HoO One-Shots

The Detour

(Jason's P.O.V)
Piper, Percy, Annabeth, Frank, Hazel, Leo, Calypso, Nico, Will, Clarisse, Chris and I were all road tripping across the country from Camp Half-Blood to pay a visit to Reyna and everyone else at Camp Jupiter.
The seating was:
Calypso | Leo(Driver)
Chris | Clarisse | Hazel
Nico | Will | Frank
Me | Piper
Percy | Annabeth

We were about 3 hours into the drive, which meant that Percy and Annabeth had gotten very comfortable in the backseat by now, and were... Enjoying eachother's company, if you know what I mean, creating some pretty load slurping sounds and moans, and leaving Piper and I in the least desirable seats of the entire car. Piper was laying her head on my shoulder, staring out the window. Even though she was right there it felt like she was a million miles away from me, from this van, from Percy and Annabeth's makeout sesh. She'd been acting like this for a while now, quiet, despondent and distant, and she'd barely said more than a 'hello' and a 'goodbye' to me in weeks. I'd tried to to talk to her about it, but she just brushed it off; however, with so much time away from camp and in the car, I was determined to get her to talk to me.

We were essentially driving in the middle of nowhere. There were just a few bare trees surrounding us; other than them it was just dust, grass and dirt. Piper, who was still looking out the window, rather suddenly shot up, looking as though she had had an idea on how to save the world (hello, we already did that!) ."Leo, stop the car please." Piper commanded. Everyone (other than Leo who is a very responsible driver) turned to her in shock. "Why? Can you see someone who needs help? Or a monster?" Leo asked, really worried. Piper shook her head, letting a few strands of hair fall across her face. "No it's not that. And no Leo, I am not going to pee in a bush!" "Then wha-" "I just want you to stop the car so I can get out, okay?!" Piper was getting kind of exasperated at this point, and we were all super confused. I wasn't the only one who had noticed her strange behaviour lately, and this was the most she had said to any of us in nearly a month. Leo obliged and pulled over on the side of the road. Piper hopped out of the car and said "Just give me 10 minutes, I'll be right back, okay?" She flashed us the fakest of fake smiles and ran of towards one of the trees, quite far away, but close enough that we could still see her.

We all shared a look of concern for Piper, who had started climbing on of the tallest trees. "What in Hades is she doing?" Said Percy, who had finished eating Annabeth's face a few minutes ago. "I don't know." I said. "I just don't know anymore." Percy gave me a sympathetic pat on the back, before we all turned out attention back to Piper. She had climbed pretty high, and had found a stable branch to sit on, which she straddled and shuffled on until she was comfortable, hooking her feet at the bottom. I heard a few people muttering things like "what the Hades" "has she gone mad" "is she going to jump?", but I ignored them. I was focused on watching her, and getting some winds ready to catch her if she fell. I squinted, trying to see her clearly. She had closed her eyes and- "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH." It was Piper. Except- she hadn't fallen. She hadn't been attacked. She was just sitting there, perfectly fine, screaming her head of. She was really very far away, so her scream wasn't that loud from where we were sitting, but I could only imagine how loud it would have been had we been sitting on that tree with her.

She took a few deep breaths, her chest rising and falling calmly for a moment, and then she went again. And again. And again. And again. And again. She kept going for just over 5 minutes, before she stopped and just sat there, breathing, for a minute, before her eyes fluttered open. She looked around for a few seconds before she did something that surprised me far more than the screams. She smiled. An actual, genuine, real, happy smile. Well, not happy, just... Content. Not a fake smile, not an "I'm fine" smile. Just a smile. It was the first I had seen in far, far too long. It made me smile like an idiot. Then, ever so gracefully, she fell backwards. Everybody except Leo and Annabeth (and me) gasped and turned to me, expecting me to go and save her. The three of us just chuckled and then pointed to Piper. The show had just begun. When everyone turned they discovered that Piper had not, in fact, fallen, but was quickly and gracefully descending the tree with a series of flips, turns, back handsprings, swings and jumps from branch to branch. When she reached the bottom she stood with ease, before bowing to an imaginary audience and laughing a little at herself. It made me happy to see her doing gymnastics again. It had been so long since she had done it last, and I knew she loved it. I'm going to be honest, my eyes watered up a bit. Not out of sadness, but out of happiness. Out of reminiscence. Because for just a moment, she had looked like the old Piper. The girl I fell in love with. Piper brushed her hands of on her shirt, shaking her head, before starting to walk back to the car. "Ugh, guys?" Said Nico, "Do we mention the-uh-the screaming?" Oh poor Nico. He was only just getting used to the whole 'interacting with other human beings' thing, and he still didn't always know what to do in social situations. "No!" Annabeth screamed. "Not a single one of you are to mention this to Piper! As far as you're concerned, you never even saw her leave the car, understood? Percy, when Piper gets back, your switching seats with her-"
"-but!" "No buts!" Annabeth said, which got raised eyebrows from Percy. Annabeth blushed and punched Percy in the arm, looking down. When she looked back up, he was giving her puppy dog eyes. Annabeth sighed and rolled her eyes. She looked at Hazel, Clarisse, and Calypso. "Boys, am I right? It's like he would die if he wasn't holding my hand!" She said, which got some very enthusiastic nods from the girls, and some very offended "Hey!"s from their respective boyfriends. Annabeth leaned in and whispered something I couldn't hear, which made Percy's eyes widen. "Really?!" He said, sounding like an excited 5-year-old. "Mm-hm. Except kill me. Under no circumstances can you kill me. But other than that," she started whispering again so I couldn't hear her. Percy nodded very rapidly, kissed Annabeth's cheek and hopped into Piper's seat. Perfect timing, because Piper had just gotten back.

"Percy why are you in my seat?" She asked as she opened the door. We all froze. We hadn't thought of an excuse to give her. I thought we were royally screwed until Will said, "Sorry Piper, but Percy and Annabeth wouldn't stop making out, and I think Nico was about to throw up, so I, being the great boyfriend I am, forcefully seperated them. You don't mind sitting with Annabeth, do you?" Piper laughed for a second before shaking her head and sitting next to Annabeth. I had to admit, I was kind of impressed by Will's quick thinking. He was fairly new to our little group, but I had a feeling he was going to fit in very quickly. "Okay, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Barked Clarisse. With that, Leo pulled back onto the main road, setting us back on course after our weird little detour.

(Piper's P.O.V)
Ok, I know what your thinking, 'oh my gods, Piper's gone crazy!!' But no, I have not gone crazy, I've just been dealing with a lot of stuff lately. I haven't told any of my friends, because I don't want them to totally freak out, even though I'm pretty sure they've all figured out that something is up, but I've been dealing with anxiety, and depression, and in what I've been dealing with every stress and feeling and thought and wish has just been building inside me, waiting to explode. But at Camp Half-Blood, and at home in the city, there's nowhere to go to be alone and not be heard. There's always someone around the corner, waiting for me, hearing what I do or say. When we were driving, as we were passing that empty area, I couldn't help but think that; noone was around for miles. It's true that in space no one can hear you scream, but in that moment I realised that the same goes for an empty field in the middle of nowhere.

I know my friends must have thought I was crazy, but they probably already thought that, so not much would have changed. Maybe they did decide to watch me. I doubt that they could hear me from that far away, but I probably looked crazy; straddling a tall branch and screaming my lungs out. Still it felt so good. To let go of everything, the pain, the sadness, the worry. I felt so good I did gymnastics for the first time in who knows how long. I know I'm bonkers. Totally insane. But someone wise once said that all the best people are.

Hi! I hope you liked this one shot! This story is based on something that happened to me. I was driving in the country, and I had the sudden urge to ask the driver to pull over the car so I could go scream, and let go of my issues. I didn't, but I was inspired to write about it, and who better to convey my own issues than the lovely Piper McLean. If this one shot gets 5 votes, I'll make a part 2.

XOXO Genie