Jason's POV

I wake up to the sound of my alarm clock and groan. I turn it off and get up, stretching and yawning. I check the time. 6:45. School starts at 7:30.

First day of sophomore year. Yay. Note the sarcasm.

I walk into my bathroom, take a shower and brush my teeth. I change and walk into my room, grabbing my phone. Two new text messages.

One of them is from Reyna, my girlfriend. The other one is from Leo, one of my close friends.

Hey, babe. I'm getting a ride from my dad, so you don't have to pick me up today, alright? Bye, love you. xxx - Reyna

Dude, your ex has my number. How the hell does she have my number? Tell her to quit calling me! - Leo

I frown and decide to reply to Leo. Which ex? - Jason

His reply comes about twenty seconds later. Carrie. Remember? The girl you shagged at Percy's party? - Leo

Hey, I don't shag anyone. - Jason

Yeah, you do. - Leo

I only did that three times! - Jason

Yeah, but you date a different girl every two weeks. - Leo

I'll have you know that I've dated Reyna for almost THREE weeks. - Jason

And you're gonna break up with her soon enough. Face it, man. You're a player. - Leo

I prefer the word 'experimenter'. Anyway, I'm not sure how Carrie got your number. That's your problem, dude. Now I gotta go. Bye. - Jason

I shove my phone in my pocket, not bothering to read his reply. I was in the middle of getting my backpack when my door slammed open. I turned around, seeing my mother with a bottle of whiskey in her hand.

"Yes, mother?" I ask, cautiously. My mother is unpredictable whenever she drinks, which is basically all the time.

"Why are you making so much noise this early?!" she demands.

I resist the urge to roll my eyes. "I have to go to school."

"And you have to make so much noise this early?!"

"I'm not making any noise."

"Don't you dare talk back to me!"

With that, she turns on her heel and walks out of my room. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

I grab my car keys and walk out of my room. My mother is in the living room, watching a Tristan McLean movie while sipping her whiskey. Ugh. When will she realize that Tristan McLean doesn't want to do a movie with her?

"I'm going," I tell her. She nods, but doesn't look at me. She takes another swig of her whiskey. I huff and walk out of my house.

I'm actually excited to go to school now.

I get my schedule from the front office and walk to my first class, Chemistry. I'm late. But it's nothing new.

I knock on the door and open it. I see a lady in front of the class, writing something on the board. She turns to me along with the rest of the class. The whispers start. As usual. Seems like nothing from freshman year changed.

"Jason Grace, right?" the teacher says.

I nod. "Yes ma'am. Sorry I'm late." I give her my most dazzling smile. She blushes.

"It's alright. Um, by any chance, are you Georgia Grace's son? As in, the movie star?" she whispers to me, so that the class can't hear.

I feel my smile waver. I know that most people think that it's a privilege to be a movie star's child, but for me, it's not. They don't know the real Georgia Grace. They don't know she's an alcoholic and could care less about her children.

It was easier when my sister, Thalia was around. We'd always have each other to turn to. But now, she's in college.

I manage a tight smile. "Yeah. I am," I whisper back.

She nods and returns her voice to normal volume. "Okay, well I'm Ms. Dodds, your Chemistry teacher. Go ahead and take a seat next to her."

I nod and turn to where she's gesturing, at the back of the class, at a girl with dark tanned skin and her chocolate brown hair tied into a braid. She slowly looks up and locks eyes with me.

At that moment, something stirred inside of me.

Her eyes. Wow. I can't tell what color they are. They were changing colors, from brown to blue to green. It reminded me of a kaleidoscope. I feel like I can stare into them all day.

I walked over to my seat and placed my backpack under my desk. I faced towards the front but I was peeking at the girl next to me. I decided to introduce myself.

"Hey. I'm Jason," I say.

She looks at me for a second and nods. She goes back to looking at the teacher.

"What's your name?" I whisper.

"Piper."

Piper. I like that name.

"Cool. What's your last name?"

She glares at me. "McLean. Is there anything else you'd like to know?"

Hmm. Feisty. I want to see how much I can rile her up. "Yeah. I didn't see you here in freshman year. Where did you come from?"

Piper huffs. "Los Angeles."

"Oh, that's nice."

"Are you done?"

I make a big show of looking at her chest. "Your bra is showing."

She turns pink and looks down. "What?"

"Made you look," I whisper as she glances back at me.

Piper gives me a murderous look and turns back at the teacher.

I look back at the teacher as well, inwardly grinning.

But I'm seriously bored. I heard all of this stuff before. The rules. Don't chew gum, don't talk while I'm talking, throw your trash away, blah blah blah.

I turn back towards Piper. "Hey, do you have a boyfriend?"

She rolls her eyes. "No."

"Have you ever been in a relationship?"

"No, not a serious one."

"Serious, huh? So are you that kind of girl?" I fight a smile, trying to look and remain serious.

Piper raises an eyebrow. "What kind of girl?"

"You know, THAT kind of girl."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Well, that kind of girl who does 'stuff' with no strings attached..."

Her eyes widen. "Are you calling me a whore?!" she whisper-hisses.

I shrug. "Well, I didn't EXACTLY say that, but...you know, just curious. It was more of a question."

"Listen here, pretty boy. I-"

"Did you just call me pretty? Why, thank you."

She glares at me. "You have no right to call me a slut."

"There we go again. I was just asking. No need to get all defensive. I mean, everyone has their own hobbies, and maybe your hobby is a little...different."

"I'm not a slut!"

"Hey, whatever. But I actually have been a little, you know, bored these days, so if you're free sometime, I can give you my number and-"

"You are such a pig! I don't want to do ANYTHING with you! Now you better shut up or-"

"Ms. McLean, would you like to share something with the class?" Ms. Dodds calls.

We both turn to the front. Piper shakes her head. "No, ma'am, he was just-"

"Well, I was just asking Piper a simple question, but for some reason, she started being rude to me. I tried to tell her to stop distracting me because I wanted to listen, but she kept disrupting. On her behalf, I apologize for interrupting your class, Ms. Dodds."

Piper stares at me, speechless. "You...I...that is SO not what happened!"

"Ms. McLean, please sit down. I'll let you go with a warning today, since it's the first day of school, but next time, I won't be that generous. And Mr. Grace, it's fine. Thank you for being honest."

I smile at her. "Your welcome, Ms. Dodds."

She turns back to the board and Piper huffs and slumps back in her seat. I smirk and lean forward to whisper in her ear. "If you just answered the question, this wouldn't have happened."

Piper turns to me with a glare. "You are a jerk."

"Thanks, babe." I wink at her before turning back to the front of the class.

Flash Forward to Lunch

I sit next to Leo and say hi to all the guys. But I notice that Percy is missing. "Where's Percy?"

Grover shrugs. "I don't know."

We talk a bit and then see Percy heading towards our table.

"Hey guys," Percy says, taking a seat next to me. "Hey," they all say.

"Hey. Where were you?" I ask.

He smiles and looks a few table behind us, where Annabeth Chase is sitting. AKA, his girlfriend.

"Oh, I see. Just couldn't stay away from her, could you?" Frank teases.

Percy scowls. "You act like you don't obsess over Hazel."

Frank turns red. We all laugh at him.

I look back at Annabeth's table. Juniper, Grover's girlfriend, Hazel, Frank's girlfriend, and Calypso, the girl who's had an obvious crush on Leo that everyone knows about but Leo himself, are all sitting there.

Suddenly, I see Piper taking a seat between Hazel and Juniper. I quickly turn back, but all the guys are looking over there now.

"Wow. Who's the new girl sitting over there, in Annabeth's table?" Leo asks.

"Piper McLean," I say, without turning around.

"She's pretty," Grover notes.

"Yeah," Percy agrees.

"Yup," Frank nods.

"Hey! You guys all have girlfriends! I call her!" Leo says.

I raise my eyebrows and chuckle. "You call her?"

Leo nods.

I shrug. "Well who cares? You can have her."

All the other guys shrug.

"Yeah. I mean I was just saying she's pretty. I love Juniper," Grover says.

Percy and Frank nod in agreement. "Annabeth is the best," Percy assures him.

"Hazel is great," Frank says.

I shrug. "I like Reyna."

Frank snorts. "Like?"

I turn and glare at him. "Got something to say?" I challenge.

Frank shrugs. "It's just that...you don't seem so serious about her. You're never serious with any of your girlfriends. It's always 'date them and break them'."

Leo chuckles. "And hook up with them."

I glare at Leo. "I've only done that three times."

Percy shrugs. "Do you wish you hadn't?"

I shake my head. "Nah."

Frank snorts again. "Wow."

I roll my eyes. "Shut up and eat your fries."

Suddenly, someone covers my eyes so I can't see anything. "Guess who?" a girl's voice says.

"Reyna." I smile as she uncovers my eyes. I look at her and see her giggling.

She sits with us for about three minutes and talks to me. Then, she goes back to her table.

"Ha. She's crazy for you!" Leo teases me. I chuckle and whack him on the head gently.

I glance back at Piper and see her laughing with Annabeth. I realize that the guys are right. She is pretty. In fact, she's beautiful.

I suddenly feel like I got a bucket of water dumped onto me. I come back to my senses. What am I thinking?

I have a girlfriend. I might be a bit of a player, but I'm not a cheater. Besides, I'm not the one who chases after girls. Girls chase after ME.

And if Piper wants me, she's going to have to do the same thing.

Not that I want her to. I don't like her attitude. Seriously, she has some anger issues.

Anyway, it's obvious she's playing hard-to-get. In no time, she'll give up and start running after me.

Because that's what always happens.

And Piper McLean is no different.