This is pretty much a very very very gay fic in which Piper's a babe and I pick on Leo a lot.
Alright so this is an au in which literally no one is a cishet (except for leo bc he sucks) so I just wanted to add that
-Piper is a demigirl and preferes they/them she/her pronouns
-Rachel is agender and prefers they/them pronouns
-Clarisse is genderfluid and sometimes goes by clark and prefers they/them she/her he/him it pronouns
-Octavian is also genderfluid and prefers they/them xe/xer it pronouns

Warning: This chapter contains mentions of school and swearing.

Reyna is a fun sucker mostly.

A preppy fun sucker.

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It was a cold and unpleasant morning in Reading. Reyna's clothes stuck to her skin uncomfortably due to the unexpected rain she had faced when leaving her house that morning. This only made Mr. Taylor's lecture harder to pay attention to, she realized as she shifted in her seat. World History was a refreshing subject, but the man spoke in such a dull tone that any interest that she may have had dripped away.

Reyna turned her head to see her friend Piper scribbling something down on their worn out notebook. She knew they weren't notes; they were most probably doodling- a nasty habit of theirs- and would ask for her help to study for the next test, since they were never paying attention. Reyna couldn't say that she was gripped by whatever it was her teacher was saying. Something about America's great depression, she guessed.

She spotted Jason Grace from the corner of her eye, sitting up so straight it seemed that he had swallowed a broom, staring at the teacher and undoubtedly paying attention. He was perfect, right from the way his uniform shirt was always buttoned up to the top, to how he asked the right questions during class, to the fact that he was the president of the student council.

Okay, so Reyna was the president of the student council too, but she still wasn't like him, Jason with his perfectly white smile, Jason with the perfectly outstanding grades, Jason who always seemed to be perfectly one step ahead of her, no matter how hard she worked. It was frustrating to think about it, so she pushed that matter out of her thoughts and tried to concentrate on the class. She spent a good five minutes listening to explain what the stock market was before he looked at the clock on his wrist and made a face.

"I didn't realize it was this late. Before you leave, I have an annoucement to make." He stated. "Remember the pen pal project you were going to organize next semester?" There was a collective yes from the students. "Well, Miss. Baelor asked me to inform you that sadly we won't be able to go through with that."

It took the teacher a few moments to get the class to calm down and to get a paper ball someone- Leo Valdez, Reyna thought- had thrown into his hair. "I understand that you're upset, but there's nothing that we can do about it. The school we usually do this project with has been going through some economical struggles and they simply cannot afford to go through with it. At least not this year."

"This is bullshit!" Piper said, ignoring the fact that they were in the middle of a classroom. Lucky for them they weren't the only ones voicing their anger towards that whole situation. And with good reason, Reyna believed. This pen pal business was going to be about a third of their french grade, and since all they had to do was chat with some random french person a few times and present a small paper, it was a grade saver.

After assuring that there was nothing to be done several times, everyone to calm back down a bit, and that would have been the end of it if Jason Grace hadn't put his hand up.

"Excuse me, sir?"

Oh, this should be good, Reyna thought.

"Yes, Grace, what is it?"

"Sir, it's just that I think I know how this could work." Of course you do.

"Oh?" The teacher looked as if he was expecting a prank, but hell would freeze over before something like that came out of Jason.

"You see, I have a sister that lives in America." He explained. "She goes to Goode Highschool, a public school in New York."

"And what does this have to do with us not having french pen pals?" Asked Leo, turning around so he was facing Jason.

"Well, I know it's not the same thing, but everyone's pretty upset about not doing this whole thing. Maybe we could speak in french- or change the subject to english rather than french. I'm sure her school would allow it." He replied, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. He was getting nervous, she could tell.

"So you're saying we should have american pen pals?" Mr. Taylor raised an eyebrow in disbelief. Jason was lost.

"I- well, it was just a suggestion, I thought we wouldn't want to give up this chance. I understand if you don't want to go through with it, in fact-"

She didn't get a chance to hear what it was that her classmate was going to say, as the bell rang and all the students started packing up, her included. She found it would be wise to think about whatever it was that the french teacher would come up with to make up for the loss of the pen pal project, but she let herself have a moment to look at Jason's face. The next time she would have a chance to steal a glance at his disppointed expression was probably not in the near future.

She was just about to get up when Mr. Taylor raised a hand and murmured "Wait, wait.."

No, it can't be, it isn't possible, he can't really get away with this, no.

"I'm not telling you to get your hopes up," he started "but this clash of cultures... well, it could work."

There was a roar of cheers from the class. Jason was grinning like a fool.

"Now, I'm not saying it'll happen. I'm just saying that if you talk about this with Miss Yara, your english teacher, and she likes the idea, maybe the school could see this project through." The teacher turned to Jason. "Grace, can I trust you to do this?"

The student council president nodded and politely replied, adding how grateful he was for the opportunity. Reyna could gag.

When the class was finally excused, Leo had the wonderful idea to start chanting Jason's name. The rest of the stundents soon followed. In the middle of the crowd, she could spot Piper looking at her with a sympathetic look. She didn't know if she had expected things to turn out different.