43Hi there guys, I'm back! Once again, sorry for the slight delay in updates. My updates may be coming less frequently as school is starting soon, but don't worry, I promise to update at least twice a month. ;)
Special thanks to WhyWouldIBeObsessed, lightningoceandeath, Athena's Owl Call, Lively Emerald Green Eyes, go4thandlive, Tricsha Wren, and creamell for favoriting and/or following this story. Thanks guys! So anyways, on with the story!
Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or The Heroes of Olympus.
~Chapter 8~
The bells attached to the front door of Nectar and Ambrosia rang as Piper McLean strolled in. She ordered her usual smoothie, grabbed a muffin, and plopped down at her usual table to eat her breakfast and wait for Annabeth to show up. She watched as Annabeth walked in, ordered her drink and pastry, and sat down across from her.
"Hi Annabeth, thanks for showing up," Piper smiled, sipping her drink.
"No problem Piper," the blonde replied, grinning at Piper. "What is it that you wanted me to help you with?"
"I have a… guest coming over to my house tonight," Piper said, blushing slightly. "Do you have any suggestions about what we should do?"
"A guest? What do you mean?" Annabeth asked, confused.
Piper stared at her.
"Oh… it's a guy isn't it?" Annabeth said, smirking at her friend. "Piper has a boyfriend, " she laughed, nudging her friend knowingly.
Piper blushed, "He's not my boyfriend!"
"Uh huh, suuuuurrre," her friend chortled. "What's his name?" She asked curiously.
"I'm not telling, " Piper responded quickly, turning bright red.
"Fine, be like that," Annabeth snickered, amused at her friend's obvious discomfort. "So anyways, you guys should definitely have pizza. Some dessert would be nice too, and-"
"Hold your horses for a second Annabeth," Piper said. "I'm a vegetarian, and I'm pretty sure he's not."
"That doesn't matter Piper. You've can always just order a half meat and half vegetarian pizza, " Annabeth stated. "Anyways, you two should watch a movie that isn't scary. I know how much you hate scary movies. Maybe… The Avengers or something. The Lightning Thief wouldn't be a bad one either-"
"Nope, I hate that movie."
"Oh, okay," Annabeth said. "Then, that should be it. Do you think you need any more advice from me?"
"No, I think that's it. Thanks Annabeth!" Piper said as the two friends walked out of the coffee shop.
The minute he walked through the doors of the high school, Jason felt all eyes trained upon him. He instantly straightened up and held his head high. As he walked through the halls, everyone fell silent. Jason just walked on.
"All hail Praetor Jason Grace!" someone called. Everyone cheered, and Jason felt someone grab his arm. He turned and saw Hazel beaming at him.
"Congratulations Jason!" She squealed, nearly tackling him with an overly energetic hug.
"Thanks Hazel," Jason laughed.
Frank pushed his way through the crowd that had gathered around Jason. "Good job Jason, " he said, offering him a smile.
Jason returned the smile, grinning at everyone. Suddenly, the crowd parted for Reyna, who made her way over to Jason. The Praetor stood next to him as all noise stopped. She gazed over all the people around her.
"I present to you, Jason Grace, Praetor of New Rome!" She shouted lifting Jason's arm up above his head.
The hall shook with their thunderous cheers. Everyone roared their , everyone except a certain blonde boy in the back corner. Octavian Augur glared at the two Praetors, his gaze buying straight through the two. He should've been Praetor. That thief, Grace, wouldn't be nearly as good as Octavian would've been if he had been elected by the Council to be Praetor. He had plans, brilliant plans, that he was going to carry out, but Jason Grace had been elected Praetor. Octavian sneered, glaring at Jason. No matter what, he was going to carry out his plans, he just needed to get Jason out of the way first.
Piper groaned,her head resting on one of the school picnic table wearily. Her day had been horrible. She had a ton of homework and an upcoming test that she had to study for. To make matters worse, Drew had locked her in her locker. Piper had been grabbing something out of it when she was suddenly shoved into her locker. The next thing she knew, the door slammed closed behind her. Piper had sat there in that horribly cramped position for twenty minutes. She had to text for help, and since Percy was the only one who was on their phone at the time, he to came and released her from her prison.
/Flashback/
'Can someone come and unlock my locker? I got locked in.' Piper texted her distress call, hoping her friends who were in class could somehow save her.
Five minutes later, she got a response.
'I'm coming Piper' - Percy
She waited for a bit, then she heard the locker unlocking. Piper looked up as Percy opened up the door. He frowned at her, concerned.
"You okay Piper?" Percy asked,helping her out.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for helping me Percy. "
"It was Drew, wasn't it?"
"Yep"
"Piper, do you want me to-"
"No, I don't want you to take care of Drew for me. I can do it myself!" Piper said.
Percy looked at her doubtfully.
"Hey Beauty Queen!"
Piper's head shot up from where it had been resting. Her vision blurred a bit before she managed to focus on the person in front of her. She eventually made out Leo's grinning face. Piper managed to smile at him.
"Hi Leo."
Leo went over and sat down next to her. For once, he kept his mouth shut for more than five minutes.
Eventually, it was Piper who broke the silence.
"So, what's up?" She asked tiredly, her head resting on her hand.
"You looked like a zombie, you okay Piper?" Leo asked, concern written all over his face.
"I'm fine. "
"Well, we both know that's a lie, " Leo shot back. "Seriously, what's up? You can tell Leo everything. " Leo said, grinning.
Piper's head slumped. "Leo, I'm just so tired and worn down."
"It's all gonna be all right, Beauty Queen," Leo said, patting her on the shoulder. "Don't worry."
"Thanks Leo," Piper mumbled.
A voice piped up from behind them suddenly. "Piper! There you are! I was just looking for you. So I was thinking that for your date, you should also have popcorn!"
Piper and Leo both turned to see Annabeth standing there. Piper's jaw dropped as her eyes frantically tried to tell Annabeth to keep her mouth shut.
"A date?" Leo asked, curiously. "You finally managed to get someone huh? So, who's the lucky guy?" Leo asked mischievously, his smirk spreading across his face.
Piper blushed furiously. "It's none of your business Leo, " she stuttered bashfully.
"Piper has a boyfriend, Piper has a- hey!" Piper shoved Leo off the bench roughly, causing him to land on the ground.
"Shut up Leo!"
Throughout the entire exchange, Annabeth's cheeks had reddened as she realized that she had accidentally spilled one of Piper's secrets.
"Well, Um, I've gotta go. See you later Piper!" Annabeth said, quickly making her escape.
Piper mentally groaned as Annabeth took off. Darn it Annabeth. Why did you have to bring that up?
Leo laughed. "C'mon Piper, " he whined. "Why can't you tell me?"
"She said no, " a voice said.
The two turned and saw Calypso standing behind them with her arms crossed.
"Leave Piper alone," Calypso said, glaring at Leo.
Leo just stared at her, his eyes widening slightly. "Um, uh, who are you exactly?" he stuttered nervously. Piper looked at him with amazement. Leo rarely stuttered or showed his nervousness.
"Does who I am really matter? Now leave Piper alone!" She hissed, her gaze burning through Leo.
"Uh, okay?" Leo said, stumbling away from them blindly.
Calypso sat down on the bench next to Piper and the duo watched Leo walk away.
"Thanks Calypso, " Piper muttered thankfully.
"No problem, " Calypso responded. "What was he bothering you about anyways?" She asked curiously.
"Oh," Piper said quietly. "He was trying to figure out who I was going on a date with. "
"I see, " Calypso said. "Anyways, I was going to ask you when practice was today. I can't really remember what time it was going to be at."
"Oh yeah, it's at three thirty," Piper said, slightly relieved that Calypso hadn't tried to dig information about Jason out of her.
"Thanks Piper. "
"No problem Calypso. "
As Jason trudged through the halls, the crowd parted for him respectfully. Everyone treats me differently now, Jason thought as he took a seat in his Latin class. He nearly fell asleep as he sat through the teacher's voice drone on in a lecture about Latin.
"Mr. Grace?"
Jason's head shot up. "Yes Ma'am?" He asked confused, his eyesight slightly blurry from sleep.
"The council wants you up in the office," the teacher said. All eyes turned to Jason.
"Okay," Jason said, standing up and walking out the door.
As he walked through the halls, Jason thought about what the council wanted him for. I didn't do anything wrong, maybe they're welcoming me.
He opened the door slowly. Inside, a dozen pairs of eyes peered at him. Jason walked in the office and closed the door behind him slowly. The council members were seated around a long rectangular table. Reyna sat at one end, and an empty chair sat at the other.
"Welcome, Praetor. Please take a seat," said Dakota, who happened to be a council member.
Jason sat down a bit nervously, not letting his nervousness show.
Reyna spoke up. "The council welcomes you, Jason, as our Praetor. We hope that you will represent New Rome High School to the best of your ability, and will also assist us in our goal of keeping our school's positive environment."
Positive environment?
"Do you, Jason Grace, promise to properly represent NRHS by being a model citizen and not supporting any other rival schools in any way?"
"I do," Jason said, confidently. If I support Piper and Thalia, will that be counted as traitorous? Jason thought.
"And furthermore, will you assist us with the enforcing of our school rules?" Reyna asked, looking at Jason.
"I do. "
"Jason Grace, you shall now be known as Praetor Grace. May your rule as Praetor be just," Reyna announced,smiling at Jason warmly.
Gwen, one of the Council members, spoke up. "We would like you to discourage Octavian, Praetor Grace. His ideas are a bit radical and leave a stain on our positive environment. Will you try to dissuade him?"
"I'll do my best. "
"Good, we should all be heading back to class," Reyna announced loudly. "Thus meeting is dismissed."
As everyone started piling out the door, Reyna grabbed Jason's arm.
"Hey Jason," She said to him, grinning. "Are you doing anything on Saturday evening? I was thinking the two of us could watch a movie or something, " Reyna asked him.
"Yeah, I already am. Sorry Reyna, " Jason said. "Maybe some other time." I hope that didn't sound like I was rejecting her, Jason thought, mentally wincing. I don't want to hurt her feelings.
"Oh, " Reyna said, deflating a bit. "Well, that's too bad. We could definitely go some other time Jason. I guess I'll see you later then," She said, turning away from him and walking down the hall. Jason just stared after her before he too turned and walked back to class.
It was Saturday.
Piper had never been more nervous in her life, or so she thought. Jason was going to be over in an hour. She had already prepared everything. The pizza was on the counter, soda in the fridge, everything was how it should be.
What if Jason doesn't like it?
The doorbell rang, loudly interrupting her thoughts.
Jason stood outside Piper's door, his hand having just pressed the doorbell. He tried not to show his nervousness as he anxiously waited for her to answer the door.
The door opened and Piper was standing there, smiling at him. Jason managed to smile back at her somehow,miraculously.
"Hi Jason!" Piper said, hoping that her voice didn't sound overly energetic. "Come on in!"
"Hi Piper, " Jason replied, stepping in.
"Would you like something to drink?"
"No thanks, I'm good."
"There's some pizza and Paper plates on the counter. Come help yourself," Piper said motioning at the food.
Jason grabbed his pizza and sat down on the couch. Piper sank down across from him with her own food. The two determinedly focused on eating, neither looking at the other.
Awkward.
"So… " Piper said, breaking the silence. "I know that you're a 'Praetor' now. What exactly is a Praetor Jason?" She asked curiously, her kaleidoscope eyes shining.
"Oh,a Praetor is pretty much the leader of the Romans. We're pretty much like the school presidents," Jason said, received that she had spoken.
"Really? That's awesome Jason!" Piper grinned. " How many Praetors are there usually?"
"There are only ever two Praetors, " Jason replied.
"Who's the other Praetor then?"
"The other Praetor is Reyna, " Jason said quietly, hoping that Piper wouldn't ask him more about Reyna.
"Reyna, Reyna, Reyna, wait, isn't she that girl who plays all the sports?" Piper asked Jason.
"Uh, yeah, " Jason said. He had completely forgotten that Reyna played all the school sports. Piper would be going against her in a volleyball game in about a week if he remembered correctly.
"Oh, well that's nice, " Piper said awkwardly. "Would you like some more pizza?"
"Uh, sure, " Jason replied.
Can this get any more awkward? Jason thought as he accepted his second plate of pizza.
New Chapter
Thanks guys! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please take a few seconds to leave a review please! I love hearing from you guys!
-Saoirse