soulmates ⋮ heroes of olympus au

two.

P i p e r

☼

Science class had always been a bore to Piper. Despite the fact it was only the first day of school, she could already tell that Physics was going to be one of the worst out of all the science classes she had taken. Maybe it was because of all the math it involved, the unusually warm and stuffy classroom, or the teacher's monotonous voice. But there was just something about it that caused Piper to fall asleep on her desk.

"Piper! Earth to Piper!"

The brunette girl snapped out of her daydream about being in California and surfing on the beach and found herself being faced with Rachel and Calypso, who were both giggling and shaking her by her shoulders. "The bell just rang," Rachel explained with a grin.

"Come on, slowpoke," Calypso told her as she tugged her up by the arm. "We've got to get to Pre-Calc."

Piper groaned for what probably had to be the fiftieth time that day. After dealing with probably had to be the worst summer of her life, she was now thrust back into school again. Not only that, she had to go from Physics, one of her least favorite subjects in the world, to Pre-Calculus. She was definitely a lot better at math than she was at science, but Piper would've liked it much more if she was in English class or choir.

The three girls walked through the halls, and while Calypso and Rachel began talking about their respective summers, Piper stayed quiet. For one thing, Piper just liked hearing about her friends' fun moments, especially since she couldn't experience them with her friends. They all had texted each other millions of times over the couple of months, but it wasn't the same as being with each other in person.

But on the other hand, Piper just had such a miserable summer that she didn't want to bring down her friends' moods. Most of it was spent stuck in her dad's home with his assistant Mellie and sometimes being able to escape down to the beach when she could. She loved spending her dad when he was home, but those moments were so few and far between that it barely changed the outcome of Piper's summer. The past few months had made Piper feel more lonely than usual, and it was a miracle she had the friends she did who helped her through her summer.

Unfortunately, the question had to come up at some point or another. "So did your summer end up getting a little bit better, Pipes?" Calypso asked.

"My dad's new assistant Mellie was the only good thing that happened to me that summer. She's so much better than the old one," Piper eventually admitted truthfully as she began to fiddle with the strap on her backpack. "But besides that, I literally spent the entire summer alone and surfing down at the beach."

Rachel elbowed her in the side and gave her a little wink. "Meet anyone cute?"

"That depends. Would you call a bunch of rich Hollywood airheads cute?"

Piper practically shuddered as she remembered the encounters she had over the summer. But she had always made sure to make it very clear that she wasn't interested in the slightest. Relationships had never been something Piper was particularly interested in. Sure, the idea of romance seemed mostly great, and Piper knew her soulmate was out there somewhere in the world But the amount of girlfriends and flings her father has had in the past had led Piper growing up and believing in a world where relationships were brief and always came to a fiery end.

"You make a good point," Calypso replied as she pulled open the door to the Pre-Calculus classroom for the three girls to walk through.

There was no seating chart, so Rachel and Calypso decided to take a pair of desks near the middle of the classroom. Behind them was an empty seat which Piper would've taken without hesitation if it weren't for the fact that Jason Grace wasn't sitting in the other seat.