Thalia POV

I was pissed off. How could people think, let alone say stuff this harsh?

"Bitch."

"Wannabe."

"Slut."

"Goth Girl."

"Weirdo."

"Freak."

The words bounced around my mind, and I couldn't make them go away. It hurt to think that people though this about me and my friends.

"You're a slut." I hear someone say.

"Sorry. You seemed to have mistaken me for your mirror." I say, smiling forcefully and trying to pretend like it didn't hurt. It did. I was wounded, and I didn't want to show it.

"The sass is real." Leo says from behind me. The girl gasps in horror that I actually talked back.

"Leo!" She whinges, "She's being mean to me."

Ummm? Who was calling me a slut?

"Not the way I heard it." He says, scoffing and walking off. I do the same.

The insults hang around all day, whispering in my head over and over.

What if I was those things? What if they were right?

"I know what you're thinking, Thals." Luke says, making my heart rate speed up. "'It's most definitely not true. Don't you dare even think it."

I nod, swallowing the thick tears threatening to fall.

"C'mere." he says, pulling me in for a hug. I bury my face into his warm chest. A few tears escape,but I mostly use this moment to get myself together and keep most of the tears down. His embrace was warm and secure, making me feel safe and protected.

"Thanks, Luke." i say, pulling back and wiping my face. His hands grip my shoulders gently.

"No problem, Thals." He says, "Any time."

So I can hug you any time I like? Well then, thank you very much. I will use that to my advantage.

His blue eyes were looking at me intently, and his eyebrows were furrowed in concern. He was worried about me.

As cute as it is, I don't need a man to be worried about me. Even if that man was my brother or Luke Castellan.

"Um, Thals." Luke says, dropping his hands to hang limply beside him.

"Yeah." I say, cursing my croaky voice.

"You're beautiful." He says honestly, before dashing off.

I look at him as he flies past everyone cramped in the hallway. Did he mean it? My heart clenches painfully. Why was he running away from me? Was I that scary?

Suddenly, someone crashes into me, making me and them fall to the floor. The books slip from my hand and are kicked around by other people in the hall.

"Watch it, loser." Drew says to me cruelly. She would make an excellent 'Cruella De Ville' if the school ever did '101 Dalmatians' as the school play. I can imagine her skinning puppies. Actually, I can't. She'd probably get someone else to do it because she wouldn't want to get her hands dirty or a chipped nail.

"Hey!" I hear my twin (In this Jason and Thalia are twins. Its easier, because they're supposed to be in the same grade. Sorry for anyone who doesn't like it) shout. "Leave her alone."

"Jason." Drew screeches, launching herself at him. Poor Jason. She used to come over regularly when she was dating Jason. It was mind-splittingly annoying. Her screechy nails-on-a-blackboard voice was a regular in my house, and her sickly strong perfume was permanently absorbed in the walls. It sucks.

Jason looks at me with an awkward frown that resembled the frowny face :( . He shrugged her off.

"Why are you so mean?" He asks her, "Stop being so mean and maybe I'll like you. Maybe. If you haven't ruined it for yourself already. What you say hurts. It really does. And to think I used to date you. The thought makes me sick." He spits at her. She looks taken back.

She deserves it, my inner sass says, She deserves it all.

But the Annabeth in me says, No one deserves to be spoken to this way. Fight fire with fire and the flames only get larger. No one wins. Nothing is solved. More people are effected.

Jason comes over to me and helps me get my stuff together.

"Are you okay, Thalia?" He asks, helping me stand.

"Yeah." I say, rubbing my hip bone which landed first. I hope I don't get a bruise from this. Aphrodite would kill me. She specifically said "Don't be harsh with your skin. Its pale and blemish-less. People would kill for it. I will kill you, if you damage it." Then she continued to smile innocently at me.

So yeah. Bad idea.

It was slightly red, but other than that it looked alright.

"Are you sure?" Jason says, handing me back my books.

"Yeah. I'm perfectly fine, Jase." I say, trying to get him to stop breathing down my neck.

I actually wanted to say, "I'm not fine, Jason. Everyone hates me and I've been labelled a slut because I lo- like Luke. I hate it. Everyone hates me."

I kinda felt bad, lying to my twin brother like that. But it was better than telling the truth.

He should be asking Piper that question. I've not-so-secretly been shipping them together since the day I found out Piper liked him. Well, she loves him. She doesn't want to admit it. They'd be a prefect couple if they just let Annabeth and I meddle a bit and set them up without them knowing.

I rush to class, before he can ask me any more questions.

"So girls, you've packed all your stuff?" Asks Aphrodite, "Paisley, give me the box of your sister's old clothes."

Paisley hands over the large plastic storage box. Aphrodite sets it on Piper's bed and goes through the clothes.

"Stylish. Cute. Fancy. Ohmygods this, you have to wear." She squeals, holding up a lavender purple strapless dress that has a sweetheart neck line. Layers of lavender lace poofed the dress out, and it looked like it would fall to Paisley's knee, or an inch or two above it. "And I give the okay to this clothing. Its all so cute. You have to share it."

So that's how we spent the afternoon. Going through Paisley's dead sister's clothes and picking out stuff we'd like to wear.

I got handed the darker clothing. It was girly, none the less, but better than the pink stuff.

"I didn't bring shoes because they got thrown out." Paisley says.

"Do you have any more of this stuff at home?" Aphrodite asks her, twirling around the room holding a dress to her chest.

"Yeah. Tonnes. She had a whole walk in wardrobe filled with the stuff. This is just some of it." Paisley says, surprising us all. There was tonnes thrown on the bed and on various places around the room.

"Wow. Can you bring it in?" Asks Aphrodite hopefully, her kaleidoscope eyes, which Piper inherited, widening.

"Yeah, I guess. It's all in storage." Paisley says.

"So how much of your clothing is hand me downs?"

"Practically all of it. The only things in my wardrobe that are mine are my togs (Swim suit) shoes and a few shirts." Paisley admits with a shrug.

"So you have your sister's bra and un-" Piper starts.

"Yes." Paisley says with a blush, "From when she was twelve. Can we please change the subject?" Paisley pleads.

"Has anyone seen the way Jason looks at Piper?" I say, causing the said girl to blush.

"Honey, whose Jason?" Aphrodite grills her daughter for details, while Piper glares at me like one might do to a DVD player that stops working.

I grin like 'what did I do?" when I know perfectly well what I did.

Annabeth hi-fives me secretly, making a "Yes!" Sound.

The next day at school, Luke was acting strange. I chose not to ask him about it.

I was walking past the office, when I heard a few people whispering "That's the girl that THE Luke Castellan has a crush on."

"Wow, he likes goth girl?"

"Apparently. He told Drew to stay away from her and that she was more special than Drew would ever be. What more clear of a sign would that me?"

"True, true."

I stopped listening after that.

Luke did that for me? He told Drew to stay away from me? He thinks I'm Special?

Well duh, honey. Inner Annabeth says, They wouldn't make it up especially if he was considered desirable.

Well, now I know why he was acting strange. He indirectly said he liked me.

I wish I could tell him how I feel.

And then, with my luck, someone crashes into me. Again.

I stare into the person's crystal eyes.

"Luke? Do you like me?" I ask, shuffling closer.

He looks down and nods. I tackle him to the ground, where I'm sitting sideways across his legs, with a death hug on his torso, and he's lying on the ground.

"It's a bloody good thing I like you too, then. Isn't it?" I say, letting go of him.

Well, there goes nothing.

A/N

How fabulous am I? Two chapter's in one day, say what?

~KaleidoscopeColours

For SetFireToTheRainbow who has been asking for this for ages :)