Chapter 1. This is the first actual chapter in the story. Just a recap, it's in Iliana's POV. We are fast forwarding 4 years, where she is 12. And...wait for it...Disclaimer! I am not RR, so I do not own anything he does.

Hi, my name is Iliana Thalia Jackson, 'Lee for short. I was named after my aunt Thalia. Ok, so she's not really my aunt, but that's not important. I'm 12 years old, and according to the state of New York, I'm crazy. I mean full fledged effing crazy, put the girl on meds and send her to the looney bin kind of crazy. I don't think I am and neither does my family (or what's left of it anyway). I live with my Nana and Pa (Nana is my dad's mom, and Pa is my dad's step father). My little sister, Calli, is..well a bit odd compared to most other 10 year olds.

You see, she has serious ADHD, is Bipolar, and is extreamly 'flighty'. I mean I have those problems too, but she takes it to a whole new level. As far as appearance goes, she looks like a clone of our mother. The only differances being her sea green eyes and the fact that she keeps her curly blond hair in a short bob. She has a small frame and is always wearing leggings or yoga pants with a t-shirt. She is constantly doing gymnastics where ever she goes (regardless of whether she should or not), but has never once taken a class.

The both of us are sort of beam poles, but after that I can't find any similarity's between our appearances. I have medium length, pin strait black hair, a deep tan, and grey eyes. I tend to dress kind of edgy I guess, you know black jeans, combat boots, band t-shirt, that sort of thing. People always say I took after my father, both personality and appearance. Apparently I have some of his features, but I'm still not sure why people think that, I certainly can't see it. From what I hear about him, though, I can see where they would say I act like him. I am extremely stuborn (good or not, I am), I will admit that I tend to be sarcastic and snarky, but the one thing everyone says is "undeniable" is that I'm loyal, especially to my friends and family.

I guess I can't quite get my head around the fact that my dad was loyal. I mean, I always hear about all these things he did to support that fact, but I can't help but feel betrayed by both my parents. The night...well I guess it doesn't matter. No need to go into details.

Anyway I am going to Goode Middle School ('cause my Pa works at the high school and it's the only middle school left that I haven't been expelled from). I was in my World History class, tapping my pencil, and counting down the minutes 'till the bell rang. was droning on and on about the history of Greek myths and this and that. I already knew all that stuff, I lived it day in and day out. Oh by the way did I mention Mr.T hates me? If not, he hates me; as do all of the teachers I have ever had since I was the age of eight.

"*RING!* *RING!*" Finally. I got up from my seat, grabbed my things and hurried to my locker. I shoved my books into the locker, and slammed it shut.

"Well, well. Isn't it the little psychopath who was crazy enough to drive her parents mad. It's no wonder they killed your brother. Probably thought it was you, it being dark and all, and fled when they figured out it wasn't. I don't blame them. I can't imagine the hell it would be to have a daughter like you."

I pushed past Jasmine and her little crew of wanna-be 'it' girls, not saying a word. If I were to have said anything it would have been an invitation to keep at it. I will admit, it was hard to keep from strangling her, but that would have just 'proved her point'.

"NO ONE EVER CARED ABOUT YOU! YOU SHOULD JUST GO DIE, YOU LITTLE FREAK!", she screamd as I reached the door. A final attack as I left the building.

Pa was staying late that night for some meeting, so I had to take the subway alone. It didn't really matter anyway, I was meeting Daniel at McDonalds to hang out, then we would head to my place. I got off at my stop. Shouldering my backpack, I made my way through the crowds of people to see Daniel sitting on a bench outside McDonald. He looked just like his father, well, slightly tanner, and attracted a lot of attention from girls. I can't say I enjoyed watching those whores fawn all over my best friend, but I tried not to overeact. It's not like he ever paid any attention to them.

"Hey", he said smiling as he looked up from his phone. I couldn't help but smile back. We went inside and each got a drink. Walking over to a small table in the corner, we sat down.

"Really?", he said raising an eyebrow.

"What?"

"You got a large Coke. You don't weigh any more than 80 pounds. How much can a little skin and bone girl actually drink? That's like giving a normal sized person a galon of something to drink all by themselves."

"Ha. Ha.", I rolled my eyes. He had known me all my life, and he knew that I always got a large Coke. I know I didn't need it, but I couldn't help but prove him wrong day after day, especially when it meant that I could have a Coke.

"So what homework did you get stuck with today?", he asked with a smirk.

"None."

"What? How can you not have homework?"

"I got off lucky. Flu is going around and I ended up having three subs. and never gives homework on Friday. So I get the whole weekend with no work what-so-ever. What did you get stuck with.", I told him laughing.

"A three page essay on Tuck Everlasting explaining the pros and the cons of living forever."

"Well that shouldn't be too hard. Just list one or two points for either side and then bullshit your way through the rest.", I'd had the assignment a week ago, besides his English teacher was kind of lazy so it was doubtful that she would really read the whole thing.

"Yeah, was kind of planning on that anyway. Hey can you email me those two points since you already had this?"

"Yeah, sure.", I said standing up,"You coming? I promised Nana I would be back by four."

"Yep, but I need to go by my house first. You go on, and I'll meet you there in a bit. 'kay?"

" 'Kay"

I climbed into my room through the fire escape, something that was fairly common for me to do. I chaged out of my maroon and grey baseball t-shirt and into a black tank, and through my hair into a high ponytail.

"Nana, I'm home.", I said walking into the living area. I didn't see her, she was probably in the kitchen or something. I caught sight of two people, I couldn't tell who they were, who were sitting at the table in the kitchen, in front of Nana. They were talking quietly, and Nana, from what I could tell, was crying. Assuming it was a bad time, I went back to my room and turned my mp3 onto tool's sober.

" 'Lee?", my grandmother said. I was barely able to hear her over the music. Taking out my earbuds I sat up.

"Yeah?", I replied.

"Can you...can you come here?"

"Um...sure.", I said slowly. Getting up, I walked to the door. What happened next, I will take full reasponsibility for. I was scared and reckless and shocked (and happened to have taken some lessons from Gleeson Hedge). Opening the door, I saw a man (one whom, at first glance, I did not recognize). I couldn't really see his face clearly in the dim light of the hallway, and when he reached out towards me, I kind of freaked out a little. I grabbed a baseball bat from beside the door and swung. I know it was stupid, but that's just what happened. I would've cracked the guy's skull open if he hadn't moved so fast.

He ducked and I ended up slamming the bat strait into the wall, leaving a very large hole. It wasn't untill then that I got a clear view of his face. Mortified and terrified, I slammed the door, locked it, and grabbed my phone.

Daniel where r u? , I texted. He replied a few seconds later as I pulled on a red, leather jacket.

On my way 2 ur house, why?

Just a change of plans. Meet me the park, K., I grabbed a few dollars off my desk, a pocket knife (celestial bronze), and a bottle of pepper spray (hey it never hurts to be prepared).

Alright?

"So why the change in plans? Hey, what's wrong?" I was trembling to the point I couldn't see strait. I think I was having a panic attack, but I wasn't sure. Daniel, seeing my less than stable state, guided me to a bench then wrapped his arms around me, allowing me to silently cry onto his shoulder. When I finally regained some normalacy, he grabbed my hand and looked me in the eye.

"What happened? I haven't seen you like this in years.", he was calm and obviously conserned. Gods I didn't deserve a friend like him. Even after all the hell I had (unintentionally) put him through, he still stuck by my side, always there when I needed him. I swallowed, trying to process what had happened. It was something that, when I was younger, I prayed for everyday but now that it had I didn't know what to do.

"My p-parents."

"What?", he didn't understand.

"My parents...they...I...I tried to hit my dad with a baseball bat." His eyes went wide, finally realizing what I told him and what it meant.

"Oh crap"

Yay! finished the first chapter! So, tell me what you think. If you don't like something let me know. Or if you're confused I'm sure I can explain. I know the chapters are a bit longer than most fanfics, but I kind of tend to just write like that so...yeah you may not like this if you don't like that. Anyway, Thanks for reading. Bye!