H2O: Just Add the Heroes of Olympus

Chapter 19 - Gym

***NONE OF THE CHARACTERS IN THIS STORY BELONG TO ME. THEY ARE PROPERTY OF RICK RIORDAN AND JONATHAN M. SHIFF

Their next two classes were pretty boring. History and then Math. Both of the classes were taught by mortals so they actually had to try to pay attention. Annabeth, of course, was great at math and Piper was great at history. Maybe it was because we were learning about American Indians. Math was complete torture for everyone, even Annabeth. Though she could do it, Annabeth wasn't very excited about it. I mean, who likes Calculus?

Finally, it was time for gym. The four demigods, the three mermaids, and their boyfriends had PE together. They walked into the gymnasium and were greeted by a familiar face. At least the demigods were. A man, about five feet tall, wearing a bright yellow polo shirt and white nylon workout pants stood at one end of the gym. He had a baseball cap pulled low over his eyes and a wispy goatee adorned his face. The guy had a whistle around his neck and a megaphone clipped to his belt.

"Coach Hedge!" Percy yelled. Gleeson Hedge turned his head towards the teens. "What are you doing here?" The demigods rushed up to him, mermaids and co. following wearily behind.

"Working, obviously," Hedge grumbled. "Never thought I would be doing this again."

"I had Mellie as a teacher too. Who's watching Chuck?" Jason asked. Coach Hedge sighed.

"Clarisse. She and Chris are babysitting during the day. They're here too, you know. They just refused to go to school," Coach explained.

"Who's Clarisse? And how do you guys know each other?" Zane questioned.

"Summer camp," Percy said simply. Zane was prevented from questioning any further by the bell signaling the start of class.

Zane

"Listen up, Cupcakes!" Coach Hedge announced to the whole class. "My name is Coach Hedge. Welcome to your physical education. This is not a normal gym class! You will be pushed to your limit. Teenagers nowadays are so lazy and out of shape. I'm gonna change that! Fifteen laps around the gym! Now! Move it, move it!" Most of the students groaned and started carelessly jogging around the perimeter of the gym. Not Percy, Annabeth, Piper, or Jason. They took off and easily finished the fifteen laps like it was nothing. Coach Hedge didn't look surprised. He just told them to do more while they waited for everyone to finish. Zane picked up his pace and lapped the other students a few times. By the time he finished, he was out of breath and sweating profusely. The other students still had a few more laps to go. The four Americans were still speedily running around the gym, laughing and not even breaking a sweat. I will not let them beat me. I am the most athletic person here. Zane told himself before taking off to do more laps.

By the time every student had finished the fifteen original laps, Zane had done twenty-five. That's way more than them. He thought.

"Listen up, Cupcakes! You see these students here? This is the shape I want you to be in by the end of the year. How many laps did you do Percy?" Coach asked the American.

"Forty. Although it's been a while since we've just ran like that," Percy said nonchalantly. Forty laps? They aren't even breathing hard! Zane's mind was blown. But his shock was quickly replaced by anger and envy. I'll just beat them in something else. They have to have a weak spot.

"Now, behind me is an obstacle course," Coach said and pointed behind his shoulder. Zane just noticed that while they were running, someone had set it up. The obstacle course was a maze of mats and exercise balls. "I have put you in teams of four. The first team is Percy, Annabeth, Jason, and Piper. The second team is Rikki, Zane, Emma, and Ash. The third team is Cleo, Lewis, Nate, and Tiffany..." Coach Hedge listed all the teams and then explained that whoever finishes the course the fastest doesn't have to do laps the next day. That got everyone excited.

It was finally time to do the course. The Americans volunteered to go first since they were the only ones that weren't still breathing hard. They got through the course easily and worked together so well, it was as if they could read each other's minds. They got through in a minute and ten seconds. Next was Rikki, Zane, Emma, and Ash.

Let's just say their run didn't go very well. Rikki and Emma got in a fight, Zane tried to break it up only to join in, and Ash just awkwardly tried to get them to keep going through the course. They ended up taking three minutes and twenty seconds to finish.

During Cleo, Lewis, Nate, and Tiffany's turn, Nate just started running through it and left the team behind, and Cleo fell off an obstacle because Tiffany ran into her. Nate ended up finishing in two minutes while the rest of the team finished thirty seconds later. Coach Hedge gave them a penalty and made them run extra laps.

The rest of the teams made their way through the obstacle course, never coming close to the Americans' time.

"Congratulations, Percy, Annabeth, Piper, and Jason. You guys are free from laps in tomorrow's class," Coach Hedge announced as if he expected it.

"Actually, Coach. We would like to give our prize to the second-place team. We don't mind doing laps," Percy interjected. Coach Hedge raised an eyebrow but complied.

"Fine then. Oliver, Brianna, Will, and Noah, you are excused from laps in tomorrow's class," Coach sighed. Then the bell rang, indicating the end of the school day.

Sorry that it took me so long to update. I went camping since my state's governor finally let us leave the house. For this chapter, I wanted to show off the demigods' strength and what better way to do that than an obstacle course? I also felt that would be the kind of thing Coach Hedge would do. I hope you liked this chapter and if you did, don't forget to vote! Thanks for reading!