"Why have you not done your homework, Miss Grace?" Thalia felt her lips curl into a scowl, deciding to stare down her maths teacher with black-rimmed eyes instead of answering.

Unfortunately, he didn't budge. "Miss Grace."

"It's Thalia, sir, and I didn't do it," she snarked sulkily, but her hands twisted the cuffs of her sleeves under the desk.

The maths teacher, Hairy Ares - as Thalia liked to call him - shot her a dirty look. "This is not acceptable, Thalia. I shall issue you a one hour detention after school tomorrow, which you will be expected to attend."

Thalia bit her lip, but she couldn't stop the flurry of words that tumbled from her mouth. "Oh yeah? Well, where were you when we were doing that assessment thing last year? Wait, wait, I know. You called off sick, even though I saw you in Tesco's after school looking perfectly fine!"

"Enough!" Ares had turned red, practically exploding as the formally silent class began to laugh and cheer Thalia on. "Enough, all of you!" He turned back to the smirking eighteen year old. "How dare you!? Get out of my classroom!"

"Fine!" Thalia grabbed her bag from the floor and slung it over her shoulder, pushing her chair back so hard it fell over with a disruptive bang. Then, to the cheers of her onlooking audience, she stalked out of the classroom, allowing the door to slam shut behind her.

But as soon as she was outside, she slid down against the wall, biting her lip hard and sniffing. She promised her dad she'd work hard from now on. He was already stressed and upset from Jason's... accident.

She brushed a finger under her eye. One and a half hours until school was over. Thalia's pride got the most of her, and she stood up, ignoring the electric blue laces that were flapping around her ankles from her undone black boots.

Right, she was free. Now... she needed a caramel frappé!

~·~·~

The coffee shop was practically empty, with the exception of a spotty youth, obviously fresh out of school, and a grotty looking homeless guy she recognised from the park.

She marched past them to the counter."'Scuse me?"

A young man turned around and Thalia gasped, recognising the styled blonde hair and twinkling blue eyes.

"W-Will?"

"Thalia! Great to see you again!" Will grinned, placing his hands on the table and leaning forward enthusiastically. "What would you like?"

"Oh... err, a caramel frappé, please..." Thalia stuttered, hiding behind her long black bangs. "I'll, um, go and sit down now."

She turned and walked to a small table right in the corner of the café, sitting down in the squishy leather armchair and settling down. She glanced at the clock, watching the seconds tick by in silence, other than the continuous grinding of the coffee machine.

She was about to pull her phone out when the tall, creamy drink was slid in front of her. She looked up.

"Here you go! I got you a cookie, too," Will lowered his voice to a whisper, but his grin was still massive as he handed her a big chocolate cookie.

"How much?" She asked, pulling out her purse, but it was pushed away.

"No! It's from me! You looked sad." Will stated matter-of-factly. "Take it."

And so Thalia took it, taking a bite and discovering with delight that it had a soft, gooey centre. "Nice?" Will asked, receiving a moan in response.

He laughed and slipped into the armchair opposite hers, crossing his arms over the table. "So... tell me about yourself?"

Thalia gave him a strange look. "Shouldn't you be serving?"

"It's fine, someone else will sort it out. Anyway, tell me about you."

Sighing in defeat, Thalia gazed at Will with intense blue eyes and opened her mouth. "Ok, so, I'm Thalia Grace. I'm eighteen and three quarters years old and I attend HalfBlood Comprehensive sixth form. I have a brother, Jason, who's currently in a stupid coma, and I love bands like Panic! At The Disco, Fall Out Boy and Bring Me The Horizon... ooh, and I am a dog person more than a cat person!"

Will nodded thoughtfully before fixing Thalia with a guilty look. "Umm... I prefere cats..."

Thalia sighed. "Ok, fine. I don't really care, to be honest. Now, tell me about yourself."

"Right. I'm Will Solace, and I'm nineteen. I have two younger sisters and one big fat ginger cat called Mr Biscuits. I have an obsession with chocolate - don't judge - and I hate music, and BEYONCÉ IS MY QUEEN!"

The coffee shop went silent. "Oops," Will laughed, and she couldn't help but giggle. A customer walking in made Thalia look up and see the clock on the wall.

"I should get going," she said, feeling guilty.

Will grabbed her wrist as she went to stand up. "Wait! I've got something else to tell you about myself!"

"Go on then." Thalia rolled her eyes.

"I wrote my phone number on this napkin, so that we can keep in touch! Maybe meet up again..?"

Thalia blushed, picking up the napkin and slipping it into her bag. "I'd love to..."

His eyes met hers, and his lips curved into a wide, friendly smile that Thalia soon matched.
"Bye, Thalia."

"Bye, Will."

And Thalia left the coffee shop, feeling happier than she'd felt in a long, long time.

~·~·~

The house was empty when she got in, which was strange. Normally Hera was there, fussing and spraying her stupid air freshener everywhere. However, Thalia spotted a note on the kitchen counter, spidery writing sprawled across it.

'Gone to hospital with daddy to see darling Jason. Will be back soon!'

With dad? Oh, right, he'd taken a day off.

Thalia helped herself to a cookie and trudged upstairs, about to go and hibernate in her room, when she saw Jason's door was open. She was about to close it, when a sudden urge to go in overcome her.

She entered the pale blue room, decorated with dog-eared soccer posters and shiny sports trophies. His bed was still unmade, clothes still shrewn across the floor, and the room still smelt of his Lynx body stuff.

It was as though he'd just popped out to the shops.

Thalia was about to leave when she saw the sixteenth birthday card on the crumbled covers of his bed. It was the one she'd given him yesterday morning, as soon as he'd woken up and emerged from his room, adorned with a little stick woman sticking a birthday badge through a stick man's face and reading Happy Birthday, Little Bro'.

Next to it was the blue minion t-shirt she'd got him, it's little yellow face grinning up at her as it announced 'Bello!' . Thalia's face crumbled as she held back tears, punishing herself at the extent of her silliness.

Despite the comedy gifts and play-fighting, Thalia and Jason were very close. She'd comforted him when he was young and their mom had died, and when their dad started drinking, and she'd comforted her when Luke, her 'perfect' ex-boyfriend had ditched her for another girl.

Thalia stormed out of her brother's room and jumped onto her own bed, curling up into a ball and wrapping herself in a blanket, sniffing.

Sure, she had tons of homework, but all she wanted to do now was sit on her bed and cry.

AN
This is so sweet but so sad! I love Will though! What's anyone else's opinion on him!?!?!?

I know you all hate me for not updating *sob* but I hope this is a good apology 0 :) Massive sorry and thank you to @Jiperislife and @JasonSparkyGrace - thanks for the awesome encouragement!!!!!

Remember to vote and comment, my little lovely peoples!!!!

RandomPhandom xxx