As Luck Would Have It 「 Jiper 」

C H A P T E R I I

Jason turned to see the girl that he had accidentally bumped into. Anyone could see that she wasn't happy. She was breathing heavily and glared at the boy, who was already shaking.

The boy immediately stood up, signed something quickly to Leo, and ran away, with the girl following immediately after, sprinting to catch up with the boy, leaving traces of condiments on the ground.

Jason turned to Leo, who shrugged. "I don't even know, man. Riverdale High students are lunatics."

Shaking his head, he sat beside his friend. "Who was that? The guy you were talking to?"

"Oh, that was my cousin Raymond." Leo took out a strip of gum and began chewing. "And the crazy ketchup-mustard girl was probably his friend, Piper."

"Speaking of, since when did you learn how to read sign language?"

"Since I moved in with my aunt."

"Oh, is he...?"

"Yeah. He is."

"Okay."

"So, wanna go and hang out the Garage?"

The Garage was like their secret hideout, even if it wasn't that secret, since it was located just by Leo's aunt's house. Technically, it wasn't a garage, just a more-than-average-sized garden shed, but it was special for the both of them, and Leo was lucky to have a very generous aunt, who offered him the shed.

"So, Thalia almost lost her job, out teachers are being mad as the hatter for giving us a kazillion homeworks even when it's freaking summer, and Drew dumped you—again, but this time, it's for good, because she found another guy that is somehow better than you." Leo counted, playing on a rubrics cube while sitting on a bean bag. "And that's what you missed on Glee."

"Can you please not joke around?" Jason covered his face with a pillow and removed it to face the lights that hung around the shed. "I'm not in the mood for any of that."

"Yeah, but you're not making any sense." Leo replied. "Last week, you were whining about wanting to get rid of her because she annoys you to death. Now that she's finally gone from our lives, you're whining again. Seriously, make up your mind."

"Yeah, but it hurts. Maybe not in the heart, but in the ego." Jason bumped his fist into his chest. "But then again, I kind of feel sorry for that Perrie Johnson guy—whatever his name was."

Leo looked up. "You mean Percy Jackson? As in the guy who killed his dad at the age of fourteen and never got any punishment for it? Has Drew gone cuckoo?"

"He killed his dad?"

"Step-dad, actually, but no one knows the reason why." Leo explained. "People say that his step-dad treated him like his own son, I don't even know why Percy would kill him. With our luck, he might kill Drew, too."

"Leo!"

He held his hands up in defense. "I was joking, jeez. But, seriously, everyone needs a break from seeing that cursed girl's face."

"Yeah, but death isn't the answer."

"Okay, yeah...nut shat about she gets injured so bad that she stays indoors—home or hospital or whatever, just far enough to not annoy anyone—for a good month. Boom. Everyone's happy."

"Except for Drew,"

"Duh, that's the point."

"What are you working on?" Jason eyes his friend who was now working on something new.

"I don't even know at this point." Leo bit the corner of his lip. "These days I just wait until I get something from my head as to what I'm doing."

"You know, you've got a great talent there." Jason praise. "You could be an inventor."

"It's not a talent," Leo brushed the compliment away, "it's a skill, there's a difference."

"Yeah, but not everyone can do what you do, dude." Jason took the time to walk around the shed. This was basically hus second home, since the two had basically spent most of their lives there whenever they hung out. Nothing much had changed, except that there was something there that wasn't there before.

Jason held Leo's leather journal, which was opened at a specific page. A sketch of a girl, no older than ten, settled on one page, and on the other page, it was the same girl, but older. Unlike the first sketch, in which the girl gave a big toothy smile, the older one held an expression of loneliness.

"Leo..." Jason called. "Who's this?"

Leo walked over next to Jason, hands still not off of his handiwork. "Who's who?...oh."

Sighing, he set aside his little project and scratched the back of his neck. "That's um...that's Calypso. We were friend when we were little, before I ran away."

"Does she live around here?"

"No, she was back at my hometown. I haven't exactly seen her since."

"Then how come you managed to draw this one?" He gestured to the older version of the girl.

"Dude, did you just go all grandpa on me? Did you forget about the existence of social media—specifically, Facebook?"

And suddenly Jason felt stupid. "Oh yeah, I forgot. But then again, I don't use Facebook that much—and why does she have to look so lonely?"

Leo looked down. "Because I miss her, and I'm kind of hoping ghat she misses me, too."

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Chapter 2 done yay!

Also, my Caleo fic Days Before You Came is out now!