I stared at the clock on the wall. Only twenty more minutes before I could say I was thirteen.

The clock continued to tick, agonizing me as each second passed. Not only was I frustrated - I was tired. It was eleven forty, and it was dark and raining outside. I was ready to collapse on my scratchy bed, but I wouldn't. This was my tradition.

Five more minutes…

Finally, the clock struck twelve, and I smiled.

"Happy Birthday, Thalia," I whispered, before falling asleep in the orphanage.

When I woke up, someone was shaking me. I was frightened, and got up. "Where's the fire?" I shouted in fear.

Lauren laughed at me. "In the furnace, Thals. I wanted you to wake up! It's your birthday! You should be celebrating." My best friend looked me in the eye, and smiled.

"Shut up. I'm going to sleep…" I groaned.

"No. We're going to celebrate. I'm gonna change, and you will too. When I come back, I expect you to be ready, Miss Perfect Grades."

Lauren got up, and skipped out of the room, her light brown hair bouncing as she walked out.

I got up, and lazily looked in the mirror. My jet-black hair fell messily onto my shoulders, reaching my midback, and my sea-green eyes pierced themselves, as they looked back at me. Looking closely, you could see tints of grey.

I combed my hair, and it fell in slightly bouncy waves, instead of messy spindles on my head. I slipped on something besides my PJ's, and walked out of the dorm.

The orphanage wasn't exactly classy. It was dusty, and cramped, with wooden floors, stairs, chairs, and tables… I wouldn't be surprised if they had a wooden TV in the staff room.

Thinking of the orphanage made me wonder about my parents. I was told they were killed in a violent accident a few weeks after my birth, and that I was sent here. I wasn't sure why, but I despised them.

I had never met my parents, and no one knew my last name, or their first names. I knew they weren't dead. I had blurry dreams in which they told me to stay safe, and not to run away, they gave me up for my safety, etc., etc. They were alive and they just didn't care.

I never knew why my hair was black, why my eyes were greenish-grey, why I was ADHD, why I was lazy, why I was smart, why all of this was present in me. I didn't know whom I got it from. That's what made me, Thalia, mad.

They gave me up. They won't do anything about it.

I sat down at the breakfast table and looked at my 'complimentary' breakfast.

Apparently, scrambled eggs and two extra pieces of bacon was a complementary breakfast.

I still gorged on my meal like a mad woman, and made sure to clear all the bacon. People looked at me funny, and I glared.

"I still got to eat. Go back to your own meal," I said, glaring at them.

Once I was done, I took my plates to the kitchen and dumped them into the sink. Lauren found me, and giggled. "Come on come on come on! I got us tickets to Wrath of the Titans…" she said.

"No, you got it off of Netflix. That film came out in 2012," I rolled my eyes.

"We can go to the beach afterwards…" she made puppy eyes at me, but she didn't need to.

"Deal."

Okay, it's short, but it'll get better. I'll update every Saturday.

Peace off. BOOP.