Well hot damn. The encouragement of this have been so amazing OH MY GOSH.

Thanks so so so much!

Late Update: Because of Desire taking up so much time, Hustler have been a slow train so I apologize. However, those who are slowly (torturously) waiting for updates can read that to fill up spare time of waiting for Hustler. If you've already read Desire, then well...there are thousands of brilliant Jasper fics out there. (Won't name names because I don't want anybody to feel alienated)

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to RR.

Chapter 3

Troublemaker

Jason

Wow. Wow.

wowowowowowowowowow

Calm down, Jason, calm down.

BUT THAT JUST HAPPENED. I CAN'T CALM MY GOD.

Hyperactivity bounced around my head right after she winked at me, gave a little wave and stalked off, her hips swaying seductively, abandoning me while I tried (and failed) to understand what the hell just happened. Did she just- did I just-no, this is a dream.

It's a dream. It's a dream. It must be a dream.

I pinched myself and yelped, pain shooting up my arm. This isn't a dream. The reality of the kiss, the softness of her lips crashing upon mine, my face touching her satin skin- so delicate for a girl so tough, the memory of her legs dangling from mine was fading in my mind like water through a cupped hand. Only droplets remain of her touch, the way her fingers gripped my hair- roughly but not to the point untill it hurt, and her strange cinnamon scent- which I find oddly comforting, lingering until the smoke from my cigarette burned my throat.

As an act to promise myself the kiss she gave me was very real, I smoked two more cigarettes from the packet she left on my lap before returning back to my dorm, slightly zombified and glazed, replaying the scene of her kiss over and over again. Loud waves of pop punk was radiating from my dorm when I entered, finding Leo Valdez dancing to an upbeat rhythm, his naked ass swinging from front to the back, my sight instantly blinded by something I wish I could unsee.

What was seen can never be unseen, I thought from the infamous cat meme as I averted my eyes with my arm from the searing view of Leo's naked dancing. A shout rose from my throat:

"Leo!"

"Oh, Jason!"

"Cover up, please, I'm begging you! For the sake of all that's rational, put some fucking clothes on!"

"Okay, okay," huffed Leo, grabbing his pants resting on his desk while I peeked through my fingers. Leo had wiggled into a pair of jeans and a faded Ramones t-shirt, enabling myself to sigh in relief and glared at the Hispanic boy.

"Do you scare all of your roommates in similar fashion?"

"Not all," he waved dismissively, "Just most."

"Good to know," I said, looking green as I landed into bed after a tiring day, feeling the tension in my muscles releasing. I craned my head to regard Leo oddly. "Tell me, don't you know Halloween is still a month away?"

"Hey!" pouted Leo, crossing his arms. "I look good naked!"

"...that's not something to take pride on, Leo."

"Oh believe me, we Valdezs take much pride over our naked forms." I choked on the saliva swallowing down my throat in amused laughter while I shook my head at my friend's antics. He was a wonder. A weird, fucked-up wonder, but I realize life in the Wilderness would be a hell lot more depressing without him. Then Leo asked me: "So where you've been?"

I shifted from side to side and tried to think of a perfect excuse, "Oh," I shrugged nonchalantly, "Just around. Trying to get my head around this steel box in a sand pit."

He sniffed the air and he narrowed his eyes, zeroing on me. "Hold on, have you been...smoking?'

I stiffened. Shit. "A bit…"

"A bit? You smell like a fucking chimney."

"Okay, I smoke like one or...two…"

I have expected him to become disapproving or admonished me, but instead he grinned. "Cool, where did you get the cigarette?" He sounded envious.

Caught off guard, I blinked- well, that was a surprise. "Um, Piper."

"With Piper?" laughed Leo, wagging his finger at me and I felt the embarrassment roasting my neck, spreading the heat to my face. "Twice in a day? You've been busy."

I downplayed it, shrugging and awkwardly evading Leo's smirk and pesterings- his constant attempts to extract information from my encounter with the dark-haired Native American. "It was nothing," I said hastily, "Just several smokes. That's all that happened."

Leo did not believe one word of it.

"Bullshit, it's Piper Mclean. She can make a trip to the dentist entertaining, for hell's sake."

"She's…something," I definitely agreed.

It was only five hours into this place and everything, all the craziness, was hurling itself towards me at a speed I can't even decipher. It was like a wild ride on a Ferarri, difficult to digest, hard to believe and totally unreal. In less than five hours, I've made out with one of the most prettiest girls I've ever seen, smoke nearly half a packet of cigarettes (and I've never smoke before in my life) and had a naked, weird prankster who danced to Madonna in his spare time as a roommate. The Wilderness School don't really do 'normal' that well, do they?

Soon, Dinner was signalled. The people flowed out of their dorms again, talking and chatting as they went down to the cafeteria for food. It was a Fried-Day Friday cook-out, as Leo had named it, with several people facepalming to the punny nickname, because the cook, Lady Hestia- the 'best hot damn cook there is out there' (as Leo had put it)- had prepared her most famous meal among the teenage crowd: fried chicken, french fries, fried banana fritters, fried waffles, anything greasy and crispy, soaked in oil.

It was all delicious. And a nightmare to anybody weight-conscious.

Following Leo's lead, I sat with Percy and the others, laughed and discussed about tomorrow, the first official weekend of school and what they'll be doing. Hazel suggested going out towards the nearest small town around the desert oasis area and number of offers were thrown across the room. It was then decided they would head out to Quartzize, a truck-stop town, where civilization actually existed for the next thousand mile or so. Filled with chunks of fried chicken in my stomach, I happily returned to my dorm, exhausted after today's events.

Collapsing in bed, I smiled at the ceiling and pulled over the covers, giddy to anticipate my fate here at the Wilderness.

It's definitely going to be one hell of a wild ride.

The next morning Leo woke me up by throwing his smelly socks onto my face.

Pierce of advice: Leo's unwashed, filthy, reeked of a rotten-fish scent right up your nose on a Saturday morning was not my idea of a healthy breakfast.

It was a bright, early sort of morning; incandescent streams of sunrays filtering into the gaps of the closed window. Yesterday, because of the night setting in, it was unbelievably cold. The desert's clouds created no shelter from the strong gales, battering the windows all night long, that I had to cocoon myself in a nests of sheets to stop myself from chattering. Now the sun had risen, it was scorching the land with a fierce intensity never felt before and within twenty minutes of the sun, my shirt was already slicked with sweat.

I plunged myself into the cold shower, drenching myself with water. I stepped out of the bathroom, feeling refreshed and ready to start the day. Leo and I wolfed down our breakfasts, joined Percy and the gang at the entrance of the campus, where a dusty bus awaited.

"So this is the transport to Quartzsite?" I asked Percy, nose crinkling at the run-down size, whose windows looked broken.

"Yeah," snorted the green-eyed boy, "Homey, eh?"

"Like Grandma's house," I muttered, about to follow Percy's trail towards the bus when I spotted Piper and her clones behind her, talking quite audibly a few yard over, fashionable leather knapsacks slung over their shoulders; their hair combed and kept in place, their makeup professionally perfect and their clothes were of course upgraded to the current season of style. I wasn't an expert on looks, but Jesus did they bring New York's fashion week over to searing Arizona.

"Jason," called out Thalia, right by Annabeth's side. His sister was dressed in the shortest cutoff shorts he had ever seen, accompanied by a black tank pinned with dozen of screaming badges, advocating: PUNK IS NOT DEAD.

"Coming over," I yelled back, tearing my gaze from Piper. Being the obedient brother I was, I took the offer of Thalia's hand and retreated into the sweltering interior of the bus, my glimpse of her fading into the rear-view mirror as the bus lurched into movement through the sandy atmosphere.

I'm not going to sugar-coat it for you guys but Quartzite was a dump.

Large RV trucks parked messily at every front of a run-down bar, or convenience store. Flies heaved around our faces and I did my best to swat them away with not much success. My tongue had lost its moisture entirely and I was dying to get a drink. The sun had risen to the azure sky, not a cloud in sight. So the heat was in full-throttle, burning everybody within its proximity. The wind was dry and warm, scratching my face with bits of sand.

"Wow," I remarked.

"I know," beamed Percy, "It's Heaven."

"I was going more for 'burning Hell'. But that's fine too."

"Stop whinging, baby brother," Thalia stepped off the bus, landing on the desert floor with dust flying. "This isn't New York, but it's the closest thing we'll get."

"I'm thirsty."

"So is everybody, little bro," Thalia gestured to a bar- a sturdy, small little shack with the board barely secured onto the top, dark tinted windows, a broken door hanging slightly ajar on the hinges and an overall aura that sent shivers down my back. It looked like some old grubby pub in a Western cowboy movie. "Drinks are the absolute best here."

Thalia was right.

The bar or pub- was called Argus's Hippy Hideaway, owned by a grumpy, stout man with a fat mop of blond hair over his head, blinking blue eyes and a demeanour not meant to be crossed, until his face broke into the friendliest smile I had ever seen on such a frightening man.

"Percy, Annabeth," he grunted in a stereotypical movie deep voice, "You're back! School's in session already?"

Percy bobbed his head in a yes motion, "Yep, it sucks but you're here," Percy flashed him a silly grin and then clapped me on the back, nearly knocking me to the floor and my glasses askew. "We got a new addition, Argus- he's Jason!" I waved awkwardly, not the best at first impressions and Argus gave me a toothy grin and a large cracked cup of beer.

We've bought a round of Argus's best recommended beer and we've wasted chugging the cool, foamy liquid down our throats, quenching our thirsts. I licked my lips, savouring the bittersweet but ice cold taste of the beer when I suddenly realized my mug was gone. Percy beamed at me and raised his mug in response, guzzling down as his girlfriend rolled her eyes and remarked about how he was such a slob and lectured him on how he could've taken it a bit easier.

Within thirty minutes, the throng of buzzing students entered the bar and began ordering, talking along themselves as they occupied the vacant seats. It was clear from the beginning that Argus's Hippy Hideaway was a popular thing. When the bar started to get too crowded, Thalia suggested we checked out the other shops, claiming she was in need of a shopping emergency. Everybody agreed without animosity, exiting the cool interior of Argus's pub and entering Arizona's hell. I was all for shopping but seriously who the fuck can solve the need of a 'shopping emergency' in a truck stop town?

We've passed several tattered thrift shops, browsing through the dusty collections of old Colonial frontier notebooks and journals, which Annabeth expressed ardent enthusiasm for. "Oh my god," she raved to her boyfriend, spilling her coins onto the counter of the old lady. Hazel, Frank and a moody Nico in tow had told them they had to visit the technology store- of which I proceeded to wonder where the fuck was the Apple store- and went off on their own, promising they would all meet back at Argus's place. Leo was sipping on a takeaway mug of Argus's best brews, but the heat didn't bother him strangely. When I fanned myself and wiped away my sweat, Leo basked in the heat, happily noting of how he enjoyed this kind of weather more than anything else in the world as Percy, Annabeth and I stared at him like crazy- well, I stared at him as if he was crazy, Percy and Annabeth just shrugged.

We journeyed towards the other side, where most of the restaurants were, and grabbed some lunch at a crappy Mexican place where the taco shells were soft but the beef tasted good, nonetheless. I was just weirded out by the soft texture of the tacos. Then, at the end scale of the afternoon, when it got a bit cooler, Thalia and I stopped by one of the clothes shop and I realized Piper and her clones of pretty 'Aphrodite Girls' as the entire school had nicknamed them giggling by one of the more extravagant shops.

By extravagant I meant it was not as tattered and frayed as every shop and the shop had lined their clothing in the sandy display of the windows, with beads of ancient Native American tribal jewelry shown sufficiently in glass cases. A burly, sleepy cleaner moped the window inefficiently, failing to get any kind of sand off.

"Jason!" she waved at me and blew a flirty little kiss with her palm, "How's my Superman feeling?"

I blushed tomato red instantly. She smirked. Damn it. "Um," I mumbled, shoving my hands into my pockets. "Good. A bit hot, you know…"

"Oh, I bet you are," she winked and strode over in cutoff shorts and a black crop top riding up her stomach, exposing her tanned flesh and navel pierced with a black jade stud. A pink lollipop was stuck in between her mouth, her tongue encasing the sweet globe every once in a while.

"Piper," Thalia swore under her breath, addressing the tiny brunette with her classic stink-eye. She plastered on a poker face; a smile, but lacking the genuine warmth she gave me, and filled with sardonic phoniness. "What do you want? We don't want to buy cigs, Pipes. I still have four packs."

"Not selling, Thals," Piper laughed, pulling the lollipop out. It was slick and wet with her saliva. "Just checking out inventory."

"My brother is not a duck for you to shoot targets at, Mclean," said Thalia firmly, grabbing her strict hold on him. Her hand was slippery with sweat, but insistent.

"I'm right here," I defended, wrenching my hand out of her grip. Thalia glared at me, unnaturally patronising. Her eyes screamed don't you even dare, but I ignored her and smiled shyly at Piper. "Hey."

She cocked her head sidewards. "Hullo," she flashed Thalia a nauseatingly smug look. "See? Your brother can greet others nicely. Why can't you?"

"Because you're a bitch," grunted Thalia originally, regaining her composure with the petite brunette. "Look, we just want to be left alone and we really could have a better day without your company. You mind fucking off?"

Normally, anybody would've been pretty offended by the rude comment but instead of getting all hissy, Piper drew her lips into a perfect rosebud pout. "But Jason wants me here," she glanced expectantly at me, and I retreated between the two intense women. "doesn't he?"

"Uh-" Not wanting to be rude, I politely nodded and avoided the acidic look I was instantly confronted with by Thalia, "Sure."

Piper wrapped her lips obscenely around the lollipop, her pink tongue bobbing in and out, and said triumphantly: "Great." She turned to Thalia; whose face was an impassive mask. "Problem, Thals?"

I've observed the frosty, exchange, steaming with tense animosity. My instincts were telling me to bolt, because I can tell something very, very bad was about to happen within two women and being caught in that was as bad as trapped in the rain with the high velocity of getting struck by lightning. "No," retorted Thalia proudly, "Not at all. Why don't you join us?"

Piper clearly won this round. She brightened. "Thanks; you're such a great friend, Thals."

Thalia only marched away in the opposite direction. Piper laughed and linked her arm around mine, "You're going to go calm her down?" she batted her eyelashes innocuously.

"Yeah-" Stumbling once again, "I better go."

I was encased within the white sheets of my bed, trying to fall asleep to the sound of Leo's snores when Piper had snuck into my room. It was two in the morning and everybody was deep in their rooms, sleeping.

It was sinfully cold, with the strong desert winds blowing across the school's infrastructure and banging the door across the threshold, keeping me awake. I thought of rising from my bed to retrieve maybe my book, but I couldn't be fucked by the effort to stand up.

It was then when I heard an unnatural creak that didn't omit out of my bed and flinched upright, looking frantically around my surroundings while jabbing myself in the eye from trying to put on my glasses blindly. I scrambled out of bed, reaching for the closest form of a weapon- my pillow- and tripped on my way out oh-so-formidably. But I felt a dainty hand pressed on my naked chest saw Piper standing above me, smirking, her eyes glinting an amber colour in the dark as she raised her eyebrows at the sight of me planting myself ass-first onto the ground.

"Little excited, aren't we?" she giggled as she sat on the foot of my bed while I continue to gawk.

"Piper?" I fumbled. "What are you...doing here at two in the morning?"

She shrugged, "Bored," her eyes trailed down my naked abdomen and I realized I was only in boxer shorts. Redness decorated my cheeks. "Blushing once again? God, I love blushers. They're so cute."

"Shut up," I mumbled, crawling into bed. "Well, what do you want?"

"You," she said bluntly, catching me off guard as she curled her head onto my stomach. She grinned at my shock and laughed, her lips grazing my earlobe. "Just joking, you cutie."

"Am I dreaming?"

She pinched my buttcheeks and I yelped and jumped, causing Leo to stir. "Nope," she popped the 'p'.

I rubbed my eyes with the back of my fists, ridding my eyes of the receding haze of sleep. "So…?" I offered as she traced circles onto my bare chest. She was in nothing but tiny boy shorts, exposing her milky legs and a simple black tank. Her hair kept in a messy knot and her face was free of her makeup. I was surprised by how fresh-faced she was; though she looked sexy and hot with her heavy eyeliner and red lipstick, she looked even better- sweet and real- without it. Normally, girls who wore lots of makeup didn't look as well as they did with it, but Piper was different. I instantly preferred her without her intense makeup….she seemed almost real.

"Let's go for a drink and some food," she held up a bottle of alcohol.

I pushed my floppy blonde hair out of my face. "What?" I whisper-shouted.

"Food," she repeated, "Like a burger. I'm fucking starving."

"At-at this time? We- we have curfew," I said sternly. "We'll get caught."

She picked up a discarded shirt lying by the floor and tossed it to me. "That should do," she decided firmly. I stood rigid, unmoving as she started towards the door and twisted it open, then turned around. "Come on."

"I-" Words stuck in my throat. Leo snored, ruining the dramatic effect.

"Don't be such a goody-two shoes."

"We shouldn't," I responded fiercely, forming some what of a stance against her. She seemed taken aback I've made such a remark. Nonplussed, she blinked and recoiled, reverting to a different approach. She slinked back into my room, her silhouette sliding behind her as a slow, seductive grin inhabited her face, gracing her features in a playful manner. "Never snuck out before," she laughed slightly, throwing her head back, "haven't you? Poor little lamb. You'll see what you're missing out on."

She pulled on my arm, leading me towards the door. "What if we get caught?" I gulped at her.

She softened at the fear in my voice, but she tilted her head and blew me a kiss as the cold, desert air washed upon our bare skin through the gap of our door. "It's okay," she promised with certainty, "I put the pro in professional at this."

Reviews are like kissing baes so keep them coming.

MWAH!