Piper stands beside a faceless stranger, a fake smile plastered on her face. I wish... She begins thinking, but shakes her head, telling herself how silly thinking so is. The stranger, who isn't really a stranger at all, but the boy she 'loves', takes her by the hand and seemingly drags her over to a group of his friends. They all stand there in the sand by the ocean, taking up space and looking stupid.

"Guys, this is Piper, that girl I was telling you about." He says. He presents her almost as a prize, not a human.

"Hey babe." One of the strangers friends says in flirtatious way. Piper pulls away, not wanting to associate with these people.

"I'm going to go to the restroom."She tells the stranger, looking up at him and plastering yet another fake smile on her face. She walked away slowly, trying to draw the least amount of attention to herself.

Piper collapsed in the bathroom stall. Why did she have to stay with him of all people? Surely there was someone else she could be with? He was sweet, he was, but his friends, oh his friends. One word described his so-called friends. Asses. She'd only just met them, and already she could see how bad this day was going to turn out to be! Maybe she could spend the day in the bathroom... Let him sit in there and wonder where she is, worrisome, while she sits in a stall in the bathroom and talks on her phone, or sneaks out the back window and calls her best friend, Megan, to come pick her up.

No, she told herself, I'm not going to just sit here and act all weak about this stuff. I'm going to go out there, and break his puny little heart.

Piper walked out of the bathroom, more proud and confident of herself than she was when she walked in there. She didn't have her shoes on- almost no one did- so the hot sand stung the bottom of her feet. What stung more, though, was watching her boyfriend suck face with some blonde beach girl in a bikini that was two sizes too small.

"Excuse me?!" Piper shouted from halfway across the beach. The faceless stranger turned his head and looked at Piper. He wasn't even her so-called 'lover' anymore, he really was a stranger this time. "I leave for a few minutes to go to the bathroom, come back, and have to watch you suck face with some chick you found on the beach?" She gasps, not knowing the entire story, and not caring. She kicked sand at both of them and walked away, but not before turning around and smacking both in their sickening faces.

She stormed off, feeling both angry and relieved. What, am I not good enough for him either? She thought angrily. At least, though, she didn't have to break his heart. She kept on walking, forgetting where she was momentarily in her angry, raging thoughts. She ended up in the parking lot, the pavement scorching her bare feet being what brought back her attention.

"Leaving so soon, babe? I just got here." A calm voice said from behind her. Piper whipped her head around, not caring that the braids that always hung in her shoulder-length brown hair swung and hit her face.

"Grace." She breathed, having a cool attitude on the outside, but her blood boiling with emotion on the inside. "How's it going?"

"Pretty good on my end. How about your's, McLean?" He asked, sounding concerned now. His light eyebrows scrunched up in concentration, and he looked like he was trying to read Piper like a book.

"awful." She admitted. Jason had always been her best friend. That is, until he abandoned her because his 'mother didn't think she was a suitable friend for someone who was seventeen going on eighteen'.

"Walk with me. It's been a while since we've talked." He said, and he started walking. Piper didn't follow, hesitating. "Well, come on then. What are you waiting for, and invitation?" He joked, and his eyes did that little rolling thing that they always did when he told a joke. Piper felt like she was seeing the old him again, the real Jason Grace, not the one his mother planned out for him to be.

"So what's bothering you, Pipes?" He said, and he said it with that genuine curiosity that made Piper feel like he actually cared.

"I-I found this guy a few months ago, and he asked me out. We were dating for a while, until today that is. He- he was kissing some blonde chick he met here." She said, hurt coating her voice.

"Well, he's an idiot. I know for a fact that any guy who has you, is stupid to let you go." Jason said, like he was completely sure of his words. "Like me." He added softly.

Yeah, like you, Piper agreed silently. "Sure. How about you, Jay, any girl catch your fancy lately?"

"Yeah there's this one. She just got out of a bad break up, though, and I don't think she'd be interested in me now. Besides, I did something to her I regret now." He said, glancing down at Piper since he was a good six inches taller than her.

"Which is..." Piper asked, egging him on to finish the story.

"Let's just say I listened to someone's advice, and I shouldn't have." He stated. "Alright, enough about my pathetic love-life, tell me why you even went out with this guy in the first place."

"Well, I think it's because I felt bad for myself. I liked this guy who was a good friend of mine, but we kind of drifted apart. I guess we accept the love we think we deserve." Piper explained in all honesty, using her favorite quote from a book.

"We do. You know, you always did love that quote. When we were in eleventh grade, you used to write it on everything." Jason remembered.

"Yeah. What's that girls name, anyway?" Piper asked, getting really curious about this mystery girl.

"Her name is Piper McLean, and she'd the prettiest girl I've ever met."

Hope you guys liked it ;)!

I DON'T OWN PJO OR HOO!

~Becca