Disclaimer: Still don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter

I got up and brushed myself off. The bus lurched forward and I nearly fell again. I made my way to the back of the bus, where hopefully everyone would ignore me. I looked out the window and saw Damien and his mom getting into their car and driving away. I wondered what school he went to, seeing as he never told me. I imagined he loved it by the way he talked to me about his friends and teachers, but never the classes. I asked him once what his electives were, and he immediately changed the subject to something else. He was a strange fellow, and that's how he became my friend…and I started liking him. Cough, cough. What?

The bus stopped again, this time picking up a group of kids instead of a lone wolf like myself. One of the guys who got on was Jacobi, school jock. Shelia had the hugest crush on him, and they went out for a bit, but then she cheated on him. For some reason, when you like someone you're supposed to cheat on them. Ever since their fallout, she's been trying to get him back, although there's no doubt she wouldn't hesitate to cheat on him again. Ironically, the guy who she hooked up with was his former best friend. School drama. Yay!

Rumors had swirled around me that Jacobi had a crush on me. We used to be friends, back when we were tykes, but then the dark side of popularity took him with the promise of cookies and we just stopped talking.

I ignored the group who had just come on the bus. Jacobi came down to my seat and asked me, "Hey, Autumn. Uh, can I sit here?"

At first, I thought he was talking to another Autumn. I looked up at him, and realized he was addressing me. Startled I said,

"Uh, yeah sure." I scooted over in my seat. I looked out the window, trying to ignore the fact that my former friend, now the dude-diva of our school, was sitting next to me. I felt Shelia's hardened glare on me, and may I just say that it is SO not cool to have someone staring at you like they want to eat your soul? Yes I can, and I did. At the next stop, Shelia got up and made her way to the back of the bus. Damn it, I thought. I was beginning to regret letting Jacobi sit next to me, even though neither of us spoke a word. It was clear he was feeling awkward, but that just left me wondering why he would want to sit next to me in the first place. Shelia plopped herself down in the seat in front of us.

"Hey Jacobi, how was your summer?" She asked and flashed a smile faker than Barbie's hair. Ugh, her lipstick was a terrible shade of slut. As much as makeup terrifies and repulses me, I knew that that shade was not a good one against her fake tan.

Jacobi looked up and gave a half-hearted smile. Why the guy was nice to his hoe ex-girlfriend I don't know, but I guess it's better than getting arrested for smashing her face in. Not wanting to hear their conversation, I put my headphones and turned my music on. Missing by Evanescence started playing. I loved this song! It was so sad and it reminded me of my real parents; whom I never met before.

My mother and father were never married. My father was a sweet man, but what captivated my mom was his voice. I met my aunt once before she died, and she told me that it sounded like "liquid diamonds falling from the Niagara Falls". He wasn't one for liking a specific genre of music; he loved and sang almost all types. Based on what my aunt said, he seemed like a playful and always truthful man, although just plain annoying and arrogant at times. Yet she always said those words lovingly. He was, after all, her little brother.

He met my mother (HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER! WHOO) when he heard her singing and playing guitar in the streets for Christmas. They fell in love, he got her pregnant, and then he left. Great love story don't ya think so? My mother died whilst in labor, and my aunt helped deliver me. I won't get into the details, but I was raised for a while by my lovely aunt, and then she died. Death just frickin' loves me. I was then moved to foster home after foster home, and finally landed with my current mother. I think the reason why the workers put me with her was because of her enormous fortune and her super sparkly résumé. Of course, since life could be a lot worse, I stayed with her instead of doing something rash.

A nudge brought me back to reality. Irritated, I removed my headphones and looked at Jacobi. He was looking at me expectantly, and slowly, it began to dawn on him that I hadn't heard what he said.

"Um, I asked if you enjoyed your summer," he said, his ears tinged pink.

"Oh. Uh yeah, it was good," I nodded. I was confused as to why he wasn't talking to Shelia, and based on her expression, she was too.

"My summer was good, too," she interjected. "I went to Paris for like a week, and learned to do such a cool hairstyle. Like ermergerd! It was totally adorbs!"

Jacobi, in attempting to look interested, only succeeded in looking constipated. Before he could give a response, the bus lurched to another stop. This time, we picked up someone I'd never seen before. The guy was really tall, somewhat buff, mildly good looking, and hunched over, like it hurt to breathe. He made his way to the back of the bus, his eyes locked hungrily on mine. Such intensity sent chills down my back. He sat across Jacobi and me, and sat in silence for a while. Shelia, the slut she was, immediately started chatting him up. Although he was leaned forward and appeared to hang onto every word she said, his eyes would flicker ever so often to where I was sitting. He finally had the courage to talk to Jacobi and me, but me being who I am, I ignored him and went back to listening to my assortment of music.

Suddenly, everything went wrong. Jacobi moved up to the front of the bus along with Shelia, and the new guy sat next to me. There was a wide berth separating the other kids from us. His arm snaked its way down to my shoulder. I immediately tensed up and had a terrible feeling about this. He leaned in close and neared his face to mine.

"My name's Titus, babe. I know who you are: Autumn Auxiliary. Damn, you're finer than your grandmother," he purred into my ear.

Okay, this was weird; that being an understatement. I pushed his hand away from me and said,

"Excuse me?"

He smirked mischievously, like this was all a game of cat and mouse. His leaned in closer and pressed my body to the bus wall with his. I opened my mouth to shout, but he snapped his fingers and clapped his hand over my mouth. A gust of wind seemed to emerge from his fingers and drifted to the students and the driver.

"Shh," he whispered. "Screaming will do no good for you."

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