Sorry for not updating for so long, my stupid internet was acting up again. This chapter is a little confusing so if you have questions feel free to PM me, please don't hate on me because I'm most likely going to split up the little bit of Jeyna that exists in this chapter. Please review, I've loved the feedback from the previous chapters! Thanks for all of the reviews and follows. I'll try to update again, so please enjoy this chapter and let me know how you like it. I think I might lengthen the story to through to Piper's early twenties rather than stop at the beginning of her senior year so if it takes a huge time lapse that is the idea I'm going with there. I'm still thinking it out. Please enjoy! :D ~Bolts and Trees

The next morning something happened. Piper went to go see Jason and pulled in to find Reyna's purple convertible parked in the driveway. She could see Jason and Reyna in the window, and they were kissing. Piper figured that they most likely got back together and she decided that maybe it was best for her to leave. She couldn't help but cry on her way back home. It wasn't like she could stop Jason and Reyna from getting back together, she actually should have seen it coming sooner or later. However Jason had acted like he liked her so it felt like a slap in the face to have Jason act like that and then get back together with Reyna.

Piper tore through the box of things Mellie was supposed to donate but never got around to and grabbed all of her old wardrobe. If Jason was going to play like that Piper could do the same thing. She found the shortest dress that she couldn't alter and the highest heels she owned and ran up to her room. She put her nose ring back in, caked on the make up, and texted Rachel to know where the next party would be. She walked past her craft room where the dress she had been altering for the ball was still on the mannequin and had to ignore the tears that were threatening to fall.

Piper tore through the house and Mellie poked her head out of the kitchen, "Where are you going Piper?"

"I'm going out." Piper replied before grabbing the keys for her Mustang and tearing out of the house. She pulled into the driveway of the massive Tanaka residence and parked her car. She walked into the party and could smell the usual cigarette smoke, the different drugs, and the alcohol. She made her way over to the kitchen where she grabbed a beer and then went to go see what she could find at the party. She could hear the Justin Bieber song playing and wanted to gag but she didn't.

Drew and her little gang walked over to Piper and smiled, "You made it!"

Piper nodded, "I did, I couldn't resist a party here."

Drew smiled, "There's a few college guys here. They'd be interested in you."

Piper smiled, "Sounds like fun."

"I thought you and Jason were together." Drew said with a fake smile.

Piper shook her head, "No, he and Reyna are back together."

"Oh, that sucks. You know you change for the guy and then he gets back together with his ex-girlfriend." Drew said with the sugary sweet fake smile.

Piper nodded, "Well it was my decision to do something stupid."

"So I'll direct you to those college guys. They're more your speed than mine." Drew smiled.

Piper followed Drew towards the attractive group of three college boys.

"Boys this is my friend Piper, Piper this is Will Solace, Jake Mason, and Butch Holston." Drew smiled.

Piper smiled and instantly found Will Solace totally attractive. After talking with them for awhile she decided that if anyone she'd want to be with Will. So when Will asked her if she wanted to go dance she readily agreed to it and after two beers she was a little loose.

Will was an expert on the dance floor and before Piper knew it they were making out in the back of her Mustang. Piper was straddling his waist and she could feel her dress riding up farther and farther. However even with three beers in her she still couldn't get Jason out of her mind. She thought she had finally gotten somewhere with her hopeless crush on him but apparently she wasn't worth the time of day to him.

She pulled away from Will with tears in her eyes. He frowned, "Are you ok?"

Piper nodded and wiped the tears away, taking pounds of mascara and eyeliner with it, "No I'm fine."

"Then why are you crying? Did you just get out of a bad relationship or something?" he asked softly. Piper had to admit Will was one of the nicest college guys she's ever met at a party.

"No, I'm fine." she smiled through the tears.

"Look I don't want you to feel like I'm a bad guy or..."

"I don't think that. Most guys would just try to continue. It's me, not you." she smiled wiping her tears again.

"It's a guy isn't it?" he asked.

She nodded, "Yeah it is."

"Look, let me give you a ride home and I'll just have Butch come pick me up. You don't need to be driving and I think you need some sleep." Will smiled.

Piper laughed, "You're going to do all that for a girl you just met?"

Will nodded, "As much as you know about college boys at a party, some of us are nice."

Piper wiped the tears from her eyes and then looked at him, "Actually could you not take me back to my place?"

Will looked at her, "Well the only other place I could take you would be my place and I don't think you'd want to go there."

"That's fine." she nodded.

He looked over at her and helped her climb into the front seat considering that she was tipsy but wasn't completely drunk. She waited for him and he walked around to the driver's side. She noticed that he didn't have anything to drink the whole time she had seen him. After about ten minutes they pulled into the driveway of a frat house and Will led Piper to his room.

"You can take the bed, I'll be ok on the couch." Will said gesturing to the bed.

Piper kicked her heels off and fell asleep. She woke up the next morning and Will was awake, "Good morning Sleeping Beauty."

Piper had a massive headache. She decided that she needed to stop going to parties. She sat up and smiled, "Good morning."

"Hey, are you feeling alright?" he asked.

"Just a headache, I'll be fine." she smiled.

He handed her a glass of water and two Tylenols, "Here this'll help."

She took it and before long she decided that she should probably head home. Will asked if he could see her again and she agreed wondering what a college guy would want to do with a senior in high school. She knew that he was only a year older than her so it wasn't too bad.

"Thanks for everything." she smiled.

"It was no problem." he smiled, "I hope things work out for you."

She smiled and then found her car. Mellie and Hedge were still sleeping when she got back and there were several texts on her phone from Jason. She ignored them and went to go get the mail where she found her invitation to Julia Grace's charity ball. She decided that since it was plus one and she was going on her father's behalf, who had already wrote the check, she could bring a date. She knew that all of her friends would be there because Julia made it open to the whole town and you could donate if you had the money.

She knew that the ball was coming up but she decided that she wasn't going to wear the dress she had been working on. So she decided to go with something else. She found another dress that had belonged to her mother before she ran off and decided to wear it for the ball. It was a flowy white Grecian style dress and she had the jewelry to match it. There were only a few more days until the ball and she still didn't know who to ask as a date.

Piper could hear her phone ring and she looked at the number; Jason. A picture of them cooking popped up on the screen. She decided to ignore it and went to go ask her father if she could wear the dress. She got the text back saying he hoped she would wear it. Piper decided that there was nothing wrong with her so she decided on going back to the way she was.

Jason walked into the kitchen where Thalia was cooking quietly, "Hey you're quiet today."

She shrugged, "I'm tired."

"You usually listen to music while you cook, I actually missed my daily dose of Jesus of Suburbia." Jason teased.

Thalia smiled, "I didn't want to listen to music today."

Then it hit Jason, it would remind her of Nico who always covered the song when his band had a gig. She went back to tossing the sizzling peppers, onions, and chicken in the skillet. Jason then took this as an opportunity to ask if she'd heard anything from Piper, "Have you heard from Piper?"

Thalia shook her head, "Not really, however Percy and Annabeth are coming over for dinner tonight."

"I've called her at least twenty times." Jason frowned.

"Do you think something happened?" Thalia asked as she pulled out a stack of flour tortillas.

"She's probably just sleeping." Jason shrugged. The doorbell rang and Jason opened it to find Reyna. She smiled and walked in when Jason stepped aside.

"Hey, I was hoping that I could talk to you." she smiled.

"About what?" he asked. Jason smiled but he didn't know how well it was holding up. Reyna was a great girl and everything but he had honestly fallen for Piper.

"I was thinking about your mother's ball." Reyna smiled.

"What about it?" Jason asked.

"Did you already have a date?" Reyna asked, "I'd understand considering that we were broken up."

Jason shook his head, "No, I didn't."

Reyna smiled, "Well that's perfect."

"Do you have a dress?" Jason asked. He felt incredibly guilty considering that he had indeed asked Piper and now he was going to have to explain to her why they couldn't go together. Then there was the fact that he had kissed her, changed her back to the old Piper, and fallen for her as well. That was going to be hard to ignore. Then again he hadn't heard from Piper since that night so maybe she was a little freaked out. He didn't like not hearing from Piper for three days.

"Are you alright Jas?" Reyna asked him.

Jason nodded, "I'm fine."

Reyna smiled but Jason could tell that she wasn't fully buying it, "Ok, you just look a little distracted."

"I'm fine Rey." he smiled and kissed her cheek.

He knew Reyna most likely wasn't buying it but Jason didn't want to continue talking about it. The doorbell ran and Percy and Annabeth walked in. Thalia stuck her head out from the kitchen, "Oh, Reyna are you going to stay for dinner?"

"If you'll have me." she smiled.

"There's plenty to go around." Thalia smiled. So Jason walked into the kitchen and Thalia shut the door.

"I thought you were into Piper." she raised her eyebrows.

"I am, but I still have feelings for Reyna." Jason muttered.

"Jason you can't string Piper along and then get back together with Reyna, nor can you string Reyna along when you clearly have a thing to Piper. So it's either one or the other." Thalia said.

Jason looked at Thalia who was starting to walk towards the door, "Is that why you and Nico broke up?"

Thalia turned and shook her head, "No, there's other reason behind why Nico and I broke up. Jason don't scorn two girls."

She walked out the door and went to go get everyone. Thalia had a point. Jason had strung Piper along and then truly fell for her, however he still had feelings for Reyna and now he was back together with Reyna.

Jason wondered why exactly Thalia and Nico had broken up. It had happened so suddenly that it shocked everyone. He knew his sister wasn't happy and Jason decided that he needed to help her out so maybe if she wasn't worrying about him as much maybe Thalia would be a little happier.

Dinner was pretty uneventful, no one was talking about anything interesting. Reyna stuck around for a little while to watch a movie after dinner but Jason couldn't keep his mind off of Piper. After Reyna left Jason went to Piper's to see if she was ok.

Mellie answered the door, "Jason, what a lovely surprise."

"Is Piper here?" Jason asked.

"I'm sorry hon, you just missed her. She went to a movie with Rachel and Hazel." Mellie frowned.

"Oh, is her phone broken?" Jason asked.

Mellie shook her head, "No I just talked to her a few minutes ago because she called to tell me she was staying over at Rachel's."

Jason nodded, "Thanks, when you see just tell her to give me a call or something."

Mellie smiled and nodded, "Of course sweetheart."

Jason walked back to his car and went home. Why was Piper avoiding him? Did he freak her out? No there was something else. She wouldn't call him, she wouldn't answer his calls, and now she always gone.

Jason went to his favorite ice cream place where he ran into Nico. Nico was with his sister Bianca getting ice cream, "Hey Nico."

Nico turned around and smiled at Jason awkwardly, "Hey Jason."

Bianca smiled, "Is Thalia here?"

Jason shook his head, "Um nah, she's at home with Percy and Annabeth."

Bianca frowned, "That sucks, I really wanted to see her."

Jason had a feeling that Bianca didn't know about Thalia and Nico's break up. She continued to sip her strawberry shake and Nico stayed quiet which wasn't completely odd for the dude, he was usually quiet.

"I'll tell her you said hi." Jason smiled.

"Please do, I haven't seen her around the house lately. My mom misses her too." Bianca smiled. Nico was still quiet.

"I'll be sure to tell her." Jason smiled before ordering a chocolate shake at the counter.

Nico followed him, "Look can you not tell Bianca. She'll get all concerned and then she'll want to know every detail."

"Why did you two break up?" Jason decided to ask.

Nico didn't say anything for a moment, "It was my fault, it wasn't Thalia's."

"Then why don't you two just get back together? Just work it out." Jason shrugged.

Nico shook his head, "There's no way she'd want me back."

"Are you kidding the girl won't even listen to her favorite song because it reminds her of you. You two just need to get back together." Jason muttered.

"Much like you and Piper need to get together?" Nico asked.

"What really happened between you and Thalia?" Jason asked curiously.

"I cheated." Nico replied.

"You cheated?" Jason asked.

Nico nodded, "I cheated on her when we first started dating and then just recently. I love your sister but there's no way she'll want me back."

"It was Rachel wasn't it?" Jason asked curiously.

"God no, Rachel wouldn't do that to Thalia. It was Drew." Nico said. Jason could tell that he was ashamed because Drew happens to be the one Luke had cheated with.

"Have you talked to her?" Jason asked, "I'm sure she'll listen. I honestly thought you two were arguing about Luke."

"That's how it started off and then I accused her of cheating and then she let me know that she knew." Nico shook his head, "I don't she'll listen to me."

"You should give it a try. I think she'll listen." Jason smiled.

"Maybe." Nico smiled.

"Piper is your dress short enough?" Rachel asked as they stood in line at the box office.

Piper rolled her eyes and shook her head, "No, it could be much shorter."

"I thought Jason bought you tons of new dresses." Rachel raised her eyebrows.

"Well I don't think Jason truly cared." Piper muttered.

Rachel looked over at her, "What makes you say that?"

"He's back together with Reyna." Piper shrugged.

Rachel didn't say anything else and it was finally their turn to get their tickets. They decided to go see The Fault In Our Stars, and they all cried. Piper knew Thalia and Annabeth had already seen it with Calypso. So they decided to go see it.

"Do you think Thalia and Nico are going to get back together?" Rachel asked as they waited in line for popcorn and pop. They already had like fifty boxes of candy in their purses.

"I hope so, they're cute together." Piper replied.

"Piper?" it was Will.

Piper turned and smiled, "Hey Will."

Will smiled and hugged Piper, "It's good to see you again."

Rachel and Hazel looked at Piper, "Yeah, Will these are my friends Rachel Dare and Hazel Levesque. Rachel, Hazel this is Will Solace."

Will smiled, "It's nice to meet you ladies."

It turned out Will was also going to the same movie Piper and her friends were so he ended up sitting next to them. Piper couldn't help but think that Rachel and Will would look cute together, they were only about a year apart. So she arranged for Will and Rachel to sit next to one another and sure enough they hit it off and Rachel ended up going out for dessert with Will.

Hazel dropped Piper off at her house and Mellie greeted her, "You're home."

"Yeah, it turns out I couldn't stay at Rachel's." Piper smiled.

"Well why don't we go out to the lake tomorrow?" Mellie asked, "Gleeson is out in L.A. with your father and we haven't spent any time together since I've gotten here."

Piper smiled and hugged Mellie, "Sure, sounds like a lot of fun."

Mellie smiled, "Are you going to head off to bed or would you like to join me for some dessert?"

"Dessert sounds nice but I think I'm going to go change really quick." Piper smiled.

Mellie nodded, "Meet me in the kitchen."

Piper changed into a pair of her favorite pajamas and went to go meet Mellie in the kitchen. She had two slices of Piper's favorite cake waiting with a glass of Piper's favorite sparkling mango juice.

"So why hasn't Jason been around lately?" Mellie asked.

"He's probably busy with his girlfriend Reyna." Piper shrugged before taking a bite of the blueberry cake that must have been freshly made.

"He's got a girlfriend?" Mellie asked.

Piper nodded, "Yeah, Reyna, they must have gotten back together."

Mellie frowned, "Well he stopped by when you were at the movies and asked if I'd tell you to call him."

"Oh." Piper didn't say anything else. She didn't really want to talk to Jason or see him, "Hey, there's this charity ball thing and I was thinking I'm allowed to bring a guest with me and since Hedge is with my father, do you want to go?"

Mellie smiled, "Of course, I've been wanting to talk to some of your friend's parents."

"It's next Friday." Piper smiled.

"Don't worry, I have a dress." Mellie smiled.

Piper hugged Mellie tightly. It had been awhile since Piper's had a hug like that. With her father never really being around Piper didn't really have anyone to hug but she couldn't hold them back anymore.

"Piper, sweetie what''s wrong?" Mellie asked smoothing her hair down.

Piper shook her head, "There's nothing wrong."

"Then why are you crying sweetheart?" Mellie asked holding Piper close to her tiny body.

Piper hugged Mellie back tightly, "I'm lonely Mellie."

"Oh sweetie, there are plenty of people who love you, you're not lonely. Leo called earlier and asked if you wanted to help him with something. Jason stopped by to come see you, your father asked about you this morning." Mellie whispered, "You have me and Gleeson."

Piper looked up at Mellie, "Jason doesn't care. He was just there because he and Reyna were broken up. My father's never around. I'll give it to Leo, I'm a terrible friend. Leo's always been there for me."

Mellie looked down at Piper, "When did all of this nonsense start?"

Piper shook her head, "It was a cry for attention. This isn't me, I'm just sick of people who try to change me and they end up not actually caring about me."

"Piper, honey, you are so loved and you don't even know it. Your father wanted to know how you're holding up, he feels like it's his fault that you never had a mother figure in your life...he blames himself for all the problems you went through with Jane. He blames himself for your feelings. I'm sure Jason does care..."

"No he doesn't. He just likes to toy with me. It's been happening since the ninth grade and I should have known that this was coming. I don't understand why the hell this hurts so much...wait I know, it's because I actually love him." Piper whispered.

"Piper, it's ok to hurt. You just need to talk, you don't always have to be so strong. You're tough and you never want anyone to see your emotions and those who truly love you know because they can see it." Mellie whispered.

Piper thought back on everything. She had lost her mother as a child, she had gotten into a fatal car accident considering that she had been walking across the street and a drunk driver hit her. Her father then became a superstar actor and was busy so he could have the money to raise his daughter. Leo was always there and knew when something was wrong. He could read her better than almost anyone and she had completely tossed him aside when she realized that she liked Jason who never truly cared...or so it seemed like he never truly cared about her. Then there was Mellie and Hedge, they had always cared about her but there was still something that made her feel lonely.

"I'm sorry Mellie." Piper whispered.

"Sorry for what? Finding yourself?" Mellie asked with a small chuckle.

"Finding myself?" Piper asked.

"Piper you don't truly know yourself yet, goodness you're not going to know yourself until you're older. It takes years to truly find yourself, I'm still finding parts of myself. You have plenty of people who love you and care for you and you just need to surround yourself with those people. They'll most definitely help you find yourself and then you'll truly know what you want in life, who you want yourself to be. Right now you're Piper McLean in progress. You're still finding Piper McLean." Mellie whispered.

Piper sat there with Mellie until she couldn't keep her head up and she was so tired that she wanted to fall asleep sitting up. Mellie tucked Piper into her bed and kissed her forehead, "Goodnight Piper."

Piper fell asleep and woke up the next morning. She decided that she was going to go about this her own way, she was going to find herself even if that meant leaving the moment she was out of high school. She only had one more year and then she was out of there. Maybe she'd travel, maybe she'd go to live in the city. Piper quickly changed before running down to the shed where her rabbits were kept.

She reached in and petted Thor and Jane, made sure that Loki had his favorite toy to play with, she brushed Clint and Natasha who's coats were growing back nicely, patted Tony, and then checked on Pepper and her kits. She had a litter of five kits and they were getting ready for Piper to sell, however Piper decided to keep at least one of them that she ended up naming her Marvel.

Piper turned to find Mellie standing there, "I figured you'd be down here."

"Hey Mellie." Piper smiled.

"So did you think about it?" she asked.

Piper nodded, "I think I'm going to travel once I'm out of high school."

"Travel?" Mellie asked.

Piper nodded, "I think traveling would be good for me."

"Well you have one more year." Mellie smiled before stroking Pepper, "Are you selling the rest?"

Piper nodded, "I'm going to keep Marvel and I'm going to sell the other four."

"Would you like me to put up a sign in the front yard?" Mellie asked.

Piper shook her head, "People know where to find rabbits."

Mellie smiled and squeezed Piper's shoulders, "Come in for lunch when you're hungry."