Piper didn't know what to do. As soon as the car wasn't moving, she made a run for it. She knew Jason would follow her, and maybe Annabeth. She knew they only cared and wanted to help. But after last time, she couldn't let anyone help. She couldn't risk it.

She slammed her door and went to the nearest corner. Confusion washed over her; what should she do? Tell her friends and get help? No. She couldn't risk their safety. Not again... But this time, Piper was stronger. Braver. More confident. Plus she had her voice, a lethal weapon deadly to anyone who was unfortunate enough to hear it. She could handle this one on her own. All Piper had to do was reject him and move to a different state, right? Then again, he did find her... Piper was still puzzled on how he could've done that. The Mist covered the demigods wherever they went, regardless of where and who was with them. There was the fact that Camp Jupiter was only 5 miles away... Gods, maybe it was that easy! No wonder he had found her.

"Pipes? Pipes!" Jason's sweet, concerned voice drug her back to reality. He was knocking on the door, telling her many reassuring things. And what had Piper done? Basically told him that she was jealous of Reyna and knew something was up with them. Could she have been any more naive? They had known each other for years, Jason and Piper only for a matter of months. Reyna was Roman. Jason was Roman. Piper was Greek. All of this seemed like a Cinderella story, Piper being the undeserving, rich, spoiled stepsister who was forcing the glass slipper to fit. And Reyna being Cinderella, the sweet, hardworking, horribly treated one. The slipper fits perfectly for her. No pushing, squeezing, jamming. It just fits. Tears started rising in Piper's eyes. She knew this wasn't meant to be. What kind of strong Roman dates a Greek? Especially a daughter of Aphrodite, the most powerless goddess there was?

"Piper, please. I can't stand to see you upset. Please just tell me what's going on. I want to help you. I love you so much." Piper started crying even more. Jason was so good to her, yet she was here questioning it. Maybe she did deserve what Dylan had done to her.

"G-Go away, Jason. Ple-ease." Piper managed between sniffles. She didn't put any charmspeak into it, hoping Jason would get the message and leave her be.

"Not until you let me in. You know I just want to help, Pipes. And there's nothing going on with Reyna, I swear-" Piper stormed over and opened the door.

"For once, can you see my perspective? You, a Roman hero, have the choice between a beautiful, strong, heroic Roman you have know for years, and me. A weak, good-for-nothing Greek. It's obvious who's the perfect choice. Just leave me alone, like you should've in the beginning." Piper closed the door, gently, but fast enough so Jason couldn't stop her. She slid down the door, crying heavily. Piper could never have anything good in her life. And whenever she did, by some odd chance, she pushed it or them away. She always found a way to destroy everything.

Piper felt something slide under her, then heard footsteps walking away, slow and heavy. She positioned herself so she could still be up against a wall, but she could reach whatever it was. It was... A note. "Beauty Queen" was written in sharp, pointed handwriting. Jason's. She grabbed the note but didn't read it. Right now, she just needed to feel sorrow, pain, and sadness. She deserved it.

A vibration brought Piper back from her thoughts. She took her phone out of her pocket and unlocked it. Someone had texted her, but she didn't recognize the number. She hesitantly opened it and read it:

"Aw. Isn't that cute? Your precious little boy-toy trying to comfort you. But like always, you somehow manage to turn that situation into a tragedy. Face it, Piper. You drive everyone away, and it all leads back to me. Fate, right? You know we belong together. We always have." Piper shivered. Obviously, it was Dylan. He was trying to get to her. And succeeding. She responded:

"Aw. Aren't you needy? Feeding off of another person's "tragedy" to get satisfaction? That's an all-time low, Dylan. Go back to seducing teenage girls, will ya?" She hadn't even begun to pour out all of her rage. No amount of characters could ever allow her to do that. A response within seconds:

"Seducing? You willingly let me into your dorm, honey. You willingly let me get close to you. You wanted me to, but just didn't want to seem like a slut. Especially with that new guy coming into town. What was his name? Oh, right. Jason." Piper read this over and over but never responded. She screamed and threw her phone at the wall. She didn't care if the others came rushing to her aide, checking if she was okay. Dylan always found ways to get to Piper, and she'd had enough of it. It was about time she took matters into her own hands. It was time she finally faced her past, accepted what had happened, and stopped wishing it didn't. Dylan had done things to her that most girls would need therapy for. Piper wasn't one of them. She kept her emotions to herself and held her head high, putting on a mask of bravery. Being around her dad so much helped improve the deception. Nobody ever suspected a thing.

Thoughts like these swam around in Piper's mind until she slowly dozed off, the note in her hand.
~
A grumble from her stomach woke Piper up from her deep slumber. She grabbed her phone, no crack in it surprisingly, and checked the time. 1:36 p.m. Great. Piper slept through breakfast. She was reluctant to go downstairs and get food, but knew she would have to eventually. She got herself up, hoping she didn't look like too much of a mess, and slowly opened the door, trying to make it as soundless as possible. Creak! Fail. Piper cursed under her breath and made her way downstairs. The other demigods were spread out around the house, but mostly in the kitchen. Piper knew she had to face them sometime. And she knew she needed food. That was her only motivation to go downstairs.

She saw all of the people she didn't want to see in the kitchen: Annabeth, Jason, Leo. Most importantly, Reyna. Piper kept her head down, avoiding eye contact. She could sense that they saw her and were staring, but that just made her walk faster.

"I guess Sleeping Beauty is alive! Well, not so much the beauty." Reyna said, and Piper imagined a gigantic smirk appearing on her smug little face. She was tempted to tell her off, maybe even get a little punch in, but she knew Reyna was using her situation as ammunition against her. Piper just kept walking to the pantry, ignoring any comment that came from Reyna.

She opened the pantry and gawked at all of the food in there. So many options... Yet Piper knew exactly what she needed. Her comfort food had always been PB&J with a hot chocolate on the side. Even though it was spring, Piper could have hot cocoa any time of the year. She reached for the items, but heard the pantry door open. She turned around to see Jason there, worry written all across his face. His eyes weren't gleaming as they usually were, they were now a dull, lifeless blue. He started walking towards her, then stopped a few feet in front of her. Piper took a deep breath, preparing for more misery she had caused. Waiting for the guilt to creep in of wait she had done.

"I'm sorry." Was all he said. Piper looked at him, confused.

"W-Why are you sorry?" This took Piper by surprise. He had nothing to be sorry for.

"For everything. I'm sorry that I can't help you. I'm sorry that you think there's something going on with Reyna and I. I'm sorry you think that you're not good enough for me. I'm sorry that I'm only making things worse by pressing on it. If you want space, I'll give it to you. But if you want a shoulder to lean on, I'll be there." Jason started to walk off, but Piper grabbed his arm. She hugged him, tightly. He put his strong, tan arms around her waist, sending a tingle of warmth up her spine. She never realized how much she needed Jason. And now she felt terrible for not letting him in.

"I'm sorry for pushing you away. I really am. But I can't involve you, or anyone for that matter. I can't risk it." Piper tightened the hug, trying to hide her shaking. She buried her head in his shoulder, afraid of what he might say.

"Pipes, you know you can tell me anything. I'm always here for you. Always. But if it's best to let you handle this on your own, then I'll let you." Piper pulled back, shocked at how quickly he gave up. She didn't know how to react. Jason was a fighter, never surrendered or quit. Piper saw as she looked into his eyes that he just wanted Piper to be happy, whether that involved him or not. He really did love her. Could he be any better to her?

Piper kissed his check them hugged him. "Thank you." She whispered into his ear. She pulled back and returned to obtaining her lunch ingredients. Jason came up behind her, hugged her waist, but his body felt tense. He then said something that Piper didn't know how to react to:

"Too bad I've found another love. We would've been a great duo if you weren't so weak. But I guess the best things aren't going to last for long, right?" He breathed the last few words on her neck, chills forming up and down her body. Jason left, acting as if nothing had ever happened. And it was true. Nothing had ever happened. Not with their relationship, not even their friendship. It was all a scam, an evil trick Hera had played on her. Piper grabbed the peanut butter, bread, jelly, and the hot cocoa mix, and walked out. Acting as if nothing had ever happened.

As she walked out, Jason and Piper made eye contact. He gave her a smile, a genuine I-hope-you're-okay, I-care-about-you smile. Piper just looked at him in disgust and shook her head. How could he pretend that he didn't just break her heart? She quickly made her lunch and marched up to her room, not giving a care in the world about Jason. Her heart was a very fragile place, and she let him in it, exposing her weakest spot to him. And he got a jackhammer and smashed it to pieces. Piper really was a fool when it came to love. Before she could reach her room, a voice stopped her.

"Hey, um, all of us are going to go out and just doing whatever. Do you want to come?" It was Annabeth. She was awkwardly standing there, already knowing the answer.

"I can't go out with them. With him." With that, she went to her room and ate her lunch.
                                   ~
Piper finished her lunch, then went downstairs to throw away her plate and wash her cup. Everyone was gone, thankfully. Finally, Piper could have some time to herself. She needed this. She walked over to the sink, getting her cup ready to wash when she saw it. Unless Leo had changed the color of the sink from white to red within the time she had eaten lunch, then something was wrong. Piper touched the sink, a red residue appearing on her fingertips. She felt it and knew exactly what it was. Blood.

Within seconds, a breeze had come, and a figure was holding her with Katopris to her throat. Whatever the figure was, it was tall. Muscular. Obviously a guy. Maybe this was Jason's way of... Apologizing? Wow. Since the way to a girl's heart was to threaten her life. Very good move on his part.

"I've missed you, Piper. I've missed your touch, your smell. Especially your body, the way it curves and flattens in all of the right places." Piper grabbed the hand holding the dagger, judo flipped them, all while taking the dagger from him and reversing the situation. Now he was the one who was in trouble. And this he was an all-too-familiar person. It was...

"Dylan?" Piper just stared. Dylan and Jason had similar body structures, yet Piper thought Jason would be the one threatening her before Dylan? That's messed up.

"Gods of Olympus, you're so beautiful. So strong. So sexy. Does Jason ever tell you how amazing you are every single day? Because he really would. If he loved you." Piper dug the dagger deeper into his throat, blood spilling past.

"Say one wrong thing and it'll be the last thing you'll ever say," Piper said through gritted teeth. Dylan laughed.

"You really think that you of all people could scare me?" Dylan then turned into a storm spirit, his true form. He used his wind power to blow her back against the fridge, her body slamming into it again and again. Piper scanned her surroundings for something, anything she could use against him. She saw her phone, charging. She yelled as loud as she could:

"Siri! Call 911!" The wind was raging so hard that Piper doubted Siri could even hear it. Well, she tried. Dylan came at her, a vein bulging on his forehead.

"How dare you! You think that you're going to escape me? I'm never letting that happen ever again, sweetheart! We love each other, and we are meant to be!" Dylan yelled in her face. He slammed her into the fridge repeatedly, causing her vision to lessen. Dylan got inches away from Piper's face and hit her. Her right eye ached with pain, swelling up so much she could no longer see.

Piper screamed as loud as she could, hoping that someone would hear her. All of the sudden, Dylan toppled over, unconscious. Any glass within a mile radius shattered, including her phone screen. Piper fell down, breathing heavily. She heard sirens wailing, the sound growing closer. The call must've actually worked! Piper looked around, trying to muster the energy to get up. She looked down at herself, cuts and bruises all across her body, stinging with pain.

The front door burst open, many figures making their way in. All of them shouting "L.A.P.D!" A lady cop made it to Piper first, rushing over. She looked at Dylan, then her.

"Oh, honey. I'm so sorry. You don't deserve this at such a vulnerable age. What have I done." Dylan started to disappear with a poof of the Mist, yet the lady cop didn't seem to care. Piper started focussing in on the cop. She was stunning, her form changing from golden blonde curls to straight, silky black locks.

"Mother? What do you mean?" Piper didn't understand how her mother could've had anything to do with this.

"Piper, my darling daughter. I'm so terribly sorry. But I cannot undo what I've done. Please forgive me." Aphrodite looked truly sorry. What had she done, though?

Other policemen and women started filing in, coming over to Piper. She was overwhelmed with all of these people crowding her. She started to breathe even more heavily, sweat forming on her brow. Her mother covered for her.

"This young lady was attacked by a teenage boy, probably 17 or 18. He got away before I could subdue him. I fear she may have a concussion and she needs medical help. Don't just stand there! Help me get her to medical assistance!" 2 policemen came over to her, helped her up. Piper would've fallen over if not for her mother catching her. The cops helped her walk out the door and to an ambulance, nurses running over to her. They had bandages and all kinds of medical tools. They started working on her, frantically dabbing and rubbing her scratches with rubbing alcohol, Piper assumed. It momentarily stung, but that was the least of her worries.

Piper needed something to distract her, so she started looking around. It was about 7:00 at night, the sun starting to set. The sunset was gorgeous; a cascade of yellow to purple with every color in between, but it was so hard to enjoy at a time like this. The sound of cars zooming on the black road poured over her, which helped her forget about what had just happened. Until she saw them. A blue car turned onto their street, with a red one trailing right behind it. The red car hadn't even come to a complete stop when the passenger door swung open and out came a running Jason. Like he cared about Piper? She immediately looked away, trying so hard to not focus on the fact that he had broken her heart and acted as if it were any other normal day. Piper leaned into one of the nurses.

"Can you please make sure that the blonde guy running down here doesn't get near me?" The words were so painful to get out, yet they felt like a relief to release. The nurse nodded and told her reassuringly:

"Now, sweetheart, your injuries aren't bad. But I do suggest you get some rest. I'm going to give you a shot of a... medicine that will help you sleep. No nightmares, guaranteed." Before Piper could respond the nurse had plunged a thick needle into her neck, pushing quickly down on the syringe. Black flooded her vision, but before she went totally out of it, she saw Jason, running faster than she had ever seen possible towards her, but he seemed truly scared. Not for himself. Not for anyone or anything except Piper. The image of her first love was burned into her mind as she let herself slip out of reality and into the hands of a deep sleep.

wow, what a long chapter! but things are starting to get heated... more to come! thank you for all of your votes, comments, and especially the reads! keep on being amazing readers!
- Jenna