Hey guys! I thought it would be easier to reply your reviews at the top of the chapter :) So here we go . . .
Reply to Reviews:
Broken hearted girl Horn: Thanks for reviewing! Oko? Are your foster parents Asian? (Not that it's a bad thing, 'cause I'm Asian as well). Anyways, I sent you an email. Did you get it?
redlox2: hahaha yeah :) I try to make this as updated as possible ;) And yes, I guess that wouldn't mean much, seeing how the demigods don't really relate. Except if they have the same mom/dad. And thanks for reviewing!
roach26: Yes and yes ;)
XxForeseeingHadesFuturexX: Try writing one shots. You just need to come up with an idea, and finish it in one chapter. Doesn't take much effort :P I've never written a one-shot before, because every time I try, it ends up being a multi-chap anyways, hahaha. And you seriously liked the ending? I thought it wasn't very good :/
LovesToReadOnline: I updated! The biology presentation is long gone! Hahaha It was sooo hard, but finally, I'm able to write again! And I know! It would've been so cute! Oh, and SPOILER ALERT: It's going to be longer than 3 weeks ;)
Me: LOVE LOVE LOVE the questions! Read the chapter below to see if I used them ;)
Hungergames3: Thanks! The presentation went well :) I had problem speaking a bit, trying to turn English words into German in my head, which is hard, considering the whole Biology thing. But in the end, the teacher said he might give me an A-! It makes me sooo happy :D
ForeverTheCritic: That's good! That was better than Apollo anyways. I mean, who in Olympus, would always end their haikus by saying they're awesome in one way or another?
HappyAce88: *nods* that would be dramatic, but I have other plans :P SPOILER ALERT: More drama coming later on ;)
Chapter 7: Spilled Milk
First word that appeared in her mind: run.
But no, she couldn't do that. Her brother and sister were doing something extremely nice for her—something that shehad wished it would happen. Keyword: wished. Definition: To have wished for something in the past.
Her head got dizzy from the information, not able to keep herself together. What was happening? Why was he here? He actually had the nerve to show up at camp, knowing that she would feel heartbroken when she found out the news? How would Austin feel?
That jerk! Her sister, her very own sister, decided to cheat on her boyfriend with her boyfriend? Well, he wasn't technically her boyfriend—yet.
She could feel each question, buzzing in her head, playing bumper cars and started pounding on the hollow area of her skull. The pain inside her brain was killing her. Too many questions, no answers.
She forced a smile, her eyes wide in 'shock'. She didn't know how she did it, but she managed to cause herself to blush. Her cheeks reddened, her dark skin turning red. She bit her lip, trying to look like she was nervous, but in reality, she wanted to scream and cry.
"Piper, don't you know what this means?" Lacy's excited voice exclaimed, her eyes twinkling with happiness.
Piper forced herself to blush darker. She could feel tears, ready to fall on her red cheeks, as she bit her bottom lip even harder. Now that Lacy mentions the possibility, the pain inside her was too hard to bear.
"Aw, come on Pipes. I know you're extremely happy! Show us your tears of joy!" Mitchell encouraged, trying to make his sister cry with joy, even though that seemed a little out of character.
Piper couldn't take it anymore. She got up from the burning hot sand, and quickly slipped on her combat boots. Her kaleidoscope eyes met her sister's warm blue one, and her sister widened her eyes in realization. Those weren't happy tears—those were heartbreak-tears.
The counselor turned to her heel, and ran, not saying a single word. She could feel the tears streaming down, as she choked down sobs of despair. Her eyes shut tight, as she ran further and further away from her brother and sister, letting her feet pump faster and faster into the woods.
She pushed her back onto the pile of rocks, plopping her butt on the freezing ground. She was back in Winter Wonderland.
Her feet dug deeper into the snow, and more tears fell out of her eyes. She had her head buried in her knees, trying to hide her hurtful face.
Suddenly, she heard a cough. "Hey, are you OK?"
That voice . . . She recognized the voice. She lifted her head, and electric blue met flashing eyes. She stared deeper and deeper into those blue eyes searching for answers to her previous questions.
Jason watched his friend sit their, her face stained with tears. Her arms clutched tighter around her knees, as her feet dug deeper into the freezing snow.
"Pipes, you alright?" He watched as her eyes seem to look inside of him, searching for something. What was she doing?
"Why?" her voice croaked, splitting in half. "Just, why, Jason?"
Jason wracked his brain for an answer. What had Drew said? "To see you," he remembered, copying the daughter of Aphrodite's words.
Piper just stared at him in disbelief. Even Jason, the Jason she knew, was a cheater. He was like every other boy out there. She thought he was different. But now, she found out she was wrong.
She got up, almost falling to her feet. She grabbed onto the nearest rock, her hands shaky from the cold touch. Her eyes shifted to the ground, as cold air escaped her mouth. Slowly, she raised her head, to meet him in the eye. "And I thought you were different," she said, shaking her head. She turned, and jogged away, running towards Bunker 9.
Jason scratched his head, not getting a thing. What had he done wrong? He knew he shouldn't have picked Drew's stupid pick-up lines! If he had done things his way, he was sure Piper wouldn't have ran away.
He didn't know how right he was.
He sighed, trudging his way back to the cabin area. In exactly one hour, they were going to go LIVE on Olympus, with him as a guest star. He hoped the questions wouldn't be anything embarrassing. Otherwise, he's doomed.
"I'm positive, Drew! I saw heartbroken tears in her eyes!" Lacy wailed, her eyes pleading for her older sister to believe her.
Drew just crossed her arms, rolling her beautiful brown eyes. "I bet they were just tears of joy, Lacy. I was very careful not to let anyone hear our conversation. And besides, if she plans on running off to tell Austin, he wouldn't care. He knew it was nothing. I already told him about the conversation."
"But—"
"Lacy, seriously. I saw the tears too, and it pretty much looked like tears of joy. So just forget about it, OK?" Mitchell insisted.
Lacy sighed, and waved her hand, signaling them to drop the conversation. Drew smiled, and waved her hand to send her younger siblings back to their stations.
Suddenly, a blond boy burst inside the room, a confused expression plastered on his face. His purple T-shirt was wrinkled and messy, and his black snowboarding jacket was piled with snow.
Drew shook her head in disapproval. She snapped her fingers, and pointed to Stephanie. "You there!" Her sister cocked her head, to face bossy Drew. The Asian pointed a finger towards Jason, and her voice was stern and commanding. "Get him fixed!"
Stephanie squealed, happy to be able to experiment her beauty (er, handsome-y?) skills for boys. Jason didn't even bother to think twice before Stephanie sat him down onto a make-up table.
Drew smiled, watching as everything got into place. She checked her watch, and frowned. Where was Piper? She couldn't miss this, could she?
Whatever, she decided. Hopefully, she's in the cabin, watching this on Hephaestus TV.
Piper threw herself onto her bed, her head falling onto the soft pillow. She turned, and staring at the white ceiling above her. Pictures of times Jason and her had shared flashed in her mind, playing like mini clip pictures.
She didn't know why, but her eyes drifted to the television in Cabin 10. She suddenly had this urge to grab the remote and switch to Hephaestus TV, and watch her cabin's show.
But she didn't want to see Jason talk, does she?
Before she could stop herself, she pressed the ON button, and the TV flickered to life. The image blinked across the screen, as the last commercial came to an end. Suddenly, the show's theme song came on, and the words flew onto the screen, slowly zooming in on her sisters.
"Hello, I'm Marina White and this is my partner, Kylie Gray, and welcome to this week's episode of The Talk of Today!" Marina exclaimed, her smile sweet as ever. She twirled a strand of bleach blond hair around her finger, before opening her mouth to continue talking.
"Now, this week's guest star is very special and rare," she said, slowly spoiling the surprise.
Piper could imagine Thalia, Percy, Annabeth, Leo, Hazel and Frank laugh when they see this episode. She chuckled slightly thinking how Jason even had the guts to come to a show, founded by the Aphrodite cabin.
Thunder boomed in the sky. Sorry, Piper silently apologized. I didn't mean it like that Mom.
"Yes! In fact he, or she, is a rare species!" Kylie joked, and Piper could just imagine Jason frown.
Marina shook her head. "Now, don't talk about our guest that way, Kylie. It's not nice," Marina scolded, and Kylie pretended to pout. The blond girl's lips twitched into a sly smirk, before adding, "Even though we know it's true."
"Hey!" a boy's voice was heard, and Piper laughed. Jason has to be a whole more careful next time.
She frowned. What was she doing? She shook her head, and focused back onto the show.
"Dude, you just spoiled yourself! That's right people, this week, we have the one and only (please do laugh), Jason Grace!"
She could imagine people laughing, wondering what the Hades the Son of Jupiter was doing there.
She swore it was only her imagination. Turns out, it was real.
She turned her head, and met the eyes of her other best friend, the one and only, Leo Valdez. The fifteen-year-old was carrying to big boxes, a hammer in one hand. He gently placed the boxes down, and threw himself on Piper's bed, causing her to drop on the floor.
"Watch it Valdez!" Piper scolded, rubbing her head.
Leo only smirked, and pointed to the screen. Piper's eyes drifted back to the TV, and watched as Jason's face turned red in embarrassment. She guessed he didn't think straight about coming here.
"Hey, mind if I watch with you? I was only going to drop these boxes in the first place, but this is definitely something worthwhile," Leo grinned, as his mischievous glints sparkled in his dark eyes.
Piper couldn't help but laugh. She gave the Son of Hephaestus a nod, and sat down on her bed next to where he was lying, eyes fixed on the electronic box in front of him.
"So Jason," Kylie said, cocking her head to look at him better. "What was the reason you came to Camp Half-Blood in the first place? Was it really to be on this show?"
Jason smiled nervously, scratching the back of his head. "This'll be good," Leo said, his mind forming all the different embarrassing answers in his head.
Piper threw a pillow at him, which he easily dodged.
"Well, the reason I actually signed up for this show was so that I could actually have a chance to show up at Camp Half-Blood. The real reason I came to the Greek camp is to meet my buds Leo and Piper. It's been a while since I've seen them," Jason replied.
Yeah, Piper snorted mentally, it's been forever since I've seen him. More like a few minutes ago.
Leo, who was completely obvlious to Piper's expression, shook his head at his best friend's answer. Seriously, how stupid could that Roman be? Everyone, and he meant everyone, knew the real reason he came to Camp Half-Blood. If he was willing to risk something as embarrassing as this, then he must me nuts about her.
Marina smiled. "Well, since Leo and Piper—" the latter frowned at the way her name was said "—are your best buds, what were you planning on doing with them?"
"Well, basically, all us Romans do is train, so that's definitely on our To-Do List," he replied. Piper could see Lupa speaking in his mind, reminding him to train, train, and train.
"No chizz, Sherlock," Leo grumbled. Piper laughed. Whenever they were hanging out with Jason, they would always end up training, one way or another.
"But other than that, I guess Leo's business could use some help," Jason considered, forming plans in his head.
"No chizz, Sherlock!" Three guesses who said that.
"And there's always that plan to run away from you guys," the Roman smirked, and the two best buds laughed as they watched Kylie and Marina's face morphed to frowns.
"No—"
"Leo, if you say, 'No chizz, Sherlock!' one more time, I swear on Styx that'll I'll rip your head off, and offer it as a sacrifice to Hades," Piper warned, glaring at her friend.
Leo shook her head. "But beauty queen," he protested, "my dad would get very, very angry with you. And besides, I don't think Hades would like my head. Oh, and for the record, my voice does not sound like a squealing rat."
Piper rolled her eyes, and drifted them back to her sister's figures on the screen.
"So, first up: Leo. How did you two become friends, really?" Marina asked, as if the topic really interested her. As if, Piper silently laughed.
"I guess it kinda clicked."
"Clicked?" Kylie's smile turned into a smirk.
"Wha—No! Don't get the wrong ideas, people! What I meant was that I guess it just happened. He's weird and all that, but hey, we've survived life-or-death situations, and became best friends on the way," Jason explained, as his face slowly morphed from anxiety, to just plain worried.
Kylie laughed. "OK, OK. So, here's an option: Spend an entire day with either Leo, or Piper?" Both demigods mentioned straightened up.
Jason put on his thinking cap, rubbing his chin as he tried to come up with a good answer. "It doesn't matter," he said, shrugging. "I mean, if I chose Leo, then Piper would just suddenly pop out of nowhere and join us. And if I chose Piper, then Leo would suddenly come crashing with some sort of prank going on, and join us. Either way, it's a win-win."
"That's true," Piper agreed, nodding with her friend on the show.
"No—" Leo stopped, as Piper glared at him.
"That's nice," Marina said impatiently, not accepting the answer. "But if you had to choose one, who would it be?"
Jason blushed, and muttered a word to soft for anyone to hear. Piper squinted her eyes. What did he say?
"Mind if you say it louder, darling? My delicate ears cannot hear those lovely words you speak," Kylie said, mocking an expression of an over-the-top Aphrodite girl.
"Pepsi," he mumbled, but Piper was sure he didn't say that.
"But honey!" Marina joined, copying her sister's actions. "That wasn't an option!"
Jason sighed, and ran his fingers through his hair. Piper watched in awe as he did that, and Leo caught her smile. "Piper," he sighed, as if it was really, really, hard for him to say that.
Piper's cheeks turned pink, because of the answer and the way he said her name. It was almost longing, as if he wanted her to be there right then.
"Oh, now I'mheartbroken," Leo said dramatically.
Piper let out a chuckle, but she wasn't really concentrating. Jason, her Jason, chose her over Leo. Usually, a guy would just go on ahead and choose another guy, since they probably figured they are way easier to get along than with girls. With all that squealing? Well, Aphrodite girls squealed, anyways.
But not her.
At that last thought, her mind reminded herself that she was angry at Jason, angry that he had the nerve to use her to cheat on her sister, even if Drew was cheating on Austin at the same time. No, she wasn't going to let that one little comment flatter her. It's going to take a lot more.
"Why Piper?" Kylie jumped, liking where this topic was going.
"Uh . . . she's . . . nice, I guess," Jason stuttered.
Nice. A very special compliment. Thanks, Jas, Piper silently thought, rolling her eyes.
Marina stared at him, obviously wanting more words to pop out of that mouth of his. Jason sighed, knowing he couldn't get this daughter of Aphrodite to drop the question. He should've known anyways.
"She's definitely not like all of you," he began, causing the two hosts to frown. "But she's different, which is a good start. For example, you guys are always squealing, and you're trying to look good by wearing designer clothes and fancy make-up. But with Piper, she doesn't even try. I think she looks beautiful without trying."
The two hosts cooed on the screen, while the Son of Jupiter's eyes widened as he realized what he had said. His cheeks grew crimson red, as he tried to avoid the camera's gaze.
Piper got to admit. Her heart did a little skip when he said she was beautiful. And she didn't even try. No, she told herself, clenching her hands into fists. He's a jerk. He's like every other boy out there.
Leo watched as his friend's face turned all fluttery. He smiled, knowing that Piper liked the compliment. But the next expression got his mind spinning around. On her face, a frown had replaced that expression, as anger welled up inside her eyes. He watched in confusion as she clenched her fist, tighter and tighter as more anger boiled up inside of her. Her fist turned white, before she finally relaxed.
He'll figure that later on. Right now, he wanted to watch his friend embarrass himself.
"If you could change one thing about Piper, what would it be?" Marina asked, edging closer to her sister, who was sitting closer to Jason.
"Nothing really. It's best if she stayed the way she is," he replied. Leo chuckled, knowing that his friend was trying to say that in the safest way possible.
Kylie nodded, agreeing with him. "Yeah, I don't want Piper to change either. She's great just the way she is." Marina nodded, agreeing with the two of them.
Piper smiled. It felt good to know that she was loved.
"OK, now we know about this other girl Reyna," Marina spat, as if the word was some sort of ancient disease. Couldn't agree more, Piper growled silently in her head.
"So, we're going to play a game of Truth. What's the whole dealy-o?" she continued.
Jason's face turned into a frown. "Truth, eh? Well, I guess I used to have a crush on her, but now she's gone all . . . weird. She's almost possessive of me, and sometimes, I can't help but feel a little . . . uncomfortable."
Kylie nodded. "I would feel the same. So, what are the good things you like about Reyna?"
Jason's face softened. "Well, I guess she's a great friend, and really easy to talk to. She's a really good training partner too, since she's practically obsessed with it. I guess she's kinda pretty," Jason decided, shrugging slightly.
A pang of jealousy went inside Piper. So Jason thought she was pretty. Piper shook her head. That's already three girls.
"Well, Jason, our time is running up. So why don't we close this with an easy question shall we?" Kylie asked innocently.
"Sure," the said boy shrugged.
"OK, now we want you to blurt the answer as soon as we ask the question, OK?" Kylie continued, and Jason nodded.
"Good. Now here's the question: Who's the girl for you? Piper or Reyna?"
Piper gasped when she heard Jason blurt the answer. She swore that she thought she was right. But his words took her breath away, because she knew it was sincere. So what had happened at Bunker 9?
"Piper," Jason blurted, and his cheeks turned red. Kylie smiled, and the two hosts did a closing for the show.
Leo stood up, and told Piper that he had to go. The Daughter of Aphrodite just stared at the screen, trying to figure out the puzzle. She smiled a little, finally knowing that she had a chance.
Phew! That was a lot! 3,176 words! Most I've written in a long time (last I wrote around 3,300 words was in June :) ) Anyways, please update! Jasper drama coming in the next chapter! It's gonna get pretty intense! :P
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