I'm only publishing this now as motivation for me to write the next chapter since it'll be for the story's anniversary.

XII: Jason and Piper Ask Any Three (Or More) Questions

Jason wasn't aware that he was asleep, but he jolted awake when someone opened his door. He immediately sits straight and squints when someone turns on the light. He raises a hand to block the light and once his eyes adjust, he sees Piper holding a finger to her mouth telling him to keep quiet as she closes the door softly behind her.

"What time is it?" Jason asks. He looks out the window and it's pitch black.

"Thirty minutes past curfew," Piper responds.

"Did anyone ask about me?"

He figures that he passed out the moment he arrived after their exercise in the woods. His dream and then that encounter with the wolves rang in his mind. Everything around him is feeding him bones almost teasingly. They know things and mock him for being so unaware of his surroundings and past. Despite his mind being restless, he wanted to continue that dream and grasp onto something more.

"They did, but they believed me when I said it was none of their business," Piper responds.

What gnaws at him most was the Alpha Wolf telling him that people were looking for him but gave up. How long has he been missing?

Jason watches Piper sit on the edge of his bed.

"Are you okay?" Piper asks.

Jason shakes his head. "Not really. Are you?"

"Kinda spooked. You weren't asleep, were you?"

Jason shrugs, tilting his head back and faking snoring sounds. He laughs when Piper whacks him with his pillow.

"Come on," Piper says, getting up and heading towards his door. "I want to show you something."

Jason grabs a sweatshirt from his nightstand. "Isn't that how people get axe-murdered?"

Piper shushes him while holding back a laugh.

"How'd you get here without Coach noticing?" Jason asks her.

Piper shrugs. "Actually, he totally caught me but I pulled some 'you never saw me' and he just went with it."

Jason isn't sure if she's being serious, but he would believe her if she was telling the truth. Piper has that power over people, and Coach would probably let them pass by their curfew for a bit to check on each other.

Piper opens his bedroom door and looks both ways before sprinting down the hallway. Jason follows her to the stairwell that's still dark despite the emergency lights dimly lit. They run up the stairs to the roof where the door is propped open with an old sneaker that's so worn out that it's likely been at this school longer than them. Piper pushes the door open and the cold air hits them. She inhales loudly to make a point of taking in the fresh air, opening her arms and spinning on her heels as she looks at the night sky littered with stars.

It's so peaceful and dark that Jason feels that holding his breath would be better. Chills run through his arms and legs and he can see his breath when he exhales. The roof is so full of lost frisbees and tennis balls from activities over the years, never recovered. He knows that Piper is just thinking of doing some form of epic rain fire during their next free time outdoors. So worth detention, her likely exact thoughts.

Piper sits down on an exhaust pipe and Jason copies. They both look out beyond the school, barely making out the outline of the forest in the dark.

"How'd you discover this?" Jason asks.

"When I first got here, a couple of girls dragged me out here while I was sleeping and left me here for the night," Piper responds.

Jason's eyes widen. He's shocked that nobody did that to him since they hated him on day one. "Are you serious? Piper-"

Piper waves him off. "Relax. I handled it."

"How?"

"Doing nothing. If I made a big deal out of it, it would've made it worse for me. I didn't know how long I'd be here and I didn't know how long I'd be stuck with them. It all worked out, though. A fun night in nature with no weather issues and I didn't roll off the roof. They checked on me in the morning because if I died up here, that's a hate crime murder type thing and some of them can't afford more charges cause that means actual juvie."

Piper slides off the pipe and onto the roof. Jason copies again and they're both lying on their sides to face each other.

"Wanna play a game?" Piper asks.

"Sure," he responds.

"My dad and I have this game called 'Any Three Questions.' It's where we can ask each other any three questions that have to be answered. No lying."

Jason scoffs. "Ask me some questions. I probably won't answer most of them because I don't know, but I want you to try and get to know me better."

Piper grins. "That's the plan. New players first."

"Okay. Why'd those other girls drag you out to the roof?"

Piper shrugs a shoulder. "I should've seen that coming. You'd think it'd be fun to be in a place where nobody knows you and it can be. Nobody can judge you based on who you are, who your parents are, where you come from, and what you did … you could start over."

"But what if you don't know any of that? That doesn't count as my second question since you didn't answer my first one yet."

Piper grins. "Fair. They won't know your backstory either. Does it matter? Not my first question."

Jason shrugs. "It does if I woke one night here with no prior memory of anything about myself except my name. It's weird not to know anything and with everything that keeps happening, it's just so unsettling."

"Touché," Piper pauses, shifting her feet against the gravel on the roof. "Maybe you got a lobotomy before you came here. You do have that scar on your lip."

Jason laughs a little as he touches his scar. "You and lobotomies."

"You at least know the story for that, right? Still not my question but maybe it could be since I'm now curious."

He laughs again. "Not a lobotomy."

Piper smiles. "There you go. We're making progress. So to answer your question, the other girls found out why I was sent here a while after I came. I came from a place where people had you on a pedestal you maybe didn't want and maybe didn't hate, but the expectations from everyone around you maybe set you off the edge, and made you act against their preconceived notions and all that. It's weird."

Jason nods. He isn't sure why Piper's words at that moment feel so comforting and relatable for him, but they are. Maybe his unknown truth is along those lines.

"After that, it was all they saw me as and they still do," Piper continues. "Tristan McLean's daughter stole a BMW."

"You stole a BMW?" Jason's eyes widen. "Still not my second question."

"Technically the dealership gave it to me after I asked but-" she quickly cuts herself off. "Wait, that's all you got out of that?"

"What else was I supposed to get? Still not my second question."

Piper lets out a long breath. "So, I guess you're expecting the whole story now since you've gotten my statements?"

"I never asked for your story," Jason responds. "As fast as I'm concerned, someone let you drive a BMW after you asked when you weren't allowed to do so. You made a mistake. It's normal. Everyone in this school had some brushes with the law and are now facing consequences. We learn from those. The end. I can't judge you based on that because I only know who you are now."

Piper frowns. "You're just giving me a free pass."

"No. You're just choosing to ruminate on that."

Piper holds back laughter. "Easy for someone who doesn't know what to ruminate on. I like you. Okay, my turn. First question, why don't you just leave?"

"Leave what?"

Piper smacks the roof. "Leave the school. Look how easy it was to get out here. There's basically no paper trail of you being here and I'd cover for you saying I don't know where you went. I'm pretty persuasive, Jason Grace, so why not leave?"

Oddly enough, the thought of walking out never crossed his mind. Piper isn't wrong. Nothing is holding him here. He could've run off to the forest. So why hasn't he? Maybe he'll find the voice who was searching for him in his dream.

"I don't know if I have anywhere to go," Jason mutters. "Apparently, I may have a pack out there, whatever that implies. It hurt to hear that they've adjusted to my absence and have given up on searching for me, I'll be honest. But just because I came from somewhere doesn't mean I could go back if I knew how. It's not fair that I don't have these memories. It's not fair that I'm lost out here."

"Fair," Piper responds.

Jason clears his throat. "Okay, second question, how did you get here not counting the BMW part?"

"My dad dropped me off. I was one of the rare kids who get dropped off here as opposed to transported like Leo or you who woke up. That is a part of the reason why everyone hates me here. They advise parents to make their goodbyes quick before the child bounced back and parents changed their minds. My dad and I barely looked at each other because when I glanced his way, he was already gone."

Jason isn't sure if he should pat Piper's arm, but he keeps to himself. Maybe he was lucky to have arrived here without any idea of how he arrived.

"I'm sorry," he says.

Piper shrugs. "Admittedly, I was kind of envious that you felt like you just woke up here. No awkward goodbyes to be burned into your mind. And I know what you'll say - that at least he dropped me off instead of having me whisked away in the middle of the night. But just because he loves me doesn't mean I feel loved by him."

"Piper…"

She laughs a little. "I don't even know why he chose this school, you know? Other kids are here for things like assault or have criminal records and I just asked for a joyride in an expensive car."

"Do you think you're meant to be here?" Jason turns away when Piper narrows her eyes at him. "Third question, yes I skipped your turn, but maybe you're supposed to be here for some reason. Do you believe in destiny?"

"Manifest destiny is why the Cherokee and many other tribes were excavated from their land."

He bites on his tongue. He needs to stop talking. "Sorry."

"The Man believed it was their destiny to migrate west and make their lives better if it meant worsening ours. Stories say my ancestors were the last to leave their land by force. Many died on the way to new land and others converted to Christianity when they arrived. I've heard all this from stories because they're letting out the scared inside of them to help them make sense of things. I hope it helped you make sense of my answer to your question. Jason, I believe in destiny but I don't think it's as powerful as The Man or whomever wants us to believe. Destiny gives us something. It gave The Man a belief, a motive. It's our choice whether we accept it."

He looks at her again and the night captures her so perfectly. Stars reflect in her eyes and strands of her hair fly in the light breeze.

Piper turns to lie on her side and leans in closer. "My second question. I've never doubted you but I want to make sure. Do you really have no idea why you're here or are you just playing along with what Leo and I have been telling you to do?"

Jason grins. "No idea. I mean that I genuinely have no idea why I'm here."

Piper nods. "Not my third question but are you sure? You didn't kill anyone, right?"

"Rules said not to lie."

"They did. But that doesn't mean you're being honest."

"You said you trust me."

"Where's the blindfold, Grace? Not my - I lost count - question."

"You've officially asked two." He raises his hands in defeat. "You know that if I could tell you more about myself - why I'm here, where this scar on my lip came from, what this tattoo on my forearm means - I would."

Jason faces her and they're both staring at each other. He can't think of what to say because her eyes study him intently. She has never looked more beautiful.

"You thinking of a third question?" Jason whispers.

"You've exceeded your three questions," she tells him.

"So did you, not officially."

"Third question. Can I kiss you?"

Jason pauses. "Seriously?"

"I should start billing you for your questions."

"Yes."

"To the billing?"

"To the kiss."

Piper doesn't hold back. She leans in and there's a shock when their lips touch. They jump a little and small sparks flash around them. She jumps back and they laugh when their eyes meet. As their giggles calm, Piper slowly kisses Jason again. Her hands graze his jaw and he runs his hands down her arms.

"I should've kissed you in the forest," Piper whispers.

"I would've liked that."