Okay, so, chapter one. You get to meet Rue, my little psychopath Gray, and Jacob Hartz. Enjoy!

Oh, and three more characters:

Hesper Cyran
Cain Fielder
Wright Summers

But they come in later.

Home, sweet Juvie

Chapter One

Waking up was nearly as bad as the nightmare I'd just had. Or, at least, I guessed so, seeing as I never remember my dreams. All I knew is that they were always horrible. But they couldn't be as bad as this place.

My home, I thought bitterly. My home sweet Juvie.

I got up without too much complaint. I mean, really, if I complained I'd just get yelled at. I sighed, and ignored looks from the other girls in my cell. Whoops. 'Dorm,' I mean. I changed quickly, feeling uncomfortable in this room. As usual. I grabbed my tennis shoes and ran down the stairs to the commons area.

The commons area is pretty much a huge field surrounded by a giant fence. Everyone stays in it and hangs out until about 3 o'clock-ish. Then we have classes. I stood around, waiting for my friends to get here.

I didn't have to wait long, because Gray came running out of the building after about five minutes. I smiled, because Gray is my favorite person here.

Gray's full name is Grayson Lireman. He has shiny, blond hair that looks like a mix between sugar and honey. As soon as you see his eyes, you'll figure out why his parents named him gray. They were a beautiful gray-blue that reminded me of the sky today.

Speaking of the sky, when was Jake going to get here?

That's when I heard the running, and the yelling. It sounded like an earthquake. I rolled my eyes and exchanged a look with Gray. He grinned. I turned my attention to the stampede, which consisted of about nineteen girls, our Jacob, and... Konrad Eads. My face turned pink just at the sight of Konrad. Jacob ran straight toward us, and let me just say that Jacob is quick. He was out of range of those rabid girls in a matter of seconds. Konrad took a turn to a group of guys about thirty feet away from us.

Jacob groaned loudly. "I was ambushed! They came at me and Eads from all sides! They stole my shirt! It was horrible!" he collapsed on the ground. I sighed and kicked him. Hard.

"OW! What was that for, Rue?" he yelped. I snorted. He just glared at me.

"You are such a Drama Queen," I quipped. "Now, stand up before I throw you over the wall." Jacob scowled, but his scowl quickly turned to a smirk.

Now, let me give you a picture of what Jacob looks like. He has gorgeous, thick, blond hair. His eyes are such a deep brown that they almost look black, and they shine like floodlights. He's pretty much the second hottest guy I know, and I've seen my share of good-looking guys. And Jacob uses that to his advantage. He has practically every girl here drooling over him. They've all asked him to go out with them at least once.

I was his girlfriend once, but we're really just friends. Best friends, might I add.

I sent him a look. "Why are you smiling?" His smirk just widened.

"I just guess I won't tell you what Konrad said." I opened my mouth to say something, but a voice interuppted me.

"Hey, Galeson? Can I talk to ya?" I whirled around to see dark, deep, blue eyes staring into my own ice-blue ones. My face must hav turned three shades redder.

"Eads! Of course!" I smiled at him quickly and brushed my curly black hair out of my face. He motioned for me to follow him and started walking. i looked back at Gray and Jake nervously. Gray grinned and sent me a thumbs-up and Jake just smiled knowingly, which worried me. I sent them a smile and turned around. I followed Konrad about five yards away. He looked straight at me, and I swear a bolt of lightning ran through my spine.

"Galeson, I was wondering... Well, Hartz told me you really like me..." Konrad began. I silently cursed Jake in my head. The little niais. I'd have to talk to him about this...

"And," Konrad continued. "I was thinking about that, and I decided I like you, too. So..." He looked at me nervously. I blinked. The only thing I really got right then was the fact that Konrad was nearly never nervous, so something must be really weird if he was. And then I realized that this wonderful, gorgeous, amazing guy liked me. Konrad Eads, hottest guy here, with those beautiful eyes and wonderful, dark brown hair, likes me, little Rue Galeson.

"Uh... Yeah. I... Jake was telling the truth." My face was burning, and I felt so weird, but so, so, so happy.

That went on for forever, until we could finally talk without stammering. By that time it was time to go to class. Before I knew what was happening, Konrad bent down and kissed me. Just like that. He smiled and said bye, and then he was gone. I stared after him and just stood there.

I really, really wish I'd been able to leave right then, because maybe I could have delayed this. Just a bit longer. But I just stood there, frozen. and I heard them.

I knew two of them, and I'd seen the other two around. The two I knew were both girls. Jayne and Kylie. They were gorgeous, cheer-leader type girls that went around picking on everyone and flirting with good-looking guys. They liked to tease me a lot. And the other two... well, they were Nico and Drew. both were fairly knew, so it was no surprise that Kylie and Jayne were picking on them. I couldn't help but listen, so I hid behind the wall.

"They're ours. We were here firts, we claimed them!" Kylie was hissing. Drew was shaking her head in annoyance.

"Kylie, they belong to us. They're demigods. You can't take them. So why don't you just let us-" Jayne interuppted Drew.

"No! I won't let myself get charm-spoken. They're ours! We chose them. We've been hunting for months! I won't let you have them!" Jayne glared at them, making sure there were no objections. Apparently, Nico had one.

"We'll see. You can have them if you beat us. If we beat you, you die and we get them." Nico nodded, as if that were final. Drew looked at him, surprised and a bit scared. Kylie and Jayne just wrinkled their noses. After a few minutes Jayne spoke up.

"Okay. Tonight. 2 am. Got it?" Drew and Nico nodded slowly. Jayne smirked. "See you then."

I jumped up out of my bed, fully dressed. I'd slept in my clothes so I could get up quickly. I checked the clock. 1:40 am. I grinned. Now, I just have to wait for the boys.

I'd told the boys about what I'd heard. me, Jake, Gray, and Konrad had decided to see what was going on. We'd agreed to wake up, go out to the commons area at 1:45.

Pretty soon we were all outside, waiting for Jayne, Kylie, Nico, and Drew. It didn't take long. Nico and Drew just appeared out of nowhere. And both were carrying long, wicked cool swords. I blinked. How'd they get those things! Suddenly Kylie walked up. She was smirking, her arms crossed. As if waiting for something.

Nico glared at her. "Let's get this started," he growled.

And then my life got a whole lot more... interesting.