight. I mean, four teenage boys, bursting through the airport, all sporting team USA gear. This is it, America. Your beloved swim team!

We make it through security and slow down as we reach our gate. We stop by the airport stores to buy some snacks and things to keep us entertained during the flight. I walk down to our gate and plop downnext to Nico.

"Holy crap, man. Where did you learn to drive like that?" I look at him accusingly, like he's had some sick training that I haven't.

"Well, I'm just naturally a bada-"

He's cut off by a voice calling, "Hey! Fancy seeing you here!"

We both look up to see our friend, Jason. He's heading to the Olympics, too, on the Track and Field team, and his sister Thalia, is a gymnast. Leo's greeted with a big hug from Jason as he walks over holding a breakfast burrito from MacDonald's. The poor kid almost spilled his food everywhere.

"Come on man! You almost made me spill my Mickey D's!" Leo exclaims, being the spastic he is.

I've known Jason for a very long time. He and Thalia are like cousins. But my swim team only know Jason. So when Thalia tackles me in a hug and the usual round of questions, Nico and Leo look quite surprised.

"Woah. Who is the girl?" Nico asks confused.

"Dude, that's my sister, Thalia." Jason answers pointedly, as if Nico was supposed to know her already.

Soon, the whole gate is bustling with excitement. The swim team, (Leo, Grover, Nico, and I), the younger side of the Track and Field team (Travis Stoll and Jason), and a gymnast (Thalia) are all crowded around, chatting with each other.

"Hey, Thalia, why are you the only gymnast here? Where are all the others?" Leo asks.

"My friends aren't with me because I, being the good sister I am, booked my flight with Jason. Their flight left an hour ago." She answers.

I shudder internally at the thought of waking up at 4:30. Girls must be better at getting up early, I think to myself.

Annabeth's POV

BEEEEEEEP

I jolt awake, courtesy of my alarm clock, and glance groggily at my bedside table. The bright clock reads 4:15am. I get slowly out of bed, not paying attention to anything except for the fact that all I want to do is curl up under my covers and go back to sleep. Still half asleep, I put on my pajama bottoms and look into the mirror.

"Okay, Annabeth. You're going to do great. You will," I say aloud to myself, a brief pep talk. I nod at my reflection, then turn and walk out of the room.

I reach the kitchen and grab the telephone. The rest of the team appointed me to make the wake-up calls. They say I'm the most 'responsible'.

Ring. Ring, ring.

"Uhh, hi?" A groggy feminine voice answer.

"Hey, Hazel. It's Annabeth. Can you wake up Piper and Clarisse for me while I call Katie?" I ask waking up more and more with every word.

"Ugh, yeah. I'll try my best not to die in the process."

After making another call to Katie, I walk back upstairs. I go to knock on Thalia's door as a joke, but think twice as I realize that's a little mean. Considering she booked a later flight to be with her brother, I decide it would be a really bad idea. If you want to keep your head, you don't mess with Thalia.

Swiftly grabbing my folded clothes off my night stand, I stride into the bathroom. I pull up my custom USA sweats and brush my teeth.

I walk into my room and grab my cellphone. I look around my room, taking in the familiar sights.

Next time I'm here, I think, I'll be a champion.