Chapter 4: When being moody

When he woke up the next day Jason was surprised to find his father at home. Zeus Grace was a well-known lawyer and was very busy. There were weeks in which he would be home for only two days or maybe three if they were lucky. Where was he spending the rest of the time was a mystery.

''Good morning son.'' He greeted Jason with a small smile over his paper.

''Good morning dad.'' Jason eyed him strangely while passing the kitchen table.

''You should go wake up your sister or she'll be late for school.'' Zeus said and sipped his coffee.

Jason headed upstairs without arguing. He knocked on his sister's door but no one answered. Her thoughts were jumbled and incoherent which meant that she was still sleeping so he decided to enter the room.

He almost laughed when he saw Thalia sprawled on the bed, her quilt tangled in her legs in a way that would surely cause her to fall down. Her head was partially buried under the pillow and her left hand was dangling from the edge of the bed. She was still sleeping soundlessly.

''Thals, wake up. You're going to miss school.'' Jason raised his voice, shaking her through the quilt.

''Go away.'' came the muffled response from under the pillow.

''Dad's at home.'' Jason announced straightening up and observing her reaction.

For a second, nothing happened. But then the pillow rose and Thalia's blue eyes looked unbelievingly at Jason.

''You're joking!'' she blabbered out.

''Come and check yourself.'' He dared her and she jumped out of bed, surprisingly managing to not fall face first on the carpet.

''It's only Tuesday and he's waking up here already. Must be a new record.'' Thalia said more to herself. ''Can I get dressed please?''

''Oh, sorry.'' Jason said and hurried out of the door and back to the kitchen.

''She's coming in a bit.'' He informed his father who only nodded in approval and turned the page of the paper.

Jason went to the fridge. He was sitting on the table with a bowl of cereal and a glass of apple juice when his sister entered.

''Good morning.'' She said with a slight smile playing on her lips.

Both Jason and Zeus greeted her too and after a minute she joined them on the table.

''So how is school kids?'' their father asked putting his newspaper away.

Thalia and Jason eyed each other secretly before answering.

''Good, as always. There's a parent-teacher meeting next week.'' Thalia said while playing with the cereal in her bowl.

''Good to know. And you Jason, how are things going? How are you feeling in the new school?'' Zeus turned to his son then, his bright blue eyes identical to his children's.

Jason wanted to say that the school wasn't so new since he had been there for at least four months now but decided to be polite: his father was just concerned.

''It's going fine. Nothing special, it's school after all.'' He replied shrugging, not raising his eyes.

Zeus nodded and glanced at his watch.

''Well, you kids better go or you'll be late.''

They finished eating quickly and exited the house not before saying goodbye to their father.

''Well, that was strange.'' Thalia concluded while walking to the garage.

''You can say that again.'' Jason mumbled, while searching for his ear buds in his backpack. ''Shit, I'm sure I put them here yesterday.''

''Did you lost something?'' Thalia said to him while opening the door to her car.

Jason huffed and threw the backpack on his car's front.

''My I-pod. I'm sure I put it here yesterday and now it's gone.''

''Maybe you left it in your room. Come on, we have to get to school or we're going to be late.'' She ushered him.

''I'll just go check…''

''Jason, come on. It won't kill you, it's just for a day.''

Jason wanted to protest but knew it would raise too much suspicion and he didn't want to fight with his sister. He got in the car and drove to school in a terrible mood.

His head was pounding from the million voices that were swimming in it. He was already extremely annoyed while heading to his third period and was thinking of skipping everything and going back home.

While walking to his usual table at the back of the classroom, he noticed Piper, sitting almost in the middle of the room alone, with scrunched eyebrows over a book. He was tempted to go to her and start a conversation but decided against it. He was too out of his mind to act normal. Just when he sat in the chair the teacher entered and the class started.

Jason was doodling on the back of his notebook when the teacher clapped his hands and gained his attention.

''Now class, you have to show me how much of the said you understood. You have to work with your partner and make a sample from tomato. Remember, you mustn't cut the cover of the tomato, you must peel it so the cells will be unharmed.'' Mr. Green explained while everyone started shuffling with the slides and the tomatoes that were on their desks.

Jason noticed a hand raised in the air and looked up to see that it was Piper's. The teacher went to her and after a few seconds Jason groaned.

''Mr. Grace, would you come over here and sit with Miss Mclean? You both are sitting alone today.'' The teacher turned to him.

Jason didn't answer; he simply gathered his thing and went to sit with Piper.

''Are you okay?'' she asked him after Mr. Green had returned to his desk.

''Yeah, sure, why not?'' he responded quickly trying hard to concentrate on something and ignore the jumble in his head.

''You're not listening to music today.'' She remarked while watching him with concerned eyes.

''I forgot my I-pod, okay?'' he snapped making her grew silent.

She looked at the bright red tomato in her hands.

''I'm sorry…'' they both started at the same time and then stopped.

''You go first.'' He said and she took a breath, not meeting his eyes.

''I'm sorry for bothering you so much, I just wanted to help 'cause I want to repay you for yesterday.'' She shrugged and started turning the tomato in her hands, trying to decide where to peel the cover.

Jason sighed. Even though he couldn't hear her thoughts he somehow knew that she was just trying to help. And he had acted like a complete idiot, snapping at her.

''I'm sorry for snapping at you, you were just trying to help.'' He said sincerely, trying to see her face.

''Are you in pain or something?'' Piper looked at him again with analyzing multicolored eyes.

Jason scrunched his eyebrows a little, thinking of how much exactly he should let her know. 'Don't get paranoid.' A voice in his mind scolded him. Great, another one.

''I have a headache, nothing big.'' He shrugged it off. ''So, do you know what exactly are we supposed to do?''

She eyed him suspiciously but answered.

''Yeah, we have to make a water sample of tomato cells. Here, peel it if you want and I'm going to prepare the slides.'' She offered, giving him the fruit.

He then noticed that her hand was covering most of the tomato: she was gripping it in her palm. There was no way avoiding skin contact. The memory of yesterday's calmness engulfed him again and suddenly he became very eager to touch her so he extended his hand too and grabbed the fruit.

He exhaled rather loudly but didn't care. The voices had faded completely and the headache was slowly vanishing. He could live in this moment forever. There was something wrong though.

He scrunched his eyebrows in confusion, trying to find what wasn't right when it downed on him. She hadn't let go. Her hand had left the tomato in his and was placed firmly against the back of his.

His eyes were wide when he turned to look at hers. On her face were written realization and some kind of determination. And calmness. Calmness, that was affecting him so much in that moment.

Jason then realized that she knew what she was doing. She knew exactly the effect she had on him. He suddenly pulled his hand away.

She blinked a couple of times and blushed furiously, turning to the slides on the desk. Both of them didn't talk after that.

The bell finally rang, announcing lunch break. Jason hurried to gather his stuff and exit the room. He got trapped by some other students and took the chance to glance quickly at Piper. She smacked her face with one hand and after sighing started gathering her stuff. That action really confused him but he had no time to think about it: the door was free again, and he went out.

''Hey Jase, what's up?'' Leo said as he plopped on the seat next to him at their usual table for lunch.

''Nothing, why?'' Jason answered while playing with his water bottle.

''Hm, because you are very moody today and you aren't going to eat anything.'' Leo retorted eyeing his friend carefully. ''Seriously, what's wrong with you?''

''Nothing, I just forgot my damn I-pod at home and the day turned out awful that's all.'' He exasperatedly answered.

''Maybe your mood will rise up soon.'' The Latino boy smiled and looked behind Jason. His sister is coming…good, he needs a distraction.

As on queue Thalia's voice reached the boys.

''Hey little bro, you promised to sit with us today remember?'' she smiled cheekily at him while he groaned.

Leo laughed at his face. ''Good luck Jason.'' He waved at his friend, returning to his lunch.

''Oh, you are coming too Valdez.'' Thalia said and grabbed both boys by the shirts.

A minute later she dropped them in two empty seats around the table.

Surprisingly, Jason almost immediately struck a conversation with Percy while Thalia was talking with his girlfriend Annabeth. Leo was in a heated argument with Calypso and for once wasn't joking his way out of it. Strange.

''Piper, are you okay?'' Thalia suddenly turned to the brown-haired girl at the end of the table.

''Yeah, I'm fine, just a bit…absent-minded I guess.'' She said casually while looking at her uneaten lunch with strained face.

Jason felt a pang of guilt, which was stupid since he had nothing to do with her situation. Right? God, he would never understand girls. Especially not when his head was hurting so badly that it was hard concentrating on one thing.

''Piper, can I talk with you in private for a minute?'' Jason then asked surprising everyone around, even himself.

She looked at him with guarded expression and nodded slowly.

''Lead the way.'' She simply answered and they both stood up.

He wanted to grab her hand again but as soon as he made a step closer to her she buried her hands deep in her pockets and looked forward. He sighed and continued, leading them out and to the back of the school where they couldn't be seen.

''I'm sorry for acting like that in Biology.'' He stated as soon as they had reached the place he wanted.

''I understand. It was my fault, I shouldn't have…you know, never mind.'' She said and started walking away but he stopped her, grabbing her by the wrist.

''No, you don't understand. But I don't expect you to. And I don't blame you for trying to help. I just overreacted.'' He insisted.

He was able to think clearly now when his head wasn't throbbing.

''I can understand perfectly, trust me.'' She said mysteriously raising their hands for him to see and then yanking hers away from him. ''I just tried to help. Twice. You showed me very clearly that you don't want my help. So I just stepped back. What do you want now?''

It was her time to be angry which caught Jason completely off guard.

''I…I just wanted to apologize because I know I wasn't right to threat you like this.'' His answer came more like a question because of his confusion.

''Okay, apology accepted. What now?'' she questioned, daring him to say anything else.

Jason stared at her with amazed expression. What had happened with her? She was nice and concerned an hour ago, careless at lunch and now angry. What was her problem?

''My problem? You want to know what my problem is? You think you know everything in this world but you don't. You'll be surprised how much you still have to learn. And if you don't want my help then fine, you can do it on your own if you want. See if I care.'' She said to him, her eyes flaring with anger and determination.

Piper then turned around and stomped directly in the school building leaving Jason more confused than ever.

He headed towards the school too in a trance-like condition, trying to understand how exactly they had finished like this. He started playing the conversation back in his mind.

''My problem? You want to know what my problem is?'' she had said.

He stopped dead in his tracks. It couldn't be. She couldn't have…no, impossible. Or is it? Because there was no other explanation, but still…He had to find her and make her explain everything.

Because he was sure that he hadn't told anything after his apology. Well, nothing out loud at least.

Sorry for the really long wait on this chapter but I'm about to graduate in a month and I'm studying for biology and chemistry exams like crazy! Be patient with me please! LOVE YOU! Oh, and thanks so much for the AMAZING reviews! They keep me going!