Well, it's a chapter :p

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Piper whispered from where she was crouched behind a closed door. Leo was next to her, and Jason was on his other side. Leo was holding a box of matches.

"Of course it's not a good idea," Leo grinned. "But it's been a couple of weeks since I've done anything prank-worthy, and that's a streak I can't afford to keep up."

"But… setting the coaches pants on fire?" Piper asked. "Couldn't we, I dunno, draw on his door or something?" Leo gave her a long-suffering look. Even Jason smirked at the sad idea.

Thankfully, Jason had dropped his guarded attitude around Piper and gone right back to his easy-going— and handsome— self. They hadn't really had a moment to themselves yet, but Piper had spent the whole day fantasizing about what might happen up on the rooftop. Leo had told her that there was a ninety-two percent chance of Jason kissing her, according to leading magazine surveys.

And this time, Piper was determined not to freeze.

"Draw on his door?" Leo sighed, shaking his head in mock disappointment. He shared a look with Jason. "Where did we go wrong with her, Jason?"

"No clue," he replied, shaking his head. "Now, are we going to light his pants, or are we going to sit here all day?"

"I vote for sitting here all day," Piper supplied, raising her hand half way. Leo gave her another long look, before grabbing one of the rolled-up balls of paper that were sitting beside him and pulling a pack of matches from his pocket. Where he was able to liberate matches from, Piper had no idea.

"I'll take the first shot," he whispered. "Piper, light the second one, cause if I miss we'll get one more shot before we turn and run like hell."

"Gotcha," Piper said, taking the pack of matches from his as he struck one against the floor, watching it light and pressing the flame to the ball of paper. It caught quickly and he yanked open the door to Coach Hedge's office, sighted the man sitting at his desk and lobbed it underhand, aiming for the hem of his tracksuit bottoms. Piper was already lighting the second ball as she heard the Coach Swear and look around, quickly stamping out the ball of flame.

Piper tossed the second one and her heart leaped into her throat as she saw it hit him in the thigh and stick for a second there, the flames licking eagerly at his pants.

Piper and Jason turned to flee but Leo stayed behind, lighting and throwing one more ball before racing after them as Coach Hedge, cussing like a sailor, chased after them, seemingly oblivious to the fact his pants were now in flames.

Piper had a fleeting worry that his legs might get burned, but quickly shoved the thought aside. Knowing the coach, he had flame-resistant thermal underwear under those things. Even if he didn't, it wouldn't be that hard to pull the pants off.

Finally, Hedge had to give up the chase to yank off his sweatpants. Giggling and gasping uncontrollably, the trio stumbled outside into the desert sun, Leo collapsing onto the ground in a fit of giggles. Piper was far behind, her knees buckling under her as she fought for breath. Jason wasn't as bad, but he still had to lean against the wall as he doubled over.

"That was… greatest thing…" Piper gasped unevenly, trying to regain her breath. Beside her, Leo was flapping his arms helplessly as he choked on his own breath. "The look… Hedge's face…" Piper doubled over on the ground in a fit of uneven giggles.

Jason was the first to recover, wiping tears from his eyes as he stood up straight. Piper took a few gasping breaths as she tried to control herself, finally recovering from her fit of laughter. Her giggles slowly subsided into uneven hiccups and snorts of laughter as she re-envisioned the coaches shocked face as his pants like up like Christmas.

"You do realize," Leo wheezed, "That we're dead?"

"Worth it, dude," Jason said, shaking his head. "Totally worth it."

Linebreak

"What's this?"

Piper whirled around from where she was combing her hair to see Isabel standing in the doorway, yawning and looking at Piper with something close to surprise. "The native mascot decided she got tired of wearing a badger as a crown?" Her two cronies giggled on cue, and Piper felt her face flush with anger. As ever, she was left without a comeback and just went back to combing vigorously.

"You know," Isabel continued as she strolled onto her bed and plopped down, pulling a tube of mascara out of her pocket and applying it carefully. "I didn't know that you had a reason to look good, Piper. Is it that Grace boy?"

"You mean the one you had a crush on the moment you saw him?" Piper snapped back, and Isabel's face twisted into an ugly grimace.

"At least I got over him once I realized what a loser he is," she replied, leaning in close to her mirror to carefully outline her eye in blue eye shadow.

Leo chose that moment to burst into the room, looking around frantically before diving under the nearest bed. Isabel looked up, shrugged and went back to her makeup.

A couple of minutes later his face popped out, curly hair bouncing slightly as he climbed to his feet and dusted off his shirt, coughing and looking around awkwardly. He caught Isabel's eye and smiled cheekily, before turning towards Piper.

"I got the blankets you asked for," he said, holding out a bundle of rolled-up blankets and pillows. "Hedge saw me on the way and chased me with his bat, but I was able to lure him into the kitchens and then toss tonight's supper in his face. WE might go hungry, but at least I didn't get whacked."

"Thanks," Piper smiled, secretly marveling at Leo's perfect appearance. She was starting to think he planned things like this.

"Why do you need blankets and pillows?" Isabel asked, moving closer. She was even more interested in what Piper was getting up to. Chances are, she'd be able to turn the tables and make it humiliating for her.

"Nothing you need to care about," Piper told her sniffily. She could read the glint in Isabel's eyes that said she wanted to know what Piper was doing just so she could mess it up for her, and Piper was sure she wasn't going to let anything get in the way with her sort-of date with Jason.

Leo, on the other hand, had other ideas. Unlike Piper, he didn't feel intimidated or threatened by Isabel in any way. He had spent his life running and sewers and dealing with crazy lady's who thought it was fun to shove him in fireplaces. He had hung out with Los Angeles gangs and New York's criminals, knowing fully well that they only kept him around for laughs.

Because of those reasons, Leo could look at Isabel with something close to amusement, and he knew how important this date was to Piper. He wasn't going to let her mess it up.

"Oh, you know," he said nonchalantly. "She needs it for her date with Jason." Isabel's eyes grew wide with genuine shock. Piper nudged him, hard, but he wasn't going to stop now. "And then, they're disappearing into the night and heading for Vegas. We'll probably see them in a couple of weeks at the party we're going to."

"We're going to a party?" It was lucky that Isabel had asked the question before Piper, or that may have blown his story. But Leo just smiled adamantly and nodded.

"Didn't you hear?" Leo smiled happily. "The Wilderness school has been invited to some giant Vegas Environmental Convention thing, because what we do is a direct representation of what they're supporting there."

"Oh my god!" Isabel squealed, completely forgetting about Piper as she grabbed for her makeup drawer. "A celebrity convention? When?"

"A week and a half," Leo answered confidently. While the three girls fell over each other reaching for their wardrobes, Leo handed the blankest and pillows to Piper, before winking and disappearing down the hall.

Yeah, it's short, but in my defence I really have nothing planned after they kiss, because the Lost Hero just kind of fast-forwards to the bus ride, leaving me two weeks to fill in. That's why I invented the party idea, partly to have something to do, partly so Leo can get engaged.

I guess you'll see :)

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