Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Annabeth, Annabeth, ANNABETH!”

I snap out of my daydreams of Greek architecture to Magnus staring at me across the small table. I stare at him back for an uncomfortably long amount of time because we have just entered an impromptu stare down with one another.

“Yes, Maggie? What is it?” I ask while rolling my eyes.

I can hear Alex giggling next to Magnus. She absolutely loves it when I use the old nickname for him, Magnus on the other hand does not.

He mumbles under his breath and replies “Have you studied for our history exam today?”

“Ummm, no I haven’t…”

“You know the exam is in like 15 minutes? Why haven’t you studied?”

“I’ll be fine, I’m good at listening and remembering information. You know how much I hate having to read notes and textbooks thanks to my dyslexia.”

“Yeah, I know but at some point you’re going to have to learn how to teach yourself out of textbooks when you go to college.”

I know Magnus is correct, but I would never admit that to him.

Alex being the absolute chaos being she says “So…are we throwing a party Friday night? What’s the plan?”

Magnus looks at his partner beside him and a sly smile cracks across his face. “Of course we’re having a party! And not to worry I already have a plan, my mom is going on one of her yoga retreats again so the three of us have the whole house to ourselves.”

The two of them aren’t your standard high school party animals of course. When they say “party” they actually mean the three of us in the living room drinking slushies from 7/11 and watching old vines on Youtube. But it's necessary to have a plan for our escapades because Aunt Nat doesn’t like us consuming too much sugar. She isn’t really a “crunchy mom” per se, but she would be the mom who baked us vegan birthday cakes as a kid. She’s great though, she’s the best aunt a girl could ask for and seems to be a great mom to Magnus.

As I stare out the window while waiting for the warning bell before my history class begins I notice that a police escort is traveling down the road past our school with the Boston Police Department emblem emblazoned on the sides of the cars. I have no idea what is happening since I don’t really pay attention to local goings on. I bet Aunt Nat would know since she is a part of all of the Boston Facebook community pages.

The warning bell rings and the three of us all walk together to our class to take our history exam. Magnus and Alex walk down the hallway proudly holding hands and purposely bumping into each other until they are practically body-slamming each other into other people walking by. They’re absolutely ridiculous I think as I look around at all of the other students loitering in the hallways saying hello to their friends in passing. I don’t have a ton of friends, not that anyone is particularly rude or nasty to me. I just mostly hang out with Magnus and Alex and usually that's enough for me. I just feel left out sometimes being the third wheel, but I couldn’t be more happy for Magnus and Alex.

Chapter Text

We walk into our classroom and slip into our seats in the middle row. It’s the perfect spot, not in the last row so we can actually pretend like we’re paying attention, while also not being in the front and center where the teacher could call on us at any moment.

I took my exam and it was exactly how I expected it would be. I remember all of the main points and dates. There were a few trick questions that I imagine came from the textbook and/or reading handouts we didn’t go over in class. I’ll probably get a satisfactory grade and be just fine. But since I finished much earlier than the rest of the class, my motto is that no matter how much time I spend looking at the problems either I know it or not, I take out my sketch pad and start sketching some buildings. I know that actual architects don’t use a sketch pad to design buildings, but I just use what I have.

After the rest of the class finishes their exams and the bell rings to signal us to leave for our next class I catch up to Magnus and Alex as we leave the classroom.

“So I’ll see you both at lunch later then?” I ask as I heave my backpack more securely on my shoulders.

“Absolutely,” Alex replies walking down the hallway towards the art wing. She has an advanced pottery class next period.

Magnus and I walk to the STEM wing on the other side of the building. The STEM wing is the best part of the school in my opinion. The windows are ginormous allowing lots of natural lighting and there are old couches placed in the alcoves to make comfy studying corners for all of the students to use. When they renovated it a few years ago they placed solar panels on the roof and automated lighting systems to conserve energy. You can definitely tell that the different parts of the wing were separate buildings at one point that were turned into one large wing.

Magnus and I say goodbye and part ways as I walk into my advanced statistics classroom and Magnus walks into his advanced chemistry classroom. I’ve been taking advanced math courses since middle school because math just makes sense! Very rarely do you have to read an actual textbook, you have an equation that needs to be solved. There is one right answer, there’s no need for analysis or thought. Solve the equations, find the answers, and repeat.

I zone out during class copying down the examples from the blackboard and solving the equations like they’re child’s play. The rest of the day passes much the same where I go to class, copy the notes, and do what it takes to get through my day.

Magnus, Alex, and I walk to the bus stop that takes us our separate ways. Magnus and I go back to Aunt Nat’s apartment and Alex to the apartment she shares with some other older friends who took her in after her parents kicked her out and disowned her post coming out. I’m sure Aunt Nat would have been more than willing to take Alex in, but Aunt Nat’s apartment is a two bedroom and I already share a room with Magnus, which is really annoying when his clothes become littered all over the small space. He also has a tendency to use the hairdryer to dry his hair more than me, which doesn’t make any sense since his hair is much shorter than mine is.

Magnus and Alex sit in the two seats in front of me as we ride through the city. I lay my head against the window and pull up my playlist of soundtrack music and classical music. I stare out at the city and the many layers of types of architecture that make up the downtown of Boston.

We eventually get to Alex’s stop and Magnus squeezes her hand as she stands up from the seat and walks down the stairs to the pavement below. Magnus also stands up and plops down next to me and starts poking me.

“What do you want Maggie?” I groan.

“Well obviously I am deprived of attention, now that Alex has left. So therefore, you need to pay attention to me instead,” he says as he continues to poke me repeatedly.

“Ugh, you’re so annoying you know that?” I joke as I try to suppress a smile from forming on my face. Magnus has been my best friend and ride or die since we were eight years old. We’ve basically been attached at the hip for years now. I don’t think he could ever actually make me mad, just mildly annoyed. He’s like that meme about Tinkerbell where if you don’t pay attention to her, she dies.

I hand him one of the earbuds from my ear and he groans when he hears what I’ve been listening to on the bus ride home.

“Why do you always listen to old man music? It gives me flashbacks to spending time at Uncle Randolph’s when we were kids,” he says whining with his head thrown back.

“Wow, comparing me to Uncle Randolph is just evil. Do you really think I would be so dumb as to join the mafia and then get caught money laundering?” I protest.

“Nah, you’re right you would never get caught, you’re too smart for that,” he admits.

I turn back to the window and stare out at the city zooming by. All these years of living in the city and I still feel slightly uncomfortable with the idea of living in a bustling city like Boston. I want to live in the woods where there’s no one around. My goal is to one day be able to design my own house and move out on my own so I don’t have to find Magnus’s hair in the sink in the mornings anymore.

Chapter Text

We get off the bus and race each other to get to the landing where the apartment is. I always win, much to Magnus’s chagrin.

“I’ll get you next time Annie!” he wheezes.

“I’d like to see you try Maggie!” I answer while laughing.

We walk in the door and meet Aunt Nat cooking something that smells like wet dirt at the stove. She turns and a smile instantly cracks across her face.

“My kids, welcome home! How was school today?” she asks, hugging Magnus and I.

Magnus instantly tries to squirm out of her hug, while I linger a bit. She’s the closest thing I have to a parent in my life and sometimes it's nice to know that there is an adult out there who cares about my safety and wellbeing. I feel my eyes starting to prickle and I let her go.

“It was fine Aunt Nat, just the boring stuff that we do everyday,” I answer her as Magnus walks to the stove grimacing and looks at me while his mom’s back is turned, making goofy faces. It would appear that Magnus and I are going to have to sneak out the fire escape tonight and walk to the falafel place down the street.

“What am I going to do with you two? You both work so hard and never seem to do anything fun!” she exclaims.

Magnus and I have to avoid each other's gaze, knowing that if we look at each other our charade is over. I know that Magnus is also thinking back to all the nights the two of us snuck out to go get fast food, and more recently, our parties with Alex in our living room.

“That’s okay, Aunt Nat we’ll have plenty of fun when we’re adults with stable jobs,” I reply.

She rolls her eyes at me and then turns and walks to the stove to finish cooking whatever witch’s concoction she decided to brew today.

Magnus flops down on the couch and turns on the TV to watch his daily reruns of “Doctor Who”. This is our usual after school routine. Magnus does his homework in the living room while watching the TV, while I get the room to myself for studying. Yeah I also think that it's weird that despite being practically adults at this point we still share a bedroom, but the apartment isn’t big enough for us both to have our own rooms. Either I share a room with Magnus or Aunt Nat (and if I’m being honest her snoring is extremely loud). I’m sure Aunt Nat would get a larger apartment if we could afford it, but in this economy it just doesn’t seem to be feasible.

I think Magnus letting me have sole access to the bedroom to do my homework and just relax after school is his way of trying to be a gentleman, which I think is hilarious. I definitely would not describe Magnus as some outlandishly prim gentleman, he’s just Maggie.

I flop down on my lower bunk of the bunkbed that I’ve slept in since I moved in at age eight. I stare up at the bottom of the top bunk where the pictures I’ve printed out from the school printers are taped up. They’re a broad scope of the many great architectural feats that I adore. Among the many pictures there’s pictures of the Empire State Building, the Taj Mahal, and the Hoover Dam. I hope that I can design buildings one day that will be just as meaningful and amazing as these architectural marvels.

Eventually I force myself up to my feet and grab my homework and laptop out of my backpack. The next hour or so is a blur of essays, meaningless homework problems, and readings. It all kind of blends together at some point, just fill in the blanks from the regurgitated information from class.

Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knooooock, knock, knock, knock, knooooock, knock, knock, knooooock, knooooock, knooooock. I throw open the bedroom door to see my annoying cousin standing on the other side of the door.

“Annie, mom wants us to come help set the places for dinner now,” he says looking down at me with a smile on his face.

He and I both know that “dinner” is a generous word for whatever concoction Aunt Nat has cooked up for the three of us tonight. But at least I can look forward to sneaking out with Magnus later to go to the falafel place.

The two of us place the plates, cutlery, and glasses at the small four person table we sit at when we eat as a family. We kind of have a chaotic routine when it comes to dinner. Sometimes Aunt Nat has her wellness and yoga retreats, so it ends up being Magnus and I attempting to cook. Usually, this ends in disaster so we get take out typically when Aunt Nat is away. Sometimes, she makes normal food for dinner like spaghetti or chicken, but then other nights she makes her new healthy food recipes that always taste like dirt.

Magnus and I sit down facing each other while trying to not laugh as we both push the food around in circles and raise our forks to our mouths occasionally pretending to eat. Aunt Nat sits next to us chattering about work and the petty drama of her coworkers. I sat staring at my plate wishing suddenly that we had a dog I could feed my dinner to. Unfortunately, this is not the case since we live in an apartment where we aren’t allowed pets. I also think Magnus is slightly afraid of dogs if I’m being honest. Something about not liking wolves…must be trauma from a bad camping experience from before I moved in.

I turn to Aunt Nat, remembering that I wanted to ask her about the police escort I saw earlier when I was at school.

“Hey Aunt Nat, I saw a police escort with some of those cars with the tinted windows earlier in the day today. Do you and the Facebook sleuths happen to know what that was all about?” I question while pretending to take a bite of food.
“Yeah, there’s supposed to be a new Hallmark movie filming on the other side of the city soon,” she answers while staring at the wall.

“Ewww, Hallmark, that’s gross,” I answer, cringing (whether from Hallmark or from Aunt Nat’s food, I have no idea).

Aunt Nat gets up and kisses the tops of Magnus and I’s heads and she heads off to take her hour long bubble bath, while Magnus and I clean the kitchen and dry the dishes. We do eventually get everything done, you know in between him throwing sudsy water at me and me hitting him repeatedly with a rolled up towel. We both end up drenched when all is said and done.

Chapter Text

We change clothes and hide underneath our covers, pretending to be asleep until we’re certain Aunt Nat’s melatonin gummies have kicked in and then we make our escape out the window.

We creep down the fire escape, taking extra care as to not step on the third step down that is all rusted out and could potentially mean a long fall down to the pavement below. We hit the sidewalk and turn the corner onto the main thoroughfare.

“Last one there pays!” Magnus screams into the wind as he begins to run down the street.

“You jerk!” I scream back as I begin to run after him.

Luckily for me outrunning my dear cousin has never been much of an issue. I’m used to running, in both the literal and metaphorical way. Plus, Magnus is all but asthmatic and not very athletic or coordinated. I go easy on him and only slightly beat him to the falafel place. I’m not really sure why he insists upon racing when he is always losing.

“That’s, that’s not fair…” he pants as he finally reaches the front door of the shop.

“I’m not sure what’s unfair considering that you got a head start and yet I still beat you,” I quip.

“Semantics,” he wheezes.

Once Magnus finally catches his breath we walk into the shop and are greeted with the intoxicating scent of all of the good food that actually smells edible (unlike someone else’s food). We order our usual and opt for take out tonight. We get our food from the employee at the front and then walk back to the apartment.

We walk back up the creaky stairs of the fire escape and sit on the landing with our feet hanging off the side. Magnus and I sit next to each other digging into our food and stare out at the city before us.

Magnus looks at me and he has the most curious look upon his face that I don’t think I’ve ever seen before.

“Annie, can I ask you something?” he says while staring at me.

He’s starting to make me really nervous, this doesn’t sound like him at all.

“Ya, Maggie what is it? What’s wrong?” I question, panic seeping into my voice.

“What do you think about Alex? Do you like him? I know he’s a little different energy wise compared to the two of us, but I really like him!” he rambles playing with the cuffs of his sleeves.

Is he kidding me right now? Of course I like Alex, he's a little loud sometimes, but honestly between Magnus and I, who are both more introverted, it's a welcome addition.

“Dude, are you kidding me? Alex is amazing! He seems to make you so happy, and that’s all I could ever ask for! Just because his energy is different from the two of us doesn’t mean that I don’t like him. You know how I am, I don’t always accurately portray what feelings I’m feeling. Curse my resting bitch face!” I say practically yelling at this point.

“Oh, okay. Well I just wanted to make sure, I don’t want to date someone if you don’t like them,” he timidly says finally looking up at me.

“Well, who cares what I think? You don’t need my approval when dating! Anyone who makes you happy has my approval. Well…unless they’re like a psychopath or something, then obviously don’t date them. But I know you, you’re a smart kid, you'll be fine. As long as you’re happy and safe, then that’s all that matters.”

“I mean… I could say the same to you…”

He suddenly is looking straight into my eyes like he’s peering into my soul.

“Pssht, that’s funny,” I squirm away from him and look down at my food.

“No, I’m serious, we only talk about my romantic conquests. What about you? Anyone caught your eye lately?” he looks at me, wiggling his eyebrows up and down.

“Magnus, we’ve talked about this. It is nearly impossible for me to find someone who is willing to date me,” I look up at him doing my best not to cry, so instead I try to look irritated.

“I mean, yes being ace certainly makes things more difficult, but not impossible! One day someone will come along who won’t care about that and will want to date you anyways,” he says tugging on my arm.

“Well, I don’t feel like outing myself everytime I talk to anyone who even slightly has any interest in me. It’s difficult for me, because if I tell them right away then I feel like I’m pushing them away before they can even get to know me, but if I wait I feel like I’m tricking them into something and wasting their time. I appreciate your empathy and support, but unfortunately this is just something that you cannot fully comprehend, though I appreciate you trying,” I sniff and look down at my food pushing it around, without eating it.

“Yes, you’re right I know that I don’t get it unfortunately, but I do know you! I know how much love you have to give and that when the right person comes along it will be so easy like you’re merely breathing,” he says, trying to comfort me.

The dude gets one relationship and now he’s trying to give me relationship advice. I appreciate him trying to cheer me up, but in the end I don’t think there’s much he can say that will truly help me in this scenario.

“Well I’m tired, so I’m going to go in now,” I murmur, getting up and slipping through the window.

I take my food into the bathroom and sit on the bathroom floor eating the rest of my food. I honestly don’t mind being single all that much in the end. I mean sure would I like to be in a relationship? Yes, but I am more interested in getting myself out of here and going to college. I just wish that society didn’t focus as much on relationships as it does. People can be perfectly happy without relationships, too!

Chapter Text

The next day as I sit in advanced statistics looking out the windows daydreaming again the bell rings obnoxiously overhead. I throw my stuff in my backpack and make for the door. Before I can escape, I hear “Miss Chase, I need to see you before you go.”

Ugh, I was so close to getting away. I walk to the front of the room to the desk where Mr. Watson is standing. He hands me a white piece of paper saying, “I was told to give this to you at the end of the period.”

I take the paper and read as I walk towards the door.

“Annabeth Chase should report to the main office at the end of the period, signed, Miss Hart.”

Great, now I have to waste my study hall on going to the office instead. And on top of that, as far as I know I didn’t do anything wrong. My grades are fine, I didn’t go out of my way to do anything special, so I don’t know what they would want from me. It’ll probably be a waste of time if I’m being honest.

I walk down the halls to the main office which is made entirely of glass, which is dumb in my opinion, because it's kind of ugly and also because it’s highly unsafe for a public school in the middle of Boston.

I sink into a rickety chair and wait for one of the three secretaries to be free, because all three of them are on the phone. There seems to be a ton of chatter and a weird vibe in the office. I’m instantly on high alert assessing my surroundings.

Principal Walker sticks his head out of the doorway to his office and looks at me and gestures for me to follow him with that weird one-fingered “come here” expression old people do.

I follow him into his office and plop down in the armchair across his desk, folding my arms across my chest before he can tell me to sit down.

“Yes, sir, what can I help you with?” I ask, before he can say anything. Hopefully this will be some quick discussion that could otherwise be an email and I can get out of here and back to my study hall. I have homework to do and want to spend as little time in this office as possible.

“Well, you see we have a new student starting today, and we decided that you would be the one to give the new student a tour of the school,” he says hesitantly.

Well this is a bit of a shock. I have never given new students tours in the past, they usually ask for volunteers or members of orientation committee to do such a thing. Plus, the way he said it made it seem like this wasn’t something that was to be discussed, I had to give the tour.

“Why me?” asking what I think is an obvious question.

“Well, this isn’t just a typical new student tour…” he says trailing off.

“Umm, what are you talking about? What is happening?” I ask, trying to put together the pieces of why I am in this office and why the front office had a weird vibe to it today.

Just then, one of the secretaries comes bursting into the room with a look of sheer panic on her face.

“They’re here…” she says, face as white as a ghost.

I can hear a ton of people in the lobby outside the door talking all at once, practically yelling.

The secretary practically grabs my arm and hussles me out the door of Principal Walker’s office and back into the hallway of the school. As I am standing in the hallway with the secretary trying to figure out what is happening a girl with shoulder length brown hair comes running into the hallway surrounded by several grown men wearing all black and sunglasses.

One of the men, clearly some sort of police officer, looks at me and barks, “Let’s go, we need to get to a safer location.”

I am very confused but I’m not about to argue with men who look armed and are weird enough to wear sunglasses indoors.

I am rushed off with the girl with the brown hair down the school hallways until we got to a stairwell on the far side of the building away from the front office. The men position themselves at the top and bottom of the stairs leaving me and the brown haired girl alone on the landing between the top and bottom entrances to the stairwell.

She looks at me, smoothing her palms on the legs of her torn jeans and smiling. “Well isn’t that just annoying, I hate being forced to run away from the paps, one day someone ought to make TMZ illegal,” she says rolling her eyes.

I mean I agree with her of course, but who is this girl and why is the paparazzi after her when she is trying to go to school?

“Yeah…well I’m Annabeth, and you are?” I ask, confused.

“Wait, you don’t know who I am?” she says laughing.

“Yeah, no I don’t know who you are, you haven’t said what your name is yet,” I ask even more confused now. Was I supposed to know who she is?

“That’s funny everyone knows who I am,” she says with a little bit of bitterness in her voice.

“Well, not me I guess. Are you like a Tik Tok influencer or something? Because, I mostly just watch the Tik Toks my cousin and his partner post.”

“Ha, no I’m not a Tik Tok influencer. If you’re serious about not knowing who I am I guess I should tell you my first name so you have something to call me. The name’s Piper.”

“Yeah, safe to say I don’t know who you are, the name doesn’t ring a bell but it’s nice to meet you Piper.” I hold out my hand to shake hers.

She reaches out her hand and grips mine, a spark of electricity zips up my arm.

I pull my arm away, “Ouch, you shocked me!”

She looks down at her hand confused, “Not sure how that happened I didn’t realize you could do that without sliding your feet across a carpet.”

“Well, whatever, it's fine. I guess I’m supposed to show you around the school now?”

“Hahaha, ‘you guess’ why do you sound so unsure? Am I really that bad that you want to bail already?”

“No,” I say blood rushing to my cheeks and the tips of my ears, “they just didn’t have a chance to tell me what I was supposed to be doing before you and your entourage showed up,” I say gesturing to the secret service looking officers at the top of the stairs.

“Oh, yeah, that makes sense,” she says, looking away from me.

“Well, I guess if anyone should give you a tour it should be me, considering I don’t know who you are, I serve the best possible choice of tour guide. Wouldn’t want someone to give you a tour who couldn’t stop asking you weird questions about being famous,” I say rolling my eyes.

She looks at me with a weird look on her face, then turns away and looks down at one of the agents waiting below, “Mike, we’re ready whenever you are.”

I hear the officers say something into their walkie talkies that sounds an awful lot like “the peacock is leaving her nest is everything in order?”

I’m assuming this girl is the peacock they speak of. I may not know who this girl is, but I do know that this semester just got a lot more interesting.

Chapter Text

I walk with Piper and her entourage of sunglasses wearing men down the school hallways pointing out all of the important landmarks.

“And here we have the cafeteria, best not to eat anything that looks mildly suspicious. The green hotdogs should be avoided at all costs, the chicken patties are pretty good, the cheese sticks are delicious but will probably be the reason you need to see a GI in the future,” I say gesturing to the big double doors of the cafeteria.

“Wow, so it’s basically like every public school cafeteria food ever,” she says laughing.

“What is your favorite food?” I ask turning to look at her.

“Oh, there’s this cheesecake store in Beverly Hills that has the best strawberry cheesecake I’ve ever eaten in my life!” she says with a look of nostalgia painted across her face, as if she can practically taste the food as she speaks. “How about you, what is your favorite food?” she asks.

“Well, there’s this falafel place down the block from where I live. I think it's more due to the fact that I have a lot of good memories associated with it, rather than the taste of the food, although don’t get me wrong it is very good.”

“Oh, that’s so fun! I’ll have to try that place out sometime.”

“Yeah, I totally recommend it! I could give you the name of the place if you’d like.”

“Do you know if they Doordash food?”

“Hahaha, probably not. They’re one of those places that is kind of a hole in the wall. I think they only take cash too, now that I think about it,” I say smiling.

We walk down the hallway as I continue giving impromptu information about our school and where the best places to study are and which teachers she’d want for her classes.

“Wait, did they give you a schedule yet?” suddenly remembering that if she already has a schedule I can show her exactly where all of her classes are.

“Uhm, I don’t really know. No one really tells me anything. They just kind of dragged me through the office this morning before I could really speak with anyone. There’s a good chance my dad’s assistant Mellie took care of it. Here, I’ll call her and see what she has to say,” she says, pulling a smartphone out of the pocket of her jacket and starts tapping the screen, turning away from me as she raises the phone to her ear.

“Mellie…yes I’m at the school…yes Mike and the guys are here too…yes the paparazzi got stopped at the front desk just like you said…I have a question though, do you have my schedule planned with the front office because they didn’t say anything to me with all the commotion that was happening…no you didn’t send it to me or I wouldn’t be asking you…yes I know you’re busy and I’m truly sorry to be bothering you I know how important your job is…yes that works, thank you so much Mellie you’re the best!”

She turns back to me with a smile on her face, “Mellie is sending me a screenshot of my schedule right now.”

Her dad has an assistant, she has bodyguards, the paparazzi are after her…who is this girl?

She pulls up the message from the assistant on her phone and looks up at me. “Looks like my first class is English Lit.”

I take her around the school again, this time pointing out each of her classes. Now, she shouldn’t have a problem finding her classes when she comes to school tomorrow. I’m assuming that technically today isn’t her first day of school, just a tour.

“So… those paparazzi that were here this morning, is that a normal thing? Are they going to be waiting for you at school every day?” I ask, horrified that today’s antics may be repeated for the entirety of her time here, for however long that will be.

“No, they usually just take pictures on my first day so they can say that I am, yet again, starting a new school. This time it was not my fault though!” she says, balling her hands into fists.

“Well, you’ve seen the school in its entirety a few times, but what am I supposed to do with you now? Am I supposed to take you back to the office, because as nice as it is to be walking around in circles giving you a tour, I have a class to get to in a few minutes. And when the bell rings a bunch of kids will come rushing into the hallway and if you’re as famous as you say you are, you’ll get mauled by a bunch of high schoolers,” I say, rolling my eyes.

Piper just looks at me like I just murdered her favorite cat. She turns to her bodyguard, “Mike, what am I supposed to do now, do you have orders? Is the front office clear to leave yet?”

He looks off into the distance concentrating, he then turns to Piper and nods in approval.

Piper then turns and looks at me again, “Well guess this is the end for now. I guess I’ll see you around sometime.”

I turn and begin to walk down the hallway to my class. All of a sudden I hear, “Wait!”

Piper runs up to me and holds out her hand expectantly.

I slap her hand with mine, thinking she wants a low-five.

She looks at me like I’ve absolutely lost all of my marbles. “Ummm, I wanted you to give me your phone so I could put my number in, so if I had questions or got lost or something I could text you.”

I feel my cheeks flush with blood, “Ya, of course not a problem.”
I pull out my phone and hand it over to Piper as she plugs her number into my phone and sends a “hi” text to herself.

“There, now I have your number and you have mine,” she says, sounding very proud of herself, handing my phone back to me with a new contact reading “Pippi Longstocking”.

“Thanks,” I say, putting my phone in the back pocket of my jeans.

The bell rings overhead and I wave goodbye to Piper as her bodyguards usher her down the hallway towards the front office.

I walk to my next class and sit down in my unassigned assigned seat and wait for the class to begin.

I look down at my phone again with my new contact. Needless to say, I don’t have that many contacts in my phone. I don’t exactly have many friends, and besides the only people most people my age text are their parents. We mostly DM or send Snaps instead.

“She goes to this school.”

“Yeah the paparazzi were here this morning.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah it was for sure, I saw her with my own eyes.”

I look up from my phone and look at the girls that sit in front of me. Are they talking about Piper right now?

One of the girls shows the other a paparazzi photo of Piper wearing the same clothes she was wearing today entering the front doors of the school.

I look back down at my phone pulling up Google Chrome and type “famous people named Piper”. I scroll down the list of search results until I find a link for a website called “Famous People Who Share a Name”. I scroll down the list of Pipers until I see her face.

Her name is Piper McLean and she is the daughter of famous actor Tristan McLean.

Chapter Text

I mean don’t get me wrong I don’t honestly care all that much, but it explains a lot. I mean I kinda knew she had to be famous or something, hence the bodyguards. He must be the male love interest in that new Hallmark movie Aunt Nat was saying they were going to be filming around town. That must be why she’s here! Because her dad is in town for the remainder of the school year. Although, why wouldn’t they just let her do her schoolwork online, or get someone to teach her in a trailer on set or something (I don’t really know how Hollywood stuff works but I’m just assuming they do stuff like that)?

I put away my phone as the teacher calls for our attention at the front of the class to begin today’s material. I sit and stare off into the abyss ruminating on today’s events. Piper seemed pretty nice and relatively humble all things considered. She seems far less bratty than some of these kids whose parents are fancy lawyers here in the city.

I get on the bus after school with Magnus and Alex. I am once again staring off into the abyss, this time while wearing my bluetooth earbuds, listening to classical music.

I don’t realize that Magnus and Alex are trying to get my attention until Magnus starts whacking me with a notebook.

“What is your problem dude?” I say exasperated, pulling my earbuds out.

“I’m just going to assume that you haven’t heard a single word either of us said this entire bus ride and give you a real quick recap. Did you see all the paparazzi and people all over the school today? They’re saying that Tristan McLean’s daughter is going to our school!” Magnus says with entirely too much energy considering we just spent all day in brain numbing school.

“Yeah I know, her name is Piper,” I reply, looking anywhere but at Magnus and Alex.

“Since when do you know pop culture figures Annie?” Magnus says laughing.

“Well I don’t really, actually,” I murmur.

“Okay, so how do you know what her name is then?”

“I may have been the one to give her a tour of the school this afternoon…”

Alex suddenly perks up from where she has been watching my exchange with her boyfriend. “Well, spill! We want to know everything! Is she totally stuck up? What kind of classes is she taking?”

“Uhm, well I don’t think she’s super stuck up, maybe in a slightly ‘rich kid who doesn’t realize what it means to be poor’ kind of way, but she’s definitely a lot nicer than most. And I can’t remember what all classes she was taking, the normal ones I guess,” I reply.

“You know…maybe if you ask her she will want to be friends with us. It would give you someone to chat with so you don’t have to feel like such a third wheel with Maggie and I.”

I roll my eyes. Although Alex is right about me getting tired of being a third wheel sometimes. I’m just not interested in expanding the friend group right now. I’ve gotten so used to our little group of three, I know adding another person is just going to throw off the dynamics of the group. Also, the bodyguards pose a problem for literally anything we’d want to do together. I can assume she doesn’t like being shadowed everywhere she goes, and it obviously not her fault she needs bodyguards, but it's still annoying nonetheless. I mean it would be kind of awkward to have a party at Aunt Nat’s apartment and have the bodyguards trailing us the whole night.

I stare out the window, not even noticing when the bus stops to let Alex off at her stop. The next thing I know, I am being shaken by Magnus to let me know that I have to come back to reality and get off the bus with him.

We walk back to the apartment with Magnus humming a song from the 90’s. The trees are dead and have basically lost all of their leaves so as we walk we hear the crunch of the leaves beneath our feet. I look down at the sidewalk looking for the crunchiest looking leaves to step on.

Eventually, we make it back to the apartment and I go into my room immediately after saying hello to Aunt Nat. I have no plans to do my homework right now, however. I can’t stop thinking about that girl Piper from today.

I take out my phone and find her contact info in my phone. I click on the message icon and stare at the pop-up keyboard…I have no idea what to say. What does one say to the daughter of a famous movie star? I just know that I have this feeling that I should say something to her, but I have no idea what.

I type, “Hey, this is Annabeth. The girl from school today who gave you a tour of the building.”

I did something at least, usually I would rather die than be the first person to reach out and text someone first. It makes my skin crawl usually, but something in me this time was more determined than anxious.

I flop down on my bed and stare up at the pictures taped there. One day everything is going to work out and be just fine! I just have to keep going and persevere!

I feel my phone buzz at my feet. I sit up suddenly, almost hitting my head on Magnus’s bunk. I grab my phone and see a push notification indicating that I received a message from Piper.

“oh ya, hi! hru?”

“Yes, I’m good just got home from school. Don’t feel like doing my homework right now.”

“mood been thre dne that”

“What are you doing?”

“just scrolling tik tok kinda bored low-key”

“What would you be doing if you were back in LA?”

“shoplifting prbly”

“Ha, you’re funny.”

“any recs 4 me?”

“Of course! There’s the arcade and bowling alley downtown, there’s this really good falafel place near me, and there’s always people watching people downtown (you’d be surprised by how entertaining that is).”

“falafel sounds good”

“Oh for sure it's really good my cousin and I go all the time.”

“wahts the name of it?”

I send her the address from Google Maps because if I’m being honest I have no idea if it has a name or not. It's just kind of a small shop. I swear I’ve never seen a sign out front or their take out menus because Magnus and I usually go in person for pick up.

My phone vibrates again and I look down to see the message, “meet me in 15”.

Is she out of her mind? I mean sure I have no other plans for tonight, but like what’s the plan? Is she bringing her bodyguards with her? Is she sneaking away?

Chapter Text

I guess I have to find a way to get out of here. I imagine that I can get Magnus in on it, but he’ll definitely ask questions that I don’t really want to answer right now. Plus, there’s a good chance he’ll want to come too if I say who I’m going to be seeing.

I pull out my phone and shoot Magnus a text and crawl out the window. I hightail it to the falafel place and step inside, looking around.

So far, I’m the only customer here, other than an ancient looking old lady sitting near the register. I sit down at a table against the wall that has a good view of the door.

I look down at my phone to see if Piper texted again.

Still nothing. Did she forget in the 15 minutes since she first texted me? Did the bodyguards not let her out? But if that was the case, why wouldn’t she have texted me saying that she actually couldn’t come after all?

I watch a lady with red hair wearing a baseball hat enter the restaurant and walk towards me. She sits down across from me and smiles.

It’s Piper!

“What, you didn’t recognize me with this on?” she asks me laughing while gesturing to her wig.

“Not really! It’s a good disguise!” I say.
“So, have you ordered yet or were you waiting for me to show up?” she asks, staring me down from across the table.

I look away from her gaze and down at my folded hands. “No I haven’t yet, do you want to order now?”

“Sure!” she pops up from her seat and strides over to the counter before I can react.

Is it actually a good idea for her to be ordering the food? What happens if someone recognizes her? Shouldn’t I be the one who is ordering for us?

She comes back to our table and plops down looking at me expectantly. I stare right back at her, not sure why she is looking at me like that.

“Yes…what is it?” I ask, finally breaking the silence between the two of us.

“What do you mean?” she asks.

“You had this look on your face like you were expecting me to say something. Did you ask me a question that I missed?”

“No, I was just waiting to see if you’d break the silence first. I wanted to see how long it would take before you had to say something.”

“That sounds like something I’d do to my cousin Magnus.”

“Well, you know what they say ‘great minds think alike’ and all that.”

The person working the cashier at the front calls out, “Order for Annabeth Chase.”

My head instantly snaps around to look in the direction of the voice. Piper gave my name to them? Wait, actually that makes sense, it's not like she could give them her name.

Piper comes back to our table with our food in both of her hands and sets it down on the table. I look at the food and realize that it isn’t my usual order. Wait, did I even tell Piper what I wanted? I honestly can’t remember telling her what to order.

I mean, it does look good, I'll give her that.

“This is usually my go-to order when I would get falafel in LA, I hope you like it. Omg, wait! You don’t have any dietary restrictions or food allergies, do you?” Piper looks at me with guilt written all over her face.

“Oh no, don’t worry we’re all good!” I say in a heartbeat.

“Okay, good, I wouldn’t want to send you to the ER after just recently meeting you. I would feel like an absolute monster.”

“Don’t stress, it’s all good! How did you manage to sneak out without your bodyguards? And do you just have wigs on hand for activities like this? Are they secret wigs that you have to hide in the back of a closet or something?”

“Wow, you sure do have a lot of questions! First time hanging out with a famous kid?”

“I mean yeah I’m kind of a no one. Why would I know anyone famous?”

“You’re not a no one, you just aren’t famous. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. But to answer your questions I was able to sneak out of the trailer on set because the trailer has windows that are big enough for me to sneak through. The guards just kind of hang out in the living room because they don’t expect me to sneak out and also my room is one of the only places where I have some semblance of privacy so they’re nice enough to give me that. And my wigs are actually meant for when I have to get around without being noticed…just not for sneaking out to get falafel. It’s more meant for official stuff when I need to go somewhere without being noticed, today is definitely not one of those official cases.”

“To be fair I do something similar when I sneak out, obviously minus the wig. I sneak out a window and down a fire escape all the time with my cousin.”

“I would love to be close to my family like that. I only have my dad, but I have joint custody with the rest of the world so it's rare that the two of us can spend a lot of time together.”

“Yeah I feel that. Families are complicated.”

“You can say that again!”

She picks up her food on her fork and we bump our forks together in solidarity.

Chapter Text

I sneak back through the window high off of excitement after leaving the falafel shop. My feet hit the floor of the bedroom and all of a sudden the big lights in the room come on all at the same time.

Magnus turns around in a computer chair.

“And where have you been tonight young lady?”

“Jesus, Magnus you almost gave me a heart attack,” I walk over to the light switch and turn it off. Those lights are enough to give anyone a migraine.

“You didn’t answer my question, where were you?”

“I told you already what I was doing.”

“Ummm, no you texted me ‘I have an emergency please cover for me’. That’s not really an explanation. And besides I know you, the idea of defying rules gives you hives, and sneaking out is definitely a no-no.”

“Does not! Why are you making me out to be some goody-two shoes? And besides you and I sneak out all the time. This isn’t my first rodeo.”

“Well firstly when you and I sneak out it's either when mom is gone, or once she’s gone to bed. And second of all we live in a society where men are more likely to leave you alone if you’re with me and not by yourself.”

“It wasn’t even dark yet when I left!”

“Well it is now, meaning that you walked home alone, in the dark, in downtown Boston.”

“I’ve lived here long enough to know what I’m doing. I may not have lived here my entire life, but I can handle myself just fine Magnus!”

Magnus walks over and wraps me up in his arms.

“Yeah I know. It's just that it would kill me if anything ever happened to you. You’re my best friend and my cousin and my sister wrapped into one.”

I squirm out of his grasp and take a step back.

“Since when are you the sentimental type?”

But I know that he can see that I feel the same about him, obviously not the sister part but I mean that he is like a brother to me.

“Soooo…where were you?”

“MAGNUS!”

“I’m gonna keep asking where you were until you answer me. And I also plan to get Alex in on this if I can’t get it out of you. So the only question left is whether it's more embarrassing to tell me now just us or have the combined judgment of both Alex and I against you.”

“Fine you win! I went to get falafel.”

“YOU WENT TO GET FALAFEL WITHOUT ME!!! HOW COULD YOU?!?!?”

“Well you weren’t invited.”

“Invited? There was a party at the falafel place and you got invited and I didn’t. That's a first.”

“That’s uncalled for! Technically it wasn’t a party, it was a small get together.”

“Well who else was there? I didn’t realize you had friends outside of Alex and I.”

“I do have other friends,” this is a lie of course I don’t have any other friends.

“Yeah right Annie we live together I know that’s a lie.”

“Okay, yeah you might be right about that one,” I say, rolling my eyes.

“So who’d you meet?”

“Just a person, it’s not important.”

“It actually is because what if they’re crazy and I need to tell the cops who to arrest when you go missing?”

“You really need to stop watching true crime documentaries, they make you overly paranoid.”

“C’mon Annie who did you go see? A boyfriend? A girlfriend? Other romantic interest?”

“I was just talking to someone and no we aren’t dating.”

“Why are you being so vague? Is it someone I know?”

“Kind of…”

“Do they go to our school?”

“Yes.”

“What’s their favorite color?”

“Favorite color? Is that really a question you think will help determine someone’s identity? Do you know the favorite color of everyone in school or something? ”

“Well obviously not, it was more of a test to see how well you knew the person. Clearly not very well or you’d know the answer. This person must be a new acquaintance…”

“Can you just give it a break, Magnus?”

“Heck no, clearly I struck a nerve, which means I’m close to the answer. Let’s see who have I seen you talking to lately that I haven’t seen you talk to before? Someone new…new…”

I lay down on my bottom bunk and stare up at the bottom of the top bunk, as Magnus paces around in circles talking to himself.

“I’ve got it!” he shouts. “You met up with Piper!”

I sit up so fast I hit my head off of the bunk.

“Nuh-uh, you’re wrong.”

“No, I’m right your face is all red and if I was wrong you wouldn’t have sat up so fast! You went to meet Piper! Why?”

“First of all you’re sworn to secrecy, except Alex of course, but he has to promise not to tell anyone else. If it got around that Piper was just out and about in Boston everyone would be looking for her everywhere. As far as people are concerned, she stays in the trailer on the set for the movie her father is filming. If people found out she wasn’t there would be big problems for a lot of different people.”

“Yes, yes I know how this works, more so than you probably do if I do say so myself. I follow enough K-Pop idols to know that it sucks to have the paparazzi after you.”

“Then we’re in agreement. You know where I went and why, so now can we please stop talking about it.”

“Of course, I’m just annoying because it's my job, you know?”

“Yes Maggie, I know,” I sigh with a slight smile.

Chapter Text

The next day at school as I sit with Alex and Magnus at our lunch table staring out of the window, I sense a presence standing next to me. I look up at Magnus and Alex staring at the person behind me with their mouths hanging wide open.

I swivel in my chair and stare at the person behind me. It is Piper of course.

“Can I sit with you guys?” she asks, smiling at my cousin and his girlfriend.

Magnus and Alex, still in shock, can only respond by bobbing their heads up and down.

“Hey Piper, what’s up?” I ask, looking at her bright pink “Hello Kitty” crop top.

“Well if you hadn’t noticed I am in fact the new girl on campus, not only that, but I also happen to be the daughter of a famous actor so I am a hot commodity on the lunch table market,” she says rolling her eyes.

“Unfortunately, you’ve chosen some of the most boring people in school to talk to, but I guess that means we won’t try to use your notoriety for our own personal gain,” I say.

“Speak for yourself Annabeth, I want to meet some movie stars,” Alex says with entirely too much maniac energy in her eyes.

“She’s joking,” Magnus quickly interjects.

“Am I?” Alex says looking at Magnus with the most chaotic grin I’ve ever seen.

“Anyways…Piper, how was your morning?” I ask, changing the subject.

“Ugh, just the boring school stuff. Everyone knows that the best part of school is getting to socialize, otherwise it's so boring. I hate not being able to talk to anyone my own age when I’m on set with my dad. The only teenagers on set are the teen actors and there is a big difference between being a teen actor and being a teen with an actor for a parent.”

“I mean, we’re as normal of teens as you can get,” Magnus says.

This isn’t entirely true. I mean sure, we don’t have actors for parents or anything, but our lives are anything but what would be considered “normal” by society's expectations. I live with my aunt and cousin in Boston while my father, stepmother, and stepbrothers are in Virginia. Alex lives with friends because her family kicked her out. She was so close to not being able to find somewhere she would be able to sleep with a roof over her head, which is unfortunately common. People who don’t know anyone who is in a similar situation wouldn’t consider Alex’s situation “normal”. None of us have two married parents with a white picket fence and a golden retriever that is considered to be the baseline life that everyone should have.

“So what do you guys do around here for fun?” Piper asks.

“You’re asking the wrong people,” Magnus replies.

“Depends on how many laws you want to break,” Alex says.

Magnus playfully smacks Alex’s arm.

“What you know it's true?” Alex laughs looking at Magnus.

“So I take it you’re the fun one out of the three of you guys?” Piper asks Alex.

“Who’s to say that Magnus and I aren’t any fun?” I say.

“Trust me they aren’t,” Alex says.

“Traitor! I think my cousin and I are plenty of fun,” Magnus says defending our honor.

“I guess we’ll just have to see about that!” Piper challenges.

“Well I can prove to you just how fun we are, you can come to our party Friday night that Annabeth and I are hosting,” Magnus says in reply.

“Deal!” Piper yells, sticking her hand out for Magnus to shake.

“Deal!” he yells back, shaking Piper’s hand.

Great, now I am apparently co hosting a party that is going to be attended by the daughter of a famous actor who has probably been to parties so outrageous I couldn’t even conjure them with my wildest imaginations.

Chapter Text

When Friday night rolls along I am basically sweating bullets. Suddenly the casual hangout “parties” that Magnus and I usually throw have become a lot more stressful. I mean sure there is only going to be one more person in the mix than there usually is, but still.

As soon as Aunt Nat leaves the house I go into cleaning mode trying to clean every inch of the apartment. Meanwhile Magnus stands by the door to our bedroom and watches me with a smirk on his face.

Finally I’d had enough of his attitude, “Why are you smirking at me like that?”

“I’ve never seen you be so determined and focused on cleaning before.”

“Well yes, that’s because we are having guests over, so we have to make sure everything is spotless.”

“I don’t remember you having this kind of energy whenever we had Alex over for the first time,” he says, continuing to smirk at me.

“Well to be fair Alex isn’t the child of a famous movie star from LA.”

“Uh huh, sure Annie whatever you say,” he says walking past me as he walks to the front door to let Alex in.

Alex walks in giving me a little salute and plops down on the sofa in the living room as I continue to wipe down all of the lampshades covered in dust.

“Why are you wiping those lampshades?” he asks.

“Because they’re dirty…?”

“Girl, no one cares about the condition of the lampshades. I know that girlfriend of yours is coming but don’t you think that’s a bit much?”

“First of all she isn’t my girlfriend and second of all someone has to clean these lampshades at some point, I don’t see why it can’t be me.”

Alex and Magnus give each other a look across the room. It doesn’t take a genius to understand the conversation silently being held between the two of them.

My phone buzzes in my pocket, “on fir escap what flr is u”

Good lord she’s trying to come up via the fire escape. I run into the bedroom and throw open the window sticking my head out, looking for Piper.

There she was one floor down looking at the building up and down, trying to figure out where she’s supposed to be going.

“Audrey Hepburn, up here!” I shout.

She looks up at me and smiles, running up to meet me at the window.

“Here we go,” I say, helping her through the bedroom window and she gives me her wig that I hang up on a hook on the wall.

“That was fun!” she exclaims, taking down her braid that she used to contain her real hair under the wig.

“Well if you consider that fun I can only imagine what you’ll think about the rest of the evening,” I say, leading Piper out of the bedroom and back to the living room where Alex and Magnus were doing everything in their power not to burst out laughing.

I look at both Alex and Magnus as I stand behind Piper making vague threats via hand signals of what I’ll do to them if they embarrass me any further.

“Piper and Alex would you like something to drink? We have different flavored slushies from 7/11 down the block. Magnus and I went down earlier so we wouldn’t have to go down later,” I ask, trying to shift everyone's attention away from the fact that I smuggled a famous actor's daughter through my bedroom window.

I go into the kitchen fetching everyone’s preferred slushies and the bags of chips Magnus and I bought. Magnus comes in after me to help carry everything. He looks at me and wiggles his eyebrows up and down. I give him a look that could kill and the slyness drops from his face and we walk back into the living room.

I hand Piper her slushie and our hands accidentally touch. Just like the time at the school when our hands touch I feel a spark arc up the length of my arm.

I grab the remote off the arm of the sofa and pull up the YouTube app on the television and select a Vine compilation video.

I sit down on the sofa and begin to watch the video laughing along with the others. When I pull my eyes away from the television I realize that Alex is sitting on Magnus’s lap in the one armchair in the living room and to my horror Piper is sitting next to me on the sofa. Since when did this happen? I somehow missed all of this. I was so lost in the best of the internet circa 2016.

Suddenly my entire body feels itchy for some reason. It doesn’t make any sense. One minute I’m so engrossed in the television and the next I can’t think of anything else other than the fact that I am sitting so close to Piper.

A few videos later Alex grabs the remote, handing it to Magnus. He turns the television off and we sit there in silence for a little while.

Piper jumps up and declares, “We should do charades now.”

Magnus and Alex agree instantly and just like that I guess we’re doing charades now.

The teams are pretty straightforward, obviously it's Piper and I against Alex and Magnus.

Piper of course knows a website that has a random prompt generator for charades.

I go first and I’m assigned the prompt of an elephant, which Piper gets immediately.

The next person that is up is Magnus who gets his prompt and mimes picking something up. He then starts opening and shutting the handle of the fake tool. It appears to be a pair of scissors.

“Lesbians!” Alex yells.

Everyone begins to laugh hysterically. Magnus shakes his head no and continues miming scissors, but then he points to his head.

“Cutting your hair!” Alex yells again, this time Magnus nods in the affirmative.

This time it was Piper’s turn to act out a prompt. She goes on her phone and receives her prompt from the random generator.

She holds out her hands flat in front of her and puckers her lips and begins to blow air forward.

“Giving a blow job!” I yell.

Magnus and Alex look at me horrified and Piper just laughs.

“Since when do you know what a blow job is Annie?” Magnus exclaims.

“We’re in high school Magnus, give me a little credit. I may spend the majority of my time living under a rock, but I’m not stupid,” I reply.

“Well, unfortunately, that’s not the correct answer,” Piper says, shaking her head.

Piper holds her hands out flat again and begins to blow air forward.

“Making out with someone?” I ask.

Piper shakes her head no again.

“Blowing out birthday candles!” I realize.

Piper nods her head yes laughing and comes to sit down next to me on the sofa again. She looks over at me with a weird look in her eyes and a huge smile on her face. I don’t know why but it makes me really uncomfortable, so I consciously look away from her and back to Alex standing in front of the television.

This has been a strange night for certain. A famous person crawling through my window and I don’t know how to feel about all of it.

Chapter Text

A few hours pass and I find myself sitting in the living room with Piper, while Magnus walks Alex back to her apartment. Magnus said that he would be back “later” which means he’ll probably be gone a while.

“So Magnus and Alex…” Piper begins.

“Yeah they’re dating if you couldn’t tell and I don’t know if you’ve picked up on it yet or not but Alex is genderfluid,” I answer before Piper can finish her sentence.

“You’re right, I kind of figured that out when I heard them talking earlier. They seem really happy together,” she says.

“I think the same thing and I’m glad. Magnus and I have had a hard time finding friends outside of each other growing up, so I’m happy that Magnus could find someone who will care about him so much. And Alex is an amazing friend to me as well. She’s the life of any party and always knows how to make me laugh when I’m sad.”

“What about you?”

“Me? What about me?”

“Well, have you found any friends outside of Magnus and Alex?”

“I mean no, not really. Unless you count yourself I guess,” I say laughing a little.

“Well that’s just sad! I guess you’ve never been in a relationship with anyone before either?”

“Yeah, that’s going to be a no for me. It’s hard enough finding friends, much less someone who likes me in any romantic sense, especially when you’re me.”

“It’s alright you’ll find someone one day if that’s what you want!”

“Well anyways, I hope you had fun with us tonight,” I say changing the subject not wanting to talk about my asexuality right now.

“Oh for sure. I think I prefer this kind of party to the ones they throw out in LA.”

“Really? I find that hard to believe! You’d prefer drinking 7/11 slushies, watching Vine compilations, and playing charades to opulent mansions with DJs and the richest, hottest people in the United States?”

“Well yes, they aren’t as fun as they appear from the outside. The kids are usually on who knows what illegal substances, which is fun I guess at first, but then they’re just paranoid the whole time about the police showing up and their parents’ reputations taking a hit. It’s just not for me. I like parties that are only a few people you really like, rather than a bunch of people you only know a little bit.”

“As an introvert I completely get that. I couldn’t imagine willingly going to a party with large numbers of people,” I say shivering thinking of what that would look like.

“I’d say I’m more of an ambivert, but after a lifetime of large parties I think I’m ready for more of an introvert lifestyle.”

“Well you’ve come to the right place! Some say that I’m the queen of introverts!”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” she says chuckling.

Before I can say something, Piper jumps up from where she was sitting next to me on the couch and runs over to the mantle where all of the pictures Aunt Nat has collected sit in frames.

“Is this you?” Piper asks, picking up one of the frames.

I walk over to her and look at the photo she is referring to. It’s one of my favorite pictures, it's from when I was a little kid. There in the frame I stand with Magnus’s arm draped over my shoulder. If I had to guess, I was about seven years old when it was taken.

“Yeah, it's me and Magnus at our Randolph’s house when we were little. I think it was probably Thanksgiving.”

“Do you remember why you had that look on your face when the photo was taken?”

“What look?” I ask, looking more closely at the photo.

“You’re smiling, but it doesn’t quite reach your eyes. You look sad or scared or something.”

“Well, I mean you’re probably right. I was thinking about running away from home if I remember correctly.”

“Running away? Were you seriously going to do that at seven?”

“Oh yeah, I think I would have if it wasn’t for my aunt. I didn’t exactly get along very well with my new step-mother and I think looking back she was a little bit abusive and my father didn’t stop her. My aunt must have seen my plight and she was able to convince my father to let me stay with her and Magnus. I’m not sure exactly how all of the legal stuff works, but she’s allowed to sign off on my permission slips for school and stuff but if I end up in the hospital my father would be the one who would be making all of my medical decisions. But I have a feeling that if I did run away from home I would have gone to Boston to find them, but I doubt I would have gotten very far from home by myself at seven years old. Best case scenario, I probably would have been picked up by the police and taken home.”

“I’m so sorry that you went through all of that Annabeth!”

“It’s alright, I’m glad I’m here with my aunt and Magnus. When I turn eighteen I won’t have to worry about my dad and his new family any longer.” I place the photo of Magnus and I back on the mantle, staring at the sad little girl who thought that life would never get better.

“Well, I think I’d better go before my security detail discovers I’m not in my bedroom doing my homework like they think that I am.”

We walk into my bedroom and I pick up her wig off of the hook by the door as Piper pulls her hair into a low bun. When she’s ready I hand her the wig and she places it over top of her real hair, moving the wig into place so that you can’t see any of her hair.

She looks at me and she reaches towards me. I think she’s trying to give me a high five so I raise my hand, and then realize she was trying to give me a hug. We switch trying to adjust to the other as I try to go in for the hug and she tries to give me the high five I originally initiated. We both mutually give each other a little salute instead.

She crawls out of the bedroom and onto the fire escape. I crawl out after her and I stand at the top of the fire escape and watch her descend down the stairs to the alley below.

I can’t help but feel a deep sense of melancholy and longing watching her walk down the alley to the main street.

Chapter Text

That night as I lay in bed I hear Magnus as he sneaks into the apartment. His footsteps echo as he walks down the hallway to our bedroom and then his steps stop as if he has stopped in the doorway. I assume that he’s looking to determine if I’m asleep yet or not.

I lay silently pretending to be asleep so that I don’t have to talk to him. As much as I love to gab with my cousin, I’m just not in the mood tonight. I just want to be left alone right now, which is difficult to do sometimes when you live in an apartment as small as ours.

On Monday at school Piper finds me in the hallway as I’m walking to the table where Magnus and Alex are waiting for us.

“Hey girl, how’s it going?” Piper asks me.

“I’m good. Did you get back okay? They didn’t catch you right?” I ask, worried she may be in trouble because of me.

“Nope! I’m practically a pro at this, you don’t have to worry about me!”

We walk to the table where Alex’s feet are currently sitting propped up in Magnus’s lap.

“There you girls are! We were beginning to wonder where the two of you got off to!” Alex says insinuating something I don’t even want to think about.

Magnus gives Alex a look and both roll their eyes at one another in the way only the two of them are able to communicate with one another.

“Ugh my dad’s assistant is texting me,” Piper groans, tapping on the screen of her phone and she leans her chair back so it's only on the two back legs.

“Oh that doesn’t sound good, what does she want?” I ask, concerned that they did in fact catch the fact that Piper was at my place Friday night.

“Well this is interesting, they want me to go to a local nail salon for PR for their business. Apparently, they’re letting me bring some of my friends, probably because they know I’ll say no if they don’t. Do you guys want to come with me?” She asks.

“Magnus and I don’t do nail salons unfortunately. Magnus doesn’t even let ME paint his nails, even though I think he would look amazing with a dark evergreen color. And as for me I prefer the chipped, self painted look. Salon quality just doesn’t fit my aesthetic,” Alex explains holding out his green and pink colored nails.

“I’ll come with you Piper! I don’t think I’ve ever gotten my nails done at a salon before now that I think about it,” I say staring off into space trying to think about when I would have gotten my nails done before.

“You’ll love it! Thank you for agreeing to come with me, we’re going today after school, we’ll give you a ride too. It would have been very boring going by myself. Chances are my dad’s assistant would have insisted on coming with me and talking to me the whole time because she feels bad for me,” Piper says sighing.

At the last bell of the school day it finally occurs to me that I have no idea what the plan is for anything that is supposed to be happening after school today. I reach into my pocket to text Piper, when I get one from her instead.

“come to the gym”

I switch text threads and text Aunt Nat so she knows why I won’t be on the bus home with Magnus, “Hey Aunt Nat, I’m going out with a friend to get our nails done, I’ll be home later. Love you!”

I hightail it halfway across the school to the gymnasium, looking for Piper. I see her standing next to the display case with trophies from swim meets we won in the 1950’s.

She nods hello to me and I walk with her out of the double doors and to the curb where a black car with tinted windows sits waiting. Her driver exits the car and walks to our side of the car and opens the door for us to get in. Piper slides in first and I follow behind her.

“My driver’s name is Trent. He's chill, he is going to drive us to the nail salon,” she says, picking up the phone connected to the front where Trent is sitting. “Hey Trent, how are your kids today? Does your son still have that ear infection?”

I sit taking in the luxuries of such a fancy vehicle while Piper talks to Trent about his family and how his day is going.

After getting through midafternoon traffic in downtown Boston we arrive outside of a nail salon with bright pink, sparkly signage.

We walk in the door and are greeted by a blonde woman at the front desk, “Hello how can I help you girls today?”

“I believe there is an appointment scheduled for us today. I’m Piper McLean. I think my dad’s assistant made an appointment,” she says, trying to lower her voice so the other patrons don’t hear her name.

“Of course, Piper McLean, we're so excited to have you here!” the woman says loud enough that everyone in a two mile radius could probably hear her.

Piper and I are seated together in those squishy massage chairs. Piper picks up her remote control and begins smashing buttons and relaxing into the massage.

“Ummm…” I murmur, not sure what exactly I’m supposed to do with the remote.

Piper’s eyes snap open and she looks over at me with panic in her eyes, “Oh my god, I’m so sorry you’ve probably never used one of these before,” she says pushing the buttons on my remote and explaining to me so that I can change the settings if I don’t like the ones she picked out for me.

One of the employees comes over and begins to fill up the foot baths and hands us a laminated stack of papers. It's a list of all of the different color nail polishes they have. Piper and I flip through the pages as we decide what colors we want.

“What color were you thinking?” Piper asks me, leaning over to see what page I’m on.

“I don’t really know, it's a lot to take in, you know?” I reply, looking down at all of the nail polish options.

“Do you want me to suggest one for you?”

“Sure why not? You’d probably know which ones are good.”

“I think you should get this grey one here,” she says pointing to one of the shades on her list of polishes.

“I think that’s a pretty good one, thanks for the suggestion! Which one do you want?”

“Oh, I’m getting hot pink French tips!”

“Yesss that sounds really good!”

The employees do the weird foot washing thing as part of our pedicures and paint our toenails. I just find it really weird, my feet should definitely be in Converse at all times.

I honestly can’t remember the last time I had my fingernails painted. Aunt Nat used to paint my nails all the time when I was little, but since I’ve gotten older we’ve just been so busy and don’t have as much time as we used to.

The employee trims and shapes my nails. Piper sits next to me looking over every once and a while, giving me a reassuring smile. Her pink French tip nails are beginning to take form and they look really good.

“Do you want me to paint any designs on your nails for an accent nail?” the employee painting my nails asks.

I look over at Piper for a translation and she asks me, “Do you have a favorite animal?”

“Yeah, my favorite animal is an owl,” I answer her, confused about what my favorite animal has to do with my nails.

“Can you do gold owls on her ring fingers?” Piper asks the employee.

“Absolutely!” the employee answers.

Before long both of our nails are finished. My nails are a grey the color of chimney smoke with little golden owls on my ring fingers. It's the most beautiful thing I’ve ever gotten, I’m speechless that these nails I’m looking at are actually mine.

Piper pulls my hand towards her, the tips of our fingernails touching while she takes a picture on her phone, “For the Gram,” she says as explanation.

We walk back up to the front desk to pay our bill, but the same blonde lady from before says, “Don’t worry girls, it's all paid for already!”

Somehow while we were in the salon the entire street became flooded with paparazzi (probably because of the blonde lady with the loud mouth at the front desk). Piper and I run to the car where Trent is standing with the door open for us. Piper and I jump in, laughing despite our mad dash to the car. I’m lucky I didn’t trip and fall in the mad dash to the car. I’m not as experienced with running from paparazzi as Piper, actually I’m not good at running period.

“We can drive you home!” Piper exclaims and picks up the phone to tell Trent my address.

I look out the window at the trees passing by. Piper sits across from me typing on her phone, when she looks up at me, “What’s your Instagram handle?”

“architects_daughter24” I answer, giving her the information to find my Instagram profile that has two photos of Magnus, Alex, and I on it.

Piper continues tapping on her phone and my phone suddenly starts to blow up with Instagram notifications. Apparently she tagged me in her photos from the salon.

“Oh that random account with no profile picture is me by the way,” Piper says, still looking at her phone.

I find the profile in question and follow it back looking at her "real" profile with pictures of her and her friends from her previous schools. I guess the other public profile where she posted the salon photos is her profile for PR stuff.

When we arrive back at the apartment, Piper exits the vehicle behind me, when suddenly I realize I have a question for her.

“Why did you tell me to get grey nails at the salon?” I ask, looking at her.

“Well, they match the color of your eyes,” she says sheepishly, looking down at the sidewalk so she doesn’t see me blushing, completely lost for words.

“Hey Piper!” a voice calls.

Piper and I whip our heads around looking for the voice. Magnus comes down the front stairs of the building joining us as we stand next to the car.

Thank God for cousins breaking the awkward vibes.

“Hey Magnus, I brought your cousin home safe and sound! She only has a few sore cuticles, but I don’t think her injuries are life threatening,” Piper says jokingly.

“Thanks for that! I don’t know what I’d do without her!” Magnus answers, wrapping his arm around my shoulder.

“Have a good night you guys, I’ll see you both at school tomorrow!” she says slipping into the car, waving goodbye.

Chapter Text

As soon as the car begins rolling down the road Magnus removes the arm he had wrapped around my shoulder.

“What was that?” he asks.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. We went to the nail salon and got our nails done,” I say walking up the front stairs, Magnus trailing behind me.

“I’m talking about why your face is the shade of an overripe tomato, Annie.”

Of course it is…

“Maybe I’m having an allergic reaction,” I say, shrugging my shoulders, still not looking at Magnus.

“An allergic reaction to what? The nail polish? Is your skin itchy?”

“No Magnus, I’m fine, I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Well can I at least see these nails someone’s hard money was spent on?”

We bust into the apartment and I flop down on the couch and hold my hands up so that Magnus can examine my manicure.

“Did you pick this color out? I feel like you normally just paint your nails a random color. Why this color?”

“Well technically Piper picked the color out if I’m being honest.”

He pulls my hand up towards my face and I can see his eyes jump from my nails to my eyes and back. He chuckles under his breath and walks away.

Whatever, it doesn’t matter. I pull my phone out and begin deleting hate comments from my Instagram about how ugly I am. Like gee thanks I kind of figured that out by now. I update my close friends list to include Piper’s profile-less account. I take a photo of my nails and post it on my close friends story.

I can hear Aunt Natalie roaming around the kitchen making dinner and singing an old Tear for Fears song. Magnus and Aunt Nat are having a conversation that’s too soft for me to hear from the living room. I suddenly remember that I haven’t finished my homework yet, I should probably do that.

I get up off of the couch and trudge to my room, grabbing my books out of my bag. It's the same thing as always, ugh.

Before I know it I hear Magnus’s tell-tale knock on the door, letting me know that dinner is ready.

I walk to the kitchen table, when I hear the doorbell ring. Magnus runs away, presumably to the door. Aunt Nat hands me a stack of four plates to set the table.

“Why do we need four plates for dinner tonight?” I ask.

As soon as the words leave my mouth I put two and two together, the doorbell, the four plates, clearly we are having someone over for dinner.

As I begin putting the plates on the table and setting the table, Magnus and Alex walk in the room.

“Hey Alex, come to join us for dinner?” I ask

“Well yes, that is why I am here after all!” she says to me, “Can I help you with anything Mrs. Chase?” turning to my aunt.

“No dear, you’re our guest. My job tonight is to make sure you don’t have to do anything!” my aunt says carrying a baking dish from the oven to the kitchen table.

Magnus gets everyone drinks and we sit down together as a family to eat dinner.

“So, how has school been? What’s new? What's the phrase you kids say these days, ‘what’s the tea?’?” Aunt Nat says looking between Magnus, Alex, and I.

“Oh, please stop mom, that’s so embarrassing,” Magnus says, burying his head in arms.

Alex reaches out and pats the top of Magnus’s hand. “Well has Annabeth told you about our new friend?” she says, continuing to console Magnus.

Aunt Nat’s head snaps to look straight at me. I’m in trouble now, I haven’t told her anything yet. Not that I don’t trust her or anything, I just never got around to it.

“Well yes, we did make a new friend recently. A new addition to the group, it was a team effort,” looking to Magnus and Alex for backup.

“Nah, Annabeth is being modest, it was all her!” Alex exclaims, holding hands with my cousin across the table.

“Oh Annabeth, that’s wonderful! I’m so glad you were able to make a friend on your own!” Aunt Nat says looking at me, practically with tears in her eyes.

“Wow, don’t sound so surprised, you guys are making me seem like a kindergartener who made their first friend,” I drawl, rolling my eyes.

“So tell me more about this friend of yours Annabeth!” Aunt Nat says looking entirely too excited for my answer.

“Well her name is Piper. We went to get our nails done after school today actually.” I’m trying to keep as many details to myself, not wanting to necessarily tell her about how she’s kind of famous. It’s not really a secret that we’re friends or anything. After all, I was posted to her public Instagram, but still it feels weird that she’s regarded as some crazy entity, she’s just Piper to me.

“Oh so that’s the friend you mentioned when you texted me earlier today!” Aunt Nat answers, referring to the text I sent her so she would know why I didn’t come home earlier.

“Yes, exactly that’s Piper,” holding out my hand so that my aunt can look at my nails.

“They’re very fancy,” my aunt coos, looking at my nails.

Alex pulls her phone out and reaches across the table to Aunt Nat to show her something.

“OH MY GOD! YOU MEANT PIPER MCLEAN?!?!?!” Aunt Nat screams, turning the phone to me where a picture of Piper and I’s nails from the salon are on the screen.

“Yes Aunt Nat, I’m friends with the daughter of the famous actor that you have a crush on,” I mutter, embarrassed that all of my secrets are being exposed.

“I do not,” Aunt Nat protests, meanwhile her face has gone red.

I look down at my food, determined not to make eye contact with anyone for the rest of the meal. I understand in theory why everyone is so excited about me having a new friend, but it also feels kind of embarrassing, like there’s something wrong with me for not having many friends. I’m just kind of introverted and I also have a built-in best friend in the form of my cousin. No one really understands the things the two of us have gone through except for us, and maybe Alex. It’s awkward to have to explain to everyone why I live with Aunt Nat and Magnus sometimes.

Chapter Text

I help Aunt Nat clean up the kitchen after dinner so that Magnus and Alex can say their goodbyes in private. They’re literally going to see each other in a few hours at school tomorrow, but you wouldn’t know that based on how the two of them act sometimes. They act more like one of them is going off to war or something.

“That friend of yours seems like a very nice girl. How did someone like her end up with you as a friend of all people?” Aunt Nat asks, picking up a plate from the table.

“Aunt Nat, that’s kind of mean don’t you think? And for the record I was assigned to show her around the school and for some reason decided that she needed to continue speaking with me. I don’t really understand it either to be honest,” I say aloud as I try to remember every conversation the two of us have had and what would be so appealing that she would choose to befriend me of all people.

“Well anyways, just be nice to her, I know how you are. You’re a right ray of sunshine around your cousin, but I know that you are like a cat who only socializes with a select few people. Otherwise you can be a bit hostile at times, which can have its pros, but it makes it very hard for new people to want to befriend you dear,” Aunt Nat softly lectures.

“Yeah, you’re right of course. I’m just a naturally prickly person,” I admit.

“It’s alright, but in the future I think it would be beneficial if you kept a more open mind about these things,” she says as she walks across the kitchen and wraps me in a crushing embrace.

I break the hug and attempt to leave the kitchen as soon as possible without seeming suspicious, so that she doesn’t see the tears quietly streaming down my face. I go to the bathroom and lock myself in there and sit down on the floor with my head leaned up against the wall. Only then can I finally allow my quiet tears to become gasping sobs. I love my family so much and I have no idea what I would have done if I hadn’t moved in with Magnus and Aunt Nat. I’m so happy that I get to live with an aunt and cousin who love me so much, it's quite overwhelming.

I grab a washcloth from the towel closet and scrub my face with a damp washcloth until my skin is red. If the entirety of my face is red, then there won’t be any blotches from my meltdown.

I walk out of the bathroom and sit in the living room at the bay window. The green cushions I sit on are ones that Aunt Nat made many, many years ago when she first started living in the apartment. The city skyline stretches out before me with all of the twinkling lights. Unfortunately because it's such a large city, Boston has very few visible stars in the sky due to light pollution. I remember when I was a little girl, my father would take me out to the countryside sometimes to look at the stars.

Magnus walks over pulling me out of my memories of home. He sits down across from me, placing his feet in my lap and looking at me weirdly.

“Do you ever miss living in Virginia?” he asks me hesitantly.

“I mean it's a complicated question Maggie. I love living here with you and Aunt Nat, but there are some things that I miss from when I was little. I sometimes miss my dad, because for a period of time it was just the two of us. I don’t miss my step-mother or that my father never stood up for me when she would come after me. Imagine having beef with a seven year old.”

“I love my mom, but I feel like I would be kind of lost without you. There would be an Annabeth sized hole in our lives if you didn’t live here with us. Who would sneak out of the apartment with me to get falafel all the time?”

“I wonder what my life would look like if I stayed in Virginia, but like if my dad decided to not get remarried. Like if it was just the two of us again. I can imagine myself going to the university with him on the weekends and hanging out in the library. I would probably be able to go to the school and not have to pay tuition because he works there. But on the other hand, I wouldn’t get to see you as often as I do now, we would probably only see each other at Thanksgiving, and that’s if we’re lucky considering that our parents aren’t super close anymore.”

“I mean sure, but I definitely wouldn’t miss your cranky attitude in the mornings, you’re like a hellhound before 8am.”

“I mean you’re not any better, I’ve seen your bedhead in the mornings. Your hair sticks straight up in the air.”

“Well I don’t put my hair in heatless curlers before bed, I bet if you didn’t your hair would be a certified mess in the mornings.”

“You could put your hair in heatless curlers too if you wanted. We could get you one of those satin bonnets!”

“I’m gonna pass on that one Annie, but thanks for the advice.”

Aunt Nat walks from the kitchen to the doorway of the living room and leans on the wood of the doorway looking at Magnus and I.

“What are you looking at Mom?” Magnus asks, laughing.

“Just you and your cousin being so adorable. I remember when y’all were really small and going to school on the first day of class hand in hand as you walked down the front stairs,” she recalls, a wistful look on her face.

Magnus and I look at each other and come to a mutual decision. We begin to kick each other and start yelling at each other.

“He’s kicking me!!!”

“No, she’s kicking me!!! Tell her to stop!!!”

“You two are the worst!” Aunt Nat exclaims while smiling, walking out of the room.

Chapter Text

After a day full of boring classes that I just barely kept myself awake for and a lunch spent with Piper, Magnus, and Alex, I find myself on the bus back to the apartment.

The bus stops at a stop a few stops from the apartment and suddenly Magnus grabs my arm and practically hauls me off of the bus and into the street below.

“Magnus what are you doing?” I yell in shock.

I realize that both Magnus and Alex both have gotten off of the bus.

“Guys, what are we doing?” I ask again, looking between my cousin and his boyfriend.

“We’re going to the park!” Alex sings skipping down the sidewalk.

“Why are we going to the park?” I ask, very confused.

The park in question is the one where Magnus and I would go for recess in elementary school. There is a jungle gym with a yellow slide, a type of monkey bar set that looks like the body of a caterpillar, a climbing apparatus, and a merry-go-round we were never allowed on because our teachers were worried about us falling off and getting stuck underneath it.

Therefore, as soon as we got there I immediately ran and hopped on it, spinning around in a circle.

“Magnus, give me a push!” I call to my cousin.

He walks over, rolling his eyes and he pushes on the bars so I can continue spinning around in a circle. I lay backwards and stare up at the sky as it goes around in circles. The clouds white against the blue sky become an unbreaking circle of white.

Eventually, the merry-go-round stops and I sit up dizzily, looking around for Magnus and Alex.

They’re sitting on a bench a few paces away looking at me as if I am their wayward child and they are my parents waiting for me to tire myself out so they can take me home and put me to sleep for my afternoon nap.

I attempt to walk to where they’re sitting, but my dizziness makes that hard. I must look like I’m a pirate on the rough seas, or a drunk.

I sit down on the end of the bench next to Alex, looking at him as he holds his hands in his lap.

“What is with you two today? Why did we come here today?” I ask, trying to deduce from the faces of my cousin and our friend what is happening.

“This is an intervention, Annabeth,” Alex says calmly, grabbing my hand in his and holding it gently.

“An intervention? Do you guys think I’m an alcoholic or addicted to drugs or something? Because don’t worry I’m not,” I argue, laughing at the idea.

“No, not that kind of intervention,” Magnus answers, still not looking at me.

“Then what are you guys talking about?” I ask, starting to get annoyed now.

“This about you and Piper,” Alex finally admits.

“Me and Piper…I don’t follow,” I say.

“It’s very obvious to everyone around you that she has a massive crush on you, but as it happens it seems like you’re the only one who doesn’t know that. Alex and I decided to stage an intervention to tell you that you should probably figure out what you’re going to do about this. We didn’t want to do it at school, home, or on the bus for the fear of being overheard. She is still kind of famous and we don’t want her private life or yours for that matter plastered all over those tabloid magazines,” my cousin confesses.

“You’re sure she has a crush on me then?” I ask, clarifying.

“Yes!” Alex and Magnus say at the exact same time.

“Okay, thank you for telling me,” I begrudgingly say.

“That’s it? You’re not going to argue with us that we’re wrong?” Alex asks me, looking very confused.

“Why should I? You guys know more about that stuff than I do and besides chances are in the end it won’t matter anyways, once she finds out I’m asexual it's game over,” I admit.

“You don’t know that,” Magnus argues.

“And you don’t know that it won’t,” I protest.

We get back on the bus to finish the route home, with Alex being dropped off at her stop before ours. The whole way home I am lost in thought trying to recall every interaction and text message that has been sent between the two of us since I’ve met her.

I try to recall my feelings as well, trying to piece together whether or not I am actually attracted to her or not. Do I want to date her or do I just like her because she’s nice to me and I want a friend? I haven’t had a lot of experiences with relationships.

I think I had a crush on a boy when I was twelve, but I was so young back then. I didn’t have many friends even back then if I’m honest. What if I only thought I had a crush on that boy because we had similar interests and I only really wanted a friend?

Is that what is happening now?

That night as I stared at the bottom of the top bunk, I tried to daydream about what it would be like to have Piper as a girlfriend. We would go get falafel together, we would go get our nails done together all the time, most of all, we would have each other. No more third wheeling my cousin and Alex. I would have my own go-to person who is there for me no matter what. Someone who I can tell my secrets to and be totally honest with. Someone who will love me, even though they don’t have to!

I mentally scrub away those thoughts and images. I’m getting ahead of myself and doing so will only lead to heartbreak for me. There’s no way Piper will actually want to date me, she’ll get over her crush on me and we’ll try to remain friends. And in the end she’ll probably just end up leaving in a few months once her dad finishes filming his movie, there’s no point in starting a relationship with her anyways!

I might as well face it, I’m never going to fall in love.

Chapter Text

The next day at school Piper and I have to go to an assembly for the school’s career readiness program. The school wants us to all think about our futures so we have some idea of what we’re going to do after graduation. At the same time I think it's kind of ridiculous that seventeen year olds have to know what they want to do with the rest of their lives at such a young age. There are so many people in their thirties who don’t know what they want to do with their lives.

Magnus and Alex won’t be there because they’re sophomores and Piper and I are juniors. They get to each lunch together and Piper and I have to go listen to Principal Walker drone on about the importance of a 5 year plan.

I walk into the school’s massive auditorium loitering in the back, looking around at the seats filling up fast. There’s so many people in here I can’t seem to find Piper anywhere.

I feel a hand grab mine and pull me down the aisle of the auditorium. I look to see who is grabbing me, relaxing when I realize that Piper has found me. We slipped into seats next to each other and I looked into her face for the first time today.

“Hey, so what is this assembly thing we have to go to?” Piper asks, looking around the room, as if waiting for a magician to pop out somewhere to entertain us all.

“It's a career readiness assembly. Didn’t they tell you that already, how did you know to be here if you didn’t know what the assembly is?” I answer while looking at her like she has three heads.

“Well all I heard was my teacher for the class before this one telling the class before we left for lunch that the juniors needed to go to the auditorium, but I wasn’t told why.”

“Oh that makes sense, well the reason for the assembly is that the principal is going to lecture us for a half an hour about having a plan for our future.”

“Oh that’s probably a good thing, we should have ideas of what we want to do after graduation.”

“I mean considering your dad is a famous actor that shouldn’t be a problem, you’re a nepo baby. You could either get a job in the industry, or get money from your dad.”

“Well yes, probably. But I want to be able to be successful on my own without my dad’s help. I can be capable of making something of myself with my own talents.”

“I mean sure, but you have a better starting place than some other people at this school. Your starting point is higher than us, compared to us at rock bottom who have a long way to go. If we make mistakes, we might not have anyone to fall back on when we fail. On the other hand, if you fail you can always use your dad and his money to fall back on.”

Piper looks at me ready to respond to what I said, when Principal Walker walks up the podium on the stage to begin the assembly, preventing Piper from retorting my barbs.

As soon as the assembly ends, Piper storms out of the auditorium before we could have a conversation.

That afternoon on the bus Alex storms up to me and gives me the dirtiest look he’s ever given me before.

“What is your problem dude?” I ask.

“What happened today? Why did Piper completely ignore me in the halls during the passing period this afternoon?”

“I think she’s mad at me for something I said.”

“Well what did you say? Was this about the whole thing Magnus and I said last night?”

“No, it was about her being a nepo baby and not needing to be as serious about career searching as the rest of us.”

“Jesus, Annabeth. Just because something is true doesn’t mean you always have to say something. Did you even ask her what she wanted to do after high school or did you just assume that she would be using her father’s wealth and influence for the rest of her life?”

“Well…”

“Exactly, it might be true that she’s a nepo baby, but you could at least try to give her the benefit of the doubt before jumping to conclusions. And that’s coming from me, so you know I’m serious about this.”

Magnus walks onto the bus and a look passes over his face. He knows that Alex and I quarreled, but Alex shakes his head indicating that it's nothing.

Instead of going into my room to do homework, I lay on the couch as Magnus watches Dr. Who. I lay with my legs slung over the arm of the chair and I stare straight upwards at my phone held above me. I scroll on Instagram looking at the stories of the travel influencers I follow living their best lives laying on the beaches of the Greek islands.

A pop notification appears at the top of my screen: “come outsibe”

I sit bolt upright, run across the living room, grab my shoes laying beside the front door, run back to my room, throw open the window, and climb out onto the fire escape.

There standing in the alley below is Piper in a comically stupid looking wig.

I poke my head back in the window and yell through the apartment, “I’ll be back later.”

I run down the stairs of the fire escape until I’m standing directly in front of Piper.

“What are you doing here?” I ask breathlessly.

“I came to find you, obviously,” she says laughing slightly. “Can you come with me for a bit?”

“Sure, I don’t see why not.”

We nod hello to Trent and slip in the backseat of the waiting car.

“Wait, won’t Trent get in trouble for letting you go out in public on an unsanctioned trip like this?” I ask, worried about the fate of Piper’s driver if it were found out that he did this.

“Well, technically I did receive permission…”

“How did you manage that?”

“I told my dad’s assistant Mellie that I had a very important group project to do with you.”

“We’re not even in any of the same classes,” I whisper just loud enough for Piper to hear.

“They don’t need to know that, now do they?” she whispers back.

We both start giggling right there in the back of the car, Trent looking in the rearview mirror with a soft smile beginning to appear at the corners of his mouth.

Chapter Text

We drive towards the outskirts of the city and get on the highway out of town. I question why this is since I saw the convoy when Piper and her dad first arrived, so shouldn't they be staying in a hotel in the city?

Piper looks at me and notices the face I must be making. “We are staying in a trailer on the main set which is just in the next town over, my dad sometimes has to come into town to film though. I stash away in a trunk or something so that I can come to the city without anyone noticing,” she says.

I laugh at the idea of Piper in a wig in a trunk trying to get into the city. “That’s crazy! So you’re saying all the times you’ve shown up at my apartment you snuck out via the trunk of a car?”

“You’re correct. But don’t be so loud, Trent doesn’t know that! Also I think Mellie will end up making you sign an NDA when we get there so that you don’t tell anyone where the set is and anything that might spoil the plot of the movie.”

“To be honest I thought you guys would end up drugging me or blindfolding me like they do in the spy movies.”

“Well you can’t believe everything you see in movies, Annabeth, I would know.”

We get off the highway and suddenly it feels like we are in the middle of nowhere. There are trees everywhere and no more large buildings. There’s more grass than concrete here too. I wonder if we’re far enough from the city to see any stars.

Trent pulls the car onto a gravel road and we begin to bump and jostle around in the car as we make our way up the driveway. This is very different from the roads and alleys in downtown Boston, we only have aggressive potholes.

We hit a particularly rough spot and I practically fly into Piper’s lap, despite my seatbelt being firmly buckled.

Piper graciously helps me to sit back into my seat normally, me furiously blushing. I hope she can’t see my beet red face and tips of my ears.

Magnus and Alex’s “talk” seems to really be getting to me. Like Piper said “you can’t believe everything you see in the movies”. This isn’t a romcom, Piper is never going to have romantic feelings for me if she really knew me. We’ve only been friends for what like a month or so now, she might as well be a stranger.

The car pulls into a roundabout made of gravel. There are a bunch of trailers about 30 yards or so away in a semicircle with an entire movie set behind them with what looks like half of a house opened in the middle like a doll house. From where I am standing I can see tractor trailers pulled off along the side that I assume brought the materials that they used to build the set. There are box trucks and cars in a makeshift parking lot to the left side of the roundabout.

Piper pulls me out of the car and across the wet grass, fresh with the dew. I can feel the tips of my socks begin to moisten as the dew soaks into my canvas tennis shoes.

Piper stops at a trailer that looks exactly like the others, except for a pink skull and crossbones decal attached to the inside of one of the windows with the words, “I’m a flower, the deadly kind,” written around the image.

We walk up the two stairs and into the trailer. We both take off our wet shoes and place them on a mat next to the door. Piper stops and indicates all of the different highlights.

“Here is the living room/kitchen/dining room/guest bedroom. To the right there is my room and to the right is my dad’s room,” she says.

We take the right and end up in Piper’s room. It has a tv and a suite bathroom with a shower and everything.

“Wow this is really nice! You have your own bedroom and bathroom!”

I walk into the bathroom and look at all of the cool features that are included that are supposed to make the bathroom feel bigger and more spacious than it actually is.

Piper plops down on her bed and stretches out with her arms tucked underneath her head.

I walk back out of the bathroom and look around the room some more. I notice that the decal I saw from inside is on the inside of the window in Piper's room, no surprise there.

I kind of look to Piper to figure out what exactly I’m supposed to do. It seems kind of rude to immediately sit on her bed without her indicating that it's okay first. I stand there awkwardly with my hands hanging limply at my sides, forgetting how my arms work exactly. How do I normally stand? Where do my arms normally go when I stand? I suddenly have no idea.

Piper realizes my awkwardness and grabs my hand and pulls me to sit down on her bed.

“So clearly we don’t have a group project that we need to do, so what are we going to do?” I ask.

“Well, I figured I got to visit you at your house, maybe you would like to come visit me at mine…well it's not really my house, but close enough,” she babbles.

I smile, “Well I like it. It's small, but cozy and very well decorated,” I say, looking at the posters of bands on her walls.

“Thanks! I also wanted to talk to you about what happened at school today too…”

“Really? I did too actually. Alex was very disappointed in the way I acted today and he’s right. I was really mean to you today. I shouldn’t have suggested that you’re a nepo baby who couldn’t be successful on your own. I’m sorry for what I said!”

“I mean you’re not wrong I am the daughter of a famous actor. But I appreciate your apology. I actually wanted to tell you today that I really want to help run nonprofits and help other people.”

“That’s so cool! I’m sorry I interrupted you before you could tell me that. Maybe you are more than just a nepo baby after all,” I say, chuckling.

“Maybe I am,” she agrees.

We sit there in silence not sure what to say to each other next. I look at the posters of the bands on the wall again, closer this time. I notice a band that I know that Alex and Magnus both like. “Is that a MUNA poster on your wall?”

“Ha, yeah it is! Hold on a sec.” She grabs her phone and connects it to a Bluetooth sound system that’s set up in her room. She hits the play button on a playlist and a song begins to play.

“Who opened up, ready for a connection…”

I sit and listen to the song as Piper bobs her head up and down singing along to the music. Before I realize what is happening Piper jumps to her feet and starts jumping up and down on her bed.

She continues jumping around and as I stare up at her, the bridge screaming through the speaker system.

She looks down at me and pulls me to my feet laughing as we jump up and down screaming the final chorus together.

As the song comes to an end we flop down on the bed as another song begins to play.

Piper’s head pokes up immediately recognizing the song playing. “This is ‘Silk Chiffon’,” she says looking at me absolutely flabbergasted.

I have no idea what she is talking about. I only really know the band because Magnus and Alex talk about it a lot and I’ve seen the Instagram stories the both of them have posted over the years, so I kind of recognize the band members that way. Other than that I’m completely clueless. I only really listen to classical music, not pop.

Piper sits up and looks at me, and I look right back at her, confused. What is happening right now?

She reaches her hand out, towards my face. I lean forward, thinking I must have an eyelash she is going to brush away or something.

Before I even know what is happening, she leans in further towards me and begins to kiss me.

Chapter Text

I mean I don’t hate it. Not what I expected, but not bad either.

I can smell the scent of her shampoo, the tropical fragrance of coconuts and vanilla overwhelms my nose. I slowly bring my hands up to her head and entangle them in her choppy brown hair. The little braids in her hair make me have to be very careful, as to not pull on the braids the wrong way.

She gently cups the sides of my face with both of her soft, warm hands. I can feel her long eyelashes tickling the tops of my cheekbones as we continue to make-out.

The playlist she put on is still playing in the background, the song ebbing and flowing as we make out on her bed.

Suddenly I remember what it is that I’m doing and what is going to happen next. I pull away from her lips and her eyes burst open looking at me sadly.

“So…” I start.

“Did you not want to…?” she asks.

“I-I-I did, but…”

“Are you not into girls?”

“Maybe…I don’t really know to be honest.”

“Let me guess that was also your first kiss?”

“...Yes”

“Oh my god,” she sighs her head in her hands in exasperation. She picks her phone up from the bed and shuts down the music that was still playing in the background.

“It’s not what you think it is, I promise. I’m not one of those people who just wants to be friends with someone and makes out with them for funsies, it’s not like that!”

“What is it like then Annabeth?”

“I’m asexual.”

“Oh, okay. I get it, you aren’t able to feel attraction, you just felt obligated to kiss me because I wanted to kiss you.”

“No, no, no. That’s not it at all! I like you, I do. I’m just not sure if I’m romantically attracted to you or not! I’ve never been in a relationship or kissed someone before. I think I’m able to be romantically attracted to someone, I just haven’t put the theory to the test yet! I would want to date you, but it would never work out, even if I do have romantic feelings for you!”

“Why, why wouldn’t it work? Because you’re worried about dating a girl or because of the media attention?”

“No, because I’m asexual and the type of asexual that isn’t interested in having sex with anyone. Even if I liked you, which I think I might, you would never be okay with dating someone like that. No one is! Everyone for some reason seems to want to be in a sexual relationship, except for me.”

Piper sits down on the edge of the bed, not looking at me.

I begin to softly cry, tears streaming down my cheeks that just a few moments ago were in the grasp of the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen and the closest friend I’ve had in years. Once again, I screwed everything up, like I always do. Guess it's back to being alone with Magnus and Alex.

I get up from the bed and begin for the door, but before I can get there Piper throws herself in front of the door. She reaches up and wipes away my tears from beneath my eyes and wipes her hand on the leg of her jeans.

“Deal,” she says.

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“Do you really think you are romantically into me?”

“I do think that I probably am, I don’t know for a hundred percent certainty, because what even is love?”

“I’ve heard worse.”

“Sorry…”

“It’s all good, that’s what happens when you date in Hollywood, the girls all want to make-out for funsies and never want anything serious. The boys all think that I’m weird, so it's a kind of lose-lose situation.”

“Yikes, I promise I’m in this for the right reasons. I’m not just doing this to lead you on and at least you know that I’m not in it to get laid.”

“Ha, so true!”

“You like boys as well though?”

“Yes, unfortunately.”

“Yeah, I think maybe I am as well.”

“Really?” Piper asks, looking at me.

I look back at her, “Yeah I think so. I don’t really know what I am to be honest. I’ve never really been able to explore that side of myself.”

“That’s okay, your sexuality is a personal thing, but it doesn’t define every single thing about you. I know who you are outside of your sexuality. You’re an aspiring architect. You’re a quiet soul and you’re absolutely hilarious. You like MUNA.”

“Welllll…actually Magnus and Alex like MUNA. I pretty much only listen to classical music and soundtrack scores.”

“WHAT???”

“Sorry about that, I didn’t realize you thought I knew who they were. I just wanted to bring up a topic of conversation so I could hear you gush about one of the things you like, that’s all.”

“So you had no idea what I meant when I was talking about how ‘Silk Chiffon’ was playing?”

I shake my head no, I do not in fact know what it is that she’s talking about.

She picks her phone back up and goes the whole way back into the MUNA discography and begins playing me some of their old music.

We lay down on her bed with my head in her lap as she plays with my hair. I can’t remember the last time someone played with my hair like this. Probably the last time was Aunt Nat doing my hair as a little girl before school. Now that I’m older I cut my hair to shoulder length and just brush it before school, leaving it hanging like limp spaghetti.

Suddenly I’m overwhelmed by an urge to kiss her. I turn over from my back to my stomach and am about to kiss her again when the front door of the trailer slams shut.

Piper sits up suddenly smashing her skull into mine.

I see stars and bright lights swimming in my vision as I hear a high pitch squealing sound. I look at Piper through the static in my eyes, realizing by the look on her face that the squealing noise is in fact my screams from the pain.

A door slams open and suddenly there is a small lady with hair that’s almost a blue-black color. She is yelling something that doesn’t really make sense to me.

I am pulled from Piper’s room and sat down on the couch in the living space. I find a glass of water in my hand and Piper placing a white pill in my mouth and telling me to drink the water. I obey washing down what I assume is Tylenol.

The lady (I think I hear Piper call her Mellie) and Piper lay me down on the couch. It’s a very comfortable couch, I’ll give them that. The throw pillows are so soft and feel very nice on my face.

A little bit later I suddenly realize that I was asleep at some point and that I am covered by a blanket. I sit up and find Piper is sitting in an armchair next to me staring into my soul.

“How long was I out?” I ask, groggily.

“Eh, not that long. Don’t worry I texted Magnus and told him that you hit your head and that the on set medic was going to make sure you were okay. Your aunt has already talked to Mellie, you’re not going to get in trouble for missing curfew or anything like that.” Piper says, taking my hand and looking at me as if trying to see if I’m still injured.

“I have a curfew? Since when?”

“You don’t have a curfew?”

“Not that I know of. I never do anything, it's never really come up before,” I say laughing.

“You really are a homebody aren’t you?” She agrees, laughing.

The medic walks in the front door and Piper stays by my side, keeping a firm grasp on my hand. I know I’m certainly not going to be the one who drops her hand first.

“Hello there, I heard you got a bump on your head. What exactly happened?” the medic asks rooting around in their medical bag for their instruments.

Piper and I look at each other trying to figure out what excuse we’re going to use to explain my traumatic brain injury.

“She walked into a door,” Piper says.

“I tripped and fell,” I say.

We both look at each other conspiratorially.

“I tripped and fell, into a door,” I clarify, trying to not make it obvious that I am lying through my teeth.

The medic looks down at our entwined hands and back up to my face.

“Uh huh, anyways…did you lose consciousness when you hit your head?”

“She hit her head and then began to make this unholy screech, I have never heard anything like it. It was like a demon crawled into her throat,” Piper explains.

“Jesus Piper, don’t you think you’re being a bit dramatic?” I ask, looking at her.

“No, actually I’m not being dramatic. All of the blood from your face drained away and you looked green, like I’ve never seen anyone look like that before,” she says looking genuinely frightened.

“Do you remember what happened before and after you hit your head?” the medic asks, looking at me.

“I remember what happened before I hit my head,” looking at Piper smiling, “but I don’t really remember a lot of what happened after. I remember seeing stars and being kind of dizzy like the world was spinning around me and I just kind of was a ghost watching everyone else live around me,” I say trying to recall the past few hours.

“Well I’m concerned you might have a concussion young lady,” the medic says getting a pen light out of the medical bag.

The medic shines the light in my face and asks Piper and I a few more questions before finally diagnosing me with a concussion.

“You should take it easy the next few weeks, no exercising or activities that could lead to another head injury,” they say pointedly looking between Piper and I, before walking out the front door of the trailer.

I start laughing hysterically. It’s just hilarious that I’m ace, but I still get accused of having sex like every other teenager.

Trent and Piper help me gain my balance and walk to the car so that I can go home.

The two put me in the back of the car. Trent walks to the front of the car and Piper opens the other door and slides into the back seat next to me. She grabs the seatbelt and helps me to put mine on, before putting her own on. I nod off on the way home and the next thing I know we’re back at my apartment.

Trent gets out to help me up the stairs, but Piper insists that she can help me herself and for him to stay with the car.

Piper helps me up the front steps without tripping on my own feet and landing on my face. As we get to the top step, before walking in the door to the lobby, I maneuver us into an alcove where we can’t be seen and quickly kiss Piper before walking in the door.

“Bye, see you later alligator,” I yell, tripping up the stairs to the apartment where Magnus and Aunt Nat stand waiting at the door of the apartment.

Chapter Text

Magnus notices my inability to climb the stairs to the apartment and runs down to me.

“Hey Annie, rough night, eh?” he says, grabbing my arm and helping me up the stairs to where Aunt Nat stands waiting for the both of us, looking very worried.

Both of them help me into the apartment and onto the couch in the living room.

“Now, I talked to the medic from the movie set and I’m still kind of worried about you potentially having a brain bleed or something, so the plan is that because today is Friday night, the three of us are going to stay up all night to make sure you don’t die,” Aunt Nat says standing in front of me.

“Sounds good to me!” I answer.

Magnus and Aunt Nat go to the kitchen and return to the living room with movie snacks in what feels like seconds. This cannot be the case, since it would have taken some time to prepare all of the snacks. My broken brain must be acting up.

Magnus hands me a big bowl of my favorite kind of popcorn: the kind with enough butter to cause a coronary blockage. Aunt Nat puts my favorite movie into the DVD player, “Pride and Prejudice 2005”!

One might think that I must relate to Elizabeth, but on the contrary I feel a sense of kinship towards Mr. Darcy. He is incredibly awkward and shy, just like me.

Not to mention that I cannot be Elizabeth, because how am I supposed to be attracted to myself? Now, obviously I don’t mean this in the way most people do, I just think Keira Knightly is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen!

As the movie rolls to a close, I find myself sitting on the couch crying. I just think the ending of the movie is so beautiful and I am so happy that the characters overcame all the challenges in their lives to be happy!

I get up off of the couch and press the eject button on the DVD player to spit the DVD back out. I place the DVD gingerly back in the case and find our next movie. I chose Magnus’s all time favorite movie: “The Little Mermaid”. I put the new DVD into the player and sit down on the couch as the pre movie advertisements begin.

Before long we’re all singing along to “Part of Your World” and bobbing our heads along to the music.

Aunt Nat’s for a movie ends up being “The Breakfast Club.”

The three of us choose movie after movie, until eventually the beginning of the first fingers of dawn light breaks through the curtains of the apartment.

“Well I guess you’re not going to die, but to be on the safe side you should probably just take a nap here on the couch for today so that I can make sure you’re still breathing and not having seizures or anything,” Aunt Nat says with a yawn.

This works for me, because I am way too tired to argue that I’m most likely not going to die in my sleep.

I put my head down on the throw pillows on the couch and am about to fall into a dreamless sleep, when my phone buzzes softly beside my arm. I reach down to see what kind of Instagram notification I have waiting for me, when I realize it’s Piper.

“how u feelin?”

Oh yeah that’s right, I am actually dating someone now I guess. How could I forget?

“I’m all right! My aunt made me stay up all night because she was worried I might have a brain bleed. I’m fine though. I’m about to take a nap now, but she is making me sleep in the living room because she’s still not convinced that I’m not going to die.”

“ok good. i was woried abt u! do u rembr what hapenned last nite?”

“If you’re talking about the two of us making out and you headbutting me so hard I got a concussion, yes I do remember that.”

“and u stil want 2 d8 me after that?”

“Hahaha, yes, I still want to date you, even if you did almost give me a traumatic brain injury.”

“i do 2! <3”

“<3 Goodnight!”

“nite <3”

I fall asleep almost instantly.

I wake up feeling extremely groggy. The world has a bit of a yellow-orange tinge to it. Is this what it feels like to be hungover? I walk to the bathroom and look in the mirror above the sink and find indentations of the pillows on my face. I feel like someone ran me over with a semi truck. I take some more Advil and find Aunt Nat and Magnus making dinner together.

“She’s alive!” Magnus calls out in a singsong voice when he sees me walk in.

Aunt Nat wipes her hands on a hand towel and walks over to me, grabbing my face and looking at me straight in the eyes for some reason, probably to see if I have a massive brain bleed.

“How are you feeling darling?” she asks me.

“Like I got run over by an eighteen wheeler,” I answer.

Magnus, still standing at the kitchen counter, laughs. This causes Aunt Nat to shoot him a dirty look over her shoulder. I don’t blame him though it is kind of funny.

“Do you think I should take you to urgent care?” she asks very clearly concerned about me.

“No it’s fine, I doubt urgent care will tell me anything more than the medic from the movie set.”

“Well if you’re sure…”

“Yes I am sure, what I am not sure about is what the two of you are making for dinner!”

I help Aunt Nat and Magnus with the rest of the dinner enjoying the quality time the three of us get to spend together as a family.

Chapter Text

The next day and final day of my weekend begins with a text from Piper.

“be outsid in 5”

I find Aunt Nat sitting in the living room with her newest crochet project in her lap.

“Hey, Piper is on her way over now to pick me up. She’ll be here in a few minutes,” I say standing timidly in the doorway.

“Are you sure you’re feeling well enough to go out?” she asks, setting her crochet down in her lap and looking up at me worriedly.

“Yeah of course, I’m not sure what she has planned to be honest, but if I’m not feeling well, I’ll ask her to bring me back home.”

“Alright, if you’re sure…”

I stand at the window and look down at the front street waiting for the car to pull up.

As soon as I see it, I dash for the door, Aunt Nat’s well wishes barely registering in my ears over my excitement to get to the street.

I jump into the car and sit down next to Piper.

“What are we doing right now?” I ask, laughing.

“Well I wanted to have a conversation with you before we go back to school tomorrow and I figured it would be best in person. What do you want to do about telling people about you and I? Because I’ve talked to my dad and our publicists, blah, blah, blah, boring stuff, they’re all onboard and have plans to make it work. But what about you?” she asks.

“Well, I’m not worried about Magnus, Alex, or my aunt. I’m not sure what my dad would do if he found out I wasn’t straight, it didn’t come up in conversations when I was like seven years old. I also don’t care if you’re technically a celebrity, but I’ve seen enough shows about normies dating celebrities to know that people often come after non famous people like me when the general public finds out. I’m sure it's a lot to ask, but I was just wondering if your celebrity connections would have resources to help me if things start going downhill?”

“You know what? Hell ya, way to stand up for yourself! I’ll make some calls, don't you worry.”

Piper picks her phone up and calls someone.

After her hushed conversation with whoever it was that she was speaking to, she leans forwards and whispers to Trent.

I turn to her looking very confused and concerned.

“Don’t worry, it’s nothing bad, but unfortunately they are going to have to meet you in person to go over protocol. You don’t mind, do you?” she asks me.

“No of course not, thank you for helping me,” I say, blushing.

We sit in the backseat of the car holding hands the whole way to our destination.

When we pull into a parking lot, I realize that it isn’t the movie set where I last hung out with Piper. Instead, it's a high rise building in downtown Boston.

Trent pulls to a stop at the curb. Bodyguards appear, who I now realize must have been in a car behind us or something, usher Piper and I across the sidewalk and into a building. We are whisked away to an elevator and someone pushes the button to the 17th floor.

“This is Mike, my head of my security detail,” Piper explains, “he was the one who you met at the school when you gave me my tour.”

Oh yeah, that’s right I thought he looked kind of familiar.

A little bell rings as we reach our destination floor. Piper, the bodyguards, and I step off of the elevator onto a floor with a big front desk in which a bunch of harried group of people are frantically picking up phone calls and running around behind it like chickens with their heads cut off.

Piper and I sit down in two chairs next to each other in the lobby and presumably wait until we’re given more instructions.

The bodyguards head back into the elevator and we’re left alone with the other clients in the lobby and the frantic workers behind the front desk.

A woman in a tweed jacket walks up to us and Piper stands in greeting pulling me up with her.

“Piper, we’re ready for the two of you, you can come with me. You must be Annabeth, my name is Camille,” the woman says, sticking her hand out to me to shake.

“Hello, it’s nice to meet you. Thank you for what you do,” I say, shaking her hand. I’m not sure what it is that she does exactly or what we’re doing here, but I want to be grateful anyways.

We walk into a room with one of those long tables and a bunch of office chairs around it.

There’s four other people sitting there on the left side of the table waiting for us.

Piper and I sit down opposite them on the right side of the table. Camille remains standing at the head of the table.

“Hello you all know why we’re all here. Annabeth, I’m the head of the McLean publicity department. We have our heads of social media, public affairs, crisis management, and media management,” she says, indicating each member of the publicity team.

I wave to each one, however they only seem to stare off into space, as if I was merely a fly on a wall.

“We don’t know exactly how much hate the both of you will get, but we are going to plan for the worst and hope for the best,” she explains. “As of right now the world has no idea what’s going on and we are not going to say anything publicly until we have to. We will decide when that is, to be clear. Annabeth, I will not be taking over your social media, yet. However, I would ask for you to not “hard launch” your relationship, until I tell you to. I imagine a joint post of the two of you to confirm the rumors once they start. Do not read any comments on your posts after that. If you’re being attacked online we will read the comments and probably ask for you to turn over your social media to us for your own safety. You should probably go through your socials now beforehand to make sure there isn’t any info on there that would dox you. I will also be asking a member of Piper’s team to be on call for you to contact if you ever need anything. We also ask that your aunt and cousin should be discrete in what they do as well. If needed they will also complete a session with us. Now, I will be turning you over to our public affairs chair to go over media training,” she says before walking out with the other committee members not responsible for the media training.

“Are you going to stay? Since you’ve already done media training before?” I whisper to Piper next to me.

“Yes, I’ve already done media training before, however it’ll make them trust me more if I stay, and besides I can’t exactly leave you here with these hyenas. I’ve grown up in this industry and they still scare me sometimes,” she says conspiratorially, squeezing my hand under the desk.

I look at her and smile gratefully.

Chapter Text

Now that there’s a plan in place for our way forwards I don’t feel as nervous about going to school. I don’t have to worry about all of the things normally associated with dating a famous person, like you see in the movies.

However, I do feel that it is important to make sure my aunt, Magnus, and Alex are all informed of the situation. I don’t want to surprise Magnus and Alex at school tomorrow with Piper and I’s relationship. I also don’t want my aunt finding out via a news headline. As for other people who may care, like my dad and stepfamily, I don’t honestly care what they have to think. I live here and I’m happy as I am, I don’t need their support in my love life when they haven’t bothered to speak to me in years.

As Piper and I reclaim our seats in the back of the car, I text my aunt saying I had something important to discuss and that I was planning to have a few people over for the discussion. After her approval I message Alex telling him to meet at my house for an important family meeting.

The car finally arrives at the apartment. I look up at the window where I know resides my aunt and Magnus, waiting for me to get home.

Piper and I are holding hands and we give each other a comforting squeeze back and forth. We untangle our hands and resolutely get out of the car and walk up the front steps to the front door. She trails me as we walk up the stairs to the landing. I knock on the door cautiously, trying to not knock hard enough to attract the attention of the neighbors.

Magnus rips the door open and ushers Piper and I inside. Magnus walks over to the sofa where Alex sits waiting. My aunt sits in the armchair with her legs crossed in front of her and her hands sitting gently in her lap.

They all look up at me waiting for me to speak and tell them why I called a meeting.

“Okay, what the hell is happening right now?” Alex asks.

“I have something important to tell you all. Piper and I have decided that we want to start dating,” I say nervously. I feel Piper gently reach out and grab my hand in hers.

“I knew it!” Alex yells.

“About time!” Magnus calls.

“Oh my!” Aunt Nat exclaims.

Piper and I look at each other and just start laughing.

When everyone has calmed down and the initial surprise and excitement has died down, it's Aunt Nat who speaks first.

“Why are you guys telling us this now, in this way? Is there something wrong?” she asks softly.

“Well you see, because of my father’s celebrity status it makes things a bit more complicated for the two of us, as if being in a non-hetersexual relationship isn’t hard enough,” Piper sighs.

“In what way exactly?” Magnus asks.

“Well Annabeth here has already gone to see the publicity team about the things she is expected to do. But they may ask to bring you all in for media training as well. I don’t want to inconvenience all of you more than I already have. Just don’t post or say anything about our relationship, if you can help it, with anyone outside of this room. You shouldn’t talk to paparazzi and be very careful of stalkers or people who may want to hurt you,” Piper explains.

“I have a number for a member of Piper’s security detail you should all put into your phones. If anything happens, call that line immediately and someone will come to help. I’m really sorry that I have to put you guys through this mess. Hopefully the media will quiet down after a bit and everything will be fine, but we have to prepare for things not going the way we want,” I add.

Aunt Nat gets up from her chair and walks towards Piper and I. I instinctively want to shrink back, thinking she means to scold me, but instead she wraps Piper and I into a huge hug.

“My dears, I am so sorry that you have to put up with all of this nonsense for the sake of love,” she croons softly.

Piper and I look at each other with a sense of happy confusion.

“Well this should be fun, now we can have double dates!” Alex calls, breaking the silence.

“Oh absolutely!” Piper calls, breaking out of Aunt Nat’s hug.

“Well, since everyone is here, you can try this new recipe I found on Pintrest today,” Aunt Nat says.

Magnus, Alex, and I look at each other absolutely horrified.

Aunt Nat sweeps out of the living room and into the kitchen to finish whatever preparations are needed for this meal she decided to make.

Alex takes Piper by the arm to explain the story behind the horrified expressions we had.

Magnus comes over and wraps me into a hug of his own.

“I’m so happy for you, Annie,” he says.

“Thank you, I'm happy too. I never expected that anything like this was possible for me,” I whisper.

“I know, Annie,” he says.

There the two of us stand quietly crying in our living room. Me for the happiness I never thought I would be able to experience, and for him, the relief he feels after listening to me sob for years about not feeling like a normal teenage girl.

Magnus and I break the hug and I walk over to where Piper stands watching the two of us.

I grab her hand and lay my head on her shoulder. She reaches up and wipes away the tears running down my face.

“Thank you,” I choke.

“Shhh, it’s all good,” she whispers back.

I attempt to collect myself and prepare to enter the kitchen, knowing that once I do I’ll have something else to cry about.

Chapter Text

The next day when I wake up for school I am both excited and terrified. I get to be out and proud with Piper, but at what cost?

I am not ashamed of my sexuality, but I know that even somewhere like Boston can have people who would rather eat their own thumbs than admit that there is nothing wrong with being gay.

Not to mention that there is a good chance that I’ll be on celebrity gossip Instagram accounts by lunchtime.

I choose my favorite gray sweater with a long sleeve white collared shirt underneath. I find my favorite black skirt and black thermal tights. I pull my hair into a half up/half down look with a white bow. I find my favorite golden owl necklace and slip several gold colored rings onto my fingers.

I walk to the bathroom, finding Magnus running the hair dryer making his hair fluff up like a newly groomed golden retriever. I grab my blue toothbrush from the medicine cabinet and begin brushing my teeth.

Magnus stops running the hair dryer and looks up at me.

“Are we expecting a visit from foreign dignitaries at school today or something?” he asks.

I spit the toothpaste from my mouth into the sink and give him a death glare.

“No, as far as I am aware there will be no foreign dignitaries at school today. Where do you come up with this kind of nonsense?” I say.

“Well you put on a skirt today. You never wear a skirt or a dress unless someone makes you,” he comments.

“Normally no, I don’t wear a skirt to school because I feel like I have to sit perfectly all the time and cross my legs until they fall asleep.”

“Then why wear one today? It’s just another Monday.”

“Maggie, did you forget that Piper and I are probably going to end up on the cover of a stupid magazine in the checkout lane of the grocery store by next week?”

I slip past Magnus and grab my makeup bag from the closet and return to the sink. I start rummaging through to find the makeup I want.

“I mean you don’t have to do all this though. It’s not really who you are Annie,” he says.

I find my mascara and hold my eyes open while trying to apply it.

“Yes, but I also want to look nice today, so sue me,” I answer with my mouth hanging open, trying to not stab my eyeball with the mascara wand.

I choose a light pink lip-gloss and apply it to my lips. I walk out of the bathroom and slip it in my backpack along with my school supplies for reapplication later on.

I find my heeled black boots and slip them on my feet. I lean against the doorway and wait for my cousin to join me on the walk to the bus stop.

I take a selfie of me in my outfit and send it to the group chat. This group chat is of course the one with Magnus, Alex, Piper, and I and is thus named “The Fruity Four”.

I instantly get a reply from Alex: 🥵

I respond with: 😂

Magnus appears next to me, ready to leave. He looks down at his phone and back up at me, laughing.

His reply says, “why does Annie get that kind of response and i don’t?”

Alex answers, “next time you make an effort to not dress in the same tshirt you wear every other day you can get a 🥵 too.”

Piper finally joins the conversation and says, “thats my gf!”

In our direct messaging Piper shoots me another message just for me.

“but fr tho u look nice. can’t w8 to see u today. luv u!!!”

I answer, “Love you too!!!”

Magnus and I walk out the door and down the block to the bus stop. I sit in a seat by myself and Magnus sits in the seat directly in front of me.

I cross my legs and lean against the wall of the bus so I don’t have to sit straight up and down. I’m not sure why but when I lean with my legs crossed it doesn’t feel as uncomfortable.

When Alex joins us on the bus he plops down next to me.

“Alex, what’s up, you usually sit next to me on the bus?” Magnus complains.

“Well, Annabeth here seems like she’s going through something and needs my support more than you today,” he says, patting me on the shoulder.

“Thank you Alex, you’re a real one,” I sigh.

“So tell me everything darling, how are we feeling, what’s going on?" Alex asks.

“Well as you know I’m supposed to be launching my relationship publicly today. I’m nervous and also relieved, if that makes any sense?”

“I completely get it. I felt similarly when I was coming to terms with my identity. Obviously it’s very different in a lot of ways, but I hope you know that no matter what happens, I will be here cheering you on from the sidelines. People are going to be stupid, especially if you end up plastered all over the internet. Just try to take a deep breath and remember why you’re doing this in the first place. You deserve to be loved and to be happy just like everyone else, fuck those who try to tell you otherwise.”

“Wow, thanks Alex, you’re the best!” I exclaim, pulling him in for a hug.

Magnus leans over the back of the seat and squeezes Alex and I into an impromptu group hug.

When we get to the stop closest to the school Magnus, Alex, and I get off of the bus and begin our walk to the school.

I unfortunately wobble a little bit because my heels are not level, they have a little bit of a curved shape on the bottom. This is my own fault of course, because in middle school I would walk around sometimes on the very back of the heel, wearing it down overtime, so now the back of the heel is almost gone, while the front is mostly intact.

I zoom through my morning classes, focusing solely on making sure I sit properly in my skirt. Have I mentioned that I hate wearing skirts?

I’m literally shaking and shivering like a chihuahua by the time lunch rolls around. I finally get to see Piper!

I slip into my chair at our usual lunch table and wait for the others to show up.

Magnus and Alex show up a few minutes later together, playfully arguing about something.

“I just think that people are wrong for saying that Clone Wars is Rebels, it’s a clearly better show. The only reason why Clone Wars is so popular is because of the final season. Overall it's not as good as Rebels, though,” Magnus says, sitting down at the table.

“Sure Skyguy, whatever you say. Hey Annabeth, hasn't Piper shown up yet?” Alex asks, turning to me.

“No, not yet. Have either of you seen her today?” I ask.

“I haven’t seen her today, Annie, sorry,” Magnus says.

Next thing I know Piper comes striding over to our table. She sits down next to me, positively beaming.

“Hey guys, what’s up?” She asks.

Magnus and Alex look at each other and smile.

“Nothing much, how about you?” Alex asks, laughing.

“Oh you know, the usual stuff,” Piper says with fake nonchalance.

We all give each other knowing looks and Magnus and Alex begin to bicker about their unpopular pop-culture opinions once more.

Piper leans over to me and hands me a rectangular box.

“What is this?” I ask, looking at her.

“I just wanted to get you something. I’m one of those people who enjoys giving people gifts, it’s sort of my love language,” she explains.

I look down at the black faux-velvet box with a purple ribbon tied around it. I pull the end of the bow and untie the ribbon. I open the box to find a minimalist gold bracelet with purple, black, white, and gray stones.

I look up at her in shock and she is smiling so hard you would think her smile was bright enough to keep a small house in enough power for the rest of the year.

“How'd you know I liked gold jewelry?” I ask.

“Well the other day I noticed that you wore a gold owl necklace and I asked Magnus and Alex just to confirm,” she explains.

“Thank you so much!” I exclaim, grabbing her hand and tears beginning to well in my eyes.

She gently takes the box from my hand and pulls the bracelet out, helping me to put it on my wrist.

I twist and shake my wrist out, holding it out in front of me to admire the feel and look of it on my wrist.

“It’s so lovely,” I croon.

“Just like you,” she says softly.

I immediately feel the blood rush to my cheeks.

“Hey, lovebirds, you wanna join the conversation and actually eat your lunches today,” Alex says, looking at Piper and I for who knows how long.

I timidly turn away from Piper and look down at my lunch, embarrassed by the way everyone around me is able to perceive how much I like her.

Chapter Text

I have been on the edge of my seat all day, obsessively checking my phone between classes waiting for something to show up confirming that somehow the news has broken about Piper and I. To be fair, how would anyone have found out when Piper and I weren’t committing awful atrocities of PDA? Most of our classmates probably didn’t even notice a difference, the only people likely to notice a change in behavior are the people who already know about us anyways.

I walk home with Magnus, happy to finally get to go home, I can practically hear my sweatpants calling my name.

“Don’t we have homecoming soon?” I ask.

“Yes Annie, it’s in like two weeks, haven’t you been paying attention to the announcements, they’ve been saying it for like a month now,” Magnus says.

“Well you know I’m terrible at paying attention.”

“Yes, I do know. And I also know why you’re asking me now.”

“No comment.”

“Did you have something in mind?”

“Maybe…”

“I’ll text Alex,” he sighs.

“Thank you Maggie!”

We arrive at the building and dash up the stairs.

I bust into my room, seeking out my sweatpants, trying to beat the world record for fastest wardrobe change.

I lie on my bed and stare up at my pictures of famous buildings and world class architectural feats.

I receive a text from Alex, “M told me, spill rn!”

“I was thinking about asking Piper to homecoming…” I answer.

“Hell ya, dude!”

“I was thinking of using a cheesy poster like in the movies. I have the perfect idea of what it should say too.”

“yaass i will bring over some poster board and be there in 15”

I walk out into the living room and plop down next to Magnus as he watches another Doctor Who rerun.

I get so ingrained in the story on the television I am startled when I hear Alex knocking at the door. Magnus gets up off of the couch to go investigate the person at the door.

“Alex!” he yells when he opens the door, “I didn’t know that you were coming to see me.”

“Well actually I’m here to see your cousin this time but nice try,” Alex says, slipping past Magnus, giving him a quick peck on the cheek in passing.

Alex stands in the living room with a box of markers and some giant poster board.

“Well if you’d like, you can supervise us to make sure we don’t scribble on the walls,” I say, teasing Magnus.

Magnus would scribble strange symbols on the walls all the time as a kid, or so Aunt Nat tells me. That was before I moved in of course.

I already had an idea in mind, so I set to work on the poster making the block letters look as symmetrical as possible. I make Alex and Magnus proofread my work to make sure I don’t accidentally spell anything wrong. It’s one thing when I’m typing on my phone with the autocorrect on, but another entirely trying to draw stuff on paper.

By the time we’re done, the three of us are covered in multicolored markers, not sure how that happened considering that the three of us worked on a single poster and it's honestly not all that big.

My poster looks like it was made by a little kid, but whatever. You can say that it was made with love or whatever.

“How should I go about doing the whole proposal thing? Do you guys think I should do it at school or something? That way we can just get the whole thing with everyone knowing about it over with,” I say.

“Are you guys able to do that? I thought her publicity team told you that you weren’t allowed to do a ‘hard launch’?” Magnus asks me.

“We weren’t supposed to ‘hard launch’ online, but they said we could do normal teenage things, homecoming is one of those. I assume from there someone else will leak the news to the media and then it's off to the races. At least this way I can somewhat control the narrative and not be waiting on the edge of my seat until we’re found out,” I clarify.

“We could probably do a public proposal, but I’m not sure what the best way to do that is. Maybe at lunch?” Alex asks.

“I don’t see any better option. Do you want to do it tomorrow?” Magnus asks.

“I mean I guess so, that way I can go back to wearing normal clothes to school again,” I sigh.

“Well, I like the preppy look you had going today,” Alex says.

“Unfortunately it's not sustainable, that’s an every once in a while occurrence. I’m more of a comfortable, casual sort of person,” I respond.

That night I pick out my outfit ahead of time, so that I don’t have to figure it out tomorrow morning. I opt for a more casual, but still nice outfit. I definitely go for a pair of pants this time. I find a pair of light washed jeans and a light pink halter top.

In the morning when I wake, I do my hair and makeup much the same as the day before. The new addition is of course the bracelet that Piper gave me yesterday. I look down and again admire just how beautiful it is.

I grab a white wrap before heading out the door, because apparently shoulders are too distracting to boys trying to solve quadratic equations.

The poster is safely rolled up with one of my scrunchies and is nestled in the corner of my back pack, where it will hopefully not get squished before lunchtime.

Magnus, Alex, and I walk to the school and are about to walk inside the main entrance of the school, when Piper’s chauffeured car pulls up.

The three of us run over to her and say hello.

Unfortunately I have never been all that good at keeping secrets, so I know that I must bolt immediately or she will know that I have plans for this afternoon.

“I have an exam first period, so I gotta go,” I say, unconvincingly, as I dash off.

“Didn’t she just have an exam in that class like last week?” I think I hear Piper say as I dash down the hallways.

“Don’t worry about it, she does stuff like that sometimes,” I hear Alex answer in reply.

Great, so now Piper thinks that I’m weird. Wait, actually she probably knows that already, never mind.

I get to my first class and bury my head in a virtual game of Solitaire on my phone.

My morning classes go by in a blur as I anxiously think over how I want my proposal to go. By the time lunch rolls around I’m somehow both sweating and shivering at the same time.

It's Alex’s job to intercept Piper to prevent her from arriving at the lunch table before Magnus and I are ready with my poster.

As soon as my last class before lunch ends, I dash out of the classroom and into the hallway. I try to compose myself and not run to the lunch table, my classmates think I’m enough of a freak already.

Magnus stands waiting for me and we gently pull my poster out of my backpack and unroll it from the scrunchie.

It's a little bent out of shape, but it’ll be good enough.

Magnus pulls out his phone and looks at me.

“Are you sure about this? It’s not too late to back out now,” he asks.

I look at him and nod my head in confirmation, I do want to do this.

He shoots a text to Alex with the signal that everything is all set up.

What feels like an eternity later, I see Piper and Alex rounding the corner.

I hold up my poster and I see Piper continuing to walk towards our table, while Alex hangs back and lets Piper have her moment.

I see the confusion on Piper’s face at me standing there with a poster and then I see her mouth the words I have written on the paper, “I’m you’re ‘Number One Fan’ and ‘What I Want’ is to go to Hoco with you.”

She runs up to me and kisses me square on the mouth and says, “Of course I’ll go to homecoming with you!”

I notice Magnus and Alex standing off to the side, looking on like two proud parents. Magnus holds his phone up and tells Piper and I to smile.

I’m sure everyone who could see us was watching, but honestly I have no idea because I was too excited to care.

Chapter Text

The next day I wake up to Piper’s name in the headlines.

“Piper McLean, daughter of Tristan McLean is Gay?”

“Piper McLean’s New Partner Is Not Who You Would Expect”

“Piper McLean, Newest Member of the Woke Mob”

I go onto my social media to find hate comments littering the comment section of posts from the past of Magnus, Alex, and I. There are also a lot of supportive ones with little rainbow emojis, which makes me feel a little better.

I hear a knock on the door and unsurprisingly find one of Piper’s bodyguards outside my door. I’m still in my pajamas, but I don’t hesitate putting on the first pair of shoes I can find and end up in the back of a car.

I send a screenshot of the results page when you look Piper’s name up on Google to my aunt, cousin, and Alex. I also send a message to my aunt to let her know that I left, she’ll understand why and where I’ll probably be going.

We arrive back once again at the publicity office and I walk through the front doors into the lobby. I go up to the 17th floor once again.

If I thought the lobby and people working at the front desk were frantic last time I was here, that’s nothing compared to the absolute chaos that awaits me today.

Someone sees me standing around looking stupid in my pajamas and steers me into a room, shutting the door behind me.

At the sound of the door closing Piper looks up from where she is sitting staring at her hands in her lap.

She jumps up from her seat and runs over to me, pulling me into a crushing hug.

“Oh my god! Are you okay? Wait, why are you in your pajamas?” she asks me in rapid succession, laughing as she takes in my matching pajamas and crocs.

“I’m okay, this is all a lot to take in. Are you okay?” I ask.

“Well I grew up in this world, you know?”

“But that doesn’t mean you’re not upset or scared. As far as I am aware you’ve never been in a scandal before.”

“Well about that…”

Just then the doors bust open again and the publicity team comes storming in, along with a conventionally attractive middle aged man in a fancy looking suit.

As everyone takes their seats I become suddenly uncomfortable with the idea that I’m in my pajamas surrounded by a bunch of sophisticated people in suits.

As I sit down staring at all of the people who are staring at me I suddenly wish I had the power to turn invisible or melt into a puddle into the floor.

I feel someone grab my hand and I look down to see Piper’s hand in mine. I look back up at her face and give her a grateful smile.

“I don’t think we’ve properly been introduced, I’m Tristan McLean,” the man in the fancy suit says looking at me.

So this is the famous movie star father of my girlfriend. Girlfriend, it still feels weird that I actually have a girlfriend.

“Yes, hello I’m Annabeth. It’s nice to meet you sir!” I answer.

“Let’s get down to business shall we,” one of the publicity experts says.

After many, many lectures later I have new rules and expectations of what I need to do from now on.

Somewhere along the way I find myself in clothes that are not mine and holding hands with Piper in front of a camera while Tristan talks about how the two of us have his constant support. I’m not sure what the video is for exactly. Are we going to be on the news? Or am I going to end up on Tik Tok and Instagram?

I end up back in the car with Piper next to me and Tristan sitting across from me.

He loosens his tie and leans back in the seat.

“I’m sorry about the formal introduction. I promise I’m a lot more chill than I seem,” he explains.

“It’s all good I get it,” I answer, smiling.

“So tell me about yourself, my daughter tells me nothing!” he exclaims.

“Only because you’re always too busy,” Piper mutters under her breath.

“Well I go to school with Piper and I live with my aunt and cousin,” I answer looking between Piper and Tristan in confirmation that I am talking about myself correctly.

“Are you planning to attend college after high school,” Tristan asks me.

“Yes, I want to go to school to become an architect,” I answer.

“Oh wow, that sounds like an interesting career choice! Why architecture? You could probably choose any career you could possibly want, a smart girl like you!” he compliments me.

“Well, I just want to create something that’ll last for a long time. It just seems like so many things in life are temporary and so many of the greatest feats of architectural genius are hundreds of years old. I want to build something that’ll still be standing long after I’m gone,” I explain.

Piper and her father look at me in awe, Piper seems like she is about to cry just looking at me.

We pull up in front of my apartment and Tristan nods at Piper and I’s intertwined hands.

“I meant everything I said today, about the relationship between the two of you. I don’t care that you guys are gay, I found out Piper was gay years ago when one of my costars found her making out with a girl on set,” Tristan clarifies.

“I’m actually bisexual dad, remember, we talked about this already?” Piper says.

“Yes, I know that of course. I just meant that in general you guys are gay,” he says.

“It’s okay Mr. McLean we understand what you meant,” I supply, trying to relieve the tension between him and Piper.

Piper and I slip on large, oversized black hoodies and walk together to the front door of the apartment building. We hold hands and I carry a plastic bag containing my pajamas and Crocs with my other hand.

“He’s such a boomer,” Piper groans.

“I don’t think he seemed that bad to be honest. He’s got the right spirit, he’s just not as aware of this sort of stuff like we are,” I say graciously.

“Yeah, I don’t want to talk about him anymore today, okay?” she asks, slightly annoyed.

“Okay? Well that shouldn’t be hard since I only get to see you for like 2 more minutes.”

“I mean…”

“You don’t mean…”

“If you want, I can.”

“Of course I want to!” I exclaim, pulling her into the apartment.

We hang our hoodies up on the coat hanger and pull our shoes off, leaving them by the front door.

The two of us fall onto the couch, kissing as we do.

“I bet your aunt and cousin are here aren’t they?” Piper whispers in my ear.

I groan.

“I have a better idea,” she says, sitting up and folding her legs in so she’s sitting criss-cross on the couch and looking at me.

I give her a weird look, trying to ask her through nonverbal conversation what it is that she has in mind.

“Here lay down with your head on my legs, see the space here is just big enough for your large head,” she teases.

“Hey, I think I have a perfectly respectable sized head!” I argue, laying down like she instructed.

She puts her fingers into my hair and I feel a shiver run down the entire length of my body.

“Haha, are you ticklish or something?” Piper asks.

“No, you know how it is when someone touches your hair, you almost get goosebumps,” I say laughing.

We spend a good part of the afternoon with me looking up at Piper as she absentmindedly plays with my hair, talking about everything we can think of under the sun.

Chapter Text

Piper insists upon buying the tickets for Homecoming, obviously. I tried to tell her I could get my own, but she wasn’t having it.

She also insisted upon a shopping trip paid for by her father. That’s how a few days later I found myself with Piper and my Aunt Nat in the back of an SUV on the way to a prom store.

I don’t think I have ever set foot in one of these stores before. There are eager sales representatives who surround us as soon as we set foot in the deserted store (no one tells me as such but I wouldn’t be surprised if someone rented the store out for an hour just for the two of us).

“You must be Piper’s new little girlfriend,” one says to me.

“Uh, yeah I am…” I answer, not sure what to say exactly.

“With your blonde hair, I think you would be best suited for lighter shades,” another one says.

I am whisked off as Piper is whisked off in the opposite direction. My aunt trails after me, trying to keep up.

I’m thrown into an empty dressing room and someone says to me, “We’ll be right back,” and slams the curtain closed.

I look around at the little cubicle, noticing the floor to ceiling mirror with lights around the edge making the entire little room glow.

I notice a robe hung on a hook on the wall that has a monogrammed patch for the store's initials. I poke my head out of the curtain and catch one of the representatives as she whisks past the room.

“Am I supposed to put on this robe here?” I ask.

“Ummm, yeah…” she says, looking at me like I have three heads.

I do as I’m told, just in time as someone yanks the previously closed curtain open.

I am handed armfuls of dresses in various colors, sequins and feathers falling to the floor.

The curtain is yanked shut once again, and I assume that this means I am supposed to try on the dresses.

I find a lavender purple one with an extremely short skirt, like it could be a shirt. I guess that’s what happens when you’re a girl that’s taller than average.

I attempt to zipper the back shut, but I can’t seem to contort my arms the way I need to.

I stick my head out and see my aunt sitting on a bench not too far away looking at my room expectantly.

“Pssht, Aunt Nat, I need help with a zipper,” I whisper loud enough so that she’ll hear me.

She hops up and comes over to my room and zips the back of my dress shut.

I walk out in the dress, trying to get a feel for it.

I just feel really uncomfortable, afraid that I’m going to have a wardrobe malfunction. I just don’t think it's for me, personally.

I walk back into the dressing room and find all of the dresses that seem like they are also really short. I’m sure they’re really good dresses, but I’m used to dresses and skirts that are a little bit longer. I’m sure I would look okay in them, but I feel like I would just be anxious the whole night and miss all of the fun.

I take them out of the dressing room, leaving the ones I think I may like better behind. I find the nearest attendant and tell her that she can put these back if she wants.

I walk back into the dressing room and try on some of the other dresses I left. After hours of feathers, sequins, and glitter, I finally find the one.

I walk out of the dressing room and I know instantly from Aunt Nat’s face that she thinks the same thing.

“Oh Annabeth, you look so beautiful, that is a really pretty dress!” she exclaims.

I walk to the mini catwalk in the center of the lounge area. The dress is a light grey color with a neckline like a halter top, but with chiffon lace at the top. The skirt hits right above my knee and is really flowy.

The color is perfect and there is just enough sparkle to it that it feels very me. I love flowy skirts, it makes me feel like a kid playing dress up with Magnus again.

I run back into the dressing room and grab my phone and text Piper to figure out where she is being held hostage.

“c u ltr <3. our dresses shld be a surpris 4 the day of rigt?” she texts me.

She makes a good point I think. It would be kind of cool to have a surprise the day of homecoming.

“Okay! <3” I answer.

I put my street clothes back on and arrange the dress back on the hanger. I step out of the dressing room, the dress trailing behind me.

I join Aunt Nat and we walk up to the front counter where Piper already stands in wait for us. She quickly turns around and yells.

“Don’t worry I didn’t see it!” she yells, holding her hands in front of her eyes, which seems like overkill because she also has her back turned.

The workers put my dress into a garment bag and hand it back to me.

I walk up to Piper and tap her on the shoulder.

“Hey, we’re good they’ve bagged my dress up,” I say.

She turns back around and takes her hands down from over her eyes, a smile radiating across her face.

She skips up to the counter and grabs the other garment bag with her dress in it, then turns back to me and makes for the door.

“Don’t we still have to pay for these?” I ask, turning and looking at Aunt Nat.

“I already did before you came up here, it was all on my dad,” she explains, holding out the black credit card I didn’t see her pick up with the garment bag.

The three of us walk back out to the car idling at the curb, not sure how Trent knew that we were ready to go. Piper must have texted him or something.

We get in the car and Piper announces, “I’ll be getting us matching corsages.”

“Are you sure sweetheart? We could do that.” Aunt Nat asks her.

“Nope, I’ve got it, don’t worry. I have big plans!” she says, grinning.

Now I’m kind of scared.

Chapter Text

Aunt Nat and I spend the next few days finding shoes to wear with my dress. I probably shouldn’t wear heels, despite wearing boots with heels occasionally. It’s one thing to wear heeled boots, and another to wear heeled shoes for an event like this.

We end up finding a pair of gray Converse instead that are more my style. If I had infinite amounts of money, I would buy every color Converse I could find.

I am also dragged by Magnus to the local department store to try and find a tie that will somehow go with the baby blue dress pants and suspenders, and the bright pink and green outfit Alex decided she wants to wear.

I’m no fashionista, but even I know that a combo like that is hard to pull off.

We ultimately go for a bright pink tie that seems to be the exact same shade as Alex’s bright pink blazer.

The next day at school they send the entire school an online form to fill out to select candidates for homecoming court. Each grade gets 2 people on the court, except the seniors who get 4 people. You can only vote for two girls in your grade, so I can’t nominate anyone who is in the grade below me.

I type in both my name and Piper’s name for my 2 votes (is it a bit vain to vote for myself and my girlfriend, probably but who else was I going to vote for?).

Little did I know that by the end of the week that Piper would actually end up on the court.

Friday afternoon they announce it as I am walking out of class to go catch the bus, I can barely make out her name over the stampede of hundreds of kids trying to make their way out of the hellhole.

“And for the junior class we have Piper McLean…”

I don’t hear the rest as the hallway explodes in people cheering. I guess I didn’t realize she had that many friends, or they just know her because of her dad?

I send her a text: “Congrats on the nomination babe!”

“!!!!!” she answers.

I make it onto the bus and find Magnus and Alex mid-conversation.

“Well I mean obviously not, but it's a popularity contest nonetheless and I would get a sparkly tiara to wear,” Alex says.

“I know, but we can always get you a sparkly tiara if you wanted,” Magnus answers.

“It’s just not the same,” Alex sighs with fake exasperation.

“Hey Annie! We heard about Piper making court, that’s pretty cool,” Magnus says, looking at me.

I flop down in the seat behind Magnus and Alex.

“Yep, my princess,” I say sarcastically.

Magnus rolls his eyes and goes back to the conversation with Alex about types of tiaras.

I put my headphones in and pull up the new playlist that Piper made for me that has a lot of her favorite songs on it. She claims that she needed to “give me the full gay music experience”.

The first song that comes on is by an artist named Chappell Roan.

I get off of the bus with Magnus and as we walk he takes one of the earbuds out of my ear and places it in his own.

“Hey this is some pretty good music you got here!” he says, turning to me.

“Well, you can thank Piper for that one,” I reply.

A new song comes on this time with a count at the beginning like dancers do before they begin a routine.

Magnus recognizes it immediately and begins to do a little dance. He does these arm movements like the YMCA and pulls the earbud out of his ear in the process.

He turns and looks at me looking at him. He gets an incredulous look on his face.

“Do you not know this song?” he asks.

“No, I told you that this is Piper’s list for me,” I say laughing.

“Well that simply will not do!”

He grabs my hand and begins to pull me down the sidewalk, almost at a run.

“What are you doing you psychopath?” I yell.

“We need to get home right now so I can educate you on the subject of the Hot to Go Dance,” he says.

I have no idea what he just said. Was it even English?

We run up the stairs and into the apartment.

Aunt Nat walks out of the kitchen with her hands on her hips and a towel on her shoulder.

“What are you two knuckleheads doing?” she asks.

“Just your average pop culture phenomenon that my dear cousin does not know about and it is my duty to educate her,” Magnus answers his mother.

“Nevermind, pretend like I never asked,” she says walking back into the kitchen.

Magnus and I go to the living room TV and he pulls up the Youtube video for the song.

We spend a good half an hour teaching me how to do the arm movements to the song. I’m a fairly uncoordinated person, that’s why it took me so long.

Magnus then forces me to listen to Chappell’s entire discography claiming that I “need to open myself up to music not from the 18th century”.

It’s actually from the 19th century, but he might have a point.

Magnus sends a video of the two of us singing Pink Pony Club in our living room to the group chat.

Alex sends an emoji: 🤠

Piper sends a text: “yessss”

“You seem like you might actually like this music after all Annie,” Magnus teases me.

“Maybe I am, but don’t think for a second that I like Miss Chappell Roan more than Beethoven,” I say, sitting down on the couch to take a breather after the workout that is singing and dancing to an entire musical album.

“You’re welcome, thank you for helping me find a tie for homecoming.”

“Well hopefully it’ll work out, I’m not exactly great at stuff like that either. I’m good at the bones of stuff, not the aesthetics.”

“You're still good with everything that’s happening. All that media coverage and stuff must be stressful.”

“It is, but I try to ignore it as best as possible, as ridiculous as that sounds. Media is everywhere and everything. I see my face everywhere now: TV, Instagram, Tik Tok, random news articles from Google. I guess I looked up Piper’s name one too many times and somehow it now sends me notifications each time a new article is published about us.”

“Have you looked at the articles or listened to anything they’re saying?”

“No, not really. Why, what are they saying?”

“Nothing, just forget I said anything.”

“Well now you’re making me want to look.”

“No! Please don’t!” Magnus yells.

“Well, now I’m suspicious.”

“Just trust me, it’s nothing bad about you, I promise. It’s just that Piper has had a life before you knew her and there are things she will tell you about at some point, but wouldn’t you rather get that info from her and not random journalists?”

“No yeah, you’re right. I’ll talk to her about it when I get the chance.”

“Okay, good. Just please talk to her first before you go reading random articles and stuff. I would just stay off of social media in general for a while.”

Alex is right of course, but I am still curious what Piper is hiding.

Chapter Text

The day of the Homecoming football game rolls around and I find myself in the bleachers for the first time all season.

I actually really like watching football! Magnus and Alex say that it's dumb, so that’s why I don’t usually go, because going by myself seems boring.

This time however, I have the support of Alex, Magnus, and my aunt. They wanted to come tonight because they knew that Piper would be walking across the field.

She arrived at my house before the game all glammed-up. She was wearing a business casual looking outfit, which seems a little weird to wear to a football game. I know that she is supposed to be recognized for making the Homecoming Court, but I don’t see why she can’t dress up without looking like she’s about to go for a job interview. It was one of those suit sets where the skirt matches the blazer and the blazer has those shoulder pad things in them.

She blazed into the apartment clapping her hands, “We’ve got a lot to do and we’re running out of time!”

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

“Your outfit, hair, and makeup of course!” she answered.

“For a football game?”

“Well I mean it is the Homecoming Football game after all.”

“Fine,” I said, rolling my eyes, smiling.

As I sit her in the bleachers, I reached my hand up to my hair and feel the french braids that Piper braided into my hair before we left.

“It looks great babe, I did a good job,” Piper says, grabbing my hand from where it was touching my hair and holding it in hers.

“You’re literally so good at it. I love it when you do my hair,” I say.

“Well I’ve only done it like once or twice.”

“I can just tell already, when you know, you know.”

“Whatever,” she says smiling, hip-checking me.

“Have you ever been to a highschool football game before?”

“I mean sure, but I was always just hanging out and not really watching the game.”

“Well, unfortunately I actually like watching football so I will be multitasking tonight.”

“You like football?”

“Yeah, why not? It’s something I can understand and it’s interesting. I also like being able to see the dudes who have incredible egos get absolutely destroyed. All they talk about is football and think they’re the greatest thing ever, until they actually play football and look like a toddler.”

“Dang, you’re kind of salty. I don’t think I’ve ever heard you say something so bitter before.”

“I don’t know, I just can’t stand people who have egos,” I say, shrugging.

“Remind me to keep you away from my dad’s colleagues,” she says, laughing.

“Oh I can only imagine.”

We watch the opposing team kickoff and I start yelling, willing our kick returner to run down the field, but he only gets to about the 20 yard-line.

“I don’t think I actually understand the rules of football,” Piper says.

“Yeah me neither,” Magnus and Alex pipe in.

“I’ve tried to teach you two the rules multiple times,” I say to Magnus and Alex, glaring at them.

“Well I’m sorry, but I would much rather watch Drag Race,” Alex says.

“You can do both, there’s no one stopping you. I do it!” I argue.

“You can teach me the rules,” Piper says, trying to get me to stop arguing with Magnus and Alex.

The entire first quarter goes by quickly as I spend the whole time answering every question Piper has and explaining all of the plays.

By the time we get to the second quarter I think Piper is finally starting to understand the rules. As the two of us yell and scream with the crowd, she suddenly stands up.

“Where are you going?” I whine, pulling her back towards me.

“I have to go line up for the walk across the field,” she says, disentangling our hands.

“Who’s your escort?” I ask.

“My dad is, he is getting snuck through the back gate now so there’s less of a scene.”

“Well, good luck, don’t trip or something!”

“Well thank you kindly,” she says in a faux southern accent and blows me a kiss as she walks away.

I pull on a sweater I brought, suddenly cold from the lack of Piper’s body heat. I slide down the bench to sit next to my aunt.

I try to simultaneously watch the rest of the first half of the game, while also keeping track of where Piper is in the stadium.

Aunt Nat wraps her arm around me and pulls me close, I wrap my arms around her too.

“Love you too sweetheart,” she says.

“I love you too Aunt Nat,” I respond.

The second quarter ends with our school losing by two touchdowns, but then the real show can begin.

“Announcing this year’s Homecoming Court!!!” the announcer says and we all yell and scream as loud as we can.

As they announce the names for the freshmen I look to see where Piper is. I spot her on the other side of the field arm-in-arm with her dad. I notice one of the bodyguards speaking to both of them. I suddenly start looking around the stadium to see if I can spot anymore.

Sure enough, I can spot multiple without even trying too hard. It’s kind of confusing because I understand they’re famous, but like they aren’t foreign leaders. I imagine that it’s probably a bit overkill to have so much security.

They then announce the two sophomore court members, to the groans of both Alex and Magnus.

And then it’s finally time for the juniors!

“Announcing your junior court members!!!” the announcer yells. “Piper McLean is a junior escorted by her father Tristan McLean. She recently joined our school, but prior to her move she was part of the Big Brother, Big Sister program and Mental Health America of Los Angeles. She would like to thank her friends Magnus and Alex, as well as her girlfriend Annabeth.”

I can feel blood rush to my face as I take in what the announcer said. Sometimes it’s still a shock that I am someone’s girlfriend, especially someone as pretty as Piper.

Magnus and Alex jeer and wink at me, letting me know that they didn’t miss the shoutout.

My brain goes completely blank as I take it all in: the lights, the temperature of the air as my mind spins around and around. It’s not until the stadium erupts in cheers for the newly crowned Homecoming Queen that I return to my senses and politely clap along with everyone else.

The court and their escorts walk off of the field and the smelly football players (seriously, I can smell them from where I’m sitting) walk out of the tunnel and back onto the field. I look at the players and realize that I can’t tell the difference between them in their uniforms and helmets. They all look the same to me, with the exception of their heights and weights, they are virtually identical.

I look at the variation of numbers trying to figure out if I recognize any from the jerseys of the kids in my classes, but I ultimately give up, because I can’t remember the last time I actually cared about who was who. Back in middle school I used to know what most of the players' numbers were, but then when I got to high school they got new numbers and I never bothered to learn them.

Piper’s high-heeled shoes ring up the bleacher steps, “Ding, ding, ding.”

She reaches the end of our row and gives Magnus a nod and my aunt and Alex hugs before she reaches me at the end.

She wraps her arms around my waist and kisses me in front of everyone watching.

Chapter Text

The next day is finally Homecoming! The day we have all been preparing for. I am very nervous, because I have never done something like this before. I mean, I have gone to stupid dances as a kid, but this is completely different. For the first time, I get to go to an event like this with someone I really like and care about.

Magnus spends the majority of the day in the bathroom trying to use a hair dryer and styling gel on his hair. I have no idea what his goal is exactly, since he doesn’t seem to keep one style for more than five minutes before he goes and changes it again.

By midafternoon Piper arrives with a curling iron, her dress in a garment bag, and another bag filled with…something I guess, I’m not really sure what.

She kicks my cousin out of the bathroom and goes to work on my hair. I sit on the closed lid of the toilet as she stands behind me, slowly but surely curling my hair with the curling iron she brought with her.

When she’s done she walks in front of me and grabs my hands, pulling me up and to the front of the vanity mirror.

I look at myself in the mirror as she walks to her bag sitting on the floor. I notice that she has curled my entire head of hair, and the side pieces are pulled back into a half up, half down look.

“Don’t worry, this is not the end product, I am putting hair glitter all through your hair, but you need to get changed into your dress first,” she says walking back over to me with a bottle of hair glitter.

I kiss her quickly and skip out of the bathroom into Aunt Nat’s room where she’s been keeping my dress safe in her large closet.

I quickly change into my dress, zipping the back up all by myself, because the back is pretty open compared to what I’m used to.

I run back to the bathroom where Piper stands staring at me open-mouthed. I forgot this was the first time she’s seen my dress, since we kept our dresses a secret.

“Do you like it?” I ask, giving her a little twirl in the bathroom, my bare feet making a little pitter-patter on the bathroom floor.

“Love it, of course I do!!!” she exclaims, pulling me into her arms.

I let her hold me, admiring me in my dress, before I gently pull away.

“Well, we still need to finish getting me ready, and you haven’t even started getting ready yet!” I remind her, gesturing to her wearing pajama pants still.

“Oh don’t worry about me, let’s finish your look,” she says, opening her container of hair glitter and getting to work on finishing my hair.

After she’s done, she kisses me once and then pushes me out of the bathroom, winking at me and saying, “see you soon” so that she can get ready herself.

I walk into the kitchen where Magnus and Aunt Nat are sorting his and Alex’s corsage and boutonniere out.

“Wow Annie, you look nice!” Magnus exclaims, seeing me walk in as Aunt Nat finishes pining the flower to his light blue suspenders.

Aunt Nat turns around to face me upon realizing that I had just entered the room. She rushes over to me and pulls me into a hug.

“Oh darling, you look so beautiful!” she says, holding me out at arms length, taking in my entire look, from my dress, to my hair and makeup.

“Thank you,” I blush, trying to not act too vain.

Just then the doorbell rings. I pull out of Aunt Nat’s grip and run to the front door, knowing that on the other side I will find Alex standing there.

As usual, I am correct. There on the other side of the door in the brightest pink and green outfit I have ever seen, stands good ol’ Alex. He looks me over and gives me an approving smile and a nod of his head. He gives me a hug and whispers in my ear, “you look really happy.”

I pull him inside and present my cousin his date. Magnus goes completely speechless, staring at Alex completely open-mouthed, like you would expect in a cartoon.

Aunt Nat presents Alex with a corsage and a boutonniere for him to pick whichever he would prefer.

“Alright, it’s getting late. We should get out of here soon if we want to make it to the park in time to take pictures before we have to get to the school,” he says looking at me and Magnus.

“We can’t leave yet, Piper is still getting ready,” I protest.

“Well it's a good thing I’m ready then isn’t it?” Piper says, rounding the corner.

She’s standing there in a short, sparkly black dress. It’s one of those dresses where there’s one strap over her left shoulder and the other side is strapless. She also has on a pair of really high-heeled black shoes and her hair is French braided and lies over her right shoulder, opposite the side of the dress from the strap over her dress. Her makeup is stunning, she has a smokey eyed look which really complements the shade of her skin.

Magnus walks over to me, grabbing my hand and startling me out of my reverie from staring at my girlfriend.

“Come on Annie, let’s go,” he yells.

I then realize that Alex and Piper are heading towards the front door, meanwhile I was so lost I hadn’t realized that they left the room.

I run after them towards the front door, stopping momentarily to slip on my gray Converse that match my dress and running after them down the stairs to the front street. The four of us walk to the nearest park where we take turns taking pictures of each other at the picturesque gazebo they have there.

After the pictures, we walk to the nearest bus station to wait for the bus to take us to the school for the dance.

When we get to the school, Piper and I get to walk hand in hand through the front door and to the decorated gymnasium.

I’m so grateful that I get to live in a city where I get to do this. There are so many places throughout the country and the world where this would not be possible. I almost feel a little bit guilty, but then I remember that this is the goal, and that I should enjoy being happy for those who cannot.

The gymnasium has crepe paper and twinkling lights packing-taped to the walls. There’s a miniature replica of the Eiffel Tower gleaming and glistening in a corner on the opposite side of the room.

Along three of the four walls of the room stand chaperones manning the food stations, making sure the kids aren’t spiking the punch I guess.

“What do you want to do first?” Piper asks me, pulling me close so I can hear her over the din of the noise of our classmates.

“It’s a dance, I want to dance please!” I say.

“Done,” she answers me, pulling me onto the dance floor.

The DJ mostly plays the fast, fun songs we played at all our dances in middle school and every song you’d play at a wedding reception. I didn’t really care, I was having a good time with Piper.

At the very end of the dance, they finally play a slow song. Piper pulls me into her arms and we sway back and forth to the song. I don’t think I’ve ever felt more safe or secure in my life.

When the song ends, much too soon if you ask me, the DJ thanks us for being such a great crowd and everyone begins making their way to the exit.

Piper, having worn stupid shoes, is getting a piggy-back ride from Magnus. She holds onto her shoes in one hand and grips Magnus’s shoulder with the other.

“Don’t get any ideas, I don’t think I’m strong enough to give you a piggy-back ride,” I tease, turning to Alex.

“Don’t worry these are my favorite Docs, my feet are fine,” he assures.

“I do have a better idea though.”

“Oh yeah, what’s that?”

I grab Alex’s hand in mine and we go skipping hand in hand down the street. Magnus and Piper exclaim and attempt to chase after us. We provoke them, teasing them about how slow they are compared to us.

We ultimately skip the bus, choosing to walk the whole way home and getting some fresh air in the process.

The four of us make our odyssey down the dimly lit streets until we finally arrive home at Magnus and I’s apartment.

Magnus lets Piper climb down off his back and she walks over to me with the gait only found on someone whose feet have been tortured by high heels, but must wear them to prevent walking around barefoot.

I realize that she is actually taller than me at this moment with her shoes on. It’s hard to tell sometimes which of us is taller, sometimes it feels like we’re the same height, sometimes it feels like I’m taller than her by a few inches.

“I had a really great time with you tonight,” I breathe softly, looking into her eyes.

“I did too,” she answers me, leaning down to kiss me.

“Ach-hem,” Magnus coughs, him and Alex looking at us.

“Yes, Maggie, what is it?” I ask.

“Alex and I had an idea,” he begins.

“Oh yeah, what’s that,” Piper says coyly.

“Well it’s obvious my mother won’t let us do sleepovers, however if Annie and I show up alone she’ll think you’ve both gone home. Annie and I will pretend like we’re super tired and go to bed. I’ll sneak out through the fire escape and go to Alex’s place, and Piper can sneak in via the fire escape and stay with you for the night. We just have to make sure I’m home by noon and Piper has left by then,” Magnus explains.

Piper and I look at each other mischievously.

“We’re in,” I confirm.

We do exactly as Magnus suggests, we walk in the front door to the apartment where Aunt Nat is still up watching tv. We explain to her how Alex took the bus home, and Piper was picked up by her security crew at the school. We feign exhaustion and wait by our bedroom door staring at the little sliver of light under the door from the lights in the living room. When it finally goes out and we hear Aunt Nat’s bedroom door creak shut we let out a sigh of relief.

Magnus walks to the window, quietly opening it and out onto the fire escape where Piper and Alex sit waiting for us.

Magnus and Alex walk down the stairs and to the sidewalk below. Piper and I silently wave goodbye to them and we duck through the window, shutting it behind us.

I look around at mine and Magnus’s room, realizing it probably isn’t going to be a good idea for Piper and I to sleep on the bottom bunk together, one of us being likely to fall out of bed that way.

I grab my sheets and blankets, unceremoniously dumping them onto the ground and making us a makeshift bed on the floor.

I walk to the closet where we have more blankets sitting in the top section for winter. I grab all of them and they join the ones on the ground.

In the end it might not be the most comfortable place in the world to sleep, but I’ve seen worse.

Piper and I silently take off our dresses, draping them over the desk chair in the corner.

We lay down together on the mound of blankets. I breathe in the scent of her smelling of flowers and coconuts.

I wrap us up in the blankets like burritos, staring at each other face to face in the dark, lit only by the street lights outside the window.

“I love you,” I breathe softly.

“I love you too,” she says immediately, leaning forward and kissing me softly.

We fall asleep in each other's arms, happy.

Chapter Text

My eyes slowly open and I take in the sight of the rising sun as it slants through the blinds from the window. I can feel Piper’s soft breaths against my neck and I attempt to turn my head as slowly and gently as I can so I don’t wake her.

She lays next to me, hair a tangled mess with a small smile across her sleeping face. She truly is so beautiful, it takes my breath away.

I slowly extricate myself from the sheets and her arms which are somehow both holding me and also everywhere all at once. I have to find my phone as soon as possible, because despite the newness of the rising sun, I am no expert at telling time from the rising sun and the last thing we need is for Magnus and Alex to show up early or for Aunt Nat to discover what we’ve done.

I slowly start picking through the mess we made last night, searching desperately for my phone and also not waking Piper, or worse my aunt.

I finally find my phone half underneath the bunk bed. I activate the screen which reads: 5:57am. Thank god, Aunt Nat usually sleeps until at least 10 am on the weekends.

I walk back over to where Piper is still sleeping on my floor and I lay down next to her, placing my phone next to me in case Magnus or Alex texts me.

“Mghm,” Piper says, opening her eyes and looking at me.

“Shit, sorry did I wake you? It’s okay, you can go back to sleep, there’s still time before Magnus and Alex come back,” I whisper.

“No, I’m too excited to go back to sleep,” she answers.

“Excited about what?”

“Getting to spend time with you, of course.”

“We get to spend time with each other all the time though.”

“Not like this,” she giggles softly.

“Shhh, it’s not that much different than any other time we’ve spent together,” I reproach.

“Well most people would disagree, we’re sleeping together and we’re not wearing much clothing.”

“People can sleep together without it being weird, you know?”

“Yes, but those people aren’t usually dating, and we are.”

“Alright, alright, just shush,” I say, placing my right hand over her mouth.

She then proceeds to lick my hand.

“Ewww, what’s wrong with you?” I hiss, trying not to laugh. I wipe her saliva off of my hand onto a blanket.

“So is this the first time you’ve slept with someone then?” she asks.

“Well if you mean in a romantic sort of way, then yes,” I say.

“I guess you could say that I took your ‘first sleepover’ virginity then?”

“Ugh I hate that, it makes it seem like I was an unwilling participant when it's literally my bedroom we’re sleeping in. And besides the whole ‘virginity’ thing is stupid anyways,” I groan.

“Noted, won’t bring that up again,” she swears, holding her fingers up in promise.

“Hey, I have a question I’ve been wondering about,” I start.

“Shoot.”

“Well, we’ve never really talked about your sexuality before, just mine, so I was just wondering if there was a label you preferred?”

“I’m straight,” she says, completely deadpan.

“You’re not serious, right?” I ask, very confused.

“Girl, of course I’m not serious. We literally just slept together, doesn’t get much gayer than that. I’m actually bisexual.”

“Oh, cool. Have you ever dated guys before?”

“Yeah a couple. I’ve also dated a few girls before. Well ‘dated’ is a generous word for what happened. There were a lot of straight girls who just wanted to try kissing a girl, which was fine but it led to a lot of heartbreak for me when they didn’t actually want anything serious with me. That’s part of the reason why I was so upset with you when we first kissed, I was worried that you would do the same thing to me,” she explains softly.

“I would never do anything like that to you, I hope you know that,” I reassure her.

“Oh I know, we’ve literally made out in public and gone to Homecoming together. It doesn’t get much more public and official than that.”

“Not to change the subject, but like won’t your dad have noticed that you never went home last night?” I suddenly realize.

“Nah, he’s kind of used to me doing whatever I want and not coming home, that is if he notices at all. He’s a great dad and he’s super supportive, but unfortunately his work keeps him from always being the present father he wants to be.”

“I’m sorry Piper, that really sucks.”

“Yeah, but I don’t want to think about that right now. I just want to be here in this moment with you.”

I blush and scoot myself across the blankets to be as close as I can to Piper. She wraps us both into her blanket and places kisses on the top of my head.

At some point I must fall asleep, because I wake up to my phone buzzing on the floor across the pile of blankets where Piper and I are entangled.

I roll across the floor and pick up my phone: “Be there in 10 minutes.”

“Shit,” I curse softly.

“What?” Piper asks, looking at me.

I show her the message from Magnus.

“Fuck,” Piper agrees.

The two of us gingerly get up and quietly fold the extra blankets and store them back in the closet and throw my blankets back on my bed.

I grab myself a pair of pajamas from my dresser and find Piper a pair of my sweatpants and one of my sweatshirts to wear. We quickly change into our clothes and I put my homecoming dress back in the garment back and put it in my closet. I take Piper’s homecoming dress and fold it up and place it in my dresser where it can stay hidden until she leaves.

I look around at my room and make sure everything is as it was before. I look down at my phone and see that we still have a few extra minutes before Magnus will come back.

I tip toe across my room to the door and slowly open it a crack. I peer out into the hallway and listen to hear if Aunt Nat is up and moving. I look back at Piper who is looking at me like I’ve lost my mind.

“Follow me,” I mouth.

I walk into the hallway clearing the way between my room and the bathroom and then signal for Piper that the coast is clear. We run into the bathroom, closing and locking the door behind us.

Piper gets to work pulling out the hair tie that was holding the sides of my hair back. I wince when my hair gets tangled in the hair tie.

“Sorry,” Piper whispers in apology.

I grab a makeup wipe and I attempt to rid Piper of her raccoon eyes.

We double check that we’ve gotten all of our makeup off and our hair is pulled up into matching messy buns.

I walk back to the bathroom door peering out into the hallway and listening again for Aunt Nat.

We run back to my room, quietly shutting the door behind us. Less than a minute later Magnus appears at the window, Alex trailing behind him.

Alex has a stack of clothes in her hands and she hands them to Piper.

“Here, their aunt will probably notice if you show up to Sunday breakfast wearing her niece's clothes,” she says with a mischievous grin on her face.

“Thanks, but what do you mean Sunday breakfast?” Piper asks.

“Annabeth and I are going to go make breakfast, you two are going to say that you went home last night, but we invited you guys to breakfast this morning. Think we can pull it off?” Magnus explains.

“That’s crazy, she’s actually going to believe that?” Piper asks, confused.

“Technically she can’t prove anything so it’ll be fine. She’ll just have unfounded suspicions,” Magnus explains.

I walk Piper across the hall again, standing guard outside the door in case Aunt Nat would wake up while she changes into Alex’s clothes.

She walks out in a pair of black capri leggings and a crop top. Unfortunately, Alex is like several inches shorter than us, so her normal length clothes end up being capris and a crop top on Piper.

Piper and Alex sit at the table chatting. I pull out the frying pan and begin to grease it, while Magnus grabs the box of pancake mix and adds the ingredients together to make the batter.

I stand at the stove flipping pancakes when Aunt Nat walks out in her bathrobe, rubbing her eyes.

“Good morning darlings,” she says, seeing Magnus and I. She walks into the kitchen and spots Alex and Piper at the table. “Oh, good morning Piper, Alex, I didn’t know you both would be here this morning,” she says pointedly, looking at Magnus and I.

“Yeah we invited them over this morning for a post-Homecoming pancake breakfast,” Magnus answers innocently.

“Mmmm, I see,” she says walking over to the cabinet holding the mugs so she could make her morning coffee.

Magnus and I exchange a glance, trying to ascertain whether she knows what we did last night.

I set down a plate of pancakes in front of Alex and Piper, then I return to the stove to continue cranking out pancakes. Alex hops up from the table and rummages around in the refrigerator and emerges with a spray can of whipped cream and sprays it all over her pancakes.

I didn’t even know we had a can of whipped cream in our refrigerator, usually Aunt Nat is super against stuff like that. I really hope that Alex isn’t planning to eat expired whipped cream, they could get really sick doing that.

Piper and I lock glances and I know she’s also concerned about the whipped cream, but we both shrug and smile at each other across the kitchen.

“Annie, the pancake is starting to burn,” Magnus tells me, nudging me and bringing me back into what I’m supposed to be doing.

I quickly grab my spatula and throw the pancake out of the pan and onto the plate Magnus is holding out for me.

I finish making all of the pancakes without burning anymore and I can finally sit down to eat. I sit down at the chair everyone was kind enough to save for me next to Piper. She passes the tub of butter to me and we brush our hands in doing so.

“So how was Homecoming kids?” Aunt Nat asks, looking around the table at us.

“We had a lot of fun Mrs. Chase,” Piper answers, trying to be polite.

Aunt Nat bursts out laughing, choking on her coffee. “Oh dear, I’m not married and I can’t imagine you calling me Miss Chase either, after all that is also how my niece would be addressed. You can just call me Natalie,” Aunt Nat coos.

Piper’s face goes red and she nods her head in agreement and understanding.

“You guys must’ve had a good time last night, given how tired Maggie and Annie were last night,” she says, coyly.

“Oh yes, we were so tired last night, I went home and fell asleep instantly,” Alex adds.

I see Magnus shoot Alex a look, knowing that Alex is putting it on a little thick here. It’s better to just say as little as possible and just shut up.

“I think it’s cute that you two have the same hairstyle this morning,” Aunt Nat says, pointing to mine and Piper’s matching messy buns.

I instantly shove a mouthful of pancake in my mouth so I don’t have to answer her.

Piper comes to my defense and invents an excuse saying, “Yes, this morning when I got here her hair was an absolute mess and I couldn’t allow her to make food without securing it. That’s what happens when you don’t take the proper precautions for taking care of your hair before you go to sleep,” she chides, looking at me.

“You’re absolutely right, I completely agree,” Aunt Nat says, saluting Piper with her mug of coffee.

I look at Piper in mock shock that she would gang up on me with my aunt. Piper just raises her eyebrows and gives me a small shrug and a smile.

“What are you kids doing today then?” Aunt Nat inquires, looking at all of us.

I shrug my shoulders and am about to tell her that we have nothing planned for today, when Piper pipes up, “I’m taking Annabeth out on an adventure today, if that’s okay with you.”

I whip around and look at Piper in confusion, we didn’t talk about doing anything like that today.

“Of course, that sounds lovely. I hope that you guys have a wonderful day of adventuring,” Aunt Nat says, giving her blessing and getting up from the table and disappearing into her room.

“What adventure are you talking about?” I whisper, tugging on Piper’s fingers.

“You’ll just have to wait and see,” she says, winking at me in answer.

Chapter Text

Piper instructs me to change into an outfit more appropriate for going out in public, it seems that my sweatpants and sweatshirt aren’t cutting it.

I’m about to leave my room and meet Piper back in the living room when I remember that I still have her Homecoming dress in my drawer. I run over to the dresser and yank the drawer open and grab the dress.

I walk back into the living room with my hands behind my back in case Aunt Nat is there, but it would seem that she’s still in her room. I grab Piper’s hand and pull her to the front door, slipping our shoes on. We dash down to the sidewalk and I finally hand over the dress to Piper.

“Thank you, I almost forgot about this,” she says, taking the dress from my hands.

“Are you finally going to tell me where we’re going now?” I ask.

“Nope, still a surprise,” she says, pulling me to the edge of the sidewalk to where a waiting SUV stands waiting.

We hop in the waiting SUV and away we go down the road.

Once again we pull into a now familiar gravel circle, we’re back at the film trailer lot.

Piper and I exit the SUV and walk to her father’s trailer. Piper enters first, hesitating at the doorway.

“Dad, it’s me Piper, you here?” she calls through the trailer.

No one answers her calls, the trailer is silent except the soft whushing of the central air system.

Piper walks to her bedroom and the two of us slip in and shut the door behind us. She walks to her closet and throws her dress inside. I open my mouth to tell her that she should probably hang her dress up on a hanger and not let it sit in a ball like that, but before I can say anything she begins kissing me.

I fall over onto her bed, Piper following not long after me. We just lay there on her bed, making out. Eventually I break away, needing some air.

“So is this the adventure you were talking about? I mean if it is I’m not mad, but we should probably come up with something to tell my aunt if it is,” I say laughing softly.

“Actually this was just a pit stop. I really needed to change out of poor Alex’s clothes and I also didn’t want to continue carrying around my Homecoming dress all day. I do actually have an adventure planned for us today,” Piper says, standing up. I can hear her rustling, looking for clothes to put on, when she finds them she begins changing.

I stare up at the ceiling and my eyes wander to her MUNA poster on the wall, the three bandmates staring down at me.

Piper walks back over to me, holding her hand out towards me. I take her hand and she pulls me up off her bed and towards the front door.

We get back in the car and drive back into town, the buildings blurring by as we pass.

The car stops in front of one of my favorite buildings in the city, the library.

“You took me to the library?” I say laughing.

“Yeah, it’ll be fun!” she hops out of the car, looking back at me to follow her.

We walk up the front stairs and into the library. I feel instantly soothed by the quiet comfort of the library. People walk from place to place quietly. I can smell the particular smell that I only smell in a library.

Piper and I end up in the teen section of the library. I find some of my favorites and she and I sit at a small table. I show her the ones I picked out and she judges my picks with either a nod or a shake of her head. It takes a ton of effort to not burst out laughing when she scrunches up her nose when she reads the synopsis of some of the books.

I lean my head down on my crossed arms sitting on the table and look up at Piper, completely entranced with looking at our surroundings. Eventually she realizes that I’m staring at her.

“What?” she mouths.

I shake my head in answer, smiling at her.

Piper gets up with her mountain of books and begins putting them back from where I pulled them from.

When she returns she grabs my hand and we walk to the exit and begin walking down the sidewalk.

“Where are we going now?” I ask.

“It’s a surprise!” she yells happily, pulling out her phone and starts up the GPS on her phone.

We walk down the streets hand in hand, the late October weather brisk and a bit chilly makes me shiver slightly.

Piper and I stop short at a storefront with bright colored decorations.

“Have you ever had boba before?” Piper asks me.

“Hahaha, have you ever met Magnus and Alex before? Of course I’ve had boba before!” I say laughing.

The two of us walk in and I place my usual order of a green teen with strawberry syrup and mango popping bubbles.

“What, no tapioca pearls?” Piper asks me.

“Nah, I’m not a fan of the texture of them, kind of chewy and also slimy. I prefer the fruit juice bubbles, it kind of reminds me of when food was fun when we were little, like pop rocks,” I say gleefully.

We grab our drinks from the people working and thank them before walking back out onto the streets.

“Lead the way,” I call to Piper.

We walk a few blocks and end up in a public park. Piper and I find two available swings that are right next to each other and we begin swinging.

I hold onto the chain with my left hand as my right hand continues holding onto my boba.

I can’t remember the last time I’ve been on a swing. It really makes you think, did I realize as a child that it would be years before I could do this again, or was I expecting to make a visit to the playground within a short amount of time?

My legs pump the air underneath me, keeping the swing in motion. I stare up at the sky as the sun slowly but surely starts to set once again.

“Hey Annie watch this!” Piper yells.

I turn towards her to see what she is talking about and I take in the sight of this idiot jumping straight off of the swing and to the mulch below. Piper hits the ground, a tangle of limbs and her hair askew.

“Piper…” I call to her as she lays prone in the dirt.

I put my feet down to stop the swing and I run over to her. I notice that her eyes are closed and she isn’t moving. I reach down and gently touch her face, continuing to call her name all the while.

Her eyes pop open and I am staring straight into her multicolored irises. She starts laughing at me.

“That’s not funny, I thought you were seriously injured!!!” I yell, pushing her and getting to my feet.

“Nah, I’m fine! Didn’t you guys do that as kids?” Piper laughs, beginning to stand up.

“Of course not!”

“Hey, I’m sorry I startled you,” she says, grabbing my arm and making me look at her.

“We really should stop getting into situations where we could injure ourselves, don’t you think? I don’t want my concussion, that you gave me by the way, to be the beginning of a line of injuries we acquire being dumb. ”

“You’re right. I promise I’ll be more careful in the future. Now, how about we go to our next stop on our adventure.”

I take her hand in agreement and we walk to the sidewalk to head to our next destination. I throw my empty boba container in one of the trash cans as we leave.

As we continue walking down the sidewalks I realize that we are getting closer and closer to my apartment. Didn’t Piper say that we still had somewhere else we were supposed to be going? Was she just talking about taking me home?

Piper drops my hand and I look at her in admonishment before I realize what she’s doing.

I feel her arm wrap around my waist and she pulls me in close to her.

“What is that for?” I laugh.

“I’m cold and you’re warm. It’s simple conservation of energy.”

“You should have worn an actual coat and not just a thin jacket.”

“Have you forgotten I’m from LA, we don’t do big coats, and besides you’re not wearing one,” gesturing to my body, lacking a thick coat.

“I’m also not going to complain when the temp is below 70, like you.”

“Well that’s cold though…”

“Oh this winter is going to be absolutely fun. If you think this is cold, wait until we get a blizzard.”

Suddenly Piper stops walking and I realize where we’ve stopped, and it’s not my apartment. I look at her gleefully because she’s taken me to my favorite falafel place.

“We had our first date here I believe,” she says.

“I mean, was it a date though? We weren’t dating, we barely even knew each other at the time.”

“Eh, close enough,” she shrugs, pulling me in the front door.

We order our food and find a table, sitting down heavily in our chairs, tired from all our walking today.

“Order for Annabeth Chase!” someone calls.

I hop up and grab our food at the counter. I bring our food back and set it on the table in front of Piper.

We dig into our food, recounting stories of the weird things we did as kids and the time that I accidentally knocked out one of Magnus’s baby teeth when we were playing too rough as kids.

“Actually I did have something to ask you. Alex mentioned something about you having a troubled past before you got here. I don’t normally pay attention to all of that celebrity gossip nonsense, but if there is something that happened I want to know what happened from you, not someone else,” I say, holding her hand and trying to look as understanding and compassionate as I can.

“I mean yeah, but it doesn't exactly paint me in the best light…” Piper mutters, squirming in her chair.

“Yes, those sorts of things normally do, but I feel like it’ll probably get back to me at some point, wouldn’t you rather tell me the whole story from your perspective?”

“Fine, just promise you’ll hear me out?”

“Okay,” I brace myself for the possibilities of what she’s about to tell me.

“You know how my dad is busy and can’t spend a lot of time with me?” I nod my head as she speaks, “Well I used to try to get his attention by stealing things and doing dangerous things, I got caught a good number of times. I have a pretty decent juvenile record.”

I sit in silence a minute taking in what she just told me, suddenly what happened at the playground makes sense. It also explains why despite the fact that she could remain relatively anonymous, she frequently ended up in the media to the point where our classmates all knew who she was before she even started at our school.

“You don’t steal anymore though, right?”

“Not for a few years, no. I’m getting old enough to where they may start trying me as an adult now.”

“Well you don’t have to act out to get attention either, you know. I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I seem to be giving you a lot of attention lately for free…”

“Oh yes, I definitely noticed,” she says, squeezing my hand.

“I’m serious, no more doing stuff to put yourself in harm's way or else I’ll steal your kneecaps,” I threaten, pulling her in close and staring her down.

“Okay…” she trails off, blushing and leaning back in her chair.

We walk down the block to my apartment and up the stairs to the door. Piper and I simultaneously pull each other in for a kiss, and suddenly the door whips open revealing Magnus standing there arms crossed.

“That’s enough for tonight don’t you think?” he jokes.

“Whatever dad,” I sigh.

“ ‘Parting is such sweet sorrow’ my dear Juliet,” Piper says, blowing me an air kiss.

“You two are such dorks,” Magnus laughs, shutting the door and walking into the living room where Aunt Nat sits watching “Star Wars”.

I excuse myself and go straight to sleep with a smile on my face that I can’t quite seem to get rid of.

Chapter Text

Needless to say, waking up the next morning for school was hell. My alarm has gone off like three times and I just want to go back to sleep.

“Let’s go Annie, we’re going to be late if you don’t hurry up!” he yells, grabbing me by the ankle and attempting to pull me feet first out of bed.

I scramble to my feet and flip my cousin off, walking to the bathroom. Honestly the rest of the morning is a blur and I find myself half asleep on the bus.

When we arrive at the stop Magnus and Alex wake me up and practically have to haul me off of the bus.

The three of us walk down the sidewalk together.

“You know Annie, if you are so tired like this your aunt isn’t going to let you and Piper go out on school nights,” Alex says to me tentatively, glancing at Magnus for reassurance. It’s clear they discussed this on the bus when I was half asleep.

“Ugh, I know. I would shotgun some Redbull or something but caffeine just acts like anti-anxiety meds for me,” I groan.

“That’s not a real thing,” Alex argues.

“Tell that to my body that refuses to allow me to properly use caffeine to my advantage like a normal person,” I say, walking through the front doors of the school.

I begin walking to my first class when someone grabs my arms and pulls me into an alcove. I raise my metal water bottle, ready to defend myself, when I realize it’s just Piper.

“What the hell Pipes, I thought someone was going to murder me,” I hiss.

“Sorry! Wait, did you just give me a nickname?” she giggles.

“It just came out! Do you not like it?” I ask hurriedly.

“No, I actually love it!”

“Good. Anyways, what are we doing?” I question, looking around at the alcove we stand in. I imagine the lack of cobwebs is due to this being a frequent place for people to make out.

“I needed to find you before class.”

“Okay, but why? I mean I want to see you too, I would be perfectly happy being with you all the time, but we should probably go to class so we don’t get thrown in detention.”

“We won’t be late for class I promise,” she says, holding out her hand to me.

I take her hand and she leads me down the hallway to the nearest bathroom.

We walk in to several girls doing their makeup at the mirrors over the sinks. Piper pulls me into the area of the bathroom with the full length mirrors.

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed Pipes, but my outfits are not really worthy of bathroom outfit of the day pictures.”

“I don’t care, we need more pictures together. You look beautiful just the way you are!”

“Okay, Bruno Mars. What am I supposed to do?” I ask, nervously.

“What, have you never done this before?” she asks.

“Ummm, no I haven’t. I don’t really wear outfits most of the time that would be interesting enough for this sort of thing. I mostly wear the same few t-shirts and leggings. Not to mention the fact that I am the furthest thing from being photogenic, I never know what to do with my arms,” I explain, holding my arms out like limp noodles.

“You’re a dork. Here, stand in front of the mirror like this,” she says, moving my body until we are both standing in front of the mirror together.

She takes a picture using her phone of the two of us hugging in the mirror. I nervously sneak a glance at my phone, counting down the minutes until class starts.

Piper and I walk out of the bathroom holding hands. I begin to walk down the hallway to her first class and she begins to pull in the opposite direction.

“Where are we going?” I ask.

“I thought we were going to your first class.”

“I thought we were going to YOUR first class!” I say, confused.

“You’re too much,” she laughs, pulling me to the side of the hallway so we aren’t in the way. She hands me her phone with the picture of the two of us in the mirror, complete with an Instagram filter that makes everything a pink/blue haze.

“It looks good, you look amazing,” I admit, blushing when I realize what I said.

“So do you!!!” she insists.

“Whatever,” I say, not being able to just accept the compliment, “I’ve got to go to class now before I’m late. I’ll see you at lunch,” I quickly kiss Piper and dash down the hallway.

I walk as fast as socially acceptable and slip into my desk about thirty seconds before the bell rings.

At lunch I sit with Piper, Magnus, and Alex.

“So what was this adventure you two went on yesterday?” Alex asks Piper and I.

“Piper wanted to take me on a trip to a bunch of locations in the city,” I explain, gesturing wildly with my fork.

“You had your girlfriend show you around the city that you’ve been living in for like ten years now?” Alex asks.

“I mean sure why not? It’s still fun because I get to see the city through her eyes,” I say, defending Piper.

“That’s actually really sweet,” Magnus agrees.

“Thank you! I know you guys have lived here, but it’s not like we had time to get on a plane to LA for the day,” Piper says.

“You guys have a private plane?” Alex asks.

“Yes, but we usually use it only when we need to. A lot of the other people my dad knows that have planes will go on day trips across the country, when we use ours for long hauls. The last time we used it was actually when we came out here,” she explains.

Alex just nods once and goes back to eating lunch. I just roll my eyes.

“Anyways, did you guys hear about the new Marvel movie?” Magnus says, trying to change the subject.

I look down at my phone as Alex and Magnus playfully argue about Marvel movies. Piper posted the picture of us from this morning to her public account during first period, but I haven’t had a chance to look at it yet.

The comments are the same as the ones from previous pictures Piper and I posted. They often compliment how pretty Piper is, which I fully agree with, and there are still plenty about how ugly I am and “why does she dress like a 12 year old?”.

I’m about to put my phone away when I get a notification from my text messaging app. It’s from Aunt Nat: “Hey sweetie, just wanted to let you know that your dad is coming tomorrow.”

Chapter Text

“It doesn’t matter in the end does it?” Magnus is saying as we help Aunt Nat clean the apartment later that night.

“Uh, yeah, Magnus it absolutely does matter, actually. He’s still technically my father and I’m not sure of the exact details regarding the deal he and your mom made that allows me to stay here with you guys, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he came up with some way of making me go back with him,” I say, slapping one of the throw pillows down on the couch.

I can feel tears start to come to my eyes and I pick up another pillow and am about to throw it back down on the couch, when Magnus grabs the pillow from my hands.

“Sit down Annie,” he commands, putting the pillow on his side of the couch gently.

I sit down with a grunt and turn to look at him, doing everything in my power to create a mask of calm and nonchalance.

“Tell me what’s wrong,” he says gently, looking into my eyes.

“I already told you Magnus!” I yell, looking down at my hands, noticing for the first time the small reddish-pink crescents I have apparently formed on my palms.

“Yes, your dad is coming tomorrow and you’re worried about him taking you away, but I think there’s more to it than that.”

“It’s just not fair! He only comes to visit like once a year and every year I get more and more anxious. I’ve been here so long with you guys that it truly feels like this is my home! Every year I become more and more attached to this city and you and your mom. I hardly even remember what life was like in Virginia. You could drop me off and Virginia and I wouldn’t know where anything is. In Boston I know where the best restaurants are and how the public transportation works. My blood, sweat, and tears are in this apartment, Magnus! And now for the first time in my life I’ve fallen in love, I HAVE A GIRLFRIEND!” I yell, finally giving into the tears. They run down my face like a rushing river, hot and salty when they reach my lips.

Magnus pulls my head down onto his shoulder and we sit there on the couch as I sob into his shirt.

At some point Aunt Nat walks in the front door carrying a load of groceries in her arms. She notices my clear distress and Magnus trying his best to comfort me. Giving us a quizzical look, she deposits the bags in the kitchen and walks into the living room sitting down on the floor in front of the couch.

Aunt Nat grabs my hands and looks at my tear stained face and says, “What is the matter my girl?”

“My dad is coming tomorrow and what if he takes me back after all these years?” I say, still upset, but tired from crying.

“He won’t,” she says, firmly and without hesitation.

“How do you know?”

“First of all it’s been like 10 years and he hasn’t tried to make you move back with him. Second of all, I would take him to court and seeing as you aren’t in any immediate danger it would probably take so long to get a court date you’d be 18 or nearly 18 by that point.”

“Not to mention that mom and I would threaten to come visit all the time and we know that your dad’s wife hates us,” Magnus supplies, trying to be helpful.

“Oh yeah, we would bring some of the craziest food we can come up with to annoy her,” Aunt Nat agrees.

I start laughing, not being able to help myself. I lean forward and hug my aunt gratefully. Magnus leans forward as well, joining us for a group hug.

“Okay, who’s going to help me put the groceries away?” Aunt Nat asks, pulling out of the hug and standing up.

Magnus volunteers, giving me some space to sit on the couch by myself to collect myself.

I stare at the blank television and thank the universe that I have a family like Magnus and Aunt Nat who would do anything for me, even defend me from my own father.

I walk to the bathroom and grab a washcloth, drenching it in cold water from the faucet. I scrub away at my face, washing away the salt from my skin, until my skin feels cool again.

I wander down the hallway to my bedroom and lay down on my bed, looking up at the pictures I have taped there.

Next thing I know I am waking up. I hadn’t even remembered falling asleep to be honest. I slap around my bed trying to find my phone, I can’t remember where I left it.

I get up out of bed quietly and stand in the middle of the room. I can see the mound of sheets on the top bunk and can tell Magnus is asleep. I creep out of our room and to the kitchen, because I know the microwave will have the time on it.

My feet hit the cool tiles of the kitchen as I quietly tip toe towards the microwave that reads: 4:45am. I must have accidentally fallen asleep last night. I walk back to the living room and choose to sleep on the couch rather than risk accidentally waking Magnus up (he’s such a diva in the mornings). I notice that my phone is sitting on the small table next to the couch. I must have left it here yesterday when I was having my breakdown.

I look down and see that I have several missed messages from Piper.

Delivered 5:12pm: “hey A, u ok? u seemed preocupied and sad this afternoon”

Delivered 6:18pm: “hello?”

Delivered 10:01pm: “M says u are asleep. luv u! c u tomorow!”

Crap. Hopefully Piper won’t be mad that I missed her messages. What if she thinks that I was ignoring her?

It feels like it is only seconds later that my alarm goes off on my phone and I have to get ready for school.

It takes only a single look for Alex to declare, “Your dad is coming today isn’t he?”, when she gets on the bus.

Despite the fact that we haven’t been friends for an incredibly long time, Alex seems to be able to read Magnus and I like picture books.

Magnus looks at me for confirmation and approval before nodding at Alex in answer.

Alex sits down next to Magnus and turns in her seat to look at me, “You know if you need me to come and beat him up I am only one phone call away?”

“Hey, not so fast! You’ll have to beat me to it,” Magnus challenges.

“We’ll double team it like Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, you know, without the whole Qui-Gon getting stabbed by Maul thing, deal?”

“Agreed!”

My two knights in shining armor extend their hands and shake in promise of a group effort towards the destruction of my father, should I need it.

I look at my phone to pull up the flight info for my father’s flight from the information that Aunt Nat had sent me. Damn it, his flight was on time and he would be getting into the Boston airport in a few hours. Luckily, I would be at school when he would be getting in, so I won’t have to go to the airport to pick him up. Since we don’t have a car Aunt Nat is enlisting the help of one of her friends who does to get my dad.

We get to school and I immediately search for Piper, finding her not far from the front entrance.

“Hey what’s up?” she says when we find each other.

“Ugh, bullshit that’s what,” I sigh, “come with me and I’ll tell you about it.”

Piper looks at me bewildered, but takes my outstretched hand and follows me down the hall to an alcove.

We sit down together on the linoleum floor that is no doubt absolutely disgusting.

“My dad is coming to town today and I got super anxious last night and just crashed. I promise I wasn’t ignoring you, I honestly fell asleep at like five last night and didn’t wake up until like five this morning. I would have texted you then, but I didn’t know what time you normally wake up in the mornings and I didn’t want to bother you if you were still asleep. Also, I kind of figured it would be easier to explain in person anyways. You’re not mad are you?” I say in a rush, hardly taking a breath.

Piper brings her hands up to the sides of my face and looks me straight in the eyes when she says, “I’m not mad at you at all! I was just worried about you and wanted to make sure you were all right!”

“I’m fine!” I laugh, heat rushing to my face, nervous with her hands touching my face like that.

“Are you sure? Are you actually fine or are you just saying that because you don’t want me to worry about you?”

Well she’s got me there.

“I mean no, I’m scared and nervous and anxious right now. But I’ll get through it and I’ll be okay.”

“Thank you for being honest. You’re allowed to feel those things, you don’t have to pretend like everything is fine when it’s not,” Piper says, sounding like a therapist.

“Are you my therapist now?” I ask, laughing.

“No, I’m your girlfriend.”

She extends her hand and hauls me to my feet. We walk to my first class and she kisses me in the locker bank just outside the room, waving to me as she walks down the hall to her own class.

Chapter Text

“No matter what happens in there I have your back,” Magnus says, noticing my hesitation upon disembarking the bus at our stop.

“Thanks,” I mumble, trying to figure out just how slow I can reasonably walk before someone notices I never arrived at home.

Could I just stand here in this spot for the rest of the night, staring at the lack of stars in the sky? I look at my cousin and conclude that he would never let me do such a thing. Knowing Magnus, he’d pick me up and throw me over his shoulder like a firefighter before he’d let me stay out here.

I guess Magnus sees my absolute panic and grabs my hand, pulling me up the sidewalk after him.

As we walk up the stairs I notice that I am having increasingly more difficulty breathing the closer to our door. By the time we get to the front door of our apartment I am practically hyperventilating. I slide down the wall to the floor trying to get my breathing under control.

“Annie, look at me,” Magnus says sternly, sitting down next to me on the floor.

I look at him, trying to remember how to perform a bodily function I can normally do without thinking about it.

Suddenly, Magnus presses his fingers to the sides of my throat. I jerk away from him.

“What are you doing?” I yell.

“It’s cold outside and my fingers are always cold as it is, I figured since we didn’t have ice cubes at our disposal my ice block fingers would work. And it did, you’re calming down,” Magnus explains.

I realize that he’s right. I was so startled that I forgot to panic. I look at the floor beneath me, realizing just how dirty and disgusting it is. I stand up, wiping my sweaty hands on my pants, grimacing at the amount of germs are probably on my hands as we speak.

“You ready now?” Magnus asks, rising to stand next to me.

I nod my head in agreement and he opens the door to the apartment. I follow after him, pausing only momentarily in the doorway to become the Annabeth that I need to be in order to get through this night. I relax my facial features and plaster on a believable, yet entirely fake smile I reserve only for adults who I need to impress. My real personality is reserved for Aunt Nat, Magnus, Alex, and Piper, everyone else gets “public persona Annabeth”.

I walk in the front door, wearing my metaphorical armor to find my aunt and father sitting in the living room chatting.

“Bethie!!! How are you, my daughter?” my father asks upon seeing me walk in the door with Magnus.

“I’m great dad, how are you?” I answer politely, trying to be as cheerful as possible.

“Oh just wonderful! It was an interesting flight up here you know! The turbulence was so bad that they had to cancel the snack services, I didn’t even get any complimentary pretzels. You know back many years ago they would serve peanuts on flights. All for the best I suppose, wouldn’t want someone to go into anaphylactic shock mid flight now would you?” he says, chuckling.

Magnus, Aunt Nat, and I nod politely. My father sits in the armchair, I sit down with Aunt Nat on the sofa, and Magnus elects to sit on the floor against the wall.

“So what kind of history classes have you guys been taking?” my father asks, addressing Magnus and I.

“We’re actually in the same class, Uncle Fredrick. Annabeth and I take the school’s standard history class that we need to take to graduate, nothing special,” Magnus supplies helpfully.

“Oh, that’s interesting, tell me more! Is it European history or World War II history?”

“No, it’s the standard history class in which we begin with the month long discussion in September of the events of 9/11, then we spend time learning about the French and Indian war in the 1760’s, then we spend months learning about the intricacies of the Revolutionary War, then if we are lucky we will spend a small amount of time talking about the battles of the Civil War, and then we’ll spend the rest of the year learning about the battles of World War I and II in which we will have to complete a project in which we are required to write an essay explaining whether we think it was right to drop atomic bombs on Japan at the end of World War II,” Magnus says, sarcastically.

I mean he’s not wrong, that's usually how our history courses go, at least in terms of our standard history classes. I think the more advanced classes for history actually spend time going over more events, because they need to be able to complete standardized exams at the end of the year, but the rest of us get the same watered down history we’ve gotten throughout all of our time in school.

Needless to say the room got uncomfortably quiet after that.

“Well I should go check on dinner!” Aunt Nat exclaims, slapping her thighs and getting up off of the couch.

“I’ll come help you!” I yell, running after her.

Magnus gives me a bit of a dirty look for leaving him alone with my father. I lift my eyebrows and he gets the message rolling his eyes at me and nodding in agreement, he’s okay with it because he knows how upset I’ve been.

I follow Aunt Nat into the kitchen and as soon as I pass through the doorway the smile immediately drops from my face and I practically collapse into a chair, relief coursing through my body.

Aunt Nat pulls her chair up to mine and takes my hands in hers.

“How are you doing my dear?” she asks.

“I’ve been better. When is he leaving?”

“I don’t know yet. He’s supposed to be staying here, but I’m hoping that with my cooking he’ll agree to go back to Virginia sooner rather than later.”

“What is he even doing here in the first place? And don’t say he wanted to see me because we know he doesn’t actually care.”

“I think he has some sort of conference for history nerds, I didn’t ask a lot of questions.”

“Ugh, I just want him to leave. I’m so much happier when I don’t have to think about him.”

“I know, but we just have to try to hold our tongues and get through it.”

I don’t actually help Aunt Nat cook dinner, I tried to half-heartedly offer it, but she would much rather do it herself because I would probably just get in the way. Despite Aunt Nat teaching both Magnus and I to cook when we were young he always seemed to be better at it than me.

When Aunt Nat had finished cooking dinner I helped set the table and the four of us sat down to eat together.

Magnus and I found great entertainment in watching my father try to choke down my aunt’s cooking with as little gagging as he could muster. Magnus and I, despite also finding my aunt’s cooking horrendous, have had many years of eating my aunt’s food so it was just another Tuesday for us.

Luckily, since Magnus and I have an easy access to the fire escape, we just ended up sneaking out that night to get food.

As I skip down the sidewalk, Magnus following behind me, I feel as light as air. One evening with my father down, hopefully not many more to go.

My phone buzzes in my pocket, it’s Piper.

“u ok?”

I quickly type out my response: “Yea, I’m good. I’ll tell you about it tomorrow. I love you!!!!”

“<3” she answers.

I put my phone back into my jacket pocket and go back to skipping down the sidewalk to the falafel place.

Chapter Text

The next morning I get ready for school like I normally do, but instead of waiting in the living room for Magnus to finish getting ready, I instead sit in my room scrolling on my phone. I wait until the last possible second to leave my room so as to spend as little time in my father’s presence.

“C’mon Maggie we’re going to miss the bus!” I yell, dashing through the apartment to the front door. I quickly put my shoes on and am out the door.

Magnus follows behind me, shutting the door behind us and descending the stairs to the lobby. He gives me a knowing look as we begin our walk to the bus stop.

“So what have you and Alex been up to lately?” I ask, trying to distract the both of us.

“Just our usual ‘nerd hobbies’,” he answers me, rolling his eyes.

“Sorry, Star Wars is just such a nerdy thing to be a fan of.”

“I actually think you would like it if you gave it a try. It has so many different niche areas to talk about. Actually, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was an entire subsection of the fandom that is obsessed with the intricacies of the different types of architecture among the different planets.”

“You’re just making that up!”

“I mean, I can’t say for sure that it exists, but there are far weirder things that fans obsess over in that universe.”

“I’ll think about it,” I say, knowing I probably will never get into it unless he forces me.

We make it to our bus stop on time and get on, saving a seat for Alex.

I put in my headphones, listening to the wide array of music that I’ve been introduced to these past few weeks. Classical music will always hold a special place in my heart, but some of these more modern songs do have a bit of a kick to them.

When we arrive at school I wait around the front entrance, waiting for Piper to get to school. Upon seeing each other as she walks in the doors, she runs over to me excitedly.

“Good morning,” she coos, leaning in and kissing me.

“It’s like 8am Piper, isn’t it a little early for that,” I say laughing, breaking away from the kiss.

“Uh, it’s never too early for some romance. And besides we need to talk, remember?” Piper reminds me.

Piper grabs my hand and pulls me down the hallway to an all too familiar alcove. We sit down next to each other on the floor so we are sitting hip to hip.

“Tell me about what happened last night,” she gently commands me, grabbing both of my hands in hers.

I lean my head back against the wall and sigh in exasperation.

“Like I was telling you yesterday, my dad has come to visit,” I say.

“Yeah, I remember. How did that go? What did he say to you?”

“Not much, just the standard questions about school. I mean you know how adults are when they don’t know what to say to you, but want to get you to talk to them.”

“Oh, trust me I know that charade all too well. The people my dad knows have no idea what kids are interested or do, other than go to school.”

“My dad is staying with us in the apartment while he’s in town. I plan to do everything in my power to be conveniently somewhere else while he’s around, when possible.”

“That's understandable. I would probably do the same.”

“I just have to hope that he’ll leave soon.”

“Why don’t you come with me after school today so you don’t have to go back to the apartment?”

I look at her, a smile breaking across my face.

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes’?” Piper asks, laughing.

“Uh, yeah! I would rather hang out with you than my father any day of the week,” I confirm.

Piper leans in and kisses me before we race down the halls to our first classes, trying to not be late laughing the whole time.

Later that day Piper and I walk out of school together, hand in hand. I texted Aunt Nat earlier to tell her I was being kidnapped by my girlfriend (not sure she was too happy about that, but I have been a fairly respectable teenager up until this point so I believe I’m entitled to my share of teenage rebellion) and I also texted Magnus and Alex so they know I won’t be on the bus this afternoon.

Piper and I get into one of the signature SUVs and away we go down the highway to the set of her father’s movie.

We pull into the lot in front of her father’s trailer and we hop out and dash to the door, busting inside.

“Sit down there,” Piper tells me, pointing to the dining area.

I take a seat, confused.

Piper walks to the sink and washes her hands, before rummaging through the refrigerator and pulling out various items.

“Sooooo, what are we doing?” I ask.

“I’m making dinner for my girlfriend, isn't that obvious?”

“Awwww, you’re so sweet,” I say blushing like crazy.

Piper opens a drawer next to the sink and pulls out an honest to god ‘kiss the chef’ apron and puts it on. I start laughing so hard I fall out of my seat and onto the floor.

Piper runs over, laughing at me laughing at her.

“Are you okay?” she wheezes, “Can’t have you getting another concussion, your aunt will kill me!”

“I’m fine,” I gasp, wiping away my tears and pulling myself back into my seat.

Piper leans down, inches away from my face. I just stare back up at her, looking into her beautiful eyes. I can’t believe how many different colors can be contained in a single eyeball. They’re somehow blue, gray, brown, and green all at the same time.

“Not going to kiss me then?” she asks, breaking the silence.

“Of course I’ll kiss you, why wouldn’t I?”

Piper points down at the apron. Well duh….I was supposed to kiss her like the apron says. I raise slightly from where I’m sitting so that my lips can reach hers.

I only let her kiss me for a few seconds before I have to ruin the moment, “If you keep kissing me we’ll never finish cooking dinner.”

“Ugh, fine,” she complains, walking back to the stove.

As Piper stands there cooking dinner I take a few pictures of her and send them to the group chat we’re in with Magnus and Alex.

Piper reaches down and checks her phone, seeing the chat to Magnus and Alex.

“Uh, I see you’re back there taking pictures of me when my back is turned!” Piper yells playfully.

She holds her phone up facing me, and I realize that she’s taking pictures of me in retaliation. I duck down behind the table, attempting to cover my face with my hands, Piper giggles trying to take photos of me anyways.

The timer on the stove beeps and Piper has to retreat from her attacks to take the food out of the oven. She takes some plates down from a cabinet and dishes up two plates of food, placing one in front of me and one on the table in front of the chair next to mine.

I look down at the food, steaming since it just came out of the oven. It seems to be a casserole made of beans and other ingredients.

“This looks really good, Pipes!” I exclaim.

“Thank you! What would you want to drink?” Piper asks, getting up from the table.

“I’ll have some water.”

Piper rummages through the fridge and finds two bottles of that Fiji water I’ve seen around, though I’ve never actually had any before.

I open my bottle and taste the water, it doesn’t really taste much better than the water from the tap of Aunt Nat’s apartment.

I scoop up some of the food from my plate and gently blow on it before tasting it. It’s really good! It has a savory taste to it. There’s a slight spice, though not enough to make my throat burn, which is an accomplishment considering how sensitive I am to spice sometimes.

“Piper, this is amazing! What is this dish called?”

“I don’t know exactly, I guess it's not really a dish with a name, more of a dish my father would make when I was a kid that was inspired by dishes my grandfather would make for him when he was younger.”

“Well, it’s good no matter what it’s called. Where is your dad anyways?”

“Who knows? I don’t really care to be honest. He’s probably out with his co-stars or filming the movie,” she says, shrugging.

“Okay, well how often does this sort of thing occur? Do you often just sit in this trailer alone when you get home from school?”

“I guess so. That’s just kind of what it’s like when your dad is Tristan McLean,” Piper says, sarcastically.

“Would you want to come hang out with me after school instead?” I broach.

“I mean yeah obviously, but I wouldn’t want to intrude on your and your family’s personal space.”

“I don’t mind in the slightest, and I bet if I told my aunt the situation she would agree with me. She is a super cool lady and I don’t think she would appreciate knowing that you sat around here alone when you could be with people who care.”

“If you’re sure, then yeah I would be cool with that.”

I take another bite of my food and silently cheer that I can spend even more time with my girlfriend.

Chapter Text

That night I get dropped off by Piper’s driver back at my apartment building and I sneak up the stairs, slipping into the apartment. I open the door as quietly as I can, but as I walk in my father, who was sleeping on the couch, sits bolt upright ready to attack me if I am an intruder.

“Dad, it's me, chill out,” I say, slipping my shoes off and placing them next to the door.

“Where have you been?” he asks.

“Did Aunt Nat not tell you?”

“No, she just said that you were fine and that we didn’t need to file a missing persons report.”

“Well there you go, that’s all you need to know then.”

“Seriously Annie Bananie, what have you been up to? I want to reconnect with you.”

“Ugh, fine. I was with my girlfriend, dad.”

“You were out late with your girlfriend on a school night? Your Aunt actually lets you do stuff like that?”

“First of all, I just got a girlfriend recently so this is all a new development. And second of all, Aunt Nat is an excellent parent and she is a good guardian.”

“Yes, I bet she is. You’re happy here though?”

“This is the happiest I’ve ever been in my life, dad.”

“Hmmm, well you need some sleep, I’ll see you in the morning kiddo, goodnight.”

I take that as my cue to leave and I slip into my room, careful to not wake Magnus up.

The next day at school Magnus, Alex, Piper, and I sit at our table eating lunch and discussing what we’re planning to do for Halloween this year.

“We should do a Star Wars themed group costume,” Magnus says.

“Absolutely not, we’ve done that like every year since we were kids,” I disagree.

“I mean technically we haven’t done that every year,” Alex mumbles.

“Thank you Alex, technically it wasn’t every year, but it was most of them to the point where it feels like it was every year,” I argue.

“Well, does anyone else have any better ideas of what we should do?” Magnus asks.

“I have an idea,” Piper says, finally joining the conversation.

“Let’s hear it!” Alex says, waving his hand for Piper to continue.

“We should be the characters from Scooby-Doo,” Piper says confidently.

“The Mystery Gang?” Magnus asks.

“Yeah. I would be Daphne, Annabeth would be Velma, Magnus would be Fred, and Alex would be Shaggy!” Piper says excitedly.

“You want me to play Shaggy? His outfit is so ugly,” Alex complains.

“Well I mean someone has to play Shaggy and unfortunately the rest of us fit our roles so well,” Magnus argues.

“Fine, I guess I can dress as a stoner with no fashion taste for a day,” Alex relents.

As we are walking down the hall to our first class after lunch I lean over to Piper.

“Do you still want to come over to my place after school today?”

“Yeah if you still want me to.”

“Of course I do! Are we going to drive over in the SUV or are you taking the bus with me?”

“I am not taking the bus, we’ll drive.”

“Can I ask Magnus if he wants to come with us?”

“Sure, the more the merrier!”

Magnus and Alex are walking next to each other behind Piper and I. I slow down so that I am walking next to Magnus.

“Hey Magnus, Piper is coming over today, she wants to know if you want to join us in her chauffeured car so you don’t have to take the bus,” I ask.

Magnus and Alex exchange a glance talking to one another telepathically.

“What about Alex?” Magnus asks.

“I’m sure she’d be fine if Alex joined us. Piper said ‘the more the merrier’.”

“Nah, we like taking the bus. It’s better for the environment than taking a car anyways,” Magnus says.

“Alright, see you guys later!” I say, peeling off of the main stream of people and into a smaller hallway where my class is situated.

Later that day when we get done with class Piper and I go back to my apartment. When we get to the door of the apartment I stop short, Piper running into me.

“What, why did you stop?” she asks.

“I just realized that my dad is probably going to be here in a few hours. I think he’s at a conference right now, but knowing my luck he’ll be back later,” I explain.

“Well it’ll be fine, and if it isn’t I’ll just beat him up,” Piper threatens.

I roll my eyes and we walk in the door. Piper and I take our shoes off at the front door and flop onto the couch in the living room.

Piper and I pull our phones out and begin scrolling in silence. My phone pings as she sends me a Tik Tok. I open it and chuckle and send her ‘lol literally dying’.

A little while later I hear the door slam as Magnus gets home from school. He looks at Piper and I laying together on the couch with her feet in my face and mine in hers, and laughs.

“You two are so boring,” Magnus complains.

“What would you like us to do instead? Have sex in the living room?” I argue.

“Ewww, gross, no,” Magnus says, gagging.

“Then shut up Maggie!” I yell, throwing a pillow at his head.

Magnus grabs the pillow midair and slumps down into the armchair next to the couch. He grabs the remote control from the coffee table and turns the television on.

“Is this Dr. Who?” Piper asks, popping her head up from where she was laying to look at the television.

“Uh, yeah why?” Magnus answers.

“I love Dr. Who!” Piper exclaims.

“Since when?” I yell, turning my head to look at Piper.

“My dad and I always watched old episodes together when I was a little kid. It’s one of the few things that I actually was able to share with my dad growing up,” she explains.

“That’s actually so sweet,” I softly comment.

“Yeah well, anyways. Which episode is this?” Piper asks Magnus, changing the subject.

I sit up from where I am laying on the couch and lay back down on the opposite end of the couch so that I am in front of Piper at the edge of the couch.

Piper reaches around with her arm so she is spooning me on the couch. Next thing I know I’m asleep with Piper holding me tight into her body.

Chapter Text

“Annie wake up,” Piper whispers, shaking me gently back into consciousness.

I open my eyes to find Piper still lying behind me and Magnus still sitting in his chair next to where Piper and I lay on the couch. That’s when I notice the large sock feet standing in the doorway.
“Oh dad, hey, when did you get back?” I say, sitting up, suddenly wide awake.

“I got back like five minutes or so ago, but you were sleeping,” he says, chuckling slightly.

“Uhhh, yeah, I guess I was. This is Piper McLean by the way, we go to school together,” I explain, sheepishly introducing her to my father.

“Yes I am aware. I also know she’s your girlfriend.”

“Wait, what? How do you know that?”

“Well I’ve seen it all over the internet and just last night you told me you were with her.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot I guess,” I say, rubbing my eyes. What time is it anyways? How long have I been asleep on the living room couch?

“Hey Piper, do you want to give me a hand with something real quick?” Magnus asks.

Piper looks at me for a moment and then untangles herself from where she’s partially trapped on the couch, following Magnus to the kitchen.

“I’m sorry if you are embarrassed by the fact that I have a girlfriend,” I quickly say, trying to make sure I get my thoughts all out in the open, before I think twice and talk myself out of it.

“It’s all right. I obviously wish that you would have told me before I came all the way to Boston, but I understand we don’t exactly have the best relationship anymore,” my father admits, taking a seat at the opposite end of the couch from where I am sitting.

And who’s fault is that dad?

“I also don’t really mind that you’re a lesbian, I don’t entirely understand why you would choose that kind of life, but it could be worse I guess,” he continues.

At this moment I don’t actually care to tell him that I’m not actually a lesbian, I think if I told him I was ace his head would explode. Not to mention I didn’t “choose” to be ace, it’s just who I am. Trust me, I tried for years to deny the fact that I wasn’t attracted to people the way most are.

Trying to talk yourself out of who you truly are doesn’t change who you are, it just makes you hate yourself.

“Thanks…I guess,” I answer.

“Have you met Tristan yet?”

“Her father?”

“Yes, he’s a famous movie star, didn't you know?”

“I know her father’s an actor and I’ve met him once or twice. He’s usually busy filming movies and stuff.”

“Nice, nice! So you want to stay here with your aunt then?”

My blood goes so cold I imagine there are tiny shards of glass mixed in with my red blood cells.

“Yes, I do want to stay here, dad. My girlfriend is here, my friends are here, and I love my school! This is my life now!”

“Just wondering. I thought you would have missed Virginia and your family by now.”

“ ‘My family’? Magnus and Aunt Nat are my family too! You might be my father, but I haven’t lived under your roof in almost a decade now. I appreciate your concern for me, but the best way you can love me at this point in my life is to continue letting me live here in Boston,” I say quickly, hoping I won’t regret my outburst later on.

“I understand. It pains me to know that you would still rather live hundreds of miles away from me and your step-mother and brothers.”

“I’m sorry dad, but this is my life now and I beg you to not rip that away from me,” I plead, starting to tear up.

“Alright Annie-Bananie, I’ll let you stay here,” he sighs reluctantly.

“Thank you,” I whisper softly, still trying not to cry.

We sit together in the living room in complete and utter silence.

I eventually excuse myself to the bathroom. The second the lock clicks behind me, I crumple to the floor sobbing.

I pull myself across the floor to the base of the toilet. I mean it’s absolutely disgusting, it being a toilet and all, but I guess there are far worse toilets to be hugging. I lean my head against it, trying to leach the cold from the porcelain to cool my flushed skin.

I did it, my father agreed to let me stay. I mean sure, one could expect that to be the case considering he hasn’t made me go back with him so far, but it has felt like a shoe that is poised to drop at any second. My entire time here in Boston part of me has been vigilant, waiting for him to whisk me whenever he felt like it.

My phone buzzes in my pocket, dragging me out of my internal racing thoughts. I hadn’t even realized that I had my phone on me if I’m being honest.

It’s Magnus: “annie, piper and i are out here. you good? did the toilet eat you?”

I stand up shakily and open the door to my cousin and my girlfriend staring at me.

“What happened?” Piper asks, obviously concerned.

I flail my arms and make whimpering noises in response to her questions. How articulate of me.

Magnus sighs and shuts the door behind him, the three of us standing in a bathroom that is only meant for one person at a time.

Magnus sits in the shower, Piper sits in the sink, and I sit on the lid of the toilet.

“Dude, tell us what’s wrong, this time with words if you please,” Magnus asks me.

“If your dad said something homophobic, just ignore him. People suck sometimes, but they’re idiots for thinking there’s something wrong with us,” Piper argues.

“No, he didn’t say anything super homophobic, just the normal amounts of causal homophobia. No, he said that I can stay in Boston and he won’t force me to go back to Virginia with him,” I explain, sniffling and rubbing my runny nose.

“Well that’s what you wanted isn’t it?” Magnus asks, confused by my apparent sadness.

“Yes, of course it is! I’m just overwhelmed, it’s a lot to take in,” I explain.

“That’s okay! Take all the time you need, after all you have that time now that you know you can stay!” Piper says excitedly.

“Thank you guys, it’s only been about a decade in the making, finally coming to fruition,” I answer, rolling my eyes.

Piper jumps down from the sink and pulls me in for a hug. After about five seconds, Magnus stands up and joins us in a group hug.

“Annabeth, Magnus, where are you guys?” Aunt Nat calls through the apartment.

“Well we should probably go before they find us in here, that would be a weird conversation,” Magnus declares.

Chapter Text

The past few days I’ve been avoiding my father as much as possible for obvious reasons. Luckily for me he is usually asleep when I leave for school. However, the next day as I get ready for school I notice that my dad is already awake and completely dressed.

“Hey dad, why are you up so early?” I ask, walking into the living room, ready for school.

“Well, I have a flight today back to Virginia around noon and I wanted to say goodbye before I left,” he explains.

“Oh, okay,” I mumble awkwardly, not sure what to say. I am relieved that he is leaving because I’ve been waiting for days for this moment, but also I just got on the same page as him and he’s leaving already.

“I hope you know that you can call me if you need anything,” my father says.

“Yeah I know,” I say softly, knowing that I am very unlikely to take him up on the offer, but appreciative nonetheless.

“Come here,” he says, extending his arms for me to give him a hug.

I walk over to him and have him embrace me in his arms. I honestly have no idea the last time I gave my father a hug. I know that twelve year old me would be very angry that I’m willing to do so. I by no means have forgiven my father for all of the terrible things he’s done to me my entire life, but holding onto this anger hasn’t made me feel better, it actually makes me feel worse. I know that he will never be a significant part of my life moving forward, but now I can move on without feeling constant anger or resentment. I can move on and be with the people who have constantly shown up and supported me in my life without fear that one day he’ll take me back to Virginia with him.

“I don’t mean to interrupt, but Annie and I should go before we miss the bus to school,” Magnus interrupts.

I pull away from my father and make towards the door where Magnus stands waiting for me.

“Bye dad,” I call, walking out the front door and into my new reality with Magnus at my side.

“Sooo, your dad is leaving then?” Magnus asks.

“Yeah his flight is today, he’s officially going back to Virginia."

“Now we can exist in the apartment without Fredrick hanging over our shoulders, no offense.”

“None taken, he is very annoying sometimes. He’s been my own personal weight on my back for years, but now it feels like that weight has disappeared. I feel lighter than air!” I say, skipping down the sidewalk, feeling like I’m walking on air.

When we get to school Alex and Magnus head off to the performing arts wing to see the cast list for the fall play. I head off down the halls to find Piper, wondering where she is.

“Annie.”

I whip around to find Piper standing behind me looking absolutely gorgeous.

“Good morning!” I laugh.

“You seem weirdly chipper for this time of day,” Piper comments.

“Well my father is leaving today and now I don’t have to fear that he’s going to take me away. Like this is the happiest I think I’ve ever felt. I have everything I could ever want, like it’s perfect.”

“That’s wonderful!”

“I love you so much, I’m so thankful that your dad agreed to be in the movie,” I say, reaching for her.

“Yeah, I don’t think I’ve ever been happy about my father being in a movie before, but I certainly am this time,” she says, wrapping me in her arms in the middle of the hallway.

The bell that indicates there are only five minutes left until homeroom begins rings overhead.

“I’ve got to go to class now, but I’ll see you at lunch,” I say, kissing her and setting off down the hallway to my first class.

That night when Piper and I are dropped off at my apartment we run hand in hand up the stairs to the landing and I open the door letting the both of us in. My aunt is still at work, but Magnus will be home soon since he took the bus again today instead of coming with Piper and I in the car.

Piper and I take our shoes off at the front door and walk into the living room. We have the whole apartment to ourselves, but we somehow end up on the couch together. We cuddle and revile in the alone time that we have together while it lasts.

It feels like no time has passed at all when the front door opens once more revealing Magnus and Alex playfully arguing about something.

“I guess our alone time is up,” Piper groans into my ear.

“Yes, well, we chose to hang out here after school knowing that my aunt and cousin are here most of the time. If we really wanted to be alone we would have just hung out in your dad’s movie trailer,” I say.

“Yo lovebirds, are you guys up for going on a thrift shop run to get stuff for our Halloween costumes tonight?” Alex calls to Piper and I.

“Ugh, yes, we’ll come,” I groan, attempting to sit up from where Piper and I lay on the couch.

Piper and I untangle ourselves and join Magnus and Alex at the front door. The four of us exit the apartment and make our way to the street below. We walk down the block to the nearest thrift shop and enter the store. A small bell gently dings as we open the door and a smell of history hits me.

“I still don’t understand why I’m going to be dressing as Fred, I’m much more like Shaggy,” Magnus complains and he’s not wrong. I think he is very much like Shaggy, but I also can’t imagine that Alex would make a better Fred.

“Although I don’t think I would make a good Shaggy, at least I get to wear something green!” Alex declares.

“But I hate the color blue…” Magnus whines.

Magnus and Alex head off to the side of the store where the racks are labeled “men”. Piper and I start looking through the clothes, trying to find pieces that look like Velma and Daphne.

I find a shirt that says “Where the hell have you been loca?" and I show it to Piper.

“Which team were you on,” she asks laughing.

“Neither, I found the whole idea of ‘teams’ to be stupid. They’re people, not sports clubs. I never read those books or watched the movies, I just thought it was really cringey,” I explain, putting it back on the rack.

“Boooring,” she answers, continuing to go through the clothes.

“Fine. What team were you on?” I ask.

“I’m glad you asked!” she says, launching into an entire monologue in which she explains the intricacies of the universe and why Edward is the clearly superior choice. I try to listen and take in what she has to say, but I just really don’t care about that stuff.

About an hour later Piper and I meet up with Magnus and Alex at the front counter, holding an orange sweater, a brown skirt, and a purple dress in my arms.

“Did you two find what you were looking for?” I ask.

“Yes, I think we have everything we need,” Alex says, revealing a small stuffed animal Scooby.

“You found a Scooby?” Piper yells, delighted.

“You two didn’t bother to look in the toy section for a Scooby?” Magnus asks in mock disappointment.

“No, we were too busy trying all of the clothes to make sure they would fit us, didn’t you two do that?” I ask.

“We don’t need to try them on, we can just look at the tags to see if it's the right size,” Magnus says, confused.

“Right, well, how are we paying for it? Individually? As a couple? Split it evenly between the four of us?” I ask.

“Just put everything up on the counter,” Piper orders.

We all look at each other, but something in her tone tells us to not argue with her. We do as she says and put everything on the counter. She starts up a conversation with the cashier and she pays for all of our stuff. Magnus and Alex both thank her gratefully.

“You didn’t have to do that!” I say softly as we walk back down the street towards the apartment.

“Yes, I did. You guys are my friends and I want to help in whatever way I can, and this is something that I can and want to do for you guys,” Piper says.

“Still, we’re really thankful and we don’t want you to feel like we just keep you around for your money and connections.”

“Oh, trust me, I grew up having a lot of people wanting to befriend me for all the wrong reasons, so trust that I know when I’m being used, and I know that this is not one of those times.”

When we get back to the apartment Magnus drops the bag with all of our clothes in it onto the floor. He had carried the large bag the whole way home, because he said “it’s what Fred would do”. He was really trying to show off for Alex if you ask me, but Piper and I weren’t going to complain about not having to carry anything.

The four of us dump the contents of the bag onto the floor and we each pull our clothes out of the pile. Magnus and Alex begin a heated debate over who would have custody of the Scooby stuffed animal.

“Do you want me to take your clothes back to my place to have the laundry service wash them for us?” Piper asks.

“Nah, that’s okay. I’ll just wash mine with all of my other clothes. But I definitely think you should, because they can like steam and starch your dress, or whatever they do for stuff like that,” I answer.

“Well, the car is here to get me, so I’ll see you tomorrow at school,” Piper says, looking into my eyes and squeezing my hand.

I watch her put her shoes on by the front door and wave goodbye to me. When she shuts the door, I race to the window to watch her walk out the door of the apartment building to the waiting car below.

“Hey Annie, I’m going to go now,” Alex says, holding the Scooby stuffed animal in her arms. I guess we know who won the custody battle, my cousin is such a simp, he’d never let me get away with something like that.

“Bye Alex, see you at school. Have a safe bus ride home,” I say, giving her a hug and walking to the kitchen to see what Aunt Nat has made for dinner.

“Did dad get to the airport okay today?” I ask her.

“Yeah, honey, he did,” she says, wiping her hands on a hand towel.

“Okay. Good.”

“Is there anything else? It seems like you have something else on your mind.”

“Did he say anything to you before he left, about me?”

“Oh, honey,” she sighs, sinking into a kitchen chair.

I sit down beside her.

“He is very proud of you and I think he wishes he could have been a bigger figure in your life.”

“Well obviously, but that’s what happens when you allow someone to treat your kid like shit. I chose to stay here, away from him and he only has himself to blame for that. Your kid comes first no matter what and he lost sight of that, so now he doesn’t get to be in my life.”

“I agree and you can stay here with me your entire life if you want.”

I scrunch my nose up and shake my head.

“I love you Aunt Nat, but I want to live on my own someday. You deserve a break and time to yourself after raising both Magnus and I all these years.”

“I am a mother, it’s my job to raise you guys.”

“I know, and you did a really good job.”

“Oh stop, you’re going to make me cry,” she says, getting up from the table and walks back over to the stove to hide the fact that she is already beginning to cry.

“Hey mom, what’s for dinner?” Magnus says bursting into the kitchen.

Chapter Text

That Halloween I find myself in the bathroom of the apartment, sitting on the lid of the toilet as Piper bobby pins my brown bob wig to my real hair. She stands above me in her wig that she borrowed from her stash of disguises. I’m not sure what the protocol is for the whole disguise thing. It seems like she only wears one in situations where she’s hiding from her father, rather than hiding from the paparazzi.

Piper already has her makeup done and I look up into her eyes lined in black eyeliner with a little wing on the end. I’ve always wondered how someone is able to put a wing on their eyeliner like that. Every time I try it just looks like I tried to put my eyeliner on in a dark room with no mirror.

“There we go, I think I’ve secured this well enough. Try shaking your head and see if it falls off,” Piper instructs.

I whip my head from side to side, practically giving myself whiplash. I probably shouldn’t be doing something like this considering that I just got a concussion a few weeks ago. The wig seems to be securely fastened to my head, though.

Magnus and Alex walk past the open bathroom door at that moment and I can hear the two of them talking.

“Aren’t we a little bit old to go trick-or-treating?” Alex asks.

“I don’t think so. Tons of adults still dress up for Halloween, the only difference is that they don’t have the balls to continue asking for candy. The worst that could happen is that they say no and we come home and watch tv,” Magnus says.

Piper and I just exchange a glance before she extends a hand to pull me up to my feet. We walk into the living room where Piper ties her green scarf around her neck. I have no idea where she acquired a green scarf from, because I know she didn’t get it at the thrift store.

“Magnus…Alex…, we’re ready to go! Are you two coming?” I yell, putting my shoes on by the front door.

Magnus and Alex walk into the living room carrying four empty pillowcases. I almost forgot the most important part, the method of storage for our candy!

“What are the pillowcases for?” Piper asks.

“Ummm, what do you mean? They’re for the candy,” Alex answers.

“You guys actually do that?” Piper asks again.

“Why wouldn’t we?” Magnus answers this time.

“I’ve always used plastic pumpkins with little handles, I just thought they used pillowcases in old movies.”

“Nope, we’ve always used pillowcases!” I say, swiping two from Magnus and handing one over to a still kind of confused Piper.

The four of us walk around the apartment building, following the other trick-or-treaters so we don’t have to be the ones to ring the doorbells.

Once it seems as though we have received candy from any of the neighbors who would be willing to give some to us teenagers we make our way down the street stopping occasionally to stand in line in front of someone’s place to receive candy. We eventually make it to Alex’s place where his roommates are hosting a party.

Alex leads the three of us up to some of the other people at the party and says, “This is my boyfriend Magnus and his cousin and her girlfriend.”

We politely nod to one another and say hello.

Alex pulls Magnus away somewhere, leaving Piper and I on the edge of the room filled with people and the sound of an early 2000’s indie pop song playing over the speaker system. There are people everywhere with the stereotypical red solo cups in their hands. I don’t think I’ve ever been at a party like this before. I look to my left to see a plastic skeleton with a clown wig on its plastic skull and a name tag that says “Sheldon”.

“Do you want to dance?” Piper asks me, leaning in close so that I can hear her over the loud music and people talking around us.

“Sure!” I yell so she can heat me.

Piper pulls me to the middle of the room where it appears that a dance floor has been created. We bop along to the music and sing when we know the songs. I occasionally glance across the room to stare at the time on the front of the microwave in the kitchen which is visible to me when I stand in the exact right spot.

It gets later and later as we continue to dance and have a good time. How do I tell her that it’s late and I really should be getting back home soon? Will I seem like a buzzkill if I mention the fact that today is a Wednesday and we have school tomorrow morning? Also, I have no idea where Magnus and Alex went! I’ve seen them across a room a few times and they’ve checked in on Piper and I once or twice to make sure we were okay, but other than that, nothing.

“Hey Piper, do you think we should be getting back soon? It’s a school night,” I broach carefully.

Piper whips her phone out of her dress pocket and looks at her lock screen. I don’t even look at the time because I already know what time it is from the microwave, but also because there is a photo of me that someone took of the time that I fell asleep on her at my place. I had no idea that photo even existed! Piper looks so happy in that photo, with my head in her lap. I look like my hair is made of snakes, my bedhead is that bad.

“Where is Magnus and Alex? I can get the three of us an Uber and tell my driver to pick me up at your apartment after,” Piper says, looking around for my cousin.

Piper and I both start tapping at our phones trying to find where Magnus is at. Piper and I hold hands and run around the apartment looking for him until we find him making out with Alex in an alcove.

“Magnus, it’s getting late and we have school tomorrow. Let’s go! I’m surprised your mother hasn’t already called us to tell us to come home,” I yell.

Magnus and Alex untangle themselves and fix their clothing.

“I’ve already ordered an Uber and it’ll be here in,” Piper checks her phone, “two minutes.”

“Fine, I’ll meet you both by the front door, give me a second to say goodbye to Alex,” Magnus groans.

Piper and I nod our heads and make our way across the apartment full of people to the front door. I stand and take in the costumes of the other people around us. There are a lot of creative costumes and also a lot that are super common superheroes.

A minute or so later Magnus walks to the front door and the three of us walk down to the street and get into our Uber. It smells like the driver just ate an entire loaf of garlic bread before picking us up. At least we know he’s not a vampire I guess! We silently sit and stare out the windows during our ride back home. When we get there Piper’s driver is already waiting for her in the car out front.

The three of us thank our Uber driver and get out of the car. Magnus immediately stomps up the steps to the front door of the building. I linger a little bit longer, not wanting to leave Piper.

“Well I’ll see you tomorrow in school then,” Piper says, hugging me goodbye.

She begins to walk away from me and towards the car, when suddenly I have an idea.

“Wait, you forgot something!” I cry, stepping towards her turned back.

Piper turns around and looks at me confused.

I pull her into my arms and kiss her before letting go of her. She smiles at me amused at my cunning. I reach for her green scarf and pull it gently from her neck.

“I’m borrowing this then! See you tomorrow!” I call as I race up the stairs, leaving her behind to get in the car.

That night as I go to sleep I clutch her green scarf in my hands. It still smells like her as I bring it close to my nose and that is how I fall asleep, with the scent of Piper lingering around me like a protective shield.

Chapter Text

The next morning as I get ready for school I wrap Piper’s green scarf around my neck. I notice that there are still traces of her scent on it, but that it has faded slightly since last night.

I meet Magnus by the front door and he rolls his eyes when he sees the scarf, but he has a slight smile on his face.

The days are starting to get quite nippy now that it’s November. Honestly, the weather here is so unpredictable. There have been times where it’s really warm in December and snowing in September. Today it's actually feeling like the beginning of November. As we walk I notice that the majority of the trees have lost their leaves and are nothing but sticks.

Magnus and I get on the bus, claiming our seats and getting dirty looks from some of the other people near us, but I’m honestly too tired to really care.

I stare out the window and the next thing I know is Magnus and Alex shaking me awake, telling me that we need to get off now. I guess I fell asleep somewhere along the short drive to the school, really shows just how tired I am after the party last night.

I can tell as the three of us finish our journey to school that Magnus and Alex are just as tired as me. Their usual pep and friendly bickering is gone, they instead just walk quietly hand-in-hand down the sidewalk.

We go from the quiet of the early morning gloom to sudden chaos and bright fluorescent lighting. I cringe, my eyeballs getting attacked at such an early hour. I just want to be back in my bed, underneath my mountain of blankets.

Piper slowly walks over to us, wearing a pair of Raybans like she’s hungover, even though I’m pretty sure she didn’t drink anything last night.

“When does class start?” Piper asks, unprompted.

“Like,” I say, checking my phone, “seven minutes.”

“Perfect, you three, come with me,” she says, gesturing to us to follow her.

We walk down the hallways to a dead-end wing containing some of the English classes. For some reason, this hallway is a lot darker than the others.

“The lightbulb is burnt out here,” she says, pointing up at the ceiling.

The four of us sit on the dirty floor with our backs against the wall and just sit there and relax in the dark.

When we are forced to go to class, we split up, promising to see one another at lunch.

Piper walks me down the hallway to my first class, but stops me before I get to my classroom.

“I was thinking maybe you could come to my place today, if that’s alright? My dad has an afternoon shoot today, so he definitely won’t be around. I was thinking the two of us could have some time together, just the two of us,” she says.

“Sure, I’ll let Magnus know so he and my aunt don’t think I’ve been abducted,” I answer, squeezing her hand in mine and walking into class.

I sit down in my seat and pull my phone out of my pocket, noticing that there is only a minute left until class is supposed to start. I quickly send a message to Magnus telling him I was planning to go to Piper’s after school today. Within seconds he sends me back a thumbs up emoji. I roll my eyes, he’s such a dad.

After school I meet Piper in the parking lot and we head off to the movie set. Piper sits next to me and excitedly tells me about everything she had done at school today when we weren’t together. I actively listen to her and nod my head in encouragement.

“So what did you learn today?” Piper asks me.

“I don’t know, nothing important, I guess.”

“C’mon, surely you have something more to say than that!”

“Fine,” I say rolling my eyes playfully, “we learned about the Disk and Washer Method of integration in Calculus today.”

She looks at me blankly and then we start laughing.

“I have no idea what that means!” she yells, wiping away her tears.

“I hardly know what it means and I was there in class!”

When we pull in front of the trailer, Piper and I hop out of the car, thanking her driver as we shut the door behind us. The two of us climb the stairs and whip the door open to her trailer. It’s freezing in here! I guess since no one was there all day the heat was turned off.

I sit down at the dining table bench and pull my knees up to my chest to hide them underneath my sweatshirt. I also pull my hood up over my head and pull the strings to make it super tight over my face, until there is only a small hole left for my eyes, nose, and mouth.

I know it's cold outside, but there is a difference between being cold outside versus inside. Somehow my body knows that the outside is supposed to be cold and just deals with it, but knows the inside is supposed to be warm and throws a fit until it gets the warmth it craves.

Piper looks at me all bundled up and laughs, but fiddles with the thermostat until I hear a “whoosh” coming from the vents somewhere.

“Why don’t you come in my room, I have a ton of blankets I can wrap you up in,” Piper says, extending her hand to me.

I take it gratefully and follow her into her bedroom. There are clothes strewn all over the place. Piper pulls open a cabinet and gives me a super fuzzy blanket. I pull it up onto my head and wrap the rest around me as tightly as possible. I sit like a blob in the middle of Piper’s bed as she begins to frantically dispose of all of the clothes that are everywhere.

Piper is so pretty, have I mentioned that? Even when she’s stressed about me seeing all of her dirty laundry, she still has the grace of a swan, you know if swans wore clothes…and had hands.

After she finishes with her tidying she pulls my blob self into a hug and starts rubbing her hands up and down the outside of the blanket where my arms are.

“Are you warm now?” Piper asks, looking at me.

“Yeah I think so,” I answer, my cheeks blushing.

“Well in that case,” she says, kissing me.

My arms are trapped in my blanket cocoon, so as Piper leans closer to me, I cannot brace myself so I just fall over onto my back like one of those blowup dolls.

Piper and I laugh and she helps me unwrap myself from the blanket so I can use my arms again.

We lean in again to kiss and as we’re kissing Piper reaches up and loosens the hood of my sweatshirt and pulls it off of my head.

I reach up with my hand to the back of her head and gently wind my fingers in her hair. Her hair is so soft, I wonder what kind of shampoo she uses. Does she use conditioner too? Or a hair mask?

Piper reaches up the front of my sweatshirt with her hand and at first I ignore it, continuing to kiss her, but as her hand trails higher and higher up my abdomen I start to feel more and more uncomfortable. When she gets to my bra that’s when I realize I cannot sit in silence any longer, I have to stop this.

I pull away from her and slide backward a hair on her bed. I can still feel the echoes of her fingers.

Piper looks at me confused and hurt at first, but noticing my panic, becomes more concerned.

“Annie, what is it?” she asks.

“I don’t know exactly,” I say, “but I didn’t like the way I felt when you touched me like that. I’m so sorry.”

“Okay, well what about it didn’t you like? Was I going too fast, too slow, what exactly?”

“It wasn’t about the speed, it’s just that it made me feel like spiders crawling up on me. I don’t know why, since normally when you touch me it feels nice.”

“It’s okay, I don’t completely understand, but if you don’t like it, I won’t do it anymore! If I ever make you uncomfortable like that all you have to do is say something and I’ll stop, okay?”

“Okay,” I say, eyes watering and threatening to overflow.

“Come here,” she says, extending her arms for me to give her a hug.

I scoot across the bed and fall into her arms.

“Why don’t we watch a movie or something! What would you like to watch?” she asks me.

“I don’t know,” I mumble into her shirt.

Piper reaches for the TV remote on the nightstand and hands it to me. Her smile returns when she sees the mischievous light enter my previously sad eyes.

I mash the buttons on the remote until I find what I’m looking for, the animated "Beauty and the Beast” movie from the 90’s.

Piper and I sing along to the songs and yell insults at the TV every time Gaston is on the screen.

When the Beast gets turned back into a man at the end of the movie Piper tells me about the online debate about how people think that the Beast was more attractive before he was turned back into a man.

“What do you mean? How does that make any sense? Before he was a hairy looking bison creature, and now he’s a human. You mean that a bison is more attractive than a human man? How does that make any sense?” I argue.

“I mean there is something kind of sexy about the Beast though!” Piper says.

“Okay, whatever you say, I would just want the massive library!”

“Of course you’d rather have the giant library than the attractive semi-human-man-beast!” Piper laughs.

“I should go before it gets too late!” I say, rolling across Piper’s bed and climbing down.

I put my shoes on by the front door and Piper grabs my hand before I can reach for the handle to the door.

“I love you,” she says.

“I love you too,” I answer.

Piper gives me a quick kiss goodbye and I make my way down the stairs to the waiting car to take me back home. As I pull the car door open, I turn around to see that Piper is standing in the doorway watching me.

I wave goodbye and climb into the back of the car.

Chapter Text

That weekend Piper and I joined Magnus and Alex on their journey to the mall. The four of us get on the bus and chat amongst ourselves about what kind of things we’re looking for. I don’t really need clothes or shoes or anything, but I would really love a soft pretzel and a milkshake.

When we get to the mall, we get off the bus and the automatic doors of the building open before us. Magnus, as per usual, pretends that he opened the door with his Force powers.

“Thank you Luke for opening the doors for us!” I say, laughing at the sight of my cousin with his outstretched arm.

The four of us enter the building and the smell of all of the different food places in the food court hits us. It smells so good!

We wander around in circles down the wings of the mall. Piper looks at a mannequin in one of the store windows and then pulls me with her into the store.

“Piper!” I laugh, “what are you doing?”

“I have an idea!” she says.

Magnus and Alex follow after us into the store. I look around at the clothes around us, realizing that this is some high-end dress store. There are prom dresses and other fancy dresses.

“Haven’t we already done the whole ‘looking for dresses thing’ together when we went looking for our homecoming dresses?” I ask.

“I mean sure, but we didn’t really get to see each other because we wanted our dresses to be a surprise. And that was for an actual serious purpose. This is different, because this is just for fun!” she explains.

“We’ll just sit here and observe,” Magnus says.

“You don’t want to try anything on?” I ask Alex.

“Nope, I’m all for bright colors but I don’t do sequins or glitter,” Alex answers.

Piper and I rake through the racks, looking for dresses to try on.

“Does this one look like it would fit me?” Piper asks me, holding up a turquoise colored dress.

“Oh, I don’t know. Is it your size?”

“Well that’s the thing about dress shopping, each brand has their own concept of sizing. So you could be a size 6 in one dress and size 12 in another, but they fit the exact same way on your body.”

“That’s so weird!” I exclaim.

“Tell me about it.”

Piper and I take the dresses we have found and find the dressing rooms, putting the dresses in two dressing rooms next to each other.

I close and lock the door behind me and put on the first dress I found on the racks. The dress is a dark purple almost the color of an eggplant.

Piper is standing outside of the dressing room waiting for me. She twirls her finger around in a circle, indicating for me to turn around so she can zip up the back of my dress. After she finishes, she turns around so I can do the same for her.

We walk together out to the front of the store where Alex and Magnus are waiting. They clap their hands and Piper and I spin around showing off our dresses.

We do this a few times until the middle aged employees start giving us dirty looks, so we leave.

The four of us end up back in the food court again and Piper drags me to a vegan place. She orders the two of us food, while Magnus and Alex stand in line across the room at the pizza place.

“This is some of the best food I’ve ever had,” Piper says, referring to whatever food she ordered.

I nod my head, I’ve always been a little bit skeptical of vegan food to be honest. I think it’s super cool that people are vegans, but I’m too obsessed with butter and chicken to ever truly convert.

When our food is ready Piper and I carry our trays to a small four-person table in the middle of the food court.

I wave to Alex and Magnus so they know where Piper and I are sitting and they join us. Their pizza smells really good, actually.

I take a bite of the food Piper got us, it’s not bad. I still have no idea what it is though. Is it tofu?

Magnus eats his pizza and when he gets to the crust he passes it to me discreetly across the table.

I look at him confused, why would I want his pizza crust? I inspect it quietly, trying to figure out what is happening. I realize there is cheese inside of the crust. Magnus got a slice of stuffed crust pizza and he’s giving it to me because he feels bad that I’m eating Piper’s vegan meal.

I shove it in my mouth before Piper can see.

Alex, somehow knowing what Magnus and I are up to, distracts Piper by asking about the details of her father’s movie.

“Yeah he should be done filming around the time that school ends. It’s actually a little bit long considering it’s just a rom com,” Piper explains.

I choke on my own breath suddenly. “Wait? What does that mean? You’re not coming back next year?”

“Well, no, we are going back to LA after filming. We don’t actually live in Boston, we’re just here temporarily,” Piper reminds me gently.

I sit quietly staring down at my hands and then I look up and start searching the people passing by us.

Magnus shoots me a concerned look over the table and gives Alex a look as well. Now they’re both looking at me pityingly.

“I want a milkshake, who wants to come with me?” I yell, jumping up from the table.

Alex looks at Magnus, and then she jumps up from the table to come with me.

“Piper and I will stay here to save the table, you guys have fun!” Magnus says.

Alex and I walk down the stairs to the special store in the mall that has specialty milkshakes. I don’t know why it's downstairs and not with the rest of the foodcourt upstairs.

“You seriously forgot that Piper isn’t going to be sticking around?” Alex asks me.

“I mean yes and no. I’ve always known that she’s from LA and was only here because her dad was shooting the movie, but it just never occurred to me that we would have limited amounts of time together. I mean technically the end of the school year is still months out from now, but it's still way too soon for her to leave!”

“We’re not guaranteed time Annie, not even tomorrow, just enjoy it while you can. It’ll be okay and work out no matter what! Magnus and I are still here so you won’t be alone!”

It’s taken me this long to find someone who loves me the way Piper does and there is a ticking clock above our heads for when she’ll go back to LA. I might have my cousin and Alex, but Piper is different. I did all of that on my own, without any help! And I don’t look forward to once again being my cousin’s third wheel.

Chapter Text

When Magnus and I get off of the bus that night after leaving the mall, I’m still slightly grumpy. We walk into the apartment where Aunt Nat is sitting up in the living room reading a book.

“Hey kids, how was your trip to the mall?” she asks.

Magnus looks down at me and shrugs his shoulders, “It was okay Mom.”

“Mmm, well I have some exciting news! Next weekend you guys have an extended weekend because of the Veteran's Day holiday. I was thinking we would go hiking and camping that weekend!” Aunt Nat says excitedly.

I’ve always loved going camping with Aunt Nat and Magnus. Unfortunately with school and her job, we haven’t been able to go as often as we used to. I remember all of the times the three of us would go almost every weekend when Magnus and I were kids. Magnus and I would always race to the top of hills and declare ourselves the winner (typically I would end up the winner because Magnus would have to use his inhaler). Aunt Nat would just follow behind us and laugh saying that “slow and steady wins the race”. I never understood why she would take so long to follow after us, but as I’ve gotten older I think she was busy observing nature and wanting to take her time to enjoy it all.

In more recent years Alex would join us on these trips as well. Alex absolutely loves camping, she’s always saying that being in nature is the one place in the world she feels truly understood. Despite her inviting us to that Halloween party, she really is more of an introvert. I think we only really went because Alex wanted her roommates to know who we were and to meet Magnus.

“Hey, would you guys mind if Piper came too?” I ask my family, a little bit nervous of what they’ll say.

“Well I mean it only seems fair if Alex comes that Piper would be allowed,” Aunt Nat says, looking at Magnus.

Magnus looks at me and then smirks, “Has Piper ever gone camping before?”

“Uhhh, I’m not sure. And if she hasn't, there' s a first time for everything!” I answer.

“Well it’s settled then! Next weekend we’ll go camping. Make sure you guys keep Piper and Alex in the loop,” Aunt Nat concludes, standing up and going into her room to go to sleep.

“You’re okay with Piper coming with us are you?” I ask Magnus.

“Yes, was that not obvious?” he says, looking at me.

“I don’t know, I just don’t want you to think that it’s a mistake bringing Piper with us. I mean we’ve only been dating for like a few months now, I don’t want you to think I’m ‘stealing’ your and Alex’s thing,” I explain.

“No Annie, it’s perfectly fine! I’m not mad. I know how much you like her and I would probably do the same thing if the roles were reversed. You aren’t ‘stealing’ the concept of going camping together, it’s not something that can be stolen. Although you know I have to say something about the whole U-Haulification of your relationship…”

“Shut up!” I yell, throwing the nearest pillow at my cousin.

The next day at school as the four of us sit down to eat lunch together I turn to Piper, “So next weekend Magnus, my aunt, and I are planning to go hiking and camping, and we wanted to know if you would be interested in coming! Magnus is going to be asking Alex to come too, so it’ll be a party.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever been camping before,” she says thoughtfully.

“So..is that a yes?”

“Sure, why not!”

“Be sure to pack warm clothes, it’s November in the mountains, so it’s going to be pretty chilly,” I remind her.

“Got it, I’ll be sure to bring extra blankets so I can wrap you up like a burrito,” she laughs.

“Burritos?,” Alex interrupts, “What about burritos?”

“Well-” Piper begins.

“Piper here was just talking about her favorite place to get burritos when she lived in LA,” I interrupt before she can say anything else.

Magnus looks at me conspiratorially as if he knows exactly what we were talking about. My face flushes and I cover my face with my hand, pretending to yawn.

A week later finds me the night before we are set to leave, shoving my thickest sweatshirts into my hiking backpack.

“Are you sure Piper is up for this type of thing?” Magnus yells halfway across the apartment. He’s laying across the arms of the armchair in the living room, head over the side looking at me in our room as I panic pack.

“I mean maybe she hasn’t been in the woods much, but she can’t be worse than your asthmatic ass.”

“Ah, rude! There are plenty of Olympic runners who have asthma by the way, it doesn’t mean I’m less capable of climbing a hill!” he defends.

“Whatever puff brain!” I yell, ripping my sock drawer open, looking for my heaviest socks.

“So I’ve managed to reserve a mini van to rent tomorrow!” Aunt Nat says, walking into the living room from the kitchen, phone in hand.

“Of course Karen!” Magnus teases his mom.

“Would a Karen take four gay teenagers into the woods for the weekend so they can get away from the city life?” she asks.

“Maybe if she was trying to become the main character of a true crime documentary,” Magnus mumbles under his breath.

I haul my backpack onto my shoulders and walk through the living room, placing it in a pile by the door where Magnus and Aunt Nat’s sit already.

I walk back to my room and crawl into my bed, grabbing my phone. I open up the text messaging app and find the text thread between Piper and I.

“Hey, make sure you have all of your stuff packed tonight. We’re going to be leaving as soon as school is over tomorrow. Also, make sure you have an extra set of clothes to change into after school. You don’t want to wear your school clothes out in the woods,” I send.

The next day at school I can barely focus on my classes, which is as per usual, but today I feel like I actually have an excuse.

At lunch I arrive at the table to see large stacks of food in front of both Magnus and Alex.

“Not to sound judgmental, but why is there enough food in front of the two of you to feed a small army?” I ask.

“We have to bulk up so we have enough energy for tonight!” Alex exclaims.

“You’ve both been on these trips before, you know it’s not necessary to do that.”

“Mind your business Annie, let us eat!” Magnus says.

I roll my eyes at their antics and begin eating my own lunch. Piper joins us with her lunch and begins to complain about the boys in her classes. I tune out a little bit, staring at the way the sun shines through the windows in the room. I can see the dust motes floating through the air aimlessly. I wish I was one of those dust motes, no responsibility or expectations.

Piper nudges me and points to my lunch, uneaten on my tray. I guess if I was a dust mote I wouldn’t be able to date Piper, so I guess there are some benefits for being a human.

I dissociate through the rest of the school day until I find myself in the stream of students heading for the front door of the school. I follow the crowd until I find my aunt hanging out the door of a bright red mini van, waving to me.

I run up to her in the parking lot and hug her (I really don’t care if anyone sees me or not, I love my aunt and I’m not ashamed of that). I find the backpacks are stored in the quite large trunk and my bag with my extra clothes is placed on the passenger seat.

I throw my school backpack onto one of the seats and go running back through the parking lot, trying to find Piper. I find her standing next to one of the black SUVs and I run up to her and wrap her in a hug before I realize she wasn’t alone.

Tristan McLean stands next to the SUV looking at my arms wrapped around his daughter. I ashamedly remove my arms and put them down at my side.

“Good, I was just asking my daughter about the itinerary for the weekend,” he says.

“Well, we’re leaving today to drive to New Hampshire. We’re going to stay in one of the shelters near the mountain and then climb it the next day. And then we’ll camp there over the weekend and come back home on Monday,” I explain.

“Well that sounds really fun! Would you mind if I met your aunt Annabeth?” he asks, looking like he genuinely means it.

I agree and the three of us walk through the parking lot to the mini van, Tristan carrying Piper’s hiking backpack on his shoulders.

Tristan and my aunt spark up a conversation, gesticulating with their hands, waving them around in the air, but they don’t seem to be mad. Piper helps her father take the pack off of his shoulders and the two of us walk to the trunk and put it next to mine.

We stand watching the adults talk.

“I wonder what they’re talking about,” I say.

“They’re literally right there, and they’re not speaking quietly either,” Piper replies.

Oh, yeah I guess if I actually tune my ears into the conversation I probably would be able to hear them.

Just then, Magnus and Alex walk up, Magnus carrying Alex’s bag for him.

“Where did you have your bag all day?” I ask Alex.

“I brought it on the bus this morning and shoved it in my locker, remember? It was a whole thing this morning, don’t you remember me bringing it on the bus and complaining?” he says, looking at me, concerned.

“Oh, I guess I wasn’t paying attention or something.”
The four of us jump into the van, Piper and I claiming the entire back row for ourselves, Magnus and Alex take the middle row.

We sit and wait for the parents to finish their conversation, it takes forever. Alex starts handing out snacks and the four of us are practically bouncing up and down in our seats.

Finally, Tristan sticks his head into the van and looks at Piper, “I hope you have a good time camping this weekend!”

Piper thanks him and he wanders away, back through the parking lot.

“I thought he would never leave!” she exclaims.

“He’s nice though! At least he cares about you!” I say to her.

“Yeah, I just wish that he spent a little less time working and more time with me, you know?”

“No, that makes sense.”

Aunt Nat jumps into the van and turns her head to look at the four of us, “Are we ready kids?”

“Aye aye, captain!” the four of us answer in unison. And away we go on our camping expedition!

Chapter Text

A few hours in, Aunt Nat pulls off the highway into one of those big rest stop areas where those giant eighteen wheeler trucks pull off when they get too tired to keep driving.

Piper gets out and looks around, stretching the muscles in her legs, cramped from sitting for so long.

“Grab your go bag, this is when we change,” I tell her.

“Ah, that makes sense,” she says, as I grab her bag and throw it to her out the door of the van.

Piper and I walk into the rest stop, Magnus, Alex, and my aunt trailing behind us.

The five of us change our clothes in the bathroom and meet up in the lobby.

“Aren’t we going to get snacks or something?” Piper asks us.

“Nah, Natalie doesn’t believe in junk food,” Alex answers, rolling his eyes.

“That’s no fun,” Piper murmurs.

The four of us walk back through the parking lot to the car dejectedly, following behind Aunt Nat like we’re her little ducklings.

When we get back to the car, Piper and I crawl into the backseat and strap ourselves in. Piper kicks her feet up into my lap. I swat them off of me and back onto the floor, where they belong.

“Not worried about getting your clothes dirty are you? We’re going camping after all!” Piper teases.

“It has nothing to do with the fact that your shoes might have dirt on them and everything to do with the fact that I simply don’t want your feet in my lap, they’re heavy,” I explain.

“Are you saying my feet are fat?” she continues.

“What? No! That’s not what I mean!”

I look out the window, face flushed with embarrassment.

“How about this?” I say to Piper softly, and rearrange my body so my legs are taking up the entire length of the seat, and instruct Piper to do the same.

We sit facing each other, our backs to the windows, with our legs facing straight in front of us pointed at each other.

I lean my head back so it’s resting on the glass of the window and look up at the roof of the van, trying to imagine objects in the shapes of the random stains, like you would looking at clouds in the sky.

I can see a stain that looks like the three circles of a snowman, I see another stain that looks like a human face, and I see one that looks like a flower.

The next thing I know, Piper is shaking me awake. I look around me and notice that the sun has clearly gone down since I was last awake. I can see the stars twinkling up in the sky out the window behind Piper, but none shine as bright as the light in her eyes as she looks at me.

“What day is it?” I ask.

“The same day it was when you were last awake, Rip Van Winkle,” Magnus says.

We all crawl out of the van and pop the trunk, and comb through the luggage trying to find our stuff. Aunt Nat walks into the main lodge and gets our keys.

By the time Aunt Nat returns to the car the four of us have our backpacks on and have her backpack sitting at Magnus’s feet. I can see she has three keys dangling from her finger. She walks to us and hands one to Magnus and one to Alex.

“Magnus you’re going to be sharing a room with Piper and Alex will be sharing a room with Annabeth,” she explains.

“What?” the four of us say in unison.

“Hey, I was willing to bring you four on this trip together, but I have to be a somewhat responsible adult here. You didn’t really think I’d let you guys sleep together?”

“We weren’t even going to do anything!” I say, angrily.

“Well, now I can assure that, better safe than sorry,” she says calmly.

I roll my eyes and readjust my backpack on my shoulders and follow Alex to our lodging. It’s like a little cabin with a red, wooden door in the front and two windows with white curtains on either side.

When Alex unlocks the door we walk into a room with two beds and a desk with an old wooden chair. There is a shut door to my left, which I hope is a bathroom. There is also a closet in the corner that contains an ironing board and some empty hangers. Alex and I put our backpacks in the closet and collapse on the beds.

I don’t know how long I’m staring at the ceiling, halfway between being awake and being asleep, before Aunt Nat is standing before me staring down at me on the bed.

“Hi, Aunt Nat,” I say.

“You should go to bed, you seem really tired,” she comments before walking towards the door, “goodnight, see you guys in the morning!”

Not even five minutes after she leaves, I hear a small “tap, tap” coming from one of the windows at the back of the cabin.

Standing outside the window is Piper and Magnus, to no one’s surprise.

Alex and I quietly throw open the window, working carefully and quietly. It takes a joint effort to do so, because the windows are so old and heavy, we’re afraid they might break.

Alex and I hold the window open, allowing Piper and Magnus to slip in. Alex lets go of the window, and it instantly begins to fall down, but luckily I’m still holding onto it and I manage to slowly shut it. Apparently the mechanism that allows it to stay open by itself is broken.

“What are you guys doing here? If Aunt Nat finds out she won’t be happy!” I hiss, worried she may hear us through the thin walls to her cabin next to ours.

“We’re going to switch for a little bit, she won’t know, it’ll be fine. And besides, we sneak out of the apartment all the time. Why is this any different?” Magnus says, reaching to open the window again.

“Because we’re in a different state, in an unfamiliar building, and she specifically wanted us to be separated,” I answer.

Piper looks at me, hopefully, blinking her eyelashes at me rapidly.

“Fine,” I sigh, reaching for the window to help hold it open so Magnus and Alex can sneak back out.

Piper joins me and we hold the window open and Magnus and Alex slip out the window and into the dark night.

I flop down on the bed like a starfish and look at Piper standing by the window, staring out at the sky filled with stars. She looks back over at me and in the dark light, her eyes look dark brown, almost the same color as her pupils.

Piper walks across to the bed and falls straight backwards onto the bed, crushing my left arm in the process.

“Thanks for breaking my arm, you jerk!” I whisper yell at her.

“Do you want me to kiss it better?” she asks, cradling my arm.

“No.”

“C’mon it was an accident!”

“I know,” I sigh, pulling her into my chest.

“Mmm, this is nice.”

We lay there, wrapped in each other’s arms.

I put my head onto her head and then pull away laughing, “You smell like cafeteria pizza and dust.”

“I guess I’ll have to take a shower then,” she says, getting up from the bed.

“Okay, don’t mind me I’ll just be reading this,” I say, pulling a Bible out from the drawer in the little nightstand.

“A Bible?” she asks.

“What, you’ve never seen one before?” I tease.

“Of course I’ve seen a Bible before!”

“Well how was I supposed to know, you are from California after all!”

“We have religious people in California too! Anyways, did you want to come with me?” she asks, nervously.

“Come with you where?” I ask.

“The shower…”

“Are you afraid of water or something? Or are you afraid I’ll leave if you take your eyes off of me?”

“No, I just thought you’d want to take a shower with me or something.”

“I’m okay, I’d rather take one by myself. Do people actually take showers together? That seems so inefficient. I mean maybe if you wanted to not waste water, but honestly I feel like if you have two people it’ll be hard to actually shower because there’s so little room you’d be in there twice as long as you normally would, so it all works out in the end.”

Piper shakes her head at me and smiles before going into the bathroom.

I throw the Bible back into the drawer, I never really had the intention to read it.

I turn on the small, boxy television sitting in the corner of the room. I flip through channel after channel, it doesn’t take long to realize it’s only satellite channels. I flip back through the handful of channels until I get back to the local news channel.

They talk about how a local firefighter saved a kitten from a tree, you know feel good stuff, but they also mention every single murder from the last 24 hours.

“We now turn to Lisa who has the scoop on a new movie coming out soon that has an actress from the local area, Lisa?” the anchor says.

I look at the pictures they show of the actress they’re talking about, the girl looks the same age as me, red hair and green eyes. She’s very pretty, even I can tell that.

“You know we dated a year or so back,” Piper says, standing in the doorway of the bathroom, ringing the water out of her hair.

“She’s really pretty,” I admit.

“Yeah, but she’s very emotionally unavailable, so there’s that.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, sometimes it’s just like that. It’s hard being queer in a society where you are seen as less than, especially if you’re in the public eye. Your whole life and your means of supporting yourself is based on whether people like you.”

“Well, then it’s a good thing you and I are a bunch of randos!”

“Yes, randos who enjoy the free soaps in the showers of small rented cabins.”

“Sounds good to me! I’ll be back,” I say, as I make my way to the bathroom.

Piper was correct, there are little free soaps in here

After my shower I walk back into the main room where Piper is playing Sudoku on her phone.

“Can I braid your hair?” she asks me, staring at my wet noodle hair.

“Sure!”

Piper crawls behind me so I am seated on the bed in front of her. She grabs my hair and yanks my head back, practically giving me whiplash.

“Ouch! What’s with all the force?” I complain.

“If you want a good braid, you have to do it properly,” she answers.

I just don’t see how that has to do with her yanking my hair.

We sit there quietly, as she runs her fingers through my hair. Have I ever mentioned how much I love it when Piper plays with my hair?

When she finishes my braid she slips a hair band off of her wrist and secures the ends of the braid.

“Voila, c’est magnifique!” she says.

“I’ll take your word for it, seeing as how I am unable to view the back of my head,” I answer, reaching up to my head to feel the braid.

“Now what do you want to do, my little ball of sunshine?”

“Please don’t call me that. I don’t mean to be a buzzkill, but I think we should probably go to sleep, my aunt is probably going to be waking us up early and we’re going to be hiking, like all day.”

“Yes, you’re probably right,” Piper admits.

We both look at the other bed less than a foot away from the bed we are currently both sitting on.

“I think I’m too tired to travel such a long journey,” I say, gesturing to the other bed.

“Oh dear, I do believe you are correct and the weather is not ideal for such a journey. It might be better if we just shared a bed for the night, if that’s alright with you,” she agrees.

“I think that sounds like a solid plan!”

“Can I make you into a burrito now?” she asks me.

Needless to say she did make me into a burrito and we fell asleep with me wrapped up in blankets and her holding onto my cylindrically wrapped form.