PJO Family (AU)

Piper's first chapter.

My name is Piper McLean Argo. I'm the second oldest of six and my older sister frustrates me to no end. She's twenty two, and should be enjoying her prime, but she's working crazy hours for me and the rest of our siblings. I want to get a job but she insists I have enough weight on my shoulders. Unbeknownst to her, I have been seeking a job.

There's a boy in my grade, Jason Grace. He has an older sister, Thalia Grace, who has an acting agency. I have several reasons to pursue an acting career, among them being finding my parents. Only Reyna knows who they are, and she says that she'll tell me who they are 'When you're ready" Which is fair, because I will probably go and try to find them the second I know. Back to the reasons, you can be an actor in your youth, and it's an industry that if I play my cards right, I can help Reyna with taking care of our family.

If you'll allow me to backtrack to Thalia Grace, I'll tell you how I got involved with her. She showed up for the school musical in February and I was the lead. She talked to me after the show and said I had talent, which was nice of her. She gave me a card and told me to call the number, so I did a few days later. We hit it off, and I just need to turn fourteen to sign the paper with only my signature. Reyna would never approve and sign.

I keep telling this story in reverse. Even further back, the only reason Thalia was at the play was because Jason was the other lead. He's essentially the prince of the school, and friends or friendly with everyone. He's even friendly with Nico, and that's a feat. Oh, that reminds me of something I told Nico on one of our shopping/gossiping trips. People actually ship me and Jason. US! I mean, they have grounds. I heard from a friend that their cousin's ex heard from their bestie who heard from Jason's best friend that he thinks I'm cute. I'm taking that as a 'cool, so he'll listen to what I say, he will succumb to my charms and he'll lead my army of crazed fans', much to my friend Lacy's displeasure. But Nico agrees!

Although it probably looked weird to anyone else in the pasta aisle to see a 6th grader and an 8th grader who looked nothing alike gossiping together and occasionally shouting "YAS". Nico is a great brother. Not only can he gossip with me, but he helps with shopping and cooking. He doesn't talk much about school and it worries me. I don't know, what if he's being bullied and won't tell us? If he's lonely and friendless? What if they beat him up for being a nerd? Do I need to punch some chumps? Thank god they're scared of eighth graders because whenever I'm near Nico, people stay away. *le gasp* Are eighth graders bullying him? They wouldn't dare. They'll wish they wouldn't dare.

"Sissy, Why are you cracking your knuckles?" Hazel looked up at me with the sweetest eyes. "I just thought they needed to be cracked." I responded, smiling sweetly. I was walking Hazel, Percy, and Leo home from school. We all know they can do it by themselves, but Percy and Hazel insist I take a selfie of us walking home so Reyna doesn't worry. They're so sweet, I might get diabetes. Nico is out shopping, hopefully he'll be home soon, if he isn't Hazel will worry. Possibly call the cops. She and Percy did that one time Reyna was ten minutes late getting home because she was getting us trinkets.

My phone buzzes and I check my messages. "She replied!" "What did she say?" Percy looks up at me with huge eyes. "Tell us tell us tell us!" Hazel jumps up and down, pulling on my arm. Leo pretends not to care, but I can see him leaning forward. He says that It's stupid to walk home with his older sister, but he secretly likes it. He tells Reyna that he doesn't mind, but I hear him complaining to Nico, something about his "street cred" and "The Ladies". I smile at them before reading the text aloud. "You guys look so happy! I hope you guys had a great day at school!" Hazel, who hasn't stopped bouncing up and down, begs "tell her I had a great day!" I smile, grab the phone, then I see the second message. It's about a paragraph in length, and says 'Ask Percy about his homework while Leo and Nico are around, they'll help. Ask Leo about fidgets. Ask Hazel about gym class. Ask Nico about how tutoring is going. Most importantly, ask yourself if you enjoyed today.' She gives me what seem like socializing tips, but it's more like what she can't ask, so she tells me to. I take a screenshot of the message, then delete it. I text back "Hazel says hi '' and show the phone to Hazel. She smiles and looks up at me brightly, cheers "Yay!"