Jason POV

"Dude, you should totally ask Beauty Queen to go on a date with you." Leo says, fiddling with a few pipe cleaners that he made me go to the store and get.

Piper.

I do like her, I just don't know how much. I'm scared to ask her out, because she's beautiful. She's too good for me. What if she realizes that and says no?

But when has that ever mattered? But the only girl I've ever asked out is Drew, and we all know we're all better than her.

"Man up, Jason. She likes you. you like her. It's a match made in heaven." Luke says, and before I csn protest he continues "Go get her before someone else does."

He's right. She's beautiful. She's funny. She's kind, cool and collected. Someone is bound to ask her out. Especially at a competition like this.

I was going to ask Piper Elizabeth-Anne Mclean out. And I knew just how to do it.

"The park?"Leo asks, unimpressed, "You're taking Piper to the park."

"And a guitar."I add, and Leo gets the gist.

"Ohhhh." Leo drags on, "I get it now."

"Yeah. So taking her to the park and serenading her basically." I say, picking up the guitar that Percy made us take with.

"Woah woah woah, slow it down a bit. Have you asked her?" Leo asks before I can step out of the room. I knew I was forgetting something.

"No." I say sheepishly, trying to hide my blush.

"Ask her first and then you can go." Leo advises, "You're just jumping to the conclusion that she will say yes. Remember, there is still a chance she says no."

My face falls. Not literally. It's still attached to me, don't worry. I meant it in the context that I was sad. Well, if my face literally fell you wouldn't know what I was feeling because you couldn't see my expression. Therefore, it is still attached. Calm yo farm.

"Well, we're going on a whim that she says yes, alright? Now shut up so I can learn the chords." Nico says grouchily from where he's perched in the bed furthest away from the sunlight, AKA the one by the bathroom.

"Yeah yeah." Leo says, brushing him off, "I think we should just plan it for if she says yes and have a plan for if she says no."

"Good idea. But I have a better one." Percy interjects, before he starts spilling his so called plan.

"Alright." I agree with a grin the size of Russia (I say Russia because it s bigger than Texas, by far)

"Okay, there can only be three bands per judge. There are three judges. You've met Apollo, nothing special." Hermes teases, watching Apollo's jaw drop in mock horror. "Kidding, but anyways, he's here to watch and observe who would be best to go to what judge, if there is a possibility of you being one of the nine going. If you did not get that, three judges times three bands is nine bands going through altogether to the so called live shows.

The 'Live' shows are being streamed onto a website, not live TV. Do not worry if you stuff up. Not everyone will see it. Tickets are free for three family members per band. Friends, other family and other people that want to watch need to pay. I apologize in advance for the inconveniences. And yes, that means there will be a live audience.

Boot camp will not be streamed, or have an audience that I'm aware of at this point." Hermes says to us, walking back and forth across the stage.

I was beginning to get a bit bored, I'll admit.

"The first stage of boot camp, you will be required to perform individually, and if you don't sing you play an instrument. You can choose to have other band mates in the background, with a quieter volume so we can hear yours, or you can do it without them. You and your bands choice completely. If all your band sings or you switch instruments then sing and if you want play an instrument if you can." Hermes continues. I look to my band mates and look among them, like they're doing.

"You perform in two days. We'll tackle the other boot camp activities when we get to it."

Thank goodness, this goes with our plan then.

"Crap! Where's your drum stick?"

"Ouch! Don't stand on my toe, you numbskull!"

"Shut up! I need to focus, idiot!"

"That's MY guitar pick, egg!"

People and their bands argued and bickered back and forth among other bands and in bands. Thankfully, my band wasn't doing that. 'We' were tangled up in the wires connecting the bass and the keyboard. I put the air quotes around 'we' because that was Percy and Leo. And we are all a band.

"Okay, Percy, next time step over the wire, not stick your foot under it. You will trip and land on your face, I can assure you." Annabeth says, as she helps Percy up from the wires.

Leo, however, was tangled completely and Piper and Calypso were untangling him slowly while he stood there with his arms stretched either side as they weaved the cords around the other bits and pieces. It was a rather amusing sight.

After 'we' were untangled we were able to start practicing. Hermes said we had to share a unit of instruments because there weren't enough. And because we are all closer together than any of the other bands, it worked. Personally, I think that the other groups wouldn't stand a chance if we were one big group. Too late for that now.

Percy was working on the drums to assist Leo on the electric guitar. Luke was solo singing. Nico was playing the keyboard or piano. I don't know. It was too confusing for me. And I was doing acoustic guitar and singing.

I start to pluck the strings of the guitar expertly, if I do say so myself. I feel someone sit next to me, but pay no attention to it. I start to hum the lyrics. When I finish, the person speaks up.

"Nice playing." Piper says, staring at the guitar in awe. The room feels warmer, and frankly so does my neck and cheeks, "Are you blushing?" Piper asks, amused.

"N-no!" I protest, looking down and strumming aimlessly, "It's just really hot in here."

"There's air conditioning." Piper says, "Anyways, can I have a turn?" She points a long thin finger at the guitar.

"Sure." I take the strap off, and hand the guitar to her by its neck.

"Thanks." She says, adjusting it in her hands slightly.

I ignore the music coming from the instrument, and focus on her singing.

"Chill out, what you yellin' for?

Lay back, it's all been done before

And if you could only let it be

You will see.."

Her voice hits Avril Lavigne's every note almost perfectly, her voice only cracking at a few from breathlessness.

It was amazing.

"Mine was nice? That was amazing." I say, my eyebrows raising.

She blushes much like I did and looked down.

"Thanks." She muttter's, playing with the strings in an almost nervous fashion. So... You wanna have a turn again?"

It was quiet for a Battle of Bands sing off. Barely anyone made a sound. I was extremely nervous for what I was about to do.

After what felt like an infinity, Hermes finally walked onto the stage sporting a huge grin.

"Hello. Today, I am proud to say you will be meeting your judges." He says. Please get on with it, I don't think I can stand Leo's nervous toe tapping much longer.

"But, you meet them after I tell you how this works. You will all go backstage and wait to be called. You will go in age order by band. Each band get teamed up with the others from their state, so you'll be performing one after the other. This is elimination. Your band screws up, your band can pack their bags and go home."

Way to put it nicely...

My nerves were endless.

"Far out." Percy says, jumping up and down, shaking his arms.

"Stop that." Annabeth commands, "You're making me nervous now."

Percy does as she asks, and sits beside her on the stool.

My eyes go to Piper, whose sitting on the floor with Calypso and making small conversation .

"-just try and relax. Less of a chance you screw it up." Piper says.

"Relax. Relax." Calypso chants as Leo approaches her from behind. "Relax."

Leo sits behind Calypso and lets her lean on him. "Relax." He says, massaging her shoulders.

I sit next to Piper. "Hey." I greet lamely. 'Hey'? Really? Am I serious right now?

"Hey." She says, leaning into me, "You nervous?'

"How can you tell?" I ask amused.

"Your hands are shaking." She says, flattening her hand ontop of mine. Her hand is touching me. her hand is- Oh my gods, Jason. Calm the freak down, bro.

"Sorry." I say, before nudging her, "Are you nervous?"

"Yeah, I guess." Piper shrugs. "Not really. If I get too excited over it, I'll be really disappointed when we go home."

"If." I correct her. It hurt to know she wasn't even thinking she was going to win.

"What?" She asks.

"If you go home, which I doubt you will." I say, before Hermes calls up another band.

"4:12? You're up next." He says. A girl and five boys jump up from their circle and head with a nervous aura towards Hermes and the stage, "Outcasts, get ready. You're up next!"

Here come the second-thoughts.

The stage was bigger, now that I can see it from here.

What if one of us screw's up their act? What if it's me?

"Okay, you can go." Hermes says as the other band, 4:12, exits the stage with grins.

We walk onto the stage in a single file line from shortest (and boldest) to tallest(and most nervous.

I turn to look at the judges. Holy crap. Venus Pageant. Apollo Vocal. Juno White. Holy Hera, I might faint. Of course I knew Apollo was one of the judges, but man... I was being judged by two women as well? Golly jingas. (A/NI felt the need to put the 'Golly jingas' there ^.^)

Venus' smooth blonde hair was pinned up into a bun, and her eyes were an emerald green. She was elegant in every way possible. Her dress flattered her features and made the prettier ones stand out. Venus is a fashion designer and a voice of one of the Disney movies. I can never remember which one.

Juno was the opposite of Venus completely. Her midnight hair was left down, and her dark eyes glared at us as if to say 'Oh, so you think you're all that? Show us what you've got." She was the tough judge. She was the rain on the parade. Juno was a guitarist for the band 'Olympia'. It broke apart over the lead singer cheating on Juno with the keyboardist. Youch.

Apollo was as relaxed as always. Blonde hair in a quiff, and blue eyes shining. He was leaning back so far in his chair so his feet were propped up on the table and his arms were tucked under his head. He seemed to be recovering from laughing.

"Outcasts?" Venus asks in her light, cherry voice.

"Yes, ma'am." Luke says respectfully, taking the mic before Leo could. Wise choice.

"Oh! Good manners." Venus beams. We're off to a good start. "Names?"

"Leo Valdez, you can call me McSchizzle."

"Don't feed his ego. Its as big as they can get. I'm Nico."

"Don't be such a Debbie downer, even though you're Nico, not Debbie THANK GODS. I'm Percy."

"He's a bit loopy. I'm Luke."

"I'm Jason." I almost trip over my words, and guffaw at my band mates.

"Man! You ruined the chain!" Leo remarks, scoffing fakely before smiling.

"Okay, well who wants to go first?" Apollo asks, staring us down with a mischievous grin.

"ME!" Leo shouts.

"Okay, Jason you can go now."Juno says.

I hope Piper's listening.

"Can I say something before I begin?" I ask the judges, nervously fiddling my fingers, twisting them back and forth.

"Sure." Apollo encourages, "Go right ahead."

"Well, seeing as I'm the last person to go in the band, that means the other band is lined up, right?" I ask to double check.

"Yeah." Venus says, grinning. Can she read my mind or something? She reminds me of Piper's mum.

"Cool. Well, there's this girl that I really like and I want her to know how I feel. She came here to sunny, and in-a-drought California, with me and I've been trying to say this for not so long because lets face it. I was stupid. Um, Piper if you can hear me this song is for you." I say, struggling to get the right words out and not tangle them up.

"I've been looking under rocks and breaking locks,

just trynna find ya,

I've been like a maniac, insomniac,

Five steps behind ya..."

I sing and play the guitar, trying to ignore the swoons coming from backstage and Venus.

"This is it girl." I say, finishing off with a strum.

"OHMYGODS! THAT WAS PERFECT AND SO CUTE! I JUST- UGHHHH!" Venus squeals. She has to be related to Aphrodite.

I blush a bit (LIE! I blushed a lot), and look down.

"Overall, great job boys. I look forwards to hearing more from you." Apollo says expertly, "I love how you all are individual and aren't like another person in your band and you are your own person. You all have mixed talents and aren't only good at one area in music. Well done."

"That was so cute!" Venus. Enough said, "You boys have a bright future a head of you in the music industry. That was fantabulous work!"

"You were alright I guess. I've heard better." Juno says harshly, "But it was good. I look forwards to hearing more."

We made it.

Now the even harder part. My heart thumps uncomfortably in my chest like it was trying to escape my body completely. I didn't like it.

Piper looked at me with an adoring expression, one which I returned, as long as she could before she was ushered onto the stage.

"Which one of you is Piper?" I hear Venus bombard the girls as soon as they stop walking.

With a chuckle, I walk over to where the rest of my band is waiting at the bottom of the small set of stairs.

I was safe. She knows I like her, and by the looks of it, she likes me.

"Good hob, Jase. I thought you'd chicken out!" Leo cheers, "Three cheers for Jason, the guy who got the guts!"

A/N

That was so long! I'm sorry for not updating my other stories. I pro- I'm not going to promise that I'm updating soon because I might not but I can promise I will try my hardest. I'm going through a lot right now, and honestly people my age or any age infact shouldn't have to go through it. It sucks.

My karate teacher forgot to tell us she was sick and couldn't come so we were waiting for ages until someone went to check her class... And then I had to catch a really crowded bus in which I didn't get a seat until over half the hour journey was over...

~KaleidoscopeColours

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY FRIEND DANIELLA!

I want a hug...

I do not own:

Jason Derulo, It Girl

Avril Lavigne, Complicated

PJO, Hoo

Als shout out to Kyle who is a member of the band 4:12 , who wanted me to put them in :)