Found Family (HoO, Mortal AU)

PIPER MCLEAN

Piper woke up early on Friday morning, having to get ready for sports day. She packed a change of clothes for herself, then for Leo, sure he'd forget.

She got dressed and walked downstairs. Her father was standing in the kitchen.
"Hi, dad!" Piper grinned. The mornings she saw her dad were always better.
"Morning, Pipes." Tristan said.
"Aren't you supposed to be at work?" She asked, grabbing breakfast.
"The driver is running a few minutes late, but that's okay. How's school been so far?"
"It's been good. But like I said on Sunday, there's something I need to talk to you about. I don't know if there'll be time now."
"I doubt it," Tristan said. "But we're almost filmed shooting the last episode. I don't have any other big movies or shows coming up until next January. Can you wait just a week or two?"

Piper smiled. If he finished shooting in a week or two, she'd have three months of him being home.
"Yeah, of course!" Piper said as the driver pulled into to driveway. "Have a good day at work. Love you."
Tristan kissed her forehead. "Love you, too. See you soon."

• • •

Piper drove into school, Leo waiting at the entrance just like every morning.
"Good morning!" Leo said.
"Morning! I brought you spare clothes for sports day. You forgot, didn't you?"
"Ah- shit. Yes. You're a lifesaver. I love you. Thank you!"
Piper laughed and walked into the school with Leo.
"We're finding out about the student council today. How exciting." Leo reminded Piper. There were only three candidates. Jason, Octavian and Reyna. Everyone was sure Reyna would get head, but no one was sure who would get co-head.

Piper had voted for Reyna and Jason. As much as she hated him, she hated Octavian more. But she knew there would be a lot of people who hated Jason more. Both were bad options.

• • •

Everyone was taken outside for sports day. Piper heard Percy Jackson and Coach Hedge having some sort of an argument.
"It's warm enough to go to the sports centre and use the pool. Please. Please. Please. No? Please."
Piper rolled her eyes.

Races were first. Sprints, long distance, relay. Piper and Leo planned to sit out of the races, but Will and Annabeth approached them.
"Wanna be on our team for the relay races? Please say yes." Will said, without greeting them.
"We need four people and there's- obviously- only two of us." Annabeth said.

Piper thought about it. She hated races, but it did mean spending more time with Annabeth. "Yeah, sure."
"Thanks," Annabeth smiled. "They're in five minutes. We better line up."
Piper went with her friends to line up for the races.
"So, Leo can start. Piper, Will, you go second and third. I'll finish." Annabeth said. Coach Hedge blew the whistle.
"Get into places, cupcakes!"

Piper went to the spot where she'd get the baton off Leo. She looked over to the other teams. Reyna was closest to her, on Sherman Yang, Damien White and Jason Grace's team. Piper knew Reyna wasn't happy about being on a team with Yang and White.
Another team included Percy Jackson, Rachel Dare, Grover Underwood and Frank Zhang. There were a lot of other teams. Drew Tanaka was on one of them. Piper muttered a tiny prayer she'd fall.

Coach Hedge blew the whistle again and the first people on each team started running. Piper watched as Leo ran. He was pretty fast, but Billie Ng was ahead of him. She got the baton to Miranda Gardiner. Seconds later, Leo gave the baton to Piper. She started running, ahead of everyone other than Miranda.
Come on.
Piper was reaching out to Will when Miranda gave the baton to Castor, who started running to his twin brother, Pollux.

Will took the baton and ran off. Piper stopped running, breathing heavily. It took her a few moments to catch her breath. Percy Jackson was close to both Will and Castor now, as was Katie Gardner. Castor handed the baton to his brother at the exact same time Will handed it to Annabeth. Annabeth started running instantly. She was fast.
Being in the same class and paying a little too much attention to Annabeth, Piper knew she was competitive. Thankfully, it paid off. Annabeth was at the finish line before Pollux.