Teenage Dirtbag - Wheatus 01:43 ━━━━●───── 04:07 ⇆ㅤ ㅤ◁ㅤ ❚❚ ㅤ▷ ㅤㅤ↻ ılıılıılıılıılıılı ᴠᴏʟᴜᴍᴇ : ▮▮▮▮▮▮

Piper had always been a social outcast, though not for the reasons you might expect. At first, everyone wanted to be her friend—her dad was a celebrity, after all. The daughter of a famous actor, living a life that seemed glamorous and exciting from the outside. But the moment they got close, reality set in. Piper was… different. Weird, some said. Uncool, others whispered. She wasn’t like the other kids who fit perfectly into the popular crowd, and just as quickly as they’d flocked to her, they’d vanish, chasing after the next trend, the next “cool kid” to hang with.

It happened again and again.

Her reputation became a revolving door of fake friends and sudden betrayals. After misbehaving for the tenth time—mostly out of frustration and the need to be noticed—her dad finally decided to move her to another school. This time, Piper made a conscious decision: she wouldn’t mention her dad. No celebrity name dropping. No advantage. Just Piper.

But that only made things worse.

Without the shiny spotlight of her dad’s fame, the kids treated her like any other outcast. They teased her for being a loner, for the awkward way she sometimes spoke, for not fitting in. Then, when some discovered who her father really was—and that he was going through a very public financial downfall—her status shifted from “weird kid” to “loser.” The bullying didn’t stop; it only got meaner.

So when her family uprooted and moved to Oklahoma, Piper hoped for something different—something better. She hoped to find a place where she could just be normal, or at least as normal as a demigod could be. A place where she wasn’t defined by her dad’s mistakes or the rumors swirling around her.

But stepping into the school that first day, it was clear things hadn’t changed. The moment she walked through the doors, whispers trailed her like shadows. “There’s Piper McLean—the daughter of the famous actor who lost everything.” The weight of those words hung in the air, heavy and relentless. Once again, she was the outcast.

But this time, she wasn’t alone.

You were there, too—the other outcast. Not because of fame or fortune, but because you had a passion for something everyone else dismissed as nonsense: magic. Most kids thought it was silly, childish even. Magic wasn’t real, they said. But to you, it was real enough to lose yourself in.

Piper knew you weren’t going to learn anything about the gods’ powers—after all, you were mortal—but you were good company. Better than sitting alone in silence, anyway.

During lunch, the two of you sat at your usual table, tucked away at the back of the cafeteria, sharing the usual tasteless school lunch. The noise and chatter of other students faded into the background as you both found comfort in each other’s presence.

“Do you ever wonder what it’s like not being an outcast?” Piper’s voice was soft, almost hesitant. “Like, just… being normal? Having a normal school life?”