AN: I know this story is not all that famous. Wow, I must really be disappointing ThePraetorLady. I tried really hard to write this chapter. And the final graft is now going to get published.
Did I say ThePraetorLady is amazing? Well, she is.
Chapter 3: A Visit From The Sun
Piper really tried not to spend the afternoon daydreaming about her visit to her Dad as soon as she settled in Manhattan. Apollo said it could be as long as two weeks. But it was almost impossible not to. What will my dad think of me? What will I think of him? These two questions went right round her head for the fiftieth time. She had a strong feeling that her mother was also going to be there, and things between her mother and her… were icy.
Piper spent the afternoon trying to cook something edible, but her efforts weren't good enough. The chicken ended up dark with scorch marks and smelled horrifying. Piper remembered going across a burning piece of cloth, it smelled like that. Just more intense. She could also smell the burning of the Indian spices she used in the chicken. Contrary to what their friends and fans thought, Piper wasn't a good cook; of the girls, only Thalia was. Most of the days, if Thalia wasn't in a good mood, Apollo would send someone to prepare their meals for them. Or Bianca would cook for them, if she and Nico were there.
It was weird. Piper had really never even tried cooking—maybe once or twice, but she did try to cook today. She really needed to distract herself from thinking about her father. And Jason. If she wasn't thinking about her father she was thinking about Jason. Jason, Thalia's brother… She knew she shouldn't be feeling this attracted to one of her best friend's brother, but she did. She knew she should try to at least stop entertaining thoughts about him. And she knew it wouldn't end well no matter what. First, Thalia would probably kill her. Second, even outside of murder, their friendship might take a hit it couldn't recover from.
She threw away her last attempt to cook and went to join Reyna in the living room, on the couch that directly faced the TV. Piper wasn't interested in interior designing (it was something Thalia liked, for reasons unknown to them), but she did like the way the floral print brought out the couch. "We have to order something today." She sat down beside Reyna, who was staring at the box of DVDs.
"We knew that since the moment you entered that kitchen." But Reyna looked up and offered her some jellybeans, and after Piper took some from the bowl Reyna took the bowl away, subtly, so that Piper almost didn't notice. Reyna had always been pretty jealous about her jellybeans.
"What are you planning to watch?"
"There's not a single good movie in there," Reyna sighed.
Piper scanned all the movies they had. "We could watch Brave," Piper suggested. Piper loved the movie, though she never told anyone why. She liked that Merida and her mother bonded. Maybe things could be better after all; she loved to think like that.
"I don't like that movie. The mother gets turned into something she isn't supposed to be. What does that teach us? Disney movies will always be stupid." Piper knew Reyna's adamant dislike for Disney movies. She said it just reminded her of people actually learning from their mistakes. Piper thought it was because she never watched Disney movies in her childhood.
Piper sighed. "Okay, then." She snatched the remote from Reyna.
Piper flipped through some channels pretty quickly. One was showing a French cooking show and Piper stopped there for a few minutes because she thought she recognized the chef. She also paused at a man talking about clothes. But after that, all the channels were a blur until Reyna commented. "Hey, go back."
"What? Why?"
"You were going too fast," she accused. "Some channel was showing us, they were probably gossiping about us." Reyna paused to reconsider this. "As always."
"Okay, okay." Piper turned back to the channel Reyna was talking about.
Onscreen there were a few pictures of them in their last concert and some before that. Piper looked a bit nostalgically at their first concert. She still had her chopped hair with an eagle feather. Apollo forced her to stop cutting her hair that way and made her see a stylist.
A pretty woman, who was wearing way too much makeup and a way too little clothing came up. "The Demigoddess, an international teenage pop band, might really be quitting. Reyna Arellano, the band's pretty Puerto Rican, said so in their last interview."
Piper threw Reyna a confused look and Reyna shrugged her shoulders. Footage came on from one of the interviews Piper and their band did two months ago. Piper and the others were sitting on a couch in a hotel. Apollo always discouraged them from interviewing in their actual homes—because of stalkers—and instead took them to hotels or restaurants. This time, a guy came to interview them for a big show on TV. She remembered the guy's name: Random Alvarez. Yes, his name was Random. Piper hadn't liked that interview, and it was all over her face that day.
"We were thinking of taking a break, there's still a lot left to do, you know," Reyna was saying in the interview.
"I remember saying something before it and after it," Reyna stated.
"That's media. They'll twist anything you say into what they want you to say."
The pretty woman came on again. Piper remembered her from one of her mother's photo shoots when she was seven years old. She didn't like that woman then and definitely didn't now. "One of our very reliable sources—in fact, one of my closest friends—has some really interesting information."
Suddenly Aphrodite—Aphrodite! Her mom—came on screen. She was giggling as usual, wearing a red floral one-shouldered dress that reached to her knees. She looked beautiful, something she was always aware of. Piper felt her blood boil. What else had her 'mother' told the media about her, or them?
"Yes, I hope my daughter comes to join Hollywood. While I enjoy The Demigoddess's singing, they are very pretty girls and they will fit right with us. Piper is definitely playing a part in my next movie."
"Really, Pipes, you never told us?" Piper jumped as she heard Thalia's voice, as she hadn't known the third girl was standing behind them. Thalia was either being sarcastic or she was angry; Piper couldn't catch which. "You're going to do a movie with your mom?"
"I'm not going anywhere Mom is," Piper said shortly.
"You don't think you should talk with her?" Reyna asked. Maybe Piper should talk to her mother about the fact that she just assigned a movie that she didn't want to do? It was her mother, and things were supposed to be friendly for them, but they weren't.
"No way, I'm not talking to her."
Aphrodite should be the one talking with her. After the last time, Piper was sure Aphrodite should be apologizing to her. Not the other way around. Not that any of them had said anything about apologizing.
"Okay, then." Thalia shrugged. "But Aphrodite's sure to make up some more stories about us."
"You might want to stop your plans about our next album." Reyna stood up.
Piper had never told anyone that she and Hazel were writing songs for their next album, even though they were supposed to be on a break. She wanted to ask, How do you know about that? But she knew all of the girls had their ways of reading each other.
Piper also stood up. "No need to be so over dramatic." She knew Reyna wasn't being over dramatic but she couldn't handle the pressure. Especially not when Thalia and Reyna were giving her that look. The look that meant they were right. "But..." Piper grumbled to herself for a moment. "…I get your point. I'll do it. Actually, scratch that, I'm going to eat her alive."
"That's the spirit!" Thalia cheered, and she and Reyna took Piper to Annabeth. Annabeth's room was filled with books and scattered with some blueprints. Piper looked at one of them, but she didn't understand anything, and she was sure Annabeth would kill her if she knew. Fortunately, she didn't. Annabeth still had her head in the laptop; it took them five minutes to gain Annabeth's attention and go to Hazel.
Hazel's room had more of a nineteenth-century touch. Piper was surprised at how much Apollo had reflected each of their personalities when he helped the interior designer with the designs. Once the girls reached Hazel, they told her and Annabeth about the fake rumors, Piper muttering half the way through before shutting up.
"You think it was being aired for the first time?" Annabeth asked, a thin line of worry pasted over her face.
Piper couldn't think whether or not if it was aired for the first time. She didn't notice things like that. But Reyna did. "Yeah, the first time, I believe." Piper decided to trust Reyna's instinct. When was she ever wrong? Except that one time…Piper tried not to remember the time Reyna screwed up.
Annabeth took out her cell phone and looked at all the news surrounding The Demigoddess. The most recent news was all about them quitting music and joining movies. Piper was biting her nails anxiously, something that bothered her stylist very much. Her stylist had three packets of fake nails for her stashed somewhere.
"Piper, your nervous vibes are going to rub off on us all," Reyna said, and Piper grinned apologetically back.
"Θεέ μου, είναιη διάδοση φημώνσχετικά μεμας," Annabeth said fiercely in Greek, much to the others' confusion. Annabeth had learned Greek when she was a kid, but she refused to tell anyone details, for some reason. She looked at them guiltily before switching back to English. "Sorry. Anyway, back to the point, the most common rumors are that we were each offered one movie deal. And we were also told to act in a movie based on our life. Now the fans want a movie about our lives."
"All in one hour?" Hazel asked. Piper wanted to give a small grin. Even after spending seven years in the modern world, Hazel still got confused by the speed of technology. Living in an eighteenth-century town had to be hard. Hazel never shared much with her; Hazel was closer to Annabeth. She focused on the conversation.
"All in one hour," Annabeth confirmed.
"Hey, listen to this," Thalia read out loud. "Reyna Arellano and Annabeth Chase each already accepted two movie deals."
"Wow, we didn't say a single thing about this." Piper swung her feet back and forth.
"We never do," Hazel replied.
They were about to skim through the Internet for more news, but before they could, a guy with blonde hair and light blue eyes about twenty-two years old entered the room with a woman about twenty-one with warm brown eyes and hair the same shade. Piper instantly recognized the man as Apollo because of his full personality. He was the bubblier one between the two and always had a full blown smile on his face, his blue eyes twinkling and his car keys wrapped around his right hand. It wasn't that difficult to recognize the woman, mainly because she had an eyeliner pencil behind her ear.
"Rosie," Piper sputtered out.
"Hey, Piper." The woman with the brown eyes threw her a grin. "I see that you've bitten your nails again." The only thing Piper could do was nod. She felt beside her that Reyna, Thalia, Annabeth, and Hazel were just as confused.
"Will anyone acknowledge me?" Apollo asked, infuriated.
Thalia smirked. Piper only had the time to think, Here comes the snarky commentary. "Maybe you aren't as hot as you think you are. It's getting difficult for you to get attention in a room filled with girls."
Rosie held up both of her hands at Apollo and Thalia, who both looked like they were warming up for an argument. "Okay, we all know you could tear each other apart, but can't it wait?" She ended her sentence in a plea.
"Why did you come anyway?" Annabeth asked, not meaning to be rude.
Apollo gave them a pout. "You're not happy that I came?"
"I hate sunny faces," Reyna grumbled. Piper realized that Reyna always had a snarky attitude while Apollo was here. If Piper had to guess, Reyna just liked messing around with their producer.
But before they could talk about further things (Piper had it settled that she was going to ask about them leaving music industry), two big men with bulging muscles came in with a big black shiny box. They left the box and gave a curt nod of respect to Rosie; Piper realized they worked under Rosie and not Apollo. Rosie nodded back and the two men walked out.
"You bought us gifts?" Piper asked mock-excitedly. "How cute!"
"That's what we came to discuss. You guys know that you are famous?"
"Last time I checked, yeah," Reyna replied.
Apollo ignored her. "Anyway, people will know you as soon as you enter the school. They're going to be all over you. You wouldn't want that, would you? You wouldn't. So, I have some aliases and disguises for you."
"And a bunch of new clothes," Rosie added.
"That's what the box is for." Hazel's eyes went over to the box.
"Yes, now we're going to give you guys a makeover." Rosie clapped excitedly as if that were the best thing you could do. Piper looked at the box dejectedly, not sharing the same enthusiasm. She did not like getting made over.
The other girls didn't look excited either. Apollo and Rosie nodded to each other, well aware that the lack of enthusiasm meant nothing. The girls had to let Apollo and Rosie give them a makeover.
Rosie went inside Hazel's closet and came back in a second. Piper was sure they didn't even have time to think. "Come on, Reyna, chop, chop." Rosie grabbed Reyna's hand and tried to drag her out but she shook Rosie off roughly.
"I think you should send a bodyguard in there after her," Thalia said. "She'll most likely break her hand or something."
"No, she won't. She doesn't have anger management issues." Apollo looked pointedly at Thalia as he plopped down onto Hazel's bed, as if he were a family member and not a guest.
Piper had had a strong dislike for Apollo before she met him. She and her father used to talk about teenage millionaires, especially Apollo, and her father told her that Apollo was arrogant and cocky. That was before she got to know him and realize that Apollo was actually a really nice guy.
Rosie came in with a gleeful smile on her face. Behind her, a scowl was set on Reyna's pretty face. Piper assumed that Rosie succeeded in dressing Reyna up. "Meet Regina Ramirez," Rosie presented Reyna. Apollo faked a drum roll beside them.
Piper looked at Reyna. She looked herself, yet not so herself. Rosie had forced her out of her braid and purple clothes and forced her into a red button-down shirt with a pair of jeans. Her hair was curled and tumbling down her shoulders, in a gentle way. Piper was surprised at how different a girl could look with just a few adjustments.
"Twirl for me, darling," Rosie instructed. Reyna—still grumbling —did a twirl for her. "And I'm going to fetch her some clothes that aren't purple. Maybe…. Hmm… I think she'll look great in indigo."
Reyna was about to protest, but Rosie shoved her on the bed where Apollo was lying. He smirked at Reyna.
"I don't think Annabeth will need that much change," Rosie muttered to herself before taking Annabeth away. No more than five minutes later, Rosie came out with Annabeth. Piper noticed Annabeth's stormy gray eyes were replaced with brown lenses, and her hair had a streak of blue in it.
"Hey, I'm Anna Ray, nice to meet all of you," Annabeth said sarcastically as she sat beside Piper.
Piper's hand immediately went to the blue hair. "Is your blue streak permanent?"
"No, it's not," Rosie replied, taking out a bunch of clothes from her box and handing them out to Reyna and Annabeth.
"Apparently, I'm supposed to change my streaks twice a month." Annabeth examined the other box that was filled with fake hair.
Hazel was taken in next. While Rosie dolled her up, Piper brought up the topic of The Demigoddess quitting. "So, I heard that we're joining the movie industry?"
"You are?" Apollo asked with his eyebrows raised up in astonishment. "You could've told me."
"Aphrodite said so." Piper's disgust for her mother was evident in her voice.
"Then I guess it isn't true?" Apollo asked, confusion written clearly over his face. Whatever Apollo did know about them, Piper was sure as hell Apollo didn't know about Aphrodite and Piper's catfight.
"The rumor has been circulating for about an hour starting from a stupid gossip TV show." Thalia gave him a short version of the incident.
"Look, Aphrodite is a pretty nice lady. I'm sure that she wouldn't mind if you choose to pursue a career in music," Apollo consoled Piper.
Piper gave him a you don't understand anything look, one that Annabeth often sent Apollo and them. "You don't know my mother. She taught me everything I know about how to model and act. She hoped I'd pick a career to be an actress." Piper paused so the meaning of her words sank in. "Then you came along and took me to be a singer."
"So, you're trying to say…"
"She's trying to say that if Aphrodite gets her way, you'll have one less band member by the end of the week." Rosie's reply turned all their heads around. "But anyway, meet Hailey Shalimar."
Hazel's hair was straightened out ,and her eyes were coal black instead of golden brown. "I made sure her yellow hair clips were thrown out," Rosie informed them.
"What?" Hazel asked, whipping her head to face Rosie.
"Someone had to do it. Plus, I got rid of Reyna's purple clothes." Rosie shrugged. Rosie was probably going to buy them new clothes. Though The Demigoddess did have a person who decided their outfits for them, maybe because the girls were in high school.
"So you're saying Piper's leaving?" Apollo asked, getting back to Piper. Piper hated the fact that they were placing her leaving with certainty, like, with a 'when' instead of 'if'. She wasn't going to leave The Demigoddess.
"I am not leaving. I'm gonna be an adult in seven months; let's hold on to that, okay?" Piper was sure her voice was ferocious. Apollo shrank.
"Jeez, Pipes, okay. No need to be so violent about it." Annabeth put a hand on her shoulder. Piper—slowly—relaxed.
"If we have that settled…Thalia, come on," Rosie instructed Thalia, who grumbled something and stood up.
"Don't murder your stylist. That would be scandalous." Apollo flopped and sat up. He mock-saluted Rosie: "You will be remembered for your courage and bravery. We, America, salute you."
Most of them gave some sort of smiles, but Piper didn't bother grinning or even laughing.
She had no idea how much time had passed before Rosie came—in one piece—presenting Tabitha Grace.
Thalia had the most complete makeover so far. She was forced into a blonde wig. Rosie gave her a sweet look, forcing Thalia into a pink shorts and white tee. Her usual black eyeliner was not there, which made her electric blue eyes stand out more.
"She's Jason's identical twin!" Apollo grinned as if it were the world's happiest thought.
Thalia rolled her eyes. "So why'd you change my clothes?" she asked.
"Make you more…different," Apollo whispered almost to himself. His voice raised an octave, as if he was afraid when he spoke the last sentence. Piper got that. Who wouldn't be afraid of Thalia? "Jason's sister isn't supposed to be a punk."
"Right." Thalia showed him her middle finger as she crashed on the couch. "I hate you."
"I'm well aware of the fact." Apollo nodded at Thalia with a small smile, like remembering old happy times.
"Pipey," Rosie sing-sang. "Come on." Piper went to Rosie to their temporary dressing room. Rosie had managed to turn Hazel's walk-in closet into a dressing room. It didn't take that much work, at least Piper didn't think so, because the only thing that looked different was that it was messier.
Piper turned around to see a picture of them from their latest concert taped on the wall. And there was also one picture of only her. Normally, she wouldn't have been surprised at seeing pictures taped on walls, but this one had… more of a personal touch to it. It took Piper three minutes to guess that Rosie had taped this one up. There were pictures of Reyna, Annabeth, Thalia, and Hazel too.
"Her eyes," Rosie muttered and took out a box and opened it. Piper watched in amazement as Rosie rummaged around some more before finding something to hand to her. Piper opened it and saw a pair of mud-brown eye lenses. She looked at Rosie.
"Go on, wear it," she instructed.
Piper's inexperienced hands took a minute to put in the lenses. She never really wore contacts; Rosie always said her natural kaleidoscope eyes were pretty. Rosie was tapping her legs all the while.
"Hmm…nice," Rosie handed her a pair of studded glasses. "Wear them."
Piper didn't question her stylist's choice but wore the glasses. Piper looked in the mirror and saw that her eyes made it look like she was some wannabe Piper McLean, not the real one.
"Okay, your hair," Rosie took out the eagle feather in her hair and let it fall. "Umm…no, no, no. You need to braid your hair. Or perhaps wear a wig."
"No wig!" Piper protested.
"Okay, braiding it is." Piper was about to try to braid her own hair, but then Rosie started doing it. She looked at her reflection and watched Rosie's hands braid her hair. Piper was convinced she would never get any better at braiding; she tried, but the whole using-two-hands thing was tiring. She knew she should be practicing, mainly so she wouldn't anger Reyna, but it was hard to find the motivation.
Rosie let her hair fall in one French braid. She grinned at the result. "You look ravishing, darling. Now onto clothes…."
Piper looked at herself while Rosie searched for clothes. Her hair, which she preferred to leave loose, was braided. Her eyes were brown. The studded glasses gave her a complete different look. She didn't look like Piper McLean anymore.
Rosie handed Piper a white tee with a navy blue blazer and a pair of skin colored jeans. "Wear these."
Piper quickly changed out of her clothes and into new ones. Then she looked at herself. She looked like Piper McLean, but only if you were looking closely.
"Paige Starlet," Rosie read dully before looking at her. "I think I made you a good Paige Starlet. Come on, let's show you off."
She took Piper outside. No one noticed her. All of them were looking at Apollo like he was the sun coming out on a cold, cloudy day.
"Paige Starlet, everyone!" Rosie coughed and the four looked at her. Apollo was talking with someone on the phone but gave them a very excited thumbs-up.
Apollo cut his phone off and the girls looked at him. "What?" Piper asked. Apollo jumped up and down like an excited nine-year old in a candy shop.
"I got you five into an interview with the radio. This Sunday, nine a.m." He gave Piper a smile. "You can turn the rumor mill around before your fake rumors actually turn into reality, and you have to walk around acting instead of singing." Piper knew it was possible because one of her mother's friends actually fell from the singing industry like that.
"Nine a.m.?" Hazel asked. "I do remember how much school stressed me out."
"Yes, nine a.m. You guys developed a nasty habit of not waking up early and working till late," Apollo said firmly.
"Except when we're on tour," Thalia pointed out.
It lifted Piper's spirit to see her friends helping her stand against her mother. Piper knew she couldn't do it alone. The girls had become like her family. She knew she couldn't live without them.
Later, for dinner, Piper forced Apollo to order Chinese food. Apollo never liked Chinese food; once, at least so he said, he found a live slug in his food.
Thalia walked into the kitchen, Piper and the others following her. Piper watched as Thalia opened the bin and stared at it for a moment before she scrunched her nose and made a face. "We should've never let you near the kitchen," Thalia joked.
"It's not like you would cook for us," Piper grumbled.
"At least none of us got hurt." Annabeth smirked and got a hit on the arm from Piper.
Piper realized how much she hated Sundays when she had to go to sleep. She usually loved Sundays because that meant the next day was their holiday. Or an occasional holiday.
Her mind slowly drifted to Jason. She usually didn't like people based on their looks, but she had to admit Jason looked incredibly good. And on top of that, Piper thought that he was a nice guy, completely unlike his sister. Piper thought he behaved rigid and disciplined, definitely not Piper's type; but maybe types, like rules, were made to be broken.
