Chapter 7
A/N: Surprise! Early review! Not what you expected from me, huh? Can't really blame you. But I hope this is review, follow and favorite worthy, unlike last time, where I got one review (thanks Catsa123 for the great review!). This chapter is a little different, you see, because it's in… Piper's perspective! YAY! Hopefully this satisfies the PerPiper haters out there, but if you hate Jiper, this is not for you!
Okay, sorry for the long note, but notes are important, sometimes, so read the end one (not NOW, when you're done!) and be warned, there's a LONG flashback involving Jiper! Now, enough chatter, let's get to the story! ;)
Piper's POV.
The campfire had ended an hour ago, and Percy was nowhere to be seen. Piper wasn't sure if it was the bad weather, or perhaps an accident, or maybe monsters… most likely monsters. Piper should have been worried out of her mind, and she was worried, but for some reason, it wasn't the only thing on her mind; all she could seem to think about in her cabin bed was the guy at the last night's party…
*flashback*
Piper had spent time dressing up for the party, more so than usual. She had tailored her pale pink dress so that it fit her perfectly, spent an hour getting her makeup so that she looked like America's next top model, and styled her hair in a Greek princess style bun. She didn't know why she had dressed up so well for the party; it would only be a few hours in the night, and her bun would surely fall out, but she just had this feeling… Piper couldn't quite describe this emotion, a mix between anticipation, nervousness and excitement with something else to it. But she did know that tonight would be special.
Percy said that he didn't want to go, which was understandable; he had never been the hugest partyer, and he had his swim team wanted to spend a night celebrating their successful season (I don't swim so I really don't know how this works), and Piper wasn't going to spend the night alone.
She prayed to her mother that this would be a great party after the last one's disaster. Piper shuddered, but she knew it wouldn't happen again, since Percy wouldn't be with her this time. Percy was already gone, so her friend Hadley had told her boyfriend to drive her to the party.
When she walked out the door, she was surprised that a pale blue porche was waiting outside of her door. Was she late? No, she was on time. But she was surprised that the guy had shown up to pick her up right when she needed him. Percy never was on time, she thought bitterly, always had something that made him late somehow. She shook those bad feelings off. The envious and self-conscious side of her always seemed to sneak in at the worst times.
Maybe he's a nerd, Piper thought, not that there's anything wrong with that, but he still wouldn't be my type. Well, Miss Piper, another voice in her head said, that certainly explains the fancy sports car!
As Piper approached, the mysterious driver opened his car door. And, to Piper's delight opened the passenger seat door. What a gentleman, she thought, but when she saw his face, those thoughts all fell into the background.
He only wore a crisp white t-shirt and jeans, but he still managed to look like a model with his sky-blue irises and soft-looking blond hair. He didn't look like a complete softie though, not even close, His eyes were warm yet determined, his muscles defined, but not so large as to make him seem bulky, in fact, the only imperfection she could see was a scar on his lower lip, which told her that he wasn't a god.
Piper snapped back to reality when she realized that he was staring at her as well. Piper took a deep breath and decided to play it cool.
"Piper, right?" He said when Piper was close enough to enter the car.
"Uh, yeah." She said, uncharacteristically quietly.
"You don't sound so sure." He said and Piper felt more flustered than she ever had before.
"Well, I surer about my name than I'm sure about what yours is." Piper said, hands on her hips.
The stranger laughed, it was a deep, baritone chuckle that Piper felt strangely attracted to, "How rude of me," He said. "I'm Jason. Jason Grace. Hadley told me a lot about you."
"Nothing bad, I hope." Piper hoped that she didn't sound as nervous as she felt.
"Not at all." He assured her. "Now hop in so we aren't late to the party."
"This is probably the earliest I've ever gone to a party." Piper admitted with a small smile.
"Really?" He frowned as he started the car. "What kind of person is driving you to your parties?"
"My boyfriend isn't the timeliest person." Piper said, chewing the inside of her mouth. "Most boyfriends aren't, to be honest."
"If I had been late to bring Hadley to all of her parties, she would've dumped me by now." Jason said. Piper wasn't sure if he was joking, though to come to think about it, Hadley was pretty uptight.
"I don't think it's right to dump someone because of a certain weakness. If there are no conflicts and arguments, what kind of relationship would you be in? The couple wouldn't understand each other." Piper explained.
"Well, sometimes, I do feel like Hadley is annoyed with my presence, she didn't let me drive her to the party today, and went with some of her friends and guy friends." Jason furrowed his brows, which Piper couldn't help but find cute. "But I feel horrible right now; they aren't the greatest drivers. And I know for a fact that Jace is a heavy drinker."
"She'll be alright," Piper promised, using her charmspeak to soothe him. "Hadley's practically indestructible."
Jason's shoulders, which had previously been tensed, lowered back to the normal level. "I hope so."
Was Percy ever this worried about her? She certainly hoped so. Jason was just so caring for Hadley, it made Piper feel jealous. Piper knew this was wrong. She had been attracted to Jason since the very beginning, and he had made her feel much more flustered than Percy ever had. What was happening?
Jason wasn't a demigod, so it made sense that he was worrying about these little things, right? If Jason wasn't a demigod, than they could never be together anyways, since she'd have to live hiding the truth from him. Piper tried to reason with herself as much as possible.
When they got to the party, Hadley wasn't there yet. Jason immediately got worried.
"Where is she?" Jason asked. I could tell that he was immensely worried when he say that she wasn't yet there as she had been driven by unsafe drivers.
"Relax," Piper said, "she probably is just a bit late."
Jason shook his head, "Hadley doesn't like to be late, and neither do I. Once I was 10 minutes late to bring her to her best friend's birthday party, and she got really mad at me. She didn't talk to me for days after that."
Piper didn't say anything. What if something bad did happen to Hadley? Why couldn't she have just gone with Jason? From what she could tell, Jason was a great driver, and an even better person. Boyfriends didn't get any more caring than that. Could it be because he was a bad kisser?
Piper cursed at herself. Why was she fantasizing over Jason? Percy was great. Hot, funny, and selfless. But then why was she beginning to wonder how Jason's lips would feel on hers?
"Piper, are you okay?" Jason asked.
Piper was grateful for having him here, even if he was the one causing her all of the problems. He was worried about her, just like he was worried about his late girlfriend.
"Yes, I'm fine." Piper said. "Want to get to know each other? Just so we can take our minds off Hadley for a moment."
"Yeah, sure." Jason said. "What do you do as a job, or are you still in college?"
"Well, I am a part time model, but I really want to be an actress." Piper said.
"So that's how Hadley met you then." Jason said. "Acting school. Duke?"
"Yeah, Duke. What about you?" Piper was anxious to leave the subject. She didn't want to be a model, but it made good money, for which she was saving up to buy a car. Her days of 'stealing' cars with charm speak were over.
"Aerodynamics." He said, slightly bashfully. So maybe he was a nerd, but Piper found herself not minding that at all, in fact, it only served to make her think that he was cuter.
"Cool, I wish I were that smart." Piper joked.
"You don't need smarts when you're that pretty." Jason said, and he sounded dead serious.
Piper blushed so hard she was sure it looked like her face looked like a tomato. "Thanks?"
"Not that you're dumb." Jason said quickly.
Piper was dumbstruck. He was by far the most considerate guy she had ever met. Percy teased her all the time, and never worried about offending her. Jason had complimented her, and worried that she'd take it the wrong way. He was just so… perfect.
In the past half an hour, people had entered the doors nonstop, and there were over 30. Jason's head was turned around, his eyes glued on the newly entered five; Hadley was one of them. And she was perfectly fine except that she was laughing and all over the guy with the light brown hair and piercings, who wasn't her boyfriend.
"Oh no." Piper whispered.
Jason's eyes were glued on Hadley, his expression the exact opposite of his. He stood up and walked in the direction of Hadley. Piper decided to give them time to themselves.
She didn't see Jason for the rest of the party. But as she danced to the music, she couldn't get her new 'friend' out of her mind. She knew that she would see him again after the party since he was supposed to take her back as well, though from what she'd seen, Jason wouldn't be in the best mood to take her back after what she'd seen. But she trusted him to do it anyways. She trusted him more than she trusted most people she knew, pretty much everyone except Percy, her dad, and a few close friends. But Percy was acting strangely the past few weeks, especially earlier that day…
Piper was more than rejoiced when she found Jason waiting for her at the door, so much that she almost missed the pained expression on his face.
"Are you okay?" Piper asked, though clearly he wasn't. "Did you dump her? She probably deserved it."
Jason shook his head. "No, she dumped me. I know it was her fault, but I just can't help but…"
Piper's blood boiled. Hadley had dumped Jason after what she had done? She was the most ungrateful little bitch Piper had ever had the misfortune of knowing. Her usually shy personality burned away, never had she been so angry on someone's behalf. He had treated her so well… and now she had just thrown him away like one of her used up beauty products.
"That's disgusting." Piper spat. Hadley had been a close friend to her before… before this. "I can't believe she did that to you!"
"Piper, it's okay. Things like that happen. Let's not dwell on her, okay?" Jason sounded weary.
Piper's anger level only diminished slightly. "After she hurt you like that, how can you just let it go? I say you go get revenge on her. Get even!"
"Piper…" Jason said hesitantly.
"What?" Piper was mad beyond reason. She felt wild, angry, out of control.
He took a coin out of his pocket, but his eyes were trained above her head. Piper froze as he flipped the coin and it turned into a golden sword. Then, he ran past her, as if charging something.
Piper's mind finally registered it. A monster. She took out her dagger, which was in her purse, and turned to the monster as fast as she could.
It was a long scaly creature with three heads. Its eyes glowed red and its horns were as sharp as Katropis. Worst of all, it was ten feet long, and breathed a strange looking smoke.
Jason started charging it with his sword. Piper knew from experience how hard it was to defeat dragons. She snuck up behind it, and began stabbing its back. A distraction, so that Jason, the one with the better weapon for this kind of thing and hopefully better swordsmanship could finish it off once and for all.
Her strategy worked; the dragon turned towards her, and blew the smoke in her face, which temporarily stopped her from breathing, but she was able to recover, and dodge the other blasts, jabbing her dagger at it as much as she could without getting hit by the bad breath.
Jason understood the plan. As she continued with the diversion, He cut off the three heads with one swift motion and then in the chest.
When the beast fell to the ground, Piper and Jason stared at each other for a long moment.
"You're… a demigod." Piper stuttered.
"So are you." Jason said.
"This is so awkward." Piper muttered after a while.
"Definitely." Jason agreed. "Want to go get some coffee?"
"That would be wonderful." Piper said, starting to smile for no apparent reason, even though they had just fought a dragon.
"Let's go." Jason said with a small smile.
Piper couldn't feel lightheaded as she followed him to his car.
It turned out she had Jason liked the same kind of music, though honestly, who didn't like pop music? Piper rolled her eyes. Percy didn't. He preferred heavy metal and Fall Out Boy especially.
Piper just couldn't wait for the warm coffee, in fact, it seemed like it should be a normal thing for after every monster you kill, go to Starbucks to just to reward yourself. That's what she would do anyways. Piper had always loved coffee. Maybe a drink for romance? It had happened with French, so it was definitely possible.
She practically jumped out of the car when they got there.
"Tall mocha." Piper said when she entered the building, feeling unusually giddy.
Jason entered later, "Tall Frappuccino." He ordered.
As they waited, Piper couldn't help but stare at Jason every once in a while. Even as downcast as he seemed, he was still handsome. Percy's handsome too, Piper's mind argued.
Jason went to go grab the drinks, so gentlemanly as always, and as they drank, Piper started a conversation. She didn't like him looking so sad; it made her feel sad too for no reason.
"Who's your godly parent?" Piper asked.
Jason looked uncomfortable, "Zeus."
Piper couldn't hide her surprise. "One of the big three? Then you could've been in the prophecy!"
Jason's discomfort only deepened. "Yeah, well you see. I don't remember anything prior to three years ago."
This only served to shock Piper even more. "You mean you had amnesia? How does that work? I'm sorry, I'm being awfully nosy. You probably don't want to talk so much after your breakup."
Jason sighed, "Yeah well, if Hadley was going to be the kind of person to cheat on me, I'm not really sure I still want to be with her. Cheaters always lose."
What he said slightly bothered Piper, although she wasn't really cheating. She and Jason were just talking as friends, or at least that's how he felt.
"Yeah, I suppose." Piper agreed absentmindedly.
"Who's your godly parent, then?" Jason asked.
"Aphrodite." Piper said shortly. She didn't like to always think of herself as the child of the love goddess. She was not all lovey-dovey or a makeup freak, although she did put effort into tonight's makeup.
The sides of Jason's mouth quirked upwards slightly, and Piper's heart fluttered for a second, "I could've guessed based on your looks."
Piper blushed. "That's not really how I like to define myself, though. Other people have built my self-image for me so far, and now I want to make my own path and decide my own future." Piper explained. This wasn't something she told people generally, even though it was 100% true. She just didn't want Jason to think that she was someone like Kim Kardashian; a celebrity for no reason, but still famous nonetheless.
"Your boyfriend is Percy Jackson, the war hero, right?" Jason wondered, frowning.
This wasn't really something she wanted to talk about with Jason, but she nodded, "Yeah. And my dad's Tristan McLean. The famous actor."
Jason smiled. "Well his movies are pretty great. King of Sparta."
Piper rolled her eyes.
"Oh please, that is the one movie I'd like to never hear about again." Piper said. She smiled, nonetheless.
Jason smiled in a kind yet teasing way, "Okay then, beauty queen, I won't talk about it."
"Beauty queen?" Piper lifted a brow. "Suit yourself, Sparky."
Jason blushed lightly and laughed, and Piper joined in.
Finally, Jason said, "It's getting late. I'll take you back now if you want."
Piper realized she hadn't drunk any of her coffee, but she found herself ignoring this. "Sure."
On the way back, they sang to their favorite pop songs, laughed at jokes (mostly Piper's dumb jokes), and had more fun than Piper could remember having with Percy. Did this mean something? She wondered.
The night ended when Jason dropped her off, they exchanged numbers, and she pecked him on the cheek, then cursed at herself for doing it.
She entered her apartment with butterflies in her stomach, feeling that the night could not have been more perfect.
*End Flashback*
Piper sighed contentedly as she lay on her back. She knew, as a daughter of Aphrodite, that she was no longer enamored of Percy. But did she really love Jason? Could she really talk to him again without destroying things with Percy? One meeting had gotten them that far, how far could another one go? Would she ever even see him again?
She knew that he was only one phone call away, but she felt uneasy calling it. Cheaters were bad, even if it really wasn't cheating.
Piper couldn't believe how much she felt like breaking things off with Percy, the guy she'd been with for over a year.
He would be devastated. But would he be? She knew that he was hiding things from her; her instincts told her, and she also knew that he never forgot his first love, Annabeth.
Perhaps it was time to be real with her feeling, and stay true to her heart.
If Percy was no longer her priority, than it was time to be real, and follow her heart. She wasn't going to pretend she was still in love with Percy any more, her heart was set on telling him tomorrow.
Unfortunately, this proved to be easier said than done.
A/N: So, Perpiper haters, is this good enough for you? I was disappointed with the one review last time, and this time I hope to get more review, please, please, PLEASE! Okay, I'm not that desperate, but, I was impressed with the views I got, now over 3,500! Also, cheers for 25 reviews! Let's try to get it up to 30!
I'm going to Italy tomorrow, so there may not be an amazingly fast update or even a timely update. What can I say? I'm not exactly a timely person. I'm a rather large procrastinator to be honest. But when I'm inspired, I get going. So R&R to inspire me! ;) (Please)
Love you guys, and until next update! I'm really pissed about the school year starting too.
