Thalia POV

Round three. Next would be the semi-finals, and then the finals.

As per usual, people were nervously rushing about, muttering their song lyrics, chords and pauses.

My group was going through the hair and makeup stand. Someone was tugging on my hair, and someone else was working on my face. Pft. As if my face needed work.

"This is just because the lights onstage will make you look really washed out and half dead."

"Hey Thalia, your vocals are alright, ay?" Calypso double checks.

"Yep." I struggle to say as someone applies something new to my face.

"Song?"

"He Is We, Prove You Wrong."

The song, I thought, didn't really suit many of us, but it was a favourite. We had, earlier, decided to scrap Miss Independent, and chose that instead.

"Cool." Is all Calypso replies with. I can tell that she's getting her hair tugged at, because it was clearly through clenched teeth.

"Okay! 4:12, please come backstage and ready for your performance."

I could hear people shuffling around. Some were dancing, I'm pretty sure, some shaking out their nerves, and others just walking around to find their shoes, not to call anyone out (Percy).

"Okay, Thalia, you're finished and ready to go." The person released my hair and they moved away from my face. I opened my eyes and looked in the mirror.

Blue eyeshadow was dusted lightly on my eyelids, making my eyes pop. Eyeliner was light however was noticeable. Mascara wasn't very visible as I had dark eyelashes but I could see the impact it had on my look.

I looked good.

My hair was curled lightly and left down.

We were forced into dresses, as this song was quite soft I guess. I was wearing one that went to about three centimetres above my knee. The top half was black, and had thick straps. There was a sewn in black belt around my waist, and from the bottom of the belt downwards, it was blue like my eyeshadow and eyes, with a black spider web pattern.

We were all almost the same, but everyone dress matched their eyes. Pipers was a mixture of colours, and she would be the lead singer. Calypso's was a soft brown colour that complimented her skin. Annabeth's was light grey and flow. Paisley's was sea green.

"Guys!" Piper yells out, running and skidding on her heels as soon as she sees Caly and I.

"What?" I ask her, noting how she's panicked and her forehead was sweating.

"We're next! The band that was going to go before us kinda maybe sorta puked and they can't go at the moment. Get your butts off those chairs and hurry the heck up to backstage."

"Thalia, do you have your drum sticks?" Calypso checks before the curtains open.

"Yep." I say, spinning them in my slender fingers and hitting the drum for good measure.

"Okay, this next band has faced some difficulties in this last week. They were meant to go next, however due to technical difficulties they were bumped up one. Venus, would you like to introduce your next act?"

"Yes. I am extremely proud to present my all girls group, INDIVIDUALZ!"

The curtains drew back, the lights hitting us violently and temporarily blinding us. I held up my hand to block it, before I heard Paisley leading us in with the keyboard.

"You're the boy, with a real nice smile but a broken heart inside. Gave it to a girl. Gave it to a girl, I think she lost her mind. Are you giving up and done? Are you through with all this? Are you tired of the pain? Torn to pieces. Can you let me try?"

I could vaguely see Sally at the back, standing next to Piper's mother who was tearful. Her mouth was open, and I could tell that she was yelling along with the rest of the crowd. It made me proud of myself.

We're here, on stage, being filmed for a show, and if we get through this round we get into the semi-finals and we're almost winning!

A smile tore onto my face, as I could see Drew, sulking in the back. I don't think she realised how good we were. Not until now. I doubt she'd even watched any of the other episodes of the show.

"I can be that part of you. I'll try my best." Calypso finishes, her chest heaving with how much she sang.

"Woo! That's my daughter!" I could hear the small voice of Aphrodite, and I looked to see a blushing Piper.

"Okay team!" Venus cheered as we got into the house, "That was an amazing performance tonight. You all well and truly blew me and the rest of the judges away. You're all so amazing and I can't even and percabeth and ugh!"

Venus is almost exactly like Aphrodite, right down to the fangirling.

Piper steered Venus into the kitchen, murmuring "I'll make you a cup of tea to settle you down."

A toned arm pulled me into a warm, comforting body. As much as I didn't think Luke would appreciate it, he was cuddly. Hugging wasn't really my thing. Until I hugged Luke that was. His hugs were so addicting. Like caffeine for an insomniac.

"You did really well, Grace," Luke says, voice muffled by my hair.

"Thanks." Jason and I say in sync. We look at each other. "Let's not do that again." We say together before groaning.

"I was kinda talking to Thals, Jason, but that works too." Luke shrugged, as I could feel his shirt slide against my back.

"Okay, well, I'm going to go to bed before I pass out here." Paisley says, walking up the stairs and yawning into her hand. "Night everyone."

I wave to her, as my way of saying goodnight. She smiled weakly back at me.

"Well, that's my cue to go too," Percy says before kissing the top of Annabeth's head. Hazel and Frank, Reyna and Octavian were already heading up the stairs.

I didn't see their performance, as I was changing, but I knew that they didn't do too good today. Apparently Octopus screwed up on stage, getting lyrics and chords wrong or something. I wasn't too sure what, but the chances of them staying in until next round was slim.

I'm surprised that our whole group has gotten this far into the competition. Roman Recruit, Outcasts and us.

"I think we're all gonna head up now, Thals," Luke said to me, shuffling backwards a bit and away from my grasp. "Night."

"Night Luke." I say, my gaze dropping to the floor as he walked up with the majority of people.

I decided to follow them. Who knew what tomorrow's results would bring?

'their performance was so bad. who would watch that?'

'my five year old brother is a better drummer than Tania Greene. And he's tone deaf'

'shes so ugly like wft I didn't even know it was possible but Thalia just exceeded my expectations'

It was like the ones I didn't want to see were the ones that stood out as I went through my Instagram comments.

I never really used Instagram. It's not really my thing. I have three pictures. One selfie, one band selfie, and a picture of Luke and I.

Since the competition started, I gained more notifications and followers. I didn't have many followers because the majority of the people at my school thought I was a freak.

Fat.

Ugly.

Worthless.

Untalented.

No one would miss her if she died.

Why does Luke like her?

What does he even see in her? What is there to see other than her fat?

"Thalia?" Annabeth asks, knocking on the bathroom door, "We're all thinking of wandering around and stuff. Maybe pick up a thing or two for the Christmas Party we have tonight at Apollo's place."

I wipe my nose hastily with my sleeve, before clearing my throat and answering.

"Um, yeah. I just have to take a shower and we can go." I say, mustering up as much courage as I could.

"Are you okay?"

No.

"Yes," I say, swallowing the hurt and the knives that each comment shoved into my gut, "I'll be ten minutes tops."

"Okay." I heard her footsteps fade out as she walked away from the bathroom door.

Bravely, I jump off the counter and onto the floor. I pace to the shower and switch it on, the cool water blasting from the shower head.

"What about this one?" Piper spins around in her dress, the skirt of it flaring out around her. It was pretty, and really suited her.

"It's wonderful, sweetie," Aphrodite beams. We decided to bring her and Sally along too, because we've just left them alone since moving with Venus. "But the real question is: Do you like it?"

"Yes," Piper smiles, swooshing the skirt. She giggles before darting back into the changing room.

The boys went to go and find other "Manlier" stores in the mall.

I wasn't planning on trying anything on, as I didn't really need anything else.

As we approached the check-out, Piper pointed out a blue bandana.

"Thalia! You'd look cool in that!" She told me, taking it and putting it to my hair. "You should get it."

I look at it, and smile. Maybe I should, I mean, why shouldn't I? I hate hair ties, but I also hate my hair going into my face so this would be perfect.

Later, at the food-court, Piper tied the Bandana to my hair. It felt weird, but in a good way. My hair was no longer in my face.

"You look pretty!" Sally smiled at me from across the table.

"Thank you," I return, but turn around as soon as I hear the loud noise known as the boys approach us.

"Hey. Who's thi- Oh. Guy's! Thalia has a new bandana!" Leo says, completely surprised. I give him a wry smile and shrug.

"I like it." Is all I reply with, looking at Luke. He looks completely astonished at the new item. I don't get boys. They're not very resilient. For god's sake, it's just a bandana.

"I do too." Luke grins, taking the seat next to me, his arm winding around my shoulders. I let out a relieved sigh, because what would have happened if he didn't? "Matches your eyes."

Percy grabs a nearby empty table and drags it over to connect to ours.

Piper and Jason weren't sitting together. I knew that they were both hurt, and I wanted to help them out. I wanted Jason to say to her that he had nothing to do with it. I knew that it was Drew. I knew it was. Piper went to assume the worst, but if I told her that she would get angry at me, and think I was picking sides.

My twin brother or my best friend?

It was a hard battle to choose, because by now Piper was like a sister to me, and I knew that that wouldn't change. But, Jason was my actual brother. The one I shared a bed with when we were little, because Mum could barely rent the apartment. The brother who helped me when I first got my heart broken, aged 13, when my first crush publicly humiliated me. The brother who was with me when we moved from Mum's to Dad's in New York, who helped me adjust to the movement. The one who helped me unpack, and make friends, and helped me prepare for the Prom, because believe it or not, Jason helped with my make-up. Jason was like my built in best friend, and when it came to choosing there was really no choice.

But at the same time I couldn't lose Piper. If the band fell apart, we would ultimately lose the competition and I didn't want the others to pay for my mistake. There are five of us in the band, and if we all don't pull our weight the band will go down. Forgetting lyrics, missing a beat, misplacing chords, none we could afford to do. The bands there were all as talented as us, if not more. They all deserved a spot in the semi-finals. They all deserved to win. All of them. And I really don't know how the public votes.

A small part of me knew that we wouldn't make it much further, as all-girls bands were only known to have a few hits, and all boy bands were more popular as they were icons for the female specimen. I mean, sure boys would think about our look, but would they really like our music?

"Earth to Thalia. Come in Thalia," Calypso says playfully, shaking my arm. "What do you want for lunch?"

A/N

I am so so so so so so so sorry for not updating earlier. I really am. Life just sucks right now. A lot.

Its gotten to the exreme point where I'm terrified, I can't say what of but it's big, and it's stressful. I can't sleep. I'm worried. I was quite resilient and things before, but at the moment it doesn't take much to make me anxious. I mean, the other day I went on my friends bus and the boys on it kinda want to punch me (They didn't) but I was shaking so badly and I could barely breathe. I went to the school counsellor, but it didn't help much. RIght now, I'm jittery.

Over the holidays, I know that I went on like an update spree, and would constantly update my stories because I had the time to do so. Reason why: I could let myself free of the stress and feelings and just relax. Writing is my free-zone. My get-away, if I must. And then school started and I didn't have time for it and pressure built as things got tense.

One thing I loved though: I was able to talk to one of you and let out my feelings, which has been a real problem for me because I was bugging my friends, and I made a rule for myself that I was not allowed to cry or yell or get frustrated at my younger siblings, because if anyone needed that protection that my parent's were kinda neglecting to give them, they did. They deserve a little happiness.

I am pleased to say: Things are improving.

I won't go into detail as to what happened, because only one of my friends know everything. As in EVERYTHING from top to toe. I explained it to you guys like that because I know that I should have updated earlier and you all really deserve an explanation.

If anyone of you need help with anything, too, I'm always open to talk. I may not reply right away but I will reply eventually. I swear.

Anyways: School also started again and it's been stressful for me and I just can't even some days.

Back to the happy stuff: Please comment! I love you all!

What did you think of the chapter? What about Thalia's lowering self esteem? The new Bandana? Comment anything.

Hugs for everyone,

Love from KaleidoscopeColours.

Does anyone know my real name? I've mentioned it so many times and I want to see if anyone has picked up on it :) First name, not last.