A/N:

Sorry about that last chapter lol. Bad grammar, cheesy, and short. I'll try to fix that...

THALIA POV:

I walked into my apartment, and crashed onto the couch. It had been a long day of stupid classes with teachers who hated kids. I just needed to relax before I started any homework I had.

"Thalia!" My father, Zeus called from the kitchen, "Come in here, I need to talk to you!" I groaned. This could not be good. My father barely ever had time for me, and when he did, he usually was telling me sort kind of bad news.

I walked into the kitchen, jumping onto the countertop.

"How was school today?" He asked, eyeing me cautiously. I rolled my eyes,

"I know you didn't just call me in here to chat, dad. What do you want to tell me?"

"Can't a father just-"

"Dad!" I interrupted, I knew he didn't care about me, it just hurt me more to see him try to pretend to.

"Fine," he huffed, " your mother is coming to visit. I stared at him, shocked.

"Mom?" I asked quietly. He nodded, and I felt my anger rise.

"I haven't seen her in years, and now she wants to 'visit'?! Well, you know what? No. I'm not going to see her. I can't believe she has the nerve to show up here and-" I felt a tear trickle down my cheek. This was not acceptable. No one was allowed to see me cry, especially my father. I wiped the tear of my face.

"I'm going." I said, walking to the door.

"What? Going where?!" My father stormed.

"Out!"

I slammed the door shut, not bothering to check if my father followed me. Of course he hadn't. He doesn't care about me.

I decided to walk to the park to blow off some steam. As soon as I got there, I plopped down on one of the benches and put my face in my hands.

My mother was an alcoholic. She used to hit me while my younger brother, Jason wasn't watching. She was always out, leaving me to take care of myself and Jason, not bothering to leave anything for dinner. But of course, Jason was the one she loved. When my father tried to take us away from her, she demanded that Jason stayed, that it was only fair. After months and months of a custody fight, my father finally gave up, just taking me in. I rarely saw Jason anymore, and I missed him. But of course, if I saw him, that would require seeing that woman, too.

I looked up and wiped away my tears. I couldn't allow myself to look weak in front of other people. I was supposed to be Thalia Grace, the strongest girl in school, both physically and emotionally. Thalia Grace, the iron horse. After a moment of a cheesy pep-talk for myself, I looked up, to the bench across from me.

It was Nico, hugging some girl that looked like him. I watched them, they had been hugging for over a minute now. I felt a twinge of jealousy. Wait what? Jealousy? No, not jealousy, more like protectiveness. After all, I would hate to see him get hurt.

All my "protectiveness" disappeared as I watched a single silver droplet roll down his cheek. Nico quickly let go of the girl and wiped it away in hopes that no one would see. Oops. Too late.

"Bianca!" I heard someone call. The girl with Nico turned around and waved. She put her hand on Nico's shoulder and said something. He nodded, and she smiled and left to see the people who had called her.

I walked over to Nico. He looked like he needed someone to talk to.

"Hey." I said, walking over. He took a quick look up at me and then returned to keeping his eyes trained on the ground.

"Hi." He mumbled. Obviously, his sadness had something to do with the girl he was with, but I wasn't going to press him about it. I would just ask Hazel later.

"You ok?" I asked, and put my hand on his shoulder. I felt him tense, but he made no move to remove it.

"Yeah," he gave a short laugh, " good as ever." I decided to drop the subject. My guess was that he just needed someone to talk to.

"So," I started, in attempt to start a conversation, "What do you think of Goode?" I cringed at my question, this was the first time I had been at a loss for words.

"Goode?" He snorted. "I think the classes are stupid, the teachers are stupid, and they can shove their homework assignments up their butts and around the corner." I laughed at this. It was childish, I know, but still funny.

"You get used to it. " I said, when I recovered from laughing, "Although it would be nice if the teachers shoved their assignments up their butts and around the corner."

LINEEEEEE BREAAAAAKKKKKKKKKKKKK

NICO POV:

When Thalia came over to me, I was trying hard not to start crying. Bianca's time was almost up, I could see it in her eyes. I think Thalia saw that I didn't want to talk about it, which I was immensely grateful for. But when she put her hand on my shoulder, it felt...different, than when Bianca did it. Almost like I didn't want her to move it. I shook the thought out of my mind. 'You can't get too close to anyone.' I reminded myself. 'They'll just leave you.'

Thalia stopped talking, and I looked up, to see her face showing a sadness that I had only ever seen in myself before. That's when I remembered, as Bianca and I were walking over, I saw Thalia crying her own tears on the other bench.

"Hey," I said softly, what's wrong?"

Usually I didn't talk this way with people, but Thalia made me want to curl up in a little ball with a teddy bear and watch a chick flick. Sad, but true.

"It's just that..." She started to say something, but she stopped herself. "It's nothing." She finished, with a determined look on her face. She almost had me convinced. Almost.

I had every intention on finding out what was making her sad.

Even if that meant her finding out more about me.