If he closed his eyes, just for a moment he could see it all happening again. Everything falling apart. The annoying whispers he could hear at the edge of his mind, that had been his biggest worry suddenly felt childish and stupid.

And now staring down the barrel of a hand gun, he couldn't help but panic. Especially when the person holding it at point blank range was someone he called a friend.

"Sorry." She snarled, "Nothing Personal."

He thought it sounded very Personal.

He needed everything to slow down. Just to freeze for a couple seconds. He couldn't be in danger. Stuff like this only happened in the movies. In the movies with trained actors. Not at a high school building, not with terrified teenagers. He desperately wanted this to be a prank. Something stupid that he could laugh about one day.

A cold feeling wedged down his back. Like he needed to confess everything.

It was that moment where he realized how pointless everything was. How stupid this was. He was going to be murdered. The wall behind him pressed against his palms, his head, his back. His body would be found lifeless in a classroom, if it was find at all.

It didn't matter if he knew how to find the tangent of a circle. It didn't matter if he could properly cite all the school's textbooks in MLA formatting. It didn't matter if he knew how cold and warm air masses formed. It didn't matter if he knew when the Hell, the Byzantine empire rose to power.

He was going to die.

And there was nothing he could do to stop it.

"Please..." He whispered,

But her finger was already moving. Sound exploded in the room with as lingering ring. He slammed his eyes closed.

And then Leo Valdez's body went limp.

***

It started days earlier. When the biggest problem any high schooler had was either how am I going to get this homework done, or how am I going to to pay for my car.

Leo had been to dozens of schools. He could almost read the thoughts going on in everyone's mind as they passed him by with a couple of strange glances. Whispers that he knew where flying around flickered on the edge of his hearing.

He'd been to dozens of schools, Half Blood High was no different.

Queen bees roamed the halls whispering to each other, setting fashion trends, laughing with mild manners, and generally thinking they were better than everyone else.

The jocks body slammed one another, talking loudly over the noise of the crowded halls. They rough housed and laughed, checking out every moving thing that walked by and had legs.

The artistic kids huddled outside a class room hanging an assortment of pictures they had created, though they mostly looked like they were all fighting to have most pictures up.

Down a bit father a girl was interviewing another for the morning announcements. Tight smiles plastered on their faces, forced to say something that the teachers deemed appropriate, and not what they actually wanted to say. And occasionally the new face on the screen of that attractive person that wouldn't shut up, that they had to endure with a grin that became more forced with every weird.

Students skirted around the masses, the people just trying to blend in rather then be the center of attention. But every once in a while they would glance at the popular kids, and you knew that they were faking. Everyone wanted the spotlight.

The teachers pets that walked with their teachers, carrying their items, grinning widely and responding enthusiastically to their mundane questions but sneeking grimaces towards their friends as if they couldn't stand another second with that particular teacher.

Leo could see it all.

Reading people was his thing. He couldn't very well escape the thin line of the law if he couldn't recognize undercover cops, or dicy lawyers waiting to drag him back to the Hell-hole that was his life now.

He'd just been caught again. His longest stride of avoidance ever brought to a sudden stop over a stupid mistake. A panicked lie to an officer inquiring the whereabouts of his parents.

Leo scowled thinking back on it. He should've just ran. The officer was as round as the donut he was eating. He never would've been caught.

And now relocated to this dump city of cliche nobodies, he would have to restart again. Maybe this time he'd make it to the Caribbean. He figured it would only take a week. As long as nothing got in his way, like forced friends.

You know, those people who try to be your best friend as soon as you talk to them? Who talk a lot, and mostly just want to cram their own textbooks down their throats?

"Are you sure you're okay, Mr. Zhang?" A teacher strolled by stopping at the classroom nearby. It was an elderly woman with a bright red handbag, and a sincere smile on her face. In her hands was a ring of keys jiggling over the mesh of voices in the hall. She went to unlock the door, which Leo could read as the guidance room.

The teacher was looking at a huge guy, who kept his jaw set with a plastered expression. He looked like he should've been on the wrestling team, but he didn't seemed to act like it. His fingers were curled so tight around his text books, Leo would be surprised if they ever came off.

"I'm fine." He replied, his expression staying the same.

He was defiantly not okay. Leo could tell by the way he held himself. As if something close to him had been shredded to pieces before his eyes. As if he was sending a subtle message to the world, just to screw everything because it sucked.

Leo must have made a noise or something though he didn't remember it, because the boy glanced at him with a hostile glare, daring him to say otherwise.

But at that second the guidance counselor turned back around and the boy threw on his blank face, again.

"It's okay, Frank." She said, "My door is always open if you need talk about it."

For a flash of a second Frank's eyes flickered with rage, but it disappeared quickly enough that the teacher didn't see it. Some guidance counselor she was.

She didn't see it, but Leo did. And he knew that this guy, Frank, was never going to walk through that door if he could help it.

"Bye, Ms. 'Ris." He said turning away.

"Have a nice day, Frank." She said happily entering her classroom. Maybe if she'd been paying attention she would've noticed Frank grit his teeth.

Frank glared at Leo as if sensing his gaze. "What are you looking at?" Frank snapped.

Leo raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Frank speed away, bending towards the outside rims of the crowd as if in a hurry.

"Uh, Hey!" Leo nearly jumped the feet into the air. Standing next to him was a girl with fashionable clothes on. A kind smile that didn't quite met her eyes. She had an exotic look to her, like someone shoved a cool, independent, girl into society's idea of slut. She regarded him happily, shouldering her prada bag.

"You new?" She asked fluttering her silky brown hair.

"Yeah." Leo said, speaking for the first time. "You my school guide?"

"Yeah, I'm-" she got cut off by a round of squeals that exploded as a couple of her friends rushed over. Their heels had to lift them at least three inches off the ground each.

"Piper!" One of them screamed. "Oh my Gods!"

"Pipes!" Leo could see her visibly flinch at the sound of that name. "You're never going to believe it!"

"Jason's going to bring you chocolate! The expensive kind from that chocolate store out of town!" One of her friends fell onto her, sighing wistfully, "I want a guy like that!"

"Ooh!" The first one yelled, "Dylan's still single, Kellie!"

"But he can't compete with Jason at all!" Another one moaned, "Kellie's right, We need to get Jason single again!"

Leo watched with a fascinated horror. Piper's smile never wavered, but her hands closed into fists, and her dazzling multicolored eyes grew darker. These girls were her friends. And yet they were plotting her break up right in front of her!

"My gods, Piper!" The youngest one grabbed her hand, "What if you accused him of cheating! Ooh! That would terrible! Everyone would believe you! Then Drew can be the one to comfort him in his loneliness!"

"But I want him first!" The one called Kellie squealed, in an almost demonic way.

"But you got that new guy a month ago!" Drew complained, "You said Jackson was hot enough to die for!"

"He's so last month though!" Kellie complained, "Even Lacy admitted he isn't that good looking!"

They all started hobbling off arguing over who got first dibs on this Jason guy. Leo looked back at Piper. She motioned for him to give her his schedule, smiling like she hadn't even heard them talking.

"Yeah, sorry about them." Piper giggled like a silly little school girl, "They can be a little crazy."

Leo handed her his green paper, frowning. What was wrong with her?

"I'm Piper by the way," She said, "Captain of the cheerleading squad, and president of the prep squad." Her smile was coming easier now, as if she was falling back into a role she was familiar with.

Actress much?

"Piper....?" Leo prodded, "Got a last name?"

She waved that away little it didn't really matter, "I don't use my last name. So what about you, New boy?"

"Leo," he scowled, he hated being called new boy, though he knew for his time at school, that was the only name people would remember before he disappeared again.

"Most of you're classes are down the tech hall," Piper commented, lightly, "I'm guessing you're into metal work and auto Repair?"

"WHAT?" Leo gasped. He tore the paper out of her hand looking at it again. They wouldn't have... He cursed. Of course they had. They were trying to help him.

F*ck them.

Leo tore the paper in half.

"Why'd you do that?" Piper asked.

Leo glared at her. "Where do I go to change my classes?"

"The guidance office," Piper motioned back to the door where Frank and the teacher had been taking earlier, shocked at his outburst, "but even if you changed it now it wouldn't go into effect until tomorrow."

Leo let out a growl.

"What the Hell!" Piper said, "Do you not like Metal shop?"

Leo could've laughed. "Not like" was an understatement. Leo despised Metal shop and auto Repair. He hated the smell of motor oil. He hated the glare of the safety goggles that always got in the way. He hated the way the his hands always got dirty in the class. He hatedthe way that he knew every single one of the wrenches the school could possibly own and could probably use them better than the teachers.

He hadn't touched a hammer in a year.

And the only reason he would ever touch one again was maybe to beat his Child Services mentor into a pulp.

Leo hands were shaking, crinkling the half sheets of ripped paper into pellets that would make pretty good spit balls.

"Leo?" Piper asked, again.

"I hate it here." He said finally, "Screw all this. I'm not even dealing with it today."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Piper yelled grabbing his shoulder before he could find the exit doors again, "Where are you going?"

"Anywhere but here."

"Hey!" Piper grabbed his arm with a surprising strength, "Relax, it's not all that bad! Just one day, okay?"

There was something in her voice that almost made Leo stop. He couldn't tell what it was. He looked back at Piper, her eyes sparkling with emotion, worry, confusion, slight anger, and sadness. Pity.

That made Leo snap.

He'd seen enough pity in his life. He'd seen enough worry, and sadness. He'd hated it. It made him hate this girl. She was just like the others. Fake. What they thought you needed. Not what he actually needed. They should've known he could read expressions.

Leo jerked away from her, twisting his arm to break her hold. She looked shocked. Of course.

But then Leo was gone. He could easily weave through the halls. People didn't really notice him. That's how he wanted it to stay. One week to disappear from this place. He'd go somewhere with cities where he could get lost. Maybe somewhere cold, so the weather would match how he felt inside.

Canada, Quebec. He could just keep running. After a while Child Services would give up. He'd be free. He'd never have to think about the fire again.

That was his plan.

And it might've worked had he not slammed into someone right that second.

~~~~~~~~

Okay quick A /N, sorry for the time spread between updates. These will have a considerably longer wait time than Silence is Golden had. Sorry. I'm going to try and do it as far as I can cuz I hate leaving you guys off before a cliff hanger or a true plot line.

And my fantastic new cover has been created by Always_Love_Books_ ! I'm so happy!

Valete, amici!
(Bye, friends)

~Greenninjagal!