Sunday, 5th September 2009

Moncada boarding school was vast. It made Piper's home look like an apartment.

From the overly extravagant gates, she could see the main red brick building, dressed with turrets and pillars and tall windows. The long, gravel driveway was pristine, as were the freshly mowed lawns on either side, each of which held a fountain with a marble statue spewing out water from various places on its body.

'I don't think we're supposed to go in this way,' Percy muttered to his mother.

Sally looked past him, through the car window, at the imposing building and its surroundings. She shifted into drive and met Piper's eyes in the mirror briefly before driving the car further down the tree enclosed road. Leo was in his mom's truck behind them, Piper could see him hanging out of the passenger car window like a dog.

They followed the narrow road until they came to a sign bearing the school's name in an elegant script and below it, an arrow with the words Parking for Dorms this way, written in equally elegant and difficult to read gold paint. This place was even worse than Piper had thought, she started to wonder what she had gotten herself into by following Percy.

Piper had stopped moving around when she was seven years old. Her father realised this wasn't the best situation for a child and and bought the house in East Summers, hoping to provide some form of stability for her. And it had; she made friends and settled at school and got a part-time job, she had found her home. But she still didn't have a family. Her mother had been an inconsistency in her life; barely enough for Piper to know who she was. And her father was usually absent. He loved her, she knew that much. But the memories she had of her childhood existed mostly without him, and so they would continue to be through her adolescence.

Perhaps at this new school she would miss him less.

Sally parked the car in front of a large red-stone building and switched off the engine. They all sat in silence for a moment as the engine settled. This was their new home, there was no turning back now. No running to her bedroom and hiding under the blankets.

They were quiet until Esperanza pulled up in the spot next to them and Leo all but leapt out of the car like a puppy excited for a walk. Piper stepped out of the car and patted him on the head.

'Leo, calm down. You look like you're gonna combust.'

'I'm excited, Piper!'

'Really? I hadn't noticed.'

Percy joined them, looking more sheepish than usual with his hands shoved into his pockets and his bottom lip pulled between his teeth. He gave them an almost smile and Piper chucked him on the shoulder as a perky girl with pigtails and a clipboard in her hands approached them. She wore the school uniform; a starched white shirt, grey pleated skirt, grey knee-high socks, a gold and purple striped tie and a grey jacket with the school emblem on the left breast.

'Hi there guys! I'm Lizbeth! Can I take your names? and I'll let you know where your initiation is.'

Lizbeth reminded Piper of one of her father's assistants; smiling and efficient and oh-so-put-together Margaret. Piper had hated her, she was glad her father fired her a year and a half ago when she let it slip to the press the whereabouts of their private holiday home in Miami. Piper's whereabouts was still safe from the press, but Tristan wanted to keep it that way, and Margaret had proved herself highly untrustworthy.

'I'm Leo Valdez,' Leo said in what Piper supposed was an alluring voice. 'These are my friends, Piper McLean and Percy Jackson. And what might your name be?'

Lizbeth's eyes widened, but her pleasant smile did not falter. Lizbeth,' she replied emphatically.

Percy started giggling under his breath and Leo elbowed him in the ribs as Elizabeth checked her clipboard. 'Jackson, Percy,' she said, and Percy sobered, biting his lips as she smiled at him. Piper could swear he was blushing. 'You're starting Junior year, yes.'

Percy nodded mutely.

She smiled some more. 'Okay then, you need to go to the Brauronia building, which is just over there.' She pointed over the grassy campus to another one-storey red brick building. 'There are signs all over, so you can't get lost. There, you'll get assigned your dorm, locker, and timetable. Okay?'

Percy nodded again. 'Thanks,' he said.

He then ensured Sally he would be just fine on his own, and started walking towards the circle of buildings beyond the car park, head down, hands in his pockets.

Which left them with Lizbeth. 'Right,' she said slowly, tracing a finger down her clipboard. She was frowning and being excessively slow. It felt like she would snap the clipboard up to her chest and say, Sorry, you're not on the list. You'll have to abandon your best friend at the school you convinced him to attend and go home.

'McLean, Piper, Sophomore, and Valdez, Leo, also Sophomore.'

Piper sighed in relief.

Lizbeth smiled at them, though it looked less warm than when she had smiled at Percy. 'If you could make your way to Erechtheum building and you'll be assi-'

'Yeah,' Piper interrupted as Leo's eyes lit up at the name of the building, 'we got the idea.'

'Right then.' She smiled. 'I hope you all enjoy your time here at Moncada. Go, Furies!' She punched the air and Piper nodded.

'Go, Furies,' she said with fake enthusiasm.

Sally and Esperanza were chatting contently by the end of the truck and encouraged Leo and Piper to take their time as they went off to find the Erechtheum building and Leo started up a series of bad jokes about his genitals.

Piper only half-listened as they walked through the campus. It felt like she had stepped into one of her father's movies; everything was so clean and grand and perfect. The buildings stood in a circle around the green, like old caravans around a campfire. The green itself was mowed to perfection, woven with stone pathways and dotted with various small trees. People strolled about, some in uniform with clipboards like Elizabeth, giving instructions and directions; others in their own clothes, carrying boxes of belongings or hugging their friends after a long summer apart. Piper felt like she was intruding on a world away from her own.

They followed the large white signs to one of the buildings springing off the main building they had seen from the front entrance, which had its own plaque entitling it as the Parthenon. As they stepped inside the building, Piper wondered if the founder of the school had a slight infatuation with ancient Greece.

They found a help desk with two uniformed girls handing out keys and pieces of paper and smiles like Lizbeth's. They joined the queue and Piper told Leo to stop with the dirty jokes already. When it was their turn, Lizbeth-point-two grinned at her.

'Hi there, can I take your name?'

'Piper McLean, Sophomore,' she said as Lizbeth-point-three helped Leo to her right.

'Okaayy,' said Piper's helper, dragging her finger down the list in front of her. 'Here you are.' she looked up with an apologetic expression and Piper's stomach dropped. 'I'm afraid due to your late applications, you'll all be sharing a dorm with a junior, I hope that won't be problem?'

Piper shook her head, relieved. 'That's fine.'

She grinned. 'Alrighty then. You're in cabin Alpha, which is directly across campus from this building, in room 315. Here's your key, there's an elevator to take you up to the third floor. And here is your timetable, a map of the school and your welcome pack. If you would like to register for a locker, as we only have a limited amount on campus, you can put your name down here.'

She pointed to a sheet of paper on the table and Piper shook her head, still processing the flurry of words that had just been thrown at her. 'I'm good, thanks.'

'Alrighty then. Do you have any other questions?'

Is alrighty even a word? 'No, I'm good, thanks.'

She smiled. 'Okay then. Welcome to Moncada. Go, Furies!'

'Uh huh,' Piper said and grabbed Leo by the sleeve to drag him away from Lizbeth-point-three, who was no longer smiling at his wiggling eyebrows.

They pushed their way out of the building into the sunshine again and Piper began grumbling. 'If everyone here is like that, I'm going to go insane.'

'I know right!' Leo said giddily. 'All the girls here are so hot, they make the East Summers girls look like trolls.'

Piper punched his arm. 'Firstly, if you continue to talk about my gender in such detrimental terms I'm going to have to end our friendship right here. And secondly, I'm an East Summers girl in case you've forgotten.'

Leo grabbed her arm and grinned at her. 'Not any more, Pipes. You're a Moncada girl now.'

As Piper contemplated whether she was happy about that, they made their way back to the parking lot. Leo was in the Alpha building too, on the ground floor. When they had returned to the cars, Sally and Percy had already started taking Percy's belongings to his dorm, which was in the Beta building, a full thirty feet away from the Alpha building. Piper, Leo and his mom each grabbed a box from the truck and made towards their dorms.

It was chaos. Gone was the ordered, pristine school. This was the reality of it. Students weighed down with suitcases and boxes, playing lacrosse across the hall, music blared out of several rooms, most of the doors stood propped open as boys walked in and out. Piper hoped the girls floor was slightly less chaotic.

She left Leo and Esperanza at the door of his dorm and carried on to the stairs at the end of the hall - the elevator was occupied and probably crammed with students carrying too many belongings to fit comfortably. By the time she reached the third floor, Piper was sweating and panting - she was seriously unfit. This floor was considerably calmer, though most of the doors stood open here too and she could hear more than one source of music as she walked down the hall. She received a few smiles off students and parents walking back and forth from rooms and did her best to return them.

And then she was there, at her room. The door was closed so she shifted the box to one arm and reached into her pocket for her key. But before she even got it free, the door swung open.

In front of her stood the pinnacle of a perfect student. She wore the school uniform, tie done up properly and shirt tucked into her straight skirt. Her blonde, curly hair was pulled back in a high ponytail, and the bare, tanned skin of her face showed no hint of blemish. Unlike Lizbeth, her smile looked genuine.

'Hi,' she said, 'you must be Piper. Come in.'

Piper did. The room was approximately a fifth of the size of her bedroom back home and painfully bare. She could tell which side her new roommate had claimed as her own, and dumped her box on the bed on the right side of the room. They were single beds - which would take getting used to - pushed up against the wall. Built-in shelves made up the wall the beds were against, and at the foot of Piper's bed was a corner desk underneath one of the white framed windows that looked out onto the green. Her wardrobe was at the other end of the bed, closest to the door. There was definitely no room for a bean bag chair. The other side of the room was identical but for it being flipped so that the other desk faced the wall next to the door.

Piper looked at the other girl who still stood by the door, smiling at her. 'I'm Annabeth, by the way,' she said, leaning against the open door.

'Piper,' she replied. 'But, you already knew that. Sorry.'

Annabeth laughed. 'Don't worry about it. You're sophomore right?'

'Yeah. Sorry, you probably had this room to yourself before I came along.'

Annabeth shrugged one shoulder. 'As long as you don't snore like my last roommate did, we're good.'

'Well, I don't snore.'

'Well, we're good.'

Piper nodded, feeling a grin creep across her face. Annabeth tilted her head out the door. 'You want a hand with the rest of your stuff?'

'Oh, you don't have to do that,' Piper said, walking out into the hall again.

Annabeth closed the door behind them. 'It's no problem.'

They walked back down the stairs together, past other students as Piper questioned her new friend. 'So when did you get here?'

'A couple of days ago. I had a few meetings and things to sort out. And to be honest, I couldn't wait to get back.'

'Really?' Piper felt herself frown as she ducked out of the way of a lacrosse stick - they were back on the ground floor again.

'Yeah, this place is home to me. It has been for the past two years, though this is my first year in Alpha.'

'That's cool. Speaking of, what is it with all the Greek stuff here?'

Annabeth rolled her eyes. 'A few years back this place was all renovated and renamed, and apparently the new owner had a thing for Ancient Greece. No one actually calls things by the right name though, except for the dorms; Alpha, Beta and Gamma. But mostly people just abbreviate; the Arrephorion - which are the overnight teachers dorms - is the Rep house; the Brauronia is the Rony; the Chalkotheke is the Chalky. You get the idea.'

Piper raised her eyebrows. 'You'll have to write those down for me or something.'

Annabeth laughed. 'You'll get the hang of it.' and Piper felt like she was talking about more than just the names of the buildings.

It took three more trips to get all of Piper's belongings upstairs and by the time they did, her bed wasn't visible under the mountain of boxes and bags.

Annabeth grinned at her. 'Your half is going to be a lot fuller than mine.'

Piper smiled back sheepishly. 'My room back home is a little bigger.'

'So's mine. I'm just not good at clutter, I can't think straight when I'm surrounded by stuff.'

Annabeth was cut off by the sound of her phone buzzing on the wood of her desk.

'Oh crap,' she said, reaching for it, 'I'm sorry, I wish I could stay and help you unpack but I'm already late,' she spoke quickly as her phone continued to buzz in her hand, she swiped the screen and held it up to her ear. 'Hey Jase, hang on one second.' She held the phone to her chest and picked up her bag from her bed. 'I'm sorry,' she said to Piper, 'I'm supposed to be helping out with the Freshmen and stuff. I'll see you later, yeah?'

Piper nodded. 'Sure, don't worry about it.'

Annabeth smiled as she opened the door and held the phone back to her ear. Piper followed to the door and heard her voice as she walked down the hall. 'Okay I'm here. And I'm on my way now, I was just helping my new roommate move in… yeah, she's really nice. What's yours like?... oh, come on, he can't be that bad… what do you mean he brought a tool box...?'

Her voice disappeared as Piper closed the door and walked back to her bed to her mountain of belongings. The first thing she did was tie her hair back with the elastic band in her pocket, the second was to locate her record player and set it up on her desk. It had been a present from her father for her thirteenth birthday. Since then, her collection had grown from a Dire Straits single to five full shelves on one of her bedroom walls. She had only brought one cardboard box full with her, the contents of which had been torture to choose. Piper flicked through them now and pulled out a Death Cab album to play.

After that, unpacking was a relatively calming process. Piper was almost glad to be alone as she made one side of the room hers. She made the bed up with the white and blue sheets she'd found in the airing cupboard back home; she stacked her records and books on the shelves, put away clothes and shoes in the wardrobe, tacked posters to the little wall space available and pinned photos to the pinboard above her desk.

An album later, she had made considerable process. There were few bits still left to do, but she flopped down on her bed anyway and pulled her Jake cushion to her chest. She looked around her new room, feeling better now that it was filled with her things. Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she pulled it out, smiling at the image of Percy's scrunched up face before accepting the call.

'Hey, loser.'

'Have you finished unpacking yet?' Percy's voice replied without delay.

'Almost,' she murmured, 'you?'

'Uhhh, kinda. But anyway, mom needs to go, she wants to say goodbye to you.'

'Okay, see you outside your building?'

'Sure.'

'Bye, loser.'

She hung up and picked up her key, hesitating for a moment at her desk. She ripped a small piece of paper from her notepad and scrawled out a message for Annabeth, telling her she was with a friend and leaving her cell number at the bottom. Then she was out the door and down the hall.

Percy, Sally, Leo, and Esperanza all stood outside the Beta building, halfway through embraces. It halted Piper for a moment as she realised she didn't have a parent there to kiss her goodbye, until Sally called her over and pulled her into a tight hug and kissed her forehead like she was her own daughter. Esperanza followed soon after and cupped Piper's cheeks between her rough palms.

'You take care of our boys.'

'I will,' Piper promised.

There was another round of hugs and an equal amount of complaining from the boys and then they were gone, and the three of them were left without parental supervision. The prospect should not have made Piper feel so giddy - she had spent most of her childhood with barely any parental supervision - but it felt different now that she was at school and she would be sleeping here and eating here and living here. She threw an arm over Leo's shoulder and grinned at Percy.

'Are you gonna show us your room then?'

Percy frowned. 'Why my room?'

'Because I know Leo's already made a mess of his and you haven't finished unpacking.'

They both began to protest until Piper gave them one of her looks and said, 'Pretty please?' And they both caved immediately.

The Beta building was a little smaller than Alpha, Piper supposed that had contributed to their naming, but was of the same basic layout. The ground floor was as chaotic as Alpha's and Leo was nearly decapitated by a rogue football as they made for the staircase to take them up to the first floor, which had boys at one end and girls at the other. Piper wondered briefly how that would work out. Percy pulled out his key and unlocked the door, ushering them both inside before following himself. The room was a similar layout to her own, but Piper's attention was drawn to the boy sat on one of the beds fiddling with a small wooden figurine. Although he must have only been a Sophomore, his build looked that of a college football player with the lingering chubbiness of childhood. He looked close to frightened as they all piled in the room and Leo unceremoniously threw himself onto Percy's bed amongst the pile of unpacked boxes.

'Oh,' Percy said, 'sorry man. This is Leo and Piper. Guys, this is Frank, my roommate.'

Piper smiled at the boy and a blush painted his round cheeks. 'Hi,' he murmured.

'You're a Sophomore?' she asked, clearing a place on Percy's desk to sit down.

'Yeah.'

'You live near here?' Piper hedged, trying to pull a conversation out of him.

'Not really.' He sounded unsure of how to answer and Piper tilted her head to the side, attempting what she hoped was an encouraging smile. Frank bit his lip. 'Army brat, my mom's positioned in Afghanistan right now but she kind of fell in love with the town near here.'

'East Summers?'

He blinked. 'Uh, yeah.'

'That's where we all live,' Percy explained. 'Well, me and Leo at least. Pipes has a mansion just outside of town.'

'It's not a mansion, Percy.'

'It has seven bathrooms,' Leo interjected.

'That does not make it a mansion.'

'We played tennis in your bedroom, Piper. It's a mansion.'

Piper rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to a slightly bemused looking Frank. 'Sorry,' she said, 'you were saying about your mom?'

'Uh, yeah. She really liked the town, and since my dad isn't around and my grandmother still lives in Canada, the boarding school was the only decent option for me.'

'You're Canadian?' Leo piped up. 'Hey I know a great joke about a moose walking into a bar-'

'Leo, shut up,' Piper said. She turned her attention to Frank again. 'So, have you prepared yourself for living with Percy for the next ten months?'

Frank's eyes widened a little. 'I guess.'

'Piper, I'm not that bad,' Percy protested as he tacked a Chuck poster to the wall next to his wardrobe. The first thing he would see in the morning was Yvonne Strahovski in a little black dress and a gun holster strapped to her thigh.

'You should see his bedroom back home,' Piper continued, ignoring Percy altogether, 'though Sally will go to town on it now for sure. She's been dying to for years.'

'It's not as bad as Leo's.'

'Well, Leo's room may as well be a garage.'

'Guys, I'm right here.'

'It's his roommate we should be feeling bad for.'

'Poor, poor guy. I wonder who it is.'

Jason's day was not going well.

It was only 11am and he was already tired of Lizbeth Walker talking his ear off about the committee not being organised enough and why is everything running late and why don't we have enough clipboards and where is Annabeth?

Where was Annabeth?

She was supposed to meet him ten minutes ago in the Party house (Parthenon) to take over the Freshmen enrolment table from Carly and Jake, who both looked like they were in desperate need of a break when he relieved them. But there had been no sign of his friend and no break in the relentless stream of fresh-faced Freshmen asking questions in nervous little voices.

Mercifully, a break finally came and Jason took advantage of it to call Annabeth.

He heard the dial tone for six seconds before it connected and his friend's harried voice came through the speaker, 'Hey, Jase. Hang on one second.'

He sighed as something bristled through the speaker, and he pictured her holding her phone against the lapel of her jacket. He wondered briefly who she was speaking to and if they were the reason she was running late. Annabeth Chase was never late; this had been something Jason learnt at a very young age. She arrived at least five minutes early to everything and planned every possibility down to a t. No broken down vehicle or dead phone battery would ever delay her plans. The disruption of her timing made Jason feel uneasy. He and Annabeth were usually in sync with just about everything - his sister used to tease that they would both have periods at the same time if he were a girl - if one of them was up so was the other; and if one of them was down, the other stooped as far down as they could go to drag them back up again. They could have been twins for as close as they were.

'Okay, I'm here,' Annabeth's voice snapped him back to the phone held to his ear. 'And I'm on my way now, I was just helping my new roommate move in.'

So that's who it was. It made sense; Annabeth had only found out she was getting a roommate a week ago, at the same time he had been given the same news, and she wanted to help her settle in.

'You're forgiven,' he said, 'what's she like?'

'Yeah, she's really nice.' She sounded genuine. 'What's yours like?'

Jason groaned. 'Don't even ask. How do you think your new roommate would feel about me sleeping on your floor?'

She barked a laugh. 'Oh, come on, he can't be that bad.'

'He brought a tool box, Annabeth.'

'What do you mean he brought a tool box?'

'I mean a tool box. One of those red metal fold out things full of wrenches and hammers and screwdrivers-'

'Yeah, yeah,' she bristled, 'don't pretend you know anything about mechanics, Jason. Who was it that built our first den out of old wood and a few rusty nails?'

'That would be you, oh queen of everything. Now will you hurry up and get down here? I'm going crazy all by my lonesome.'

'On my way now, Data.'

The tone went dead and he slipped his phone into the pocket of his trousers, it made a blocky lump against his leg. Jason didn't have a thin, white iPhone like Annabeth, his was an old Nokia which Annabeth usually stole to play snake on. He could easily afford a nice new phone, but simply never felt the need for one; this one made calls, sent text messages and had an alarm clock. What more did he really need? Sure, the thing was kind of an antique, but it's battery life was about twenty times better than Annabeth's and he had dropped it far too many times to count and it was still alive, so Jason was happy with it.

He turned back to the desk as a short girl with dark skin and darker hair braided into two french plaits walked up.

'Hey, Hazel,' he greeted with a smile.

'Hi,' she sighed, rubbing her forehead with one hand as she looked down at the clipboard in her other. She looked up at him. 'I don't suppose you have an extra copy of the register? I'm missing letters H to L.'

'There's probably one here somewhere.' He began rooting in the folders underneath the desk. 'How's initiation day going for you?'

Hazel's groan was unmistakable even through a wooden table. 'If Lizbeth nags me one more time, I'm going to have a seizure.'

Jason laughed. 'This is her favourite time of year,' he said, standing up again and bringing with him a few sheets of paper bearing the new school register. He shuffled through them and found Hazel's missing one, smiling as he handed it over.

'You're a life saver,' she said gratefully, tucking the sheet between her own. 'See you later.'

'Yeah,' he returned as she disappeared through the doors outside. As she did, another figure appeared, taller and slimmer and blonder.

'About time,' Jason said as Annabeth slipped around the desk and stowed her bag on the floor underneath it.

'You're in a bad mood today,' she noted.

'Sorry.' He rubbed his face tiredly and leaned against the table. 'I'm tired.'

She frowned at him.

'After you left my dorm last night, my dad called.'

Annabeth's jaw clenched and she nodded understandingly. 'What did he say?'

He shook his head. 'The usual. Nothing, everything. I don't know, but I couldn't sleep last night because I kept replaying the conversation in my head. And this morning I met my insane new roommate and Lizbeth Walker has found twenty new ways of driving me insane.'

'I swear she only does it because she's in love with you.'

Jason rolled his eyes and, despite himself, felt his lips curve into a smile. 'As if.'

'No, really. Every time she sees you her eyes light up like it's Christmas morning.'

'I think she's Jewish.'

'See, you already know so much about her! You two are perfect for each other!'

Jason shook his head at her and mirrored her grin with his own. 'What's put you in such a good mood today?'

Annabeth's eyes positively twinkled. 'Today is a brand new day, Jason. A new semester, a new school year. And it's going to be a good one. This is my last year before I have to start thinking about college, so...'

'Annabeth, you've been thinking about college since we were in pre-school.'

She frowned at him. 'Can you just join me in my positivity please? I'm not sure I like you without your Captain Optimism hat on.'

'I'm not sure I like you this cheery, it's freaking me out.'

'Jason.'

He chucked her on the chin and stepped up to the desk as a group of people approached. 'Alright, Kaylee, we'll have a good year.'

'A great year.'

He threw her a smile before turning his attention to the two freshmen boys waiting to be attended to. While Annabeth greeted one enthusiastically, Jason welcomed the other in an as cheery voice as he could manage,

'Hi, welcome to Moncada. Can I take your name?'

The boy muttered something at his sneakers. Before Jason could open his mouth to ask again, the boy's mother tapped him on the shoulder. 'For goodness sakes, Martin, stop mumbling.' She looked up at Jason and pushed her sunglasses into her hair. 'Martin Kingsley.'

Jason nodded and began flicking through the register for the boy's name. He recognised the surname; Kingsley was one of his father's competitors, very rich and very powerful. Jason sympathize greatly with Martin, sometimes it wasn't easy being the child of a CEO.

He handed Martin his dorm key and welcome pack and met his brown eyes for a second before the freshmen was staring at his shoes again. His mother threw Jason a smile and practically batted her eyelashes at him before sauntering off with her friend and their sons in tow. Jason knew those women all too well, he knew their type at least. All of them held a basket of secrets under their botox and fake nails. Whether it be an affair with the pool boy or closet alcoholism.

'Wow,' Annabeth muttered as they watched the retreating group, 'that's the worst boob job I've ever seen.'

Jason barked out a laugh. 'I hadn't noticed,' he said honestly.

'Jason, you must be the most innocent teenage boy in the world.'

'Just because I don't point out every bad bit of plastic surgery that walks past.'

Annabeth rolled her eyes. 'Believe me, I wish I didn't. It's like there's a computer in my brain; I notice details like that before I can stop myself looking for them.'

'And you call me Data.'

'Har har.'

He grinned at her, not pausing to wonder how she managed to turn his mood around. Annabeth was always doing that.

'Anyway,' she said, 'tell me more about this oh so terrible roommate of yours.'

Jason sighed. 'He's not that bad. He seemed kind of nice actually, kind of manic. Like he was hopped up on caffeine. And he has a lot of stuff, and most of it seems to be mechanical.'

Annabeth raised her eyebrows into her hairline. 'Maybe he likes mechanics.'

He chucked her shoulder. 'Whatever, I'll give him a chance. Tell me about your unfortunate victim. Have you told her that you snore yet?'

'I do not snore!' she fired up immediately.

Jason scrunched his nose up. 'You do a little bit.'

'I do not.'

'But you do.'

'Shut up.'

'Whatever. Tell me about her.'

Annabeth shrugged. 'She seems nice. She's pretty, I mean like really pretty. I'm pretty sure she cut her own hair and shorts with the same pair of scissors, but it works for her. And she seems kind of familiar, I don't know why.'

'What's her name.'

'Piper McLean.'

'McLean,' he repeated, 'McLean, as in Tristan McLean the famous movie star?'

Annabeth's eyes widened. 'You don't think.'

Jason shrugged. 'He's supposed to have a house around here, right? You told me that.'

She tilted her head and frowned at nothing in particular. 'That was overheard WASPS gossip. Hardly a solid source of information.'

'I don't know, those women are pretty tenacious.'

Annabeth ignored him, staring at the papers on the small desk as she pursed her lips and frowned in thought.

'What?' he asked.

She looked up at him. 'She didn't seem like the daughter of a moviestar.'

'Well, what would you expect? We aren't our parents, Annabeth. You and I know that better than anybody.'

She throws him an apologetic smile. 'I guess you're right. In any case, I'm pretty sure I struck gold with the roommate assignment.'

'That makes one of us,' he grunted. 'I think I must have done something awful in a past life.'

'Maybe you were a snake. Snakes aren't nice.'

'I'm sure snakes are just misunderstood animals.'

Annabeth rolled her eyes. 'Jason, would you still call them misunderstood as it slowly strangled you to death or swallowed you whole?'

'Unnecessary mental image.'

'You're an unnecessary mental image.'

jason/annabeth friendship is possibly my favourite thing in the world so i hope you're ready for more of that in future

(if you catch the references from every TV show you get a cookie)

The chapter title is from Golden City by Coasts

until next week, friends x