Fandom Collision High (A PJO/HOO/TMI/Spiderman/HP/Lorien Legacies Crossover)

Chapter 6- Piper

Peter seemed really smart. I think Annabeth would have liked him. He was also pretty nice, which made him a natural friend. Neither of us would put up with jerks, which definitely didn't take long for us to learn about each other.

Tania was a bit of a nightmare. It was like she thought she was better than the rest of us, and she wasn't ashamed to show it. I knew I disliked her after even a few minutes with her, which wasn't as fast as I'd learned to hate Drew, but still impressive.

I felt bad for our classmate and tour guide, Riley, who we learned was a shy thespian. Tania just seemed interested in sending a pit-full of passive-aggressive comments his way. It got to the point where I knew Riley wasn't going to defend himself, but I wasn't going to take it anymore.

"Will you get your facts straight?" I asked at the same time Peter said, "I think it's cool." Tania had just insulted the fact that Riley had played Simba in the school's theater production last year.

"Excuse me?" she asked murderously, looking at me for what I realized was the first time.

"Acting isn't a walk in the park. It's hard, especially to get the leading role, and if you make it as an actor, people are always expecting the best from you. There's no privacy, no time to spend time with friends or family, and there's always a risk that the industry will drop you. It's a kind of bravery to pursue acting seriously, and it takes skill. I haven't seen you prove that you have either." I returned Tania's glare with a calm questioning look.

In between where Tania and I were standing, Peter gave me an approving look and then glanced at the other girl. "First lesson," he said. "You need to know when to give up." I thought he was trying not to smile.

She looked at him and then back at me, glaring for a few more seconds. "Whatever." Then she stormed up ahead, acting like she knew where we were going.

Riley fell in-step with us as we watched Tania pause before walking in what I assumed was a random direction.

"She's going the wrong way," Riley said softly.

"She needs to realize that she's not going to be at the top of the social pyramid," I said. "I don't know what school's like in England, but she's got to get used to the American food chain." I didn't mean it in a rude way, I was fairly sure the boys didn't think I did either.

We walked to the end of the hall mostly in silence.

"So," Riley ventured. "You know a lot about acting? Did you do a lot of it at your old school?"

I shook my head, then stopped. "Well, I am in drama, but I prefer to stay out of the spotlight. I've just... I've seen somebody close to me go through it."

"Cool. So, like, one of your parents acts?"

I nodded. "Something like that."

"Have you guys seen the new sci-fi movie in theaters? The one with the AI that comes alive and tries to kill everybody? It's pretty unrealistic."

Riley nodded vigorously. "I thought it was really good. One of my favourite actors starred in it, so I had to see it as soon as it came out."

"Oh? Who?" I asked innocently.

"My idol. He's done all kinds of roles in a bunch of different movie genres, and he's considered one of the gods of acting, even if he is pretty old. His name's Tristan McLean." I winced inwardly and then wrote a mental note to make sure Riley didn't figure out my last name.

I also winced for my dad. That wasn't the first time that somebody had called him old in front of me. Then again, my siblings could be a bit dense, and Riley hadn't meant it in a rude way.

"Yeah, he's pretty cool," Peter agreed. "He was in that movie King of Sparta, right?"

Riley opened his mouth to respond, but I beat him there. "Yeah, he's been in a lot of stuff."

He looked at me. "You know him, too? That's awesome. Did you know he's been working on two movies over the last year? We should go see the other one when it comes out."

I wasn't so sure about that. If I walked into an opening night movie, there was a possibility of getting recognized. It wasn't like I was famous, but some fans were seriously obsessed with my dad. Most of them were middle-aged women. Too bad none of them could ever hope to help him get over Aphrodite.

"Maybe," Peter said. "Should we call her back?"

We'd reached the end of the hallway. To the left, Tania was almost disappearing around the next corner, and somewhere to the right were the math classrooms where we were headed.

"Probably," he agreed, deflated.

"Tania, you're going the wrong way. I know you're annoyed, but can you just come here so we can talk it out?" I wove a bit of charmspeak into my words to make sure she did actually come. We didn't need to waste time chasing her around.

Five minutes later, I'd talked her into laying off the comments, and we were turning into the math hallway. Riley had saved this for last because it was where most of them were spending second period. Actually, Peter was in pre-cal, and the other two were in essentials. I was the only one not in math this semester, so I had french.

I'd never taken french before, but after I discovered I could speak it in Quebec, I'd wanted to test how naturally it would come. Over the PA system, the bell rang, so I waved goodbye to the other new kids, and took off.

Riley asked me if I needed help finding it again, but I told him I was good. Peter and Riley were both so different, but they both reminded me of Leo. It wasn't really how they acted, because in that way, neither of them was anything like him. They didn't call me Beauty Queen or fidget with megaphones to make their gym teacher's sound like Darth Vader, but being around them simply made me remember what it felt like to have a best friend who you could hang out with.

Sure, Jason was an amazing boyfriend and Annabeth was probably my best friend, but Leo had been like an annoying little brother. Percy was like my brother, too, but it wasn't the same. The war had matured him, and I still loved him like a sibling, but he felt more like a supportive older brother.

Leo... I felt a tear slip down my cheek. I don't think I'd ever be able to completely get over his loss. Neither would Percy or Hazel, or any of the seven, but I know he would want us to. I wiped the tear away, and walked into french.