Hello everyone! This is Aryalee and what you are about to read is my first published fanfic. So thank you for ending up in here and reading my story. The fic isn't going to be from the nicest end, as it will include swearing, abuse, addiction, rape and other as "pleasant" things like that (but really, what did you expect when coming to the M section anyways? This isn't necessarily a Lala-land...). The fic is written and proof read fully by me and can have all kinds of problems and such, so if you have something to ask, complain or note please feel free to tell me about it. I have couple of chapters quite ready for this fic so you are going to get continuation for the story quite soon, but after those I don't know how fast I will upload... But anyway! I hope you will enjoy reading this one!

Disclamer: This is an AU story about Rick Riordan's characters from his PJO and HOO series, so the characters are originally from his pen/keyboard and the credit for these lovely little goofballs goes to him.

Oh, ummm... Hi.

My name is Perseus Jackson, though I would appreciate it, if you just called me Percy. I am 16 years old, about 5 feet and 10 inches tall. I have black (right now quite long), messy hair and sea-green eyes, both inherited from my dad, whom I have never met. Otherwise I look pretty much like my mum, long, lanky limbs and same facial features. I think my mum is one of the most beautiful women in the whole wide world, and 'cause I look like my mum, I sometimes hear people talking of me as "the pretty boy".

I also love music from the bottom of my heart and have ADHD and dyslexia, which have made my school life pretty hard, but I manage. I live in New York with my mum, Sally Jackson and stepdad, Gabe Ugliano. My mum is the sweetest person I know. Even though she has 2 jobs and works like 14 hours a day, she still manages to smile almost all the time. She is super sweet and makes the best blue pancakes in the world, at least if you ask me. But my stepdad is an ass. He doesn't have a job and he just lays on the sofa all day long drinking liquor and eating. Occasionally he gets money from poker he loves to play, but usually he just loses more than he wins.

But yeah... So anyway, my life sucks and that is mainly my stepfather's fault. Shitty-Gabe treats my mother quite nicely and tolerates me when mum is home. But when there is only the two of us, he turns into a demon. He makes me do all kinds of stuff for him and if I do something wrong, disturb him or don't obey him (and all those happen quite often), he beats the shit out of me. I can't even remember a day, when there hasn't been bruises in some part of my body. And I tolerate everything he does to me. If I don't, he will hurt my mum. I can't let that happen. Mum is like the only reason I'm still here, she is the only good in my life (though I love music almost as much) and I just can't leave her alone. I couldn't do that. I can be pretty optimistic and jovial person too by the way (I partly blame this on ADHD), even though my life is messed up. There are people, who are having it worse than me, so I can tolerate this.

I am okay.

I am running. Running as fast as I can. I can't see anything before me, it's completely pitch black. I hear the echoes of my steps, like I'm running in a tunnel. My heart races faster and faster. My breath is getting heavier with every second.

Suddenly my legs get tangled with each other and I fell down, right on my face. I make few neat rolls, before I finally stop. I'm sitting on the ground, wondering, what the hell am I actually doing there. My whole body is aching and I feel like shit. I carefully touch my cheek with my hand. It stings a bit and I can feel the warm blood sticking to my fingers.

I get up groaning slightly from the pain but before I can continue my aimless running, I feel something cold touching my shoulder. Shivers go down my spine as I turn around.

I start to scream.

I wake up from my bed, all sticky from sweat. I am panting heavily, but it still feels like I can't breath. I try to get air to my lungs more regularly and I'm calming down a bit. But only a bit. The memories that I have hidden deep inside me are trying to get to the surface again. I can't let them. Not again. I curl my aching body into a little ball and cradle myself back and forth, until I fall asleep again, tear marks on my face.

My alarm clock starts to ring and I shut it down groaning slightly and get up. I change my turquoise pajamas into ripped jeans and light blue t-shirt. I snatch my black, way too big hoodie from the corner I left it yesterday and put it on. I kneel beside my bed and reach under it. I take out brown, already worn out acoustic guitar. I smile a bit and pet it affectionately. It has gone through so much. I close my eyes and play randomly few chords.

F major.

B minor.

F major again.

The sound of the guitar makes me calm down and I feel like I'm in heaven. Playing guitar always makes me feel better, no matter what has happened. Playing guitar and music itself are the only ways to escape my life. Sighing a bit I put the guitar back where I took it and get out of my room. The house is quiet. Guess mum already left for work. I tiptoe to the kitchen through the living room. Gabe is snoring on the sofa, most likely passed out because of alcohol. The floor next to him is filled with empty bottles, cans and some filth that I wouldn't touch even with a long stick.

I eat a piece of bread for breakfast and wash it down with tap water. It tastes terrible, but we can't afford anything else, almost all of our money goes down Gabe's throat and to fund his poker. I take my school bag from kitchen's table and walk to door to put my shoes on. My mom hates all the sand and filth that comes from outside, there is enough of that as it is already, so we always leave the shoes at the door. It's more comfortable without them anyway.

I get out of our apartment and basically run down the stairs to get my part of fresh morning air. Well, as fresh as it can be in a city like New York. School starts in an hour, so I'm not in a hurry. I live quite close to my school, so I walk there every day. I don't have money to buy a car or use public transport anyway, so it's okay. I dig earphones from my bag and start filling my head with Beethoven while slowly making my way to school.

I'm going to Atlantis High and I'm on my junior year. Atlantis High is just plain normal high school, it's like any other in America. Basically every single student hates school, most teachers are dull and the cliques are there. We have football and baseball players, cheerleaders, geeks and goths, nerds and fangirls and many, many others. Also the outcast, which I'm part of. Yay. But it doesn't bother me one bit. Who needs friends. They do nothing but harm to you anyway.

I am bad at interacting with people and I usually do my best to avoid the contact. That's why as I walk closer to school, I put my hood on. That keeps most people away from me, they get the message. There are lots of people standing at the school yard, chattering and gossiping. I walk near the wall to get past them without getting noticed, but my plans fail miserably. Nancy Bobofit, the biggest bully in our school, is standing at the entrance with her henchmen. I sigh and walk towards them. Nancy sees me and evil smile rises to her face. I get to the entrance and try to get past the bullies, but Nancy blocks my way.

"Where do you think you're going?" she asks me, pushing me back. The others behind her back snicker. I stare at her under my hood and way too long bangs. I'm not answering.

"You're not getting in, filth," says one of the henchmen, spitting the last word out.

"Yeah, you are too much of an idiot to get past us," says another one.

"Guys, guys, what the fuck was that? You're mocking him like we are still in elementary school or something!" Nancy yells and watches the two angrily. They flinch a bit and the other one blushes and starts looking at his toes.

"So... Where were we?" Nancy says and turns back to me. "Oh, yes, we were thinking that we should finally kick your ass!" She starts to laugh manically. There is probably something missing from her brain.

While she is laughing, I try to make my way to the entrance, past the bullies. I am about to slip past Nancy, when she grabs my arm.

"You are going nowhere!" she hisses to me.

"You sure?" I ask her with a low voice and rip my hand off from her grip. I run past the doors and make my way trough corridors. I faintly hear Nancy yelling something at me, but it gets mixed with all chatter that is going on inside.

I slow down and get to my locker. I take first lesson's books and put them to my bag. I have English class at the first period. My English teacher, Mr. Blofis is simply awesome. He knows about my dyslexia, and helps me with it. He is nice to everyone, including me and that's why he is my favorite teacher. But better get to the lesson or I'm going to be late.

Thank you so much for reading! Leave a review or whatever you feel like doing on this website and I will see you soon with another chapter, in much heavier tones though... Bye!