Chapter 1

I'd like to think that everything happens for a reason. That we are not all just people wandering around aimlessly, with no purpose. That my small existence has a greater meaning. Otherwise, what is it all for? Why did I get to live? I am suppose to be dead. Sometimes, I think it would be easier if I was. Sometimes I try to picture a world where I'm not around. I wonder what would happen to the people I love. I figure, they are all strong enough to go on without me. Who am I kidding though? I'm too selfish to ever be without them. To be without her. She in a way, is my existence, if you define your life by the good you've done; which I do. Then I could safely say she is my reason, my will, my existence.

…

Annabeth

I walked quickly into the nearest Starbucks, away from the chilly New York, November air. The warmth of the shop hit me in a very welcome embrace. I unraveled the scarf from around my neck and slipped into the line to order. I ordered three coffees, one for me and my two best friends; who were running late.

As I sat down at one of the small table, a bell at the door chimed. I looked up to see the flushed faces of my two best friends, Piper McLean and Thalia Grace. I glanced at my phone, school started in about twenty minutes, and we still had to walk another four blocks.

I handed the girls their coffees and started to walk out of the store. "Oh, no Annabeth please, can't we stay in this wonderfully heated coffee shop for just a few more minutes?" Piper practically begged.

"No, you two were late, we only have twenty minutes until school starts, and we have to go now!" I reasoned.

"Oh, c'mon Annie! Lighten up; it won't kill us if we are a few minutes late to first period!" Thalia countered.

Thalia's nose scrunched up in anticipation for my reaction, marring the slight sprinkle of freckles on her face. Thalia was your typical punk rocker. The one thing she couldn't live without was her iPod. I was pretty sure her headphones were permanently attached to her ears. She had her music blasting then, making me wonder how she could even hear a word I said.

"Maybe it wouldn't kill you, but my father and step monster would have my head on a silver platter. She'd probably even serve it to my annoying little brothers!" I exclaimed.

My mother had died when I was nine, and my father had gotten married not even a year later. The terrible twins didn't take long to come either. My stepmother hated me, and I hated her in return. I also slightly resented my father for moving on so quickly from my mother. It had taken years for me to get over the trauma of my mother's death and my father took what felt like a week.

"Ugh, fine let's go!" Thalia gave in. "Great! Oh, and don't call me Annie!" I threatened as I wrapped my scarf around my neck once again. I braced myself for the cool air, as the three of us stepped outside together.

"Brrr!" Piper whined, as she tugged her snowboarding jacket closer to her body. Piper was beautiful, but she did her best to play it down. Her brown hair was choppy and as usual, in a braid with a feather artfully weaved in. Framing her kaleidoscope eyes were natural long, dark eyelashes that when she blinked, brushed against her flushed crimson cheek bones

Even though the weather in New York had been frightfully cold, New York City had not yet seen snow. I remembered that it was supposed to snow that night, and I couldn't wait. I loved winter in New York. It reminded me of when my mother used to take me to Central Park to play in the snow. When I would get tired, we would walk back to our apartment together after buying our favorite hot chocolate from a street vendor. Of course, that was all before she got sick.

I snapped back to reality when Thalia stopped abruptly. I accidentally stepped on Thalia's black 'prized' combat boots. Thalia took her ear buds out and looked back at me with an eyebrow raised. Her electric blue eyes flashed, which looked particularly menacing through her thick, black eyeliner. She had a "you did not just do that look" on her face. "Sorry Thals, I wasn't watching!" I said quickly, trying to slowly back away from her.

Even if Thalia and I had been friends since first grade, Thalia is still managed to scare me. Thalia pretty much scared everyone on a daily basis actually; except for Piper and me. Thalia's tough attitude and overall intimidating appearance led most people to steer clear of Thalia Grace. No one really knew how to approach a girl with a shirt that said "death to Barbie" on it.

The three of us had stopped in front of the school, waiting for the hoards of people to pass before we decided to venture into the nightmare we called junior year. "Are you girls ready for our daily dose of humiliation, and social shunning?" Piper asked in a sickly, sweet voice. Piper can make anything sound amazing.

"Why of course Piper!" Thalia said imitating Pipers earlier voice. We latched elbows, and entered Goode High School.

We walked through the halls seemingly unnoticed. The three of us said hi to a few friends as we walked by, but most of the attention was on the 'popular' crowds. They were all broken up into different cliques. They rarely ever interacted with each other. There were the obvious choices, like the jocks and the cheerleaders, but there was also the untouchable gangs the Demigods and the Titans.

The Demigods were one of two rivaling gangs at Goode High School, which consisted of the school's number one playboy Percy Jackson. The other gang, the Titans; was run by Luke Castellan, who was equally as notorious for using women as Percy, the only difference was Luke had a reputation for having a bad temper. .

Once the three of us finished at our locker and the first bell rang to get to class, Thalia and Piper set off to their first period, while I walked alone to my math class. I did my best to remain discreet, but somehow the popular crowd noticed me scurrying down the hall.

"Hey Chase, what's your hurry?" Percy Jackson's voice bellowed through the halls. I turned to see the Gang leader smirking at me nonchalantly. I had to admit he was gorgeous, with his sea green eyes, and perfectly wind-blown, jet black hair. It was no wonder he had practically every girl begging at his feet for attention, with the exception of me.

"Oh, you know, to get to class. I actually want to go to college and help to make a difference in this world, unlike you Jackson." I replied, before turning around and walking off.

"At least he's not some freak, loser like you!" Drew Tanaka called from right next Percy. I hadn't seen her before, but when I looked back I saw Drew hanging on Percy like he was her lifeline.

My ear's burned in embarrassment. I had always been teased for being extraordinarily smart. I was never ashamed of being intelligent; it was other people who made me feel as though I was a freak. I had come to terms with my intelligence though, it was something that kept me connected to my mother. My mother was a professor at Columbia, she was incredibly intelligent. I wasn't going to let anyone ruin that connection to her. It felt like as long as I continued to push myself to be the best I could be, I became closer to her, and to everything she accomplished. I always told myself not to let name calling like that bother me anymore, or at least I tried to.

I turned around and called out to Drew, "Um, who's the freak here? At least I don't look like a clown. Seriously Drew, you might want to lay off the makeup. Oh, and the perfume! I can smell that rancid stuff from all the way over here!"

Drew's jaw dropped, along with many others that were around. No one talked to Drew Tanaka like that, it was practically social suicide. I didn't care, it's not like I had much of a social life in the first place. Feeling completely satisfied with my comeback, I pranced down the hall to my first period with a smirk on my face.

Percy

Damn Annabeth Chase, I thought. All because of her I had to listen to Drew complain about how everything that Annabeth said was untrue. Sure, I agreed with Annabeth on the perfume and makeup thing, but I would never admit to Annabeth Chase being right. Ever. That girl had pride the size of Texas, and I had no intention of making it any bigger.

Once I had finally wriggled away from Drew, I decided to skip third period for a smoke break. I had never really been into the drugs, smoking, and alcohol thing until freshman year. Freshman year was the year my father Poseidon recruited me into the Half bloods. My father had started the gang when he was a kid in High School, and now I was in charge. Poseidon still looked over all the proceedings, but he had bigger, more illegal things to deal with than a teenage gang.

I was in the hallway right next to the boy's bathroom when I heard, the faint clap of foot steps. From around the corner came none other than Annabeth Chase. The girl was a major teacher's pet, and all the teachers asked her to run errands, she was barely ever in class.

Something about that girl got on my nerves. She wasn't like most nerds who cowered away from me, she actually stood her ground. It was intriguing, yet extremely infuriating. She certainly didn't look like any stereotypical nerd either, she was all long legs, and even in the winter she had the perfect California tan. Her long blonde curls, swayed to her back as she walked down the hall. When she saw me in the hallway she frowned and started walking in the opposite direction.

"Oh come on Chase, don't tell me you're scared of me now?" I called after her. She stopped mid-step in the hallway. She turned around with her eyebrows raised, and her grey eyes blazing.

"Me? Scared of you? Please! I just didn't want to get in a fight with you, and be here all day. I have to get back to class!" She huffed, her pride obviously damaged.

"Of course, you could never miss a lesson; you just have to have perfect grades, perfect attendance, and be the perfect student. You're just plain perfect, huh?" I commented.

My sea green eyes narrowed. In a way, I was slightly jealous of Annabeth. Annabeth had a future, something to look forward to in life. And what did I have? All I would ever have is my gang, but did I really want to stay a criminal for the rest of my life? I wasn't so sure.

Annabeth frowned, as if contemplating my earlier statement. "I'm not perfect. Far from it, I actually have to work to succeed," she answered honestly.

Annabeth left me confused. I was used to her wearing her pride on her shoulder. Annabeth was smart and she knew it. She walked around the halls with her head held high with a confidence that couldn't be faked.

I pursed my lips. The faultless Annabeth Chase was admitting she wasn't perfect, it was strange. "That's a very noble and modest thing to say, Chase. When did you get all high and mighty?" I asked her.

"Maybe, I've always been like this. You have no idea who I am, Jackson. All you care about is you and your own little world! You have no idea what goes on in anyone's life, but your own. You may go through life watching the world pass you by, but have you ever stopped to think about anyone else? The sun doesn't rise and set just for you, you know." She ranted. Annabeth huffed, and a faint blush crossed her cheeks, as if she just realized what she had said. My eyes turned to slits as I watched her.

No one talked to me like that. Ever. It seemed like everyone was always walking on eggshells around me, like they were scared of me. I suppose they had a right to be, I had done some pretty horrible things those past couple of years. Goode High School had no idea what I was capable of though, and I guess that is why everyone was so afraid to speak their mind around me; they were afraid I'd snap at them. Just like I was about to snap at Annabeth.

"You are such a hypocrite! You don't know anything about me! What exactly is it that you care about, huh? When have you ever stopped and asked someone what was going on in their lives? I'm going to guess never, because you're too involved in your books to look up and see the world doesn't revolve around you." I growled back.

I watched her as she scrambled to come up with a comeback. Her foreign grey eyes brightened and darkened as she soaked in information.

Annabeth was no different from anyone else at Goode High School. Everyone at my school only listened to the rumors about me and the Half-bloods. The only people who actually truly knew me was my cousin Nico D'Angelo and Grover Underwood. It made me so angry when I would walk down the hallways and I would hear people whispering my name, when I had never even spoken to them once. Sure, maybe I wasn't the best guy in world. Alright, fine; I can admit that I'm not a good person, but that is no one's business but my own.

Annabeth slowly raised her eyes to mine. Her eyes turned to saucers as she took in my angry expression. Annabeth's lips sealed into a fine line she replied. She looked as though she was struggling to stay calm. "Fine, we both don't know each other! We can at least agree on that. So why don't we just leave each other alone and stay out of each others lives! It's not like we're friends anyway, to be honest I really don't like you. So, we never have to talk to each other again!"

"Yeah, whatever. We agree we don't like each other, and we avoid each other as much as possible. Sounds great." I said in a monotone voice.

"Fine," Annabeth said.

Annabeth was not going to have the last word, I always got the last word.

"Fine!" I said in attempt to end the argument.

Of course the mature thing for Annabeth to do, would be for her to walk away, but where is the fun in that?

"Fine!" Annabeth said in an outburst.

"Fine!" I exclaimed.

Thankfully, the bell for fourth period rang, ending our immature spat.

"Ugh! Whatever, Jackson!" Annabeth stomped off, down the hall and away from me.

I just stood there with my jaw clenched, cigarette still in hand. I silently cursed Annabeth Chase. She was without a doubt the most annoying girl I had ever meant, and that's saying something, considering I dated Drew Tanaka for a week.

I shook my head, and threw down my cigarette and stomped on it. I slowly began to walk to my fourth period, hoping I would never have to deal with Annabeth Chase and her smart mouth again.