Yours Truly, Sparky

At Goode High there are over 2000 students. In the Junior grade alone there are 587 students. As a prestigious school they receive about 30 transfers per grade a year. So naturally, no one is expected to know everyone in their grade.

Some days, especially today, Piper McLean really wishes she could.

It starts as a normal day, waking up, joking with her movie star dad, getting her dad to give her in a ride in his car, driving to school, waiting at her best friend's locker, speaking with said best friend and going to class together.

Piper sits in English, chin in her palm, and sighs dramatically. Annabeth rolls her eyes at Piper's dramatic care for the subject. Piper just sticks her tongue out at Annabeth and starts doodling.

Their teacher lectures them on short stories again, and gives them a worksheet to complete. Piper immediately goes to work on it, answering each question wrong to spite the teacher.

"Piper you know you're going to fail if you keep doing that." Annabeth chides. The blonde had turned around and was working with Percy Jackson, the guy who sits behind them.

"Psht. Not actually handing this one in Annabeth, you know me." Piper says flippantly.

Percy chuckles. "Yeah Annabeth, you know her." He flicks her nose jokingly and Annabeth's cheeks flush.

Piper stifles a snort. Annabeth and Percy are so head-over-heels for each other it's not even funny. After blatantly answering each question wrong, she steals Annabeth's eraser and restarts. As much as she says she hates it, English is one of Piper's more favourable subjects. It is just the teacher. Nobody likes Mr. D, nobody.

English drags on, Piper reads a book in a bored stupor, and finally the class ends. She bids Percy and Annabeth a quick goodbye and darts out into the crowded hallways.

As nice as the school is, the paint on the walls is hideous and practically coated in spray paint to cover up all of the graffiti. The lockers are an ugly shade of green and almost all of them squeak and most don't close properly. The vinyl tiles are ugly too: a light shade of yellow, streaked with stains from thousands of shoes.

As ugly as the place looks, Piper loves it. For a while, her dad, the one and only Tristan McLean, couldn't find a place to settle where he could work and have Piper attend a school for more than a year. Finally, he found a place in Manhattan and Piper started at Goode in sophomore year. She's met so many amazing people and really loved the school. Her dad has promised her she can graduate here.

As Piper flits off to her next class she waves to her classmates with whom she's on good terms. People jostle and jolt their way through the hallways, all trying to get everywhere at once. As she winks at a friend from Drama, Lacey, she notices him.

He's tall, at least six foot, and blonde. She doesn't catch much else about him in the bustle but his purple shirt and startling blue eyes. Piper feels like she's been electrocuted after just looking at them. She wonders if her own eyes, which are always changing colour, can change to that particular shade of blue.

This is a moment Piper wishes she could put name to face.

Shaking it off, Piper heads into Pre-Calculus. She shares this class with Frank Zhang and Leo Valdez. Frank is a bulky Asian guy who's not comfortable with his size. He's a total sweetheart and Piper adores him.

Leo Valdez on the other hand, is a little shit. He's an inch taller than Piper and has curly hair and pointy ears like an elf. He always had this trademark impish grin on his face. He's ADHD and obviously so because he's always fiddling with something. But he is definitely her best friend.

"Hey Beauty Queen." He greets her jokingly.

Piper rolls her eyes and dumps her books on the desk to his left. "Repair Boy." She addresses coolly. "Frank," she smiles warmly.

Frank laughs and nods to Piper. Leo fakes a gasp and theatrically mimes being shot. "I'm hurt Piper. Zhang over me? I thought we had something special!"

Piper fakes a frown and rests a hand on his cheek. "Oh Leo, I don't think I can do this anymore, you're too hot!" She flicks him in the nose and turns away, smacking him with her hair.

Leo laughs and waves her off. "My hotness is too much."

The teacher clears her throat from the front of the class and fixes Piper and Leo both with stern looks. The two stifle their giggles and pretend to take notes. They'll copy off of Frank later as usual.

Trigonometry is stupid, Piper reasons with herself. She gets her third problem wrong in a row and curses under her breath. Frank is doing fine, and Leo is doing surprisingly well. But Piper? Math is not her strong suit.

She silently suffers through the rest of class. In the last five minutes she figures she was writing her equations balanced and smacks herself. That was dumb. The bell rings and Piper is released to her favourite subject: Drama. She leaves with a goodbye to Frank and a silly face for Leo.

Leo ignores her. He has automechanics, not like Piper actually cares. Fixing cars isn't that useful, she told him once. He responded by saying, neither is fake crying. Piper just snorted and that was the end of it.

Piper waltzes into the drama studio and dumps her bag in the third row before hopping up onto the stage. She and Mitchell, another friend, instantly launch into a friendly improvised banter using characters from their upcoming production, Pride and Prejudice

Eventually they both run out of things to banter about so they break off to actually rehearse lines like they should be. The drama teacher doesn't show her face the entire class, but nobody really cares, they're all here to have fun anyways.

Drama passes in a breeze unfortunately, and Piper is then off to lunch. She slips in next to Leo, nearly bumping him off his seat, at their usual table. Percy is there, puzzling over biology, the only subject he ever does his homework in.

Hazel and Frank are next to arrive. Hazel Levesque is a sophomore who's dating Frank. She's got warm cocoa skin and cinnamon coloured curly hair. She's a total sweetheart and Frank's an adorable match for her.

Then Annabeth shows up and Percy tried to sink further into his textbook to look good in front of the brainiac. Annabeth just casts him a quizzical glance before flipping her mass of blonde curls out of her face, irritated.

Rachel and Calypso come next. Rachel's got really bright green eyes and frizzy red hair. Calypso has almond shaped brown eyes and long warm brown hair. They are chattering on about art.

Percy looks up and jokingly snipes, "Ew art people."

Calypso laughs and Rachel swats him over the head. "Shut up Percy." She says lightly.

Piper feels warm inside. These are her amazing friends and she's really lucky. She eats her vegetarian lasagna from the cafeteria, which is surprisingly good. After eating Piper goes to her locker to get her History books. That's not her favourite class either.

While at her locker, she once again spies the boy from earlier. This time she gets a better look. He's definitely over six foot, six one, if she has to guess. His eyes are still just as startling. He's got close cropped hair that's almost lighter than his skin. California, she decides.

He turns the corner, and her moment is broken. She turns back to her locker and noticed the sticky note posted under a photo strip of Annaberh and her. 'Study sesh with Dyl on Thursday' her messy writing indicates. Piper frowns. Dylan is an asshole from her History class who always tries to hit on her. But, they have a project to do and they were planning on doing it today.

She sighs. Dylan's probably going to skip out which is good, but she has no way to get home earlier anyways. Oh well.

The bell rings and Piper slowly drags her feet to history. None of her friends are in this class. She sits at the very back in the left corner to avoid being called on often. She gets good grades so the teacher leaves her alone most of the time.

They just take notes on a presentation the whole class and Piper is relieved she doesn't have to do any group work. This class is mostly popular and irritating people with whom Piper is not on good terms with.

At the final bell of the day, it's like someone fired a gun at startled animals. Everyone stampedes for the door. Piper leisurely gathers her books and heads towards the door. Dylan stops her and makes some dumb excuse to get out of going to the library and Piper brushes him off.

Guess she has an hour to herself then. Cool.

She claims a secluded corner in the library as fast as possible. The other tables quickly fill up. She is rewriting her messy history notes when someone clears their throat. As clichéd as it is, it's the guy from earlier.

He smiles awkwardly. Piper notices the scar on his upper lip and the corner of her lips quirks up. "Hey," he starts. "Do you mind if I sit here? Everywhere else is full."

Piper waves her hand dismissively. "Go ahead. I don't mind."

He pulls out the chair across from her and pulls out an AP Physics book. Piper raised an eyebrow. He catches her looking and smiles shyly.

"Yeah, shoot me. I like physics."

Piper laughs. "Hey, I don't care. I'm an English and Drama person."

He smiles and returns his attention to the page. They study in silence for a bit. Neither of them has any intention of leaving until Piper's phone buzzes on the table beside her. She checks it.

From: Daddy

Hey Pipes, won't be able to drive u home. Sorry. Catch a ride? Walk? See u tonite.

Piper sighs and slides her phone into her pocket. She snaps her history book shut and shoved it into her backpack. She glances at the window only to notice in dismay, it's pouring rain. She sighs in irritation.

The blonde guy looks up. "Something up?"

Piper smiles easily. "Nah, not really. My ride just cancelled and I'm gonna have to walk in this weather."

He looks outside quickly. "Oh that sucks." He pauses. "Hey if you need a ride, I can give you a lift."

Piper perks up. "Seriously? Thanks so much!"

He slides his Physics book into his bag. "Just let me go to my locker first."

"Cool, I'll just tag along if you don't mind."

"No prob." He replies easily.

They leave the library together and head to his locker which is in the same hallway as Percy's. He spins his combination in cleanly, but slower than someone who had been attending Goode for two or three years. Piper leans against the locker to the right when she realizes something.

"Hey, I don't even know your name!"

Blue eyes spin from the contents of the locker to her. "Really?" He is surprised.

Piper laughs. "Yes, really. I'm Piper."

"Nice to meet you Piper." He turns back to his locker and Piper rolls his eyes.

"Yo that's your cue."

He just laughs and shuts the metal door. "Hey, maybe I want to see you figure it out yourself."

Piper smirks. "If you don't tell me, I'll just come up with a really stupid nickname." When he just keeps smiling, she thinks. Her eyes are drawn back to his. "Sparky."

"Sparky?" He asks. He's not offended. Rather, he's amused. "Why Sparky?"

Your eyes. Piper wracks her brain for an excuse. "Physics. You're doing electricity aren't you? And uh," she pauses, feeling the pink in her cheeks. "You've got electrifying eyes."

He just smiles a little wider. "Well it's certainly unique. Still not telling you my name. Come on, we should get going."

Piper keeps pace with him and tries to think of a way to get his name out of him. As he leads her outside into the rain, they run towards a dark blue car and hop in. Just before he starts driving, Piper asks for his phone number.

He rattles it off and then looks at her curiously. Piper punches it into her phone and saves his contact as 'Sparky'. "If I'm going to try and figure out your name, we're going to need to talk again."

He grins and puts the car in reverse, backing out of the lot and into the street. Piper gives him her address and he mentally calculates it before taking a left.

He glanced at her with those bright blue eyes. She's captivated once again. He grins. "Well, since we're doing this, you get to ask me one question a day. You can ask others about me, but not for my name. I'll give you a month, until finals."

Piper nods and smiles. "Deal. What happens if I guess it?"

He looks back at the road. "Dunno, we can figure that out later?"

Piper laughs. "Okay."

"Also, this is a question swap. You ask me, I ask you."

"Cool." Noticing her street she directs him to take a right. He pulls up at her house by her direction.

"Thanks Sparky." Piper says and hops out, running to her door.

He watches her with an amused smile. "Sure thing Piper." He drives away and Piper lets herself in out of the rain.

Piper immediately opens a new text to him. 'So do I get a question today?'

It's ten minutes before he replies, presumably until he gets to his place. 'I guess, fire away Miss Piper.'

Piper thinks for a minute. 'You are a junior?'

'Yeah.' His question comes in another text. 'You wouldn't happen to be Piper McLean, daughter of Tristan McLean would you? Yours Truly, Sparky.'

'Maybe. Sincerely, Miss McLean.'

'Ha! Knew it! You look like him. Yours Truly, Sparky.'

'Guilty as charged. What's with the signature? Sincerely, Miss McLean.'

'That's your second question Miss McLean. But it's just a thing I do. Yours Truly, Sparky.'

Piper snorts. 'Nice. Sincerely, Miss McLean.'

'Very. I'll see you around :) I gotta go. Yours Truly, Sparky.'

'Bye Sparky. :P Sincerely, Miss McLean.'

Piper slides her phone onto her desk and flops onto her bed, unable to stop smiling.

The next day, Piper snags her phone and unplugs her charger. She opens a new message and wonders if she can trick him.

'Today's question: What's your name? Sincerely, Miss McLean.'

As she pulls her pyjamas off and takes out a baggy orange sweater, her phone buzzes in reply.

'Tsk, tsk. I'm not that easily fooled. But, I won't count that as your question. Yours Truly, Sparky.'

Piper laughs and takes a moment to throw on some jeans before replying. 'Well then smarty pants, do you have any siblings? Sincerely, Miss McLean.'

'Yeah, a sister. Yours Truly, Sparky.'

'Well, there's mine, where's yours? Sincerely, Miss McLean.'

'If you insist. Hmm alright, what's your favourite colour? Yours Truly, Sparky.'

Piper blinks, but smiles at the innocence of the question. 'Hm, blue I think. Not really sure though. Hadn't thought about it in a long time. Sincerely, Miss McLean.'

'Blue? Huh, I'd pegged you as a pink girl. Yours Truly, Sparky'

Piper rolls her eyes and jogs down the stairs, spinning into the kitchen. She grabs a bagel from the plate next to the toaster and punches in her reply. 'Don't get me started. I am not a girly girl. Sincerely, Miss McLean.'

'Okay, note to self. See you at school today? Yours Truly Sparky.'

'Sure thing Sparks. Sincerely, Miss McLean.'

'Hey! You can't shorten a nickname! Yours Truly, Sparky.'

'Watch me. :P Sincerely, Miss McLean.'

Piper slides her phone in her pocket and greets her dad, who has just blearily entered the kitchen. "Hi Dad."

"Hey Pipes, what's got you up and ready? You're never up this early." He comments as he steals the other half of her bagel.

Piper sticks her tongue out. "New friend. Can I take the car today?"

"Go ahead." He tosses her the keys. "Don't wreck my baby."

Piper gasps sarcastically. "Daddy, I thought I was your baby!"

He shrugs nonchalantly with a wink. "Nope, you've been replaced. See you later Pipes."

She drives to school and goes to her locker. As she's halfway through opening the door, a girl slides out of the crowd and leans next to her locker. She has dark spiky hair and piercing blue eyes that are shockingly familiar. She has a nose ring and five piercings in each ear. Piper still can't place a name to face.

The girl scrunches up her nose and takes in Piper. "You're Piper McLean right?"

"Yes?" Piper replied slowly. "Do I know you?"

She waves her off. "Nope. You know my brother though. He wouldn't shut up about you last night. Had to make sure you were real is all."

"Wait you're Sparky's sister?"

"That's what you're calling him?" The girl snorts in laughter. "That's gold. See you around Piper."

She's gone into the throngs of people before Piper can ask for her name. She pulls out her phone with a smile. 'Just met your sister. You're not much alike at all. Sincerely, Miss McLean.'

'Ah, she found you? Very eccentric right? And yeah, just the eyes. Yours Truly, Sparky.'

As Piper reads the reply from her mysterious blonde, Leo pops out of the crowd and sidles up next to her. "Who's Sparky? Have I been replaced? I'm hurt."

Piper jumps and locks her phone. "Jeez Leo." When her heart rate isn't a billion miles an hour she replies, "Sparky, for your information, is just a guy I met yesterday."

Leo's eyes twinkle. In his best teenage girl voice he says, "OMG Pipes! Is he hot?"

Piper rolls her eyes and shoves him. "Shove off Leo. I'm going to class."

"See you later bestie!" He jokes and disappears into the crowd.

Piper darts off to her biology class. The class ends up being boring as usual, and nothing else eventful happens until the end of the day. Piper never actually gets to talk to Sparky, she only glimpses him between classes and throws him a wave. Annabeth questions her on her slightly giddy behaviour, but Leo tells a fake exaggerated story about a secret admirer. Piper shoves him completely off his seat for that comment.

Over the next few weeks Piper and 'Sparky' share many more text exchanges. So far, Piper is still no closer to knowing his name. Piper's friends also have no idea who the mystery guy is. They have stopped asking, but whenever she's texting with a small smile on her face, there's nudging and knowing looks exchanged.

Piper has learned that his sister's name is Thalia, she's a senior, they moved from California this year (she was right on that one), his favourite colour is purple, he's been driving the same car since he received his license a year ago, he's a straight A student, his favourite subject is physics, his favourite number is 9, his favourite animal is an eagle, he likes Greek Mythology, he's a closet reader, his favourite book is I Am the Messenger, he doesn't have a favourite music genre or artist, and his favourite movie is Whiplash, his favourite food is brownies from a bakery in Oakland, and he doesn't get along well with his dad.

Piper doesn't see it, but they're changing each other. She's running out of days to guess his name, and isn't any closer than she was when they made the agreement. Currently she's not even being serious when she guesses Gregory, Theodore, Percival, Gerald, Elmer and Maurice.

Most of the time he doesn't even dignify her with answer, instead just random smiley faces and quotes from books or movies they share a common interest in. The best one so far was when she guessed Herb, he responded with "We all go a little mad sometimes" from Psycho. That had Piper laughing until her sides hurt.

A week before finals, Tristan McLean peeks into Piper's room and sees her immersed in a movie playing on her computer while video-chatting with a blonde boy. They both appear to be watching the Breakfast Club while keeping a running commentary. The boy comments something and Piper dissolves into giggles. Tristan's gaze is happy. He was originally frustrated she wasn't studying, but the way the boy keeps glancing at Piper, it's like he's making sure she's real. The way Piper keeps looking at him is like she would give anything just to keep talking with him.

The next morning Piper knows instantly what to ask. 'Who are you? Andy, Brian, John, Allison, or Claire? Sincerely, Miss McLean.'

The reply comes immediately. 'Well honestly, none of the above. Because really, none of us fit in stereotypes anyways and trying to force us into the mold does absolutely nothing. We are all individuals and it should be impossible to compare one's personality to another or weigh someone's worth against someone else. We all have experiences that shape us into who we really are. For the Breakfast Club, it was that detention. For me, I think it was meeting you. Yours Truly, Sparky.'

Piper rereads his message several times. She feels like she has melting into a puddle of goo from his words. They ring clearly in her head and make her think about everything. Piper knows she will never regret going to the library that day, or allowing him to sit at her table. This words he gives her, the stories he has shared, those are hers now.

Heading to school, her phone buzzes. 'Who are you Piper McLean? Yours Truly, Sparky.'

Piper walks to her locker, phone clenched in her hand as she tries to think of a response. When she opens her locker, she is once again cornered by someone. This time it's Dylan. He smiles that supposedly charming smile.

"Hey McLean. Looking good." He looks her up and down. Piper blinks and remembers that she had decided to wear a white dress with a jean jacket. It is something a little more feminine than usual, but it looks great.

"Thanks Dylan." She responds warily.

He puts an arm against her locker and gives her another charming smile. He leans in and asks, "Come over tonight, we can catch a movie or something." The look in his eye suggests much more and Piper resists the urge to gag.

She ducks under his arm and closes her locker. "No thanks Dylan."

"C'mon babe, don't be like that. You know you want to."

She glares at him sharply. "No, I really don't. Back off."

Dylan chuckles. "Feisty. Just how I like them." He takes another step closer and this time, Piper snaps.

She punches him in the nose and shoves him backwards. She turns on her heel and stalks off to class, only stopping when her phone buzzes in her hand.

'Nice hook. Remind me never to piss you off. So, who are you really? :) Yours Truly, Sparky.'

Piper grins and starts typing out her reply. 'Well that's a difficult question. People cannot accurately be described in words. Because words have definitions, but people do not. You cannot hope to encompass all of a person's being and innermost thoughts in a group of words. That would take thousands of undefined and ever-changing words. People cannot be written into pages or made meaningless by being spoken or unspoken. We are all unique and cannot be described by even the most eloquent a speaker. But for today, I guess I can be the girl that rejected him and broke Dylan Varsc's nose. Sincerely, Miss McLean.'

'Good answer. I give that 100%. So any closer to knowing my name? Yours Truly, Sparky.'

'Not even a letter. Hints? Pleaseeee? Sincerely Miss McLean.'

'Nope. You already had your question today. Yours Truly, Sparky.'

'You suck. Sincerely, Miss McLean.'

'Nah, I'm not a vacuum. Yours Truly, Sparky.'

'Smart ass. Sincerely, Miss McLean.'

'Go to class Pipes. Maybe then you'll be on my level. Just kidding. I'll Skype you tonight. Yours Truly, Sparky.'

'Yay, okay. Can you help me with physics tonight? Sincerely, Miss McLean.'

'Sure. Seven? Yours Truly, Sparky.'

'Seven. Sincerely, Miss McLean.'

'Maybe seven can be our always. Yours Truly, Sparky.'

'OMG YOU DORK! :') Sincerely, Miss McLean.'

'See you later :P Yours Truly, Sparky.'

Another day passes, and only five days remain until finals. Piper is almost out of time and has been guessing names non-stop all morning. She walks to school on the today because it's raining and she has an umbrella. And maybe, secretly, she hopes he'll drive her home again.

As she's crossing the street next to the school, she thinks of a relatively common name she hasn't guessed. She laughs and pulls out her phone to type it in, looking away from the street and oncoming traffic.

Sometimes that's all it takes.

The next moment, there are a screech of brakes, multiple screams, and panicked looks exchanged between the driver of a Honda Accord and the soon to be victim. Piper is only vaguely conscious when they call the ambulance, acutely aware of the excruciating pain coming from her chest and head. The sirens flash as it approaches and just as the ambulance operators rush towards her, Piper lets go and sinks into the black of unconsciousness.

When she comes too, her dad is there. His head is in his hands and he looks extremely stressed. Piper glances around her hospital room. It's clean and very private.

"Daddy?" She croaks out. Piper sounds more like a little girl that she'd have hoped.

"Piper!" His head snaps up and his eyes fill with relief. "How are you?"

She tries sit up, but pain in her chest stops her. "Sore." She decides. "But okay. How long have I been here?"

"Just over 17 hours. The school has been notified and everything, your finals will be sorted out. I let your friends know as much as I knew." He replies. He looks her in the eye. "Pipes you want to tell me what happened? You really worried me."

"I just looked down at my phone for a second, while crossing in a cross walk, but after that I'm not totally sure. I blacked out just before the ambulance arrived."

"That's what the driver said too. I'll get you a new phone this weekend Pipes."

Piper's stomach suddenly feels like lead. "New phone? What happened to my old one?"

Tristan McLean passes her a plastic bag. Inside is a totalled iPhone. It had been completely crushed in the crash and was in several different pieces. Piper feels panic well up in her throat. No, no, no!

She feels tears prick at her eyes. "Piper?" Her dad asks, noticing her expression. "Sweetie it was just a phone."

She wipes her eyes, embarrassed and nods. "Right, sorry I just..." She trails off. Her dad nods.

"I'm going to get the doctor and then you can go back to sleep. I'm glad you're okay."

He leaves and comes back with a doctor. The doctor asks a bunch of questions and then lets her go back to sleep. The next day, Annabeth and the rest of her friends come by after school.

Annabeth is sitting in the chair closest to Piper, Leo is in the other chair, Frank and Hazel are leaning by the window sill, Percy is hovering behind Annabeth, Rachel is sitting at the foot of the bed, Calypso is sitting on the arm of Leo's chair.

Piper watches Leo brush his thumb along Calypso and his joined hands. They had started dating last week and were still in the early stages. It's cute to watch. Percy keeps glancing at Annabeth, and she's looking shyly at his reflection on her phone. Frank has his arm around Hazel and she's leaning into him. Rachel just smiles at Piper and winks.

After a while of talking and playing cards, Piper tells her friends they should probably go home. They all reluctantly agree and start to head out. Just before Annabeth leaves, she turns to look at Piper curiously.

"I almost forgot. Piper do you know Thalia?"

"Um, spiky black hair, piercing blue eyes?"

"Yeah." Annabeth nods

"Well sort of."

Annabeth perks a brow. "Sort of? Because she was asking about you at school today. Something about her brother worrying about you."

"Oh!" Piper perks up a little. "Do you know her brother?"

"Yeah, he's in my physics class. I mean I like physics, but that kid is amazing."

Piper shyly smiles. "Do you think you could tell him what happened? And maybe ask him to come by sometime? I kind of cancelled on him accidentally."

"Wait are you two dating?" Annabeth asks in surprise, stepping back towards Piper's bed.

"No, no. Nothing like that. Just friends."

Annabeth studies Piper for a moment. "He's Sparky isn't he?"

Piper stares. "How'd you know?"

Annabeth laughs. "It's all over your face. Wait so you don't know his name?"

"Nope. Don't tell me, I'm supposed to guess."

Annabeth smiles. "I should go. I'll tell him, next time I see him."

Piper relaxes back into her pillows, discomfort in her ribs. "Thanks."

Annabeth disappears out the door and Piper looks at her smashed up phone. It's really a pity. She wanted to keep those conversations.

The next day after school her friends come by for a bit, but they all have to leave by four thirty. At five, she gets another visitor. When someone knocks, Piper doesn't look up from her missed math homework and tells them to enter. When she looks up she is surprised that is isn't her dad, but rather Sparky.

"Hey Piper." He says. She motions him to the chair and he takes a seat, dumping his bag into the floor. "I'm sorry about all this."

She raises an eyebrow about all this. "You are the most no-nonsense person I know and you always know when to give pity. Now? Now is not the time for pity."

He cracks a half effort smile. "Kind of my fault though."

Piper frowns. "Do tell."

"Annabeth told me you were texting when you got hit. You were trying to guess my name right?" Piper nods and tries to argue, but he continues. "If we'd never started this maybe you wouldn't have been looking at your phone and could have avoided the car." He scowls at his lap. "It's my fault."

"No." Piper argues. "No, you don't get to do this. Because I don't care that I'm here. I don't care that I'm here if it means I met you, and can continue to meet you and talk with you."

He smiles then, for real. "How's your head? Heard you were concussed."

Piper giggles. "Yeah a little. It's not that bad. Headaches are pretty bad sometimes."

"Sucks. I hate concussions. Did I ever tell you I got one by running into a brick wall when I was nine?"

"Seriously?" Piper laughs. "Oh dear lord that's great."

The little scar on his upper lip twitches. "Yeah." He notices her looking at it. He grins. "This is from when I tried to do battle with, or rather eat, a stapler. Naturally..."

"The stapler won."

"The stapler won." He agreed. "How are you?"

Piper wags her finger at him jokingly. "Nuh-uh, you've already used up your quest-" she breaks off mid-sentence when it feels like someone has just used a jackhammer on her head. Her vision blurs from the the pain and she screams out. Sparky recoils and calls for help.

Piper claws at her head, trying to make the pain go away. Her ears are ringing and the pain is extremely intense. Sparky pries her hands away and holds them with his own. Doctors rush into the room, and he moves away. He watches her the whole time as the doctors try to figure out what caused the pain.

After almost an hour, Piper's head stops hurting so badly and she curls up on the bed. The doctors decide that the concussion is worse than they thought and maybe the laughter and the moving she'd been doing had worsened it. Sparky is allowed to stay for a little while longer, but Piper is almost completely out, because they pumped her up with pain meds.

Even though she's completely out of it, she feels it when he brushes some strands of her hair back and tells her quietly he needs to go.

"Sparky.." Piper's voice seems tiny and far away. She sits half up and watches him move away. "Don't go." She sounds weak, like a child.

He looks at her before stepping towards her again. "Jason, Piper. My name is Jason Grace."

Piper doesn't know what causes her to do it. She doesn't know when it happened, or why. But it did. And she can never take it back. Because somewhere between texts, Skype conversations, library discussions, and philosophical thinking, she's fallen hard for him.

When she reaches up and pulls him down, there is willingness on his part. She kisses him, but almost collapses from strain. He kisses her back gently and supports her, before lowering her back down onto her bed.

"Jason." She says quietly. He is watching her, bright blue eyes alert. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have."

The right corner of his lips twitches up. "You think there hasn't been a moment, from the day I saw you first in the hallway, I wanted to do that? Every moment after has been life's way of shoving it in my face saying, 'Here's this amazing girl who you love. She's beautiful, smart, carefree, funny. Oh look she's a deep thinker. Oh look she likes movies. Oh look she's perfect in every way.' Please don't ever apologize for doing that ever again, because if you hadn't, I think I might have. Because somewhere, I could never tell you exactly when, I realized that I was denying it. I'm hopelessly in love with you and if you apologize, you're going to make me feel really awkward."

Piper blushes and watches him. His blue eyes seem to crackle with life. He sits back in the chair and watches her back carefully. She decides her words carefully. "As long as you never leave me, Jason Grace, I have no plans of apologizing ever again."

He smiles. "And why would I ever leave you? God only knows." He pauses, noticing her crushed phone. "I like hearing my real name from you."

Piper smirks. "Nah, I like Sparky better."

Naturally, she kisses him again.

Author's Note: And I'm back from Japan with more Jasper. JAPAN IS FREAKING AMAZING! The only thing that disappointed me was that I went there and couldn't fine anything for Pokémon worth buying D: It made me really sad because I absolutely adore Pokémon. Also, tried out the new Smash Bros for WiiU in Japanese for the first time. Let me just say, it's gorgeous and super fun. I'll have to save up for it. Lucina is boss.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed more Jasper fluff. The whole, bumping into a guy and not finding out his name, but getting his number and giving him a ridiculous nickname actually happened to my friend. Only they ended up having a massive fight, and hardly ever speaking again, but I'm still friends with both of them. And I ship them. Majorly.

And yes, I did write the quote that has made it's way as the description of this story. I used it as a philosophical question in English for an essay, and I would be honoured if you used it for anything, so honestly go ahead, but give credit. Here's the full quote because in my mind, it's the best part of the story. "People cannot accurately be described in words. Because words have definitions, but people do not. You cannot hope to encompass all of a person's being and innermost thoughts in a group of words. That would take thousands of undefined and ever-changing words. People cannot be written into pages or made meaningless by being spoken or unspoken. We are all unique and cannot be described by even the most eloquent a speaker." It took a damn long time to think of it and damn it, I'm proud.

Keep your eyes open for more soon, maybe something Scorose for Harry Potter, or maybe a multi-chapter I've been planning. Who knows?

Thanks for reading and all the positive stuff on Perfectly Imperfect. It makes me jump for joy. Literally.

Don't forget to speak up!

~ the people speak ~