Ingrid looked in the mirror. It was Tuesday morning, and she had just finished getting ready for school. Staring back at her, from that completely evil glass that seems to just show you what you don't want to see, was her horribly familiar face Saying that, one would assume she was ugly or just plain "not-pretty", because a lot of girls at age 13 do some how find ways to butcher the way they look in their minds. Well you're totally wrong. She had large indigo eyes, framed with long, dark lashes, tumbling black curls, reaching midway past her back. Her skin was lightly tanned, flawless and smooth. Her lips were elegant, set below a perfect nose. She wasn't pretty. She was utterly gorgeous. She knew it and hated it. Every one gave her special treatment; she could never feel good about any of her victories sometimes she just got it because she was so beautiful. She didn't have too many friends because all the boys liked her so they acted weird around her and all the girls were jealous. She didn't mind those things that much. She could usually tell what victories were phony and which she deserved, and when it comes to her friends, well lets just say that with her, it was quality not quantity. What she hated what people assumed about her. Looking at her, they immediately decided she was a lot like a glass rose. Beautiful and rare, but delicate too, and we all know that once someone convinces themselves of some thing it can be very hard to change their minds, so to them, that's what Ingrid was. But that wasn't who she was at all. Inside she was a zany tomboy, who had her own way of looking at things that no one seemed to understand. She had dyslexia and ADHD and loved them both. When she was younger she said that the letters loved her more then anyone else because they danced for her, but when her second grade teacher tried to help her read properly she yelled and stamped on his foot. She didn't get in trouble. But she knew even than that if anyone else did that they would stay in for morning break.
"Ingrid honey!"
Her foster mother's loud, girlish voice broke her day dreams.
"Ingrid, it's getting late. Come on, I'll drive you to school"
"'K Joan, I'm coming down!"
Ingrid glanced one last time at her horribly stunning reflection and jogged out of her room.
Ingrid saw her best (and only) friend Orlando waiting for her at the gate. He was a quiet kid with dark shaggy hair and big, soft, but serious dark brown eyes.
"Yo, Lando, over here!"
Orlando looked around, seeing her, he jogged towards her
"Late night?" he remarked noting the dark circles under her eyes "or just another scheme to lead some of your many admirers off?"
Ingrid glared at him "shut up"
"Well?"
"Sort of both" she said rolling her eyes. "I was up late trying to read, but you know how with my dyslexia, it's a little hard. Seriously how am I suppose to be a story addict if I can't read!"
"Hmm…"
"What about you, what's on your mind"
"What? Oh nothing"
"Well you seem really distracted…"
Orlando opened his mouth to talk but at that moment the bell rung.
"That bell is so unholy, it has like a mind of its own, it always rings at the wrong moment!" moaned Ingrid
"Normally I would agree with you, but this time I'm on the bells side. It saved my life so I owe it one. C'mon we better get to class"
And they started to trudge to homeroom
The rest of the day past with out much event. When the bell for last period rung Ingrid and Orlando took their normal rout to the gate together before turning their separate ways.
"Well, see ya Lando"
"Wait, Ingrid… I need to tell you something. It's important. Could we talk?"
"Err ok…"
"There's something I've known about you for a very long time. Something important I should have told you ages ago, last year, but I kept putting it off. But your getting to old now and if I wait any longer it'll be to late and--"
"get to the point all ready or I'm going home!"
"OK, here it is." Orlando took a deep breath "you're not human and neither am I well sort of, your half human your dad was a human but your mom is an Olympian god but I don't know which one and I'm a satyr and we have to get you to this place called camp half blood because there's a big war coming up in like 2 years or something and it can destroy the western civilization and you need to be trained and also you wont be safe and--" Orlando broke of. He had said this all really quickly with out taking a single breath.
"Hold your horses! Are you feeling ok Lando? 'Cause seriously you don't play practical jokes very well, so either you've been practicing or your crazy. I'm going with crazy, but then again we already knew that."
"This isn't a joke. I'm serious, you're in danger!"
"C'mon"
"I can prove it to you"
"Uh huh"
"Yea, don't you ever see things that aren't there, or that no one says is there but they feel so real, that as much as you want to, you can't believe them. Don't you ever wake up from really weird dreams and then find out that you saw something that really happened?"
Ingrid turned pale "I… have a wild imagination"
"That's what people tell you to think, that's what you want to think, but you know its not true. Was that tall man in the ally behind the café imagination?"
"How did you know about that?"
Orlando ignored her and continued "Was the snake woman who killed you're dad imagination"
That did it, no one, and that means NO ONE, could talk to her EVER about her fathers murderer" shut up" her voice was quiet and dangerous
"She wasn't was she? If she was then your dad would be alive now, telling you this instead of me"
"I said SHUT UP!"
"Ingrid I know you don't want to talk about this but you have to believe me or your going to end up like him."
"And I thought that you were my friend" Ingrid said in a voice so cold that it could freeze Mercury. Burning tears of hurt and anger ran down her cheeks and she turned away and started to run home. But then she stopped and turned around to face Orlando "Let's make something clear. You are NEVER going to talk to me again, ok? Lando" using his nickname as a cold taunt. She turned back and ran. Leaving Orlando standing there, devastated but determined that he wouldbring her to camp half blood. Orlando wasn't the type to give up no matter how many times he failed