I'm back guys! My mom made us all go on a screen break for FOREVER but now I'm back! This chapter is't as long as I want it to be, but I do have school now so it's either long chapters you wait a week and a half for or short chapters that take a day or two. I hope you guys are all being safe and healthy (physically and mentally) during this school year and have a nice day.

Jason

He was holding Piper, arms wrapped around her, knees at her sides, head on her shoulder. He didn't know is she was asleep, but her breathing was low and steady. Inhale through the nose, out in a little puff through the mouth.

Gods, she's gorgeous.

Jason didn't quite know how he got so lucky or why she would give him the time of day. But here she was, in his arms. On the roof of the school with him. In love with him.

It took a while for him to even consider getting up and going back inside. But she looked so peaceful and he didn't want to ruin that. So he just held her and watched and thought about everything that was happening.

His thoughts didn't sort themselves out well. Because there was something on his mind that had been bothering him for a while. And he had planned on telling Piper but now he didn't really want to.

Two days ago

"Chiron? You wanted to see us?" Jason asked as he and Annabeth stepped into Chiron's office.

"Annabeth, Jason, come in," Chiron said, motioning them to the two seats in front of his desk. They sat down and Annabeth asked why he had called them down to the office.

Chiron folded his hands. "No pressure, but I want to know what you guys plan for the future."

"Architect," Annabeth said without hesitation.

Chiron smiled. "I expected that. What about you, Jason?"

Jason faltered. He had never known what he wanted to do his entire life like Annabeth did. Thalia had written to tell him that she was taking a class on women's studies and political science and Luke was studying engineering. But he had never been too career oriented. All he really liked to do was fence and hang out with friends. He was good at school, but just because he tried to keep up with Annabeth.

"I guess I don't know what I'll do," Jason said.

"Well, both of your grades are so good that I can imagine you could both go far with whatever career you choose," Chiron said. "But despite my best efforts, there is still a stereotype of kids who go to school's for, as people say, "troubled" kids."

Jason immediately thought of Reyna whose deepest dream was to be a cop. But with her record, it was going to be so, so, difficult. And Bob, one of the janitors, who wanted to be a teacher but because of his record just became a janitor at the school he had gone to in his youth.

"Now as you know, I used to work for the company Olympia Tech. I still have many friends there including one Mrs. Hera," Chiron said. "I've told her quite a bit about you two and she's offering both of you this: There's a Boarding School in California called The Elysium Gifted School. It's got excellent programs for children and a very high college acceptance rate."

Jason inhaled slowly as he thought about everything Thalia had told him about being accepted into college.

"She's asking each of you if you would like to apply there. She's an alumnae herself so her recommendation means a lot to the school and if you were to accept, she'd pay for plane, tuition, boarding, and other things. It's a full ride to a very prestigious school and I'd ask both of you to not take it lightly."

He handed them both the pamphlets for it and they both studied them. Annabeth whispered, "There's an architecture program."

"This sounds like an amazing opportunity," Jason said.

"It is. I would be sad to see you go of course, but I encourage both of you to pursue this," Chiron said. "Annabeth, our school doesn't have an architecture program and no matter how many books you check out of the library, they will never replace this class. And Jason, you would have more classes to take and it would be a great way to discover what you want to do with your life."

They were both silent as they went through the pamphlets. It was a really great school. And he knew Annabeth was thinking seriously about college and even though Jason wasn't, he knew he'd have to soon.

But could he leave the school?

Back to the roof

Piper opened her eyes and Jason said, "Do you want to go back inside? We're kind of idiots because it's so chilly out here."

"Are we though?" She asked, smiling a little.

They both crawled through the window and held hands as they walked down the hall. Once they reached the common room Piper asked, "Are you coming?" she asked when he stopped outside the door.

"I have fencing practice with Mr. Quinn," Jason said. "I'll see you later, alright?"

"See you later," Piper said. She kissed him and they split up, Piper heading to her dorm and Jason to the gym.

When he reached the gym, he saw Hazel and Percy sparring. The clash of the foils brought him back to the present. Instead of thinking of The Elysium Gifted School or Piper or schoolwork, he thought of nothing but fencing. Annabeth walked outside of the girls locker room and waved to Jason. The expression on both of their faces were determination.

It was time to fence.