Chapter One- Thalia Grey
Thalia Grey, only sixteen years old, and is in the tenth-grade, but barely has enough education that would help her pass high school and enter college. She is though, lucky and fortunate, because she'd got a scholarship to Hollywood Arts. The reason behind her getting a scholarship is that; she is a straight A student. The reason behind lack of knowledge is the fact that Thalia has to move and travel around the world because of her parents' job. It's hard, trying to make new friends, leaving places she didn't want to leave, always trying to convince her parents to stay, and while doing all of that, she tries so hard not to cry.
Thalia has wavy, dark brown hair, with the length reaching her mid-back. Her eyes are brown, but in any light it glistens into an amber color. She is small and petite looking a bit ostentatious around other people. Her skin is pale, but not very pale, and she has rosy cheeks.
"Sweetie, it's time for your first day of school…again!" Her mom shouts, chuckling at her own joke.
Thalia rolls her eyes; she didn't really like her mom, ever since her little separation with her dad. Her mom's tone of voice is all giddy and happy, probably because of her new boyfriend she had recently met. Thalia quickly walks down the stairs, skipping two steps at a time. She grabs an apple from her kitchen, and leaves the house without saying 'good-bye' to her mom.
When Thalia looks out the house, she sees her dad drinking the coffee in the car, while reading a newspaper, with the car already started. Thalia smiles a little, it's funny seeing him in there, yet also saddening seeing her dad not strong enough to say 'Good Morning!' to her mother. What is a bit unusual about her family is that, they still live together (even though they're divorced) because if one of them leaves the house, one of them will start getting poor, which is a bit smart actually (if you think about it), and none of them want what's worst for their daughter, after what Thalia has been through, she doesn't deserve to be in a poor enviorment.
She walks to her dad's car and gets in there. He asks, "So, are you excited for your first day of school? Again?" He sighs and strongly puts up an anxious smile.
Thalia smiles back. Out of her two parents, obviously, she likes her dad the best (if you haven't noticed), he is cool, even though he's thirty-three (and yes, her father did get pregnant with her mother at the age seventeen. You know teenagers back then, always doing crazy things, and her parents were [as a fact] crazy back then).
Thalia thought for a few seconds, staring at her dad, as he begins setting his coffee and newspaper down. He starts to drive and she answers, "Now that I think about it, I have to admit; yes, I am a bit excited for Hollywood Arts. It's a prestigious, art/music high school! I've never heard of such a unique school like that before, as a matter of fact." One of the things Thalia favors (and is best at) is art.
Now that Thalia has set her mind on that school, it made her heart pump with nervousness and excitement. Her entire body shakes with giddiness and happiness. She hopes she could make at least one friend by the end of this week, which rarely happens.
Her dad, Ben Grey, smiles with her, "Well then, I'm glad you are happy," he pretends to clear his throat, "you know," clears his throat again, "I was the one who suggested that school." He looks ahead and hides his smile, but fails.
Thalia laughs, "Well thanks, Dad!" The rest of the drive was silent. Quiet to the point she could hear her heart beating with adrenaline and popping out of her chest, some at points she found it hard to breathe.
When, Thalia arrives at Hollywood Arts, her dad shouts as she gets out of the car, "Have fun at school, Thalia." She stops and gets back in the car, kissing her dad on the cheek, while smiling brightly, and then gets back out of the car, going their separate ways. As she turns around, she sees the school packed with people dancing and doing flips, people singing, and people reading with enthusiasm from sheets of paper, or scripts.
She goes straight to the office to get to her locker combination and her schedule. She looks at the other lockers, seeing different, and unique decorated lockers. She stares at each locker with fascination and interest. Each one has its own unique design. Some were brighter than others, some were duller, some were creative, and some were stranger.
When she finally reaches her locker (the only plain, boring, un-decorated locker) she sighs and inserts her locker combination she learned in seconds. 10-26-5. Opening her locker she sees five books, each one a different size, going up from biggest to smallest.
"'Cuse me." A boy says with black, shoulder-length hair, bending down to do his locker.
Thalia jumps a little, "Oh! Sorry." She moves to the side quickly grabbing her books.
The boy exclaims, "Wait!" He laughs, "Are you know here, at H-A? I've never seen you here before." He smiles blocking her direction, even though she has no idea where she is going.
Thalia blinks, and then smiles softly at the stranger, "Yes, I am. Do you need something from me?" She asks narrowing her brows in confusion. She holds her books with one arm and uses her other free arm to run it through her hair.
The mysterious boy keeps smiling but, stops, thinks, and then replies, "I do, now that you think about it. My cool, crazy, strange teacher Sikowitz is giving extra credit to students, if we give an all-day tour. So it's a win/win for everyone. Well…not everyone, but you know what I mean. Interested?" He laughs.
Thalia laughs with him, "The fact that you're kind of using me for a grade makes me not want to do this tour, but hey. Beggars can't be choosers. I want the tour."
He lifts up a brow, "I'm not really doing it for a grade, just doing a small act of kindness 'is all." She snickers and thinks, I'm sure you are. "By the way, my name's Beck. Beck Oliver."
Thalia answers back, "Thalia Grey." They stare at each other for a few minutes, until Thalia breaks the silence, "So, do you know where," she looks at the paper with her schedule on it, "where Mrs. Brynes room is? Room 306."
"Uh, yeah! I have her too, for first period. I'll walk you there. Coincidence, huh?" Very, she thought but she went along with it. He begins talking as they begin to walk, "So what brings you here at HA, Thalia, if I may ask?" pronouncing the high school by its first initials
Thalia walks slower, "Well, it's a long story, I'd rather not say, if you don't mind. Maybe another time though." She stares ahead, ignoring the stares coming from Beck.
Just as Beck was about to say something, a small, petite, red-head girl jumps on Beck's back, and covers his eyes with her hands. She giggles loudly, "Guess…who…it is, Beck?"
They both jump because of the squeal that came from her mouth. Thalia sees Beck's face squint, "Okay, I'm guessing it's, Cat?"
She gets off him and stares him at him with her mouth open, "Oh my, God! How did you know, Beck? You didn't even see me!" She pulls her brows together in frustration, confused. "I don't understand!"
Thalia tilts her head a little, making a strange face at her saying, "He probably knew it was you, from the sound of your voice." She brings hair to the side with her arm.
The girl named Cat laughs, "Oh! Okay!"
Beck just snickers to himself, "By the way, this is my friend Cat Valentine. Cat this is Thalia Grey, I just met her ten minutes ago."
Thalia waves 'hi'.
Cat twirls a few strains of hair, "Hi! 'Kay 'Kay, well I gotta get to class." She walks away making shame-on-you fingers, and puckering her lips to Beck.
Beck makes an it's-not-what-you-think-face. He sighs, "Let's get to class, Thalia." She agrees with him, nodding her head; holding her book against her chest. When they arrive he guides her to a seat in the middle and he sits right next to her.
Thalia takes out a clean sheet of filer paper and begins writing what's on the board. She keeps writing and writing and writing. The teacher isn't here yet? She thinks. It has already passed twenty minutes, and the teacher isn't here yet. Another few minutes pass, and she finishes writing what's on the board.
She looks over at Beck and sees him listening to music while sleeping.
"Beck!" She whispers loudly. No answer. "Beck!" she whispers louder. No answer again. "BECK!" she whispers louder than before. This made her irritated. She stretches over and yanks on his hair.
"AGH!" he yells quietly to himself. He makes a 'what' gesture, slightly putting his hands up. "What?" he whispers loudly, louder than her whispers.
Thalia laughs inside, "Sorry. Where's, Mrs. Brynes?"
"She's at home, right now, obviously." He replies drumming his desk with pencils. While humming something he is hearing from his PearPod. He looks around and then looks back at Thalia, who is twitching her eye vigorously. "What?"
Thalia takes a deep breath, "So, you're telling me that this teacher, gets paid, for not teaching? What's the point in calling this person a teacher then?"
Beck widens his eyes and shuts off his PearPod, "Calm down! This class is like a study hall, almost like a study hall, really. You learn history like normal people, but in this class you also learn how to concentrate, and focus. Each class teaches you many things. Classes don't always have to teach you subjects, they can also teach you about life and living. And sometimes, even tips to living a successful life."
Thalia sighs, thinking; I've had enough of this school. This place is too weird for me. I need water. She rubs her head, "Okay, thanks." Oh boy, and this is just the beginning…
When the bell rang Thalia slowly walked out, with her eyes widened and bloodshot. She looks at her next class on her schedule, Literature. Room 323.
"See you at lunch, Thalia!" Beck shouts waving. She ignores him, and just keeps walking.
When she reaches her Literature class, she actually saw a teacher. She made a sigh of relief and muttered to herself, "I can't stand silence anymore. It's like detention, only worst!"
A guy's voice scares her and asks, "What's up, cupcake?"
She turns around and sees a guy in glasses with curly-brown hair, holding a puppet. He points at the puppet saying, "It wasn't me! I swear it was, Rex!" He puts one hand in the air surrendering.
"Okay, first you call me cupcake, and then you blame it on the puppet? Why can't you—"
The puppet, 'Rex' asked, "What'd you say?"
Thalia twitches her eye again, "How did you do that?"
The curly-haired boy asked widening his eyes, "Do what?"
"You know! You made that puppet move without saying or murmuring anything. You just did it like it talked on its own, which is impossible. Isn't it?"
The boy answered, "He's NOT a PUPPET!"
Thalia flinches dropping her book and putting her hands in the air, "Okay, okay! It's not a puppet, sorry! Don't hurt me, please! It's not nice to bully the new girl with that small, thing!" She closes her eyes shaking. She quickly bends down and quickly picks up everything she dropped and walks away from the weirdoes.
"My name is, Robbie! Aww, forget it…" The curly-haired boy walks to an empty desk on the corner sits on the seat and puts his head down.
Mr. Barnes was the teacher for Literature, plus this class was a little normal-ish. They get a script of paper and they acted out a scene from a play called Alice in Wonderland. Thalia was the Queen of Hearts, and in her perspective, she did really well. People laughed at the tone in her voice.
Next was Algebra II, and that one was a breeze. The teacher=Mr. Cone, who is the sweetest mathematician and scientist. He gave everyone licorice at the end of class. Although, Thalia was pissed off at the fact that people took advantage of the elder man because he has a hearing aid/problem.
After Algebra II was Drama, with a teacher named Sikowitz, not Mr. Sikowitz. He had a bald head in the middle and scruffs of hair sticking out from the left and the right. He wore baggy, dull-colored clothes, and was barefoot. He looked like a vagabond.
Beck was there too, along with this girl hooking her arm around his, "Hey Thalia!" Beck waved un-hooking his arm and going over to her. His arm was around her waist and he brought her in closer to him. Thalia didn't notice until she saw it.
"Hi, Beck. This school is weird…" Thalia says, rubbing her head, while trying so hard NOT to remember her earlier encounters. "I met this guy named Robbie, who had a puppet named Rex, and it or he talked on his own and—" she looks over where this girl's shoulder and points, "he's over there."
He laughs, "I know, the," he whispers, "puppet, does talk on his own."
"Get. Off. Him!" A girl shouts pushing Thalia away from Beck.
Beck gives Thalia an apologizing look, which Thalia totally understood. It was his girlfriend. Beck begins to talk gingerly and nervously, "Uh, Thalia, this is Jade. Jade, this is Thalia Grey."
Jade looks at Thalia up and down, then back at Beck, "I don't care who she is, Beck, why are you hanging out with a girl like her?" Narrowing her eyes at him.
And from then on Thalia knew that this was the beginning of trouble.