Piper
I needed to see Jason. I need to make up with him...I need to tell him about the dreams, soon.
Jason
-FLASHBACK-
I had just come to the Wilderness school. The teachers lead me quickly down the dormitory hallway to my room. "You'll be sharing with," he checked the clipboard next to the door, "Leo Valdez" and frowned. "Don't be like him." He said to be, muttering under his breath he said, "we need another prankster," which I heard. I frowned, how bad could he be? The teacher knocked on the door, "Leo, your roommate's here." The door opened and to looked like a bomb went off, it was a complete mess and there were odd colored stains on the floor most of which I cannot identify today, but Leo could. Don't mind the mess, come in. I walked in and was blasted with the smell of a cooking stink bomb. I guess he could be that bad. But whatever, better get use to it. The teacher left my stuff outside when I walked in, I reached to grab it but Leo was already there carrying my stuff inside for me and piling it on the less-messy bed. "Thanks." I said. "No problem, what's your name?" He asked me, setting down my stuff and walking to close the door. I went to crack a window, "Jason. And you're Leo Valdez, right?" I asked him. He nodded, his back to me.
I opened the window, and Leo turned around. "Oh no! Don't do that!" He screamed and launched himself at the window which was now only an inch form the sill. I looked at him quizzically and closed the window. He sighed with relief, or was he not relived? "Why can't I open the window?" I asked him. "Because, if you open the windows on this side of the dorms, everything will fly in and the girls will yell at us." He explained. I glanced at the window and saw the outline of another dormitory. I shrugged, "why would the girls be mad?" I asked him. "Because they'd smell what I've got cooking in here." He stated, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
I heard a door open, and out came a girl. This girl looked Native American and was shimmering, maybe that was just a trick of light. She was beautiful, in every way. I clenched my jaw, to make sure I didn't leave it agape. She was wearing a simple pair of skinny jeans and a t-shirt. "Hey Leo, thanks for the shirt." She said, not noticing me yet. "I'm Piper." She held out her hand. I took it, "Jason." "We'll, now that two of you have met, Piper go away, I need some time with my new roomy." Leo said, at that time, a little jealousy in his tone? "Fine" Piper said, already at the door and went out, closing the door behind her.
"Lets make a handshake, something no one but us will know. Not even Piper, okay?" Leo asked, a little nervous, I nodded and he smiled. "What is it going to be?" I asked. Leo said, "we've got a few hours until the next meal..." I took notice he didn't say dinner, "lets test what works best." We had spent the next few hours coming up with it. We decided to do a sort of bomb explosion thing combined with a turn, twist, and odd hand gestures. We both got it down, doing 100 plus moves in 20 seconds. Feeling accomplished and tired, "that was fun," we both said. Over the hand shake, we got closer, like we were best friends our whole lives. Funny how we could bound over something so trivial. I smiled and was happy I went to the Wilderness school.
-END FLASHBACK-
Piper
I saw Leo walk out f the swords arena, smiling. "Hey Leo, why're you so happy?" I asked him. "Jason and I are cool again." He stated and walked away before I could ask where Jason was. I assumed the arena because that's where Leo was walking out of. I turned back to look at Leo's retreating figure, and saw the smoke curling off of his head. I made a snort-smile and walked into the arena, totally unaware that Jason was in front of me. I bumped into him, muttering a "sorry" with my eyes closed. When I finally opened my eyes, head upwards, I saw Jason was in front of me frozen. I frowned a little at his stiffness, "geez Grace, what's got you wound up so tight?" I asked, using an old nickname from the past "memories" . "It's nothing Piper." He said. "Tell me, remember when we use to tell each other everything?" I asked him. "No, I actually don't remember." Jason said, cold. "Just tell me." I nearly shouted. He grabbed me by the arm and we sat together on a bench, watching the other campers' duels.
"You gonna tell me now?" I asked, curiosity getting the better of me. He put his head in his hands, lie he had a headache. "Are you okay? Are you sick?" I asked him, concerned about my friend. "I'm not sick, I think I'm fine Pipes." He said, lifting his head from his hands. "I've just been thinking, that's all." Jason said, that did not sound good at all. Did not sound good at all. "About?" I asked him, wanting to hear more. "About us, the camps, myself, everyone. Everything." He explained. I looked at him, confused. I knew when he emphasized everyone, he meant himself, Leo, and I, and maybe some other important figures in his life. "Jason, I don't understand." I said, Jason wasn't good at reading my expression or emotions or anyone else's for that fact. "I mean that, we're," he gestured to the two of us, "are done. But I keep thinking..." He looked down, embarrassed, "about you all the time." I promised I had a taken aback face at that moment filled with a whirlwind of emotions: hope that we might get back together, sadness that there could have been something between me and Leo, excitement that he was thinking about me, cold in the way he said it as if it was a bad thing, and the usual surprise and shock at him saying that.
"Jason..." I trailed off, "I don't know what to say." I told him. "You don't need to, I need to talk anyways. You probably know so little about me, even though we've been dating for a while now. A little ironic, huh?" He said, gazing off into the arena. "Jason-" he interrupted me, "Piper, I've been thinking a lot about everything. I need to say it all, now. So will you please listen?" I nodded at him and he continued. "I decided I'm going to postpone the move back to Camp Jupiter..." He looked at me, "until I can get everything in my head..." He paused, "straightened." He glanced back at me, checking to see if I was still there. "Should I go on?" He asked, completely concerned that he was boring me to death or something. I nodded enthusiastically.
Jason
How am I suppose to tell Piper about everything in my life? "I'll start from the beginning...I guess. When I was little, I had an older sister named Thalia. You know her now, blue highlights, short black hair, same eyes, lieutenant of the hunters of Artemis, powerful demigod, etc." Piper nodded. "She and I use to be inseperatable. We played games, ate, and stuck to each other like sglue. It was always fun with her, never boring and always an adventure. Then one day we went on a picnic in the woods with our mother. Our mother wasn't the best nor the worst. She was..." I frowned, "an achoholic but I think she cared for us, or me actually. She hated Thalia, I could tell that ever since I was an infant. But Thalia loved me too, and that was just fine." I smiled at Piper. We were still sitting on the bench in the swords arena, it was going to be lunch soon I guessed.
"Thalia and I played together...she was my best friend. Until that day in the woods." I looked down at my hands, catching Piper's concerned glance at me. "My mother took me away from Thalia some point during the day. We were separated when it happened. Lupa came for me, and my mother did nothing. And Thalia found us, and saw our mother giving me to the wolves. She was crying, and so was I as we left." The conch shell rang and I got up, reaching down for Piper's hand to guide her to the pavilion. We walked, and I continued my story. "So, I was taken by Lupa, and I don't know what happened to Thalia since that day until about last year when I saw her again here. When I was with Lupa, I learned to fights and how to survive. And then my memories are blank after I left Lupa. There's like a very long gap in my memory, where I was I don't know. What I was doing, I have no idea. The next I remember clearly was seeing you and Leo on the bus. And you know the rest. But the "gap" has been lessening everyday since the end fo the prophecy of seven. I just don't know what to make of them." I looked over at Piper, we reached the pavilion, about to split ways, "Piper..." She interrupted me, "Jason don't." And for the first time since we've been talking, I looked at her, I really looked at her. I could see her cheeks glistening from tears, and there were trails of them. "I don't..." She said. "Piper you don't need to say anything, all talk to you later." And I left her there, standing at the entrance of the pavilion, to go grab food and take a seat with my sister sat our table.
