A/N: This fanfiction was my nanowrimo project, it is the most I have ever written for anything ever in my short lifetime so it has a special place in my heart. It's a fanfiction with many sources of inspiration, the plot is inspired by Beyonce's song 'Pretty Hurts' and I used the TV show 'Toddlers in Tiaras' as research, the plot for the later half is inspired by the musical 'Bugsy Malone', the setting is inspired by an article I read in a torn magazine in my work canteen on the 'Centro di Financiero' in Venezuela. And ALL the characters come from, of course, Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus series. Here you go, this is the pilot chapter and I promise not every Authors note will be this long.

Lights. Applause. A pretty smile that doesn't reach her eyes. A meek unexcited hand wave. Congratulatory words that held no truth.

Then the makeup and the dresses are wiped off and packed up, shoved into a van that Piper is shoved into just as carelessly.

That was the life of a beauty pageant queen, and it was all Piper had known. She had been performing since she was four, eleven years later and Piper didn't enjoy a minute of it. She hated parading around in gaudy outfits in front of a panel of gross middle aged idiots. Ultimately, she hated smiling. Piper smiled, and smiled some more. She smiled constantly like her mouth was surely going to snap from the contortion. Piper was more than just a pretty face, of course. Beauty pageant code demanded that she was able to recite dance routines, twirl batons and gently declare that she wanted world peace. Piper hated that too.

Why?

Because her mother was a scary manipulative queen bee. It was all very subtle, never obvious. Piper was sometimes convinced by her charm. Affie hid everything beneath layers of ulterior motives, like a sickly sweet layer cake. The biggest lie she spun was that she wanted what was best for her daughter because she loved so very deeply. Piper had believed that for years, as a little girl she hung on her mother's every word. Piper began to notice that true maternal love was what mothers in movies did, making lunches in brown papers bags and kissing them goodbye on the cheek as they raced off to catch the school bus. Affie would only smack the airs by Piper's cheek to fake kiss her when she won a trophy, not wanting to smudge her lipstick.

Everyday that Piper grew older, it seemed that her mother had more complaints about her, more flaws to wrinkle her nose at. It became harder and harder to quell the hatred blossoming further in her heart. Her mother was always sharing with Piper little snippets of wisdom about beauty and love. "When people see that you are a kind and polite young lady, they are already on the track to associating you with beauty." Affie would say when Piper was being taught etiquette. Piper thought that maybe the reason she was getting acne was because she was so overflowing with spite.

All her movements were heavy and every effort to pretend happiness dragged her into deeper sadness. The more she faked happiness the harder it became to paint a smile. Piper would lie at night or sit at meals thinking how horrible she was to be so full of hatred. She hated her mother, she hated her life, she hated herself. She hated herself for not having the courage to stand up, to do what she wanted. She was a coward, and a self-aware coward is worse than an ignorant coward. She knew that she was acting cowardly but made no moves to amend it.

Piper was sitting in her bedroom when her mother burst through the door with news. Piper's bedroom was more akin to a trophy room/ dressing room/ walk-in closet. Piper was perched on a pouffe brushing her hair slowly, meditatively maintaining eye contact with her own reflection. Her stupid eyes were too cowardly to decide on a colour, as if to choose blue eyes would offend every brown eyed person. Piper mulled over the selfishness of daring to be unhappy when her world was full of extravagance. She was pulled out of her brooding by her mother's entrance.

Affie smiled proudly, joining the picture perfect image in the mirror. She delicately leaned her chin on Piper's head, snatching the comb from Piper with an impeccably manicured claw.

"You are so beautiful, Piper." Affie elongated her "so" in such a way that she sounded like a teenage girl, and ridiculous, she sounded ridiculous too. Piper smiled as if she didn't believe it and returned the compliment. She had learned at a painfully young age that her mother's happiness fed off compliments, and an unhappy Affie was a force to be feared.

Her mother usually took time to announce important news, dramatically building up suspense. She thought that she was causing anticipation but her blathering had the same function as frills on a dress- nothing but decoration. Affie spiralled away, her shirt fanning out beautifully as she pranced across the marble floor. She did an excited little hop and grabbed Piper by the forearm.

"Oh, my! I can't contain myself much longer. We're going to be Miss Teen America!" She exploded into a firework of enthusiasm, fizzing and popping with excitement. Piper remained in her seat.

"I mean this means we will have to work harder than ever before, I've been consulting with a new dietician and dance choreographer. And you'll be needing a better makeup artist and new dresses. Oh my god, we will need so many new dresses!"

Piper stood frozen. Miss Teen America was the biggest underage pageant in a country full of underage pageants. If she did win, and her mother didn't condone losing, Piper would never escape. The winner had a year of touring, a year of appearances and smiling, of opening small time businesses and village halls. She would have to pass back the crown, she would never be free of it. Oh God, Oh God, she couldn't do this. It was too much.

"Piper!" her mother's voice went from excited teenage garble to professional mom at lightning speed. "You can't leave me now, baby. This is our big dream, remember?" Affie's claws pushed tightly into Piper's shoulders, pushing her back into her dressing table stool.

Piper retained her own eye contact. She didn't know who she was looking at in the mirror.

This wasn't her dream. Her throat felt tight. She didn't want to do this. Her breathing became a conscious movement. She couldn't do this. Her ribs felt too tight on her lungs. She didn't know what she wanted to do if she had a choice. Her hands were trembling in her lap.

Piper had never said no to her mother.

She didn't know if she could.

She gazed up into her mother's sapphire eyes.

"This is our dream, isn't it, hunny?"

"Of course it is. I'm so excited." Piper lied.