I AM INSANE.
I have 2 fanfiction accounts, both of which have stories I am yet to update. Also, Desire is yet to be edited and fixed meanwhile I'm studying for my final end-of-year tests (I'm not American. I abide through the south's way of doing things).
And I'm writing a book.
YEAH.
The rating might change to M, because I was kinda shifty since the content is borderline M, but not graphic so...I'll put it on T momentarily, but if you guys think I need to change it, don't be afraid to voice it aloud.
Anyway, I got this idea from Wattpad (beautiful thing) and reading some badboy!Jason fics. I've noticed how Piper is never the 'bad one' always the 'Good Girl' so I flipped the switch around and tada! I don't know if it had been done before, but yeah, this fic contains bad girl Piper...and nerdy, kind of innocent ''goody" Jason (who's so adorkable to write about).
But I'm TESTING the waters. I haven't written the other chapters, but if this received a good reception I'll consider making it a full-length story.
Another reason for my mental anxiety...
Don't own anything!
Chapter 1
Lost In Stereo
Jason
The Wilderness School was where all bad kids go to hell. And that was where I was heading, where Dad was sending me and where my sister's delinquent acts resulted in.
Now you might ask Jason why are you going there? Good question. I have no fucking clue. Okay, I did have a clue, but it was because now I was starting to realize how this was probably one of my worst all my infamously however appallingly made decisions ever. And that itself takes the cake.
Staring at the imposing steel structure, it was the only form of civilization within the next forty miles of pure desert. This bus ride was pure proof that I would never survived in the Wilderness:
A) it's too fucking hot
B) I can't feel my legs
C) refer to A and B
My lips were chapped from the heat, no matter how much water I already drank, my glasses kept slipping down the slope of my sweaty nose and my shirt was stuck to my back like Scotchtape, slicked with sweat. Gross.
"Can you, um, turn up the AC?" I asked the driver, a stout man with mean eyes and a burly moustache. His entire weight made the leather seat sag in suffering. I'm so glad I'm not the chair.
"I don't take orders from kids in handcuffs," barked the driver and I slumped, defeated, tugging at the tight metal pressed around my wrist. The handcuffs bounded me to the hand railing of the bus, restricting me from taking a leak, or even standing up. As if that wasn't even enough justice for the laws of the United States, one lone guard was sleeping at the front seat with a rifle perched on his lap.
I'm sixteen, for Christ sake, it's not like I'm going to blow up the World Trade Centre.
Insensitive joke? Jeez, take it easy. Nine eleven was like a decade ago, it was time we start to laugh about it. I bit at the rough edges of my lip, causing blood to seep into my tongue. I glanced at the nearly empty water bottle at the seat next to me and unscrewed the cap, gulping the water, hoping it satisfied my thirst.
Not even a little bit.
Sighing, I leaned into my seat, remembering how I landed here in the first place.
It all started with some boys in my old private school. You see, it was an all boys school so there was bound to be trouble. Though it was private, they did all the wild things. Streaking through the fields, wild parties, smoking, drugs, all that shit, I never found myself sucked into that world. And I am usually not the troubled type, I did my best to avoid trouble because personally, my father would've slapped me from New York all the way to Greece if I ever did anything to potentially harm my image, or rather, his image. Because God Forbid, another Grace kid became a drug addict and a wannabe Lindsay Lohan.
Anyway, it was the end of the semester and everybody was in a party mood, typically. The exams were over, school was finishing- parties were part of the alma mater. But the thing is, I hate parties. Never liked them before, didn't like them now. They're loud with obnoxious music and people 'so-called' dancing, twerking or whatever passed for it, filled with people slobbering and slurring and spilling their drinks 'accidentally' over your crotch (let's just say it was a hands-on experience), people passionately and shamelessly groping each other and possibly raping one another in front of my virgin eyes. Uh yeah, pass. I prefer to be mentally sane. I think I'll be fine in my room, cuddle up with a good autobiography of John Kennedy, and some Blink-182 playing in the background. But my roommate, Larry Podex, had insisted that I 'needed to get drunk and get laid' and I had argued I was fine, and um no thanks I don't want to get drunk, or laid by some chick I don't know. Because I'm a value sort of guy. This was how the conversation went:
Larry: Jason, it'll be fun! Vodka, babes in shorts, great music, and did I mention babes in shorts?
Me Yes, I heard you the first time. But it's not my thing, I told you, I rather just stay here and-
Larry: Masturbate in your pathetic abyss of loneliness? Sure, sounds like fun.
Me: I do not masturbate!
Larry: Bull-fucking-shit. I do it, you do it, everybody does it. Hell, I was jacking it last night.
Me: Last night?! I was in the fucking room! What do you mean-
Larry: The point is you're coming and I don't care if I have to carry you there with me.
Me: urghhhhhh
So yeah, I went anyways.
It wasn't that bad, it was more of a nauseating, grotesque, hangover the next morning, regrets and never again kind of bad. Larry skived off to challenge his biggest rivals to naked beer pong (and that was a sight I'll never unsee ever again), I sulked into a corner, cradling my alcohol-free coke, willing to avoid anybody and everybody until some of the guys offered me a shot. I was too polite to decline, so I shrugged and took it. I mean, it was just one shot of tequila, how drunk could I possibly get?
Yeah, you can probably guess what happened next.
The answer is that yes I can get really really drunk and yes, I have no self-control whatsoever. I practically chugged down fifteen shots, pranced around like some asshole and was practically cavorting like a beast in repose. At some scale of the night, I ended up with a girl who was from the boarding school for girls just down the road. I think her name was Khione or whatever, and she offered me a joint. I should've said no, I really should've, but in my stupid however drunken state, I was like fuck it why not and smoke the weed as if there was no tomorrow. Pro-tip: Drunk Jason was not the smartest Jason, however, the most fun Jason.
Long story short, the police came, arrested everybody and caught me in the act with a staggering amount of marijuana and narcotics pumped in my system. Because I was underage and it was my first time, they let me off on probation. My dad, however, wasn't too chummy about it. He was shouting, well bottom line there was a lot of shouting, words like disgrace to the family name and if you were going do it, doing it discreetly was thrown in the mix, and for a form of punishment, my dad had creatively ended with the Wilderness School for it. Somehow he came up with the intelligent idea that if it worked for my sister, it worked for me.
It was just one joint of marijuana. And it wasn't even decent! And this was the first time!
But, despite my futile and completely valid arguments, it was final and now I'm here.
Just puts a fucking cherry on top of my day.
Pushing the crooked glasses up against my nose, I craned my head to take a look outside the window and felt my heart leap. There it is! I almost leap out into the bus aisle in excitement when the handcuffs pulled me back into my seat.
Ouch.
I rubbed my wrists after being handcuffed to a pole for two miserable hours, then dragged my suitcase into the dorm 246, the one I've been assigned to, and dumped it on an unoccupied bed. I prayed for air-conditioning, decent air conditioning, not some stupid Chinese knock off that blows air at a set temperature. The dorm was okay, nothing fancy. It looked more like a hospital room than a school dorm, with plain vinyl mattresses on two separate unpolished wooden bunks, two desks at each side of the room, white-coated walls and fluorescent lights. A drastic change from Legion Academy for Boys.
Running a hand through my sweat-dripped hair, I looked around for a shower, or a sink where I could splash some water on my face when a boy with wild, curly hair and dark eyes burst into my room. He was hauling a black and blue duffel bag through the doorway when I managed to sneak a better look at him. He stood at five foot eight, really short, barely at my shoulder, with a slim built and elfish ears. He lifted the duffel bag over his shoulder and threw it up onto the left bed, the one where I've put all my things, and it landed with a soft thump!
"Move your shit, asshole."
"Excuse me?"
He rolled his eyes. "Yo, English much or do I have to say it in Spanish?"
"No, I understood," I said firmly, "I just didn't think you had the right to do that."
He raised an eyebrow. Yeah, I might be a bit quiet, and I'm certainly not the type that picks fights, but I ain't no pushover. "Look, newbie, I'm Leo Valdez and it's been proclaimed throughout the school that the left bunk is always my bunk. So, in short, move your fucking shit."
"You could've just asked nicely-"
"It's the Wilderness School," he snorted, "Nobody actually do 'nice'. That's the first unofficial rule of the school."
"Bullshit."
"Well, duh," he pointed out, "I specifically said unofficial or are you deaf as well stupid?"
I placed my fingers on my temples. "Circles. We're talking circles."
"No," he said sarcastically, "I thought we're discussing squares."
I could've possibly killed him in frustration. Breathing in and out, I told him like it was: "You're annoying."
Surprisingly, Leo's face split into a mischievous smile. "I think we haven't formally met. Leo Valdez, annoyingness at your service."
I laughed and nodded (that was cool, right? the nod?). "Jason Grace."
"Where you from?"
"San Francisco."
"The heat there is nothing compared here, huh?" he laughed as I profusely fanned my face.
"Yeah, is there an AC somewhere...?"
He held out a remote control and switched it on. Instantly, the room was moderately cooler, but only moderately.
"So what'd you do to end up in this hellhole?"
"Um," I scratched my head, "Got caught smoking marijuana."
He shook his head, a crooked very Leo smile curling at his lips. "Amateur."
"It was my first time!" I protested, feeling defensive, strangely about this provocative subject such as smoking marijuana.
"Like I said, amateur."
"Anyway, my dad was being a pain in the neck all about it, so he saw this as a fitting punishment. Also, my sister is here….so…" I shrugged, leaving him to draw his own conclusions.
"Wait, a sister?"
"Yeah, Thalia. Thalia Grace."
His face lit up in recognition. "Hey, I knows Thals! You're her little brother?"
I nodded immediately, "Yep, that's me."
"Heh, cool. What a small fuckin' world."
He told me about how it was his fourth year in the Wilderness School and how his Aunt Rosa had sent him away to the Wilderness School because she didn't want to deal with him, how nobody wanted to deal with him. I tried not to feel sorry for him since he seemed like he didn't want any sympathy but I can't help but feel bad as he explained to me how his father left and his mother died in a freak fire accident, while I was entitled to an abundance of money and Leo obviously didn't have much. Despite the rudeness and blunt behaviour, Leo was actually alright. A tad corny, and I could do without the 'That's what she said' jokes but he was definitely fine.
Soon, at the rear end of our conversation, a bell clang, signalling the starting of an event. "Yes!" Leo jumped to his feet, "Time for Lunch!"
"Lunch?"
"Yeah, lunch. You know, the meal you eat…"
"I know what Lunch is."
"Good. Thought for a moment you might be dumber than Percy," Leo rubbed his hands together and his stomach growled in anticipation of food. My stomach rumbled at the thought of Lunch too. "Anyway, follow me. I'll let you meet the others."
The others? My head spun. It was not that I never had friends, it's just that I never had close friends. Many of whom I knew were acquaintances where we share brief polite Hellos, never fist-bumps or anything remotely similar. Maybe here would be different, maybe I'll earn some friends, even possibly a girlfriend. Oh who was I kidding? This was the Wilderness School. I would be lucky if I could scrape through the week without being beat up by some bipolar underage delinquent.
Together, we made our ways to the Dining Hall. The Dining Hall was exactly like I had predicted: rowdy, brimming with chatter, sickeningly full of students doing what they normally do: chatting, flirting, laughing, et cetera; it was the home base of the student life.
Leo led me through the plethora of cliques. Hell, even the Wilderness School have a population pyramid, jocks, cheerleaders and all that good ole' teenager capitalism. He high-fived some people along the way, laughing at their inside jokes while I stood behind him, awkward and alienated from the whole ordeal. Sometimes, he introduced me and they shook my hand, saying it's nice to meet me and general stuff, but that was all the excitement and jazz that happened on the way over.
Finally, we halted at a table where a familiar face occupied one of the seats…
"Jason!"
A sixteen year old girl emerged from her seat. "Thalia!" I felt a spark of excitement as she approached me and enveloped me into a bear hug. Several people glanced up to see the sudden commotion and display of affection, but I didn't care as I hugged the sister I haven't seen in two years.
"Dad told me you were coming," her blue eyes scanned me over, scrutinising my sweat-soaked t-shirt and messy blond hair, which was out of it's usual perfect style. "Smoking marijuana, Jason? Seriously?"
I braced myself for the lecture.
"...How cliche!"
Okay, not that lecture.
"You do it too!" I stared accusingly at her.
"Yeah," she conceded, "but I was never stupid enough to get caught," she smacked me playfully on the arm and pulled out a seat for me. "Anyway, I'm being rude. Jason, meet the gang. Gang meet my baby brother, Jason."
"I'm not a baby," I whinged.
Everybody slowly introduced themselves to me, but it was a lot to take in. There was Percy Jackson, a boy with sea green eyes and a wave of dark hair, who was the boyfriend of Thalia's best friend, Annabeth, a pretty Californian blonde with intimidating grey eyes that didn't quite fit the whole 'All-American-Girl' theme going on. The next few was Hazel, who was a year younger than the rest, and she was the girlfriend of Frank, a muscular guy who looked like he could be a potential wrestler on WWE. Hazel got a brother, Nico, who was Percy's roommate. All the couples and sibling relationships had me cross-eyed as I tried to remember who was who.
"Welcome to the Wilderness, man," said Percy as he smiled at me, while wolfing down his cheeseburger with extra-oily fries. "Where another new kind of Hell starts."
Suddenly, someone- Nico, I think- had muttered something that caught my attention and caused everybody's heads to whirl around:
"Great, here she comes."
One of the most beautiful girls I've ever seen was walking towards the table, towards me. Her long mahogany hair swished and swung behind her, her lips were pouty and red, her eyes were green...no, blue, wait...brown...were they multicoloured? Her skin was cocoa brown, so smooth and milky I had the sudden temptation to lick it. She wore ripped jeans, a denim jacket over a black top and exuded a demeanour that just screamed trouble.
A cluster of pretty girls followed behind her, waiting on her every heel, but they weren't as pretty as she was. She swaggered over and flashed a coy smile at every boy observing her.. Then she zeroed in on their table, her eyes hinted mischief. "Anybody need a hit?" she asked, her voice so full of teasing joy. She revealed a packet of weed hidden underneath a jacket.
"A pound would be nice," Thalia spoke up.
A flash of silver appeared underneath the line of white teeth. A tongue piercing? I gawked at her. Who was she?
"That'd be ten."
Thalia paid the ten dollars and the mystery girl cautiously slipped the packet underneath the table. She slid the cash into her pockets, playing it off as flippant. Then her eyes landed on me.
"Saw you staring at me," she chided playfully, "Didn't Daddy told you it's rude to stare?"
"Um-I-" floundering like a fish out of water, I could barely find a retort I was usually well-armed with. I mean, I'm always punctual, always eloquent but in the eyes of this chick, the way she was staring me down, like I was a butterfly she wanted to trap, my mouth turned jelly and my body felt like it was zapped. Don't you see why I have a pathological fear for women?
"Naughty boy," she tutted, her eyes changed dangerously into a colour of sky blue, mirroring mine. Her pierced tongue licked her bottom lip, she prodded a finger at my chest like a teacher scolding a child. "Do I need to spank you?"
What did she just say?!
Never had I seen a girl so upfront, so confident, and it caught me so off-guard that I blushed, my cheeks heating up. I found the best response I could: "Um-I'm-uh sorry?"
She laughed and her friends joined in, howling like a pack of piranhas while I blushed even harder, wanting nothing more than to melt into the background. "Aw," she cooed, throwing her head back, exposing a long neck I wanted to wrap my hands around. "You're blushing! Girls, he's blushing!" she cawed at her friends, whose raucous laughter reduced to appalling giggles, "God, you're so adorable," her eyes flickered to my glasses and she inched even closer towards me. She pushed it up, languidly sliding up my nose, smirking as she did so. I gulped, trying to conceal my crotch. Her smirk, if possible, widened.
"How come I never seen you before?"
"He's new," barked Thalia, putting a protective hand over my shoulder. "Fuck off, Piper. We bought your weed already."
Her eyes flashed in annoyance. "Your boyfriend, Grace?" Her tone creeped a hint of danger, like she wouldn't even hesitate on stealing anybody's boyfriend.
"I'm her brother," I intervened.
"Oh, your brother, Thalia?" Piper- the girl- smirked again. "Interesting," she gave me an once over, practically shamelessly undressing me with her eyes. "I'm Piper. You?"
"Um, uh, I'm-I'm Jason."
"Hmm, Jason," the name rolled off her silver-pierced tongue softly. She tilted her head sidewards seductively, her hair following suit. "Hope I'll see you around."
Knowing she had turned me tomato red, she turned away, stalking off with her clan, much to Thalia's relief. Her hips swayed and sashayed as she left the room, boys watched her while she go, envying the fact that she talked to me, nerdy glasses Jason, out of all people.
"So," I said shakily to Leo, "Who's that?"
"Piper Mclean," Leo said dreamily, gaze lingering on where she had stood. "She's one hell of a bad bitch."
Thalia snorted, giving me a concerned look. "I'm a bad bitch. She's a whole other kind of bad. Don't be fooled, Jason, she's the type who sucks a boy dry-"
Leo snickered.
"Get your mind out of the gutter."
"But how can you not find that dirty?" guffawed Leo, Percy howling as Annabeth hit him and lectured him. "Sucking him dry...sure Jase would love that."
Hazel, a more conservative person than most, was scandalized: "Guys!"
My face was pretty much a beetroot puce kind of colour. "Can you just...not?"
Thalia rubbed her forehead, shaking her head at the current display of idiocy her friends displayed. "My point being is that she will make you fall head over heels for her and dump you the next day, breaking your heart. Not to mention, she gets whatever she wants, even if it's taken. Just stay away from her...she'll just hurt you, and I don't want to see you hurt."
I nodded, looking at the door where Piper Mclean had entered and exited, my heart nailed to the wall that she had hammered onto. How positively fucked am I?
Done. I did this in a mere six hours, WHILE STUDYING AND WHILE WRITING DESIRE AND MY NOVEL.
Remember to review! And tell me whatcha thinking.