This story is based in the world invented by Rick Riordan with a mix of original and cannon characters. All credit of the Percy Jackson series and it's characters to Rick Riordan. Hope you enjoy!

You know that look when your parents give you when you screw up? As if everything you've ever done or become was just a disappointment. Well, I get that look a lot, but not from my parents. I'd never met my mom, and my Dad can hardly stand to look at me, but my little brother Max has perfected it. And not for the first time it was burning through me.

"Max, I said I was sorry." I said following him as he stalked up the steps to our school.

"I don't want to hear it Cali." He spat, refusing to look at me as we entered the building. The whitewashed cinderblock walls were lined with shabby green lockers and lit with florescent lighting, which only increased its resemblance to a prison.

"If you'd let me explain-" I started but he cut me off.

"Go away."

"Would you just listen?"

I caught his arm forcing him to stop, but he pulled out of my grip.

"No!" he said furiously while turning to face me. "I'm done listening to you! I'm done with your excuses!"

He was only fourteen, but he was already taller than me, with light brown hair and dark blue eyes that were looking at me with such resentment and contempt I could have sworn I was looking at my father.

"I didn't mean for it to happen."

"Well it did." He said acidly. "And now thanks to you, my Mom says I'm not allowed anywhere near you. I'm not even supposed to speak to you any more."

"What?" I asked weakly, ice flooding my veins.

Max and I weren't fully related. Technically he was my half brother, but he was the only person that I really cared about or considered family. He lived with his mother who hated our father as much as I did. She hated me, if it were possible, even more. She thought I was a bad influence and if I was honest with myself, I couldn't blame her. But I couldn't tell her the truth any more than I could tell Max. If I tried to explain why all these horrible things happened to me, she wouldn't just hate me, she'd think I was insane and make sure I never saw Max again unless it was from inside a straightjacket and padded cell.

"That's right." Max said glaring up at me. "She heard you got arrested. Everyone did. And now she wants me to switch schools to avoid you."

"She can't do that." I said in horror. School was the only place I saw him these days. He was the only reason I showed up.

"Of course she can Cali, she's my mom! God!" he said still clearly furious and a couple of freshmen looked our way. "You knew she was already angry about what happened at the liquor store!"

"I didn't steal anything." I retorted angrily.

"Yes, but you didn't have to convince the owner to give you all that alcohol." He argued. "She doesn't believe that people just give you stuff, and neither did the police when he got the sense to call them. Now she's trying to separate us completely. Why do you always have to do things that are so stupid?"

I didn't answer and he looked away.

"It's like you want to get into trouble." He said bitterly.

I opened my mouth to defend myself but words failed me. I felt anger and bitterness rise within me but I forced myself to stay calm. There were so many things I wanted to tell him but I couldn't. He'd never understand. How could he?

I let out a sigh and put my head in my hands. It was a full thirty seconds before I could speak.

"Look, I said I'm sorry. What more do you want from me?"

"The truth."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Why did you break into that car?"

"I told you-"

"No I'm not buying what you told the police about the muggers," he said his eyes narrowing in anger. "There were witnesses. No one was in that alley but you."

This wasn't true. The fact was that there had been two furys in that alley way as well but thanks to the mist the mortal witnesses hadn't seen them. From what I could tell, all they saw was some crazy teenager breaking into a Ferrari and using a tire iron to ward off a couple of really angry crows or something.

There was a moment's pause in which he became impatient.

"Well?" he demanded.

"What do you want me to say?" I asked quietly.

"I want you to say why you did it!" He said in exasperation. "You've done a lot of stupid stuff Cali, but I can't see you trying to steal a car. So you must have had a reason for smashing through the window."

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." I muttered.

"Try me."

"You want to know the truth?"

"Yes!"

"Fine." I spat, then looked over my shoulder to see if any of the passing students were listening. There were a few sophomores lingering around a locker a few feet down the hall, but after I shot them a look that promised pain, they scurried off to their first period class. "If you want to know why I broke into that car I'll tell you, but you won't believe me. You'll just get mad."

"Not if it's the truth."

I let out a hollow laugh.

"Yeah ok." I said sarcastically but took a deep breath then spoke. "The real reason I broke into that car was to get a weapon to fight off the freaky demon bird monsters that only I could see that were attacking me in the alley way."

Normally, I wouldn't have had to resort to a tire iron. I almost always kept the daggers my mother had given me with me no matter where I went. They were enchanted and had the ability to turn into any sort of accessory from bobby pins to bracelets, but the furys had managed to disarm me and I was looking for anything I could get.

"You could have just said you weren't going to tell me." Max said hatred in his eyes. "You didn't have to make up this ridiculous story just to make fun of me."

"It's the truth." I said helplessly.

"Stop lying Cali!" he shouted. Several heads turned our way and he lowered his voice, but his tone burned with poorly repressed fury. "Sometimes I feel like that's all you know how to do."

With one final look of disgust, he turned and started walking to class.

"Max-"

"Just go away!" he shouted, cutting me off without bothering to turn around.

I watched him go feeling a mix of fury and guilt that both made me want to go after him, and leave and never have to see that anger in his eyes ever again. Several people were staring now, but when they saw I'd noticed they quickly shuffled away, all clearly whispering about the same thing. Me.

I did my best to ignore them. I was used to people talking about me, and while it was never fun, I was pretty sure the rumors about me were as horrible as they could get. What was one more?

Without knowing what to do, I glanced out the window wondering if it was a nice enough day to bother skipping class, but the clouds above threatened rain so I decided if I was going to be anywhere it might as well be here.

Without really meaning too, I focused on my reflection in the glass.

I didn't like looking at myself if I could avoid it. It was hard when every time I looked in the mirror I saw exactly who I didn't want to be. The daughter of Aphrodite.

I know most people, if they suddenly had woken up as the child of the Goddess of love and beauty might have thought they won the genetic jackpot, but most people were idiots.

I hated it.

When I was younger, my father always told me I looked just like her. Now, he could barely stand to look at me.

Everywhere I went people stared. They talked about me while I just wanted to be left alone. I didn't want to be reminded of my mother and didn't want to be beautiful.

I tried everything, refusing to wear make up, wearing baggy clothes, hats, nothing worked, people still stared.

I scowled at the long light brown hair that refused to stay short no matter how many times I cut it. In my anger my eyes were bright green, most of the time they were either blue or green, but they always changed shades depending on my mood.

"Trouble in paradise?"

I turned to see a tall skinny boy with dark hair and eyes walking over to me with a smirk. He was attractive in a dangerous sort of way that made most girls scared to talk to him even if they all wanted to date him, but Tyler Lang didn't date girls, he used them.

"What do you want?" I asked irritated. I wasn't in the mood to deal with Tyler right now, and I could tell by his smirk he'd heard what had happened.

"Nothing in particular." He said grinning.

"Good. Then leave me alone." I snapped turning and walking down the hall.

He chuckled.

"You know, I heard something interesting about you this weekend." He said amused quickly closing the distance between us. Everyone avoided his eye as we progressed down the hall. Most people were afraid of him but I wasn't.

I'd met Tyler last year, we'd had a study hall together and while he was a senior and a year older than me, he was the closest thing I had to a friend in this place. He came to school about as often as I did, and if he was here, he was usually with me.

"You and everyone else." I said annoyed.

"Is that why you're in such a bad mood?"

"Max doesn't want to talk to me."

"Is that all?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

I glared at him.

"I don't see why you're brother's opinion matters to you so much." he said indifferently. He was always irritated with how much I cared about my Max. "Personally I wouldn't bother with him. He seems like a bit of a boy scout to me."

"Shut up Tyler." I said angrily and he shrugged.

"I'm just saying, you're wasting your time trying to be something for him you're just never going to be."

"Which is?"

"Good." He said with a significant look. "You're never going to be the perfect sister he expects. Why do you try so hard to be someone you're not when you're clearly so much better at being bad?"

"You say that as if you know me."

"Far better than anyone else here." He said with a smirk. "Including your brother."

"Thanks for reminding me." I said darkly. "I need new friends."

"I'm your only friend."

I glared at him and he grinned.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing. It's just," he paused his eyes glittering. "I didn't see you as the car stealing type."

"I wasn't trying to steal it." I said angrily starting to walk away but he followed.

"So you smashed the window for a better look at the interior?" he asked in amused sarcasm.

"No."

"Well then explain."

I shot him another look but again he smiled and I felt a fraction of my anger subside.

"If you must know," I sighed. "I wanted the tire iron inside."

"Alright Parker." He said still smirking. "If that's the story you want to go with."

"It's the truth." I snapped.

"Sure," he said cutting me off. "I'm just surprised you got arrested that's all. When you managed to talk the cops out of arresting us that night they caught us with all that booze you convinced the liquor store manager to give us, I thought you could get out of anything."

"Well apparently not." I said glowering down the hall.

"Speaking of alcohol…" he said putting an arm around my shoulder.

"Knock it off Tyler." I said irritated and pushing him off. "I'm not getting you or your friends anything else right now. I'm already on thin ice."

"That's adorable." He said laughing.

"I'm serious." I said stubbornly and looking up at him. He raised an eyebrow.

"Well that's a shame." He said his voice neutral but I knew he was angry. "I was going to invite you to the Halloween party my cousin was planning in a few weeks, but you know, seeing as you're on probation, you wouldn't want to risk it…"

I hesitated. I opened my mouth to speak, unsure if my mind was changed, but before I could say anything, an angry voice spoke from behind us.

"That's right. She wouldn't."

I froze feeling as if my stomach had dropped through the floor.

"Excuse me?" Tyler said turning and I closed my eyes, wishing I were anywhere but here.

"She's in enough trouble as it is." Said the voice and against my better judgment, I opened my eyes and turned to see an even taller boy, with an athletic build, short brown hair, and light gray eyes that were glaring at Tyler in dislike. "She doesn't need you making it any worse for her."

"Parker, is this a friend of yours?" Tyler asked looking momentarily wrong footed, almost intimidated. Will had that effect on people when he was angry and right now, he looked as if he was considering killing Tyler with his bare hands.

"No." I said quickly but Will rolled his eyes.

"Cali's got a bad habit of lying." He folded his arms over his chest. "But don't let her fool you, our parents are old friends."

This was sort of true. Will Silverman was a son of Hermes. Like Tyler he was a senior, and we'd met a few times when we were younger at Camp HalfBlood but he'd never really seemed that interested in me until his Mom and his new Step-Dad moved in to the apartment next to ours and we started going to the same school. Ever since then he'd taken it upon himself to be something like the big brother I'd never wanted, trying to force me to go to school and keep me out of trouble. It was infuriating.

"Just because they're friends doesn't mean we are." I said angrily. "Go away Will."

"So you can hang around with creeps like him?" Will asked. "I don't think so."

"Whatever dude." Tyler said coolly. "I'll see you around Parker." He said then after glancing at Will with obvious distaste added. "Or not."

"Tyler wait-" I started but he cut me off.

"Look kid you're cool," he said to me. "But I don't deal with drama. Ditch your boyfriend here and we'll talk."

He turned, walked down the hall, and I glared at Will.

"What is wrong with you?" I asked furiously. "Why can't you leave me alone?"

"Because in the two seconds I had my back turned, you got yourself arrested."

"I don't see how that's any of your business." I said in irritation.

"I'm guessing Tyler had something to do with it."

"No." I spat. "And thanks to you, he's probably never speaking to me again."

"Yeah because that would be the worst thing to ever happen to you." He said darkly again crossing his arms over his chest and looking down at me in disapproval.

"Like you'd know."

"Actually I would." He said annoyed. "More than you think."

There was a moment of silence.

He sighed and let his hands fall. "You know you're very difficult."

"No one said you had to deal with me."

"Why do you hang out with that guy? He doesn't care about you."

"Again that's none of your business." I said bitterly.

"He's not good for you." He said frowning.

"Why do you care?"

He didn't answer.

"Just leave me alone." I said annoyed and starting to walk down the hall. Will followed.

"You know only keeps you around cuz his friends think you're hot right?"

"So?"

"And you can get stuff for them."

"That's my problem to worry about, not yours."

"So you admit it," he asked falling into step next to me. "Even you know he doesn't care about you."

"What part of go away don't you understand?"

"Nothing."

"Clearly it's something because you're not-"

"I understand you Cali," he said rolling his eyes. "I'm just choosing ignoring you."

"Why?" I asked furiously.

"Because you could do better than him."

"What like you?" I asked sarcastically but I immediately regretted this outburst when I caught his expression.

"Don't flatter yourself Parker." He said looking irritated. "You're far too much of a pain in my ass to date."

"Then leave me alone."

"Can't do that." He said cryptically.

"Why?" I asked furiously.

As usual when confronted with this question he didn't answer. He simply put his hands in his pockets and we continued to walk. He smiled at a few girls who called out to him as we progressed down the hall and high fived his teammates as they passed.

This annoyed me.

Despite my personal opinion of him, Will happened to be very popular. I guess placing first in nationals for track two years in a row got you some sort of recognition or something. It didn't hurt that he was attractive either. I'd never really noticed before but I guess he was sort of handsome. I could see why some girls might find him appealing. Still… he was so annoying that it was cancelled out.

Any time he caught me doing anything that could be considered even remotely risky or dangerous, he put a stop to it. He was constantly bugging me to do my homework, study for tests and forced me to come to school whenever he could no matter how much I hated it. If I was honest with myself, he was the only reason I was passing this semester, but he was such a goody two shoes I couldn't appreciate it. Everything was so easy for him, like me he had ADHD and was Dyslexic, but you'd never know it. He still got good grades, got along with his mom and his step dad, and he never got into trouble. Trouble is all I'd ever been good for.

He was perfect, a golden boy, and I hated him for it.

"You know you've got to stop hanging out with that guy." Will said apparently unable to keep his mouth shut for longer than two seconds.

"I haven't got to do anything." I said glaring at him.

"This isn't just about you you know." He said. "What about Max?"

I stopped and turned to glare at him.

"Leave him out of this." I said furiously.

"I won't." Will said sounding just as angry now. "He was so upset when he heard what happened to you, he lost his race."

Max was on the track team with Will and with Will's help, he'd made the varsity squad as a freshman and subsequently, Max had made Will his hero. But Max didn't like Will just because of the help he gave him in track. He liked the fact that Will was trying to look out for me and it was this that made me hate Will so much. My own brother liked him more than me.

"The things you do affect him." Will said continuing his lecture. "It's not just your life you're screwing with. When was the last time you even saw him outside of school?"

I pretended not to hear him.

"Doesn't it bother you that I talk to your brother more than you do?"

This I couldn't ignore.

"What do you want from me?" I asked bitterly turning to face him. "Why are you constantly butting into my life? What good could it possibly do you?"

"I'm just looking out for you."

"Why?" I snapped.

"Is it so hard to believe that I care about what happens to you?" he asked.

"Yes."

He sighed again and this time didn't make eye contact and I noticed him absent mindedly playing with the bronze ring he always wore on his left ring finger. It had been a gift from his father, like my daggers it was weapon in disguise and had the ability to turn into a sword.

"Look Cali, someone has to look out for you, even if you won't." he said then glanced back at me.

"Go to hell."

"Now we both know that doesn't exist." He said with a slight smile. "And I've no intention of going to Hades either. With you running off as often as you do I don't exactly have time for it."

The bell rang, signaling that we had five minutes before school started.

"Well." Will said giving me a significant look. "What are you going to do Cali? Walk to first period or make me drag you?"

"I hope you get shin splints." I said darkly, but turned and started walking to Bio.