Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HOO. All rights go to Rick Riordan.

Thalia never expected she would make friends in this town. Ever.

She definitely didn't intend to. She was very content the way she was, wrapped up in her cynicism. She was happy with the fact that she was an introvert, and she never had to deal with bullying. The popular kids in her high school treated her like she didn't exist, like she wasn't there. But she was, sitting in the back of all her classrooms with Green Day blaring through the electric blue headphones around her neck.

There were few kids like her in the social hell that was Goode high school. She considered herself punk/goth, dressing in darker colors. The only other kid who had a similar sense of style was a sophomore named Luke Castellan.

He was in most of her classes, and like her, he sat in the back. Ragged, messy blonde hair with dark blue tips stuck out in odd angles around his face. He had a few piercings, mostly on his ears, one on his right eyebrow, and snakebites below his bottom lip. He sat in the back left corner in all his classes and kept his head down.

"He's rather handsome." she thought as she walked into her English class on her second day. It was the last class of the day and she was anxious to get away from school.

The bell rang and she took her seat in the back. In this particular class, she sat next to him. As the teacher droned on and on about preparing for the SAT's, she carefully studied him out of the corner of her eye.

He wore ripped black skinny jeans, like hers. His legs were long and thin, yet not gangly. He seemed to like Sleeping With Sirens as well, because he wore a t-shirt with their logo. A studded belt was looped through his belt loops. She looked at his hands, watching as he tapped his fingers against the desk.

"Are those tattoos?!" she wondered, looking at the colorful sections on his right hand and arm. Sure enough, they were, although she couldn't make out what they were.

Turning his head slightly, he met Thalia's gaze. She blushed and looked away, trying to focus her attention on the lesson. She could never manage to pay attention to anything. Something to do with her extreme ADHD or dyslexia.

After what seemed like hours, the bell finally rang and Thalia shoved her books into her bag. She started getting up, but fell back into her seat as a group of boys pushed past her.

"Hey Castellan, how's our little punk doing today?" asked one of the boys. Thalia recognized him as Ethan Nakamura, one of the more popular boys.

Luke picked up his book and tried to push past them, but they shoved him back. He fell back against the wall, groaning and swearing as his head made impact first.

Ethan smirked. "How'd you get that scar, Castellan? Did your crazy mother do that?" he said, earning him laughs from the rest of his group.

Luke looked up, and Thalia saw what he meant. A long scar ran down the left side of his face. He looked at her, his blue/gray eyes giving her a piercing look. The message was simple- get out of here.

Thalia did the exact opposite. She kicked the first and most obvious place she could find.

Ethan howled in pain, and his cronies stood there with vacant expressions.

Grabbing Luke's hand, she pulled him over the desk in between them and made a run for the door. Ethan regained his composure and ran after them.

The hallways were mostly empty, so Thalia dragged Luke behind her to her locker. She fiddled with the lock quickly and swung the door open, grabbing her phone and jacket. As she slammed the door, a hand grabbed her wrist.

"And just who are you? His punk girlfriend?" Ethan's voice rang out as he spun her violently to face him. He grabbed her other wrist and pinned her to the lockers.

She met his gaze defiantly, squirming in his iron grip.

"Your worst nightmare, Nakamura." she shot back confidently, smirking.

He frowned and pressed her into the lockers harder. She could feel bruises beginning to form on her wrists.

"Ethan, get away from her. " Luke growled. He was being rather protective of her, though they had never spoken.

"Oh yeah?" Ethan asked. "Who's gonna stop me?"

Thalia watched in awe as Luke slammed his fist into Ethan's face. Ethan returned the punch, nailing his chest hard. Luke stumbled back, his black army boots clunking against the floor.

Motioning for Thalia to follow him, he ran down the hall and turned the corner. She ran after him, checking their tail. Ethan was holding his eye, watching them go.

Luke pushed through the doors and continued walking.

"Wait!" Thalia called, trying to catch up to him. By the time she did, they were a block away from school.

He turned around to face her, and she looked up at him. She stood 5' 5", but he had to be at least 6 feet.

"What was that? Why do you let him do that to you?" she questioned as he met her eyes.

He looked at the high school, then back to her.

"Not here, come with me." he said, shaking his tangle of hair out of his eyes.

"How do I know I can trust you?" she asked, studying his face.

His eyes pierced hers. They were mesmerizing, and something about them was comforting.

He half-smiled, and although it wasn't much, she knew it was sincere.

"Because I'm like you." he said simply, gesturing to himself and then her.

There were many things that were similar between them. Thalia studied their ripped skinny jeans, their band t-shirts. She noticed that their hair was both dyed, seeing as her pin-straight black hair was dyed red at the tips. They both wore clunky black boots and had multiple piercings. And, she suspected that his "battle scars" were hidden behind his rubber bracelets like hers were.

Slipping her hands into her pockets, she laughed. "Yes you are, Castellan. We're alike."

He grinned, which made her heart flutter slightly. "What on Earth..." she questioned herself, shaking it off. "Am I starting to make a friend?" she asked herself in her head. "Yes, but you like him. He's like you. He's not like the others." her conscience said.

She looked up at him. "Alright. I trust you." she said slowly.

"Good." he said, chuckling softly. "'Cause you're my new best friend."

"What?!" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

He shrugged, sticking his thumbs in his back pockets. "You don't have friends, I don't have friends. Us rejects need to stick together."

"But-" she said, stopping herself and sighing. "Alright."

He smiled triumphantly and pulled his beanie out of his backpack. Setting it on his head, he began walking down the street. "Shall we?" he said, watching her as he walked.

She laughed, slinging her bag on her shoulder. "Wait up!"