7Tw/ brief mention of racism + racist comment
Chapter 4
Piper
As intimidating and prestigious Lupa Academy was, Piper was excited to go there, but Jason was a very strong factor for her feeling that way. Piper still couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that she wouldn't have her parents in the house with her. But, her and her friends got some independence for the future; which was a plus.
Piper was watching Jason walk back to his house, slightly stumbling along the way, making a large smile spread across Piper's face. She brought her last boxes inside the house and placed them inside her bedroom before walking into the living room, if you could call it that. She hadn't noticed her rosy cheeks until Leo pinched them.
"Is Beauty Queen blushing?" He taunted, whilst Piper smacked his hands away.
"No!" She argued, "I'm just warm, that's all"
Leo rolled his eyes and plonked himself on the sofa and rested his feet on a box. The door opened to reveal Percy and Annabeth holding the best thing in the world; pizza.
"Pizza, Your Royal Highnesses" Percy said dramatically, adding an over the top bow along with it.
"Seaweed Brain…" Annabeth rolled her eyes at Percy, with a smile on her face.
As they all tucked into the delicious pizza in front of them when Annabeth brought up the topic that had been on everyone's mind for the past few weeks.
"So, Lupa Academy?" She asked, swallowing a bite of pizza. Percy sighed and ran his hands through his messy hair.
"Honestly, I'm kind of dreading it. They're so..."
"Egotistical?" Annabeth suggested.
"Rude?" Piper chimed in.
"Stuck up." Leo put it bluntly.
"Yeah…" Percy continued, "All of those things."
Sure, Piper thought, some of the Lupa Academy students had looked at them like they were just a piece of dog shit on her shoe. But they weren't all bad. By 'all' Piper just meant Jason and his friends.
"Hey, did you guys realise that Jason lives across the street?" Piper said, trying to sound casual.
"Oh, Jason you're so perfect!" Leo screeched, in a bad imitation of Piper's voice. "Your hair is so beautiful and golden and-"
Piper cut him off by throwing a shoe at him, hitting him square in the forehead.
"Shut up, ass hat." She mumbled, with a hint of smile on her face.
Here it was. Piper's first day of Lupa Academy, it was an understatement to say that she and the rest of Chiron High students were completely dreading it. Piper had only been into Lupa Academy once and that was to punch the scrawny blonde kid, so she hadn't exactly been given a guided tour.
Piper and her friends were wearing the required Lupa Academy uniform, but each person had added their own individual style. Although the uniform rules were extremely strict, Piper was happy to be able to distinguish the Chiron High student from the Lupa ones, it made the transition easier. Piper was trailing behind the group, lost in her own thoughts when Leo appeared next to her.
"I heard from Percy, who heard from Travis, who heard from Connor, who heard from Lou-Ellen, who heard from Jake that the rules here are super strict." said Leo, who looked deadly serious.
"Really?" She laughed, "It took all those people for you to figure that out?" Leo just looked at her blankly. When it came to mechanics, there was no one as brilliant as Leo. But he sure as heck didn't understand humans.
"Anyway, Leo don't worry. I looked at some of their rules last night online and I've already found loop-holes in them." She explained, "Don't worry, we've got this."
"I really hope you're right. I'm not even in the building and I'm stressing out already."
"Trust me, Valdez. Beautiful people never lie." They both laughed at the inside joke they shared, as they caught up with the rest of their friends; who had come to a stop in front of the school.
"What's going on?" She asked Percy, who had come and stood next to her.
"There is no one at the front of the school." He observed, "It's strange."
"Wait, what do you mean there's no one there?" Leo questioned.
"Like there's no teachers, no students, nothing. It's looks like it's dead or something."
"I really hope they aren't playing a prank on us or something." Annabeth wondered from the other side of Percy.
Thankfully, it wasn't a prank as the doors to the school swung open to revel Mr Bacchus, the principal of Lupa Academy, stood with Mr Dionysus (Mr. D), the principal of Chiron High.
Behind the 2 leaders stood the students of Lupa Academy, leading them was 6 students (one of which was Jason Grace, in all his glory), they were probably student leaders or something.
"Today is a day that will be remembered by people from New Rome for years to come." Mr Bacchus started. Piper could already feel the Chiron High students becoming bored. "The joining of Lupa Academy and Chiron High is going to change the way our cities are..."
Mr Bacchus continued to babble but Piper had already zoned out. Her eyes travelled across the crowd until they landed on Jason. He looked back at her and fake yawned in Mr Bacchus' direction. Piper smiled back at him, trying to contain her laughter whilst a blush spread across her cheeks.
Another girl stood next to Jason (Piper recognised the girl from her last visit) elbowed Jason and gave him a 'stop being an ass' look. Jason returned to his emotionless expression.
"People will remember this generation for-" Mr Bacchus rambled on.
"Would you hurry up already?" Someone shouted from the crowd, it sounded like Clarisse. If it was her, Piper wasn't surprised. Clarisse's comment caused laughter to ripple throughout the crowd of teenagers.
"Anyway..." Mr Dionysus interrupted, "You all will be split into groups. Each group will have a leader to show you around, so my lot play nice. Alright?"
Mr D took a crumpled list out of his pocket and began to read out the names of the students. She didn't pay any attention to what he was saying (again) until Percy nudged her.
"And, finally, with Jason Grace…" M D said, that caught Piper's attention. "Annabeth Chase, Katie Gardner, Percy Jackson, Piper Jackson, Will Solace, Connor Stoll, Travis Stoll, Leo Valdez and Nyssa Valentine."
Piper and her friends made their way over to Jason who smiled at them in greeting.
"Hey! It's great to see you all again." said Jason, cheerfully.
"Jason! My man!" Leo shouted right next to Piper's ear.
"Jesus Leo..." She mumbled.
"So, shall we start?" Jason offered.
Jason proceeded to take Piper and her friends down the hallways showing them various classrooms and subjects until they came to a stop in front of a pair light brown double doors with the words 'PERFORMING ARTS' in bold black letters on a silver plaque.
"Funny." Piper mused, "I never saw this as a place to like performing arts so much."
"Well there's always more to something than what meets the eye." Jason said, his electric blue eyes locking with her kaleidoscope ones.
"So, what's it like inside?" asked Annabeth, bringing Piper and Jason out of her staring contest with Jason.
"Uh yeah...of course." Jason responded, with a slight blush on his cheeks, before opening the doors.
The doors led into a small room with lots of pictures of students. Some spouting lines, some in mid pirouette and some playing musical instruments.
"So, this room splits up the 3 sections of performing arts. The drama room..." He gestured to left to another light brown door, "the music room..." he pointed towards the door in the middle, "and the dance studio." That definitely caught their attention; they all loved to dance.
Jason took them through the door to the left and into the drama studio. The floors were a carpeted grey apart from the raised stage at the front of the classroom. Across from the stage and at the other side of the room, sat rows of seats each row higher than the previous. On the ceiling, hung a row of bright lights in various colours pointing towards the stage.
"This place is insane." observed Katie, to which everyone else nodded in response.
"This is usually where meetings are held for all the students who do drama or just performing arts in general." Jason told them, "Should we go to the music room?"
He led them out of the drama studio and back into the dividing room but instead through the middle door and into the music room.
Piper was amazed. The room was full of different instruments from shakers to electric guitars, djembe drums to harps. But what caught Piper's eye was sleek black grand piano that sat untouched in the corner of the room.
"You play?" a voice asked next to her, she turned her head to see Jason stood there.
"I used to. Not as much now." She told him. She caught Leo making kissy faces from across the at the two from the other side of the room and rolled her eyes.
"I've always wanted to play an instrument." Jason admitted.
"You can't play an instrument? But you're like, Mr Perfect! You're great at everything."
"Well, Piper, I can't be perfect at everything otherwise people would get jealous." Jason stated with such seriousness that Piper's laughter came out in loud snorts. Jason laughed along with her before they were interrupted by a loud crash. They both looked over to see Travis and Connor looking guilty.
"That was him!" They said simultaneously, pointing at the other accusingly.
"Let's just go to the dance studio before anything else happens." Jason suggested with a slight smile.
He took them all into the dance studio which was so much nicer than the one at Chiron High. The floor was sleek and shiny golden-brown colour. On the right of the entrance door, mirrors that were the length of the ceiling to the floor lined the wall. Along the opposite wall was a ballet bar which was squeaky clean.
"Woah..." Calypso muttered.
"This is amazing." Will added.
"Do any of you dance?" Jason asked, curiously.
"Jason, we met at a mall where we were dancing." Piper reminded him.
"Oh yeah..." He remembered, "So you all dance then?"
"Most of us." Annabeth replied, "We have help with choreography though."
"Oooh! Piper?" Leo questioned, "Do that spinny turny thing!"
"You really need to learn their names, Valdez." Nyssa observed. Piper rolled her eyes as Leo looked at her expectantly.
"Fine." She huffed, "Hold my bag, repair boy."
She threw her backpack at Leo, who fumbled to catch it, and slipped off her shoes. She walked into the centre of the room, placing her left foot down firmly and pushed off with her right, making a turning motion. Piper loved turning; it was one of her favourite things to do in dance.
After doing about 5 turns (for good measure), she stopped herself, so she was facing everyone and was met with a small round of applause, plus an impressed looking Jason.
"That was amazing." said Jason, sincerely, causing Piper's cheeks to turn red.
"Thanks." She replied, smiling.
"I can so do that too, Piper." claimed Connor, who walked cockily to the middle of the room and tried to spin but ended falling flat on his butt, which caused everyone else to laugh at his misfortune.
"Hey, it's difficult! You try and do it!" Connor complained.
Bad move. Connor's words caused everyone to try and do turns as elegantly as herself. It wasn't pretty.
"Aren't you gonna try, Jason?" Piper asked, whilst everyone else was spinning madly.
"Well," Jason sighed, "I guess I've got to." Piper watched as he slipped his shoes off and did 5 perfect turns and stopped in front of her, only to be met with a shocked expression. Wow, this guy is incredible, she thought.
"What? How?" She stuttered
"I had ballet lesson for a while when I was younger," he explained, "I stopped before I came to high school."
"Well clearly you were amazing if you can still turn like that now!"
They shared a small laugh before the doors to the dance studio opened, revealing another group of Chiron High students lead by the girl who was stood next to Jason this morning. Piper had yet to learn her name.
"Jason? What's going on?" The girl demanded, eyeing up Piper and her friends suspiciously.
"It's cool, Reyna. They're just trying to pirouette."
"Unsuccessfully." Piper added, causing her and Jason to laugh again.
"Well tell to stop." Reyna ordered, "There's still loads more to show them of the school."
"Reyna-"
"Now, Jason."
Piper watched as Jason and Reyna stared at each other, like a play for power, until Jason gave in and let out a small sigh.
"Okay, fine. Let's carry on, guys."
Lupa Academy was massive, Piper had decided. She'd only been there for a few hours and had lost her way more times than she'd like to admit. Trying to find the cafeteria was about to be added to the list until she felt an arm thrown over her shoulder, which, thankfully, was Percy.
"Hey kiddo." He greeted
Piper rolled her eyes at the nickname, "I'm only a few months younger than you."
"Do you know how many dirty looks I've gotten today, already?" Percy continued, ignoring her comment, "12. And I'm pretty sure they were just from that Octagon kid."
"Do you mean Octavian?" Piper corrected. She didn't blame Percy for the comment, it was clear to the Chiron and Lupa students alike that Octavian hated them the most. Not enough to have started the fire at Chiron High, thank gods. That had simply been a science experiment gone extremely wrong. Regardless, she still hated the Octavian kid.
"Whatever. It's basically the same thing."
"Well, I heard a Pocahontas joke about me today." Piper revealed, "That's the first one in a really long time."
Percy stopped in his tracks and looked at her with sad eyes. "Pipes." He said softly, "Were they bad?"
"Nothing I haven't heard before." She shrugged.
"That still doesn't make it okay." He insisted, "Especially seeing as how diverse both the towns are." *
"I'm fine, Percy. Honestly"
She wrapped her arm around him and gave him a side hug as they walked through the cafeteria doors. She stood on her tiptoes trying to find one of their friends, specifically Annabeth's curly blonde hair. Piper spotted Annabeth waving to her and dragged Percy over to the table where the rest of her friends were. Piper sat down next to Leo, who was tinkering with some objects that she couldn't quite see and ran her fingers through his curls.
Leo's head snapped up before he relaxed once he realised it was her, "Gods, Piper, don't scare me like that!"
"But you're so easy to scare." She reasoned, laughing at his reaction.
As Leo opened his mouth to respond, he looked past Piper and made a shocked face. When Piper raised her eyebrows, Leo turned her head around to show her what he was looking at. Jason. Jason Grace was coming over to their table. Piper's heart started beating quicker in her chest as he neared them.
"Ooh, Piper, it's your boyfriend!" Leo taunted, poking Piper in her ribcage.
"Stop that!" She demanded as she smacked his hands away, "And he's not my boyfriend, shut up."
Unfortunately, this caught Percy's attention, as anything Jason related did, he sat up straighter and started eyeing up Jason as he walked over. Piper watched as Percy forced a smile and nodded at Jason in greeting.
Jason smiled friendly at them all then sat down next to Piper, who's heart started beating even faster. Pull yourself together!
"Hey everyone!" Jason said warmly, "How have your days been so far?"
"Well, you know, some of your classmates made racist comments towards my sister. So, not great." Percy explained tightly. Piper shot him a dirty look and kicked his shin from under the table.
"Wait seriously?" Jason said, shock written on his face. He looked Piper directly in the eye, "Is that true? What did they say?" Piper stumbled over her words unable to form a proper sentence with his bright blue eyes staring so intensely at her.
"It is true!" Percy said annoyance evident in his voice, "What are you-"
"Percy, be quiet please!" Piper interjected, she turned to look back at Jason, "Yeah, there was a Pocahontas comment but it's not a big deal."
Jason shook his head in disagreement and leaned closer to her, she could see Percy fidgeting with his hands and staring at them intently from the corner of her eye.
"No, it is a big deal, Piper. Do you know who it was? Was it Octavian?"
"I don't know their name, but I'll point them out to you if I see them. I promise." Piper smiled at Jason sincerely who nodded in agreement and moved away from her.
"Anyway," Leo coughed awkwardly, "The workshops here are amazing, I've never seen so many tools before."
"Well, I'm glad to hear that." Jason replied, his eyes flickering over to Piper with concern.
Piper looked down and saw his hand resting near her leg. A sudden urge of confidence came over her, slowly, she linked her little finger with his and held it tightly just for a moment. Piper wasn't sure why she did it, maybe to say thank you, or to remind him that she was okay or, just because it felt right. She felt Jason lightly brush his finger against hers and looked up at him where he was listening to Annabeth's many questions about Lupa Academy's architectural history. His cheeks were the slightest shade of pink and a small smile was creeping onto his face.
Their moment was interrupted by Will Solace who came bounding over to the table, followed closely by a group of eager freshmen. Piper quickly moved her hand away from Jason's and turned to look at Will and his new gang.
"Hey Will." She greeted, "Who are your new friends?"
The girls giggled at Piper's question and whispered to each other to which Will sighed loudly. Will's new group of freshmen had caught Nico's attention, Piper noticed, he had taken off his headphones and was carefully assessing the situation before him.
"They're not my friends." He explained sharply, "They have been following me around since 2nd period."
"I'll handle this." Jason muttered next to Piper. He stood up and walked over to the freshmen girls like he had the biggest, most exciting news to share.
"Girls, did you hear that Michael Kahale is running shirtless on the football field next period?"
The girls squealed loudly causing Leo to drop whatever invention he was working on and Percy to slide backwards of his chair in surprise. The freshmen quickly ran to the exit already getting their phones out to take pictures. Piper and her friends turned to look at Jason with confusion.
"Yeah, that was a straight up lie."
"Well whatever you did, thank you." Will said, relieved, "Anyway, I saw Mr. Apollo here today."
"Mr Apollo?" Nico confirmed, "Why?"
"I have no idea. I guess he's looking for a new job after what happened at Chiron."
"Was Thalia with him?" Annabeth asked. Piper wondered the same, what was Thalia going to do now she wasn't at Chiron either?
What was everyone going to do?
The next week, Piper was walking from Roman Studies, certainly a change from Chiron High's Greek Studies, to Calculus before her free period when Jason appeared next to her.
"Miss Jackson." He greeted.
"Why hello, Mr Grace." She replied, joining in with his joke.
"I figured out why your old teacher was here yesterday."
"Oh really? Will you be sharing that information?"
Jason paused for a moment, pretending to think about what he would say until Piper smacked his arm lightly. Oh my god, he's muscular too.
"Apparently, he's taking over as Head of Performing Arts, which probably means we'll be doing a show this year. Maybe more events too."
"Are shows and events not a thing here?"
"Um, kinda." Jason stopped and looked as though he was trying to find right words, "We have showcases before the Winter Break, but they usually just involve the choir and some of the music students that Principal Bacchus chooses."
"It's not open to all students?"
"Nope. It's a very selective process. But maybe having Mr Apollo as the new Head, it won't be as anymore."
Just as the words left Jason's mouth, they turned the corner to see several posters taped to the walls. Piper walked over to one with Jason not far behind her and saw the words 'MEETING IN DRAMA STUDIO DURING THIRD PERIOD ABOUT THE NEW PRODUCTION, ANY STUDENT WELCOME' in big bold letters.
"I guess he's shaking things up sooner than we thought." Piper noted.
"Do you have a free period then too?" Jason asked.
"Uh yeah, we all do."
"I guess I'll see you there then."
Piper turned to look at him and waved. Jason carried on down the corridor leaving her stood staring at the poster still. Piper wondered what plans Mr Apollo had, he was certainly an eccentric man and she had no idea how the students of Lupa Academy would react. Piper looked at the poster for a moment before she made her way to Calculus, wondering what would happen next period.
The drama studio was buzzing with excitement from Chiron and Lupa students alike, the turnout was much larger than Piper had expected. She was sat with Leo on her right, who was explaining his plan to get Calypso to go on a date with him.
"And then once I have planted the roses, I'll wait until-"
"Leo." She cut off, " Why do you try just talking to her? You're an amazing guy, it won't take long for her to notice."
"No, Piper that will never work." He sighed dramatically.
Piper rolled her eyes but laughed with him anyway. She looked over to see Jason and two of his friends walking up the stairs to find seats, Piper wasn't sure if he'd noticed her yet, but she wanted to sit with him or, even better, sit next to him. She raised her hand and waved at him, he turned to look at her with a bright smile and waved back.
"Hey guys!" He said cheerfully as he sat next to her, "This is Hazel and Frank." He gestured to a girl with dark, curly hair (Piper recognised her from the mall, she still had great hair) and a boy with close cropped hair.
"It's nice to meet you, again." Piper smiled, "This is Leo." Leo smiled and flashed a peace sign.
"This place is packed. I've never seen it like this before." Jason noted.
"Really? Maybe that's a good thing?"
"I'm hoping so."
Mr Apollo came into the room followed by Thalia. She's working here now, Piper thought. He smiled at the students and clapped loudly to get everyone's attention. Piper was beginning to think eccentric was too nice a description for him.
"Hello, returning students and new students!" He said dramatically, she rolled her eyes. Here we go. "I am beyond excited to be your new Head of Performing Arts!"
"Is he always like this?" Jason whispered to her.
"Oh, you're not ready for what he's like." Piper whispered back. Jason's eyes widened slightly and shook his head in disbelief.
"I know you're all excited to hear what I have chosen for the next school musical!"
As soon as the sentence left Mr Apollo's mouth, the room started to buzz with excitement from the students. Loud whispers of possible shows were fluttered around the room as people were trying to guess what would be happening. From in front of her, Percy threw his head back in his chair to look at Piper with a 'can you believe him' look.
"Settle down everyone!" Mr Apollo exclaimed, regaining the rooms attention, "I believe this musical is perfect for this new school and our current situation."
Current situation? That doesn't sound good, Piper thought.
"I have chosen a beautiful piece! A classic from the legends, Bernstein and Sondheim!" Apollo teased, "West Side Story!"
The room exploded with joy; Piper heard Drew Tanka boasting that she was definitely going to play Maria. Leo stood up next to her and started dancing, singing the mambo music from the 'Dance at the Gym'. Percy slung his arm around Annabeth with a smirk on his face, Piper watched Annabeth roll her eyes, already knowing what Percy was going to say about what parts they would get.
"Before I forget!" Mr Apollo's voice broke through the noise, "The Sharks will be played by the Chiron students and The Jets will be the Lupa students!"
The students in the room carried on chatting with excitement. Piper looked around the room and was already noticing a trend in the students. They were completely divided and having them play rivals was only going to make that worse.
"Well that sounds like a terrible idea." Piper noted.
"What do you mean?" Jason questioned, from next to her.
"Look around, Jason, we're the only two people from different schools sat next to each other"
"We've only been classmates for a few weeks. If that." He reasoned.
"And you think playing rivals is going to help that?"
"I know what you mean, but I have faith that everyone can be civilised"
"I hope so." Piper mused.
Mr Apollo went on to announce audition dates and song requirements. The students left the drama studio, collecting music sheets and audition lines with a newfound happiness about them.
"So…" Jason started from behind her, "Who are you auditioning for?"
"Oh, no one. I'm really not much of a singer, or actor." She explained, putting a string of hair behind her ear.
"Seriously?" Jason asked, in shock.
"I mean, I can do it. But I'm not that interested in it."
"Okay…" Jason nodded, "So, I'm guessing you wouldn't want to meet me in the music room after school on Thursday then?"
"On Thursday?" Piper felt her ears and neck go warm, "I mean, it's always good to practice the chorus songs, right?"
"I'll see you then." Jason smiled at her and left the room. Piper watched him turn the corner and smiled to herself.
For Piper, that Thursday would be the start of many more.
* I am not Native American, nor am I a person of colour. I will never understand what pocs have been through and by showing this moment for Piper, I am trying to show the reality of what she would deal with on a day to day basis. Although to some it may not same a racist statement but rather a joke, this isn't true and comments like these are what many people of colour have to live with. I mean no disrespect towards any person who is Native American and I am fully aware that there is so much to Native people than the unrealistic portrayal of Pocahontas. I believe Piper's race (and many other poc in HoO) is an important aspect of her character and one I would never erase.
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter (despite it being at least 5 years late lol)