Piper POV

I just sat there in shock and horror as the flashback of the event three years kept repeating itself over and over again.

I couldn't face him or anyone again. I was not coming down from this tree. Hopefully no one will bother me until I die of starvation. But a person as horrible as me doesn't get their wish, do they?

"Piper, are you up there? I can't see you, and it worries me that you're so high up! Can you come down and talk to me?"

I shook my head. Even though he couldn't see me, I think by my hesitation he got that I wasn't going to come down voluntarily.

"Come on! You're stubborn as a mule! It's just a guy! What did he do to you?"

That did it. I burst into tears, leaving him thinking that he had hurt my feelings. Let's just say I was a little fragile at the moment. He panicked, calling, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! It's okay, I didn't mean it! You're not stubborn, not really! Don't cry, please!"

But that just made me guiltier. His voice brought back memories from homecoming, which I did my best to forget. I clung to the tree branch, waiting for this case of hysteria to go away.

I cried harder. "Please don't hate me!" I whimpered. "Huh?" he called back, confused. I slid down towards the middle of the tree, so he could hear me better, and said it again. "It was all my fault! Don't hate me, please!" I begged.

Now I could see him. He was staring up at me, with a worried look on his face. "Piper, what do you mean? Of course I don't hate you! Now come down here, and talk to me!" I shook my head. "Why not?" he said, crossing his arms.

I just didn't want to face him. But I would have to, sometime. He probably wouldn't go until I came down. Sighing, I slid off of the branch I was sitting on and landed on my feet in front of him. It was the same tree that I had sat under for two years straight, before Leo came. Now, I just climb up there when I'd had a bad day, or was just feeling sad for some reason.

Wrapping his arms around me, he asked, "Why would you think such a thing?" I burst into tears again and buried my face in his shoulder. "I'm sorry," I wailed. "It was all my fault! I didn't mean it, so please, just don't hate me!"

He held me at arms distance and looked at me. "Is this about the homecoming dance thing?" I nodded weakly. "Beauty Queen, it wasn't your fault at all! You have nothing to be sorry for, nothing to feel guilty about! And I definitely do not hate you! So stop saying that, please!"

I wiped a tear off of my cheek. "But Will doesn't know that it was Reyna."

"Then I guess we'll have to tell him the whole story."

I nodded slowly. "Okay," I whispered.

"That's my girl," was all he said, and we walked hand-in-hand back the way we came.