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[Stupid Carter and his bloody perverted thoughts. Oh stop, defending yourself Carter. We all heard what you said.]

Well, to say that class was boring would be an exact description of it. History flew by (not!) and Math was as easy as pie (again, not!) The only highlight of the day was my arts class, where we were asked to draw anything that we wanted. Since Nico and I were enrolled as eighth graders, nobody expected him to draw a very descriptive picture of the fields of punishment in the underworld, complete with tortured people, furies, and a scowling Hades sitting on a black throne. I, on the other hand, drew my dad, Osiris, in our home in Los Angeles, but it wasn't as good as Nico's. Who knew that he was such an artist?

"Oh my," The teacher, Miss Falon, commented. "Such…imagination you two have. Can you please explain to the class why you chose to draw these? Mr. di Angelo, you first."

I scowled at the word explain. I'm a very talkative person, but explaining things properly wasn't exactly one of my strong points. I'd rather talk about random things like weather, boyfriends, etc.

Nico shifted in his seat uncomfortably. "I uh…just thought of it randomly, actually." He explained poorly.

"And where did you get the idea, may I ask?" Miss Falon asked.

"Oh um…you see…it's actually from…"

I rolled my eyes. I made a mental note to teach Nico how to lie through his teeth later. "He got it from a book, Miss Falon." I said, saving Nico from complete embarrassment. He smiled at me gratefully, and mouthed, nice save.

Thanks, I mouthed back.

As the class ended, I noticed that kid earlier, Arestin or something, talking with a girl who looked like his splitting image outside the doors. She looked about thirteen, like me. The girl had caramel-colored hair like mine, but it went all the way down to her waist, with a few streaks of black complementing her hair. She wore a simple white tank top with the words, "I am the girl!" written on the front, and jean shorts that ended mid-thigh. Converse shoes were on her feet. She was obviously scolding him for something, and then pointed to his bruises. Arestin groaned, and flipped the girl off. I nudged Nico, and pointed at the two.

"Who's that other girl?" Nico asked me.

"No idea. And why are you asking?" Nico didn't answer. I gazed into his eyes, and saw that he was completely trained on the girl. The corner of his mouth was starting to drool. I was completely annoyed. Truthfully, I felt a bit jealous. But in an instant that jealousy became anger. I stomped Nico on the foot.

"Ow! What was that for!" Nico grumbled, holding his foot with one hand while jumping around on the other.

"Bloody male hormones and their green minds." I mumbled, and stepped out the doors. I tried to look for the boy and the girl he was talking to, but they both already disappeared.

Both of us headed for the cafeteria, where Percy, Annabeth, and Carter were already seated, and were waving for us to go to their table. We ordered out lunch, which was basically a gray slop that I doubt was edible, and juice.

"So, how was school?" carter asked, trying to start a conversation.

"Meh." I said.

"Fine, except for Sadie stomping my foot." Nico grumbled. He slurped his juice box. I noticed that nobody was touching their slop. I grabbed a spork, and was about to take a small bite when Percy stopped me. "You wouldn't want to do that. The last kid who tried…well, he's still in the hospital." I immediately dropped the spork, and took a drink from my juice box instead. Percy sighed in relief.

"So, did you find any leads?" I asked them. Percy and Carter shook their heads, but Annabeth nodded slowly.

"There was the guy you guys fought in my class, William Brandt. He looked pretty well-built, and had that cockiness that rivaled Percy's. He could be what we were looking for. I mean, did you see his eyes? They were gold." Annabeth said. "He actually even tried to hit on me during history."

Percy slammed his hand on the table. "He WHAT?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "The key word is tried, seaweed brain. Now sit down. People are staring." I took a quick glance around the room, and sure enough, most of the other students were all staring at our table, particularly at Percy. But there was one guy though that caught my attention.

"Hey guys, I'll be right back." I said, ignoring the strange looks from Nico.

Arestin's table was empty. He was staring at his slop, like he was seriously considering eating it. "Hey." I said coolly, taking a seat across from him. He glanced at me for a second, before staring again at his slop. "Hi." He muttered.

"So, Arestin, right?" he looked at me again, and I saw the impassive expression on his face. His gold eyes felt like they were boring into my very soul.

"Ariston." He corrected. I saw the corner of his lip tug into a smile for a second, but after that it was gone again.

"I'm Sadie." I held out my hand, but he just stared at it before saying, "Why are you here?"

"Well that's a bit rude." I quipped. "I'm just trying to make conversation."

"Well, since you're new here, let me explain things to you. People here," – he glanced at the students – "generally try to avoid me." He warned, but I didn't listen. "If you want to last another day without getting mocked yourself, you should probably go back to your friends." He pointed towards Percy and the others, who were eyeing Ariston carefully.

I felt eyes staring at me like I'm some kind of meat. I turned around, and saw the majority of the students scowling and pointing at us. Others were whispering to their friends, and I had the feeling that I've just started a new gossip. The two guys from earlier, William Brandt and Jason Hunt, smirking in our direction. I turned my eyes back to the boy. "Well, I don't care what other bloody people think. I'm perfectly capable of deciding for my own, yes?" I took out a stick of gum from my pocket. "Gum?" I offered.

Ariston shook his head. "No, sorry." He said in a flat tone.

I shrugged. "Suit yourself." I popped the piece of gum into my mouth. "So, what's the deal with these people? I mean, you look like a really nice person and all, but why are they all avoiding you?"

"Nice?" he scoffed. "No one's said that to me in a long time. Look, you better get to you friends, before things get ugly." He was eyeing William and Jason carefully.

All of a sudden, the girl from earlier slid right next to him. She beamed at me. "So, finally made a friend eh?" she quipped.

Ariston scowled at her. "We're not friends. Now leave me alone." he glanced at me, putting emphasis on the "not".

"Sorry?" I stared at him in disbelief.

"Oh, excuse my brother. He's impossible. I'm Alexis Diana Monroe by the way, Ariston's little sister. But just call me Diana." She held out her hand, and I shook it with a smile. "Sadie Kane. Nice to meet you."

"I see you've already met Ariston." He gestured to her brother. Ariston scowled some more, before standing up and leaving the cafeteria.

Diana sighed, and shook her head. "Sometimes, I get the urge to beat him up, just to get him to open up." She smiled at me. "Sorry for the way he acted."

"What's up with him, anyway? First we see him get beat up, and nobody even comes to help bar me and my friends, and next, I come over here, and everybody starts staring at us like we were a plague." I shifted in my seat, ignoring the looks people were giving.

Diana leaned towards me. "Most of the people here classify him as unfriendly, cold, heartless, and useless. I mean, I'm practically the only person here he talks to, apart from you, and that's because I'm his sister."

I bit my lip. "Seems to me like he has a very small amount of self-confidence, just like my brother before."

"You have a brother?" She asked me intriguingly.

"Yes, but we don't look anything alike." I said.

"Really? How?"

"Well, it's better really if I just show you." I pulled her towards Percy's table.

"Hey, Perce." Diana high-fived Percy. "Diana, how's it going?"

"You two know each other?"

"We're practically best friends." Diana said. Annabeth glares at Percy accusingly.

"She's on my swim team, and one of the few friends I have here." Percy clarifies. Annabeth's glare lowered for a fraction of their intensity. "Guys, this is Alexis Diana Monroe. Diana, these are my friends."

"I'm Nico di Angelo."

"I'm Annabeth Chase."

Diana raised her eyebrow. "So you're Percy's girlfriend. Percy's told me lots about you."

"Good things, I hope." Annabeth smiled.

Diana laughed. "Actually, you're quite far from the know-it-all smart-aleck he portrays you as."

Under the table, I heard something stomp down, hard, and Percy screamed, "Ow!" he glared at Diana. "Thanks a lot."

"I try to help." Diana quipped.

"I'm Carter Kane." Carter held out his hand.

"So you're Sadie's brother." she shook carter's hand, smiling.

"You don't seem to be shocked." Carter noticed. "Well, that's a first."

"Actually, I try not to judge, so that I may not be judged." She said.

"I think I heard that from somewhere." Percy said.

"Yeah, actually, our mom told it before…" she stopped abruptly.

"Before what?" Percy blurted out, before Annabeth slapped his mouth close with her hand. I smacked my face with my palm. I know that Percy had ADHD, and tended to blurt things out, but that was just plain tactless.

"It's okay," I said. "You don't have to-"

"No, no, it's fine. The doctor said that talking about it would make it easier to bear anyway." She gave me a small smile. Diana took a deep breath, and finished what she said earlier. "Before our mom was murdered."

A chorus of gasps was heard from our group. I had a feeling that one of those was mine.

Diana looked at me. "Sadie, you wanted to know why my brother was like that, yes?"

I slowly nodded my head. I was still a bit shocked that something like that happened in their lives. Diana struck me as a very friendly and carefree person. It was rather impossible to deduce that they were motherless.

"Well, our mother's murder was actually the reason." She began. "It was two years ago, and I had just turned eleven that day. My friends and I were celebrating on one of our friend's houses, and Ariston was home with mom. We were never rich, in fact, our father abandoned us when we were young. We lived in small, rundown apartment, just over the edge of the city. Mom had promised to buy me some new clothes once I got home, so you could guess that I was very excited. My few friends who actually knew of our condition had accompanied me to our house. We were anxious to see my mom, who always made a fresh batch of cookies just for us, but what greeted us instead made them run away, screaming in terror, and leaving me alone. My mom and Ariston were on the floor. My mom had a pool of blood under her body and three stab wounds on her heart, and Ariston was also on the floor. At first, I thought that he was also dead, but then his chest was rising and falling. In his hand was a bloody knife."

We listened intently, our eyes widening every second. "Of course, you can guess what I did next. In my panic, I immediately called the police. Once they got there, I was crying my eyes out. The scene…it was just too much for me to take." Her hands were shaking, but she continued. "I didn't realize that from the way things looked, it seemed like my brother had murdered our mother. I was really surprised when he came out of the house, his hand cuffed behind his back, and his eyes looking at me in confusion. Of course, the next day, the whole school practically knew, and most of the people just gave me sympathetic looks. Even after Ariston was cleared of charges, and the real killer was caught, people still looked at him like he was a murderer. They stayed away from him whenever possible; even his so-called "friends" had abandoned him, all except for me."

"So that's why he always seemed so distant." I said.

Diana nodded her head. "He took it hard; he still blames himself for not protecting his mother."

"It's not even his bloody, fault, is it? I mean, he was eleven, for god's sake!" They all nodded in agreement.

"I tried to convince him of that, but he's just too stubborn. He never listens to me." Diana murmured.

All around us was a calm, serene silence. I gazed around. The whole cafeteria was empty, bar for us. We must've been so engrossed in Diana's, we didn't hear the bell ring.

"Guys, I think lunch is over." I pointed out. Then they noticed the empty tables.

Diana stood up. "Yeah, I don't want you guys to get in trouble on your first day because of me."

Percy smirked. "Trust me, we already have, but not because of you."

I put a hand on her shoulder. "I'll do my best to help your brother." I gave her a reassuring smile.

She smiled back. "Thanks." She walked out of the cafeteria.

We started to go to our classes, but Annabeth held us back. "Wait, there's something else you guys need to know."

We turned to face her. "Huh?" I asked.

"That guy, William Brandt, I just figured out why he creeps me out." She turned to Percy. "Percy, you recognized him to, didn't you?"

Percy shifted uncomfortably from the four pairs of eyes currently trained on him. "Well, I kinda did, but it was just probably because I saw him on the mall or something."

"Percy," Annabeth hissed. "Try again. He looks exactly like Hyperion."

Well, there you go. Personally, I think I did fine with the names, but hey, I need you opinions too. Read and Review, people!