THE HOUSE OF MEMORIES [J. GRACE]

EIGHT

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ THE HOUSE OF MEMORIES ༉‧₊˚.[THE HEROES OF OLYMPUS]

L E O
chapter eight: we fixed up a dragon, and i learn that chandler is way better at being a fiery person than i am

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LEO DIDN'T stick around very much longer after piper suddenly turned beautiful — not that she wasn't pretty before or anything.

it just made him feel a little weird, a bad way weird. of course, he always thought he harbored a little crush on her before jason had appeared at the wilderness school, and he told her and everything. but, it turned out she'd been hoping jason was going to be the one to ask her out and he did.

afterward, things just felt odd. he'd convinced himself he started seeing her as more of a friend again, but then she went and transformed into a massive beauty queen. which, great for her, but not so great for him. it threw a bunch of conflicting emotions around in his stomach. was she just pretty, or did leo still like her?

he didn't know, but he had to dip. he was happy for her, and all of the attention, he guessed. but, he didn't like how they were all staring at her as if then she was suddenly worth all of their attention — the aphrodite kids specifically.

earlier, they'd been calling her mean names, and now they were fawning over her. sure, it was amazing, and all, leo was glad piper was fitting in, but he hated that she had to be a super model to be accepted by her supposed siblings.

leo held in a small sigh, trying to draw his attention from piper's awkward, but pleased expression. she seemed to like the eyes on her, not matter how much she always claimed to hate being a girly girl. he didn't like how much she tried to suffocate the idea as if it were a bad thing. she seemed to like being all dolled up, especially as she beamed brightly in jason's direction, hoping to have his attention as well, only to be disappointed.

instead of wearing the same dopey grin as nearly everyone else in the crowd, jason was watching chandler with awed, dilated blue eyes as her hair curls danced in the dim lighting. she met his eyes, almost teasingly. she said something that made him bite his bottom lip to keep from smiling, though his dimples were still visible. his cheeks flushed softly as he retorted something in response causing her to roll her eyes, and look away.

in doing so, she made eye contact with leo. the hephaestus demigod gave a wriggle of his eyebrows. without a word said, he communicated that he'd seen the little moment between her and jason. her softened expression immediately dropped, and suddenly, leo understood why she unnerved, but somehow still earned the respect of everyone at camp half-blood.

she had strong leader qualities, and he knew what she meant when she gestured her eyebrows to the far right, toward an exit of the amphitheater. leo recalled how she mentioned going into the woods to tame the supposed dragon, then of how he was told by their half-siblings that she also had the fire manipulation ability. the both of them stood in the midst of the chaos, not a single soul noticing leo, but jason's eyes never leaving chandler.

leo could read their lips of their brief exchange, the you're going right now? that jason asked worriedly, having heard of the fire breathing dragon. the i'll be fine, blondie, chandler replied with. she gave him a small nod, and an almost smile before walking off toward leo. the blue eyes of his best friend found his, and gave him a small nod. once she finally reached him, they exchanged a simple look before they ducked out of the amphitheater with the eyes of jason grace following them.