WORTH | jason grace¹

Extra: 1

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this is a small filler chapter that takes place between the lost hero and the son of neptune. its basically me trying to let you guys know Lorna better as the whole book was in Lorna's POV and she describes Jason, Pipes and Leo etc. but never herself. so this chapter is in Jason's POV, yayyy. it was so interesting to write Jason's train of thoughts and explain how much he loves Lorna. hope you guys will enjoy this :))

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Extra 1. Daisies

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Jason took the strip of black cloth and started wrapping his hand with it. Without realising it, he finished wrapping it securely around his wrist, palm and fingers just by following his muscle memory. He flexed his fingers as he stood up and walked towards the bag of sand in the middle of the room.

Jason widened his legs and bounced a little to get the momentum. He swung his fist at the bag in front of him repeatedly, occasionally kicking the bad from the side. The room filled with the sounds of his fist meeting the leather.

Sweat trickled down Jason's face, sometimes dribbling from his chin. The leather punching bag had sweat on it. His orange tank top was soaked at the neckline and back, the contrast of the wet material was evident.

This was Jason's daily routine. He was the only one in his cabin so he was free to make his own schedule. He starts off his day sneaking out of his girlfriend, Lorna Jackson's cabin, and into his own. He would then have breakfast at the dining pavilion alone. Lorna used to sit beside him but the whole camp started to switch tables and Chiron wouldn't allow it. Normally, Jason wasn one to break the rules, but after seeing his girlfriend's baby seal eyes and her smile after he agreed, he immediately wanted to lasso the whole world and give it to her. 

After breakfast, Jason would start his activities. He and Lorna planned for most of their activities to match up perfectly. When they were attending a lesson they didn't have together, Jason would find himself longing to run out of the class and find her. His breaks were spent with his friends: they would usually go strawberry picking, do art and crafts or sit by the beach. Lorna and Jason rarely sat by the beach with their friends, they separated themselves from them. When they were at the beach, they would talk about their thoughts and worries.

For two sixteen year olds, they had many worries. It was never ending. The fate of the world was in their hands. Lorna had experienced it before: the previous great prophecy had been about her and her twin brother. Jason knew all about it from the stories that Lorna told him. He loved it when she told him about her past, it made him feel closer to her.

Jason also knew about Lee Fletcher, a son of Apollo who died in the first war. Lorna had told Jason that her and Lee were never together but they had agreed to start something when the war was over. Lorna had quite bluntly admitted that compared to what she felt for Jason, her feelings for Lee was nothing. She did miss him but she had Jason, and that's who she really needs.

Her statement shocked Jason a lot. Jason knew how reckless Lorna was when it comes to expressing her thoughts, she spouted out whatever was on her mind. Jason found it admirable. Lorna didn't care what others think about her, the only opinion that mattered to her was those of her close friends. And all who were close to her knew how kind she was.

Lorna Jackson had a big heart. She accepted people no matter what. She didn't care about their heritage, their past or their religion. She saw the good in people. To her, everyone has a good heart. She had once told Jason this, "Deep down, even if it's hundreds of miles deep, everyone is good. The reason is simple. We all have feelings, even monsters do. If someone can feel anger, they can feel happiness too."

Jason loved her for that. Her words made him see beauty in many things, things he would disregard.

Jason loved many things about Lorna. You could ask him what Lorna looked like and he would spend forever telling you every detail of her face. He would talk about her enchanting, sea green eyes that gets stormy when she was angry, and her chocolaty curls that were always tangled.

Despite being together for only a few months, they had already told each other thousands of 'I love you's. Jason took every chance he got to tell her that. He couldn't help but show affection to the girl he loves so much. Lorna gladly reciprocated them. She said it because she knew how short demigods life were. She couldn't bear to waste any moment spent with him.

Jason saw how much Annabeth Chase missed her boyfriend, Percy Jackson. Despite Lorna telling her that he was safe, Annabeth still went looking him.

Jason would also catch Lorna longingly glancing at her hand. There were two bracelets on her wrist, one was hers and one was Percy's. The god of the winds, Aeolus had returned it to her on their quest. The ring on her finger was a match to her brother's weapon. When Percy is in danger, it would glow. Jason had saw it happen once and the look on Lorna's face pained his heart. She looked so worried for her brother. Many might doubt it, but Jason knew how much Lorna loved her brother. She came off as nonchalant towards her brother's disappearance but Jason stayed up many nights with her, comforting her.

Jason felt a pair of hands cover his eyes as he tensed. He stopped his punches and was about to attack the owner of the hands when he heard a familiar voice. "Guess who?"

He immediately relaxed and jokingly said, "Dad? How kind of you to finally visit me!"

Lorna's laughed rang in his ears and a grin appeared on his face. He loved making her laugh. He turned around and put his arms around her waist.

"Ew!" Lorna pushed Jason away. "You sweaty monster! Get off me!"

Lorna managed to slip away from Jason. Jason chased after her, noticing something in her hands. He cornered her as she hid the item behind her back.

"What's that?" Jason asked.

Lorna sheepishly extended her arms. In her hand was a single flower with thin white petals surrounding the center. Jason didn't know what flower it was. "It's for you. The children of Demeter grew flowers in their greenhouse and I asked for one. It's a daisy."

Jason gingerly took the flower from her hands. He studied it. It wasn't a huge gesture but it touched his heart. It made him realise that he had never gotten flowers for her. "They're beautiful, Lorna. Thank you, love."

Jason reaches down to kiss her but her hand intercepted him. "You're still stinky. Go take a bath, Jason."

Jason nodded and quickly went off. He put the flower by his bed and took a quick bath.

The next day, Jason gave the Demeter cabin a visit. Katie Gardner greeted him. He asked her if there were ways to preserve flowers. He had slept with the daisy by his side and the next morning, he could see the sides of the petals turning yellow. He wanted to keep the daisy forever.

"It's about the daisy that Lorna gave you, correct?" Katie said. "Well, the thing about flowers is they're beautiful, but not for long. If not taken care of, it will soon wilt. It's sad, really, but there are ways to keep them. Try putting it between books for a day, then you could laminate or put resin on it."

Jason took Katie's advice. He also asked Katie if Lorna had mentioned anything about her favourite flower. Jason found out that Lorna had a liking towards flowers and she loved daisies. Instead of a cut stalk of daisies, Jason got a pot of small elegant bunch of daisies so that Lorna could take care of them.

Jason admired the white flower that was covered in clear, laminating plastic. The petals weren't as white as they used to be but it was still pretty. He got a photo frame and framed the square of plastic. He set the frame up beside his bed. He took the potted daisies and made his way to the beach where Lorna was waiting for him.