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She couldn’t do this. Piper was sure that any moment the world was going to collapse around her. Jason would have told her that she was being over dramatic. “It’s only finals, Piper.” he would have told her kindly… had already told her, “you’ll be fine. You’ll see.”
Piper was not fine.
She was here on scholarship and if she didn’t keep her GPA up high enough she wouldn’t be able to continue going to school so finals mattered a LOT…. worse, if she got kicked out she’d have to go live her mom who was really only manageable in small doses and who thought all Piper needed to do was to make some handsome rich guy fall in love with her and then she’d be set for life.
Piper thought she’d rather go live on the streets.
Not that she was against falling in love with handsome rich guys, after all she’d been crushing on Jason for forever and he was both those things and more. But she’d go stark mad if she ever had to be a stay-at-home-family-maker or something. Piper had dreams and she wasn’t giving them up for anything. Jason seemed so perfect too… he was respectful, kind, supportive, smart, and they both got along really well. He just wasn’t interested in her that way. They were super close, but Jason had made it really clear that he really loved her as a sister not a potential lover. Even knowing that, Piper couldn’t seem to get over him. Gods, it was making her even more depressed just thinking about it…
“Pathetic,” Piper told herself cruelly, “Your grades are just scraping it most of your classes, you’ve got no talents, no money(that’s not your parents), you only have two friends and they probably just are your friends out of pity or something…”
She continued to list all the things that seemed wrong with her life miserably under breath as she wandered into the school library and to her usual spot in the corner to write and essay that was due the next day. It wasn’t even that she didn’t like the topic or that it would be a hard essay to write or anything it was just… every time she tried to start the stupid thing anxiety would swell up inside her for gods knows what reason and she’d feel like puking. Now she couldn’t put it off any longer, it was already late, Jason had already gone to bed and she hadn’t seen Leo in days as he stressed and worked furiously over his engineering project, she would just have to suffer through it or else… well she did know in her head the world wouldn’t really end if she messed up but… tell that to the rest of her.
Piper opened her laptop and she felt her head go blank in panic as she saw the little reminder at the edge of the screen.
’Remember! Math due by midnight x/xx’
She had math- Oh gods! She had math due! And she’d just had a meeting with her advisor about how she couldn’t afford to fail that class and how she really needed to pick up her grade or else- oh gods oh gods oh gods!!! she had MATH due!! Like, in an hour! There was no way-
Despite this Piper scrambled to open a new tab to the math questions with one hand while the other fumbled in her bag for her notes. Maybe she could just get a few of them and get some credit-?! The she saw the questions.
“I am dead.” She whimpered as she clicked through questions that were at least 10x harder then the dumb exercises they did in class. This was it, she was failing out of college, this was the end of all she’d worked for this whole time, she’d let everyone down, she’d-
“Excuse me do you know where the- are you… alright?” asked a startled student pausing next to her. Piper looked up and and was embarrassed to bind she could barely see the pretty blonde through the wetness forming in her eyes. Oh gods, she was going to have a panic attack in front of a stranger, in a public place…
’don’t’ panic!don'tpanicdon'tpanic!!!!’ Piper panicked.
“Fine.” she choked out, anything to get this person to leave so she could fall apart in peace.
“Can I do anything to help?” asked the blonde kneeling down next to her, completely disregarding Piper’s dismissal.
“No- I just-! Math!” Piper wailed, and then before she knew it she was pouring everything out to this complete stranger… who was taking her very seriously and listening intently, which would have made her feel worse if that weren’t impossible at the moment.
“That really sucks. Do you want help? You’ve still got an hour and I am really good at math.” the blonde offered after she’d finished.
“What? Oh you don’t have to- I mean-… yes please…” Piper stuttered out mortified with herself even as a little of the panic subsided a little, was it possible? could she still make it? was her inevitable failure put off temporally? Then again, wouldn’t it be less painful to fail now then later when she’d gotten so much closer-
“Perfect, I am Annabeth by the way.” grinned the blonde plopping onto the arm of Piper’s chair as she mumbled back her own name automatically, “We can still do this! Alright! Problem 1, do you know how to do this?”
“I know how to simplify nlog(n)… but I have no idea what to do with the rest of it.” admitted Piper feeling stupid.
“That’s not a bad start, okay…” frowned Annabeth to herself, “I am going to show you how to do this kinda fast since we’re short on time, then I’ll explain it better after okay?”
“Okay.” agreed Piper because she wasn’t sure what else she was supposed to do, and then Annabeth was off explaining concepts at a rapid fire pace that Piper was barely able to follow. At the moment she didn’t really care though, with every question answered she felt a little less like she was dying. She realized, perhaps a little late, that Annabeth was really smart. Smart, and beautiful, and kind(she was helping Piper’s sorry ass out, a complete stranger, after all when she doubtless had plenty to do herself), and she smelled really good… She seemed like she had it all together. The complete opposite of her.
Piper didn’t know if she wanted marry her or be her.
“And that’s it!” grinned Annabeth as they finished the last problem, and the blonde squeezed her shoulder and flashed her a dazzling smile, “15 minutes before midnight too.”
“Wow… yeah.” said Piper feeling a little dazed and suddenly totally exhausted.
“Now you hurry and finish your essay so you can get to sleep.” Annabeth encouraged her as she got up and grabbed her bag, “That reminds me, do you know where the IT department is?”
“Wha-? oh, it’s in the basement.” replied Piper sitting up straight as her brain registered that, yes, the goddess incarnate was leaving, “Hey wait!”
“Hmm?” hummed Annabeth questioningly turning back to her.
“I- Thank you.” said Piper earnestly leaning forward, “I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t helped me. You really saved me.”
“Don’t worry about it; I’ve been there too. I know what it’s like when it feels like all the work is going to crush you. College, right?” said Annabeth waving her thanks off.
“Yeah, but, I am really grateful still. Can I make it up to you somehow?” asked Piper a little guiltily.
“Hmmm…” said Annabeth regarding her thoughtfully and Piper felt a little flustered underneath those intense grey eyes… and then the blonde was smiling that smile again that turned Piper’s insides to jelly and oh gods she must be sleep depraved she hadn’t felt this way since she’d started crushing on Jason and- “Give me your hand, Piper.”
“Huh?” blinked Piper in confusion, she held out her hand anyway(because honestly how could she say no?) and before she knew it Annabeth had scribbled her phone number on the back of her hand in Sharpie.
“Text me sometime after you finish your essay and you can buy me coffee.” grinned Annabeth a little cheekily, “I still have to properly teach you how to do all that math or it’ll be cheating, right?”
“I- yeah. I mean, yes that sounds good!” said Piper her face feeling a bit hot.
“See you then!” Annabeth called softly as she headed towards the stairs. Piper had to resist throwing herself back into the cushions of her chair and squealing like a love struck girl the moment Annabeth was out of sight. She was in a library after all. She was still exhausted from the aftermath of her minor meltdown but she felt happier. She sent a text to Leo and Jason.
“I think I might be in LOVE~” which got her a “Nice~ just before midnight too beauty queen~ you leave your shoe for them?” from Leo and a short and slightly grumpy, “Piper, do you know what time it is? Go to SLEEP!” from Jason.
Piper giggled and put her phone away.
“Okay! I can do this!” she whispered to herself and grabbed her computer again to start typing.