𝙸 𝙲𝚊𝚗'𝚝 𝙲𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚜

𝚂𝟷𝙴𝟺: 𝙳𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚃𝚊𝚕𝚔 𝙰𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝙳𝚎𝚋𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝙲𝚕𝚞𝚋

Inspired by Community S1E9: "Debate 109"

Piper POV

"Ah! Ow, ow!" Piper shouts, dabbing at her burning lap with some notebook paper. She should have listened to that voice in her head telling her to go with a cold brew coffee for this morning's study session.

Today started out great for her.

But you know who's been having an awful couple of mornings?

Annabeth Chase.

Granted, Piper's incredibly impressed that she's quit vaping cold turkey. Most people chew that nicotine gum or use patches or something, but not Annabeth. It's just as admirable as it is concerning.

So obviously Piper doesn't blame her when she shows up to the study session screaming about how somebody dumped her clean clothes on the laundry room floor and now she'll have to clean them again.

Piper chalks this outburst down to withdrawal and gives Annabeth the benefit of the doubt, even though this outburst scared the ever-living crap out of her, causing her coffee to singe her lap.

And Annabeth doesn't even bat an eye.

She's amazing.

Annabeth finally takes her seat around the corner from Piper. It's a fun juxtaposition, grouchy Annabeth to her left and sweet Frank to her right.

Speaking of being sweet: "Hey, your debate is this week, right? What time is that? I wanted to support the team," says Frank.

Ugh, he's so nice, it just makes Piper want to scream. "That means a lot to me, Frank! It's Thursday at one in the athletic center; room one-twelve, I think."

"That can't be it," says Percy. "That's where the pool is. I have swim practice at two."

Piper clicks her pen and then says, "Oh, well, let's hope I'm wrong. I'll double-check with my partner, Lacy."

"She got contact traced," says Annabeth. "We have a class together, and even though she's online she still participates. I swear it's like the voice of Zeus himself is speaking to us, it's that loud."

"Wait, so Lacy can't debate?" Piper asks. "Oh, shoot. This means I'm going to have to find a new partner."

It's just the stupid debate team, right? Well, wrong. Debate is the one thing Piper has that's completely unaffiliated with either of her parents. Here at New Rome Community College, she can make her own path, not follow the ones carved by her movie star dad or fashion designer mom.

And that path starts with obliterating her old high school rival, Drew Tanaka, in this weekend's debate against City College.

But she can't do that without Lacy, can she? Back at her all-girls boarding school, Piper was the debate team's hero. She was so good that she considered majoring in political science. College debate has to be a different game though. Besides, there's no way she'll be able to even compete without a partner.

Who can she draft to her team last minute? Piper scans the members of her study group one by one.

Frank and Hazel are sweet and likely to listen to all of Piper's instructions but too nervous to command any sort of attention from a moderator.

Percy has a swim team practice an hour after the competition starts. Plus, Piper can't really see him as the debate type.

Leo is fantastic, and Piper would love to work with him on another project sometime, but he'll be too distracting. They'll never get an argument prepared in time.