Adam had to hold me back from attacking my fathers statue.

The fire earlier on that day was just a small event. Diana, the blonde daughter of Aphrodite, had sacrificed her "new" Gucci earrings just to make the flames turn a pale color of pink. It stayed like that for approximately seven seconds, until it transformed back into a dark array of colors. She blamed it on me, and when she stepped in some dog waste later on in the day, she made sure that the Percy Jackson cabin had an angry blonde knocking furiously on the door.

Chiron never trusted me with plastic spoons, and Adam made sure I had any other kitchen utensils other than a spoon. I had, undoubtedly, started a "Spoon Trend".

I decided that it wasn't that bad. Compared to the amount of trouble I got myself into at Withmoore and the other previous boarding schools, this was just a minor setback.

Or so I thought.

Chiron called me in later on that day with an indescribable look on his face. He didn't seem angry, or fed up, but he looked very disappointed. His trusty wheelchair was nowhere to be seen, so his other half (a white stallion) stood proudly and clip-clopped around the room.

"I have received numerous Iris Messages from Olympus, Alexis." he said, wringing his hands together. "You're little... stunt, it... Well, it sparked up alot of arguments."

"It was a plastic spoon!" I argued. The Spoon Trend was going great so far. Some of the Hephaestus campers even fashioned me one out of a bronze block, telling me to guard it well- Although I didn't see how it could be useful, but at least I would look sophisticated eating my bowl of fruit loops the next day.

"It was an insult," he corrected. "The Gods do not like to be disrespected. One minor say, one minor thought, can set them off. They can close Olympus, suddenly stop trying to help us."

"And what would they say?" I pressed. "That a sixteen year old girl disrespected them by offering a cheap recycled utensil?"

"Alexis, I don't think you're getting the point."

"I bet it was cursed," I said. "A cursed spoon. They have those, don't they?"

"Alex-"

"Chiron," I interrupted. "All I did was chuck a spoon into the hearth. It's not like I chanted some ceremonial poem of hatred."

The old centaur sighed, like he was getting tired of the conversation at hand. "I just want you to know the boundaries we have here. This isn't Withmoore, or Rock Academy, Alexis. We have rules, and campers tend to stick to them. I suggest you do the same."

I thought about it, and the more I did, the more I hated the idea.

Withmoore had been alright. I made a few friends, a lot of new enemies, but at least I was accepted. It wasn't really that bad, even though I'd never admit it. Rock Academy was where the fun was at, however.

There were no rules. Teenagers made the rules, sculpted the entire student body into their form of perfection. Teachers had no say, the Principal was mostly locked up in his office trying to balance financial work with his personal life. Rock Academy, though, was centered around one thing; Music.

I loved it. I used to play the guitar, until Tom made me throw out my old set because he'd promised to buy me a new one. He never did, and that was a year ago. I was happy at Rock Academy- Until the incident with the water pipes. Someone had blamed it on me, and other people were convinced I did it, even though there was no proof. But RA already had a bad reputation, so they kicked me out. Said they didn't want a troubled kid like me destroying the instruments because of my fascination with water. I said okay, cool, I was absolutely fine with that. I came home with a crushed expression that day.

"Okay," I muttered. "But I make no promises."

The corners of Chiron's mouth upturned and it was nice to see him smiling for once. He gently ruffled my hair and chuckled.

"That's great. Now run along, I think Adam is waiting for you outside."

I walked out of the Big House just to be greeted by a snarling Diana.

Now, if you've never been in the presence of an Aphrodite kid, you obviously haven't felt true sickness. First off, they wear so much perfume it's hard to decide whether or not it smells good, messing up your natural thoughts and leaving you as air-headed as some of their siblings. Second, they wear heels so high it's hard to look them directly in the eyes without having to stand on the tips of your toes.

Luckily enough, Diana was wearing Prada sandals that looked like they cost more than Tom's precious Ferrari.

She grimaced when she saw me. "Urgh. It's the spoon girl."

"Nice to see you too."

"You should have never come here. You don't belong." Diana tossed her sickly yellow hair and flashed a fake, lipstick covered smile.

"Right. Because your mom defeated a titan lord at the age of sixteen. Oh wait, that was Percy Jackson, my godly parent." I snapped. I nearly lost it at the last two words, but quickly shook it off. For a second she looked taken aback, like she was trying to register what I had just said.

"I hope whatever quest Chiron gives you-"

"Fails?" I raised an eyebrow. "I hope you fall off a horse."

Diana gasped, but it came out so high pitched that it could have passed for a mouse's battle cry. "Whatever. I simply have no time to talk to you. Move." I didn't budge, so she stomped her Prada infested feet and skirted around me. I heard the words "peasant" and "those shoes were so last minute" before she disappeared into the Big House.

I walked back to my cabin, completely forgetting that Adam wanted to see me, and plopped down on the couch.

Dad's statue stared at me. No, he wasn't staring- This time, he was full on glaring. "Don't look at me like that," I murmured. "This isn't all my fault."

It glared down at me even more.

"You know, you've always been my hero." I snapped, but my voice quivered, as if he was actually there. "I've always looked up to you. Every birthday I wished for you to come back. Every single day, I half expected you to be singing in the shower or trying to make mom smile."

Silence.

"She's found a new guy, you know. Tom. And you know what? He's nice. He never leaves us. He cares about us," I stated, my mouth dry. I left out my dream about Tom slapping mom, and the fact that he called me a brat. "What have you done, huh? Nothing. And I'm sick of you. Mom's sick of you. Uncle Luke was right. All Gods are the same. Selfish." And with that, I walked briskly out of the living and slammed the bedroom door shut.

The evening was pretty good, for me anyway. I had a bucket of ice cream and blue lemonade at my side, trying to figure out how to wire the TV. Camp Half Blood had progressed massively since my parents were here, with new electronics that had dubbed signal. The only thing the camp needed was Wi-Fi, but that was trickier to disguise, so we settled for televisions and DVDs.

I flicked through some of the movies that were already stashed in the cabin. Most of them were old chick flicks, romantic comedies, documentaries- The kind of stuff mom liked. There was one about the Savannah rain forests, and I felt a pang of guilt that I hadn't seen or heard of Uncle Grover since I left home. If anyone other than my mom deserved to know where I was, it would be him.

I scoured the rest of the DVD's and chose one that came out seventeen years ago. My mom always told me about it, but we never got to watch it because Tom said it was too complex for children.

The case of "Perks Of Being A Wallflower" looked very old, and very worn out. I started to wonder why it was such an important movie to my mom, because my dad never seemed to take much interest in it.

As the movie started playing, I realized that I related to the main character quite a lot. We were both outcasts, thrown into a world where no-one knew best. There was only one thing different.

He could fix his problem.

I couldn't.

It turned out amazingly for him in the end. Sure, he still had over a thousand days to go before he was finally free. But where did it end for me? When did it all stop?

I wasn't in High School anymore, trying to find the correct classes and attempting to make new friends. No, I was in Camp Half Blood, trying to fix every single problem at once, searching for a happy ending that was most likely never to happen.

I sighed.

The bronze spoon dug into my hip, and I yanked it out of my pocket. It glimmered and glowed in the light provided by the TV. I set it down carefully on the coffee table and watched as a small piece of paper fluttered away from it. I had completely forgotten that Adam was so eager for me to read it. I hurriedly unscrambled the paper.

I'm on the 600th Floor, Empire State Building.
I miss you babygirl.

The whole camp was asleep. Even the Harpies were lounging about, caring less and less about their "oh-so-important" job as the nights went by. Curfew had become easier to break, and for this particular night, I was overjoyed about that.

My purple duffle bag was packed with healing equipment and food given to me by some of the Apollo campers. Dhillon, the boy who had carried me into Camp Half Blood just days before, gave me a variety of different shaped celestial bronze bullets. He asked for a kiss when he gave them to me, and in return I told him that if I ever came back, I'd think about it. He seemed happy enough with the answer.

I wanted to leave the bronze spoon with the Hephaestus campers, something to remember me by, but they insisted I took it with me, claiming that it would probably do me some good in the future. I said thanks, and that if I ever ran into any bowls of unattended fruit loops, I'd give the spoon something to do. Most of them grinned and gave me a hug goodbye, the others told me that it was a deadly weapon and not to be played with.

Clarisse's scrapbook and drachma's were stashed safely in the bag, and I was suddenly wondering why I never showed it to Adam or Chiron.

Adam.

I somehow convinced everyone not to tell him where I was going. Even Diana, though I had to give her my eyeliner and a few drachmas. She took them happily and pretended to zip her lips, then went away, muttering things about the eyeliner pen and holding it up like it was a godly object. I rolled my eyes and pretended not to notice when she tripped over a rock, before picking herself back up and praising the pen once more.

My gun and its original bullets were in the pocket of my hoodie, prepped and ready to be used. One of the campers from the Hermes cabin gave a box of ambrosia squares and admitted that they were stolen, but I was still grateful. She also gave me three more additional bullets, each one spraying a different type of poison when released. I gave her a hug and promised that I'd teach her how to shoot when I came back.

If you ever come back.

I had no idea where Camp Half Blood even was, so finding the way out was hard enough. I looked up at the pillars that held the CHB sign, and sighed.

"Bye, guys."

Satisfied, I disappeared into the woods and groaned inwardly.

Great. Back at square one.

Thanks for reading :)