No POV (Jason is 6, Piper is 5- almost 6)
"My name is Jason, what's your name?"
Brilliant blue met Kaleidoscope as the new girl, Piper, raised her tear-stained face to see a crooked grin plastered on the face of the 6 year-old boy in front of her.
"…I'm Piper." The Cherokee girl answered warily. She had already been here before; first came the warm introduction with a kind smile to boot, then came the backstabbing pain of embarrassment. Piper had nary been at the school a full day but she had already been dubbed a bed-wetter by her self-proclaimed 'new BFF' Reyna. Gee what a pal.
"So Piper, do you wanna play tag?" The blonde-haired boy continued; he knew the girl probably didn't feel like playing, but he had to try something.
"No." With that quick answer, the choppy-haired girl tucked her legs to her chest and buried her face into her lap.
Jason wasn't giving up though; he could only imagine how she felt. Reyna was mean to everyone, but he and everyone else were used to it, but Piper was not. Taking a seat next to the upset girl, Jason patted her on the back.
"Look, you're sorta making me feel bad, can you please stop crying?"
For the second time within 3 minutes, kaleidoscope orbs glanced at the persistent boy. "Making you feel bad?" The girl asked, perplexed by his statement.
"Yeah; It's kinda my fault that you got stuck with Reyna. I was supposed to show you around, but I asked Reyna if we could switch jobs because I wanted to dust the erasers later today." Jason said sheepishly.
Piper stared in shock at the confession before looking towards the ground, not really sure what to do with the new information.
Clearing his throat at the awkward silence, Jason stood up abruptly and extended is hand to Piper;
"Come on let's go!"
Hearing the pleading and slight impatience in his voice, Piper took his hand allowing him to lead her to the blacktop.
No POV (Annabeth is 15, Piper is 13)
"Be still my beating heart." Piper flopped onto Annabeth's bed face first with a sigh.
"Is there any particular reason you're quoting William Mountfort's Zelmane?" gray eyes glanced up at the younger girl from behind a laptop screen.
"Take a guess." The Cherokee girl rolled towards her blonde friend and gave her a loom that said 'you already know'.
"Jason? I thought you said you were over him!" Giving full attention to the choppy-haired thirteen year old, Annabeth saved the document she was typing and placed her laptop to the side.
"That's because I thought I was!" Piper widened her eyes as if it were news to her too.
"Then what happened?" Annabeth asked, pulling her hair out of its messy bun and allowing it to flow in beautiful princess curls down her back.
"He kissed me!" Piper's face broke out in a grin as she drank in Annabeth's shocked expression, a look she rarely got to see.
"Like a real kiss?! Like a mouth to mouth real kiss?!" The fifteen year old sputtered in surprise. Annabeth had always assumed she would be the first of the two to get their first kiss; after all Annabeth had a boyfriend, Luke Castellan a high school senior.
"Yep, I think he's gonna ask me to be his girlfriend!" Piper squealed into a pillow.
"Woah, woah, woah! Hold up! He kissed you and didn't ask you to be his girlfriend?!"
"I'm sure he'll get around to it. He was so shy that he basically ran away after doing it. He's so cute when he gets all flustered!" Hugging the pillow to herself, Piper turned the tables; "So how are you and Luke?"
"Um… I guess things are going okay; though Percy still won't talk to me." Annabeth let out a huff of frustration and ruffled her blonde locks.
"Well I don't really blame him. I know you don't believe it; but I still say that he's in love with you."
"Yeah, I don't believe it because there's no way that's true. I and Seaweed Brain have been friends forever, he's had plenty of time to have a crush on me; it's not fair for him to suddenly decide to like me; it's confusing and selfish!" Annabeth's gray eyes became watery and her voice sounded scratchy.
"Did Percy say something to you?" Worry could clearly be heard in the younger girl's voice.
Annabeth swallowed hard, trying to keep her voice under control, "Percy doesn't like Luke and you know he took it hard when I told him that I was dating Luke. But finally yesterday he came over after school; we talked and it was great! We were going back to the way we always have been, best friends." With a shaky breath she continued, "Right before he left he turned around and said 'Wise Girl I like you' so I said 'I like you too Seaweed Brain'; since I thought he was joking. Then he said 'No Annabeth, I mean I like-like you, I think I might even l-l-lo-lov-…" Annabeth stoped.
"Love you?! Called it! So what did you say?"
"I told him to get out. I didn't even let him finish. The minute he stepped out the door; I slammed it in his face."
"Rough." Piper said, projecting her sympathy for both Percy and Annabeth. "So what are you going to do?"
"I'm not sure but, I think I'm going to have to ask Luke if we can take a break from our relationship." Annabeth's stormy eyes glazed over slightly in thought.
"A break? I don't think you and Luke could survive a break. You've only been together for a month, and half of that month was nothing more than your parents and Percy keeping you away from him. You guys haven't even kissed!"
"I know! I know! I don't think it's that great of idea either; but it's all I can think of right now! It wouldn't be right for me to completely disregard Percy's feelings! Even if I'm mad at him, he's still my best friend; I don't want to hurt him."
"Annabeth, I know that you really like Luke; but I also know that you're really smart and you know what it's like to be sure of yourself, to a point where you'll fight for anything you believe in. You're not sure about your relationship with Luke; if you were you wouldn't let Percy or anyone else stop you from being with him." Taking a deep breath, Piper knew what she had to say next.
"Yeah but…" Annabeth started only to be cut off
"Annabeth, you like Percy more than a friend." The brunette girl deadpanned.
"What! No you got it all wrong! ..." stray strands of blonde hair seemed to stand up on end as Annabeth desperately tried to defend herself.
"Nope! Don't want to hear it! Just think about it Annabeth." Sliding off the slik sheeted bed, Piper collected her book-bag from the floor and started heading out of Annabeth's bedroom.
"I'll see you tomorrow. Right now I gotta go home." With that Piper left her older friend in a deep state of thought.
No POV (Jason is 15, and Piper Just turned 15 - May 22)
"Piper…"
"Jason. Thank you so much; this was the best birthday ever." The brunette grit her teeth and her mouth turned up in a fake smile.
"Piper can we please just talk about it?" The blonde boy asked, sounding exasperated.
"There's nothing to talk about Jason. I had a fun time, don't worry." Piper's looked pleadingly at him to shut up as tears glossed over her Kaleidoscope eyes. Tilting her head up, Piper tried to force her tears back.
"Well I'll take you home then." Jason reached out his hand to her, this was a hand the now 15 year old girl had taken many times before; when she felt scared, when she felt sad, when she felt especially happy, when she felt excited, when she just wanted to feel his presence. At the moment though, she wasn't feeling, she was numb.
"No that's okay." She said, keeping her hands behind her back, "Percy will pick me up, we're going over to Annabeth's together."
"Oh." Jason looked dumbfounded as he lowered his hand awkwardly to his side. "Happy birthday Piper." He said, with that he turned on his heel and walked away towards his moped. (I know it's not everywhere but where I am you can ride mopeds, dirt bikes, and small motorcycles as early as 14)
Piper watched him ride away until she couldn't see him. Sending a quick text to Percy, she started to cry.
How could he do this to her? And on her birthday of all days!
What hurt even more was that despite him breaking up with her and telling her just now that he was moving away in less than a week; was the fact that she couldn't feel hate for him, and couldn't get angry. All she could do was cry, he made her weak, and he made her hate herself for being weak.
Piper POV
Memories like these hit me full force as I sat in Jason's parlor; looking at all the photos he had from the past. A picture of me and Annabeth, of Percy and Jason, and of Jason and Luke; one picture in particular caught my eye it was a photo of Jason and a tall woman with raven hair, a thin smile. It was the woman from Percy and Annabeth's wedding.
"Who is this?" I asked turning around with the cool frame pressed against my palms; turning it over for Jason to see.
"That's Reyna; the woman I'm going to marry." He replied with a bright grin.
"Reyna? Like Reyna Ramírez-Arellano?"
Watching Jason nod his head up and down in confirmation was probably the slowest moment of my life.
Not only was Jason getting married, but he was marrying my grade school tormentor. Oh great, just tacking on one more week in therapy.
As we talk a bit more, I learn that he and Reyna got together when they bumped into each other during a senior trip to Rome. I also learn that I need a nap to let it all sink in.
"I want to settle in to my hotel room before coming back here for the party. Is that okay?" It wasn't really up to him, but I wanted to try and be courteous.
"Sure no problem; see you later then?" he asked
'I don't like your fiancé, but I'll think about it.' but I only said that in my head so nobody heard it but me.
"Yep!" I replied cheerily.
As I got settled in my rental car, I heard a knock at my window.
"So we meet again Repair Boy, what a pleasant surprise." I smiled as I rolled my window down.
"Well, I've decided to give you the honor of basking in my presence; I'm going to join you. Maybe give you a tour of California." He said giving me a smirk.
"It's not like I've never been to Cali before Leo, but I guess if you feel the need to serve me how could I deny you the pleasure?" we giggled at our antics, "Hop in."
Okay Guys it's been forever-years since I've updated and I'm sorry; there is no excuse other than life. But I'm determined to finish this story as well as my others. No matter how long it takes, although I hope I will be able to update this summer. Thanks for the support! R&R!
