Chapter 9

Back in Cameron, Jeff and Piper were in town and Jeff was avoiding all eye contact with Piper as much as possible.

"Are you going to try and avoid me all day?" Piper asked.

"I'm not avoiding you." Jeff lied.

"Um, yeah you are and you're a horrible liar." Piper responded.

"Well, if you must know. I feel a little uncomfortable right now. Especially after last night." Jeff stated.

"What do mean? What happened last night?" Piper asked a little scared.

"Well, when I helped you upstairs to you room, there were people in your room so I took you into my room and when I helped you onto the bed, you leaned up and kissed me." Jeff answered.

"I did? I'm sorry. I obviously didn't know what I was doing." Piper responded. "All I really remember is waking up in your room and hoping to God that nothing bad happened."

"No nothing bad happened. I kept an eye on you for the rest of the night and you slept rather peacefully." Jeff stated.

"Oh, ok. Thanks. So now that we got that all cleared up you can stop avoiding me, right?" Piper asked.

"Yeah." Jeff stated.

After Jeff and Piper finished their shopping trip, they headed over to Millers for a bite to eat. Little did they know, there was a photographer following them since they got to the shopping center. Matt, Shannon and Yuk were also at Miller's. Yuk was the one who noticed the photographer.

"Hey, guys. You might want to watch your back. There is a photographer out there that followed you in here." Yuk stated quietly.

"Matt, care to assist me?" Jeff asked.

"Sure, bro." Matt answered as he and Jeff left the group.

"What are they going to do?" Piper asked.

"They are going to make sure that they get the roll of film or the memory card from the photographer just in case there are any pictures on there that might cause problems." Yuk answered.

"Yeah we don't need a repeat of a few years ago." Shannon stated.

While Jeff and Matt were outside dealing with the photographer, Shannon, Yuk and Piper all got to know each other better. Shannon knew Piper pretty well as he knew Cody and Lorelei, but Yuk didn't know her at all. Once Matt and Jeff rejoined the table with the memory cards in hand, they ordered their food and started talking about doing another episode of the Hardy Show.

After lunch, everyone headed over to Jeff's house where they were going to film the show. Piper was excited to see them film the show. She was introduced to the rest of the Hardy Show crew and hung out with Yuk's girlfriend, Tiffany.

"So what is going on with you and Jeff?" Tiffany asked.

"Nothing. He's like an older brother to me." Piper answered. "Plus I'm only 16."

"Oh ok. Not that I thought that anything like that was going on. I just wondered how you knew Jeff and stuff." Tiffany responded.

"Oh ok. Jeff works with my mom and dad. And Matt does too." Piper stated before walking towards the backyard.

The guys were outside filming the show and Piper couldn't stop laughing at them. She couldn't believe how funny it was to watch them before the editing happened.

"Piper, why don't you come join us?" Matt asked.

"You really want me on the show?" Piper answered.

"Yeah. Why not?" Jeff asked.

"What do I do?" Piper asked.

While Jeff and Matt told her what to do the others got ready as well. Once the show was filmed, everyone piled into the living room to watch the tape. Piper couldn't have imagined having a better time than that.

The few days went by rather quickly. Piper didn't want to go back to Greenwich as she was having too much fun with everyone. Jeff was also not looking forwards to Piper leaving as he was starting to have feelings for her, even though he knew that he shouldn't. What he didn't know was that Piper had the same feelings for him.

The day finally arrived where Piper had to leave. Jeff and Matt took her to the airport and made sure that she got through security ok. Jeff was going to miss her and she was going to miss him. Before they had left Jeff's house, she had wrote him a letter and left it on his bed.

"Cody we need to leave for the airport." Lorelei called out.

"Ok. I'm ready. Those 2 weeks went by rather quickly." Cody responded.

"Yes it did. But if we don't get going, we are going to miss the flights arriving." Lorelei stated.

Soon they were on their way to the airport to pick up their daughter and their son. Both Vincent and Piper were flying into Greenwich at about the same time. Lorelei and Cody couldn't wait to see two of their three kids.

"Mom! Dad!" Piper called out as she made her way through the baggage claim.

"Piper! How was your trip?" Lorelei asked as she hugged her.

"Great. I had a lot of fun." Piper answered.

"That's good to hear. I hope that during this time away you were able to relax and get your mind off of things." Cody stated hugging his daughter.

"I was." Piper responded.

"That's good. I will take your luggage to the car. Vincent's flight should be landing soon too." Cody stated.

"Ok." Piper stated as she pulled out her phone so that she could text Jeff.

Hey Jeff. I made it to Greenwich ok.

Good to hear.

Thank you for everything and for not telling my parents about that night.

You're welcome. No need to tell them. Nothing happened.

I know, but still. Thanks. I left something for you on your bed.

No problem… ok I will look when I get home. I'm at Matt's.

Ok. We are still at the airport as Vince's flight comes in soon too.

Ok. Tell everyone I said hi. Oh and b4 I forget RAW will be in Greenwich in 2 months. So I hope I get to see you then.

Cool. I will. You can count on that.

Cool. Well, I'll let you go. Miss you.

Ok. Miss you too. Love you.

Love you too.

Piper put her phone back in her pocket just before her dad came back over to them. Vincent's flight arrived shortly thereafter and after gathering his luggage, the four of them headed to the car and headed home.

Once they were home, Piper took her stuff to her room and unpacked everything. She was not happy to be home, but with school starting in a few days, she had to be there. Piper couldn't wait to graduate and move away from her parents. She even considered moving to North Carolina to go to school.

The next day, Piper headed over to the library and printed out as many college applications as possible. She also headed over to her school and got a copy of her transcripts to send with the applications. While she was at the school, Piper spoke to her counselor and because of her grades and classes, Piper has the opportunity to graduate a year early and the counselor gave her a signed letter to take to her parents.

Once she got home, she gave the letter to her parents and headed upstairs to start filling out the college applications. One of those applications was for UNC in Charlotte. The only part of the applications she couldn't fill out was the financial parts, so she took her applications downstairs where her parents were sitting.

"Mom, Dad. I need some help with these applications." Piper stated.

"What do you need help on?" Cody asked.

"The financial portions. I don't know what to fill out." Piper answered.

"Ok. Well set them over there and I will help you." Cody stated. "We wanted to talk to you about this letter that the school sent home with you."

"Ok. What about it?" Piper asked.

"Well, it states that you have more than enough credits and your grades are nearly perfect. They are recommending you for an early graduation. You don't have to if you don't want to." Cody answered.

"Oh ok. I don't know. I kinda want to get the college apps done first before I decide." Piper responded.

"Ok. Well, lets get to those applications then." Cody stated.

After spending what seemed like forever on the applications, they were finally done and Piper signed all of them. Cody drove her to the post office so that she could mail them out. They also included a copy of the letter from the school so that each of the admissions offices were aware of her possibly graduating early.