Look, I didn't want to be a demigod.

If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is: close this book right now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life. Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.

If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.

But if you recognize yourself in these pages -if you feel something stirring inside- stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before they sense it too, and they'll come for you.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

My name is Effie Trinket. I'm 14 years old. I'm a student at Dalton Valley Junior High, a school for the gifted.

The thing is, I'm not gifted. I am pretty, though. This doesn't seem like that much of a problem to anybody, but it is. Just hear me out. When you are pretty (and blonde I might add), people think that you aren't very smart. They explain things to you like they would to a little kid. I admit I'm not the most gifted person in the world- my dyslexia and ADHD hold me back. I do well in my classes, especially Social Studies and English, and I am one of the best players on my school's softball team.

But, everyone else seems to look past that, and all they see is another pretty, dumb face. They don't think that I am able to do things myself. It seems like people don't understand that, especially my father. Since my mother left, he's been over-protective of me, as if I'm some kind of diamond in a jewelry store, and thieves could bust in and steal me at any moment.

Anyways, since people believe I can't do anything for myself, they let me get away with things. You see, most of my teachers 'just can't say no to that pretty face'. Trust me, it's more of a problem than you think. Instead of facing the consequences like a normal kid, they let me get away with whatever trouble I've gotten myself into. They just send me off with a warning and carry on with their day, no matter what went wrong. I swear I've got a conscience as guilty as a criminal's.

My father does try to get me out of trouble as best as he can, but the only way he thinks he is able to get me out of trouble is to bribe other people – which ultimately blows up in his face, leaving me embarrassed in front of the office staff.

On one very significant day though, I did something I doubted I could get away with.

But, somehow, I managed to.

After gym class, while we were changing into our regular school uniforms, fixing our hair and gathering our books, I was approached by Agnes Krol- and, trust me, she is about as pretty as her name. She is the complete opposite of me. I'm about average height, while she's shorter than most of the girls in school; her poufy brown hair that she hides inside one of the largest beanies I've ever seen is no match for my wavy blonde hair; her green-yellow eyes contrast against my blue ones; her sense of style is way different than mine- hers seems to be hand-me-down and thrift shop chic, while mine is mall-or-bust couture. So, this girl didn't really intimidate me.

"Give it back," She muttered.

I glance over to my best friend, Portia, whose gym locker was right next to mine.

"Give what back?"

"My lip-gloss. I know you have it."

This was a shock to me. I never would have thought this girl had ever owned a beauty product, not even a chap stick.

"I don't have it, Agnes. And even if I did have it and gave it back to you, I'm sorry to say this, but having that lip-gloss wouldn't make you any prettier than not having it." Okay, okay, that was pretty harsh. But, it's not like that lip-gloss was magically going to make her beautiful.

"I am pretty." Agnes said through her gritted teeth.

I raised my eyebrows at her. Most people in the school thought she wasn't the prettiest girl in school, and it came to Agnes' attention that they knew that, and she started to realize it, too. She seemed to accept that fact. She was a modest girl, also, so saying something like that was unlike her.

"Well, I used to be pretty. I was beautiful…" She said, almost in a happy tone, almost wistful.

"Until she ruined me. Ruined! I was pretty. I was pretty…just…like…you."

At this, the strangest thing happened. Agnes looked directly at me, grabbed her oversized beanie and whipped it off. In place of her hair was hundreds of green and brown snakes. Portia and I turned around, not wanting to face the horrible sight in front of us.

I remember this from when we studied mythology in Social Studies. A pretty girl turned ugly, when she was caught with Poseidon in Athena's temple. Her hair was turned to snakes, and her face turned so horrible that looking in her eyes would turn people to stone. Everything in my head was all jumbled up from fear, I could barely remember her name. It took me a minute until I remembered.

Medusa, I thought. That's who it is.

"I was the most beautiful girl. Until she changed my hair into snakes. Now I'm hideous!" She cried.

I clumsily grabbed my compact mirror out of my locker. I tried to look at her without looking into her eyes. Agnes- or Medusa, really- walked up to Portia and I and started speaking very close to us. When she leaned in, I could feel the snakes' tongues on my face as they hissed. It scared me so much that I dropped my mirror. Crap.

"You girls have it easy. The pretty ones. You get what you want, and you can get out of everything. Why can't I get what I want? Why is it so unfair?" Medusa cried.

Portia and I were both still cowering in fear. Portia moved a little bit, and reached inside her locker. She grabbed what she was looking for and nudged my arm.

"Effie. Take this and open it." She pressed something into my hand. I opened my eyes enough to see it. A tube of mascara. Portia glanced over at me and saw the look of confusion on my face. "Just open it." She whispered.

I turned into the corners of the lockers and ducked my head down, so I couldn't see Agnes no matter which way I looked. I fumbled with the mascara, trying to get it open with my trembling hands. I twisted off the lid, and the wand was gone.

In it's place was a dagger blade.

My thoughts raced through my head.

A blade? Portia wants me to kill somebody? How are you supposed to kill somebody you can't look at?

Shielding my eyes, I walked over to retrieve the mirror I had dropped earlier. I moved it so I could see Medusa behind me. I slowly stood up, and looked at Portia. She looked back at me "It's okay. I got this." I mouthed. She smiled and nodded.

I backed up a little bit, getting within arm's reach from the monster. She seemed distracted, running her hands through her hair, calming the snakes slithering around her head. I took a few deep breaths. You can do this, I thought, all you have to do is get her attention, and swing back the dagger and-

I didn't want to think about what would happen next.

"Medusa!" I called.

I pulled up my mirror, watching her pull her hands from her hair, the snakes quickly rising back up, hissing and slithering like they were before.

She walked closer.

Taking one more deep breath, I pulled my arm my arm back, gripped the dagger even tighter- if that was even possible; my knuckles were like small, white marbles- and swung. I could feel the dagger pass through her skin- almost like water. She shrieked, and fell on her knees, clutching the dagger embedded in her stomach. I turned around, and saw her face turned towards the ground, the slithering snakes were limp on her head.

Then, the second strangest thing happened. I watched as she turned from a scary, terrifying, but dying monster into a pile of gold dust. All that was left was the dust and the dagger, which had taken the form of the mascara wand.

Portia timidly walked up next to me and wrapped her arm around me. I started crying. My brain almost shut off. I still didn't know what was going on. I killed someone -or something- for crying out loud!

I composed myself quickly, wiping the tears on the back of my hand. I grabbed the mascara wand, put it back in the tube, and handed it to Portia.

"Here," I said sniffling a little.

"No, you keep it. You're going to need it."

I checked my eyes to see if she meant that my makeup was running, but it was still fine, although my face was bright red from crying and wiping at my eyes. I shrugged it off and stuck the mascara in my pocket.

I turned around and faced the other girls in the locker room. They all had horrified looks on their faces, and I could hear them whispering.

"-And she just came up to her-"

"Agnes was nice to her but she just-"

"-she just got so upset and angry-"

"-pushed down her books-."

"-and she just left, crying."

I looked at Portia, who was standing back at her locker, casually brushing and putting her dark brown hair into a braid. "Portia..." I started to say, my voice trembling a little bit. "What happened to Agnes?"

"She ran out of the room, crying. What you did to her was really mean, Effs. I've never seen you act so harshly to anybody like that." Portia replied, calmly, but with a touch of anger in her voice. "What's gotten into you?"

A.N - Just so you know, the beginning of the chapter (The portion before the first line break) is from the Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief book, by Rick Riordan. So, credit to Rick Riordan, not me. Just wanted to clear that up. Anyways, thank you for reading! This is my first fic, so please review and tell me what you think. I had a lot of fun writing this, and I'm really excited to write more. Hayffie will come in the next few chapters.