8. Detention

She quickly shoved his hands off and stepped back, leaving him pretty startled.

"Did I do something wrong?" he asked, taking a step towards her, but she raised her hand.

"It's late. I have to go," she said, as she grabbed her bag and ran out of the broken building. She couldn't believe she was so close to— no. She shouldered her bag and walked through the park. Vile started to rise up from her throat and she felt like she wanted to hurl. Her mother's stupidity must be catching. The soft wind whirled her hair around.

All she wanted was something to take her mind off her stupid mother and it ended up in one of those stupid scenes from a corny movie. She couldn't believe herself. She shook her head and took a deep breath. Whatever.

She walked into her apartment. She turned on the light of the kitchen and noticed the beer puddle was still there. She sighed and looked for a towel. She set it over it, and the liquid soaked into it in seconds. Several paper towels later, she took a shower. She sat in the tub, letting the hot water fall on her back. Her hair hung in her face and she softly breathed, the water spilling from her lips every time she moved them. The stress and pain subsided and her muscles finally relaxed.

She thought about Percy on the roof; when she decided to take his offer. How they glided across the floor in some stupid dance. But somehow it felt nice. It had reminded her of the days when her father actually acted like a father, and would put on Beethoven, pull her up onto his feet and swing her around like some modern Cinderella. It felt good to dance again. To feel the nice warmth of someone against you and swing to the rhythm of a song you loved. Except it wasn't her father. It was some boy, whom she almost kissed and she couldn't believe herself.

Just forget about him, Thalia. She finished rinsing off and went to bed.

At first, her sleep was comfortable and just darkness, but it turned into a nightmare. She was standing on a building; the building she lives in. She was looking down and fear was taking over her as she stared down stories and stories, all leading to a really hard ground. She heard a soft click and spun around to see a gun pointing right at her. She caught her breath. The man pulled the trigger and with a loud pop she woke up. She jumped up, panting.

Light streamed in through her window, showering the floor in a soft yellow light. She looked at her clock; 6:46 AM.

"Shit," she whispered as she jumped out of bed and started to change. She was going to be late for school; again. She almost fell pulling up her jeans, and smacked her door trying to put on her shirt. She was halfway out the door, trying to put on her boots when she forgot to brush her teeth.

"Uuugh," she moaned as she ran back to her bathroom and brushed her teeth. She glanced down the hallway and she could barely see her mother's toes poking out of her comforter. She rolled eyes. She ran out the door, intentionally slamming it as hard as possible and jogging down the stairs. She got one of those mini headaches when the sun blasted in her face as soon as she walked out. She glanced at her watch; 7:13 AM.

She pulled her arm through the other strap of her backpack and ran down the sidewalk. Her boots thundering on the cement, as she whirled around corners and crossed streets. 7:27 AM.

She ran around a corner and finally saw the school she'd been running to. Brunner Institution. She ran inside, three minutes before the bell would ring. She ran down the halls, shoving her way past kids and slid inside her classroom right when the bell rang. The teacher looked startled and the kids snickered. She was panting and she had sweat dripping down her temples.

"Sorry," she muttered, as she slowly walked to the back of the classroom and sat down. As the teacher ignored Thalia's sudden entrance and started teaching the class, she slumped her head down and tried to catch her breath.

"Had to sober up your mom before coming to school, huh?" a girl said sarcastically, sending her a cocky look. Cindy Tempalwhirl. The annoying, rich, popular girl of the school. She was sitting with her legs crossed, in a short plaid skirt, a pink long sleeved shirt and black heels. She had blonde hair with blue eyes and she simply loved bullying Thalia. She literally would go out of her way just to bother her. Thalia looked at her annoyed, but ignored her. She could live without her drama. Thalia spent the rest of the day suffering through her classes, her hand hurting from all the notes she was taking and her head hurting from all the homework she was receiving.

Brunner Institution is not an easy school, but it was one of the best schools Thalia could find with her budget. During seventh period, history, a man in a wheelchair came in. Mr. Brunner, the founder and principal of Brunner Institution. Our teacher, Mr. Whatley, stopped his speech about Congress and turned to Mr. Brunner.

"Well, what a nice surprised Mr. Brunner! May I help you with something?" he asked, setting down his chalk. Mr. Brunner smiled kindly.

"Is Thalia Grace in your class today?" he asked, his eyes wandering over the crowd. Thalia froze, not even finishing the word she was writing. Her mind went into hyper-drive as she tried to think of a reason the principal would like to see her. Mr. Whatley nodded and turned to the students; all their eyes were on her.

"Thalia, please accompany me to the office please," Mr. Brunner said, as she turned and wheeled out of the classroom. Reluctantly, she packed up her things and stood up. She tried to ignore the stares of all the students that were snickering at her. She walked down the hall, following Mr. Brunner into his office.

His office was big compared to others, mostly because of his disability. The floor was wood and his desk had a big golden plaque saying MR. BRUNNER. And the worst part of everything, standing in the back corner of the office, was Cindy Tempalwhirl. Thalia resisted the urge to run over to her and punch her square in the face. Cindy smirked. She had her arms crossed as she leaned against the filing cabinet. Thalia sat down in one of the chairs, and placed her bag next to her feet. Thalia stayed quiet as she chewed on her lip. Mr. Brunner went behind his desk and softly frowned; pursing his lips.

"Sir?" Thalia said softly, when Mr. Brunner had said nothing yet.

"I have been told that there were some nasty words spray-painted onto the wall of Mrs. Diniro," he said, interlocking his fingers over his desk. Thalia gulped. She could already tell where this was going. She glanced at Cindy, who was staring at her with a cocky smile.

"I didn't do it, sir," she said defensively.

"I have been told otherwise. I do not want you to lie to me."

"Mr. Brunner, please believe me, I didn't do it."

"We found the aerosol can in your locker," he said. Thalia's eyes widened. She was certain, more than anything, she was not the culprit and that she had not put that can in her locker.

"I'm going to have to assign four days to detention after school starting today and you are responsible for repainting the classroom," he said.

"But—"

"That is my final decision," he said firmly, but something about the look in his eyes told her, her punishment was more for show for Cindy than his actual verdict. Thalia sighed, grabbed her bag and stormed out of the office. She couldn't believe Cindy had done that to her. Actually, scratch that, she could believe it. Cindy was Thalia's personal boogey man. Thalia walked to her eighth period that, unfortunately, she had with Cindy.

She sat down in the back and started doodling in her notebook, until she heard a voice.

"I can't believe you would do that," a voice said mockingly, sitting in the chair next to her. Thalia recognized that voice immediately and her hands balled up into fists.

"What do you want Cindy?" she growled, turning to look at the blonde with bright red lipstick. She snickered.

"Oh nothing."

"I know you did it," Thalia said, trying her best not to pummel her right then and there. Cindy waved a hand.

"I would never get my hands dirty," she smiled, raising her fine eyebrows.

"Of course not. You probably had someone do it for you. Some poor boy who got lost in your… eyes," Thalia said. Cindy laughed. She leaned forward.

"No one will believe you anyways," she said. Anger tingled on her skin just looking at her.

"I wouldn't even bother. 'Cause karma will be the one to come back and bite you in the ass," Thalia said.

"Yeah, whatever," Cindy said as she stood up and fixed her skirt. "Have fun in detention," Cindy smiled, as she strutted away, dragging her fingers across a boy's hair. Thalia rolled her eyes. She'd been butting heads with Cindy since the ninth grade. She couldn't stand her. Thalia always believed she was the devil in disguise.

Cindy always thought she was better than anyone because her parents were incredibly rich. She could get any boy she wanted just by winking in their direction. Even teachers sometimes did what she said. Everyone was gaga over her, except Thalia. People would think she was so sweet and nice, but Thalia knew the real Cindy; a low life tramp that threw a tantrum whenever she didn't get what she wanted. Your typical rich girl.

Cindy always bullied Thalia, even though Thalia wasn't even a mild threat to her. Thalia still can't figure out why Cindy has it in for her. With Thalia's new punishment in mind, she couldn't even concentrate on the class. She would doodle, mostly things like Cindy getting hit by a bus or Cindy hanging over a tank of hungry sharks, or Cindy falling into a pit of poisonous snakes or Cindy getting struck by lightning, until she found herself sketching out a drawing of the view from the broken building where she had danced for the first time for years. She smiled, as she drew the little windows of the buildings and the small ripples of the Hudson River. Although she would never admit it out loud, she enjoyed those three minutes they had danced under the stars.

Suddenly, the bell rang and Mrs. Towry's last set of words were for a homework due tomorrow. Answer questions 1-26 on page 163. Thalia sighed and scribbled it down. Nothing like answering a bunch of questions on a Monday afternoon. Thalia packed her things and left the classroom, heading towards Mr. Bong's room. The detention room.

"Have fun!" Cindy laughed as she walked out of the building with two boys behind her. Thalia glared in her direction and kept walking. She walked into the classroom, wrote her name on the name sheet for the detention attendees and sat there doing her homework and watching Mr. Bong play solitaire on his computer. This can't get any worse. But it did.

A boy walked in with very tan skin and extremely dark curly hair. He wore a big goofy grin and when he saw Thalia, he walked over and sat in the chair next to her.

"Sup," he said, wiggling his eyebrows at her.

"Forget it kid," she said, looking away and out the window. She was already upset with the detention, she didn't need some annoying kid talking to her and trying to hit on her.

"Oh come on, I'm just trying to be nice. Truce?" he said, extending his hand. Thalia looked at his hand in disgust and shrugged. He pursed his lips and pulled his hand back.

"Well, at least let me introduce myself," he said, with a smile. "I'm Valdez. Leo Valdez."

Thanks a lot for the reviews guys! :) I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and I'll apologize in advance, because my uploads might get slower, but hopefully not. Anyways, you know the drill! Review if you liked or not ;) Thanks!

And thanks a lot Writer'sWings. Don't forget guys, really talented author right there :)