Disclaimer: If you've read the whole thing, you probably know what's supposed to be here.
Jason's POV:
"And the school hasn't been shut down?" Zeus was incredulous, but Jason was kind of glad to see that he cared, for once.
After they'd found the body... well, all hell had broken loose. Jason still felt nauseous, just thinking about it.
After everything that had happened, the school was somehow still open, but, all the Olympian kids, and, well, anybody actually smart, were all staying home. After everything that had happened, it wasn't the most safe, and besides, they needed to seriously find Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera. Annabeth had sent an email to the school(as their parents didn't really care) that they would not be attending, just like that first week after Hera was kidnapped.
Jason, however, seemed to be the only one happy about Zeus' volume. Annabeth looked a little pained at hearing Zeus speak, Percy was stuffing his face with cookies in what looked like an attempt to stay calm, and Leo was pointing his laser at Zeus. Piper, Frank, and Hazel just ate their breakfast like normal people. Thalia looked about the same as Jason, a little bit of pride and annoyance etched into her features.
"Yes, but don't worry, we'll be staying home," Jason said.
"Good," Zeus grunted, then straightened his tie and looked pointedly at Jason. "After you visit your m-mother, make sure to do your business course, up to week three."
Jason side-eyed with Thalia. Why did he stumble on the word 'mother?' It was kind of suspicious.
"Um, okay then," Jason said.
Zeus nodded firmly, then left. Sally and Paul came back into the kitchen, both wearing weary faces. They had left the room as soon as Zeus had appeared in the Poseidon House, murmuring some excuse about helping Estelle. Jason figured they just didn't want to be around Zeus.
Sally forced a tight smile. "So... what did he want to say? He didn't break my oven again, right?"
Her voice was scarily high.
Percy looked a bit worried. "Mom, that was once, and no, he just wanted to hear about school."
"It might have been once, but Dolly never recovered!" Sally patted her oven, a fierce expression upon her face.
If there weren't other stuff going on, Jason might have laughed. But there were other stuff going on, so he cleared his dishes and changed into a white shirt and black jeans in his Zeus house room.
"No color?" Thalia said. She, herself, also wore a fully black outfit, hers being a black shirt, jeans, and boots that she would probably use to step on his feet if he annoyed her.
Piper and Annabeth met them outside, Piper with a saffron yellow blazer and yellow ribbon in her dark hair, and Annabeth with a tan blazer and a few white barrettes holding her curly blond hair back.
Annabeth was accompanying Piper to her dad's movie set for safety, while Thalia and Jason would be visiting their mom's movie set.
"Just some brownies from Percy's mom!" Piper said, a small smile lighting her face as she handed them a box of blue brownies.
Jason's cheeks almost hurt from grinning so hard. "Thanks!"
He pulled Piper in a one armed hug, then let go quickly, not wanting be a creepy friend and dating to respect boundaries. Piper didn't seem creeped out though, so hopefully he'd been respectful.
Annabeth gave them a sly smile, and then said, "We'll see you back here. Good luck with your mom!"
They waved and went off into Annabeth's car.
Thalia grabbed her keys and said, "I'm driving."
Jason shrugged and got into her black car. He didn't really know how to drive, so it was fine.
Their ride was just how Jason liked his tea: heavily steeped in silence. It wasn't awkward silence, but it wasn't exactly comfortable. They both had things they wanted to say, but they didn't want to say them aloud. It was like a held breath.
Thalia let it out first, as they were walking towards her trailer, using the directions a stagehand had given them.
"So...." Thalia dragged out the word, probably hoping he'd catch on. He didn't, so she kept going. "Why are we really going to the set?"
Jason shrugged. "Well, um, I don't know."
Jason hated lying to his sister, but she'd freak out if she knew.
They were almost to her trailer. Just 20 more feet.
Thalia sighed. "Seriously though, why? Why are we doing this? This is what made her self destruct. The fame, the attention, all made her into that horrible mother. We lost our childhood because of that."
10 more feet.
"Um, well, I don't think it was necessarily just the fame's affect on her. It was also partly Dad's fault," Jason said, lowering his voice as they approached the trailer.
5 more feet.
Thalia seemed a little shocked. "Well, okay, maybe, but, it was also-"
The trailer door opened just in time, their mom stepping out.
"Hi!" she said wrapping them into a hug. It took Jason a few seconds to fully recognize her.
His mom wore a cream colored dress, sunglasses, nude heels, and her blond hair was pulled back with a silk bandana. Sun shaped gold earrings hung from her ears.
"Hey, hey, watch the clothes," a lady shouted.
Jason figured that she was a stylist or something, given the way that she fussed over his mom's costume.
His mom eventually was deemed okay by her, who walked away with a slightly huffy demeanor.
"One second," his mom said, dashing off to the set.
They followed her, to watch. The actor she was with looked somewhat familiar with dark skin, short hair, and brown eyes that flickered with a bit of uncertainty.
But what really surprised him were the girls standing off to the side.
"Piper? Annabeth?"
There they were, in their blazered glory.
"What are you doing here?" Piper whisper-shouted as they crossed the room towards them. "I thought you were going to your mom's set!"
"This is our mom's set," Thalia said, looking surprised as he was. "Is that your dad?"
Thalia pointed to the man.
"Um, yeah," Piper said. "Remember, from truth or dare? My dad is Tr-"
But before she could get another word out, another familiar figure came up to them. "What are you doing here?"
"Calypso?" Annabeth said. "What are you doing here?"
Calypso looked fearful, her hands nervously gripping her dress. "You guys need to get out of here, now."
"Why?" Jason said. He didn't get it.
"You'll see."
But they didn't see. Only Jason did. For the note that was in his pants later really showed him that they should have gone.
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe
You didn't take the warning, and so,
Since you have no respect,
Who should I take next?
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Piper's POV:
Jason was acting weird. Call it intuition, call it knowledge, but Piper knew it for a fact.
"We're going Christmas shopping," Annabeth said. "Wanna come?"
Her arms were linked with Percy, and they both wore black outfits. Percy wore a black shirt and stiff jeans that looked new, plus a long coat and scarf. Annabeth wore a black suit dress, and a Chanel belt that was probably pure gold.
Piper said, "Why are you wearing Chanel for shopping?"
At the same time, Jason said, "Um, are you sure?"
Piper's cheeks heated. "Um, you go first."
Jason looked a bit embarrassed too. "Um, well, I just meant, that you should be careful."
Percy nodded. "Noted. You sure you don't want to come?"
Jason looked like he was going to say no, but then he said, "well, I guess. I still need to buy a lot of presents."
"What did you say before, Piper?" Annabeth said, twirling her ponytail.
Piper repeated her question and Annabeth looked bashful.
Annabeth looked down for once. "Um, well, it's just that this was the first gift my mom gave me, and, well, yeah it's a bit overdressing, but-"
Piper cut her off with a hug. "No, I get it. And, sure! I'll come with you, as long as I'm not third-wheeling."
"Hey!" Jason said. "Am I nonexistent?"
Piper felt herself blush again. "No, no, of course not."
But by the time they'd gotten to the mall, Piper was starting to feel it again. Jason kept on glancing at every stranger they passed, his gaze darting everywhere.
"You know, these Christmas shoppers probably aren't going to kill us," Piper said, with a friendly smile and a nudge.
Jason didn't seem to relieved. "You never know. The Wolves could be anywhere."
Maybe it was just Jason rubbing off on her, but suddenly, Piper's senses seemed to heighten, as every squeak and shout set off alarms in her head. She took a few deep breaths and reminded herself to stay calm. Freaking out, especially in public, was not a good idea.
"You seem very certain. Why?"
Jason's fists were clenched and his eyes were filled with fear. "I, uh, remembered some stuff."
Piper poked the dark circles beneath his eyes. "Nightmares?"
Jason didn't seem too amused. "Yeah, kind of. You?"
Piper had hoped he wouldn't notice her sleep deprivation, but she had decided that definitely not makeup, so the dark circles under her eyes were there to stay.
"A few," she admitted.
It had definitely been more than a few, but there was no way that she was saying that. Besides, they weren't exactly nightmares and it wasn't like there had been anything important....
It had only been a few memories of dates with Jason and all that. They were actually good memories, but she always woke up crying because of how horrible it was to return to reality.
In front of them, Annabeth kissed Percy's cheek as she put silly hats on him. It was almost painful, how happy they looked together.
How perfect they were together.
Piper had always wanted a love from the romance books, a sweeping love that would make her life a fairytale, but here they were.
Definitely not a fairytale or any happy ending in life.
The boy she liked would never see her as anything more than a friend, and she was fake dating a boy who liked the ex of another friend. It was definitely not a fairytale.
She was supposed to meet the love of her life with an amazing meet-cute. And either she had had an amazing meet-cute without her knowing, or just hadn't met her soulmate yet.
Or maybe she wasn't destined to have a meet-cute.
Or maybe she didn't even have a soulmate.
Maybe she was just destined to be alone.
Forever.
A squeal brought her out of her mind.
"Awww.. that's so cute!" Percy practically shrieked. He held a Pillow Panda Pet in his arms, all across the court at the stuffed animal shop.
Annabeth held a giant white and pink stuffed bunny in one hand and a bag from the Apple store in the other. She looked rather amused.
"Who is that for?" Piper nodded to the purchases, ignoring Jason and Percy's screams as they almost terrorized the store.
"The bunny is for Hazel, and the laptop is for Frank. Frank needs a new writing tool, and Hazel said she wanted a bunny, but Hades is never going to let her, so a stuffed one is the best I can do," Annabeth said. "You?"
Behind them, Jason and Percy were finally paying for the huge stuffed animals they'd got.
Piper held out her bag. "I'm making a flirting and relationship book for Leo, so I just got some stickers for that; a bunch of movies for Hazel; some shirts for Percy and Jason, because they need style; and I'm still don't know for Frank, my dad, and Jane."
Jason and Percy both slumped into the bench beside them, each holding a large stuffy. Jason had a giant tree stuffed animal Piper figured was for Thalia (they had a weird running joke), and Percy had the aforementioned Panda Pillow Pet that was probably just bought for himself.
Annabeth looked like a tired babysitter as she said, "All right, next shop, boys?"
The next shop they went to wasn't actually a shop. It was an animal shelter that was close to Olympus. Percy wanted to get Nico a dog for Christmas.
"Hades is never going to allow it," Annabeth said.
Percy put a hand on her shoulder. "Relax. He'll never know."
"He does live there, you know," Annabeth said, putting her hands on her hips.
"Well, I mean, it's not like he's really there," Percy said.
Annabeth shrugged, likely realizing that it was true.
Percy ended up picking out a giant black Labrador, with shaggy fur and a tongue that wagged. They made an appointment to pick her up right before Christmas.
"Okay, that was successful, right?" Annabeth said as they got out of the car.
Piper nodded. "Yeah, mostly, I guess."
Ring! Ring! Piper's phone almost jiggled itself out of her pocket. Seeing that it was her dad, she answered it quickly.
She started to say, "Hi-"
"You need to come, quick!" Her dad's voice was ragged. Was that a gunshot in the background?
"Where are you?" Piper said, looking at her friends with panic.
The line cut in and out.
"I- a-am-"
"Dad!" Piper shouted.
"W-wolf H-house."
The line dropped.
So, it's been about six days since I updated. And I don't really have a good excuse besides the fact that I am now obsessed with Brierson and am convinced they belong together. And, also, I've been working on that KOTLC piece about Biana and have another idea that I really like, and have all these ideas about, and it's a PJO and KOTLC crossover so I'm super excited....
But anyways, I decided that rich kids should be rich kids (I've seen some friends actually do the Chanel belt situation, tho it was def not because of a kidnapped mom), and so that's why they were like that. Also, I admittedly didn't give you much of Percabeth cute moments, but hopefully enough to tie you ever till next chapter.
See you next time! (be prepared for a lot)