My first day in this Camp was such a drag. After lunch, I took a few walks, watched people fighting each other at the battle arena, and I took a few walks again. It was only during dinnertime, that something interesting came up.

Undetermined kids like me had to stay with the Hermes Cabin until they got claimed. Man, was I having the time of my life. The bunch was... well, let's just say they don't stay put like behaved kids.

They constantly kept stealing each other's food, they even took my dinner. At least I was anorexic, otherwise... I didn't even want to think about it. My eyes rolled at their obnoxious behaviour, and they drifted to the Athena Table. My eyebrow arched at the interesting scenario that took place. What was going on? Two blonde kids were playing chess. I'm a nerd and chess is like, my soulmate.

One of the players was Annabeth. Her opponent was a blonde boy who had quite the attitude. The moment he checkmate her, his laughter of pride suddenly boomed all throughout the area. It overcame even the most irritating noise. The boy stood up from his seat and pointed at Annabeth. "Ha!" he scoffed. "It's official! I'm the best chess player of the Athena Cabin! Better yet, the entire camp!"

Annabeth just rolled her eyes. "Get down, Malcolm. You'll make a fool of yourself." she sighed. Unfortunately for her, he did not listen, which made me agitated. For that, I stood up from my seat, reached their table, and sat in front of Malcolm. Random whispering began, and they were all about what nerve I've got for going to another table, even if it was against the rules. A grumpy old man, who was some replacement for the god Dionysus, was about to stand from his seat to get me in trouble, but Chiron gestured him to stay put. I bet he wanted to see what I was up to. My eyes then focused on the flustered Malcolm.

"Game on." I said, with a blank expression. I could tell he was trying his best not to gulp. He gave me his best tough look and started rearranging his chess pieces. I did the same thing. Soon enough, the game began.

For the past thirty minutes, my pawns were almost gone, but his pawns, bishop, and knight were gone. I was looking at the board intently, while Malcolm's hands began to sweat and shake. It was clear to me that he has never lost that much chess pieces, before. He tried his best to keep his chin up, and did his move.

As time passed by, our kings and queens were left standing. But the game consumed a lot more time than I expected. He managed to get my queen, but it cost him his. This became an evenly-matched game, and I did not realize that we managed to draw another crowd, again. I decided to ignore it, and think of a way to get back my queen. Soon, we did nothing but kept moving our kings to the other sides of the board. Eventually, we both had our queens back.

For the past thirteen minutes, we kept moving our pieces. This game was almost nerve-racking as the battle I had this morning. But finally, a loophole came. This left Malcolm in an incredibly tight spot.

It was my turn now. He positioned his queen, wherein he was able to check my king. He just did not realize it was a careless move. His queen was actually left out in the open, where my queen was ready for it. I was able to eat his piece, and chased his king for the next fifteen minutes.

Malcolm tried to revive his queen once more by going back to his side of the board, but I was able to check him. There was no way he could escape. If he kept dragging his king to the other side, my queen would still be able to catch up to it. He was still far from the other side, after all. He let out a heavy sigh, and tipped down his king in defeat. The game was over.

Everyone gasped in awe. However, they didn't go wild like other people would usually do when they watch a baseball game or a rock concert. They just kept on staring at me, with mouths wide open. I sighed, and went back to my table. Then Annabeth caught up to me.

"Hey! That was... sick! I don't know what to say!" Annabeth said, flabbergasted. Please, it was just a chess game. I wanted to say, so badly.

"Well, you certainly did us a favour." she continued. "After that game, I bet Malcolm will finally shut up about chess. I mean, you know us Athena kids. We hate to lose."

(O u O)

Yup, I couldn't sleep. And yup, I still hate it here.

It was time to sleep, now. The Hermes cabin was completely packed, and it was not only the chorus of snoring that kept me up. It was disturbing the thoughts in my mind.

I was still angry. I may have won one victory for tonight, but that didn't make the anger inside of me, subside. My father was already dead, and he is never coming back. He died all because I'm a half-blood. I am not going to college, because my classmates or my professors could actually eat me alive. The fury was itching up in my arms, that I did something unexpected.

I got up from my small bed, wore my grey sweater, and silently tiptoed towards the door.

Annabeth warned me about curfew, but I shook that thought off my mind and took a night stroll at the woods. Strolls usually help in clearing up my mind. Unfortunately, it didn't help this time.

I crossed my arms, and walked aimlessly around the woods. I kept thinking about the things that recently occurred in my life. The attack of Carl the Minotaur, the death of my dad, and me being in this camp. Am I really a demigod? Is my mother actually a goddess? Well, as a person who firmly believes in science, her being some goddess was actually a "good" explanation for her mysterious disappearance.

Then how was I born? Was I born out of her forehead or something? My train of thought was suddenly interrupted by a hoot.

I turned to see that it was an owl.

"Oh it's you." I said, in Japanese. The owl just turned its head, as if it was trying to study me.

I looked intently at the owl's eyes. Then I noticed that I was just not any owl, but it was the owl in my dream.

When I tried to get closer to the tree it was perched, it flew away. "Hey, wait!" I called out, and started following it.

The wise bird flew across the camp. It went pass the entrance, and that's where I stopped.

I looked up to examine the incredibly large pillars of the entrance. Eventually, I began walking towards it. When my foot was about to go out of Camp Half-blood boundaries, a voice stopped me.

"Just where do
you think you're going?" the voice called out, firmly. I turned to see that it was none other than... the boy I saw at the battle arena. It was Lucius Winter, the one with the freaky whip.

I immediately wielded my sai's. I had a great chance of getting out of here, but emo kid here had to foil with my escape! I thought, maddened.

"You do realize you're doing something rather idiotic." he smirked.

I just said nothing and braced myself. "What do you want?" I said, in English.

"Trying to make sure that you don't escape. Trust me; I don't know why I'm doing this, either."

"Well, I think you're wasting time."

"...what are you afraid of?"

"... Your face?" I realized that statement totally made him pissed.

"You're going to regret that." he said, as... black stuff came out of nowhere! He shot most of them at me, and I had a bad feeling that if I get in contact with any of them... something terrible might happen.

So I ended up dodging them like a wimp. It was clear that I could not go in close combat with him unless I came up with a distraction.

Out of desperation, I threw one of my sai's at him, and he ducked. I tried to bolt towards the exit. Unfortunately, one of his... black things... caught me by the ankle. I was left dangling like a newly-caught fish.

"Yeah... you are pretty stupid." Lucius said, trying to get up. I tried to get the black thing let go by cutting it with my sai. Turns out, another black thing caught my hand, and it caused me to drop my sai. "It's useless to resist my shadows." he said, grimly. "You're going to pay for what you've done."

He was right about one thing, though. No matter how hard I tried to struggle, the shadows kept covering me, until I looked like a black chrysalis. When it completely took me over, my world went black….. again.

(O u O)

When I opened my eyes again, I thought I was experiencing a dream. But then I realized it was more than that.

I was at a playground. There were kids playing at the slides and seesaw; some were chasing each other or were playing pretend at the sandbox. No one noticed me, so it was apparent to me that I was invisible in this dream and interfering with other people's business was a definite no-no. But I couldn't help but notice the little girl at the swings. She was the only one there, and her head was down. It was like she was ashamed of who she was. I decided to walk towards her, to get a closer look. When I got there, I couldn't help but think that she almost looked like me when I was five.

Oh wait, that was me.

It all made sense now; I was in one of my childhood memories. I remembered this moment. I remembered how... lonely I was.

I saw myself look up and stare at the children who were kicking sand at each other at the sandbox area. My face was blank, but my eyes were practically screaming, "lonely". I was beginning to feel how I felt during that time, until I nearly gagged at what I was wearing: a frilly pink dress. Oh yes I remember now; my father made me wear it. I shivered at the sight of me wearing it. I hated frilly dresses, especially pink ones.

Despite the horrible attire I had, my five-year-old self stood up and boldly walked towards the sandbox. I wanted to ask those kids if I could play with them. I followed myself, as if I was my own babysitter.

When my young-self greeted shyly, the kids began to point and laugh at me. I was starting to get confused and wondered what they were laughing about. It took me around five minutes to realize that it was my forehead they were laughing at. I didn't have full bangs that time, so my incredibly wide forehead was completely exposed to the world.

Of course, I felt embarrassed and ashamed, so I just silently walked away and pretended that all that mockery did not affect me.

This was the day that "billboard" Eve was born. From that day forward, everyone referred to me as the "billboard", and nothing else. No one even bothered trying to become friends with me. Technically, it was a horrifying memory. So horrifying, I wanted to break something.

Then my surroundings changed. I was at my middle school courtyard; I recognized the uniform the students were wearing. Everyone huddled up in different groups, the game addicts were by the steps of the school, the school belles were at the fountain mingling with the athletes. It was a stereotypical world, and I didn't fit in any group. Not even to the nerds; I guess they were afraid that if they hung out with me, they might get bullied or something.

I went to look for myself, until I found my twelve-year-old self all alone at the bench, eating the bento lunch father prepared for me. I still haven't had my full bangs yet, so the billboard forehead was still out in the open.

I was messing up the sushi with my chopstick, until a paper airplane landed on top of my lunch. I noticed a smile appearing along my mouth. What made me happy, all of the sudden?

Then I saw myself beginning to unfold the paper, with an eager look. The paper airplane was actually a note! I immediately went behind myself to take a look at it. After reading the contents of the note, I suddenly remembered.

I had a crush on a boy named Sakamoto Takeshi during this time. I liked him because he was far different from the other guys. He even helped me pick up my books from the floor, when one of my classmates bumped me on purpose. He was such a great guy, and I remembered wishing that he would notice me. Then... it strangely came true.

During the past three weeks, he kept on sending me letters saying how much he admired me. They all said that I was smart and beautiful. All those lovely letters made me forget about my forehead and I felt like someone finally accepted me for who I was.

The note said that he wanted to meet up with me at the school roof after classes. I remembered how overjoyed I was. My younger self began to look at the school fountain. I looked at her direction, and saw none other than, Takeshi. He noticed me and smiled. He waved at me and I waved back, then I noticed that smile on my face.

I recalled how happy I felt. I was so happy that I finally had a friend who cared less about my forehead. Then I realized that everything was just too good to be true. That's when my surroundings changed again.

I was at the school roof, the place where I was supposed to meet Takeshi. He was already there, staring at the sunset and was waiting for my arrival. The door then creaked behind me, and I turned to see an eager me skipping towards him. I wished that I could stop myself from going near him. You think that this was such a heartwarming moment? Think again.

"Takeshi-kun!" my twelve-year-old said, happily.

"Hey." he said, smiling. I began to notice to there was something about his smile that was...malicious. Sadly, my suspicions were right.

Takeshi came closer to my face. As he was getting closer and closer, I thought that he was actually going to kiss me. Without thinking, I closed my eyes and waited for it.

I anticipated for it, but instead of feeling something on my lips... I felt something on my... forehead.

My eyes suddenly opened as if I was slapped by reality, and the first thing I saw was Takeshi smiling a cruel smile. I felt so confused, and when I touched my forehead, I finally realized that he put a sticky note on it!

At first, I thought it was all a silly joke. I took the note off my forehead and dreadfully read the word, "billboard face", which was written in English, all in capital letters. I then realized that this was more than just a joke. It was a prank. A mockery.

Soon enough, I began to hear laughter, which was getting louder and louder by the second. My classmates were all there to witness this mortifying scene. Not only that, they all had one sticky note, each. For the past ten minutes, they all approached and attached their sticky notes to my forehead.

I just stood there, watching this all over again. I gritted my teeth, wishing I could do something. Instead, I felt like a helpless, pathetic loser. I evoked the words that Lucius winter said earlier.

"What are you afraid of?" He was really letting me have it now.

Once again, the setting changed.

This time, I was in my bathroom. I found myself, ripping the sticky notes off my face (they ran out of space on my forehead, so they continued sticking their notes on other parts my face) and began to cry. I felt stupid for falling for Takeshi!

It was all coming back to me. All that bliss and ecstasy, turned into pain and heartache. That incident nearly convinced me that I did not belong at school and that I will never have friends, all because of this cursed forehead.

I looked at the mirror and looking at my completely crushed face. It was wet with tears of anguish, and I nearly did not detect the razor I was holding in my trembling hands. Yes, I attempted to do suicide.

I placed the razor on my wrist, and I was about to press it to my skin. I was ready, but at the same time, I wasn't. Then from sadness, I precipitously became angry. Why did I allow myself to be tortured like this? Why did I accept all of this suffering? What did I ever do to them?

As a replacement for suicide, I placed the razor on my long black hair, and I trimmed it off. That's when my full bangs came.

I scrutinized my new look at the mirror. Then I decided that this haircut marks my new life. I will no longer trust anyone, other than my father, and I will do everything by myself.

I was glad that this reminiscence came to mind. I had my reason for running away Camp Half-Blood. I thought I conquered my fear, but then apprehended that it still was not over.

My milieu went black again. At that point, I heard a voice and it was saying, "billboard".

In a little while, more voices came, saying that dreadful word in unison. I endeavoured to resist, but it became too much. I covered my ears and I crawled up like a ball.

"E-enough..." I stammered. Strangely, it did stop.

I carefully released my ears and slowly stood up. I felt a hand touch my shoulder. I turned around to see my father.

"Otou-sama!" I cried, in relief. I was about to hug him, but he began saying the word I absolutely abhor.

"Billboard." he said, with a blank expression. My eyes widened out of disbelief.

As he kept repeating that word, I stepped back. But he kept taking a step forward, no matter how hard I tried. Soon, all the voices came back again. The next thing I knew, all the kids from the playground, my classmates from elementary till high school, my teachers, Takeshi, and everyone I knew for the past fifteen years were all behind my father.

They were all repeating the word, "billboard" to me. They were all like an army of parrots when they said billboard, continually. I trembled as I tried to run away from them. I ended up tripping and fell to the ground. I did my utmost best to get up, but all of them suddenly became giants and they all surrounded me.

"Please... stop..." I begged, crawled up like a ball, again.

As they kept repeating that very word, that awful word, my father looked at me, just like the owl did earlier. Subsequently, he raised his foot at me, and tried to squash me like a bug.

The last thing I saw was his outsized foot, and the last thing I heard was my scream.