A/N: Yeah, I hate author notes, too. But I have to add a little something, sorry. Thanks so much to everybody for reviewing, I definitely didn't expect this much feedback with only a thousand words in the first chapter! I'd love to hear constructive criticism or ideas for following chapters. Also, I know in my summary I said that Piper would 'be from Frank's past', but I decided that was a little weird with Leo being from Hazel's past already, so I decided to just make Frank fall in love with Piper. Enjoy!

This time, it was Leo who had found him. "Hey, er, you," a soft voice had said. "Frank?"

Frank looked up with an annoyed expression, but took a double take as he realized he was looking at the messy brown hair, oval face, and impish smile of Leo Valdez. The one he was supposed to hate.

If it was under any other circumstance, Frank knew, he would've instantly liked Leo. He had a sort of mischievous expression and funny way of talking that promised adventure and fun. But this wasn't any other circumstance. He was Sammy Valdez. The one who would take away Hazel, his best friend.

But not anymore. He knew he had seriously screwed up. "Fight with Hazel, and then tell her you love her?" a taunting voice in his head mocked. "Oh, real smooth, big guy. She'll sure want to be with you, now."

"Shut up!" he snapped, and then abruptly looked up. Leo had a surprised expression on his face. "Oh, gods, sorry," he rushed, "I was talking to—" he grinned, despite the grim mood he was in, "well, I was talking to myself."

Leo raised an eyebrow, but accepted his answer without a comment. "Okay, well, I was coming by to say…Well, I just wanted to bring a message for Hazel."

"What, she hates me?" Frank stared at the ground angrily.

"No," Leo assured quickly—a bit too quickly?—and corrected, "Frank, she's crying right now. She thinks you were right and is really sorry."

Frank looked up. "She's crying?" His throat seemed to be tied in a knot. Oh gods, Frank would never forgive himself if she was crying.

Leo began walking. "Here, I'll bring you to her."

Frank jogged to catch up. "She's really crying?" he mumbled again. "Gods, please tell me she's not."

Leo looked at him with a pitying expression. "You hurt her bad, dude. She feels really bad."

They came across her in the Hades cabin. Nico wasn't there, so she was all alone. She was sobbing into her pillow, her eyes and nose red. She looked up at them, squinting to recognize them. "Leo? And…Frank? Frank, oh my gods, I am so, so sorry." She sniffled. "I—" As she tried to say more, she was suddenly picked up and encased inside Frank's arms as he gave her a hug.

"Hazel," he murmured, "I thought you hated me."

She pushed him away, her eyes big with amazement. "I thought the same, Frank," she replied. "I thought I had lost you." Her voice cracked. "It's so good to have you back, Frank."
"You too," he whispered. And then he abruptly broke their embrace, untangling her arms from around him. "Let's go to dinner; I hear the conch horn."

Frank walked with Hazel, and Leo stood awkwardly off to the side. "So, I better go with my, like, new cabin mates and stuff. See you later, Hazel…Frank."

Hazel looked at him, her eyes distracted. "Yeah, see you later," she echoed. Frank simply nodded. He wasn't sure if he was quite ready to forgive the boy who had almost stolen what was rightly his.

As they walked, Hazel entwined her hand with his. It was a simple, innocent gesture, but Frank loved the feel of her soft, warm skin between her hands, and wished it could be like this, all the time.

But when they reached the dining pavilion, she took her hand back, and her cheeks turned red, as if she had just realized what she had done. "I'm going to go sit at my table now," she said, glancing at her empty, sad table, "I guess I'll see you later?"

Frank smiled. "I'd like that."

Frank wasn't in much of a mood for campfire, so instead, he stole away, taking a walk in the forest. He jogged for awhile, just staring up at the sky and trying to avoid bumping into any of the trees with his flailing arms. When his legs started to ache, he sat down on a rock.

And that was when he saw her.

Her name was Piper. Her choppy brown hair flew into the air when she turned around, as if in slow motion. Her eyes—oh, how he loved her eyes on first sight—flickered, changing from color to color, from brown to blue and then to a green like Percy's. They even glowed grey for a moment before returning to a hazel color.

She was beautiful, absolutely breathtaking, more gorgeous than Venus herself. He thought he had loved Hazel, but Piper—he had never felt this way about Hazel before.

He suddenly started imagining about their future only seconds after he had seen her, after he had seen her name stitched boldly in the center of her sweater. He imagined them going out, their first kiss, their marriage, buying a home, kids—everything you were supposed to think about years after you met that person.

But for some reason, she captured his interest in a way he couldn't explain. Piper was beautiful, so, so beautiful, and suddenly he couldn't imagine life without her.

He couldn't imagine life without this exquisite, lovely creature.

He got up, stumbling over his clumsy feet, running up to her. "I—I'm Frank." He held out his hand.

She stared at him a bit strangely, and then delicately shook his head. "Hi, Frank," she gave him a dazzling smile, "I'm Piper."

"I know," he gestured to her sweater. "I'm a son of Mars."

"Aphrodite," she returned. So that was why she was so attractive. But she was more than attractive. She was goddess beautiful, she was astonishing, mind-blowing, and she would be his. He would make sure of it.

"So why are you out right now? There's a campfire," he asked, trying to maintain an easy conversation and masking his excitement at the same time.

"I could ask you the same question," she grinned lopsidedly, which Frank instantly took to. "But, to be truthful…I'm a little homesick," she admitted.

"Homesick?" Frank questioned. "When did you get here? I've never seen you before."

"Oh, I'm from Camp Half-Blood," she explained. "I…well, I like it a lot better over there." She grimaced slightly. "Everyone's…nicer."

"Oh, I see," he nodded slightly, acknowledging her answer. "Oh, everyone—well, mostly everyone—is really nice, too. It's just that you're a graecus, and…well, we aren't too fond of them," he admitted.

"Graecus?" she inquired, tilting her head slightly.

"Sorry, graecus is Latin for 'Greek', or 'outsider'. We aren't too welcoming to those not of our kind." He grinned apologetically.

"I see," she stared off to the distance, as if absorbing the information. "I assume Jason and Leo are fitting in fine, and Annabeth is reuniting with Percy?" Her voice had a tinge of bitterness.

"Well, yes," he confessed, "but don't worry about it. Children of Venus—I mean, Aphrodite, seem to get along really well. I can introduce you to some of them, if you like?"

She brightened instantly. "I would love that," she agreed warmly.

"Okay," he grinned. In an impulse, he grabbed her hand and led her back to the cabins.

In his excitement, he had forgotten all about Hazel.