The classroom was buzzing with excitement-it was a new term, in a new school, with new students and teachers. Young demigods stampeded round the classroom, some of them already attempting to float in the air. All but one, one of the youngest demigods in the class. He sat quietly, away from everyone else, his legs crossed and his palms on the ground, simply staring quietly at his fellow students, deducing everything about them. Occasionally, he would move to push a stray strand of his odd, silver coloured hair out of his reptilian green eyes, which flickered around warily.

On the opposite side of the classroom were two other demigods, one with spiky auburn hair and a nasty glint in his blue eyes, and his best friend, with matching oak brown hair. The classroom knew them; indeed, the entire school knew them. Ridgedog and Deamon were some of the most popular kids in the school and they had only just joined. It was mostly due to their parents being rich, and them having a reputation for being the "bad kids" back in primary school.

"Alright class, settle down" a voice bellowed, a teacher entering through the doorway. Ridge leaned off the wall with a smirk, his arms folded as he plonked himself into a nearby seat, Deamon casually sitting next to him. Despite being friends with pretty much everyone, no one could get in between those two.

Mexxy quietly stands, lowering his head slightly so that his silver hair disguises his face. He tucks his bag under a desk-unfortunately, most of the seats had been taken so he was diagonal to Ridge now-and silently sits, staring at the teacher. He did not make eye contact, even when he heard his name being whispered and giggles erupting behind him.

After the teacher had finished, the class began to talk again as papers were handed out.

"So you're the prince, huh? In line for the throne?" Ridge smirked, nudging Deamon as Mexxy turned to face him.

"Yes" he whispers, not making eye contact.

"Really? You don't look like a king" Deamon frowns, looking doubtful.

"Or sound like one" Ridge agrees.

Mexxy simply shrugs in response, accepting the piece of paper.

"Mexxy? That's your name?" Ridge reads out as Mexxy signs his name at the top of his paper, and he nods.

"What kind of a name is that?" he snorts. Mexxy almost snaps back "what kind of a name is Ridgedog" but he had learned a long time ago to keep his mouth shut.

"Says the guy with dog at the end of his name!" Deamon retorts, and Mexxy smiles, lowering his head in an attempt to disguise it, but Ridge still sees it.

"Hey, I didn't get a choice of what my parents called me!" he snaps.

"Neither did I, so we're even" Mexxy smiles, acting like it was a joke, but Ridge simply glares back at him.

"You're dad died, didn't he? And your mum ditched you?" Ridge confirms, and Mexxy's smile fades as he shrinks back into his seat, deciding to focus on his work.

"Ridge, leave off him" Deamon mumbles, but Ridge glared defiantly at his friend, and carried on.

"My dad owns this big business down in Voxeltopia" Ridge tells Mexxy proudly-he was itching for a response, but the boy kept quiet, jotting something down on his paper.

"And Deamon's dad is the general" Ridge continues, ignoring Deamon's muffled pleas for him to stop, "and he gets tons of money. What did you dad do, huh? Apart from ruin the economy...murder innnocent people...and pretty much destroy our species?"

Mexxy finally snaps, looking up, his eyes blazing. "Don't talk about my father like that!" he snarls, his quiet voice turning loud all of a sudden, causing the classroom and the teacher to go quiet.

Ridge disguises a smirk. "Or what?" he snickers.

Mexxy stands, his chair automatically pushing backwards. Ridge rises to his challenge; he stood a head taller than Mexxy, who swallowed-he had never been in a fight before.

"Boys, settle down" the teacher puts in weakly-he couldn't really do anything when the prince and one of the richest kids in the classroom got into a fight. He didn't have enough power.

"Ridge, back off" Deamon urges him, tugging on his sleeve.

Ridge seemed to stare into Mexxy's soul for what felt like an hour before he slowly backed away and sat down. Mexxy tried to hide the shaking in his hands as he too seated himself. Ridge did not stop glaring at him all lesson, even when the teacher told him to stop.

~~~~~~~~~~

Mexxy felt relaxed in the library. It was quiet, peaceful and calm. He felt like going to sleep here. 

But it was time for it to close, and soon it would be time to go home. Standing and sighing in content, he made his way to the boy's bathroom, passing giggling girls-he had never been into that sort of stuff, and even though everyone told him he would soon, he grimaced at the thought of fawning after a girl who would ultimately break his heart. He had decided a long time ago that love was an illusion-the only love there truly could be was when it was bound by blood.

Opening the bathroom door, his heart sunk when he saw Ridge and Deamon messing around with toilet paper and water-they soaked the squares through before scrunching them up and throwing them onto the ceiling to see how long they stuck there.

Keeping his head down, he headed to the nearest cubicle and quietly locked the door. Whilst he did his business, he thought he had managed to get in without being noticed. But when he opened the door, a big ball of wet tissue smacked him in the face, followed by laughter erupting from both sides of him.

Wiping the mush off his face, he made his way to the sink, throwing the remaining paper neatly into the toilet, before washing his hands. 

"Hey, we're just messing with ya" Deamon chuckled, sitting on the side of the sink. 

"Yeah, lighten up, Prince Mexxy" Ridge taunted him, spinning him round and forcing him to make eye contact.

"I need t-to go" Mexxy stutters, wincing as he did so. 

"Hold on a sec! What's that in your pocket?" Ridge questions him, reaching down. Mexxy smacks his hand away automatically, backing away.

"Oh! Something private! Maybe something valuable?" Ridge grins, backing him into a corner. Deamon did not make a move to stop it, only lounged around on the sink bowl, raising an eyebrow.

"Get away from me!" Mexxy shouts, hands balling into fists, but Ridge simply pins his arms up with one hand against the wall and fumbles in his pocket with the other. 

"Get off!" he roars, trying to kick him but it was too late. The pocket watch was in Ridge's large, strong hands, and he flailed for it as Ridge flicked it open.

"Oh look, it's a picture of your daddy" Ridge giggles.

"GIVE IT BACK!" Mexxy roars, reaching out and punching Ridge's arm with all of his power. Ridge drops the watch in surprise and Mexxy can only stand helplessly by as it hits the floor with a loud crack.

"I'm gonna kill you" Ridge seethes, rubbing his arm. Mexxy stoops, scooping up the broken watch before sprinting towards the door, yanking it open and fleeing for his life, the sound of footsteps and angry yelling thundering close behind him.

He doesn't stop running until he reaches a maze of alleyways. He loses himself in the brick walls and bins, before hitting a dead end and he drops to the floor, tears flowing down his cheeks. Sniffling, with trembling hands he reaches into his pocket and carefully removes the watch.

The lid had come off from the clock, and the picture of his dad stared up at him blankly, slightly scrunched. A sob racked his body, before he burst into tears, and let the sorrow flow through him. He had done his best to hide it, disguising it with a blank face, but it was all coming out now.

Curling up in between bins, he stayed like that until night came. Glancing at the clock with sore eyes, he confirmed that the time was 10 O'clock, and with a heavy sigh, he stood up and continued his way home, keeping a firm hand on his watch at all times. But even though it was broken, he could still hear the familiar noise that kept him from breaking down again.

Tick Tock. Tick tock. Tick tock.